Thomas Nieuwenstein, BSc Biomedical Sciences Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) treatment has come a long way since the introduction of the first anti-HIV treatment – azidothymidine, or better known as zidovudine, a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor – in 1987 [1]. While the drug proved to be effective at reducing opportunistic infections and AIDS-related deaths, it caused severe adverse effects in the patient population [1]. Since then, new drugs have been developed which have turned … [Read more...]

Aster Witvliet, BSc Liberal Arts and Sciences, Science major Have you ever taken a medication that had a nasty side effect? Or have you taken a medication that appeared to do absolutely nothing to alleviate your health complaint? Not all people respond the same to taking a specific drug; for some people, it might work well, while it might not work at all for others or come with troubling side effects. Your genes might be to blame for the side effects and reduced effectiveness of your … [Read more...]

About Anton-Babinski Syndrome and Blindsight Lessa Schippers Would you rather be blind and be under the impression that you can see, or think you are blind, while you can actually see? The former is called Anton syndrome, and the latter blindsight. This brief message will discuss both of these rare conditions involving vision and vision loss.  Anton-Babinski syndrome is named after the neurologist Gabriel Anton, who defined the disease at the end of the 19th century; … [Read more...]

Efi Tsouri, BSc Molecular Life Sciences In October of 2020, the first Dutch patient was infected with the West Nile virus (WNV) in Utrecht [1]. Subsequently, five additional cases of WNV infection were reported in the Netherlands [1]. What did these patients have in common? They were all previously stung by WNV-carrying tropical mosquitoes. Such mosquitoes are not commonly found in the Netherlands, raising concerns about the spread of tropical diseases in Europe.  WNV belongs to … [Read more...]

Harshitha Ramu, BSc Biotechnology Have you ever felt like the perfect score you got on your recent test was because you had sheer good luck? Or that sometimes you find yourself wallowing in misery because your experiments did not work, and you feel like you are not meant to be a scientist?   Although you may seldomly feel fully confident and feel like you truly belong in your professional landscape, psychologists have described what you feel as a common experience amongst many people … [Read more...]

Anne Valk1 1BSc Biomedical Sciences, Radboud university medical center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands The 14th of February. The restaurants are fully booked for romantic candle light dinners, loving couples give each other sweet presents, and some daredevils even send roses to someone they have a secret crush on. Valentine’s day: a day to celebrate love and romance. At least, for some of us. For others it is the perfect day to stay inside under a blanket with a big tub of Ben & Jerry’s … [Read more...]