BIO researcher was researching his way through the eye of a needle
Rafael Pinilla Redondo from the section for Microbiology at the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, was one of the 18 talented young researchers who today received a grant from the Villum Foundation's Young Investigator program.
The grant of DKK 7 million for the project "DISCOVIR: Discovery of antiviral defense mechanisms in bacteria" gives Rafael the opportunity to pursue the research ideas he is passionate about and to build his own research group by recruiting a postdoc and a PhD student.
Rafael explains: - “All living organisms fight viral infections. In this project, we will, by using laboratory experiments and computational methods, investigate how bacteria defend themselves against their viruses.
Our results will contribute to discovering new molecular biological tools, promote the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections and increase our understanding of immunity, i.a. in humans”.
Rafael's project was selected among 142 applications for the program's application round.
The 18 researchers who have come through the eye of the needle have gone through a process of professional assessment, interview with the scientific committee of the foundation and final approval by the board.