August 2026: Professor Amy Buck and Dr Maddie Moule have both been awarded grants in Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP)’s 2026 round of research grants. Amy Buck (left) and Maddie Moule (right) are both in the Institute for Immunology and Infection Research in the School of Biological Sciences. HFSP research grants support innovative basic research into fundamental biological problems.The focus is on novel and interdisciplinary approaches that involve new international scientific collaborations. This can open up new approaches for understanding the complex structures and regulatory networks that characterise living organisms, their evolution and interactions. These grants are incredibly competitive with a 3% success rate. Amy Buck - ‘Decoding an ancient RNA social network’ Professor Amy Buck received $1.35 million for a three-year project which will lead to new insights on RNA, one of life’s essential and most versatile molecules.The findings will reveal if RNA can act more widely in the body to influence infection, immunity and the intricate relationship between humans and microbes.RNA is a vital molecule that helps cells to make proteins, regulate genes and respond to changes in the environment, but it was previously thought only to act inside cells.Scientists now know that RNA is also found outside cells, from bodily fluids to microbial films. Yet what extracellular RNAs (ex RNAs) does is still largely a mystery.Amy’s project will investigate how ex RNAs influence real-life interactions between animals, bacteria, and parasitic worms.They will explore why different organisms release exRNAs into the environment, what information these exRNAs contain and how other organisms decode this to communicate.The international team combines chemistry, biology, immunology, ecology and evolutionary science to explore how exRNAs are formed, chemically altered and sensed.They think our body has evolved specific factors to recognize and control exRNA information. The team hope their work on exRNAs will ultimately shed light on an evolutionarily ancient communication network that connects all life and that pathogens exploit.The project team includes researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo and Goethe University Frankfurt. We are grateful to HFSP for enabling this new collaboration with colleagues in Uruguay and Germany. By combining our expertise and comparing diverse biological models, we will learn how organisms communicate with RNA, how this could contribute to inflammation and how our bodies evolve to regulate this ancient form of communication in the gut. Professor Amy Buck Professor of RNA and Infection Biology, Institute of Immunology and Infection Research Maddie Moule - Living Batteries: Reconfiguring cell-wall deficient bacteria as synthetic mitochondria Dr Maddie Moule received $1.35 million for a three-year project which could find new ways to repair diseased, damaged or aging cells, by harnessing a clever bacterial tactic.Their findings could lead to new insights on the evolution of mitochondria, tiny energy generators found inside cells, and strategies to tackle mitochondrial dysfunction, which is common in aging and disease.Under stress conditions such as certain antibiotics, bacteria can switch forms to an atypical variant lacking a cell wall.These cell wall-deficient bacteria (CWDBs) can survive inside host cells without attracting the attention of the host immune response.This unique ability is reminiscent of host mitochondria which are thought to descend from a bacterial cell engulfed by a single-celled ancestor billions of years ago.Maddie’s international team will explore how cell-wall deficient bacteria (CWDBs) form these silent reservoirs within their host’s cells, sharing food and energy.Ultimately, deciphering the symbiotic relationship between CWDBs and their hosts will help to pave the way towards designing synthetic mitochondria.The project includes researchers from CNRS, University of Oxford and University of Waterloo. We are incredibly grateful to the Human Frontier Science Program for supporting this ambitious project. This award enables our international team to combine expertise from across disciplines and countries to tackle a fundamental biological question that none of us could answer alone. By exploring how bacteria establish long-term partnerships with mammalian cells, we hope to gain new insights into the origins of mitochondria and how diseased and aging cells might one day be repaired. Dr Maddie Moule Chancellor's Fellow - Global Challenges Institute of Immunology and Infection Research Related Links Amy BuckMaddie MouleHFSP Grant Announcement This article was published on Wednesday 5 August 2026
