Jorieke Bergman awarded the Bob Gorlin prize

Jorieke Bergman, a clinical researcher in the Department of Genetics, UMCG, was awarded the Bob Gorlin prize at the 29th Annual David W. Smith Workshop on Malformations and Morphogenesis, August 2008, in Quebec, for her presentation entitled "Study of anosmia and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in a mouse model for CHARGE syndrome".

The David W. Smith Workshop is a prestigious meeting for invited participants only. Jorieke's abstract was selected for an oral presentation and although PhD students are only normally accepted if they attend together with their supervisor, she was invited to give a presentation despite the fact that her supervisor, Dr Conny van Ravenswaaij, was unable to attend.

Bob Gorlin (University of Minnesota) contributed to 600 papers and 20 books, including the famous ''Syndromes of the Head and Neck'', in the field of medical and craniofacial genetics. He died in 2006 and it was decided to commemorate him with an annual prize for the best presentation by a fellow at the David W. Smith meeting.

This is the first time the prize has been awarded and it is certainly very special that it was won by a non-North American. This underscores that Jorieke gave an outstanding presentation.