AIMMS PhD Projects - Bridging Projects

The main goal of AIMMS is to provide a complementary platform to perform Molecules and Medicines research from the level of molecules to Systems and networks. This is essential to acquire an integrative fundamental understanding at the molecular level of the biological processes relevant to health and disease. It is also crucial for the discovery and development of drugs (i.e. low molecular weight compounds) and therapeutics (e.g. proteins, antibodies and other biologics) as well as for the development of translational biomarkers and molecular diagnostics for diseases.

This approach is facilitated by a vertical integrationof key disciplines within AIMMS. Within the conventional horizontal and discipline-oriented organization at the VU University Campus, this is a novelty. The intended vertical integration will be crucial in today’s research landscape in The Netherlands and beyond.

To stimulate over-arching research activities AIMMS offers grants. In the first tranche seven AIMMS PhD-grants will become available for bridging projects within one program or in between two   Programmes of the AIMMS disciplines. In the second tranche the collaboration with other Life Sciences will be stimulated.

A PhD-grant is a form of complementary funding, to promote AIMMS objectives, based on the co-financing principle and will not finance the entire costs of the project. These AIMMS PhD-grants offer the opportunity to start with or intensify multidisciplinary research projects based on collaboration at the VU campus to investigate biological processes from molecules up to systems and networks level.