ERC Starting Grant for Manuela Hospenthal
In the last application process the European Research Council awarded 11 ERC Starting Grants to ETH researchers. One of the awardees is Manuela Hospenthal, assistant professor in the IMBB. Due to Switzerland's non-association the funds will now be provided by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).
Bacteria are able to take up DNA from the environment and integrate it into their genome. Molecular biologists call this phenomenon natural transformation. In this way, microorganisms can acquire resistance to antibiotics from other bacteria, for example. Although the phenomenon was discovered almost 100 years ago, its molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. In the now funded project, ETH professor Manuela Hospenthal will decipher the mechanisms of natural transformation and the three-dimensional structure of the proteins involved. She will accomplish this using cryo-electron microscopy and other techniques.
Link to the website of the Hospenthal lab.