Disentangling the neuromolecular networks involved in speech and language
- GCRF START
As a biochemist/biophysicist working primarily with proteins, Sylvia Fanucchi is naturally drawn to the mechanisms of interactions of biological macromolecules.
She is a senior Lecturer in the Protein Structure Function Research Unit (PSFRU) at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, and interested in how things work at the molecular and atomic level, and how the structure of macromolecules leads to their function.
This has inspired her research for the past six years which involves disentangling the neuromolecular networks involved in speech and language.
“With the GCRF START grant, the doors to collecting the detailed structural information we need through studying and obtaining crystal structures, have been opened for groups in Africa like ours. I have had multiple opportunities, thanks to the grant, to send crystals to the UK’s world class national synchrotron, Diamond Light Source (Diamond),” writes Fanucchi.
About the GCRF grant
The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and START (Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology) grant is a collaborative project between scientists in Africa and the UK working together on research using synchrotron science.