Vidi-grant for Jop Kind

Jop Kind, group leader at the Hubrecht Institute, has been awarded a NWO Vidi-grant. In total the NWO has awarded 87 experienced researchers a Vidi grant worth 800,000 euros. The grant enables them to develop their own innovative line of research and set up their own research group.

Title: “Changing shape: untangling spatial genome organization during cellular differentiation and disease”

The eukaryote genome needs to be packaged and condensed several orders of magnitude to fit within the confines of the nucleus. The packaging of the genome within the 3D space of the nucleus is non-random, and it has become evident that the higher order genome organization is a likely contributor in gene regulation. Yet, we still lack detailed insight into the spatial organization of the interphase genome, and especially how this organization changes structurally and functionally during development and disease.

For this grant proposal novel single-cell techniques will be employed to gain detailed insight into the role of genome organization and epigenetics in the acquisition of gene-expression signatures in tissue differentiation and malignant transformations of mouse organoid intestinal epithelial cultures.

A total of 572 researchers submitted an admissible research project for funding during this Vidi funding round. Eighty-seven of these have now received grants. That amounts to an award rate of 15%.

Facts and figures

Number of (admissible) submissions: 572
Gender ratio of submissions: 375 men, 197 women
Number of grants awarded (award rate): 87 (15%)
Gender ratio of awarded grants: 60 men, 27 women
Award rate among men: 16%
Award rate among women: 14%