BIF Fellowship for Tara McAteer
Tara McAteer, PhD student in the Pinheiro lab at the IMP, was awarded a prestigious fellowship by the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) to study how mechanical forces control morphogen signalling in embryo development.
Tara McAteer joined the lab of Diana Pinheiro at the IMP through the Vienna BioCenter PhD Program in January. She has now received a competitive fellowship from the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF), which will support her research on how tissue mechanics shape key signalling events in early embryonic development.
Morphogens are signalling molecules that form concentration gradients in developing tissues, directing cell fate, and arranging cells into specific patterns to form functional tissues and organs. While the concentration and duration of morphogen signals are known to influence development, scientists try to better understand how these signals are controlled in living organisms. McAteer’s PhD project focuses on the morphogen ‘Nodal’, which plays a key role in organising the developing embryo into distinct layers. Nodal regulates the formation of the three germ layers—endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm—which give rise to all organs and tissues. Nodal also drives the physical forces that establish the body’s basic structure and axes. McAteer will study how cell and tissue mechanics influence the dynamics of Nodal’s activity, advancing knowledge of the interplay between biochemical signalling and mechanical forces during early embryonic development.
Before joining the IMP, Tara McAteer completed her bachelor’s in applied medical sciences at University College London (UCL), with a thesis on how neural stem cells integrate and differentiate in a mouse model of Hirschsprung’s disease—a condition that affects the development of the nervous system. Her research background includes an internship at the Francis Crick Institute, where she studied the development of motor neurons in the spinal cord of the chicken embryo, marking her introduction to developmental biology and morphogen signalling.
About the BIF PhD Fellowships
The Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) awards PhD fellowships of 2 to 3.5 years to outstanding junior scientists worldwide who wish to pursue an ambitious PhD project in basic biomedical research in an internationally leading laboratory.
The peer-review selection process evaluates the applicant's achievements, as well as the scientific quality of the project and host laboratory. The process is highly competitive, with less than 10 percent of applicants receiving a fellowship.
On top of the monthly stipend, the BIF offers fellows seminars, travel allowances, individual and personal support, and access to a worldwide network of fellows and alumni.
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