Novartis Foundation Young Investigator Grant awarded to Dr. Nesli Ece ŞEN

Dr. Şen, a senior postdoctoral researcher in Loewith Lab, has been awarded a Young Investigator Grant from Novartis Foundation for Medical-Biological Research for her project entitled “Mechanosensitive mTORC2 Signalling in Oligodendrocyte Differentiation”. This competitive award provides support for her transition from postdoctoral research toward pursuing independent academic positions.

As part of this project, Dr. Şen will build on Loewith Lab’s expertise in TOR signalling in yeast and extend it to a mammalian system. Her work will explore the role of the mTORC2 protein complex in oligodendrocyte differentiation, combining classical molecular biology and genome editing, membrane biophysics, and high-resolution confocal microscopy.

This interdisciplinary effort will benefit from collaborations across research groups, as well as the strong scientific environment and infrastructure at UNIGE.