The project entitled “Optical imaging of individual protein dynamics” is one of three projects supported in this year’s round of the ERC CZ program of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. The ERC CZ program focuses on supporting projects of so-called “frontier research” by Czech, internationally recognized researchers who have been successful in evaluations conducted by expert panels of the European Research Council.
Marek Piliarik’s project focuses on researching unique new methods of observing proteins using visible light at the level of individual molecules, in real time and potentially without the use of molecular markers. Understanding the dynamics of proteins in their natural environment is key to uncovering their biological function and thus aims primarily at new discoveries in biophysics and molecular biology.
“This project is primarily a tremendous opportunity to organize a research program as I know it from my postdoctoral fellowships. The easier part is the idea, which addresses an important issue in global science. The more difficult part is putting together a team that accumulates a supercritical amount of knowledge and skills, supplemented by the instrumental background from which new knowledge will emerge. And this is exactly what the ERC CZ grant will enable,” says project leader Marek Piliarik.