Five new Starting Grants from the European Research Council for researchers in Portugal

Cell division, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, coordinated movement control, and thymus development. These are the topics of study of the five new winners in Portugal of the prestigious Starting Grants from the ERC – European Research Council.

Nuno Alves and Ana Carvalho (both at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Porto), Ana Cecília Roque (fromUCIBIO@REQUIMTEatthe Faculty of Science and Technology, New University of Lisbon), Raquel Oliveira (from the Gulbenkian Institute of Science), and Megan Carey (from the Champalimaud Foundation) will receive an average of €1.5 million each to develop, over five years, the projects that were approved by the highly competitive panels to which they were submitted.

These five scientists are seeking answers to some of the greatest challenges in their respective scientific fields. Their findings could lead to major advances in understanding health and certain diseases, such as infectious diseases, cancer, autoimmunity, and motor neuron diseases.

Ana Carvalho and Raquel Oliveira are both interested in the complex and finely regulated processes that occur during cell division, in the process of mitosis. Raquel will investigate recent findings that suggest that, contrary to what was previously thought, chromosomes are not passive observers during mitosis, but rather play a more active role in their separation, even influencing the mechanisms that supervise the cell division process. She will investigate how structural abnormalities in chromosomes can lead to errors during mitosis and what impact this has on the development of an organism (in this case, the powerful fruit fly, her study model). Ana Carvalho's work focuses on the final stages of mitosis, after the chromosomes have separated, and how the formation of a contractile ring that divides the cytoplasm of the mother cell to form two daughter cells, each with its own set of chromosomes, is regulated.

Nuno Alves chose the thymus, where T lymphocytes are generated and mature, as his organ of study. These immune system cells recognize and attack pathogens, but are tolerant to the organism in which they are found. T lymphocytes mature (differentiate) in microenvironments of the thymus, lined with so-called thymic epithelial cells. In these environments, those that recognize the body itself are eliminated, leaving only those that can recognize pathogens. When these processes are disrupted, situations of immunodeficiency or autoimmunity arise. Nuno's goal is to study these microenvironments, in particular the molecular and cellular mechanisms that control the renewal of thymic epithelial progenitor cells and their effect on the differentiation of different types of T lymphocytes. With this knowledge, it may be possible to modulate these processes, with an impact on health sciences.

Ana Cecília Roque's challenge is to develop tools that enable the rapid identification of antibiotic-resistant bacteria—a global threat that is spreading at an alarming rate. Her approach is part of a new area of diagnostics based on the detection of volatile microbial metabolites. Her group recently discovered a new class of materials that respond to stimuli and show great potential for advancing the field of odor detection. Her research could lead to the rapid identification of pathogenic bacteria, including those that have acquired broad antibiotic resistance, with a major impact on disease control.

Megan Carey is the only foreigner in the group, but she has been with the Champalimaud Neuroscience Program for several years. With her ERC funding, she will continue to investigate the functioning of the cerebellum, specifically to try to identify which neural circuits in the cerebellum contribute to controlled locomotion. She hopes to establish a causal relationship between the activities recorded in specific neural circuits and the control of coordinated movements. These correlations could pave the way for better control of movements in situations of illness.

These five new ERC winners join 36 others who received funding between 2006 and 2013. Starting, Advanced and Consolidator to work in Portugal.