Beijerinck Premium

Carmen Embregts is a post-doctoral researcher in the Viroscience department at Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam. Her research focuses on unravelling the immunosuppressive pathways and mechanisms of the rabies virus, in particular how the virus affects innate immune cells in the earliest moments of infection. The jury is impressed by Embregts' robust and independent line of research and recognises her unique expertise regarding the rabies virus and the work carried out in dedicated laboratories.

Embregts intends to use the grant to finance a visit to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh. 

Puck van Kasteren is a senior researcher at the Centre for Immunology of Infectious Diseases and Vaccines, part of the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). She studies how the immune system responds to respiratory viral infections. Her focus is how antibodies function and how viruses and their hosts interact in the respiratory epithelium, the layer of cells in the nose and lungs that separates the respiratory system from the outside world. She will use the grant to visit two renowned virology laboratories, i.e. Thiel lab at the University of Bern and te Velthuis lab at Princeton University.

The jury is delighted by this proposal. It expects that the researcher’s visits to these labs will allow her to conduct more mechanistic and fundamental research in the future.

Pascal Miesen has been awarded the Beijerinck Premium 2023 for his research on the mechanisms that determine how viruses, such as dengue and zika viruses, are transmitted from mosquito to human.

Miesen received his PhD from Radboud University and then worked at the Pasteur Institute where he studied specific mosquito RNA molecules and their role in the defence against viruses. Together with his colleagues, Miesen showed that mosquitoes can ‘store’ information about previous virus infections in their DNA and pass it on to their offspring. This stored information is then used to make so-called Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), which can suppress virus replication. In doing so, the researchers have uncovered a new form of immunological memory. 

After returning to Radboudumc, Miesen has played a leading role in setting up a mosquito facility, where researchers can safely study virus infections in mosquitoes. His research team uses advanced genetic techniques to further investigate interactions between mosquitoes and viruses.

Daniel Hurdiss has been awarded the Beijerinck Premium 2023 for his research on the three-dimensional structure of virus proteins and how it is linked to their function. By understanding how viruses penetrate and take over host cells, and subsequently escape from them again, he hopes to identify new targets for virus inhibitors. He aims to use this knowledge to develop new methods for preventing or treating infections. He has revealed many virus structures and virus-receptor interactions using cryo-electron microscopy, in which plunge freezing technology makes it possible to study biomolecules at an unprecedented level of detail.

Hurdiss shares his work with a wide audience through presentations and social media. The jury views him as an outstanding researcher who is rapidly gaining a leading position in virology research, but also as an inspiration to young researchers.

Daniel Hurdiss is an assistant professor at Utrecht University’s Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology.

In 2022 the Academy is awarding the Beijerinck Premium to Tessa Quax (born in 1986). Quax is receiving the Beijerinck Premium for her original virological research. The jury particularly praised her research on archaeal viruses. The research helps to clarify the origin and evolution of all viruses.

After obtaining her doctorate, Quax worked in Leuven and at the University of Freiburg. She is now associate professor at the Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute at the University of Groningen. She also holds various positions in international collective industrial organisations. Through these organisations, Quax connects researchers within the larger research field of viruses of micro-organisms. She sees this as an important personal task. She enthusiastically promotes the cooperation and involvement of young researchers. In her outreach activities, Quax shows that there are many different viruses that need to be distinguished from each other. She wants to make it clear that many viruses have a lasting relationship with their hosts, are an intrinsic part of life and even have positive effects on their hosts by changing their metabolism or protecting them from other viruses. Quax explains transparently how viruses keep ecosystems (such as the human microbiome) healthy and therefore stimulate the evolution of species.

Sebastian Lequime has received the 2021 Beijerinck Premium for his research on viral evolution. He searches viral genetic material for clues as to their origins and how they are transmitted.

He is particularly interested in viruses transmitted by insects and ticks and in viruses that infect bacteria. In addition to his research, Lequime also does a significant amount of outreach. For example, he contributes to the Vir(Ev)o YouTube channel, devoted to explaining the basic concepts of viral evolution and molecular epidemiology.

Lequime (born 1988) is assistant professor at the University of Groningen’s Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences.

The Academy Beijerinck Premium 2020 has been awarded to Jelke Fros (1985). Fros is receiving the Beijerinck Premium for his original virological research. The jury particularly praises the current line of research he is working on at the Laboratory of Virology in Wageningen. A line in which he links research data on mammalian, insect and plant viruses.

Which virus is dangerous?

All viruses are submicroscopically small, they can only survive and reproduce by interfering in the growth process of their host (a plant, invertebrate or vertebrate). By far the majority of virologists target one or closely related viruses of the 4,400 species now known, for example the HIV, polio or SARS virus. Fros focuses on much larger groups of viruses. He is particularly interested in virus families that occur in many different hosts. What are the similarities, where are the differences, which viruses in such a family occur only in insects or plants and how is their hereditary material composed? Fros shows that in the hereditary material of mammalian viruses, certain combinations of two successive building blocks are strongly suppressed, and he has data showing that this helps to avoid certain innate defence mechanisms in their host. 

Developing vaccines more effectively

After gaining his PhD, Fros worked at Oxford and Wageningen universities. In those four and a half years, he made significant discoveries about the combinations of two successive building blocks in the hereditary material of viruses. In many virus families, he observes that the viruses use the same frequencies of building block pairs as the host. Based on his data, it is now easier to predict after a general screening whether a virus found in a mosquito is dangerous to mammals, including humans. This is an important development in the control of mosquito-borne diseases, such as Dengue or Zika. In future research, Fros is intending to use his findings to develop safe, effective vaccines. 

Academy Beijerinck Premium recognition welcome

Fros is delighted with the recognition of his work by the Academy Beijerinck Premium. His current research is project-related, but Fros hopes to be able to continue his work on a long-term basis. The Academy Beijerinck Premium is awarded annually to a post-doc researcher who is conducting outstanding virus-related research at a Dutch research institution.

Robert de Vries, an assistant professor at the Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, has been awarded the Beijerinck Premium 2018.

Robert de Vries (1983) is receiving the premium for his research on the receptor specificity of viruses, including the influenza virus. In his doctoral research, he demonstrated that complex branched sugars are the most important receptors for the influenza virus. 

Rory de Vries, a post-doctoral researcher at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, has been awarded the Beijerinck Premium 2018.

Rory de Vries (1982) is receiving the premium for his research on the human body's defences against respiratory viral infections, and for his ability to communicate his knowledge of virology and infectious diseases to a wide audience.

Marit van Gils, a promising AIDS researcher at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, has been awarded the Beijerinck Premium 2017.

Marit van Gils (1982) studies how our immune system responds to HIV infections and uses this knowledge to develop new HIV vaccines. Her work has been published in leading journals. Van Gils studied in Groningen, received her PhD in Amsterdam and has worked in New Zealand, South Africa and the United States (California). 

Debby van Riel of the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam has been awarded awarding the Beijerinck Premium 2015 for her research the way in which influenza viruses use the olfactory nerve to reach the brain.

Debby van Riel (1976) received a VENI scholarship to perform research at the Viroscience department of the Erasmus MC. Influenza viruses in the nasal cavity use the olfactory nerve as a shortcut to the brain, where they can cause inflammations. Debby van Riel is investigating how the viruses are able to do so and how they multiply in the brain. Moreover, she is researching whether that route via the olfactory nerve can be blocked.

Stan Brouns of the Laboratory of Microbiology at Wageningen University will receive the Beijerinck Premium (EUR 25,000), intended for young, outstanding Dutch researchers working in the field of virology.

About the laureate

Dr Stan Brouns, Assistant Professor with the Laboratory of Microbiology at Wageningen University, is receiving the 2013 Beijerinck Premium for his research into the bacterial system of immunity against viruses. He has published in Science and other journals about this conceptual breakthrough. Brouns has already been awarded Veni and Vici funding for his research by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research.

The Academy Beijerinck Premium 2011 has been awarded to Michiel Pegtel.

The Academy Beijerinck Premium 2008 has been awarded to Jeroen Cornelissen.

Debbie van Baarle has been awarded the Beijerinck Premium (EUR 50,000) by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Van Baarle, who works for Utrecht University Medical Centre, received the prize for her original work on the immunology of viral infections.

Van Baarle's (1973) research focuses specifically on how the immune system responds to common herpes viruses such as the Epstein-Barr Virus and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (which causes AIDS).

The Epstein-Barr Virus infects approximately 90% of all people by the time they reach adulthood. Although symptoms do not generally appear during childhood, later in life the virus can lead to fever, sore throat, swollen lymph glands and severe fatigue. When the body's immune system is weak for example in AIDS sufferers or patients who take immunosuppressives after an organ or bone marrow transplant the virus can cause tumours. Debbie van Baarle is investigating the failure of the immune system of people who carry the Epstein-Barr Virus. The results of her research may help to predict symptoms and develop treatments that can improve the immune response.

The Academy has awarded this year's Beijerinck Premium (EUR 50,000) to virologist Xander de Haan (35), post-doctoral researcher with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University. De Haan has been awarded the prize for his original work concerning the genetics of coronaviruses.

Coronaviruses, which can cause colds and SARS in humans, have a gigantic genome. Dr De Haan has developed a method to manipulate and used it to make a number of significant discoveries. He demonstrated the genome's flexibility, showing that it is capable of tolerating a number of different mutations. For example, changing the sequence of coronaviral genes had no effect. It was also possible to delete some genes, although this led to a loss of ability in the virus to infect its host. Conversely, it was possible to add foreign, viral and non-viral genes to the genome. Taken together, these findings open up new possibilities for vaccine development.

The Academy Beijerinck Premium 2005 has been awarded to Maaike Ressing.

The Academy Beijerinck Premium 2004 has been awarded to Frank van Kuppeveld.

The Academy Beijerinck Premium 2003 has been awarded to René Olsthoorn.