FEBS Booster Fund Award 2024 goes to CBR´s Sara Silva Pereira
On the occasion of its 60th anniversary, the Federation of European Biochemistry Societies (FEBS) launched the FEBS Booster Fund, a new funding scheme to support projects led by newly independent academic researchers. Sara Silva Pereira, a junior Group Leader and head of the Parasite Vascular Interactions laboratory at the CBR, is one of the FEBS Booster Fund 2024 grantees.
Sara´s research focuses on how parasites survive in their hosts as, according to Sara, “understanding parasite survival mechanisms is essential to the development of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics”. At CBR, where Sara is a principal investigator (PI) since September 2023, she studies how Trypanosoma parasites interact with the vasculature of their mammalian hosts in complex and varied ways, leading to a range of disease outcomes, collectively known as animal African trypanosomiasis. To gain insight into these fascinating themes, Sara and her team employ high-resolution and big-data systems and combine computational and cellular biology approaches with bioengineering tools. “The first few years as an independent researcher are make or break, so all help is very welcome. This grant will allow me to partially support our research costs – says Sara.
The FEBS Booster Fund is designed to help early-career scientists to develop their own independent research by awarding them a one-off grant of €25,000 for 1 year, to spend on small equipment and consumables and research-based travel while developing a novel research project. As the name implies, the FEBS Booster fund aims to provide a much-needed boost to newly independent researchers, including early PIs such as Sara, who typically have limited funds available to undertake research at present but show great potential. This €25,000 Fund aims to help grantees publish papers or generate data, allowing them to consolidate their independence and eventually improve their chances of securing larger grants from funding agencies.
The FEBS Booster Fund scheme first opened in 2024, is envisaged to award up to 25 grants per year, and is expected to run for three annual calls, until 2026.