Aydan Bulut-Karslıoğlu receives a Proof of Concept Grant from the European Research Council

The Grant supports the team’s research on dormancy

The project ‘PathsToDormancy’ aims to identify further pathways that regulate dormancy. The funding is endowed with a total of € 150.000 for a period of 18 months. 

Aydan´s research aims to decipher the molecular mechanisms of how dormancy is initiated, how it is maintained, and how dormant cells are reactivated in animals. To understand these processes, the team focuses on epigenetic modifications and metabolic pathways. Her team originally discovered that inhibiting one of the cell's major signaling pathways, the mTOR pathway, pushes mouse embryos and stem cells into dormancy in vitro, mimicking the natural process of diapause. Human cells are also capable of diapause. The funding supports further research activities in this field and will focus on the discovery of alternate routes to dormancy.

About the Grant: https://erc.europa.eu/apply-grant/proof-concept