Amanda Foks receives Dekker grant from Dutch Hartstichting
Pharmacologist Amanda Foks is one of the ten talented scientists who received a Dekker grant from the Hartstichting. She receives €427,000 to find a way to rejuvenate immune cells to prevent infarcts. Foks was nominated as Discoverer of the Year in 2016.
Rejuvenating inflammatory cells to prevent infarcts
Foks investigates what changes in cells of our immune system as you get older. These cells work less well than when you are young. They are also less good at stopping arterial calcification, which accumulates more and more in our blood vessels as we get older. Eventually, she hopes to find a way to rejuvenate immune cells, so that the cells can also fight against arterial calcification at an advanced age. Arterial artery calcification is the cause of heart and brain infarcts, which are more common in later life.
