Dr Anna Kula-Pacurar from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, in cooperation with scientists from the Łukasiewicz Research Network – PORT Polish Center for Technology Development and the Belgian KU Leuven, wins a Weave-UNISONO grant to work on a research project aimed at developing new HIV treatments.
“Towards a functional cure of HIV infection” is a project devised by a Polish research team headed by Dr Kula-Pacurar from the Jagiellonian University in tandem with researchers led by Dr Heng-Chang Chen from the Łukasiewicz Rsearch Network – PORT and Prof. Zeger Debyser from the Belgian KU Leuven. The total funding awarded to the part of the project that will be hosted by Polish research institutions is nearly PLN 3.5 million.
Currently available HIV-1 treatments improve patients’ health and extend their lives but do not provide a complete cure. All project partners have previously developed various methods to target the HIV-1 virus and HIV-infected cells. By pooling their knowledge and experience, they are hoping to tackle the ambitious challenge of developing innovative strategies for a functional cure for HIV.
The proposal was evaluated at Research Foundation Flanders (FWO); the National Science Centre approved the evaluation results under the terms of the Weave programme. This is the first proposal recommended for funding by FWO in its capacity as the lead agency.
The Weave-UNISONO call is based on multilateral cooperation between the research-funding agencies that constitute the Science Europe association. It aims to simplify submission and selection procedures for research proposals drawn up by researchers from two or three different European countries in any discipline of science.
The selection process is based on the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP), under which only one partner institution is responsible for merit-based review, while the rest simply accept the results.
Under Weave, partner research teams apply in parallel to the lead agency and their relevant domestic institutions. Their joint proposal must include coherent research plans and clearly demonstrate the added value of international cooperation.
The Weave-UNISONO call accepts proposals on a rolling basis. Polish teams wishing to partner up with colleagues from Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium-Flanders are encouraged to read the call announcement carefully and submit their funding proposals.