Amber Schotting Awarded with AI&I’s 2026 Travel Grant

6 March 2025 – Amber Schotting, PhD candidate at OrganoVIR Labs, Amsterdam UMC, was recently awarded with a travel grant by the Amsterdam Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases (AI&I).

The AI&I Travel grant aims to stimulate young talents within AI&I to attend international scientific conferences in the fields of immunology and infectious diseases – simultaneously, the grant helps PhD students build their CVs and expand their professional networks.

Amber, awarded with €700 for conference visits within Europe, will attend and participate at the Viruses 2026 conference in Barcelona, Spain. She is scheduled to present her research, titled Analysis of EV-A71 and EV-D68 Infection in Human Neuromuscular Organoids Reveals Distinct Mechanisms of Neuromuscular Impairment, on March 11th at 17:00. She will be joined by Prof. Dr. Dasja Pajkrt and Dr. Katja Wolthers at the conference.

Within OrganoVIR Labs, Amber is contributing to the EU-funded COMBAT Dengue project. Her research focuses on understanding the neuropathogenesis and antibody-dependent enhancement of dengue virus infection using brain organoid mdoels. By uncovering these mechanisms, the project will contribute to innovative strategies to treat and prevent severe dengue.

“I am so happy that AI&I is supporting me with the travel grant to go to my first conference abroad! I am looking forward to present our work with organoid research in Barcelona and to connect with other researchers there” said Amber.