ECTS Postdoctoral Fellowship
2008 Award Announcement
The 2009 grant applications are now closed.
The 2010 awards will be announced in June 2009.
Description: Grants are
available for European postdoctoral fellows to assist
with expenses relating to their own research project,
which must be relevant to the field of calcified tissues
and related topics
The total amount available is €60,000 (Euro) payable
in instalments of €30,000 (Euro) per annum for
2 years
The purpose of these grants is
- to help meet some of the immediate costs of a project
relevant to the field of calcified tissues
- to support and stimulate research on calcified tissues
and related topics
- to assist in attracting young researchers to join
the ECTS
Projects based on collaboration between European laboratories
are more than welcome and will be favourably considered.
Eligibility:
Candidates must fulfil the following criteria:
- applicant must be a member of ECTS
- applicant to be within 10 years of gaining MD or
PhD
- previous recipients of an ECTS Postdoctoral Fellowship,
ECTS/Amgen award, ECTS Career Establishment award
or ECTS PhD Studentship are not eligible to apply
- applicant must be based in Europe
Please note:
Grants can be used for salary, consumables, travel,
fees or supplies
Applications must be made on-line from the ECTS web
site
Review Procedure
All applications are reviewed by an
independent panel of reviewers
and any conflicts of interest are identified and dealt
with appropriately.
Report:
Successful candidates will be required to submit a
written report on the progress of their research at
the end of the grant period and the final instalment
will be payable on receipt of the report.
2008 Awards
Three 2008 ECTS Postdoctoral Fellowships
were presented on Wednesday 28 May to Aline
Bozec (Research Institute of Molecular Pathology
GmbH, Vienna, Austria), Marco Eijken
(ErasmusMC Rotterdam, The Netherlands) and Barbara
Peruzzi (University of L’Aquila, Italy).

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2008 award winners Aline
Bozec, Barbara Peruzzi and Marco Eijken
Dr Bozec will be working on “The role of the
transcription factor Fra-2/AP-1 in skeletal biology”
at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas
in Madrid, Dr Eijken’s project is entitled “Comparative
analysis of bone and vascular mineralization: activin
signaling to control extracellular matrix composition”
and Dr Peruzzi’s “Involvement of the IGF-1/IGFBPs
axis in the IL-6/c-Src-mediated regulation of osteoblast
function”.
ABSTRACTS
ECTS Postdoctoral Fellowship- Aline Bozec
Millions of people each year are affected by bone-related
diseases such as osteoporosis. Understanding the molecular
mechanisms underlying bone metabolism is essential for
developing novel drugs for treating such diseases. The
activator protein-1 AP-1 transcription factor is a central
regulator of bone homeostasis. Genetically modified
mice and cells have provided important insights into
the biological functions of AP-1 in skeletal development.
Recent data suggest that the Fos-related AP-1 protein
Fra-2 can affect all bone cell lineages, the chondrocytes,
osteoblasts and osteoclasts. I plan to investigate the
relationship between Fra-2 and growth factor signalling
in bone cells and its relation to bone disease. Moreover,
I will use genetically modified embryonic stem ES cells
to establish an in vitro model system that could represent
a powerful source for differentiated bone cells for
cell replacement therapy. These findings will lead to
a better understanding of treating diseases affecting
the skeleton.
ECTS Postdoctoral Fellowship – Marco
Eijken
Calcification of bone is a vital process that ensures
good quality and bone strength. However, tissue calcification
is also observed at places were it is unwanted such
as the vessel wall in case of atherosclerosis. Although
calcification is vital process in bone and a major cause
of mortality in vascular disease, the mechanism of tissue
calcification is yet poorly understood. In order to
be able to specifically enhance calcification in bone
or specifically prevent calcification of the vessel
wall more knowledge about tissue calcification is required.
In our study we will compare the process of calcification
of the vessel wall to the process of calcification in
bone at the molecular level. Moreover, we will investigate
if compounds, such as activins, that have been shown
to be potent regulators of calcification can be used.
ECTS Postdoctoral Fellowship – Barbara
Peruzzi
In inflammation-mediated bone diseases, involvement
of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 occurs in most
cases. While IL-6-dependent effect on osteoclasts has
been well characterized, regarding osteoblasts, IL-6
is described to decrease cell function. In order to
define the mechanisms underlying this regulation, our
previous studies described an interplay between IL-6
and the tyrosine-kinase c-Src, by which osteoblasts
are maintained in a less differentiated status. In order
to further investigate how these molecules regulate
each other, in this study we hypothesise the involvement
of the IGF-1/IGFBPs axis in the c-Src/IL-6-mediated
osteoblast regulation. IGF-1 action on osteoblasts depends
on the activity of the IGFBPs, therefore, we hypothesise
that IL-6 and c-Src could modulate IGFBPs activity rather
than IGF-1 itself. We expect to demonstrate that the
IGF-1/IGFBP axis represents not only an important regulator
of osteoblast physiology and pathology, but also a new
determinant for chronic inflammation-mediated bone diseases.
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