EU infrastructure grant awarded to the MOSBRI Molecular Biophysics consortium

The European Union’s Horizon 2020 INFRAIA programme has awarded a 5 M€ infrastructure grant to MOSBRI (Molecular-Scale Biophysics Research Infrastructure www.mosbri.eu), a consortium of 13 academic centres of excellence and 2 industrial partners from 11 different European countries, coordinated by Institut Pasteur (Paris, France)

Molecular-scale biophysics is the study of the architecture, dynamics and interactions of the giant molecules of life (proteins, DNA, RNA, polysaccharides, lipids) via measurements of their physical properties. It is fundamental to both our understanding of how living organisms work, and our ability to block or enhance the function of these molecules, notably for therapeutic purposes. Deciphering the complexity of the behaviour of macromolecular assemblies requires a multi-faceted approach resorting to a variety of distinct biophysical methods.

The MOSBRI project will enable to create a geographically distributed, scientifically integrated research infrastructure combining the distinct instrumentation and expertise of the individual partner laboratories, thus allowing to tackle an unusually wide variety of life science research questions. Access to the large panel of cutting-edge biophysical technologies and unparalleled range of expertise of the consortium will be available at no cost to all European researchers from both academia and industry.