MOSBRI: a new research infrastructure for molecular-scale biophysics led by the Institut Pasteur

The European Union's Horizon 2020 INFRAIA program has awarded €5 million for the creation of MOSBRI (Molecular-Scale Biophysics Research Infrastructure www.mosbri.eu), an innovative research infrastructure for molecular-scale biophysics. MOSBRI involves a consortium of 13 university centers of excellence and 2 industry partners from 11 European countries, coordinated by the Institut Pasteur.

• A closer look at the MOSBRI project

Selected from 65 projects submitted following an open call for proposals in November 2020, MOSBRI will be a geographically and scientifically integrative research infrastructure, drawing on the instrumentation and expertise of each individual partner laboratory to address a wide range of research questions in life sciences. The project will provide all European scientists working in academia and industry with access to an array of state-of-the-art biophysics technologies and the unprecedented and wide-ranging expertise of the consortium.

MOSBRI will guarantee optimal usage of these advanced biophysics techniques and facilitate joint ventures, thereby helping advance knowledge and technology. The infrastructure will also share its expertise through an ambitious program of training workshops and events particularly aimed at early career scientists and new scientists in the field.

• MOSBRI, a network of complementary partners that will benefit the Institut Pasteur's scientists

The aim of MOSBRI is to strengthen research on the architecture, dynamics and interactions of macromolecules in living systems (proteins, DNA, RNA, lipids, polysaccharides, etc.) by creating an unprecedented network of complementary partners, each offering a specific technology for use by interested scientists. MOSBRI is led by the Institut Pasteur through its Molecular Biophysics Platform (C2RT), headed by Patrick England, scientific coordinator of the project. This Institut Pasteur structure will make its equipment and expertise available to foreign scientists for projects selected by the MOSBRI consortium.

A call for proposals will be launched in June 2021 so that researchers across Europe, whether working in academia or industry, can submit their requests for transnational access. The work of the new infrastructure will be launched on July 1. MOSBRI reflects an approach that supports transnational mobility, with the aim of elucidating the complex behavior of macromolecular assemblies in living systems.

MOSBRI will provide interested Institut Pasteur scientists with a one-stop shop, giving them access to partner centers of excellence outside France with technologies and services that are unavailable on campus, such as:
•    Atomic force microscopy
•    Optical tweezers
•    Electron paramagnetic resonance
•    Circular dichroism and synchrotron radiation
•    High-throughput infrared spectroscopy and imaging
•    High-speed kinetics

MOSBRI will also give Institut Pasteur scientists the opportunity to take part in knowledge transfer activities in the field of molecular biophysics, including conferences and training workshops.

Find out more: www.mosbri.eu or patrick.england@pasteur.fr