The TGS Award 2020 is awarded to Ana Ortiz-Perez, researcher at the UT at the Faculty TNW. The TGS Award is for talented and ambitious UT Master’s degree students who wish to pursue a PhD. Ana Ortiz-Perez accepted the Award on Monday 31 August during the Opening of the Academic Year of the University of Twente. The prize consists of a cheque of 2,500 euros, which she can spend on an educational programme or exchange during her research.
Ortiz-Perez: Liver cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Up to date, there is no effective treatment and the development of new (nano)-therapies is hindered by the lack of suitable drug testing platforms. Our aim is to develop and validate a reliable liver tumor-on-a-chip platform replicating this human cancer.”
With this award Ortiz-Perez would like to attend an international conference or scientific school in nanomedicine. She believes that these events are a unique way of exploring and sharing scientific knowledge and building an international, more connected science community.
Unanimous verdict jury
This year we met six very bright and enthusiastic candidates. All candidates presented very good ideas for new research, so that made it very difficult to choose. Nevertheless, the jury came to a unanimous verdict: all five voting members put her on the first place. This is unique in the TGS Award history. Ortiz-Perez is the 8th recipient of the TGS Award. The effort of Ortiz-Perez is very valuable for the University of Twente. The jury was very impressed by her good and clear presentation: “Ortiz-Perez showed enthusiasm and good communication skills and proved to be thoughtful in her answers.”
Ortiz-Perez completed her Biomedical Engineering master degree (Cum Laude) in December 2019. According to the jury Ortiz-Perez has an excellent track record with internships abroad (USA, Australia, Portugal), several publications and presentations. The two reviewers were very positive about the proposed PhD research. The committee sees Ortiz-Perez as a promising high potential scientist to bring us one generation ahead in the challenges we face in the health domain, and we look forward to her future career in UT or elsewhere.
Twente Graduate School
The jury consisted of Dr Paul van Dijk, TGS chairman, Dr Ruchi Bansal (TNW), Professor Geert Dewulf (ET), Dr Nelly Litvak (EWI), Professor Ariana Need (BMS, TGS), Professor Andy Nelson (ITC), assisted by Dr Anne Dijkstra.
