NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Research centers focused on molecular biology and protein splitting are among 12 new "Collaborative Research Centres" to win funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, also known as DFG or the German Research Foundation.
The 12 CRCs will be funded for four years with a total €112 million ($137.7 million), including a 20 percent allowance for indirect project costs. The 12 new centers will bring to 241 the number of collaborative research centers being funded by DFG.
Among the 12new centers are:
• Innate Immunity of the Lung: Methods of Pathogen Attack and Host Deference in Pneumonia, which will study regulation and reduction of inflammations, with the goal of developing new therapeutic strategies away from current antibiotics. Humboldt University of Berlin and the Free University of Berlin, as backers of the Charité University Medical Centre Berlin, will host the center. Justus Liebig University of Giessen and Philipps University of Marburg will join as further applicant universities, with participation by the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, and the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin.
• Chromatin Changes in Differentiation and Malignancies, which will investigate the role of chromatin changes within normal cell changes, and in the development of malignant tumors. Justus Liebig University of Giessen will host the center, with Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam and Philipps University of Marburg serving as further applicants, and Max-Planck-Institute for Heart and Lung Research / W. G Kerckhoff Institute of Bad Nauheim participating.
• Integrative Structural Biology of Dynamic Macromolecular Assemblies, which will examine the dynamics of large macromolecular complexes, based upon their 3D structures, changes in composition and conformation, interaction with other large biological molecules, and change regarding spatial and temporal localization in the cell. Georg August University of Göttingen will serve as host university, with participation by the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry / Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer Institute, Göttingen.
• Maintenance and Differentiation of Stem Cells in Development and Disease, which will focus on decoding molecular control mechanisms of self-regeneration and differentiation of adult stem cells. Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg will host the center, with participation by the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg.
• Proteolysis as a Regulatory Event in Pathophysiology, which will examine signal paths within cells and between cells caused by the irreversible splitting of proteins, with the goal of helping develop new treatments for inflammatory diseases, neurodegenerative disease and cancer. Christian Albrechts University of Kiel will serve as host university, with the University of Hamburg, Borstel Research Centre – Leibniz Centre for Medicine and Biosciences in Borstel participating.
The full list of new centers is available here.