The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships are among the European Union’s most prestigious research funding schemes, enabling talented researchers to pursue ambitious and innovative projects while strengthening Europe’s scientific landscape.
Anna Osnato, Nicolas Rivron Lab
Anna Osnato's funded project focuses on identifying the regulatory DNA elements that control the formation and invasion of the placenta during early pregnancy. Human embryos implant unusually deeply into maternal tissue compared to most other mammals, a process that is thought to support the development of large, energy-demanding brains but also makes pregnancy more fragile. By uncovering the genetic switches that control the development of the cells that form the placenta and enable implantation, her work aims to improve our understanding of early pregnancy loss and contribute to advances in fertility treatments and reproductive health.
Mark Noble, Jürgen Knoblich Lab
Mark Noble's funded project builds on discoveries from the Knoblich lab showing that brain organoids can generate a newly identified, human-specific population of migrating neurons. These cells display gene expression patterns associated with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and schizophrenia. By combining genomic screening techniques, organoid fusion systems, and electrophysiological measurements, his project seeks to uncover the role of these neuronal streams in human brain development and disease.
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Yujia Luo, Andreas Richter Group
During her fellowship, Yujia will be working on the project “Tracing microbial carbon allocation to growth and survival strategies in soil” (Grow-C) in Andreas Richter’s group (TER | CeMESS). In this project, she will focus on investigating in situ microbial carbon allocation patterns and how they shift under environmental stress (e.g., drought and heat) and adapt to long-term climate change (e.g., recurrent drought and sustained warming). This project will enhance the understanding of the role microbial processes play in soil organic carbon dynamics and climate feedbacks.
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Ezra Levy, Andrea Pauli Lab
His project investigates how the developmental programs for sperm and eggs are established during early zebrafish development. In many animals, the instructions that define future egg and sperm cells are stored in a specialized structure in the egg known as germplasm, a molecular compartment containing RNAs and proteins. However, how these maternal components are activated over time to guide germline development remains poorly understood.
With this funding, Ezra Levy will study how germplasm changes over time during early development and how its stored genetic information is activated step by step to guide germline formation. Using a combination of molecular profiling and imaging approaches, the work aims to reveal how the embryo controls the timing of germline development. Beyond providing new insights into reproduction and early development, the findings may also help uncover general principles of how cells organise and regulate key biological processes.
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