EMBL Australia researchers and alumni have been awarded more than $7 million in recent grant funding, enabling ambitious new research projects that push the boundaries of fundamental science across our Partner Laboratory Network.
Group Leaders Dr Senthil Arumugam and Dr Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan, as well as several alumni and members of the EMBL Australia leadership team, were awarded funding under the Australian Research Council’s 2026 Discovery Project scheme. Dr Arumugam is also a co-investigator, alongside members of the EMBL Australia leadership team – Prof John Carroll and Prof Jose Polo – on a successful $1.12m ARC grant that will see the team build safer, sharper microscopes to watch tiny parts of cells develop over time without damaging them.
Dr Sami Al-Izzi, a postdoctoral researcher in the Morris Group, was also recently awarded a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) of more than half a million dollars to advance the mathematical modelling of living biological surfaces.
EMBL Australia alumni Prof Chen Davidovich and A/Prof Maté Biro were also awarded NHMRC Ideas Grants of more than $1m each for their projects related to gene silencing and solid tumours respectively.
These grants will enable our researchers to pursue high-impact investigations – from decoding how cells sort and signal to uncovering the mechanics of early human development.
Funded projects include:
ARC discovery project scheme
Lead researcher: Dr Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan – UNSW (EMBL Australia group leader)
Project summary: Receptors on the cell surface transmit the signals that keep cells functioning and alive. Receptors move through the cell to stop or maintain these signals, but how this movement is controlled by cellular motors is unknown. Recent work has revealed a mechanism by which motors move these receptors, leading to the current proposal that it is motor adaptors- proteins that link the motor and receptor- that control what happens to a receptor and its signal in the cell. This project will uncover how motor adaptors control receptor signals and create a mathematical model predictive of how receptors move through the cell. This will provide a boon for understanding receptor regulation and a basis to develop new treatments targeting receptor signals.
Amount: $788,064
Lead researcher: Dr Senthil Arumugam – Monash BDI (EMBL Australia group leader)
Project summary: Just as cities rely on efficient supply chains to distribute goods, cells use complex delivery networks to transport vital cargo. This research will use advanced microscopy and artificial intelligence to explore how cells sort and move essential molecules within their internal transportation system. We aim to uncover how different cargoes are directed toward their correct destinations—or escape from the expected routes altogether. This project will provide fundamental insights into cellular cargo sorting, with the potential to improve treatments for diseases including cancer and Alzheimer’s, to develop more effective strategies for delivering mRNA vaccines and therapeutics, and to impede viral infections.
Amount: $599,674
Lead researcher: Professor Max Cryle – Monash BDI (EMBL Australia alumni group leader)
Project summary: This project aims to (1) understand the mechanism and control the specificity of peptide crosslinking by engineered enzymes and (2) to exploit these enzymes as biocatalysts to produce complex bioactive peptides. This project intends to generate new knowledge on the biocatalytic synthesis of peptides using a highly interdisciplinary approach and essential tools that have been developed. The anticipated outcomes of this project are an enhanced understanding of how to the control the function of biocatalysts for peptide synthesis and to use these biocatalysts to synthesis complex bioactive natural products. This knowledge is vital for future efforts to develop biocatalytic methods for peptide production.
Amount: $753,845
Lead researcher: Professor Jose Polo (EMBL Australia Scientific Head)
Project summary: This research aims to deepen our understanding of early human development by focusing on the hypoblast, a vital cell type that contributes to the formation of the yolk sac, a structure essential for early embryonic growth and development. Using innovative laboratory-grown embryo models and advanced molecular techniques, this study will explore how hypoblast cells form, maintain their identity, and interact with other embryonic cell types. By addressing fundamental questions about the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying early human development, this research will contribute to advancing the global understanding of developmental biology and reinforce Australia’s leadership in cutting-edge scientific discovery.
Amount: $841,353
ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA)
Lead researcher: Dr Sami Al-Izzi (Morris Group)
Project summary: Biology is typified by thin deforming interfaces that undergo complex geometric changes. Examples include lipid membranes and thin layers of epithelial tissue that form the basis of organs. The proposed research will develop mathematical methods to build models of these active living interfaces using tools from the fields of differential geometry, continuum mechanics and active matter. The project will focus on three aims, each displaying general mathematical characteristics, but with specific examples in biology that have so far evaded mathematical analysis. The development of these novel methods will bridge a substantial knowledge gap and tackle a problem that has stalled the feedback between theory and experiment in mathematical biology.
Amount: $506,852
ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) scheme
Lead researcher: Professor John Carroll (EMBL Australia Node Head), with co-investigators including Dr Senthil Arumugam (EMBL Australia Group Leader) and Prof Jose Polo (EMBL Australia Scientific Head)
Project summary: The aim of this project is to develop advanced imaging technologies to allow long term visualisation and recording of individual organelles and cells within complex multicellular structures such as embryos, developing tissues, organoids and iblastoids. Imaging technologies have driven major advances in the life sciences but photo-toxicity has limited advances in sensitive multicellular systems. The technology we will implement reduces phototoxicity by using 2-photon microscopy and adaptive opticsn and an Airy beam scanning system enhances speed and resolution of imaging. This capability will lead to new discoveries in how organelles and cells interact to create functional multicellular systems.
Amount: $1,121,556
NHMRC IDEAS GRANT
Lead researcher: Prof Chen Davidovich (EMBL Australia alumni group leader)
Project summary: Why do proteins mimic the repressive mark H3K27me3? When genes are turned off, they are marked by silencing tags that ensure these genes will not become active. Some proteins mimic these silencing tags, but it is not known why they are doing so. The project intends to discover why certain proteins mimic gene silencing tags, how they carry out their function and what happens when this process goes wrong in diseases. This knowledge will reveal how genes are controlled and pave the way for new medical diagnostic approaches and treatments.
Amount: $1,088,713
Lead researcher: A/Prof Maté Biro (EMBL Australia alumni group leader)
Project summary: Mechanical and stromal induction of NK cell-mediated remote killing of solid tumours. We will develop a novel way to treat tumours using natural killer cells; instead of relying on them directly attacking cancer cells, we will modify them to remotely release therapeutic proteins, triggered by the mechanics of the fibrotic tissue that surrounds tumours. The proteins will be designed to diffuse and specifically target tumour, stromal, or immune cells. This new approach could help treat solid tumours that are hard for immune cells to reach and recognise, such as pancreatic cancer.
Amount: $1,303,318
Congratulations to all of our successful recipients!