Minke Holwerda, BSc Biomedical Sciences Unless you have been living under a rock, it has probably not escaped you that we are currently in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, caused by severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). While vaccines are being developed, produced, and injected in a (more or less) high tempo, a cure for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has not yet been found.  In the race for the COVID-19 cure, some countries have turned to exploring the … [Read more...]

Quentin Marsman, BSc Medicine Late-night eating is an activity we all participate in once in a while. We all enjoy that snack right before bed after an evening with intense exercise or a hamburger after going to the bar. Nevertheless, these snacks could be more detrimental to our health than we might think. Studies show that the timing of food intake has a relation to weight gain. Experimental studies in animals show that unusual feeding time leads to obesity, even in the absence of changes … [Read more...]

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...]