Igor Maciel Souza Silva wins Marie Curie Fellowship
Dr. Igor Maciel Souza Silva, a postdoc in the In Situ Structural Biology lab of Professor Misha Kudryashev at the Max Delbrück Center, has won a prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship. The two-year fellowship, which began on August 1, 2025 will enable him to study the 3D structure of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) clusters. EGFR plays a role in several types of cancer, including lung, colorectal and glioblastoma.
While scientists have long known that EGFR is involved in cell growth and cancer, more recent evidence suggests that these receptors form clusters, especially in cancer cells. “What is not known is what these clusters do,” says Souza Silva.
Applying cryo-electron tomography to study the 3D structure of EGFR clusters, his research will focus on understanding whether these clusters contribute to abnormal signaling pathways. His preliminary findings suggest that the more EGFR protein a cell expresses, the greater the number of EGFR receptor clusters. “Ultimately, we want to study whether targeting the clusters instead of individual receptors can treat cancers while minimizing damage to healthy tissue,” says Souza Silva, which might mean fewer side effects for patients.
Text: Gunjan Sinha
