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Top scientist Deli Zhang of Wageningen University awarded Dekker grant by Dutch Hartstichting
The Dutch Hartstichting (charity organisation focussing on heart disease) awarded researcher Dr Deli Zhang of Wageningen University a Dekker scholarship. This is an annual personal research grant for talented scientists. This €554,000 grant will allow her to conduct research on cardiovascular diseases in the coming years. Zhang is researcher at the Human and Animal Physiology chair group at Wageningen University & Research.
About one in six people with diabetes develops atrial fibrillation. This is a heart rhythm disorder that can cause severe brain infarcts and eventually damage the heart. Why is it so common in diabetics and how does this disease develop in them? Molecular biologist Deli Zhang thinks this is because the energy factories in their hearts are not working properly. These energy factories (mitochondria) are present in every cell, where they burn fat to generate energy for the heart cells. “We see both in people with diabetes and those with atrial fibrillation that these factories are no longer working properly,” explains Zhang. “As a result, the cells have less energy and the fat droplets that are normally burned accumulate in the heart.”
Preventing brain infarcts
Zhang thinks that this accumulation of fat droplets disrupts the electrical stimuli in the heart, causing atrial fibrillation. Her research aims to prove this. She will look at exactly how this process of malfunctioning energy factories to accumulation of fat droplets and ultimately atrial fibrillation works. What substances of the body are involved? And what lifestyle and risk factors affect it? “When I can unravel that, I will also know how we can intervene to stop these processes,” says Zhang. “This is how I eventually want to develop new treatments to counter atrial fibrillation in people with diabetes at an early stage. That way, we will prevent brain infarcts and heart damage in these patients and save them a lot of suffering.”
Faster solutions for patients
Scientific research is badly needed to prevent people from dying or becoming sick and increasingly ill from cardiovascular diseases. With its personalised Dekker grants, the Dutch Hartstichting (Heart Foundation) tries to connect top talent to cardiovascular disease research. A Dekker scholarship helps researchers set up and develop their own line of research.
The selection procedure for these grants is strict: it looks at the quality of the researcher as well as the quality of the research. Scientists from home and abroad assessed the applications. “For the Hartstichting, a top researcher is a researcher who, in addition to top science, also thinks about taking research results further,” says Hans Snijder, director of the Hartstichting. “The Dekker grant accelerates research and leads to improved treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases.”
The Dekker scholarship is named after Dr E. Dekker, former director of the Hartstichting. He was the initiator in the Netherlands of citizen assistance in case of cardiac arrest.