We are pleased to announce that Professor Michał Jasiński, Head of the Department of Molecular Plant Physiology, has secured funding within the Multilateral Academic Projects (MAPS) competition for a project entitled “Plant lessons: Identification of intrinsic and extrinsic factors determining higher plant ABC transporter directionality.”

The outcome of Professor Jasiński’s project will include a mechanistic understanding of how ABC transporters function as a whole.

By using a combination of biochemical, in silico, and structural tools, we aim to decipher how the direction of transport in ABC proteins is regulated—whether by intrinsically encoded mechanisms or by external factors. “In conjunction with the potential to identify these external factors (such as protein kinases/phosphatases or foldases), our findings could open up an entirely new area of research on ABC transporters,” says Professor Jasiński.

MAPS is a competition announced by the Swiss National Science Foundation for multilateral research projects conducted by scientists from Switzerland in collaboration with teams from Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, and Romania. The projects will be funded through the so-called Swiss contribution, which supports the development of several EU countries (including Poland) under an agreement between Switzerland and the European Union. The success rate was 9%, and within the NZ panel, four institutions from Poland received funding.

Sincere congratulations and best wishes for further success!