Five projects awarded within MOSTMICRO-ITQB Call

The results of ITQB NOVA’s research Unit MOSTMICRO-ITQB Exploratory Projects Call have been published. Five proposals, out of 20, have been selected within this call: “Description of the bacteriome of the human fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus”, by Cristina Silva Pereira; “How is mycobacterial cell division rapidly arrested to evade innate immunity? Probing divisome interactions in isolation and in vivo”, by Zach Hansel; “Unravelling ecological interactions leading to antimicrobial tolerance in polybacterial communities of the human gut microbiota”, by Sarela Garcia Santamarina; “Stressing Out: Promoting Antifungal Activity by Fostering Reductive Stress with Metal Complexes”, by Ana Petronilho; and “How the Nucleocapsid protein hijacks the TGFβ pathway to enforce COVID-19 pathogenicity? — a structural perspective.”, by Tiago N. Cordeiro.

Each project will be funded with 25000€/each for one year – 125 000 euros in total. The projects are financed by MOSTMICRO-ITQB, with a top-up through its budget within the LS4Future, both supported by FCT-MCTES. They will develop novel research ideas, contributing to the understanding of biological processes at the molecular, structural, cellular or population levels, with a focus on microbes important for human health, biotechnology, and the environment.

The proposals have been evaluated by MOSTMICRO-ITQB Scientific Advisory Board Members, guided by the scientific merit of the project, its feasibility and the capacity of the research team, the added value for the research unit and the potential impact in attracting future external research funding.