Top-up financing of Marie Curie from UiS

The PERFUME (PERoxisome Formation, FUnction, MEtabolism) program is an interdisciplinary and intersectoral Multi-partner ITN providing state-of-the-art research training at the interface of medicine, plant and fungal biology. The PERFUME S&T specifically aims at achieving the understanding of the principles of peroxisome biology. Peroxisomes have been discovered relatively recently (in 1954) thus explaining why the level of understanding of their biology, relative to that of other organelles, is still str ongly unbalanced and relatively weak. Peroxisomes ubiquitously occur in all eukaryotes where they display an unprecedented versatility in their functions. The correct functioning of the organelles is crucial for cell vitality. This is probably best illust rated by the fact that defects in peroxisome assembly lead to diseases that are associated with multiple severe clinical symptoms and which are often lethal in man. However, the significance of peroxisomes for human health goes far beyond these disorders, because recent findings indicate that improper peroxisome function contributes to ageing and age-related diseases. Clearly, there are still major gaps in our current knowledge of peroxisome biology. PERFUME aims to fill these gaps by focusing on three ti mely and urgent themes.