Eleven group leaders join the EMBO Global Investigator Network

12 December 2024 – EMBO announces the selection of eleven life scientists as the newest members of the EMBO Global Investigator Network. The network supports young group leaders in Chile, India, Singapore and Taiwan, and, in a pilot project, in Africa. The new global investigators become part of an international network of nearly 800 current and former EMBO Global Investigators, Young Investigators and Installation Grantees, and will start in January. Their research covers a wide range of life sciences topics from plant and cell biology to microbiology and cancer.

“EMBO is excited to welcome the new EMBO Global Investigators. Their research highlights the universal language of discovery and provides diverse perspectives to tackle foundational research questions as well as global challenges. We are delighted to support these outstanding group leaders in forming connections with scientists in Europe and around the world,” says EMBO Director Fiona Watt.

The new EMBO Global Investigators receive financial support for four years for networking activities and collaborations with local scientists and those in Europe. The global investigators are funded, for example, to attend or organize scientific meetings, visit other research institutions or deliver seminar series. They also benefit from training opportunities, including EMBO lab leadership training courses, for themselves and their lab members.

Among the life scientists who become part of the EMBO Global Investigator Network is Gyaviira Nkurunungi, the first researcher based in an African country to join the network. He is supported via the EMBO Director’s Special Fund in a pilot project. EMBO currently has no formal agreements with African countries but is committed to increasing the representation of excellent researchers within the network.

Five of the eleven new EMBO Global Investigators are based in India, three in Singapore, two in Taiwan and one in Uganda. Nine are male, and two are female. In total, the programme received 44 eligible applications, and the success rate was 25%.

The next deadline for applications is 1 May 2025. More information about the programme, including eligibility criteria and the application process, is available online.

New EMBO Global Investigators

	Name	Research project	Affiliation	Location
	Krishanpal Karmodiya	Mechanisms of antigenic variation and drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum	Indian Institute of Science Education and Research	Pune, IN
	Prem Kaushal	Protein synthesis in pathogenic microbes, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Entamoeba histolytica	Regional Centre for Biotechnology	Faridabad, IN
	Yinghui Li	Unravelling the role of non-canonical NF-κB signalling in the cancer epigenome	Nanyang Technological University	Singapore, SG
	Wei Ma	Gene regulation in seed metabolism and fruit development	Nanyang Technological University	Singapore, SG
	Rajender Motiani	Calcium driven inter-organelle crosstalk: a master regulator of skin pigmentation	Regional Centre for Biotechnology	Faridabad, IN
	Bhavana Muralidharan	Dissecting molecular mechanisms of neurodevelopmental chromatinopathies	Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine	Bengaluru, IN
	Gyaviira Nkurunungi	Pathways to functionally effective vaccine responsiveness in the tropics	Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit	Entebbe, UG
	Jogender Singh	Microbiota and host genetics in cellular stress responses and lifespan regulation	Indian Institute of Science Education and Research	Mohali, IN
	Vincenzo Sorrentino	Targeting the mitochondria-proteostasis axis to promote healthy longevity	National University of Singapore	Singapore, SG
	Chih-Hang Wu	Evolutionary and functional dynamics of plant immune systems	Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica	Taipei, TW
	Wei-Li Wu	Decoding microbial signals in the gut-brain axis	National Cheng Kung University	Tainan, TW