The ERC’s prestigious Starting Grant recognizes innovative research by outstanding early-career scientists and enables recipients to establish their own research programs. One of this year’s awardees receiving such a grant is microbiologist Professor Yuping Li, who leads a research group at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel.
Li’s research focuses on the interactions between bacteria and jumbophages. Her ERC project, funded with 1.5 million Euro over five years, revolves around the question of how bacteria defend themselves against these underappreciated large viruses. “I am very grateful that we have received funding for our research,” says Li. “This grant will provide the financial resources necessary to understand the clever ways bacteria have evolved to antagonize jumbophages.”
How bacteria sense phage infections
Bacteriophages or phages - viruses that specifically infect bacteria - are the most common and diverse bio-entities. Jumbophages are giant phages with exceptionally large genomes and represent some of the most complex and least explored viruses. Upon entering bacteria, they shield their genomes and are thus difficult to be recognized by the bacterial immune systems.
This project investigates how bacteria detect invading jumbophages despite their sophisticated camouflage. The researchers aim to unravel the mechanism of how a bacterial sensor recognizes phage-specific proteins and what roles these phage proteins play during the viruses’ infection.
Understanding this biological “cat-and-mouse game” could uncover previously unknown bacterial immune strategies and provide new insights into the co-evolution of bacteria and their viruses. “Our work will also help establish the concept of using bacterial immune systems as a tool to study proteins important in phage life cycle,” says Li. “Furthermore, the largely unexplored jumbophages hold the potential for breakthroughs in basic research and in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.”
Yuping Li - Biosketch
Yuping Li received her Bachelor of Engineering in Bioinformatics from Huazhong University of Science & Technology in Wuhan, China. In 2013, she started her PhD studies at Stanford University where she completed her dissertation on quantitative understanding of adaptation and trade-offs in microbial evolution. Before joining the Biozentrum in 2024, Li worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Francisco.
Highly coveted ERC Starting Grants
With an ERC Starting Grant, the European Research Council (ERC) recognizes innovative and pioneering basic research and supports outstanding young scientists in becoming independent researchers and establishing their own teams. The award to Yuping Li is the eighth ERC Starting Grant for the Biozentrum. In total, the ERC is funding six female researchers at the University of Basel with such grants. Media release University of Basel.
Contact: Communications, Katrin Bühler