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Highly Prestigious International HFSP Grant Awarded to IMBB-LAB
Prof. Electra Gizeli from IMBB-Biosensors lab (http://biosensorslab- forth.gr) is recipient and will coordinate a new Human Frontier and Science Program (HFSP) grant entitled “Self-organization and biomechanical properties of the endosomal membrane”. HFSP Research Grants are highly prestigious and competitive research programs awarded to interdisciplinary international teams. This year, 20 Research Grants were selected for funding (https://www.hfsp.org/awardees/newly-awarded) from an initial total of 549 letters of intent.
Electra Gizeli shares the award with Marino Zerial (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany), Toshio Ando(WPI Nano Life Science Institute, Kanazawa University, Japan), and Andrew J. Spakowitz(Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, USA). The program is devoted to gain insights into the structure and function of biological membranes. Despite that molecular components of membranes, such as lipids and proteins, have already been identified, an understanding of their self-organization and dynamics as well as biophysical and biomechanical properties is still lacking. This joint project will address this issue by employing a combination of soft-matter physics, bio-sensing, microscopy, biochemistry and cell biology, focusing on the early endosome membrane.
HFSP’s collaborative Research Grants are given for a broad range of projects under the umbrella theme “Complex mechanisms of living organisms”. The program funds cutting-edge, risky projects and it is the only program that supports international teams of scientists with laboratories in different countries. HFSP Program Grants appeal to the innovative and creative potential of the research teams.