Twenty-one innovative research projects launched through Open Competition Domain Science-M programme

Description

The NWO Domain Board Science has approved twenty-one grant applications in the Open Competition Domain Science-M programme. The topics vary from research into cellular highways and the origin of exoplanets, to sustainable processes for our food production and the accumulation of microplastics in rivers.

M-grants are intended for innovative, high-quality, fundamental research and/or studies involving matters of scientific urgency.

The following applications have been approved

(in alphabetical order, by author):

Chasing vehicles down cellular highways
Dr. Christoffer Aberg (RUG)
Peering down the microscope at a human cell reveals a world of tumultuous activity, with objects moving back and forth with no discernible purpose. How does the cell manage to get anything to the right place amidst this chaos? Towards answering this question, researchers will follow how cargo is transported within the cell using microscopy and analyse the motion using an analogy with the motion within glass. This research will help us understand how the cell transport system works, including that hijacked by viruses.

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Syncytin-assisted membrane fusion
Prof.dr. Albert Guskov & Prof.dr. Dirk Slotboom (RUG/RUG)
The visualization of membrane fusion triggered by pairs of membrane embedded receptors and special proteins evolutionary hijacked from the viruses will help not only to better understand this fundamental process (this is a key process during the placenta formation) but will also provide us with the clues to develop inhibitors for the cases when this process is used fraudulently by other viruses to enter the cell.

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About the NWO Open Competition Domain Science-M

M-grants are intended for realising curiosity-driven, fundamental research of high quality and/or scientific urgency. The M-grant offers researchers the possibility to elaborate creative and risky ideas and to realise scientific innovations that can form the basis for the research themes of the future. There are three categories of M-grants: M-1 (one scientific position), M-2 (two scientific positions in collaboration) and M-invest (investments) that are assessed in competition with each other.

In this M-round (package 21-4), a total of 72 grant applications were evaluated, of which 50 M-1 proposals and 22 M-2 proposals. The NWO Domain Science Board decided to award 14 M-1 proposals and 7 M-2 proposals.