Three researchers receive VILLUM Experiment 2026 grants
Associate Professor Yuya Hayashi, Associate Professor Taro Kitazawa and Postdoc Alexander Snow have each received a grant for projects that the VILLUM Foundation has assessed as bold in their approach to research. The programme is designed to support daring research ideas where the risk of failure is relatively high, but where the experiment itself may move the field an important step forward – and ultimately change our understanding of the world.
The projects were selected from among 280 applications. The application process is anonymous, meaning that the assessment panel does not know the researchers’ backgrounds or academic track records. Instead, the applications are assessed solely on the quality and originality of the ideas.
Read more about the three researchers’ projects below:
Yuya Hayashi:
From Genesis to Terminus: Rainbow-Painting of Extracellular Vesicles for Single-Particle Tracking
How do you find a person after they have disappeared into a crowd? In conventional fluorescent reporter systems, bulk cell populations can easily be illuminated. Brainbow transgenesis is a groundbreaking method that makes it possible to distinguish individual neurons that would otherwise appear uniformly fluorescent throughout a tissue. Using a zebrafish model, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been beautifully visualised while circulating in the bloodstream, but individual EVs cannot be distinguished from one another. We now need an innovative method that makes it possible to trace and follow the journey of individual EVs from one cell to another – particularly at the point of biogenesis and at their destination. Here, we propose using stochastic genetic recombination to colour-code EVs in order to trace their cell of origin, combined with stochastic crosslinking of fluorophores on individual EVs. This is an ambitious challenge that, if successful, could move the EV field beyond bulk averages and towards a “rainbow-coloured” single-particle perspective.
Taro Kitazawa:
New multi-omics approach with molecular recording to reveal cellular interaction dynamics
Multi-omics technologies have transformed our understanding of how molecular programs define cell identity and function. However, conventional approaches provide only static snapshots, making it difficult to reconstruct how these programs evolve over time and are coordinated among interacting cells. In this project, we aim to develop a new multi-omics framework that combines whole-genome molecular recording with single-cell profiling while preserving compatibility to infer cellular interactions. This approach will enable us to investigate dynamic gene regulation and cell–cell interactions during fundamental neurobiological processes, including development, learning, and aging.
Alexander Snow:
A Synthetic-Cell-Based Approach to the Structural and Biophysical Study of Small Integral Membrane Transporters
Integral membrane protein transporters act as gatekeepers for much of cellular metabolism. However, studying these proteins is challenging because of low expression levels, losses during purification and instability in the final sample, all of which limit our understanding of cellular processes. Current methods either investigate these proteins in living cells, where signalling and metabolic systems can influence protein function in unpredictable ways, or rely on in vitro systems that can be error-prone and time-consuming, limiting their usefulness. I propose developing a synthetic cell system that bridges the gap between these approaches. The system will enable the production of small membrane proteins in a more controlled environment than is possible in cells, directly within a membrane that more closely resembles that of a living cell than conventional in vitro systems allow. This new method will make it possible to produce these proteins and study them directly under a range of experimental conditions.
Each researcher has received a grant of DKK 2.5 million.