ERC Consolidator Grant for Stefanie Jonas
Stefanie Jonas, professor in the D-BIOL's Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, is one of the four awardees at ETH Zurich who have been awarded a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Since Switzerland is no longer fully associated, the funds will be provided by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).
The Jonas lab studies the processing machineries for small nuclear RNAs and the processome of small ribosomal subunits in human cells. Both are large multi-subunit complexes, that work dynamically to generate the mature RNPs. The complexity of these RNP biogenesis pathways requires a complementary approach. The lab uses functional and biochemical assays in conjunction with structural approaches as well as mass spectrometry and next-generation sequencing to gain a deep mechanistic understanding of RNA processing and RNP assembly.
The project Stefanie Jonas receives the ERC Consolidator Grant for is focused on investigating how the transcription is stopped in a dynamic manner – for example, in response to changes in the cells' environment. The cause of many diseases, such as cancer, is a misregulation of this readout process. Research into its molecular mechanisms could therefore lay the foundation for new therapeutic approaches.
Link to the Jonas lab