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Annual Report Fy 2017 Human Frontier Science Program

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Annual Report Fy 2017 Human Frontier Science Program APRIL 2017 APRIL 2017 — MARCH 2018 ANNUAL REPORT FY 2017 HUMAN FRONTIER SCIENCE PROGRAM The Human Frontier Science Program is unique, supporting international collaboration to undertake innovative, risky, basic research at the frontier of the life sciences. Special emphasis is given to the support and training of independent young investigators, beginning at the postdoctoral level. The Program is implemented by an international organisation, supported financially by Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the European Commission. Since 1990, over 7000 researchers from more than 70 countries have been supported. Of these, 27 HFSP awardees have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize. 2 The following documents are available on the HFSP website www.hfsp.org: Joint Communiqués (Tokyo 1992, Washington 1997, Berlin 2002, Bern 2004, Ottawa 2007, Canberra 2010, Brussels 2013, London 2016): http://www.hfsp.org/about-us/governance/intergovernmental-conference Statutes of the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization: http://www.hfsp.org/about-us/governance/statutes Guidelines for the participation of new members in HFSPO: http://www.hfsp.org/about-us/new-membership General reviews of the HFSP (1996, 2001, 2006-2007, 2010): http://www.hfsp.org/about-us/reviews-hfsp Updated and previous lists of awards, including titles and abstracts: http://www.hfsp.org/awardees 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Table of contents 4 President’s Message Introducing HFSPO 8 Introducing HFSPO 11 Report of the Secretary General 13 CHAPTER 1 - FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM 1.1 Introduction 18 1.2 Selection of HFSP Fellowships awarded in March 2018 20 1.3 The 2018 Fellowship Review Committee 23 1.4 Awardees lists: 25 1. Long-Term and Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships awarded in March 2018 25 (to be initiated in FY 2018) 2. Long-Term and Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships initiated between 1 April 34 2017 and 31 March 2018 (FY 2017) 1.5 Selection of HFSP Career Development Awards awarded in March 2018 41 1.6 The 2018 CDA Review Committee 44 1.7 Awardees lists: 45 1. Career Development Awards awarded in March 2018 45 (to be initiated in FY 2018) 2. Career Development Awards initiated between 1 April 2017 46 and 31 March 2018 (FY 2017) 1.8 Examples of Frontier Fellowships initiated in FY 2017 48 4 — TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 2 - RESEARCH GRANT PROGRAM 2.1 Selection of HFSP Research Grants awarded in March 2018 52 2.2 The 2018 HFSP Research Grant Review Committee 54 2.3 Awardees lists: 57 1. Research Grants initiated between 1 April 2017 and 31 57 December 2017 (FY 2017) 2. Research Grants awarded in March 2018 65 (to be initiated in FY 2018) 2.4 Examples of Young Investigator Frontier Research Grants 73 initiated in FY 2017 CHAPTER 3 – THE SCIENCE OF HFSPO 3.1 Science, Communication & IT highlights in FY 2017 78 3.2 HFSPO branded meetings in FY 2017 79 3.3 Global Life Sciences Data Resources Coalition: 82 strategy and implementation plan 3.4 The 2018 HFSP Nakasone Award 84 3.5 Frontier science 86 3.6 Great minds at work 89 3.7 Honours and prizes 90 3.8 IT infrastructure, data security and website 94 CHAPTER 4 - BUDGET AND FINANCE 4.1 HFSPO Members’ funding 98 4.2 Member contributions for FY 2017 99 4.3 Geographical distribution of contributions 102 4.4 Payment of awards 104 4.5 FY 2017 financial summary 106 APPENDIX A.1 Joint Communiqué of the Intergovernmental Conference 112 on the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization, London, 10 June 2016 A.2 Summary of decisions of the Board of Trustees in FY 2017 118 A.3 Governance and Administration lists: 119 1. Board of Trustees 119 2. Council of Scientists 121 3. Secretariat 123 TABLE OF CONTENTS — 5 Introduction Introduction PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Opening up There is a Japanese proverb, ‘A frog in a well does not know the great ocean’. It was perhaps the wisdom of these words echoing down the ages that led me as a young M.D. to set my medical studies in the wider context of neuroscience research and then to leave my native Japan to take up a post-doctoral position at the University of California, San Francisco. The search for the ‘great ocean’ also led me to collaborate with Nicholas Cowan of New York University on an HFSP grant on the ‘Dynamics and localization of cytoskeletal proteins in neuronal cells - a molecular cell biological approach’. This grew our work in ways we did not expect, such is the Nobutaka HIROKAWA serendipitous nature of curiosity driven research. President of HFSPO The words of the ancient proverb still resonate today, expressing well the mission of HFSPO to push scientists beyond their comfort zone in tackling problems in biology. HFSPO funds ‘basic’ or ‘discovery’ research into the complex mechanisms of living organisms; in a sense the other descriptors of HFSPO funded research (interdisciplinary, 8 — INTRODUCTION innovative, international) simply computer scientists bringing their Each HFSPO funded project is exploit creative potential within expertise to problems in biology. born of the synergy of different basic research itself, creating HFSP Long-Term Fellowships disciplines and scientific cultures, the conditions in which the require early career scientists selected for its capacity to push scientist will be pushed to his/her to move country and expand back the frontiers by rigorous imaginative limits: HFSP Research their expertise, while HFSP peer review. Each HFSPO funded Grants are carried out by new Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships scientist is working outside his/ teams on a new project over the accompany those with a Ph.D. her comfort zone, entering borders of country and discipline, in another discipline in the unchartered territory where with chemists, physicists and challenging move into biology. discovery can begin. Working together There is no doubt that it is the international aspect of HFSPO funded research that brings the greatest added value, giving scientists the freedom and flexibility to identify the very best collaborators for their project, anywhere in the world. 14 countries and the European Commission continue to pool resources to support this initiative, conscious that advances in science globally benefit national communities. We are also aware that more than ever our own young researchers need an international network to grow their careers successfully and that HFSPO provides exceptional opportunities for this, in the context of the HFSP award itself and more widely at the annual HFSP Awardees Meeting, which brings together all current awardees. In turn this builds an alumni network, a cohort of international frontier researchers, pursuing the aims of HFSPO long after the duration of their award. 28 years on, we are proud that this global effort to support scientists all over the world has born rich fruit. Since the first awards were made in 1990, 27 former HFSP awardees have gone on to be awarded a Nobel Prize, in Physiology or Medicine, Chemistry and Physics and many more have been awarded other prestigious international prizes. This year, we congratulate two time grant awardee, Jeffrey C. Hall, who, together with Michael Rosbach and Michael W. Young, received the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm. Jeffrey C. Hall was a co-investigator of an HFSP Program Grant in 2001 on signaling of the circadian clock in the brain Such successes apart, there is nevertheless still so much more to do, more talent to tap, with scientific communities, particularly in Asia, Africa, South America , emerging as scientific leaders of the future. As the planet becomes smaller, HFSPO seeks to embrace an increasing diversity of scientific excellence, encouraging new partners to join this global initiative ‘for the benefit of humankind’. INTRODUCTION — 9 Looking to the future We, on the HFSPO Board of Trustees, strive to be as forward looking as the talented young scientists we support, combining daring with diligence. As the custodians of public money, we also have the duty to ensure that HFSPO is effective in fulfilling its objectives and equipped to tackle the challenges of the future. The 30 years anniversary of HFSPO, coinciding with the 2019 Intergovernmental Conference, is an opportunity to look towards the next decade and beyond. Among our current activities, we are updating our governance structures, seeking to draw more deeply on the collective wisdom of our funders around the world. We are also undergoing an independent international review of the scientific programs, led by Dame Bridget Ogilvie, formerly Head of the Wellcome Trust and looking to other activities where HFSPO’s unique international character can assist the future of life sciences research (such as the crucial roles of life sciences databases and data resources). As President, I would like to thank my fellow Trustees who bring sage judgment to their roles and who contribute hugely between Board meetings or Working Groups and in frequently providing me and the Secretary General with advice. I also thank the Secretary General and the staff of the Secretariat in Strasbourg for their ceaseless efforts on behalf of HFSPO. As my tenure draws to a close, I remember with gratitude my own calling to the ‘great ocean’ of scientific research and can attest to the stimulating presence of HFSP throughout my career, where I began as a Research Grant awardee, served as a Review Committee member, Council member and then as member of the Board, and finally as its President. It has indeed been an honour and a pleasure. My time as President sadly comes to an end but HFSPO still beckons those willing to risk it, those willing to be forerunners in the exploration of the unknown.
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