2019 HFSP Career Development Awards

The International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) announced today 15 Career Development Awards (CDA). The awards are for the most highly creative and accomplished holders of HFSP Fellowships, and allow the awardees to continue frontier research in the life sciences. The winners accomplished their postdoctoral research in Austria, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA and by means of the CDA will start their laboratories in China, France, Israel, Germany, Japan, Australia and Italy. Following a rigorous selection in a global competition, the future for these young scientists could not be brighter.

Their research projects fall right on the frontier of the life sciences as winners dare to modify DNA methylation of specific cell types to influence gene expression, try to process social information of freely behaving animals to decipher adaptive modulation of underlying genetic circuits, or attempt to restore lymphocyte activity in tumor micro environments.

The CDA is a special feature of the HFSP Fellowship programs because it offers fellows the possibility to return to their home countries or to move to another HFSP member country after their research abroad. They receive $300,000 spread over three years to assist frontier research in their new lab as an independent researcher.

The 15 winners of the 2019 HFSP Career Development Award, their research institutions and research programs, are:

Huan BAO (China)

University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

Probing the molecular mechanism of SNARE-complex disassembly by NSF

Felice Alessio BAVA (Italy)

Curie Institute, Paris-Orsay, France

T-lymphocyte exhaustion in the 3D tumor microenvironment

Sara CUYLEN-HAERING (Germany)

EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany

Protein surfactants – a general principle for cellular organization?

Raffaella DI MICCO (Italy)

Fondazione Centro San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

Elucidating the biological impact of precise genome editing in hematopoietic stem cells

Julien FOURNIER (France)

Université de la Sorbonne, Paris, France

Spatial representation and sensory processing in cortical areas and hippocampus during navigation

Naama GEVA-ZATORSKY (Israel)

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

The gut microbiota diversity and its physiological significance

Romain GIBEAUX (France)

University of Rennes / CNRS, Rennes, France

Understanding the structural basis regulating spindle size and architecture

Ryosuke KOJIMA (Japan)

The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Exploiting exosome biology to design polyvalent targeting strategies for in situ cell programming

Ying LI (China)

Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China

Neuronal processing of social information in freely behaving animals

Jinhong LUO (China)

Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China

Neural mechanisms of vocal production control in echolocating bats

Takayasu MIKUNI (Japan)

Niigata University Brain Research Institute, Niigata, Japan

Molecular mechanisms for protein synthesis dependent, long-term memory

Alberto ROSELLO DIEZ (Spain)

Monash University, Clayton, Australia

Chasing entelechy: cell interactions and collective behaviours underlying organ growth regulation

Kurt SCHMOLLER (Austria)

Helmholtz Zentrum, Munich, Germany

Coordination of mitochondria biogenesis and cell growth

Yonatan STELZER (Israel)

Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

Revealing the functional roles of cell-specific DNA methylation following implantation

Amit ZEISEL (Israel)

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

A molecular approach to brain sexual dimorphism: cell types and circuits in the medial amygdala

Full lists of the 2019 HFSP awards are available at http://www.hfsp.org/awardees/newly-awarded

The Human Frontier Science Program is an international program of research support implemented by the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) based in Strasbourg, France. Its aims are to promote intercontinental collaboration and training in cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research focused on the life sciences. HFSPO receives financial support from the governments or research councils of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, UK, USA, as well as from the European Union.

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