Two of Europe´s most prestigious grants awarded to the Czech Academy od Sciences

Overcoming a genetic disorder that leads to serious diseases, and examining the relationship between political party systems and social conflicts in the MENA region — these are the goals of two ERC Synergy Grants awarded to researchers from the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS). Each grant provides €9.8 million in funding over six years.

Leoš Valášek from the Institute of Microbiology of the CAS and Julius Lukeš from the Biology Centre of the CAS are part of an international interdisciplinary team who will advanced research on a specific type of genetic disorder known as a premature termination codon.

Jan Zouplna from the Oriental Institute of the CAS will participate in a project connecting 40 researchers to study interplay between party systems and lines of social conflict in eight countries of the former Ottoman Empire region.

3Stops2Go all the way!

Imagine a crossroad with traffic lights and cars driving up and down intersecting streets. Drivers leave their fingerprints on the steering wheel as they navigate through their lives. Indeed, each of us has unique fingerprints, and each of us is sometimes driving through a wave of green light before having to stop at red due to various obstacles. But only some of us are stopping and not running most of the time. We are talking about people suffering from monogenic diseases. Their health conditions are severe, yet the underlying genetic problem is often very simple. With 3Stops2Go, four researchers - Leos Valasek and Julius Lukes from Czech Republic, Olivier Namy from France, and Mark Osborn from the USA -  have teamed up to form an initiative aiming to ameliorate the number of red lights these people face daily.

These diseases include Cystic fibrosis (CS), Fanconi anemia (FA), Hurler syndrome (MPS-IH), Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), etc. The common denominator of all of them is a specific type of mutation, known as a premature termination codon (PTC). PTCs cause early termination of protein synthesis of essential human genes, leading to truncated, non-functional proteins. They are responsible for approximately 11% of genetic diseases in general.

The 3Stops2Go grant recipients found their main inspiration in nature when they discovered specific species among single-celled organisms called protists, which have alternative genetic codes and can carry many PTCs in their genes while remaining fully viable. This is due to a specifically altered structure of small RNA molecules called tRNAs, which are essential for protein synthesis. Based on these findings, they plan to develop specific tRNAs and other tools to bypass genetic errors in organisms with common genetic codes, such as humans. They then intend to examine these tools on monogenic PTC disease cells derived directly from children’s patients suffering from these diseases and on a mice model with PTC causing Hurler syndrome. The long-term vision, extending beyond the scope of this research initiative, is to leverage these tools to pave the way for clinical applications.

Each of the 3Stops2Go grantees is an expert in a different field, such as protist biology, tRNA biology, protein synthesis, disease pathology, gene therapy, and drug development. Therefore, to achieve this ambitious goal, they have synergized to create an international and interdisciplinary team that transcends Atlantic ocean boundaries.

CLOSER: Focused on the Post-Ottoman Space

The second awarded grant is the project with the abbreviated title “CLOSER” (Party Systems and Social Cleavages in the Post-Ottoman Space of the MENA Region). It will examine the interplay between social cleavages and political party systems in selected countries of the MENA region. Around 40 researchers are expected to take part. The principal investigators are Clément Steuer from the Institute of International Relations, Jan Zouplna from the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and Gilles Van Hamme from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

“Among the original aspects of the project is the selection of countries itself — encompassing several Arab states, Turkey, and Israel — deliberately including countries with different political systems,” says Jan Zouplna. “In addition to addressing the specific relationship between the modern state and institutionalized religion in the local context and over the long term, the project also focuses more extensively on historically marginalized phenomena such as the existence of liberal parties and the role of socially sidelined groups, especially minorities and women.”

The project will focus on eight countries — Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia, and Turkey. On the theoretical level, it aims to enrich models developed mainly on the basis of Western European societies by confronting them with the environment of the MENA region. It follows developments from the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 to the present day.

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