News
Presenting at MSCA 30 in Brussels
Tamás Beke-Somfai had a fantastic talk at the event “MSCA at 30: Research mobility & bridging gaps across Europe”. Congratulations to him!
PhD defense of Tímea Bebesi
Another well-deserved and successfully defended PhD: Tímea Bebesi has completed her doctoral degree. Congratulations Timi and also Judith, the proud adviser.
Kamal's PhD defense
On Tuesday, 7th April 2026, our colleague, Kamal el Battioui has successfully defended his PhD work and achieved Summa cum laude rating. Congratulations!
Lots of new papers have been published recently!
The following papers have been published in the past few months:
Congrats to all the authors!
Recent paper in the FEBS Journal highlighted by an invited Commentary
We are happy to inform you that a recent paper by our collabolators at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest, gained special interest. The paper describes the structure of a protein complex involved in communication between neurons. It has been published in The FEBS Journal accompanied by an invited Commentary written by Prof. Elisar Barbar, a leading researcher in the field. Congratulation to Eszter and Zoltán for this nice work, and thanks for the chance to contribute!
See more here
EVADERE Takes off!
Our EVADERE (Enhanced VAccines DEsign against antimicrobial REsistance) project was awarded a grant under the MSCA-DN programme with a score of 97.5%. The Marie Skłodowska Curie Doctoral Network programme supports collaborative research projects involving 15 PhD students. The EVADERE project is expected to start in summer 2025 and will focus on the development of novel antigens, adjuvants and delivery systems against antimicrobial resistance. HUN-REN TTK Peptide-based Vaccines Research Group participates in the call as work package leader. The multidisciplinary consortium includes 12 academic and 2 industrial research groups from 8 European countries and PhD positions will be advertised soon on the EURAXESS portal.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this success!
New year, new positions!
We are offering 15 positions for early-stage researchers to participate in the EVADERE (Enhanced VAccines DEsign against antimicrobial REsistance) program, an EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD training network, in the fields of medicinal chemistry, immunology, microbiology, medical sciences, and vaccinology. If you want to make a difference in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance, sign up for the program! The information and requirements for applying can be found here: https://evadere1.eu/jobs.
At the HUN-REN TTK AKI the doctoral candidate (DC) will be trained in peptide synthesis and related organic chemistry to produce multi-epitope vaccine constructs. In cooperation with our industrial partner, Cyclolab, we will provide training in vaccine delivery and formulation techniques, as well as related analytical and characterization methods. In the host group, DC will receive training in working with cell cultures and performing basic biological studies (cell viability tests, cellular uptake, and cytokine production assays), and will work, in collaboration with other DCs, on adjuvant delivery, microneedle patches and vaccine efficacy tests. Deadline: April 30, 2026, 5:00 p.m. GMT.
Start of the PhD program: September 1, 2026.
Cancer research - Zoltán Varga in the news
Please join me in congratulating Zoli on appearing in the media with a very important topic: cancer research and the way to treatment:
Welcoming new colleagues
We warmly welcome three new colleagues in the Research group for Biological Self-Assembly: Fiza Faiz, Omaima Barkaoui and Klinsalee Rachaneekorn, and wish all of them a pleasant stay in Hungary and fruitful research work.
New publication in Creative Biochemistry
We are happy to share that the first issue of Creative Biochemistry started with a recent MD simulation result on the antifungal protein NFAP2 by Olivér.
Check it out and decide which one you prefer: the high ancient bird or the shy chick? Enjoy!
Biochemistry, the official online journal of the Hungarian Biochemical Society announced an invitation to launch a new column Creative Biochemistry to publish caricatures, drawings, graphics, non-offensive memes, and science-inspired artistic creations and photographs, in the field of research and higher education.
Ujvári Kamilla: 2nd place at 37th OTDK
We proudly congratulate our group member, Kamilla Ujvári, for earning 2nd place in the Analytical Chemistry Section at the national conference of the 37th OTDK! A truly commendable achievement!
Kőműves Tamás Krisztián OTDK candidate
Our research group member (Peptide-Based Vaccines), Tamás Krisztián Kőműves won 1st place at the Semmelweis University Students’ Scientific Conference and was qualified for the national round (OTDK). Tamás' topic is on the antimicrobial activity of cationic lipopeptides.
Congratulations for the great success!
New paper has been published
Our new paper, “Categorizing interaction modes of antimicrobial peptides with extracellular vesicles: Disruption, membrane trespassing, and clearance of the protein corona has been published recently in the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science.
Welcoming new colleague
We are delighted to welcome Zineb Medjeldi to the Research Group for Biolomolecular Self-Assembly. We wish her a wonderful stay in Hungary and much success in her research endeavors.
Success on the Scientific Student Association Presentation Day
Congratulations to our MSc. student Kamilla Ujvári for winning 3rd place at the TDK (Students’ Scientific Association) conference organized by the Faculty of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, Budapest University for Technology and Economics.
Defense of Chiara Bellini
On 14 November, our student Chiara Bellini successfully defended her PhD thesis with summa cum laude. Chiara has developed peptide-based vaccines against tuberculosis under the supervision of Kata Horváti. Her PhD work was carried out in the framework of the EU H2020 MCSA-ITN programme, as a participant of the BactiVax project. During her training she had the opportunity to do a secondment at the CycloLab Ltd. under the supervision of István Puskás.
Our paper has been featured in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
We are pleased to share our research article, “In situ Captured Antibacterial Action of Membrane-Incising Peptide Lamellae,” published in Nature Communications, has been featured in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences'. Featured Publications for August 2024! You can check it out here: https://mta.hu/vii-osztaly-a-honap-publikacioja/2024-augusztusi-honap-kiemelt-publikacioi-113877
New paper published
Our new paper, Mapping Of The Lipid-Binding Regions Of The Antifungal Protein NFAP2 By Exploiting Model Membranes has been published recently in the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling. The manuscript discusses the membrane binding ability of an antifungal peptide, called NFAP2 towards different lipid bilayers.
Press coverage of our recently published paper in Nature Communications
Our recently published paper in Nature Communications started to gather domestic media coverage:
HUN-REN researchers developed novel antibiotic to combat superbacteria. More information can be found here (https://hun-ren.hu/en/news/hungarian-researchers-develop-novel-antibiot…). Hungarian press and media also covered it: Hungary Today, Origo, Telex, Index, Magyar Nemzet, Infostart, Portfolio, etc.
New paper published
Our new paper, titled Optimizing lipopeptide bioactivity: The impact of non-ionic surfactant dressing has been published recently in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis (a D1 Elsevier journal). In this manuscript we report on mixed micelles of lipopeptides and poloxamers (tri-block copolymers).
New paper in Nature Communications
Our work In situ captured antibacterial action of membrane-incising peptide lamellae has recently been published in Nature Communications.
Two more funded OTKA projects
The research proposals of two of our colleagues, Anikó Gaál and András Wacha were recently funded by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office in the OTKA grant scheme:
Red blood cells derived extracellular vesicles - diagnostic and therapeutic purposes
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Award
Congratulations to our alumna, Mayra Quemé-Peña who was awarded with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Good luck and best wishes!
NKFIH Frontline Grant
Tamás Beke-Somfai is among the ten researchers who obtained the Frontline grant from the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH), in the topic of “Functional Monitoring of Supramolecular Peptide Systems” (Details on the homepage of the Eötvös Loránd Research Network in Hungarian)
Mayra's PhD defense
On Wednesday, 7th September 2022, our young colleague, Mayra Quemé Peña has successfully defended her PhD work with full marks (Summa cum laude). Congratulations!
Farewell to Priyanka, Congratulations to Gergő
Today we had a double celebration: saying goodbye to Priyanka Singh, and congratulating Gergő Kohut for his successful PhD defense!
Welcoming two new colleagues
We warmly welcome two new colleagues in the Research Group for Biolomolecular Self-Assembly: Sohini Chakraborty and Tasvilla Sonallya, and wish both of them a pleasant stay in Hungary and fruitful research work.
Farewell to Gergő
Today we bade farewell to Gergely Kohut, our local MD-expert. Best wishes and good luck, Gergő, for your new workplace!
Promotional Movie
A group of our young colleagues led by Vignesh created a promotional movie about the Biological Soft Matter Platform. Enjoy!
Tamás Beke-Somfai has become a member of the Academy of Young Researchers
Tamás Beke-Somfai has been selected as a member of the Academy of Young Researchers for 2021-2026.
The Academy of Young Researchers, established in May 2019. with the support of the president and the members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), aims to surface the problems of young researchers and offer help in solving them. Its main goals, in accordance with the aim and mission of the HAS, are the supporting of scientific excellence, development of talents and high-quality popularization of science towards the broad public.
Among the 12 new members selected in 2021, Tamás plans to work in the International Committee and the Young Researcher Career Committee.