Jeannette Hofmeijer awarded €1.5 million Vici grant for coma recovery research

Thursday 26 February 2026

Neurologist and professor Jeannette Hofmeijer has been awarded a €1.5 million Vici grant to investigate how the brain recovers after cardiac arrest. Her research shifts the focus from dying brain cells to the communication between them.

Each year in the Netherlands, around 5,000 people remain in a coma after cardiac arrest. About half eventually regain consciousness; the others do not. Prediction of recovery is possible in only a part of the patients, and there is currently no treatment that actively supports brain repair. “Until now, research has mainly focused on brain cells dying from lack of oxygen,” Hofmeijer says. “But the key to recovery is not in those damaged cells. Instead, it lies in the remaining connections between brain cells.”

Synaptic silence

Brain cells communicate through synapses: tiny junctions that transmit signals from one neuron to another. After cardiac arrest, this communication gets interrupted as a result of oxygen deprivation. Function is lost first; structural damage may follow.

Hofmeijer’s research will examine this process in detail. Using advanced EEG analysis, she will study synaptic activity in patients. She will also analyse cerebrospinal fluid at the molecular level and study brain tissue under the microscope. “If we understand how communication between brain cells breaks down and starts up again, we can develop new treatments” Hofmeijer says.

Brain bank and brain stimulation

The project draws on a unique brain bank built over the past decade, containing tissue from patients who died in coma after cardiac arrest, donated with consent from relatives. The material offers a unique opportunity to study the biological aftermath of oxygen deprivation.

She will also study whether non-invasive magnetic brain stimulation can help restoring disrupted connections. Ultimately, this should lead to new treatments for coma patients.

More information

Prof Dr Jeannette Hofmeijer is professor of Translational Neurophysiology (Clinical Neurophysiology group at Faculty of S&T) at the University of Twente’s TechMed Centre and works as a neurologist at Rijnstate Hospital in Arnhem. The combination of engineering, neurophysiology, and clinical practice underpins the five-year project, titled Synaptic failure after cardiac arrest: towards the heart of coma recovery.

Every year, Dutch Research Council (NWO) awards a few dozen of Vici grants. With the Vici grant, researchers can develop an innovative line of research and further expand a research group over the next five years. The Vici grant is one of the Netherlands’ most competitive personal research awards. The funding instrument enables advanced researchers to conduct research of one's own choosing. This gives innovative scientific research a boost.

The grant is awarded within the NWO Talent Programme and is considered one of the highest personal scientific honours in the Netherlands. It is the first Vici grant awarded to the University of Twente via ZonMw.