Summary
Meet the 2012 International Early Career Scientists
Federal University of Santa Catarina
Florianópolis, Brazil Báfica is working to characterize a tuberculosis (TB) protein that is recognized by the human immune system and could someday boost the effectiveness of vaccines against TB.
Megan R. Carey, Ph.D.
The Champalimaud Center for the Unknown
Lisbon, Portugal
Using transgenic mice, Carey’s lab is studying how specific neurons and synapses control the activities of the cerebellum, a part of the brain responsible for fine-tuning movement.
Pedro Carvalho, Ph.D.
Center for Genomic Regulation
Barcelona, Spain
Carvalho’s lab is studying the mechanisms by which cells cope with a surplus of misfolded proteins.
Rui M. Costa, Ph.D.
The Champalimaud Center for the Unknown
Lisbon, Portugal
Costa studies how the brain mediates the way organisms learn to move and act in their environment. His innovative study designs combine techniques to reveal the language of the brain.
László Csanády, M.D., Ph.D.
Semmelweis University of Medicine
Budapest, Hungary
Csanády is developing approaches to understand the structure and function of ion channels.
Óscar Fernández-Capetillo, Ph.D.
Spanish National Cancer Research Center
Madrid, Spain
Fernández-Capetillo’s investigation of DNA damage that occurs when cells replicate is leading him into other areas, including cancer and aging.
Luísa M. Figueiredo, Ph.D.
Institute of Molecular Medicine
Lisbon, Portugal
Figueiredo studies how parasites, such as Trypanosoma brucei, evade the host immune system by varying their exposed surface antigens.
José L. García Pérez, Ph.D.
Pfizer-University of Granada-Junta de Andalucía
Center for Genomics and Oncological Research
Granada, Spain
García Pérez studies how the movement of mobile DNA affects the human genome.
Miguel Godinho Ferreira, Ph.D.
Gulbenkian Science Institute
Oeiras, Portugal
Ferreira hopes to find out if telomeres work as molecular clocks dictating how long we have before age-related diseases, namely cancer, start making an appearance in our lives.
Rodrigo A. Gutiérrez, Ph.D.
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
Santiago, Chile
Gutiérrez investigates the gene networks that underlie plants’ growth and developmental adaptations in response to nutritional signals.
Junjie Hu, Ph.D.
Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Beijing, China
Hu’s research focuses on understanding how shaping and remodeling occurs in membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum
Bavesh D. Kana, Ph.D.
University of the Witwatersrand
Johannesburg, South Africa
Kana studies how changes in the cell wall of the tuberculosis bacterium affect whether an infected patient develops active disease.
Fyodor A. Kondrashov, Ph.D.
Center for Genomic Regulation
Barcelona, Spain
As organisms evolve, genes are copied, mutated, and combined to give cells and proteins new functions. Kondrashov studies how changes at the gene level are selected for and, over time, lead to changes in an organism’s biological fitness and function.
Sandhya P. Koushika, Ph.D.
National Center for Biological Sciences
Bangalore, India
Koushika uses Caenorhabditis elegans to study the movement of presynaptic vesicles from one part of a nerve cell to another.
Simón Méndez-Ferrer, Ph.D.
National Center for Cardiovascular Research
Madrid, Spain
Different cell types are intricately connected and in constant communication throughout the body. Méndez-Ferrer studies how this communication occurs and how organs affect each other.
Thumbi Ndung'u, Ph.D.
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Durban, South Africa
Thumbi Ndung’u wants to help find a way for the body’s immune system to fight off the HIV virus on its own.
Marcin Nowotny, Ph.D.
International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology
Warsaw, Poland
Nowotny uses X-ray crystallography to reveal the structures and mechanisms of DNA and RNA enzymes essential to cellular function.
Dong-Chan Oh, Ph.D.
Seoul National University
Seoul, South Korea
Oh focuses on discovery of small organic molecules derived from natural sources that can be used as therapeutic agents.
Gabriela C. Pagnussat, Ph.D.
National University of Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata, Argentina
Research by Pagnussat is helping to explain the delicate and precise reproductive process in plants.
Feng Shao, Ph.D.
National Institute of Biological Sciences
Beijing, China
Shao uses his multidisciplinary background to understand the delicate relationship between bacteria and the organisms they aim to infect.
Rocio Sotillo, Ph.D.
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
Monterotondo, Italy
Sotillo studies how inappropriate numbers of chromosomes can help cancer cells thrive.
Chun Tang, Ph.D.
Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics-Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wuhan, Hubei, China
Tang is developing novel nuclear magnetic resonance techniques to study the behavior and structures of proteins in motion.
Rosella Visintin, Ph.D.
European Institute Foundation of Oncology
Milan, Italy
Visintin investigates the regulation of the cell cycle—the process by which cells grow, replicate their genetic material, and divide.
Xiaochen Wang, Ph.D.
National Institute of Biological Sciences
Beijing, China
Cell suicide can be good for an organism, but it requires a speedy postmortem cleanup. Wang’s group is studying how cells accomplish this task before the cellular corpses trigger an immune system malfunction.
Karina B. Xavier, Ph.D.
Gulbenkian Science Institute
Oeiras, Portugal
Xavier is listening in on the conversations of bacteria that live in the human gut, eavesdropping that could eventually improve human health.
Nieng Yan, Ph.D.
Tsinghua University
Beijing, China
An estimated 20 to 30 percent of the genes in the human genome make membrane proteins, which play a pivotal role in a range of diseases. By deciphering these proteins’ structures, Yan’s work is answering questions about how these proteins function.
Hong Zhang, Ph.D.
National Institute of Biological Sciences
Beijing, China
For cells to thrive and become the correct cell type during development, they must prevent clumps of proteins from accumulating. Zhang is uncovering the genes responsible for this clearance process.
Bing Zhu, Ph.D.
National Institute of Biological Sciences
Beijing, China
Histones are proteins that package DNA into tight three-dimensional spools—their modification pattern is part of so-called “epigenetic information” that plays a pivotal role in determining what genes are expressed in what cells. Zhu wants to know how epigenetic information is passed between generations of cells.
