HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged 
Jan 16, 2024 | News
Ten life scientists from seven countries (Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Turkey) have been awarded EMBO Installation Grants, that support group leaders who will move or have recently moved to countries participating in the scheme. In the four years prior to their application, they have spent at least two consecutive years outside the country where they are now setting up their laboratory. The ten funded applications span a broad range of biological processes including aging, tumor biology, gut-brain axis communication, microbiota, and gene editing tools.
EMBO Director Fiona Watt also expressed her delight at the support of these exceptional researchers, whose work will strengthen their country's life science research and enrich the wider scientific community.
The annual grant of 50,000 euros for three to five years is provided by the country's ministry or funding agency (35,000 euros, NRDI Office in Hungary) and by EMBC, the intergovernmental organization of 31 member states that funds the major EMBO Programmes and activities (15,000 euros). The recipients also have access to additional grants of up to 10,000 euros per year as well as travel grants. They can participate in training activities, expand their research network, and gain access to the core facilities at EMBL Heidelberg.
There are two EMBO Installation grantees in Hungary:
Viktória Lázár at the HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged and Gergely Róna at the HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences.
Viktória Lázár previously worked five years at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology before she moved to Hungary and founded the MTA-BRC "Lendület" Momentum Systems Biology of Antibiotic Action Research Group in 2022. Her winning project of 2024 EMBO Installation Grants entitled "Exploring new strategies against genotoxin-producing gut pathogens' aims to target harmful, toxin-producing intestinal bacteria. The broad and previously underappreciated impact of the intestinal microbiome on human health has come to light in recent years. In particular, a clear relationship has been found between diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal carcinoma and specific constituents of the microbiome that produce harmful, even genotoxic (DNA damaging) metabolites. Therefore, the Lázár lab proposes a multifaceted, high-throughput approach to uncover new, effective treatment strategies that specifically target genotoxin-producing pathogens while minimizing the impact on beneficial gut bacteria. During the winning EMBO project, the research group is looking for chemical molecules and synthetic gut microbial communities that selectively inhibit genotoxin-producing bacteria while at the same time reducing their pathogenicity. Together, this unique research has the potential to result in highly specific treatment options for harmful, genotoxin-producing pathogens and to identify previously unknown risk factors linked to inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal carcinoma.
Congratulation to Viktória for winning the EMBO Installation Grant!