NL-NMD Thesis Awards Winners 2025
On January 10, the annual NL-NMD Thesis Award ceremony took place at the Neuromuscular Symposium. The thesis awards are an initiative from the Netherlands Neuromuscular Center (NL-NMD; Spierziekten Centrum Nederland) and their young talent program MYOS, aimed at stimulating and recognizing emerging talent in the neuromuscular field in the Netherlands. Each year, we award prizes (including €500) for the best pre-clinical and clinical thesis in the field of neuromuscular disorders.
This year we received 4 clinical and 4 pre-clinical thesis submissions, all of an exceptionally high standard. Using a weighted scoring system, the jury has unanimously chosen two outstanding winners.
Best pre-clinical thesis: Dana Vergoossen
Dana delivered a cum laude thesis defence, titled ‘The Two Faces of MuSK Antibody Pathogenicity and Their Cause and Consequences in Myasthenia Gravis’ at the LUMC. Dana researched pathogenicity of antibodies against the protein muscle-specific kinase (MuSK) in myasthenia gravis. Her work provides a completely new insight into the disease mechanism of these IgG4 antibodies. She established an extensive international collaboration and developed several new techniques for this purpose. Her insights are crucial for the development of better treatments for this disease. This brilliant and creative scientific talent is an absolutely well-deserved winner!
Best clinical thesis: Henk-Jan Westeneng
Henk-Jan earned his PhD, also cum laude, at UMCU with his dissertation titled ‘(Dis)Entangling ALS’. The title reflects new insights into the ALS puzzle that his work has provided. A key finding is the ENCALS prediction model, used to estimate life expectancy after an ALS diagnosis, with applications in both patient care and drug research. Much of his work focuses on MRI studies, including examining brain morphology in asymptomatic carriers of the C9orf72 mutation. His research significantly advances understanding of the factors involved in ALS development and the search for treatments. This gifted and passionate researcher and inspiring mentor for young colleagues, is another earned winner!
