Call Round 1 Jan 15, 2020

 

In March 2019, the Senate of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) established the Priority Programme “Exit strategies of intracellular pathogens” (SPP2225). The programme is designed to run for six years. The present call invites proposals for the first three-year funding period.

In the course of infection, many bacterial, fungal and protozoan pathogens pass through a life-cycle phase during which they parasitize host cells, typically enclosed by membranous vacuoles. While the intracellular life-style provides shelter to these microbes, they eventually need to exit the enveloping cell to ensure life-cycle progression and dissemination. Host cell exit follows an orchestrated and temporally defined programme that relies on the dynamic interplay between host and microbial factors. Three distinct pathways of host cell exit have been postulated, which appear to have convergently evolved among the otherwise highly diverse groups of pathogens: First, the initiation of programmed cell death, second, the active lytic destruction of the host cell and the membrane-dependent exit without host cell lysis. Molecules involved in the exit process are essential for microbial survival and progression of the infection and thus represent important antimicrobial targets.

The SPP2225 aims at exploring the spectrum of convergently evolved exit pathways employed by bacterial, parasitic and fungal pathogens with relevance for human health. Considered exit types include exit from the host cell, exit from vacuolar compartment as a prerequisite of host cell exit, and exit from a pathogen-containing cyst. It is the goal of the SPP2225 to dissect the molecular mechanisms that trigger, regulate, mediate, and synchronize the exit programme, and to unveil the link between exit strategy and disease pathogenesis.

Projects to be considered for funding shall address at least one of the following aspects:

  • The sequential steps of pathogen-specific host cell exit pathways
  • The link between exit pathway and host cell specificity
  • The endogenous and environmental triggers of host cell exit
  • The signalling pathways mediating host cell exit
  • The key molecular mediators, regulators and effectors of host cell exit
  • The cross-taxa conservation and species-specific variation of host cell exit

Technical tools to address these questions shall include combinations of high-end imaging techniques, global analyses based on transcriptomics, proteomics and lipidomics, modern genetics methodologies, like genome editing, and BioID or other molecular interaction detection technologies.

The following topics cannot be considered for funding within the framework of the programme:

  • Studies using viral or solely veterinary-relevant infection models
  • Studies solely based on descriptive approaches without mechanistic insight

Proposals must be written in English and submitted to the DFG by 15 January 2020. Please note that proposals can only be submitted via elan, the DFG’s electronic proposal processing system. To enter a new project within the existing Priority Programme, go to Proposal Submission – New Project/Draft Proposal – Priority Programmes and select “SPP2225” from the current list of calls.

In preparing your proposal, please review the programme guidelines (form 50.05, section B) and the proposal preparation instructions (form 54.01). These forms can either be downloaded from the DFG website or accessed through the DFG elan portal. In addition to submitting your proposal through elan, please send an electronic copy to the .

Applicants without an existing elan-account must be registered in elan prior to submitting a proposal to the DFG. If you have not yet registered, please note that you must do so by 8 January 2020 to submit a proposal under this call; registration requests received after this time cannot be considered. You will normally receive confirmation of your registration by the next working day. Note that you will be asked to select the appropriate Priority Programme call during both the registration and the proposal process.

The proposals will be evaluated during a digital review colloquium scheduled for September 8, 2020. All project principle investigators will be invited to present their proposals in short talks and discuss them with the international review panel.

Concerning the DFG application process, please direct questions about the programme to , Tel. +49 228 885-2530; and administrative questions to Ms. , Tel. +49 228 885-2390.