Three FSE researchers receive NWO XS grant

Three researchers of the Faculty of Science and Engineering (UG) have been awarded an ENW-XS grant by the Dutch Research Council (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijke Onderzoek, NWO): Dr. Sonja Billerbeck , Dr. Chunzhe Lu and Dr. Andreas Milias-Argeitis . All three are working at the Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute ( GBB ). They each receive an XS grant of EUR 50,000.

The aim of XS grants is to encourage curiosity-driven and bold research involving a quick analysis of a promising idea. A special aspect is that the applicants themselves assess the other applications.

Dr. S. Sonja Billerbeck (GBB) | Uncovering a new weapon against the untreatable human fungal pathogen Candida auris

Multidrug-resistant fungal pathogens present a serious threat to human health. One of these is Candida auris which causes frequent outbreaks in healthcare settings, killing up to 60% of the patients it infects as it is hard to diagnose and resistant to available antifungals. We urgently need new treatments. We recently discovered a single-celled soil fungus that secretes a protein toxin that specifically kills C. auris. Here we propose to develop a pipeline that identifies the toxin-encoding gene towards its use as a treatment. The same pipeline could yield other toxins that kill multi-drug resistant emerging pathogens.

Dr. Chunzhe Lu (GBB)  | Nanopore Coupling with Unfoldase and Protease for Protein Sequencing at the single-molecule Level

Similar to next-generation DNA sequencing, single-molecule protein sequencing promises significant breakthroughs in biology, medicine, and science. Imagine affordable, portable devices capable of detecting proteins, making early disease diagnosis more feasible. Nanopores emerge as a potential technology for such devices. Our goal is to devise a "nano-couple", consisting of a molecular machine that unfolds proteins and a nanopore responsible for reading amino acids. This innovation will boost the efficiency of nanopore protein sequencing and help further understand the sequencing mechanism. The impact is profound, potentially revolutionizing healthcare and advancing our understanding of proteins.

Dr. Andreas Milias-Argeitis (GBB) | An optogenetic “traffic light” for synchronizing cell populations

The cell division cycle is a fundamental feature of living organisms. To efficiently study this complex biochemical process in large cell populations, we need to force cells to divide in a synchronous manner. However, our current synchronization protocols have severe drawbacks that limit their applicability and the degree of synchrony that can be achieved. We will develop a new, generally applicable cell synchronization method that overcomes these challenges using genetically encoded light-sensitive proteins. Synchronization of cells using light stimulation has not been tried before, and holds the potential to revolutionize cell cycle studies across many different cell types and organisms.