Second ERC Advanced Grant for Julia Vorholt
Congratulations to our Swiss Plant Science Web member Julia Vorholt, Professor of Microbiology at ETH Zurich, who has been awarded a second ERC Advanced Grant.
Her new project focuses on ways to impart specific abilities to cells. Vorholt takes her inspiration from a partnership between single-celled organisms that was rare – but extremely successful – in the evolution of life: cells living symbiotically within other cells in a process known as endosymbiosis. Over the course of evolution, this gave rise to organelles – separate compartments with their own metabolic functions inside higher cells. The relics of this coexistence include mitochondria, which act as the powerhouses of cells, and chloroplasts, which conduct photosynthesis. With her research group, Vorholt now wants to develop artificial compartments in order to introduce new metabolic characteristics into cells on a modular basis. Numerous biotechnology applications could benefit from this.
Source
ETH Zurich News