The second project submitted to Weave-UNISONO 2025 has been awarded funding. Nearly PLN 2 million was slated for research on enzymes that catalyse RNA synthesis. The project will be performed by Dr hab. Tomasz Turowski and his team from the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences.
The project titled “Molecular mechanisms underlying the biogenesis of RNA polymerases I and III” will be carried out in bilateral collaboration with German researchers headed by Prof. Christoph Engel from the University of Regensburg. Researchers representing two research groups will join their forces to study RNA polymerases I and III, so-called molecular machines involved in the production of structural and functional RNAs which are essential for the generation of ribosomes that catalyse protein synthesis.
The researchers aim to understand the staps that lead to the formation of these complex structures and to identify the proteins that support their assembly. The findings may help us understand the fundamental cellular processes and be of critical importance to medicine. Mutations in the genes encoding subunit RNA polymerases are directly linked with a variety of rare genetic diseases, including Treacher-Collins syndrome and Hypomelynating Leukodystrophy. Understanding how RNA polymerases I and III are assembled may improve the diagnostics and treatment of these diseases in the future.
The proposal was reviewed by the German Research Foundation (DFG), and the results of their review were accepted by the National Science Centre under the Weave collaboration. The second ranking list for proposals submitted to the 2025 call has just been published.
Weave-UNISONO and Lead Agency Procedure (LAP)
The Weave programme builds on the multilateral international cooperation between the research funding agencies associated in Science Europe and aims at simplifying the submission and selection procedures of research proposals in all academic disciplines involving researchers from two or three European countries.
The winning projects are selected pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure which means that only one partner institution performs the merit-based evaluation, while the other partners must accept the evaluation results.
Under the Weave programme, partner research teams apply for parallel funding of their projects to the Lead Agency and their respective research funding institutions participating in the Weave programme. Joint projects must include a coherent research program with the added value of the international cooperation clearly defined.
The Weave-UNISONO call is carried out on an ongoing basis. Research teams intending to cooperate with partners from Austria, Czechia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Luxemburg and Belgium-Flanders, are encouraged to read the call text and apply.