Spotlight: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship Laureates

By Marine Hurard, project manager – GO 

We are delighted to put the spotlight on our four laureates of the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship, awarded as part of the highly competitive 2025 Horizon Europe call. This is a remarkable achievement — the overall European success rate stood at just 9.6%, with only 1 610 proposals selected from 17 066 applications, making these awards a true testament to the quality and ambition of the research proposed. Our warmest congratulations to Azusa Yamada, Valentina Venzin, Mathilde Dura and Ricardo Obonaga Gomez. Discover them!  

Azusa Yamada 

Supervisor: Ivo Boneca - Biology and Genetics of Bacterial Cell Wall Unit  

Project: PG-BIR - Elucidating the Role of Peptidoglycan Fragments in β-Lactam-Induced Host Immune Responses 

“Antibiotics are essential for combating bacterial infections, yet their subtle and largely unexplored effects on the host immune system remain poorly understood. In this project, I aim to elucidate how bacterial cell wall fragments released during β-lactam treatment cross the intestinal epithelium and trigger immune responses. By combining advanced intestinal organoid models, organ-on-chip technologies, and in vivo approaches, I hope to uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying host–microbe interactions during antibiotic exposure. The Marie Curie Fellowship will provide a unique interdisciplinary environment and exceptional training opportunities to advance this research and my long-term career as an independent scientist.”  

Valentina Venzin  

Supervisor: Yasmine Belkaid - Meta-organism Unit 

Project: PRISM - Beyond the binary: ProgRammIng of Sexual immune identity from thyMus to tissues 

“PRISM will challenge the idea of a “universal” immune system by asking how sex hormones shape thymic function and T cell development across both physiological hormonal transitions (such as puberty) and pharmacological ones, including gender-affirming hormone therapies. The main objective of the project is to determine how much of the immune dimorphism observed in peripheral tissues originates from a developmental program coded in the thymus. At a historical moment when science is increasingly at risk, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship gives me the independence to pursue a question that is at once fundamental to immunology and deeply connected to how we understand biological diversity in our society.”  

Mathilde Dura 

Supervisor: Thibaut Brunet - Evolutionary Cell Biology and Evolution of Morphogenesis 

Project: ANChoR - Ancient signals, New models: Uncovering the regulation of multicellularity through the Hippo signaling pathway in Choanoflagellate Rosettes 

“Choanoflagellates, facultative multicellular micro-organisms, are the closest living relatives of animals, and thus a key source of information on animal origins. One critical pathway involved in multicellular development, conserved in both animals and choanoflagellates, is the Hippo signaling pathway, acting through a key transcription factor, Yorkie (or YAP/TAZ). In animals, Yorkie is regulated by mechanical stress, often via the cytoskeleton, in a process known as mechanotransduction. The ANChoR project, funded by MSCA, will allow me to systematically characterize the Hippo pathway in choanoflagellates and determine whether Yorkie could similarly be regulated by mechanotransduction. Together, this work will provide key insights into the evolution of the essential Hippo signaling pathway and the role of physical forces in the early evolution of animal multicellularity.” 

Ricardo Obonaga Gomez 

Supervisor:  Lucy Glover – Trypanosome Molecular Biology 

Project: MIDAS - Dissecting the Structure and Interactions of the MRN complex in Trypanosoma brucei Genome Maintenance 

“My project aims to elucidate the structure and function of the MRE11- RAD50-NBS1 (MRN) complex in Trypanosoma brucei, a divergent eukaryote responsible for human African trypanosomiasis, which evades the host immune system through antigenic variation by switching variant surface glycoproteins (VSGs). In this parasite, DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) within the active VSG expression site trigger antigenic variation. The MRN complex is a central regulator of DSB recognition and repair, yet its architecture remains poorly understood in early-branching eukaryotes. By combining cryo-electron microscopy, functional mutagenesis, and proximity labeling, this work will reveal how the MRN complex contributes to genome maintenance and antigenic variation. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship will support these objectives and my development in structural and molecular parasitology.” 

Inspired?  

If you are considering applying for the 2026 call (deadline September 9^th), get in touch with the Grants Office - EU division at goeurope[at]pasteur.fr — we are here to help!