Schulze and Sahai receive EMBO Young Investigator award

Almut Schulze and Erik Sahai, group leaders at Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute are to get additional support as part of the 2008 European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) 'Young Investigator Programme' (YIP).

Commenting on her selection, Dr Almut Schulze, head of the gene expression analysis laboratory at the London Research Institute, said: "I am very excited to hear that I have been selected to join this very prestigious programme as it offers excellent networking opportunities for myself as well as the people in my lab. I am very much looking forward to participating in the YIP events over the next three years. These events are a great way of meeting researchers from across Europe and offer a fantastic forum to initiate collaborations."

Meanwhile, fellow recipient Dr Erik Sahai, who heads up the Institute's tumour cell biology laboratory, commented: "This award is really for the whole lab and is a testament to the hard work they have put in over the last couple of years. On a practical level it should help to raise the profile of our lab and the additional money will be very useful - as it will make it easier for lab members to travel to meetings and to visit other labs as part of international collaborations."

Young Investigators chosen by EMBO Members will receive lab management and non-scientific skills support, PhD training and access to networking events, and as such the available places are highly contested.

EMBO Young Investigators also receive 15,000 euro (12,200 pounds) a year from the country in which their laboratory is located and can often gain access to additional sources of funding as a result of their new status.

This year, the programme's ninth, saw 116 applications received from candidates in countries including France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

The other ten candidates chosen to receive support in 2008 are Oscar Fernandez-Capetillo, Jesus Gil, Monica Gotta, Giles Hardingham, Juan Martin-Serrano, Eric Miska, Antonin Morillon, Antoine Peters, Mikael Simins and Eric So.

See Almut Schulze and Erik Sahai's profiles for more information on their research.