On Monday March 20th the official kick off of METAHEALTH: “Health in a microbial, sociocultural and care context in the first 1000 days of life” took place. The project, led by Egija Zaura (ACTA), received a total of 10 million euros from the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA) and started January 1st 2023. The program is expected to be completed by December 31st 2030.
With about 65 involved colleagues from different scientific-, social- and healthcare institutions and private companies from all over the country present, the Grand Lecture hall (ACTA) was well filled on Monday March 20th for the kick-off. The afternoon was kicked off by Floor Hugenholtz, NWO policy officer and NWO project manager for METAHEALTH, with an introduction to the Dutch Research Agenda and the next steps that will be taken within the project, such as the establishment of its own communication page by NWO. Next up program manager Sjaak Lammerts (ACTA) presented information on the organization and governance of the project, followed by an overall summary of METAHEALTH by project leader Egija Zaura.
The kick off proceeded with an introduction from the PI of each of the work packages involved in METAHEALTH:
WP 1 Inclusivity and engagement of families in research and intervention development – led by Monique van der Veen (ACTA/Inholland)
WP 2 Cohort Studies – led by Denise Duijster (ACTA) in collusion with Arnoud Verhoeff (GGD Amsterdam)
WP 3 In-silico modelling – led by Vivek Sheraton Muniraj (AUMC)
WP 4 Microbiome modulation in vitro – led by Bastiaan Krom (ACTA), presented by Jianbo Zhang (UvA)
WP 5 Complex interventions – led by Martinet Streppel (HvA)
WP 6 Knowldege utilization and participation – led by Laurence Alpay (Inholland)
The afternoon was concluded with drinks in the foyer afterwards.
credits image: Anca Danila, ‘Infant Obesity’, 2008-2010