NWO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) has awarded a Veni grant to Dr Job Verdonschot (Dept of Cardiology). Job receives the grant for his project 'Visualizing the invisible in genetic cardiomyopathies'.

Job researches hereditary heart muscle diseases. He does this not only for the patient themselves but also for their family members who are at risk of developing the same disease. By monitoring these family members with the appropriate tests, the heart muscle disease can be detected and treated at an early stage. This can prevent the serious consequences of such a disease. Job uses the Veni grant in his research on the hereditary heart disease dilated cardiomyopathy, also known as dilated heart muscle.

Currently, family members of patients are advised to have an ultrasound performed by a cardiologist every one to three years. However, new European guidelines recommend that they should also regularly and more readily receive an MRI, as scars can form in the heart that are not visible on an ultrasound but can be seen on an MRI. This is not easy, however: conducting an MRI is expensive, and there is insufficient capacity to regularly screen the thousands of family members. Together with TU Eindhoven, Job is therefore using a new ultrasound technique that, with a higher frequency, can visualize scar tissue. With the help of the Veni grant, he will investigate whether this ultrasound technique can visualize scarring as well as or even better than an MRI scan.