Ron Bancroft Fellow joins EMBO young investigator programme

Dr Dmitry Ghilarov, of the Ghilarov Lab, has been named as one of 28 new life scientists to receive funding through the European Molecular Biology Organisation’s (EMBO) Young Investigator Programme which supports early-career research group leaders from Europe and further afield.

“I am very grateful to EMBO for this recognition of our research,” Ghilarov said and added: “It allows us to take our research into new, exciting directions.”

As a member of the programme Ghilarov will join an international network of more than 800 life scientists. The programme also offers career development support and resources for him and his group members, such as research funding, travel grants and access to facilities.

“EMBO is delighted to welcome the new young investigators,” said EMBO director Fiona Watt. “Their outstanding achievements demonstrate the excellence and ambition that will drive progress in the life sciences.

“We are pleased to support these young group leaders as they take the next steps in their careers, and we look forward to their discoveries and contributions to our community.”

Ghilarov joined Oriel as the Ron Bancroft Fellow and a tutor in Biochemistry earlier in 2025. His research group based at Oxford University’s Department of Biochemistry uses cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to study how bacterial “molecular machines” manipulate structures of peptides and nucleic acids.

Cryo-EM is a new advanced methodology that allows scientists to see biomolecular life in extraordinary detail. Biomolecules are rapidly cooled to cryogenic temperatures and then imaged exactly as they were at the moment they were frozen.

This allows scientists to generate time-lapse “movies” of key processes of life such as protein translation as they happen in real-time.

Ghilarov’s lab is especially interested in a class of enzymes called topoisomerases which disentangle DNA by breaking and mending  the polymer’s double-helix structure.

Topoisomerases do this in all living organisms on Earth, but until recently biochemists have been unable to study how. The enzymes are vital targets for anti-cancer drugs such as etoposide and antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin.

Ghilarov’s research group also investigates the biosynthesis of peptides with antimicrobial properties. In nature, bacteria use these natural antibiotics to compete with each other for resources. But Ghilarov believes they could be harnessed for new medicinal purposes and for developing biotechnology.

“Our vision,” Ghilarov said, “is to understand and harness antibiotic biosynthesis pathways in bacteria to create a never-ending source of novel peptide therapeutics.”