Major EU grant for research on peroxisomes

The PerFuMe consortium, comprising eleven research groups at universities, medical centres and businesses, has been awarded a grant of € 3.9 million by the EU Marie Curie Fund to train young scientists in the field of peroxisome biology. The coordinator of the PerFuMe research project is Groningen professor of molecular cell biology Ida van der Klei. The grant, which is for four years, will enable twelve PhD students and four postdoc researchers to be appointed.

More knowledge about how peroxisomes function is important in the development of treatments for peroxisomal diseases, but could also be applied to agriculture and biotechnology. Peroxisomes are organelles in the biological cell. They slightly resemble mitochondria, the cellular power plants, with the main difference that only recently has more become known about the functions of peroxisomes. If a person’s peroxisomes function poorly, that can lead to very serious diseases. A great deal of research must still be conducted in the field of peroxisome biology.

PerFuMe (PERoxisome FUnction MEtabolism) is combining expertise from different disciplines for the first time. Participants in the consortium come from renowned institutes and universities in the Netherlands (RUG, UMCG and AMC), England, Germany, Norway and Sweden.

For more information: Prof. Ida van der Klei