The escape room project adds to the CPS102 course about pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. It is meant to provide a fun way of testing one’s knowledge on the topics discussed in the course before the exam and to practice collaborative and communication skills. The escape room was conceptualized because many students needed help with this subject. Through a combination of book smarts and problem-solving, first-year students set out to solve the mystery of DDW’s strange professor and his suspicious activities

Symptoms of anxiety disorders include problems with sleep and concentration, worry, fear, and panic attacks. While these symptoms can cause much harm to a patient, anxiety disorders are also linked to cardiovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease and stroke. With this project, I would like to discover the mechanism behind anxiety disorders and how this relates to the increased risk of cardiovascular disease. In addition, I want to critically examine the research conducted on cardiovascular disease caused by anxiety and whether cardiovascular diseases occur relatively rapidly or after a more extended period. Lastly, I would like to discover how clinically relevant cardiovascular disease caused by anxiety is. The project will be conducted through literature research.

In a magazine-like booklet, I want to give more insights into what happens during the cooking or baking of a recipe. Effortless recipes like boiling an egg or preparing pasta will be featured, as well as more complex things like baking a cake. First, the focus will be on what chemical processes happen when preparing the dish, while the function of the ingredients will be the center of attention in more challenging recipes. Also, replacements of ingredients will be featured so that the recipe will be vegan, for example, and the chemistry of this process is discovered. Furthermore, making bread or preparing a perfect cocktail can be lit out, and some exciting parts of gastronomy can also get a page in the magazine. The texture and taste of the food will, in this way, also get a place in the booklet. Pictures of all the steps and the results of the recipes will also be included.

Write a consensus paper on alcohol hangovers. There is no consensus on whether alcohol hangover is considered a disease, syndrome, disorder, or other related label. The goal of contacting Food and Drug Administrations worldwide is to achieve this consensus. This paper has implications in the pharmaceutic industry, among which the labeling of hangover remedies as, for example, medicinal drugs or dietary supplements, both of which have very different guidelines regarding safety and efficacy.

Our project revolves around setting up an e-module that will be used as a tool for prospective students in the Pharmacy selection in Utrecht. The selection contains a case study and a lecture that comprise a large portion of the selection day. As the COVID-19 pandemic restricts students from physically coming to the university, this e-module could provide some solutions to these problems. After developing the module, it will be tested during the 2022 selections and refined after collecting opinions on the module through a survey. After the project ends, the results and care are handed over to the Pharmacy selection team of the department.

The course had different main topics: PCR, Gel Electrophoresis of Biologic Molecules, CRISPR and Genome editing, Homologous Recombination, VDJ Recombination, Retroviral Integration, Genome Expression Transcription, and some information on how you should read papers, etc.
It was supposed to take 10 hours a week, but it took a lot less, about 2/3 hours a week. The course was done preparing for the CPS Internship at the Pharmaceutics department, which is about making tolerogenic liposomes to deliver CRISPR CAS.

Review book chapters of textbooks published by Oxford University Press. 

I (Dagmar Hiensch) received a big book written by Doctor A. Vogel about the function of homeopathic products. When I started reading it, I wondered why these products are available in some pharmacies, since at university, we all learn that homeopathic products are not effective. To find out why pharmacists sell these products we want to make a questionnaire in which we ask Dutch pharmacists about their opinion on homeopathy and whether these products should be sold in pharmacies. We also want to research why people use homeopathic products and which products are sold the most. Besides this, we would like to ask the ‘vereniging tegen kwakzalverij’ about their opinion on homeopathy through an interview.  
Since many people use homeopathic products, this information will be very valuable when we work in a pharmacy after we have graduated. I planned to conduct literature research on homoeopathy and to make a questionnaire for pharmacists to find out why they sell homoeopathic products and their opinion on it. Also, I planned to contact the ‘Vereniging tegen kwakzalverij‘, to ask their opinion on homoeopathy.

Since the 90’s, the misuse of opioid drugs led to a rise in addiction and death from overdosing. A major cause for this opioid epidemic is misuse of prescribed opioid painkillers. On top of that, people who get addicted to prescription opioids, transition to the illegal heroin. Even though the amount of drug overdose deaths decreased for the first time from 2017 to 2018 by 4%, the amount of overdose deaths caused by synthetic opioids like fentanyl and tramadol is still rising. With this project, we wanted to find out why this rise in opioid misuse happened and why prescription drugs are a driving force behind it. On top of that we want to find out why it takes so long to substantially decrease the misuse leading to a decrease in deaths through overdosing. Afterwards we would like to compare this situation in the US to the situation in the Netherlands. This way we want to find out whether misuse of opioid drugs is a (rising) problem in the Netherlands and why it differs from (or resembles) the situation in the US. We wanted to do this project because it is a relevant topic. Also, the role of prescribers of drugs in the opioid crisis interested us. We wanted to gather general information on opioids, their history, their mechanism of action, their clinical use and why they cause addiction. Secondly, we wanted to find out which regulations opioids undergo to limit their use and which different factors caused a rise in opioid misuse. We wanted to give special attention to the role of the pharmacist (inventing new synthetic opioids, prescribing opioids and helping addicted people quit opioids).

To study the influence that food and nutrition has on different disease pathophysiologies, we looked at the physiological role of the digestive system, and how diet affects functions in the human body. We look at where diet increases the risk or causes disease and we look at how diet and nutrition can be used for an alternative therapy to treat certain diseases. The goal of the project is to gain insight into the role of food and nutrition in disease. We wanted to write a literature review on a hypothetical  question based on a disease correlated with food & nutrition. Questions we considered included: ‘What effect will a salt-deficient diet (to treat hypertension) have on regular bodily functions, and how can these be regulated?’ and What effect can different diets have as a therapeutic or a preventative measure in diabetes or obesity?’.

This project initially started in 2015, but was picked up again in 2020. Farmacie, van pillen tot patiëntenzorg is an informative book about the world of pharmacy. The book written in a compelling way that is easy to comprehend for a wide audience including patients. The life expectancy has risen significantly, partly because of better hygiene and food, but mostly because of the development of more and qualitatively better medication. Because of this, the use of medicines has increased in Europe. Despite this, most people hardly know anything about the medications they use. Because most books about pharmacy are written for experts, a group of enthusiastic students of Utrecht University decided to write this book. This book is written for a broad audience using clear and simple language, explaining what pharmacy entails and how medication works. After a successful first edition, a new group of students gathered to improve the book and make it much more comprehensive! New chapters include biologicals, pharmaceutical law and nutrition as medicine. There were supervisors for each chapters. They are referred to as ‘experts’ and usually provide in-depth feedback on a chapter that they know a lot about. All chapters have been reviewed by least one expert and some even to more than two, to ensure accurate information.

Since our parents had a lot of questions about the outbreak of the virus, what viruses do, et cetera, this project was set up. Answers to these questions are very complex and thus, we thought it might be useful to write an overview covering everything related to the coronavirus. We wrote a paper and used figures to help readers understand.

We wrote a plan covering topics like ‘general pipeline’, ‘discovery’, ‘development’, and ‘testing’. Doing this, we took into account the level of the students, to make it challenging, but also not too far out of their interest. We included instructions for interactive games and a practical. After this, our plan was to give lessons using our methods. The nice thing about this project is that we created a product that could be put into practice directly by giving the lessons ourselves. Students could benefit from our project, but we could also learn by searching for new literature and becoming familiar with teaching. On top of that, students at secondary schools are not being taught about pharmaceutical sciences, which is why this project is relevant for this part of the general public to get to know the pharmaceutical world. We have been working on a hand-out for teachers. Furthermore, we spoke to a director of the secondary school and we were in further contact about selecting a date, but corona caused some difficulties. Therefore, we optimised the teacher hand-out, so teachers could teach the course themselves in the future.

This project is about writing a report addressing the following (current) aspects surrounding Birth Control:

• Why is there a current trend in young women to stop using Birth Control and the effects of social media? 
• Rewriting the mechanism of action in a more patient-friendly way. 
• Effects of the shortage of Birth Control in the last years; cause and consequence. 
• Relation between Birth Control and deep vein thrombosis. 
• The factors which determine the price of Birth Control. 

Nowadays, many tasks in various industries have been automated or wholly taken over by computers. While organic and medicinal chemistry might have always seemed ‘safe,’ recent studies have shown that this is not the case. In this project, the future of organic and medicinal chemistry will be explored by looking at what computers and AI are doing in this field and what they could be used for. This will be done by looking at existing technologies used in different fields and future technologies that could be used in organic chemistry. Combining all this knowledge will hopefully answer the question, will the job of organic and medicinal chemist be around for much longer?

We aim to inform HAVO and VWO students from the Netherlands about the pharmaceutical sciences and how drugs are developed. We want to do that by giving lectures on high schools in the Netherlands. It is essential to motivate students to the pharmaceutical sciences, inform students about medicine development, and show them how, for instance, the new COVID-19 vaccines are developed. To reach this goal, we want to develop two educational programs, one for third years and one for fifth/sixth-year students. Furthermore, we want to give the school a choice between English and Dutch, the length of our lecture, and what type of practical work they want (because we want this lecture to be interactive).
The focus will be specific and more on the Chemistry side of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Cosmeceuticals are a relatively small field, and it is usually overlooked. A review of the current advances in Cosmeceuticals, explaining what they are and their use on the market, could be fascinating. In this project, I want to look into this.

I am interested in neurological diseases and want to know more about psychosis. Therefore, I am going to look into different aspects of the condition: causes (diseases in which psychosis occurs, pathophysiology, influence of stress and alcohol), different types of psychosis, treatment (available drugs and their effectiveness on different types of symptoms, treatment plan, if and how the treatment differs between the first psychosis and chronic psychosis, the role of different organizations, prevention, differences between patients), diagnosis and the influence on the life of the patient and their surroundings.

We are working on two inflammatory diseases; atopic dermatitis (Regina Voss and Pien Kiliaan) and rheumatoid arthritis (Sophie Groenewoud, Nina Lebret, and Elysia Yau). With machine learning, we will look into the differences in transcriptome expression before and after treatment and compare them with healthy controls. For this, we use the datasets from Guttman-Yassky et al. (2019), who researched atopic dermatitis, and the data from Tasaki et al. (2019), who investigated rheumatoid arthritis. Based on the datasets, machine learning makes a list of candidate genes which we will analyze to see differences in transcriptome expression between the start and point of patients, between patients, treatments, and healthy controls. For atopic dermatitis, we will look into the use of dupilumab to see which genes are involved in clinical remission. For rheumatoid arthritis, we will examine whether molecular remission is achieved when treated with methotrexate, infliximab, and tocilizumab.

Project in the pharmacy of UMC Utrecht regarding the reorganization of the drawers in which medication is stored. Since this pharmacy has been quite busy over the past year, they needed more time to organize their drawers properly. Therefore, I made a plan to start this reorganization, which includes seeing whether the medication is still in use, what the maximum storage is that the pharmacy keeps and adjusting the space in the drawers to this, properly organizing the medicines in alphabetical order and discarding of medication that is past its expiration date. Due to this project, the pharmacy benefits from time management and better organization. It was also an exciting project for me, as I learned a lot about organizing efficiently, what medicines are stored in the pharmacy, and how often they are used.

Helping set up a course for second-year pharmacy students regarding intercultural communication to generate cultural awareness between students (and later between professionals and patients). Different cultures in the Netherlands have different views about healthcare and healthcare professionals. Therefore, it is essential that a healthcare professional can adequately communicate with patients of different cultures. We are helping to set up this course by providing student insight and helping set up assignments.

The aim is to produce lollipops containing amoxicillin. Amoxicillin is an antibiotic and using the lollipop formulation it would be more child friendly, as well as allowing the children in poorer countries without access to water to take in amoxicillin easier. The formulation (including excipients) was made by the previous group, but a problem was the dissolution of Eudragit (one of main excipients). It was soluble in small volumes, but failed in larger volumes.

My project is part of more significant research on the importance of tutor groups in the first year of Pharmacy (FA-BA100). With this research, we would like to study what role tutor groups play in social networks (e.g., contribute to the formation of social networks) and if there is a relationship between someone’s place in a social network and interaction with other students. I started contributing to this project as a student assistant in September. After that, they asked me if I wanted to continue with the project.

This projects was about taking a look at various pharmaceutical supplements used in the sport/athletic scene (e.g. creatine, BCAA’s etc.). Literature research on human studies conducted assessing the safety and efficacy of the supplements was conducted and a mini-review paper was written. Furthermore, various studies investigating EMG muscle activation when performing certain exercises were studied.

This project was focussed on the use of cannabidiol for the treatment of epilepsy. Epidyolex was approved for the treatment of two severe forms of epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome. Epidyolex contains the active ingredient Cannabidiol. For this reason, we would like to find out whether the commercially available oils can also be helpful for patients with mild forms of epilepsy. For this, we would also like to test whether these oils are reliable, i.e. are the label claims correct and is there a large quality difference between the oils. Literature research and laboratory work was performed to answer the research question.

In this project we are creating a new course for the CPS curriculum, combining immunology and infection topics. Currently in CPS there is no course that covers infection, however this topic is important for a few masters at Utrecht University. Dutch-speaking students can follow courses at Pharmacy or at Biomedical Sciences, however this is not an option for international students. With creating this course we hope to create a more complete curriculum for CPS, that all students can follow a study path which is necessary for their master. We compared the curriculum of the courses from the other bachelors to the CPS course with an immunology theme (at the time, CPS211) and used this to create a new course manual for this new course. 

This project was about researching alternative (herbal) treatment for depression, insomnia and heartburn. This includes the evidence, target and uses for each alternative treatment. Then compare alternative treatment to conventional treatment. Research the legislation and the vision of healthcare providers (pharmacists and physicians) to compare with the public.

Antibiotic resistance can be prevented by the use of two antibiotics. To investigate which antibiotics are most effective for this, literature research is done, under the conditions that it is two different classes of antibiotics. I have finished writing an article about the in vitro research he performed and literature research about antibiotic resistance. In the literature part, I read articles about the clinical and economic impact of antibiotic resistance, timeline of events and the antibiotic resistance of Staphylococcus aureus.

This project was about writing a thorough report on the way waterborne diseases spread, giving some detailed examples of diseases and going into detail on the pathogens and contaminants and discuss ways for prevention or treatment.

This project was about understanding the pathogenesis of Dengue, identifying suitable drug targets based on literature search, design of a novel drug, development of a synthesis process for that drug and synthesis of the designed drug. We were writing a scientific review about the role of sNS1 as a possible pharmaceutical target. We have altered our goal, because we found out our initial goal of synthesizing an inhibitor for sNS1 was far too ambitious.

The sunscreen project is a literature study combined with a practical element and focuses on the different characteristics of sunscreen. The literature study reviews different aspects of sunscreen such as UV radiation, the sun protection factor (SPF), the chemical characteristics of sunscreen agents, and the effect of sunscreen on the environment. The practical part is complementary to the review, as it compares the UV absorption ability of different compounds and sunscreens. It tries to determine which compound or combination of compounds serves as the best UV filter based on the UV spectra. Combining both parts will give a broad overview of the efficacy and safety of this widely used pharmacosmetic product.

The aim of the book project was to provide an overview of the main topics studied in the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences program to highschool students and readers who are interested. These topics were organized into the following different chapters: an introduction to pharmacy, epidemiology and pharmaceutical research, cell biology, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamic, the drug and its target, immunology (cancer, autoimmune diseases, etc.), neurology, and cardiology, along with relevant diseases and accompanying current research. The chapters are explained in a manner that is easy to understand by those who have little knowledge about this field. Sub-chapters are also included to elaborate on topics that are relevant.

Neuropreprints is a blog on neurology that originates from former CPS student Anastasios Galanis. The main idea behind it was for it become a leading collection of articles about new discoveries in neurology. Updates were posted every week and different themes were discussed, such as method, developmental, cognition, behavioral, molecular and cellular neurology. It was a relatively new project and had a small circle of followers, however we believed it had great potential for the future. We envisioned it as a leading platform for students of the university that would want to know more about the newest discoveries in the field.

In this project, I want to expand my knowledge of pharmaceutical industry problems and how this relates to the medical profession. Also, issues within academic research, clinical trials, and the excessive use of medicines will be addressed.

The idea is to explore whether common medical claims (e.g. the powers of detoxing, paracetamol, etc.) are really true. We wanted to do experiments on these different topics, make videos, and maybe eventually create a website. We used the format / lay-out of the previous members and the general principle, but they worked on myths about the common cold and we were exploring different themes. The myths we were working on are inspired by the documentary ‘A User’s Guide To Cheating Death’.

In the course FA-BA111, there is a practical in which students have to synthesize a particular molecule. Unfortunately, the practical did not go as desired in the previous year, so Dirk sought a new practical setup. The idea is to synthesize a molecule easily adjusted in one or more side groups. These molecules can later be analyzed with UV/Vis techniques, and we can link structure-activity relations to those results.

Within the pharmaceutical sciences, many areas are fascinating but not discussed thoroughly within CPS. Besides drugs and treatments, we are interested in diseases and their pathophysiology, research methods, animal and disease models, and other pharmaceutical subjects. In this project, we will dig into these subjects, write detailed reports, and make a short movie for the general public. The plan is to start a website where pharmacy and CPS students can find information on different pharmaceutical areas and where the general public can discover explanatory movies about diseases they or their loved ones might have. We will be writing in-depth reports on a couple of diseases. These reports include the epidemiology, symptoms, pathophysiology, current treatments, new treatments or prevention methods, and a conclusion on what needs to be researched more extensively. The short movies will explain the symptoms, epidemiology, and current treatments and highlight a possible new treatment in general terms that is understandable to the general public.

This project is about music therapy and music medicine. Music therapy and medicine has existed for many centuries already, but only in the last century it has become an area for scientific research. I researched what effects music has on patients and disease, especially on children, as non-invasive treatments are better and less traumatizing for (diseased) children. The first step was to write a comprehensive paper on what music therapy and medicine is, how it works and what evidence there is for the effects. I also paid attention to what type of music is most suited for music therapy and medicine and I tried to compose a few pieces with this in mind. After I had finished this paper, I planned to reach out to the Princess Maxima Centre (and possibly the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital) to discuss the options for music therapy in their treatment of diseased children. I also wanted to reach out to the Conservatory, to see if students would be interested in providing music therapy and medicine to children. This would have to be under the guidance of a licensed music therapist.

In the pharmacy course of FA-BA203 (Neurology), there is an existing writing assignment. In this writing assignment, students get 2 or 3 literature articles about a specific subject within neurology (for example, about epilepsy or pain). They have to write a literature review about these articles. Liesbeth Bijlsma asked us to create new subsets of articles and make a text plan for these articles. In this way, in the new course of FA-BA203, there will be many articles subsets that the students can choose from. Six other pharmacy students are also working on this project as a ‘vakuitbreiding, ‘so not as a free project within hpps.

This project aims to create new assignments for honours students. We want to create a protocol for the ‘perfect’ assignment for honours students based on their needs. We also intend to make new assignments for honours students in FA-BA301 (psychopharmacology).
First, we wanted to find out what honours students want in an assignment. We are also interested in what non-honours students seek in an assignment. So, we made a questionnaire with 22 questions. In this questionnaire, we asked the students what they find challenging and motivational in an assignment and what their ideal assignment would look like. We also asked what they do not like in an assignment and what they think about interdisciplinary and social relevance. We sent this questionnaire to students of different honours programs (e.g., SHA and HPPS) and pharmacy students. Based on the results of this questionnaire, we will make a protocol of the ideal assignment for honours students and work out a couple of assignments for FA-BA301 honours students.

The study of gut-brain access requires in vivo models to be established to take measurements. The next step is to see if such a model can be “humanized” to accurately reflect the human situation. For example, in Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the gut microbiome is thought to be altered, causing one set of behavioral changes. To further study this, Aletta Kraneveld et al. will establish a model using ASD patient stool samples to colonize mice with no microbiota. Previous studies show various ways the microbiota can be removed (antibiotic or “germ-free”). However, these have impacted behavior and could therefore impact the outcome of such a behavior-driven study. Therefore, we are conducting a review of literature involving the transplant of the microbiome and reviewing the outcomes on behavior, transplant success, and a summary of the methods used.

The Green Chemistry project focuses on ways to make the pharmaceutical world more sustainable and environment-friendly. The idea came from a former CPS student, Marinda Westerveld, who, with the help of Lukas Schoenmakers, an expert in removing pharmaceutics from wastewater, started some research in this field. However, our project continues with her work and goes even more in-depth, with the primary goals being pharmaceutical waste removal and how to produce less of it in the first place. From all the preventative measures, this project mainly focuses on catalytic reactions used in the lab to neutralize dangerous waste and make it harmless to the environment. We also focus on already used and future methods for removing specific drugs from the environment, such as antibiotics, cancer drugs, antidepressants, and hormonal pills. Our main goal is to spread awareness about ways to make our waste less hazardous and stimulate students to think of new ideas to improve this problem.

We are updating the HPPS Brochure given to all new HPPS students. The brochure aims to have a compact but complete overview of the essential things within the HPPS. This includes the program’s content for both Pharmacy and CPS (and the differences between both), and we will explain each part separately to clarify what is expected from an HPPS student.

The HPPS website needed to be updated. No one had the access code for the site, and the site needed to be more responsive and correctly visible on your phone. Since accessing a website on your phone is essential, I decided to develop a new one. After working many hours and struggling to get everything nice and visible on your phone, you are looking at the result right now. The site gives an excellent overview and information on the Honours Pharmaceutical Sciences Program. We worked together with the master students to include the HPIP part.

First, we wanted to write on the trends in suicides with opioids and the correlation of the laws of opioids and suicide prevention programs in the United States, South-Korea and the Netherlands. We noticed that there was almost no literature on this. Therefore we changed it into a different research question this year. Then, the plan was write an article about the world of ‘Big Pharma’, with all its problems and different views of people on this topic. To do this, we have interviewed several people and did a literature study including newspaper articles.

We started by gathering information about the epidemiology and pathophysiology of dementia. We also looked at the development and diagonalization of vascular dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and Lewy Body dementia. Furthermore, we described the conventional treatments. These medicines slow down the disease (acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, NMDA antagonists) or treat the patient symptomatically (antipsychotics, antidepressants). Next, we researched alternative treatments. The alternative treatments included snooze therapy, music therapy, homeopathy, light therapy, Chinese herbal medicine, aromatherapy, acupuncture, nutrition and diet, psychological interventions, and exercise therapy. We looked at which alternative treatment had the best chance of treating dementia according to our research. After our literature research, we organized a thematic event with another group. There were two invited speakers, and a movie was shown. 

In this project, we aim to design an Advanced Molecular Biology course as an addition to the current CPS curriculum. There are not enough CPS electives, and we have a knowledge gap in molecular biology. This course would fill that gap. We have considered topics that could be taught during the course (replication, transcription, translation, chromatin structure and epigenetics, RNA biology, stem cells, gene editing, and bioinformatics). We also contacted several teachers who might be involved in the course or could help us form the course. Moreover, we have thought of a project that could be executed during the course: Students write a research proposal for an in vitro study.

Mature red blood cells (RBCs) are mainly filled with hemoglobin, and terminally differentiated RBCs lack a nucleus and organelles. Therefore, it is commonly thought that RBCs also lack any form of genetic material. However, I showed in this research project that small non-coding microRNAs (miRNAs) are present in RBCs. I also stimulated RBCs to produce microvesicles/exosomes and determined their miRNA content.

Together with two Brazilian students (Jonathan and Carla), they participated in a global contest called “The Thought for Food Challenge” (TFF). This contest is dedicated to proposing ideas to feed 9 billion people by 2050.
They said this: “One of the main current global problems is food waste. This problem can be solved, on the one hand, by preventing food waste, and on the other hand, by using this waste. Our idea consisted of setting up a restaurant (called The Cycling Carrot), especially for children.

We developed a problem-based learning task about ADHD for high school students visiting the university to experience studying pharmacy.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychotropic constituent of Cannabis sativa. Early investigations demonstrated that CBD acts as a 5-HT1A and TRPV1 agonist, while it has a very low affinity for CB1 receptors. However, CBD is a pleiotropic drug targeting many other receptors and pathways. This review focuses on the recent identification of CBD targets and their effects to further elucidate their mechanism of action.

For the Honours Programme of Pharmaceutical Sciences, we made a website about the different projects that honours students have worked on. This site gives honours students a better overview of possibilities within the honours program and provides new students with an idea of what the honours program is all about.

Since I did not fully grasp the immunologic concepts after completing a couple of bachelor courses, I followed the Advanced Immunology (Ph.D.) course organized by the Department of Infection & Immunology of UMCU. Topics included the innate/adaptive immune system, communication among immune cells, and immune dysregulation. In this course, I gained insights into immunological research from different perspectives.

We organized the annexation of room 0.26 in the David de Wied building. With this annexation, we wanted to draw attention to the wish that the HP students want a place to come together to discuss their plans and projects, organize meetings, and so on.

Addictive drugs form a controversial topic that can be approached from multiple angles. Therefore, it is an ideal topic for critical thinking. Therefore, we aimed to create an elective course for the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences about critical thinking and addictive drugs, using attractive and unusual learning methods such as debates.

This project was about possibly producing a biosimilar of Myozyme, a costly orphan drug, by (hospital) pharmacists. A feasibility study was conducted to determine if the production costs of Myozyme could be reduced by developing and registering a Myozyme biosimilar that could be produced in pharmacies and hospitals. A thorough literature research was performed together with practical work regarding creating an expression vector containing the DNA encoding the desired enzyme.

As of the academic year 2013-2014, there will only be a decentralized selection procedure for pharmacy students at the University of Utrecht. Therefore, in this project, the decentralized selection in universities was reviewed. We investigated decentralized selection at all universities in the Netherlands and other universities worldwide. We also searched for decentralized selection for the study pharmacy, specifically in other countries. For this literature research, we used evidence-based articles about the selection of medical students and pharmacy students. These studies have examined the results of specific selection tools and whether they influenced study success.

Dosing of acenocoumarol and phenprocoumon in pediatric patients is very complex. In adults, it is clear that dosing of coumarins can be improved by including genotype (i.e., of VKORC1 and CYP2C9) and other determinants (i.e., sex, weight, and indication) in dosing algorithms. For pediatric patients, this is only studied for warfarin. Developing a dosing algorithm can improve anticoagulation control in this complex category of patients. The Children Anticoagulation and Pharmacogenetics Study (CAPS) was set up to create such an algorithm.

We helped Ph.D. candidate Yuliya Borre with her project. She investigated Alzheimer’s disease in rats. This research aimed to determine whether the medicine Memantine or a diet (consisting of zinc, curcumin, piperin, melatonin, cholin, uridin, and tuna oil) was more effective. Either the diet or the medicine was given to the rats.

I lectured on why most published research findings are false with subsequent discussions. The main focus was on the statistical unlikeliness of finding positive results and ways to reduce the risk of finding false (positive) findings. This lecture was a prelude to the symposium Fraud in Science.

The objective of this group project was to write a book for laymen who are interested in the pharmaceutical field. Small groups of two or three HP students wrote several chapters. First, every group asked an expert to review the chapter for the correctness of the content. After that, all students peer-reviewed some of the other chapters. Ultimately, all chapters were rewritten and edited by the book’s editors. They were responsible for spelling, grammar, and coherence among the book chapters.

This project was about the network analysis of first-year pharmacy students. First, the literature states that a good sense of community at the university gives higher grades. What makes a good sense of community? Is the way we teach at the Pharmacy sufficient to stimulate this sense of community? Secondly, we were interested in the current networks of first-year Pharmacy students. How are these formed? Are they related to age, gender, tutor group, or ethnicity? About 250 first-year Pharmacy students filled in our Questionnaire with questions about their network and sense of community. With the programs Ucinet and Pajek, we could show these networks in figures and calculate a number for centrality.

We performed a research internship at the Department of Pharmaceutics at Utrecht University. We examined the effects of pharmacological compounds on extracellular vesicle (exosomes) secretion in different cell lines. In this way, we got familiar with the most frequently used techniques in a biochemical lab.

BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 deficiencies are common in tumor cells due to mutations. Certain cytostatics act better in the presence of dysfunctional BRCA proteins than others. Therefore, it is essential to know whether a tumor carries BRCA mutations. The most practical way of determining the presence of a BRCA mutation is by testing for a biomarker that indicates BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 deficiencies. In this study, the first step in this quest was mapping the protein expression in BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 knock-down tumor cell lines. The BRCA genes were silenced by siRNA, loaded on a gel, and measured with mass spectrometry. Interesting proteins, such as ATM and cyclin D, which play a significant role in cell cycle checkpoints and DNA repair, were downregulated, while other vital proteins like p21 and Cdk6 were upregulated. All up-and downregulated proteins are helpful for further analysis and in the race to be used as a biomarker for deficient BRCA proteins.

I set up a new platelet function assay to determine platelet reactivity and supported this assay.

I analyzed patients’ data from the Utrecht Patient-Oriented Database (UPOD) in this project.

At the Department of Laboratory of Clinical Chemistry and Haematology in the UMCU, I analyzed and wrote a case report about misleading oxygen saturation parameters in the diagnosis of carbon monoxide intoxication: 

A 56-year-old man with an apparently normal oxygen saturation and a dead canary

During this project, I joined the pharmaceutical company Cristal Delivery to perform various tasks. I did not work in the lab on the product itself, but I was instead involved in the other affairs that come with such a company. First, I worked on a presentation that visualized the working mechanism of the product. Then, I made some designs for a product information flyer. Furthermore, I collected and organized information about potentially useful drugs.

This project was about investigating the effect of broccoli on the CYP2D6 phenotype. We did this by conducting in vitro research and setting up an in vivo experiment.
For the in vitro experiment, several broccoli extracts were prepared and added to CYP2D6 supersomes. The effects were compared to the CYP2D6 inhibitor quinidine and several individual substances found in broccoli, such as sulforaphane.

Students’ academic performance in problem-based learning (PBL) is heavily influenced by group functioning, which in turn is influenced by many factors such as tutor performance, group size, and case quality. However, the effect of group composition is still equivocal.
This project investigated whether a change in the achievement level (measured by grades achieved in the previous semester), gender, age, and descent of a student’s PBL group members correlated with a change in course grades.

We performed a literature study about the comorbidities connected with Crohn’s disease. We also visited patients’ meetings to find out the patients’ perspectives.

I investigated photosensitive oncolytic drugs’ encapsulation, stability, and efficacy in different polymeric micelles.

We performed a literature study on a malaria vaccine.

I performed literature research and practical work about quantifying the induction and inhibition of complementary and alternative medicine on different metabolizing CYP-enzymes.

In this project, I investigated the effects of PUFA on reactive oxygen species and interleukin secretion release in mast cells in vitro. The results are published in: n-3 Long-chain PUFA reduce allergy-related mediator release by human mast cells in vitro via inhibition of reactive oxygen species

At the Department of Laboratory of Clinical Chemistry and Haematology of UMCU, I validated the use of point-of-care glucose devices in neonates. This article has been published: 
Use of Precision Xceed Pro Point of Care glucose test in neonates

Little was known about an alcohol-induced hangover and its consequences. The project aimed to generate more knowledge on the pathology of alcohol hangover and its influencing factors. 5000 – 10,000 students were asked to fill in a questionnaire to gather information about:
– which symptoms are contributing to the alcohol hangover
– which role do congeners play in the alcohol hangover
– alcohol hangover remedies
The data were analyzed using different statistical techniques, and the outcomes and a literature review were published in several papers.

I advised a student perspective to the team that developed the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences (CPS) curriculum, a research honours bachelor in pharmaceutical sciences.

We wrote a review of the evidence of resistance to antibiotics and bacteriophages.

We produced an educational video about safe microbiologic techniques shown in the regular pharmacy course FA-206 ‘Infections.’

We developed a computer game that would be used to educate us about pharmacy and biology in high schools. We also provided the teacher with a teacher’s guide and literature. Three high school students were involved in the development.

A proposal was made for a new course for the new track, ‘Experimental Pharmacology.’ We have used insights into the philosophy of science, literature, education forms, and the course ‘Philosophy of Science’ at Studium Generale.

We performed a literature study on the human papillomavirus and vaccination.

We performed epidemiological research and a literature review about benzodiazepine addiction.

In cooperation with other students, we devised a two week-program on pain and art for the multidisciplinary elective “Pain.”

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Dutch Society for Pharmacology (NVF), we produced an exhibition about pharmacology in the University Museum Utrecht. It was named: ‘The pill, that is pharmacoLOGICAL…’ (‘De pil: da’s farmacoLOGISCH…!’) Taking the contraceptive pill as an example, pharmacological concepts were explained.

We performed a literature review about regulatory T-lymphocytes as a potential therapy for autoimmune diseases. First, we reviewed the role of the various regulatory T-cells in the immune system. Then we reviewed how regulatory T-cells can be induced and how they can be administered. Finally, we summarised our conclusions in an extensive report.