Marie Curie grants for Sora Yang and Daniel Krueger

Visualizing translation initiation

Translation is a fundamental process through which the production of proteins in cells is controlled. Translation is mainly regulated at the beginning of the process; a phase that is called initiation. Translation initiation is critical for diverse biological processes including development, but the underlying dynamics are unclear. Sora Yang, from the group of Marvin Tanenbaum, will use the Marie Curie grant to develop a new method with which translation initiation can be visualized in individual cells. The project will uncover the dynamics and key mechanisms of translation initiation and provide a powerful and generally applicable method to study this process. Improving the understanding of translation initiation will be valuable across various biological sciences.

Gut homeostasis

The gut serves important functions in the uptake and digestion of nutrients and protecting the body against pathogens. To face these environmental and metabolic dangers, the gut permanently renews its cells while preserving its barrier function (tissue homeostasis). Daniel Krueger, from the group of Hans Clevers, will use the Individual Fellowship to study how the removal of cells from the gut is controlled. Additionally, he will investigate how the balance is maintained between the production of new cells and the removal of old ones. To this end, he will use gut organoids: tiny 3D structures that mimic organ function. The project will not only help understanding tissue homeostasis in the gut, but also aid in finding targets for treatments for chronic or infectious diseases in which cells are excessively removed from the gut.

Video: Scan through a gut organoid with a dividing cell (blue), a cell leaving the tissue (yellow) and a fluorescent label for E-cadherin (magenta). The cell nuclei are in green. Credit: Daniel Krueger, copyright: Hubrecht Institute.