Project description
Uncovering bat antiviral defences
Innate immunity is the body's first line of defence against viral infections, providing an immediate, non-specific response to invading pathogens. This protective system includes a variety of antiviral factors and cells that detect and inhibit viral replication, preventing the spread of infection and activating the adaptive immune response. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the batAVIRPro project focuses on the immune mechanisms of bats, given that some recent disease outbreaks have been linked to zoonotic viruses originating from bats. Researchers aim to identify key antiviral effectors in bat genomes using bioinformatics and molecular virology techniques. Any promising antiviral candidates will be extensively characterised and brought forward for validation.
Objective
Numerous recent disease outbreaks have been linked to zoonotic viruses originating from bats, including Marburg, Nipah, and the severe acute respiratory viruses like SARS-CoV-2. Countless virus-host encounters during bat evolution have shaped chiropteran immunity to balance defense and tolerance to viral infections, ultimately participating in bats current interplay with viruses and capacity as a viral reservoir.
One of the first barriers against invading pathogens is the innate immunity, which notably includes antiviral factors that directly or indirectly inhibit the replication of invading viruses in the host cell. Recent research on bats showed the functional diversification of several antiviral effectors underscoring their pivotal role in bat immunity. However, because only a handful have been studied, my goal is to identify key and novel antiviral effectors within bat genomes, employing a bioinformatics-driven approach coupled with cellular and molecular virology techniques. First, I will perform genomic, transcriptomic and phylogenomic analyses to identify the genes expressed in immune pathways and under strong positive selection during bat evolution (denoting their in vivo importance). Second, I will characterize the most promising candidates, by genetic knockout and overexpression of variants in bat and human cell lines. Finally, the antiviral activity of the candidates will be tested against a broad spectrum of viruses: retroviruses, positive- and negative-strand RNA viruses.
Taken together, the proposed project will not only identify novel antiviral factors in bats, which are also active in human cells, but will also shed light on the adaptive processes of chiropteran innate immunity, which occurred during bat evolution.
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.
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.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology virology
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases viral diseases RNA viruses coronaviruses
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics RNA
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
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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.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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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
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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-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
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75794 Paris
France
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