Project description
Uncovering the pathways to cellular variation in pathogens
Cell-to-cell heterogeneity is widespread in isogenic populations and plays a critical role in how unicellular pathogens adapt to hostile environments and evade immune responses. Despite its importance, the mechanisms controlling the degree of heterogeneity in pathogen populations remain poorly understood. The ERC-funded switchDecoding project aims to move beyond simply cataloguing cell subpopulations and instead elucidate the molecular pathways that establish and modulate cellular variation. Using Trypanosoma brucei as a model, the project will combine single-cell multi-omics, lineage tracing and CRISPR-Cas-based genome editing to dissect the regulatory mechanisms underlying antigenic variation. A deeper understanding of heterogeneity-controlling pathways will improve predictions of how pathogens develop drug resistance and inform the development of novel therapeutic strategies that target cell-to-cell variation to enhance infection clearance.
Objective
Heterogeneity amongst isogenic cells is pervasive throughout biology. Recently developed single-cell omics approaches are beginning to systematically reveal the repertoire of functionally distinct cell subpopulations within metazoan tissues. Pathogens frequently encounter changing and often hostile environments. To adapt to these challenges unicellular pathogen populations also exhibit a large degree of cell-to-cell heterogeneity, which often affects the outcome of infections. Yet, despite the importance of this cell-to-cell variation, very little is known about the mechanisms that control the level of heterogeneity in pathogen populations or why some isogenic populations are more heterogeneous than others. The goal of switchDecoding is to unveil the path to cellular variation. To this end I will go beyond identifying and describing new subpopulations of cells and elucidate the molecular pathways that establish them and modulate the level of cellular heterogeneity. As a model I will study the mechanism responsible for creating heterogeneity in surface antigen expression in the unicellular parasite Trypanosoma brucei. Antigenic variation is a widely employed strategy by evolutionarily divergent pathogens to evade the host immune response. Using a multidisciplinary approach, I will develop and combine single-cell multi-omics, lineage tracing and CRISPR-Cas-based genome manipulation strategies to characterize the processes, pathways and molecules regulating antigen switching in T. brucei. A better understanding of the mechanisms affecting the level of heterogeneity within a pathogen population will enable us to better predict how pathogens adapt to environmental challenges, including those that lead to the emergence of drug resistance. In the future this knowledge will enable the development of novel intervention strategies: drugs that modulate cell-to-cell heterogeneity to facilitate the clearance of infections.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2021-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
80539 MUNCHEN
Germany
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