Horizon grant for Cleo van Diemen

Cleo van Diemen, postdoc, has been awarded an NWO Horizon grant of €100,000 for her project:
Identifying biomarkers for immune-related diseases using genome-wide ribosomal-associated RNA expression profiles.

The diagnosis of diseases can be difficult because symptoms may be non-specific and because many environmental and genetic factors can influence the disease. It would be useful to have an easily assessable marker, such as a protein in blood, for each disease (so-called biomarkers) to help diagnose and monitor patients. Every protein is generated through the process of translation of an mRNA molecule by ribosomes, with the number of mRNA molecules and how much mRNA is translated into protein being tightly regulated. We think that differences in the number of mRNA molecules bound to ribosomes may well reflect the amount of protein produced and thus may reflect a patient’s disease status. In this project to be funded by a Horizon grant, we aim to find new biomarkers for patients with two types of inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis) as a proof-of-principle by assessing their levels of ribosome-associated mRNA.

Starting date: Sept. 2010

See also Cleo van Diemen