Dr. Andrea Gargano of the research group Analytical Chemistry together with Dr. Elena Dominguez Vega of the Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics at Leiden University Medical Center have been awarded an NWO Open Competition M2-grant. Together they receive about € 740,000 for their four-year HYPE-IMMUNe research project involving two PhD students.
The HYPE-IMMUNe project focuses on developing methods to characterize the structures and function of serum immunoglobulins, which are among the most important molecules of the immune system and exist in myriads of different variants. The projects will focus on the development of separation and affinity workflows coupled with mass spectrometry to disclose the structure-function relationship of the immunoglobulins responsible for the response to a disease or an autoimmune response. This technology will open new frontiers in advancing novel biotherapeutics and early disease diagnostics.
The M-grants issued by the Domain Board Science of the Dutch Research Council NWO are intended for innovative, high-quality, fundamental research and/or studies involving matters of scientific urgency. They offer researchers the possibility to elaborate creative and risky ideas and to realise scientific innovations that can form the basis for the research themes of the future. In the current round of the Open Competition Domain Science-M programme, eighteen grant applications were approved out of 72 applications.
