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Funding
Funding
HFSP supports novel, innovative and interdisciplinary basic research focused on the complex mechanisms of living organisms. A clear emphasis is placed on novel collaborations that bring biologists together to focus on problems at the frontier of the life sciences.
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Awardees
Awardees
In this section you find information about the awardees in the HFSP scientific programs. This includes a searchable database of HFSP awardees, information on the HFSP Nakasone Award and other achievements by HFSP awardees.
- News & Impact
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Events
Events
HFSP promotes and participates in several events every year. We are committed to bringing together the scientific community and forging new opportunities to network and have scientific discussions that help to create bridges and partnerships for the future of frontier science.
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About
About
The Human Frontier Science Program is a program of funding for frontier research in the life sciences. It is implemented by the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) with its office in Strasbourg. Here you can find all you need to know about the HFSPO.
Awardees
2024
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Grant Awardees - Program Grants
Vibrational information transfer between living cells in the extracellular matrix
LESMAN Ayelet (ISRAEL)
- Tel Aviv University - Tel Aviv - ISRAEL
MORTIMER Beth (United Kingdom)
- University of Oxford - Oxford - United Kingdom
ZAERA POLO Ramon (SPAIN)
- Carlos III University of Madrid (Universidad Carlos III de Madri, UC3M) - Leganes - SPAIN
GENIN Guy (United States)
- Washington University in St.Louis - St. Louis - United States
The ability of cells to transmit mechanical cues between themselves through the extracellular matrix (ECM) has been recently recognized as a mechanism of long-range cell-cell communication, with implications in a variety of physiological and disease states. Previous works have focused on quasi-static forces (variations over minutes to hours), whose transduction drives cells to remodel both themselves and the ECM. However, cells can sense and respond to rapid forces in the form of vibrations (e.g., time-dependent at higher frequencies, much faster than the characteristic time of ECM homeostatic remodeling or turnover). Whether cells themselves transfer information to neighboring cells via vibrational waves in the ECM is yet unknown. We hypothesize that vibrations, primarily delivered by longitudinal waves along remodeled (stretched, oriented and tensed) collagen tracks, affect signaling cascades associated with both healing and the onset of fibrosis through information transfer between fibroblasts. Our international team of experts in vibrational animal communication, vibration modeling, in vitro cellular systems, and mechanobiology will explore the propagation of dynamic cues through collagen-based materials and establish whether cells generate, transfer and sense information via transient waves. Manipulation of these mechanical cues may possibly be harnessed to accelerate wound healing and impede fibrosis.
2024
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Cross Disciplinary Fellowships - CDF
Is quantum coherence important in coupling the antenna system to the photosystem in cryptophytes?
GRÜNING Gesa (GERMANY)
School of Physics - University of New South Wales (UNSW) - Sydney - AUSTRALIA
CURMI Paul (Host supervisor)
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2024
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Long-Term Fellowships - LTF
Vocal communication and the evolution of hyper-cooperative societies
HERSH Taylor (USA)
School of Biological Sciences - University of Bristol - Bristol - United Kingdom
KING Stephanie (Host supervisor)
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2024
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Cross Disciplinary Fellowships - CDF
Molecular mechanism of sister chromatid resolution in replicated human chromosomes
HIDAKA Takuya (JAPAN)
Daniel Gerlich Group - Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (Institut fuer Molekulare Biotechnologie GmbH. IMBA) - Vienna - AUSTRIA
GERLICH Daniel (Host supervisor)
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2024
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Grant Awardees - Program Grants
Physical forces and mechanotransduction during mouse embryo implantation
TREPAT Xavier (SPAIN)
- Fundacio Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia) - Barcelona - SPAIN
HIIRAGI Takashi (JAPAN)
- Hubrecht Institute - Utrecht - NETHERLANDS
Implantation marks a key transition in mammalian development, establishing essential interactions between the embryo and uterine tissue. Upon implantation, mammalian embryos undergo major morphological transformations to form the egg cylinder and establish body axes. However, current understanding of the underlying mechanisms remains limited for two main reasons. First, the process of embryo implantation is inaccessible in the uterus. Second, the physical forces that drive this process have never been measured neither ex-vivo nor in-utero. In this proposal we hypothesize that 1) embryos generate and experience dynamic force as they establish adhesion to the uterine surface; 2) the mechanical interaction at attachment induces changes in the inner cell mass position and/or embryo orientation; 3) this orientation in turn influences the embryo morphogenesis into an egg cylinder. To test these hypotheses, this project aims to map 3D forces and mechanotransduction pathways driving cellular decisions and morphological changes both ex-vivo and in-utero. In Objective 1, we will study the mechanics of mouse implantation ex-vivo by directly measuring the traction forces and intercellular stresses as the blastocyst adheres to substrates with tunable elasticity, viscoelasticity, non-linearity and degradability. Simultaneously, we will examine how the mechanical properties of the substrate affect embryo orientation and development. We will compare our ex-vivo findings from mouse embryos with those of monkey embryos which differ from mice in terms of position of the inner cell mass and morphogenesis. In Objective 2, we will study how the mechanical cues that the embryo experiences during implantation are transduced to impact three main processes: interactions at the uterine-embryo interface, embryo orientation upon attachment, and morphogenesis into the egg cylinder. The results will be integrated into a mechanical model of embryo implantation. Finally, in Objective 3, we will test model predictions in-utero and verify the mechanisms of embryo-uterus interactions during implantation across cell/tissue scales by combining intravital microscopy with novel tools for force measurement. This project will provide an understanding of how physical forces and mechanobiological signals drive mammalian implantation in-utero.
2024
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Long-Term Fellowships - LTF
Unmasking the Role of Nuclear Antioxidant Systems in Human Disease
HSU Sheng-Chieh (CHINA, REPUBLIC OF (TAIWAN))
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern) - The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern) - Dallas - United States
GARCIA-BERMUDEZ Javier (Host supervisor)
DEBERARDINIS Ralph (Host supervisor)
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2024
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Long-Term Fellowships - LTF
Decoding mechano-epigenetic memories in tissue regeneration
HUSSIEN Amro (SUDAN)
Department of Cell and Tissue Dynamics - Max Planck Institute for molecular Biomedicine - Muenster - GERMANY
WICKSTRÖM Sara (Host supervisor)
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2024
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Long-Term Fellowships - LTF
Elucidating the role of R-loops in hematopoiesis and bone marrow niche remodeling in aging
JAUREGUI-LOZANO Juan (COLOMBIA)
Structural and Computational Biology - European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL-Heidelberg) - Heidelberg - GERMANY
ZAUGG Judith (Host supervisor)
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2024
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Cross Disciplinary Fellowships - CDF
Understanding far-from-equilibrium chemical kinetics inside biomolecular condensates
KANG Byunghwa (KOREA, REPUBLIC OF (SOUTH KOREA))
Institute for NanoBioTechnology - Johns Hopkins University JHURA - Baltimore - United States
SCHULMAN Rebecca (Host supervisor)
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2024
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Grant Awardees - Program Grants
UV opsin as the sensor for magneto-sensation in animals
SCHAPIRO Igor (GERMANY)
- Technical University Dortmund (Technische Universität Dortmund) - Dortmund - GERMANY
MERLIN Christine (FRANCE)
- Texas A&M University - College Station - United States
KATO Hideaki (JAPAN)
- The University of Tokyo - Tokyo - JAPAN
KOSLOFF Mickey (ISRAEL)
- University of Haifa - Haifa - ISRAEL
The molecular mechanism of bio-magnetic sensing used for navigation by migrating animals is a major unsolved problem in contemporary science. We propose that opsin, the biological light-sensitive pigment, is the actual magneto-receptor. Opsins are transmembrane proteins arranged in membrane stacks within photoreceptor cells in the eye that transmit visual signals to the brain. Opsins covalently bind a retinal chromophore via a Schiff base bond, making these proteins light-sensitive. Our preliminary results from quantum chemical calculations suggest that certain opsins can populate triplet electronic states that are sensitive to a magnetic field. In this state, a quantum ”geometric phase” is accumulated upon a conformational change of the retinal relative to the magnetic field direction, yielding a true quantum biology effect. These specific opsins contain deprotonated retinal Schiff base as a chromophore, which absorbs light in the ultraviolet (UV) spectral range and are termed “UV-opsins” in this proposal. Such UV-opsins are found in insects and birds, and the architecture of photoreceptors in the retina orients them to the visual axis in a manner compatible with magneto-sensing. Specific in vivo support for the role of UV-opsins in the magnetic response of the migratory monarch butterfly came from the requirement of light in the UV range. Lastly, UV-opsin can transduce magneto-sensation to the brain directly via G protein/arrestin dependent visual signaling cascades.
We will test our hypothesis using a highly interdisciplinary approach that leverages genetic tools in the migratory monarch butterfly, a newly established model system for magneto-sensing, in synergy with quantum chemical simulations and 3D protein structure modeling, bioinformatics, cryo-electron microscopy, and behavioral neurogenetics. We will explore the role of opsins with a deprotonated retinal Schiff base chromophore in magnetic sensation, determine their structure and signaling activity upon magnetic induction, as well as validate their function in vivo by testing monarch mutants for loss of magnetic responses. This synergistic collaboration will elucidate a previously unexplored role for opsins in magneto-reception, one of the least understood senses in biology, and is likely to have broad implications for understanding magneto-reception across animals.
2024
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Grant Awardees - Program Grants
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY OF FLAGELLATES SHEDS NEW LIGHT ON EARLY EUKARYOTIC EVOLUTION.
KIORBOE Thomas (DENMARK)
- Technical University of Denmark - Kgs. Lyngby - DENMARK
SIMPSON Alastair (AUSTRALIA)
- Dalhousie University - Halifax - CANADA
WAN Kirsty (United Kingdom)
- University of Exeter - Exeter - United Kingdom
Phagotrophic flagellates are found in all the major branches of the Eukaryotic Tree of Life, and resolving their phylogenetic history is key to understanding early eukaryotic evolution and the origins of LECA – the Last Common Eukaryotic Ancestor. Phylogenies are traditionally inferred by molecular and morphological approaches, but both may be blurred by, respectively, horizontal gene transfer and the problem of distinguishing convergent vs homologous morphologies. Here we propose that functional ecology and biophysics provides a brand-new lens through which to explore phylogenies. Our aim is to study this in both ‘typical excavates’ flagellates, hypothesized to resemble LECA, as well as ‘excavate-like’ flagellates from other deep branches of the tree.
Morphological traits, if homologous, that are found in distant deep branches of the Tree are potential LECA traits. Evidence of similar morphologies with different functions may be a particularly strong argument for homologies that have underwent subsequent divergent evolutionary adaptations. Most ‘typical excavates’ are bacterivores and share morphological features: One of their two flagella beats in a ventral groove and is equipped with 1-3 vanes. This arrangement is thought to play a role in prey capture, but the details are unknown. ‘Excavate-like’ organisms have similar morphologies that may function in similar or different ways, but they are mainly eukaryovores.
We pose two hypotheses: H1: Typical excavate morphologies are homologous and play similar roles in prey acquisition; H2: Typical excavates and excavate-like flagellates have homologous morphologies but may have evolved different function in prey acquisition and propulsion. We will test this in selected typical excavates as well as excavate-like flagellates by (i) resolving cellular morphology using live imaging, and TEM and expansion microscopy of fixed specimens with a focus on cytoskeletal architecture to help distinguish convergent from homologous features; (ii) functional ecology using visualization and quantification of feeding flows, high-speed video-microscopy and micro-fluidics to quantify prey capture and motility, micro-holography to describe flagellar beat patterns, and fluid dynamic modelling to understand the underlying physical mechanisms; (iii) integrate the above insights with molecular phylogenetics to test H1,2.
2024
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Cross Disciplinary Fellowships - CDF
Teaching excitons how to walk: spatial reorganization in an artificial light-harvesting system
KITZMANN Winald (GERMANY)
Department of Chemistry - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT - Cambridge - United States
SCHLAU-COHEN Gabriela (Host supervisor)
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2024
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Long-Term Fellowships - LTF
The role of simultaneous population dynamics in associative learning
KOL Adi (ISRAEL)
Neuroscience - Friedrich Miescher Institute (Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, FMI) - Basel - SWITZERLAND
LUETHI Andreas (Host supervisor)
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2024
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Grant Awardees - Program Grants
Mechanisms and evolutionary consequences of stress-induced mutagenesis
KUPIEC Martin (ISRAEL)
- Tel Aviv University - Tel Aviv - ISRAEL
TRAULSEN Arne (GERMANY)
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology - Plön - GERMANY
Evolution is a two-step process: mutations arise among individuals in populations and those providing higher fitness are favored. It has become apparent that various stresses produce an increase in the level of mutagenesis. Such a phenomenon plays a pivotal role in the development of cancer, in the emergence of drug and antibiotic resistance, and in the emergence of new viral variants (e.g. COVID).
It is customary to think about fitness and evolutionary advantage at the level of individuals, but they only make sense on the level of a population. Here, we want to understand the control of variation at the population level. For example, are there inter-cellular signals that elicit variation in the population to help overcome stressful conditions? Can a population-level reaction to stress be evolutionarily advantageous, even when individual cells may be negatively affected?
This proposal is a collaboration between a molecular genetics lab (Kupiec) and a mathematical/computational lab (Traulsen). We will use the baker's yeast as a model, and carry out a combination of theoretical and experimental work aimed at answering very basic questions related to the induction of variation by stress. Yeast is a rapidly growing microorganism with great resources in genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology. Most importantly, it is easy to set up evolution experiments in the lab. We expect to obtain from these studies a better understanding of the evolutionary mechanisms that operate in times of stress, and their molecular details. Such an understanding is not only scientifically interesting: Medical problems such as bacterial infections and cancer can be understood in terms of evolution and antibiotic resistance and therapy failure in cancer is often based on the emergence of mutations. Our studies may present novel strategies to pre-empt such problems.
2024
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Long-Term Fellowships - LTF
Role of visual and emotion circuits in shaping neural spatial representations of aversive stimuli
LEPRINCE Erwan (FRANCE)
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience - University of Cambridge - Cambridge - United Kingdom
BELTRAMO Riccardo (Host supervisor)
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2024
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Grant Awardees - Program Grants
Cognitive convergence: Vertebrate carnivore-like predatory planning behaviors in jumping spiders
LI Chen (United States)
- Johns Hopkins University JHURA - Baltimore - United States
LI Daiqin (New Zealand (Aotearoa))
- Hubei University - Wuhan - China, People's Republic of - Wuhan - CHINA
NELSON Ximena (New Zealand (Aotearoa))
- University of Canterbury - Christchurch - New Zealand (Aotearoa)
MACIVER Malcolm (CANADA)
- Northwestern University - Evanston Campus - Evanston - United States
Assessing options before taking action (planning) is cognitively demanding but helps enhance reward and reduce risk. Mammals and birds show evidence of planning, but members of the Portia genus of spider-eating jumping spiders (salticids) are the only terrestrial invertebrates that are thought to be capable of planning. Like a lion peeking over tall grass to stalk prey, Portia visually scans prey, assesses options, and takes long detours (~100 body lengths, ~1 hour) so as not to trigger escape or attack (its prey can kill Portia). Notably, Portia has 1 million times fewer brain neurons than us, but its visual acuity is only 6 times worse—better than cats—and much better than other invertebrates.
Recent modeling suggests that planning provides a selective benefit in visually-guided predator-prey interactions, but only for patchy (partially cluttered) terrain that enables visually hiding one’s approach. The predator benefits from planning because as the prey moves, the predator could become visible, and its selected trajectory must be aborted and a new route planned. Because Portia hunts other highly visual non-Portia salticids, our model indicates that Portia may need to plan for successful salticid hunts, by using partial clutter to hide its approach. If true, then the ability to plan may not require a large vertebrate brain, as traditionally thought; rather it emerges from the right combination of ecological features: patchy habitats with high visual acuity predators and prey. Further, how an animal with so few neurons is able to plan may, by necessity, be an entirely novel computational method far more efficient than that used by vertebrates.
To test this key idea, as well as to reveal the ranges of ecological parameters that potentially allow planning to emerge from such a small brain, we will perform the first systematic study of detouring behavior in Portia hunting other salticids, by integrating our expertise in field-based foraging behavior (DL) and lab-based planning and vision (XN) of Portia, complex terrain locomotion, sensing, and predator-prey interactions via creating new tools (CL), and modeling of planning (MM). Our work could advance understanding of crucial issues regarding what features of an animal’s sensory ecology and task demands select for planning ability, and whether there are deeply conserved, ancient features to planning.
2024
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Long-Term Fellowships - LTF
Chromatin rejuvenation and DNA damage responses during ageing of human chromosomes
LIAKOS Anastasios (GREECE)
Institute of Pathology - University Medical Center Göttingen - Göttingen - GERMANY
PAPANTONIS Argyris (Host supervisor)
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2024
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Cross Disciplinary Fellowships - CDF
The bright side of life: fluorescence-detected ultrafast microspectroscopy
LUETTIG Julian (GERMANY)
Department of Physics - The Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor - United States
OGILVIE Jennifer (Host supervisor)
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2024
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Grant Awardees - Program Grants
Temporal structures in complex deep-sea versus surface marine life: from molecules to communities
TESSMAR-RAIBLE Kristin (GERMANY)
- University of Vienna (Universität Wien) - Vienna - AUSTRIA
MATABOS Marjolaine (FRANCE)
- French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer, IFREMER) - Plouzané - FRANCE
OAKLEY Todd (United States)
- The Regents of the University of California, Santa Barbara - Santa Barbara - United States
PELEG Orit (ISRAEL)
- University of Colorado Boulder - Boulder - United States
While biological rhythms are crucial to life, the deep sea is often considered an acyclic exception. However, tidal inversions of local current flow cause extreme, but predictable changes in physico-chemical parameters at hydrothermal vents. Recent work indicates vent animals employ biological rhythms with a tide-matching period. How relevant are rhythms for life under these “alien” conditions and how do they work? We capitalize on our access to the Lucky Strike vent at -1700m with extensive scientific records, including 12 years of videos, and the key ecological engineer species Bathymodiolus azoricus, a vent mollusk. Specifically, we aim to understand the mathematical and molecular logic of deep-sea rhythms, the environmental stimuli that influence them, their ecological consequences, and evolutionary origins/adaptations from molecular level to organism and community scales. Tackling these aims is only possible by cross-disciplinary data, expertise, material exchanges:
An ecologist will provide expertise and access to deep-sea communities and environmental parameters, will perform experiments at deep sea vents to test predictions from models, including the influence of population size and environmental parameters (e.g. artificial illumination) on rhythmicity. A „wet-lab” cell- chronobiologist will probe molecular/cellular mechanisms of B. azoricus deep-sea rhythms on cell culture and organisms under constant and controlled-altered conditions (e.g. pressure, light/temp.). This includes possible sensory systems, tests for endogenous oscillator(s), changes in transcript and protein level/localization. An evolutionist with access to Modiolus, the closest shallow water relatives of Bathymodiolus, will compare putative rhythms (from molecules to populations) and responses to environmental signals between deep-sea and shallow water relatives to understand evolutionary changes. A biophysicist will use computer-vision for dataset analyses, develop models for rhythm emergence and stability, factoring in interactions among populations, environmental cues, and (possibly) correlated molecular changes. The model predictions will be experimentally tested by the team’s experimentalists. New data on ecological interactions, cues, sensors, and mechanisms will inform predictions on how temporally structured biological processes influence plasticity near the limits of life.
2024
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Cross Disciplinary Fellowships - CDF
Early Earth conditions as a selector for functional RNAs
MATREUX Thomas (GERMANY)
UMR CNRS-ESPCI Chemistry Biology and Innovation - The City of Paris Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution (Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris, ESPCI) - PARIS - FRANCE
NGHE Philippe (Host supervisor)
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