Thi Hoang Duong Nguyen Honoured as Eppendorf Young European Investigator 2022


The Eppendorf SE Young European Investigators 2022 Award ceremony, which took place at the spectacular and dynamic EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany (5 July), celebrated its return as a face-to-face event since 2019 and with an exceptionally strong field of applicants the decision was made, for the first time, to nominate two finalists in addition to the winner.


The independent jury, chaired by Professor Reinhard Jahn, selected Dr Thi Hoang Duong Nguyen, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK as this years’s winner of the 27th Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators 2022.


Lena Pernas, Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Cologne, Germany,


and Arnau Sebé-Pedrós, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona, Spain, were also honoured for their outstanding contributions to biomedical research in Europe.


Thi Hoang Duong Nguyen, born in 1987, receives the €20,000 award for her pioneering work on the structure and function of two RNA-protein complexes that are essential for all higher organisms: Spliceosome and telomerase.


“Her work provided fundamental insights into the structure and function of these complexes and will have a lasting impact on the understanding of RNA processing and genome stability,” the judges said.


Thi Hoang Duong Nguyen: “I feel humbled and honoured to receive the 2022 Eppendorf Award. I am very grateful to my laboratory, past and present colleagues, mentors, collaborators and family, without whom this would have not been possible.


The award recognises our contribution to the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of important processes through visualisation of the three-dimensional structures of the biological molecules involved. Our current research focuses on cellular pathways that maintain the essential chromosome caps to preserve genomic information. Failures in these pathways result in numerous human diseases. We hope that the insights gained from our work will facilitate therapeutic developments to treat these diseases.”


When asked during a short Q&A session what the next stage of research would be, Thi Hoang Duong Nguyen explained to International Labmate Editor Gwyneth Astles that she would like to apply the research to diseased cells.


The inspirational event rounded off with a flying buffet and drinks in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.


The Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, which was established in 1995, Eppendorf SE honours outstanding work in biomedical research and supports young scientists in Europe up to the age of 35. The Eppendorf Award is presented in partnership with the scientific journal Nature. The Award winner is selected by an independent committee composed of Professor Reinhard Jahn (Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany), Sadaf Farooqi (Wellcome- MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge, UK), Madeline Lancaster (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK), Ben Lehner (Center for Genomic Regulation PRBB, Barcelona, Spain), Maria Leptin (EMBO, Heidelberg, Germany) and Laura Machesky (Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, Glasgow, UK).


Visit the Eppendorf website to learn about application modalities, selection criteria and previous winners of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators.


Jury Chair Professor Reinhard Jahn presents Dr Thi Hoang Duong Nguyen with the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators 2022.


L-R Dr Axel Jahns Eppendorf SE, Professor Maria Leptin, Dr Lena Pernas, Dr Thi Hoang Duong Nguyen, Dr Peter Fruhstorfer Eppen- dorf SE, Professor Reinhard Jahn.


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Wellcome Award to help counter ‘Silent Killer’ Disease


Experts at the Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research (WCAIR) at the University of Dundee, a hub focused on drug discovery for neglected tropical diseases, are aiming to develop a new treatment for Chagas disease. Caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and estimated to affect millions, this deadly disease and can survive for decades in the host before being detected.


“Chagas diseases is particularly horrible as it lives in the body, with the victim completely unaware,” said Dr Manu De Rycker, Head of Translational Parasitology within


Dundee’s School of Life Sciences. “Decades after being infected, a large number of people - around 30% - will go on to develop the disease, inflicting life-threatening damage to the heart, oesophagus and colon. It is the classic definition of a silent killer and the symptoms that a person has become infected tend to be only mild and similar to a mild cold or fever, meaning that people just tend to dismiss them.”


Researchers at Dundee, together with their long-standing collaborators at GSK have been awarded more than £4.4 million from the Wellcome Trust for development of new, pre-clinical drug candidates, supporting 14 jobs in Dundee.


Tim Miles, Portfolio Leader in Global Health at GSK, said, “This funding from the Wellcome Trust will enable the development of urgently needed medicines with the potential to offer shorter, simpler and safer treatment options for people living with Chagas disease. We are proud to partner with the University of Dundee in this effort to change the trajectory of Chagas’ disease and positively impact the health of millions of people.”


Manu De Ryker


Once found solely within Central and South America, reports of Chagas disease in the UK are rare because of a lack of testing and general awareness, but there are likely to be thousands of cases in the country from those who have been infected elsewhere and subsequently migrated. It has slowly started to gain a foothold around the world due to large-scale population movements. It is spread by Triatomine bugs, which typically live in the walls or roofs of poorly constructed homes. During the night the parasites bite exposed areas of skin and defecating nearby, with the infection spread when the person


Welcome Centre for Ant-Infective Research (WCAIR)


unwittingly smears the faeces into the open wound, or their eyes or mouth. It can then subsequently be spread by blood transfusion and from mother to child.


“It is a very challenging problem from a drug discovery perspective as the parasites are intracellular, disseminate throughout the body and are difficult to kill,” said the University of Dundee’s Professor Kevin Read, co-leader of the project. “Chagas disease has the potential to affect many more millions of people in the years to come, so the urgent need to develop new treatments cannot be overstated.”


More information online: ilmt.co/PL/X2Mg 58496pr@reply-direct.com


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