ERC Synergy Grant for viral infection and cellular regulation research

The European Research Council has awarded one of the prestigious ERC Synergy Grants - the most competitive funding scheme from ERC - to a joint research project of the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, the ETH Zurich and the University of Bristol. The interdisciplinary team wants to investigate the molecular mechanisms of viral infection, which will contribute to fundamental knowledge about cellular regulation and new concepts for broad-spectrum anti-viral therapy. The funding amounts to 7.6 million euros. Viruses such as Influenza A remain one of the greatest threats to human health and are associated with enormous economic impact. Despite decades of research, we know little about the molecular mechanisms that viruses use to infect mammalian hosts and how they evade the immune system. There are currently only few broad-spectrum antiviral treatments, leaving the world's population exposed to pandemic viruses. Recent outbreaks of Ebola, Zika or West Nile viruses remind us of the continued dangers posed by viral infections.