Vijay Tiwari awarded prestigious grant to study how cancer cells transform to become invasive
Group leader at the Institute of Molecular Biology is one of only eleven Young Investigators to be invited into the EpiGeneSys Network of Excellence this year
05.11.2012Dr. Vijay Tiwari, a group leader at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), is one of only eleven Young Investigators to have been awarded a prestigious grant from the EpiGeneSys Network of Excellence this year. The EUR 150,000 award incorporates Tiwari into a European-wide network of leading epigenetics scientists and will support his research into how cells from solid tumors become invasive.
A key feature in the progression of cancer is the transformation of benign solid tumors into malignant states that form metastases. Understanding how cells in a solid tumor acquire the ability to invade and colonize different parts of the body is key to developing new strategies to treat the disease. Dr. Vijay Tiwari will take a multidisciplinary approach involving genomics, molecular, systems, and computational biology to determine how epigenetic processes contribute to this transformation.
In particular, his group will study how signaling pathways acting on the chromatin influence the activity of genes and the transcriptional reprograming that occurs in cells when they obtain the properties required to leave a solid tumor. To do this, Tiwari's group will develop novel approaches to provide important insights into a crucial stage of cancer progression. The award will therefore further strengthen IMB's research at the interface between epigenetics and systems biology.
A further IMB group leader, Dr. Holger Richly, has been elected as Associate Member of the EpiGeneSys Network. Membership of this select group of internationally renowned scientists will support Dr. Holger Richly in his research into molecular epigenetics and their involvement in the mechanisms underlying ageing and DNA repair.
As members of the EpiGeneSys Network, the groups of Dr. Vijay Tiwari and Dr. Holger Richly will have full access to the network's activities, including their training program for students and postdocs.