Psychiatric patients are ambivalent about the value biomarker research. On the one hand, they hope it can give them "definite" proof that their condition is real. On the other hand, they are afraid of stigmatization. Patients stress that biomarker technology should not replace ‘subjective’ experiences in their conversations with psychiatrists. With regard to physicians, in this case urologists, often they disagreed with developers of biomarkers on 1) the perceived advantages of biomarkers; 2) the scientific and clinical evidence; 3) the advantages of other technologies such as MRI in urology; and 4) the value of other diagnostic tests

The goal of the Hidden Universe program is to shine new light, both experimentally and theoretically, on the question which particle(s) make up the Dark Matter in our Universe. The XENONnT direct detection facility is completed and has had its first science run, showing its excellent performance and high sensitivity for dark matter in an upcoming run. KM3NeT is producing first results, including a measurement of neutrino oscillations, from its first deployed detection lines; KM3NeT is still growing. The theoretical interpretation is making excellent progress, developing new ideas.

There is substantial attention for digital health innovations to improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare. While physicians and other stakeholders see benefits, the actual use is restricted because healthcare providers, hospital boards and health insurers have specific requirements for reimbursement, guideline development and evidence based medicine that do not necessarily align with digital innovations. Together with healthcare providers and health innovators we want to create joint strategies to stimulate the implementation of digital innovations. We use MS sherpa, a tool for monitoring of multiple sclerosis, as case to address these problems, that are also relevant for other digital tools.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disease with high variability in symptoms and unpredictable disease course, leading to heavy personal, economic and societal burden. Our proposal aims to develop and evaluate a smartphone application which provides personalized lifestyle information (insight, education and advice) to people with MS based on data collected through self-monitoring (smartphone sensors and Fitbit). Insight and education will be targeted at increasing the patients’ knowledge of their disease, whereas advice will consist of easy tips to make lifestyle adjustments that are proven to alleviate the burden of MS. This approach is expected to enhance self and joint management of MS, which will result in increased quality of life and self-efficacy. Our project consists of four consecutive steps. Firstly, to provide personalized information we will develop algorithms guided by data from previous studies in which people with MS used self-monitoring. Secondly, together with (end)users (people with MS and healthcare professionals) we will co-create the smartphone application. Thirdly, patients attending the VUmc MS center will participate in a randomized control trial with this smartphone app for six months. The effectiveness and efficiency of this intervention will be examined via quantitative outcome measures (patient wellbeing, healthcare outcomes and adherence to self-monitoring) and a study into (end)users’ experiences, e.g., how does self-monitoring affect experiences of disease management, empowerment and patient-physician interaction? Finally, our findings are used to develop empirically informed guidelines together with relevant stakeholders for the successful adoption of self-monitoring based disease management in the MS healthcare ecosystem.

This project centres around the investigation of molecular mobility in solid layers by a truly multidisciplinary approach. Its aim is to understand soft molecular layers: their chemical and physical properties, and their role as an interface between the gas phase and the bulk solid. This is achieved using a unique combination of state-of-the-art simulation techniques. The fundamental difficulty is to cover processes that take place over a large range of timescales: molecular movement on picosecond timescales can lead to phase changes over hours to years. Rate equations, Molecular Dynamics, and Monte Carlo simulations can cover different lengthscales and a timescale range of roughly 20 orders of magnitude. Advances in numerical simulations have only recently made this research possible. Key questions that will be answered are (i) ``what is the structure of these layers?', (ii) ``is a phase change initiated from the surface or the bulk?', (iii) ``if the layer is chemically altered, is the initial structure preserved?', (iv) ``how can phase changes be controlled?', and (v) ``how can the chemistry be captured in terms of general descriptions?'. Molecular mobility is central to many fields and environments, e.g., ice layers on dust particles in the atmosphere and enantiomer separation. Here I will more specifically focus on two cross-disciplinary applications: the solid state transition from one crystal structure -polymorph- to another and the formation and evolution of interstellar ices. The first is of great interest to the pharmaceutical industry where polymorph control is crucial. The polymorphic form controls the solubility of the compound and is therefore key in dose determination. The second application is important for fundamental questions dealing with the origin of life, specifically concerning the delivery of molecules -like H2O, CO2 and organic molecules- to habitable planets.