Dr. Pavel Tomancak © Central European Institute of Technology - CEITEC
The International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) has announced the 2022 winners for the Research Grant applications. Pavel Tomancak, research group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG), received the highly prestigious and competitive Program Grant Award. The HFSP Program Grants appeal to the innovative and creative potential of the research teams. This year, 37 million U.S. Dollar were awarded to support the top 4% of the HFSP research grant applicants over the coming 3 years. The 32 winning teams went through a rigorous selection process in a global competition that started with 716 submitted letters of intent involving scientists with their laboratories in more than 50 different countries. This year, 7 Research Grants - Early Career and 25 Research Grants - Program were selected for funding. Each team member receives on average 110,000 - 125,000 U.S. Dollar per year.
Congratulations, Pavel!
“HFSP funding is very unique. It is supporting investigation of fundamental problems in biology regardless of their perceived application potential. Something I like to call “stuff that matters,” says Pavel. He continues: “This is the third time my laboratory is supported by HFSP and the team is truly stellar. I am very happy to be back in the HFSP community.” Pavel Tomancak shares his award with three international colleagues: Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA), Carl-Philipp Heisenberg (Institute of Science and Technology, Austria), and Andreas Hejnol (University of Bergen, Norway). With their joint project “Bridging biophysics and evolution: impact of intermediate filament evolution on tissue mechanics” the team of researchers wants to investigate interactions between mechanical and biochemical processes and how they evolve to give rise to the large diversity of shapes of life. With a comparative biophysics approach, the researchers aim to identify conserved and divergent mechanochemical interaction principles determining animal shape.
Congratulations to all 2022 winners!