Funding of the DFG Research Unit 2333 “Macromolecular complexes in mRNA localization” (FOR2333) continues. Its speaker Prof. Dierk Niessing, head of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the Ulm University and research group leader at the Institute of Structural Biology of the Helmholtz Zentrum München, confirmed that the DFG grants financing of its second funding period.

The FOR2333 Research Unit on mRNA localization consists of multidisciplinary teams covering the areas of cell biology, RNA and protein biochemistry, genetics, bioinformatics, and structural biology. Together the teams aim to integrate recent technological and conceptual advances to understand principles of gene regulation by directional mRNA transport and local translation. We aim to answer the following questions:

• How are mRNA-localization elements within the transcripts defined to mediate their transport?
• How do different RNA-binding domains cooperate to achieve specific mRNA transport?
• How are mRNA-transport complexes remodelled during maturation and transport?

The focus of FOR2333 is to understand the fundamental concepts which govern mRNA transport, localized translation, and their roles in gene expression control. Like in the first funding period, the research unit is headed by Prof. Dierk Niessing (Institute of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Ulm University). In the second funding period, six german-wide research groups (Universities of Düsseldorf, Tübingen, and Ulm, the Max-Delbrück Center in Berlin and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg) participate in the network. The total granted amount for the coming funding period (2019 to 2022) is about 2,2 Mio €.