Swiss Systems Biology Initiative announces Flagshi...( This release is available in A HREF h...),Health

These eight projects address a diverse set of basic biological questions ranging from the role of lipids in cells to the mechanisms underlying decision-making in the brain. The 79 research groups include 39 from the two federal polytechnic schools ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne and 39 from the Swiss universities, one group is part of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB). Prof. Ralf Eichler, president of the SystemsX.ch Board of Directors commented that the projects cover a vast field of topics and provides a unique opportunity for Swiss Systems Biologists to interact.

Each of the eight projects will be coordinated by one SystemsX.ch partner institution. Researchers from the ETH Zurich will head four RTD projects, EPF Lausanne will head two, and the Universities of Bern and Zurich will each head one. An international panel of experts was put together under the direction of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) with the specific task of selecting the projects for funding by SystemsX.ch. This panel chose eight projects out of the 30 submitted. Prof. Ren Schwarzenbach, the SNSF panel Chairman stressed that it was a tough competition, and some very good projects could not be considered for funding due to budget limitations. The scientific quality and the systems biology approach of the project proposals have been the most decisive elements in the panels decisions. Abstracts of the new RTD projects can be found on the new website of SystemsX.ch (http://www.systemsx.ch/index.php?id=136/).

The issue of budget allocations for each project is still in progress. In their current forms, the investigators requested some CHF 58 million, while SystemsX.ch has budgeted CHF 45 millio
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