Gracjan Michlewski, Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh (UK) and Associate Professor at the Zhejiang University-University of Edinburgh Institute (China), became a laureate of the 2nd call for Dioscuri Centre of Excellence program announced by the Max Planck Society, Germany and National Science Centre, Poland. Michlewski will establish a Dioscuri Centre for RNA - Protein Interactions in Human Health and Disease at the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw. His partner in Germany is Juri Rappsilber from the Institute of Biotechnology at the Technische Universität Berlin. Together, they will investigate the cellular roles and structural characteristics of novel RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and RNA-protein interactions. The major focus of their investigations will be on the RNA-protein interactions in innate immune response to RNA viruses including influenza, commonly known as the flu.

Dioscuri is a programme initiated by the Max Planck Society (MPG), jointly managed with the National Science Centre (NCN), and mutually funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MNiSW) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). It supports the development of lighthouses of scientific excellence in Central and Eastern Europe by promoting outstanding researchers who want to conduct their research in this region. More at https://ncn.gov.pl/dioscuri/dioscuri2/

*Image source: National Science Centre, https://www.ncn.gov.pl