Case in Clinical science
Dirk Jan Stenvers received the AGEM talent development grant 2021 for his research focusing on the role of the central brain clock in the pathophysiology of insulin resistance.
Like previous years AGEM awarded the AGEM talent development grant for exceptionally talented researchers who are in their first 5 years after obtaining a PhD-degree and want to start their own research line (VENI profile). This time the grant was awarded to internist-endocrinologist & circadian biologist Dirk Jan Stenvers and his research group at the Amsterdam UMC and Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience.
Using the grant, Stenvers and his team developed a cutting edge 7T fMRI protocol to visualize the central brain clock in the human hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the central pacemaker of the circadian timing system regulating most circadian rhythms in the body. Based on earlier studies, Stenvers hypothesized that this central brain clock was involved in type 2 diabetes. The team developed a protocol to assess the daily rhythm of SCN activity in patients with insulin resistance, using 7T fMRI scans.