KUL

In the post–genomic era, innovation policies in biomedicine are increasingly being driven by the notion that constant advancements in biological knowledge fail to materialize into tangible therapeutic outcomes. Discursively framed in terms of a “gap” between “bench” and “bedside” in need of urgent “bridging”, this representation of the shortcomings of biomedical innovation has propelled growing efforts tailored towards the clinical translation of research results. In the European Union, the acceleration of clinical translation has been positioned as a cornerstone of its innovation strategy, as attested by the launch of a host of translational policy initiatives and a vast array of regulatory reforms in the process of medicines approval. However, in spite of its growing relevance, the broader expectations, dynamics and implications of the translational enterprise at EU level have yet to be comprehensively drawn out by the social sciences. This project sets out to accomplish this objective. Drawing from qualitative research methodologies, it investigates the articulation of translational initiatives in the policy and regulatory context of the EU, with the aim to chart and analyze the different epistemic and normative expectations underpinning translational policies, the sociotechnical dynamics of their implementation, as well as their social and political implications. Specifically, the project focuses on the mobilization of translational initiatives into the service of EU socio–political consolidation and its transboundary exercise of political, economic and cultural power, and will investigate the possible tensions and trade–offs between the political ideal of competitiveness enshrined in such initiatives, and those of democratic accountability and social justice.

Modern metagenomics has opened our eyes to the immense bacterial diversity that exists both among and within us. Despite this diversity, all bacteria share the basic challenge of organizing the various processes that ensure their faithful replication. All bacterial cells need to metabolize nutrients, generate building blocks, maintain their shape and size, replicate and segregate their chromosomes, synthesize cell walls and membranes, and divide to give rise to daughter cells. At present, we do not understand how bacteria integrate all these processes in their small cellular compartments. What makes this question even more intriguing is that bacteria represent simple forms of proliferating cells, without additional layers of internal organization (e.g., membrane-enclosed organelles) or cell cycle regulation (e.g., cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases) seen in eukaryotic cells. My goal is to address this gap by uncovering the internal architecture of bacterial replication and identifying the molecular mechanisms that underlie it. I will use a high-throughput single-cell phenomics approach that I developed and that provides high-content, quantitative cell biological information. By applying this approach across different levels of bacterial diversity (both within and across species, beyond the small number of currently existing model species), I aim to identify general and species-specific principles for the subcellular organization of replication in bacteria. This analysis will also enable the identification of key factors involved in establishing these governing principles, which will be functionally characterized further to provide a unique overview of the molecular mechanisms that determine the spatial organization of bacterial replication. If successful, this project will transform our understanding of bacterial cell biology by expanding it beyond current textbook standards and providing us with the blueprints and design principles of bacterial cells.