“ Lovely project :) Success with your research! Romana Schirhagl ”
 Help us

Projects View all projects

Normal 7c66c80a97c7d0a693b528d43ad5678e7356f318 Crowdfunding against Corona - #CrowdvsCorona   Why do some people get sick of Corona and others feel no effects? How do we build antibodies and immunity? What are the long-term consequences of the virus? The researchers of the project 'Crowdfunding against Corona' are looking for answers to these and other questions in order to get the current coronavirus under control and be more prepared for new viruses in the future. Can you help too? For yourself, each other, now, and in the future? The corona COVID-19 virus is new and little is known about it, but the answers are near. Together with you, the University of Groningen, the University Medical Center Groningen, Lifelines and the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health want to learn more about the virus and share that knowledge with the world. This way, we can offer solutions now, but also find out what we can learn from the current pandemic for the future.Lifelines offers a wealth of informationThanks to all the data in biobank Lifelines we know quite a bit about 10% of the Northerners in our country about their health, well-being and lifestyle. We will connect these data with new data we collect to find out how the distribution of the coronavirus is proceeding in the Northern Netherlands and what the long-term physical and mental consequences are. By doing this, we will gain insight into the risk factors and the possible connection with other diseases, lifestyle or genetic predisposition. With that knowledge, we can look for solutions here and elsewhere in the world to control the coronavirus and similar pandemics in the future.  Every euro helpsJochen Mierau is Scientific Director of the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health: "Thanks to Lifelines participants, we have the opportunity to get a uniquely detailed picture of how this virus affects people and society. That wealth of data contains answers to questions about, for example, which groups are at an increased risk of serious disease progression or why some young people do become very ill. This can have to do with all kinds of factors, hereditary, the immune system, environmental characteristics, lifestyle, socio-economic position. Collecting and processing all that information costs a lot of time, manpower, and money. We get that from our own ranks, but we also want to call on everyone in the Northern Netherlands and beyond to help us. Support our research! Because together we get corona out of the world. Every euro helps! ' Cooperation in the Northern Netherlands The 'Crowdfunding against Corona' project was set up by the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health and is a collaborative project between the University of Groningen, the UMCG, Lifelines, and the NDC Mediagroep, supported by the Ubbo Emmius Fund. Start an action yourself?In addition to donating, you can also take action yourself and start an action alone or with a group. The proceeds of your action will then count towards the 'Crowdfunding against Corona' project. Then choose the button "Take action!" and follow the instructions.     € 66.542 Raised
Normal 89aa765ac8b97e8e54833ca598b0a9235d8305f3 Support talented students from developing countries The Eric Bleumink Fund (EBF) offers talented students from developing countries the opportunity to study in Groningen. At our university they gain access to a modern education system, advanced research facilities and an international academic network. Matters that are normal in the Netherlands but are often missing in their home country. Since the start in 2000, 76 young, ambitious and very gifted people have received an EBF Talent Grant.   Each year, thanks to the contributions of nearly 2,000 alumni, students and employees of the University of Groningen (RUG), the fund can award an average of four students a grant. Unfortunately, not all applications for a scholarship can be accepted, but our ambition is to increase the number of scholarships. We hope to pay for the study of an extra student through a call and crowdfunding campaign among alumni. The costs for one scholarship are approximately € 25,000.   You can help us with that. Any amount is welcome!     About the Eric Bleumink Fund The EBF is a fund in the name of the Ubbo Emmius Fund foundation. The Ubbo Emmius Fund supports university education and research and has ANBI status. Gifts to the Ubbo Emmius Fund for the EBF are tax deductible under certain conditions. Because all the costs of the Ubbo Emmius Fund are borne by the university, your donation will fully benefit the EBF and ultimately the fellows. € 5.099 Raised € 25.000 Target 20% Reached
Normal 1104a11fa4b1b8bcef6f5a94bf0970e598cbe4cc RootPatch! Students save the potato plants Potatoes are part of many cultures around the globe and are one of the majorly grown food crops in the world. Annually a loss of est. €460 million worth of potato crop is incurred due to Potato Cyst Nematodes (PCNs). These cysts can last in the soil for up to 20 years and hatch when conditions are favorable. The control of pathogens and pests using pesticides has substantially increased crop yields and helped to cope with increasing food demands. However, the extensive use of broad-spectrum pesticides has had a detrimental effect on soil biodiversity which is critical for maintaining nutrient cycling and soil detoxification. A New Solution! This year iGEM Groningen is trying to create a solution for the cyst nematode problem by developing RootPatch, a community of genetically engineered soil bacteria that will coat the roots of the potato plant. The goal of RootPatch is to prevent the loss of potato crops caused by PCNs. We hope to create an innovative way of protecting the potato crop that is safe to the environment and just as efficient as common nematicides. The biological solution we use is based on specific neuropeptides that are active only against target PCNs and not against other beneficial nematodes. To protect the plant from Globodera pallida, a PCN, B. mycoides will be genetically engineered to consistently secrete Neuropeptide like Proteins (NLPs), which modulate the activity of the nematode’s neuronal network.  The NLPs that we will be using are specific to G. pallida and induce a repelling behavior towards potato root exudate thereby preventing the infective juvenile from infiltrating the root system. Since survival of the parasite G.pallida juveniles is dependent on root infection, they will eventually die of starvation. The eventual long term goal of RootPatch is to provide potato farmers with a cheap, robust, and environment-friendly way of combating cyst nematodes. Due to the modular design of RootPatch, this strategy could potentially be used for other pathogens by swapping in one or more parts of the genetic circuit. This versatility opens up a lot of possible applications for similar technologies in the future. iGEM GroningenA group of 12 motivated international graduate students from the University of Groningen are working together on a solution in the iGEM competition. iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) is an international competition in which ~250 multidisciplinary teams are challenged to find new innovative ways of solving modern scientific, environmental, and/or societal issues using synthetic biology. The University of Groningen has been successful in this competition for many years and even won the Grand Prize in 2012!  Education Besides their goal to find a new solution to the nematode problem, iGEM Groningen is collaborating with Dutch institutions to set up a new educational platform for high school students about the use of these kinds of genetically modified organisms. This platform aims to let students form an educated opinion on genetic modification and the use of genetically modified organisms. With the input from the high school students, an advisory report will be developed by the Erasmus Medical Center which will be presented to the Dutch government.  Why The Team Needs Your Help To realize all of this, the iGEM Groningen team needs your help! While they have support from the university and the industry, they are still looking for financial support to compete in the competition and to develop their project.  Every euro will count to get closer to their goal! With the money, they will be able to do their lab experiments and to run the computer simulations necessary to prove their idea. Furthermore, there are other aspects like the development of the educational platform and registration for the competition that requires funding. At the end of October, their idea will be evaluated by experts of the iGEM Foundation at the virtual iGEM finale event, joined by over 6000 students and academics. Help this group of passionate students in their mission to change the world of crop protection! € 320 Raised € 2.500 Target 12% Reached
Normal 25a0fd96c18599f5e7a131db04a08cd3e34b17d6 No waste: Improving our Appliance Recycling System     Researcher Stuart Zhu wants to reduce the amount of waste in the world by increasling the reuse old products   2 billion tons of waste every year Every year we throw away about 2 billion tons of waste worldwide. That is a huge destruction of raw materials and has a big impact on the environment. A circular economy, in which raw materials and products are reused as much as possible, would be a solution. Remanufacturing is one of the major pillars of a circular economy. Remanufacturing is a process, in which used products are disassembled and its parts – if necessary repaired - form the basis for new products. Examples are refillable cartridges or the fair phone consisting entirely of replaceable modules. Unfortunately, remanufacturing is not getting off the ground in many companies. Causes for that lie with both producers and consumers. The Groningen researcher Stuart Zhu wants to find answers to questions like “how can we make more companies start remanufacturing?” and “how can we get consumers return their discarded products to the manufacturer?” He hopes alumni will support his research. "Remanufacturing can generate some complex problems," explains Stuart. "You have the so-called ‘last mile’ -  that is how a product ultimately reaches the consumer. A lot of research has been done on this. In fact, that ‘last mile’ is the ‘first mile’ of the return channel. But little is known about that ‘first mile.’ There are several options: return to the store, send to the producer, or pick up from home. What is more efficient and what do consumers prefer? The latter appears to be popular in China but not in Europe and we don't know why," says Stuart Financially and legally, there are all sorts of hooks on remanufacturing. "The larger, established companies in particular are afraid that they will lose sales and market share. If they make their products in such a way that you can replace parts, then competitors can also copy those parts more easily. Moreover, the producers cannibalize their own market if they offer both new and recycled products. Companies realize that they need to be better equipped to make the right decisions about remanufacturing and that they need the support of legislations," explains Stuart. How Stuart will tackle the problem That is why Stuart wants to do research at a number of companies in Europe and China. He wants to examine the different processes, from design and production of a product to the consumer, and back again. In this way, Stuart hopes to be able to formulate optimal strategies, with attention to differences per market and region, for both companies and governments. "Companies will have to switch to more reuse. The government forces them to, both in Europe and China. Moreover, it is the best strategy in the long term. Producers and governments can make the right choices with the right tools. I hope to be able to give them one of those instruments," says Stuart. Stuart Zhu is affiliated with the Faculty of Economics and Business of the UG and conducts research on Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Production Planning,Inventory Control and Marketing-Operations Interface. Help Stuart do his research and donate! € 3.188 Raised € 20.000 Target 15% Reached
Normal 7f186cccc134a098ff2eda1fabb74a9688902de6 Travel grants for students The Groninger University Fund (GUF) supports students who want to study or to follow an internship abroad for a while, contributing to travel and accommodation costs. For example, Jeri Nijland, master student Biology at the Faculty of Science & Engineering. She followed a research internship at the McGill University in Montreal from October 2014 to May 2015.   'With the help of the GUF scholarship for Excellence Students, I had the opportunity to visit the Douglas Mental Health University Institute (McGill University) in Montreal, Canada. In addition to the treatment of patients, this institute also researches psychiatric disorders and treatments. I worked there as a Research Trainee at the department "Study and Treatment of Circadian Rhythms", under the guidance of prof. dr. Diane B. Boivin. This department uses special research rooms, the so-called "time-free spaces", which allow the study of the biological clock under strictly controlled conditions. Because the lab was part of the psychiatric hospital, this foreign internship offered me the opportunity to do highly specialized research into psychiatric disorders.' - Jeri Nijland    The purpose of her internship was to study light therapy as an intervention for the treatment of depression in patients suffering from a bipolar disorder. There are currently few good treatments for this group of patients. Light therapy could possibly mean something as this has shown a positive effect on other types of depression. In addition, bipolar patients often suffer from disturbed sleep and disordered rhythms in activity throughout the day. The idea is that these factors may affect the state of mind. During her project, Jeri studied the effects of light therapy on sleep and rhythms in activity in depressed bipolar patients. The results showed a number of very interesting findings, and at the moment she is together with prof. dr. Boivin and prof. dr. Beaulieu busy getting the findings published. Jeri: All in all, my study visit has been an incredibly fine educational experience, in which I have developed both professionally and socially and have learned a lot. I would like to thank the Groninger University Fund for the financial contribution that this trip has made possible. The Groninger University Fund would like to give more students the opportunity to study abroad, but unfortunately there are not sufficient resources. Would you please to help the Groninger University Fund?   € 13.476 Raised € 15.000 Target 89% Reached
08/02/2021 New donation Ter nagedachtenis aan Ot Louw 08/02/2021 New donation Ter nagedachtenis aan Ot Louw 08/02/2021 New donation Ik was een vriend van Ot Louw. Ot wilde dat wij deze bijdrage leverden. Maar hij wilde vooral corona uit ons leven weg hebben. Wetenschap, zet 'm op!