We are thrilled to announce that Janna Nawroth, distinguished PioneerCampus Principal Investigator, has made a remarkable start to the new year with groundbreaking achievements and substantial financial support: Janna has secured half a million euros from the Volkswagen Foundation for a two-year project that focuses on investigating the role of motile cilia in the brain.
Motile cilia are tiny hair-like structures on the surfaces of living organisms that move back and forth to push fluids. The project’s hypothesis suggests that - contrary to conventional beliefs about cilia in vertebrates - the ciliary beat frequency (CBF) of cells lining the fluid-filled brain ventricles is under neuronal control. This groundbreaking insight could unveil a previously unknown mechanism for controlling the patterns of cerebrospinal fluid transport. Drawing from their expertise in biological fluid dynamics and neuroscience, Janna’s research team has been developing experimental and computational tools for exploring this hypothesis. Successfully demonstrating the ability of the brain to control and adapt fluid flows has the potential to entirely reshape our understanding of how cerebrospinal fluid influences brain development, healing, sleep, and detrimental conditions such as Alzheimer's.
Furthermore, Janna’s team has successfully secured additional funding for their research endeavors: Tankut Güney obtained ~100K € for a three-year project from Bf3, The German Centre for the Protection of Laboratory Animals that coordinates nationwide activities aiming at the reduction of animal experiments in science. The Bf3R project will assess the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to facilitate the discovery of better suited drug targets and personalized treatment options using a multi-celltype 3D Bronchotube-on-Chip model. In addition, a successful proposal to TranslaTUM has secured an internal Project Seed fund of 25,000 € to develop innovative microfluidic inflammation sensors in collaboration with the group of Prof. Ghulam Destgeer.
These achievements underscore PioneerCampus's dedication to supporting innovative research and fostering collaborations. Congratulations to Janna and her team – we are proud to have you on board!