UTFacultiesTNWNewsVidi grant for two UT top scientists

Vidi grant for two UT top scientists

Two UT researchers, Jeroen Leijten and Johannes Schmidt-Hieber, will receive a Vidi grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Their research projects are on the development of biological ink for tissue engineering and about understanding ‘deep learning’.

NWO awards a Vidi-grant, worth 800,000 euro for five years, to 85 scientists. Vidi is part of the Veni-Vidi-Vici scheme for starting, experienced and very experienced scientists, respectively. For this round, 443 scientists entered a proposal. Two of the 85 laureates are UT top scientists.

Jeroen Leijten

Smart bio inks to engineer functional tissues

Engineered organs could replace or repair a patient’s damaged or worn-out organs. However, creating the complex structures that provide tissues with their function is an unresolved challenge. In this project, the researchers will develop a smart biological ink that will enable the straightforward creation of important tissue structures.

Jeroen Leijten is with the Developmental BioEngineering group (TechMed Centre).

Johannes Schmidt-Hieber

What is so special about deep learning?

Despite the recent practical successes of deep learning, it remains unclear why this method works often so well in applications. The research proposal will be a first step towards building a mathematical theory analysing the statistical properties of deep neural networks.

 Johannes Schmidt-Hieber is Professor of Statistics. His recently started chair is part of the Mathematics of Operations Research group.

More info in the NWO press release.

ir. W.R. van der Veen (Wiebe)
Press relations (available Mon-Fri)