Researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) are playing key roles in several Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Networks, helping to train the next generation of scientists while advancing research in gene regulation, metabolic disease and human genomics.
By Emily Armstrong
November 9, 2026
Time to read: 4 minutes
The networks are funded through Horizon Europe, the European Union’s flagship research and innovation programme. Competition was particularly fierce this year, with only around 8.5% of MSCA Doctoral Network applications successful.
Among the latest awards are cisCODE, which aims to uncover the rules that govern how regulatory DNA controls gene activity, and MEDIculous REMeDy, which is developing precision medicine approaches for obesity, diabetes and their complications. Each network will train 15 doctoral researchers, helping to develop the next generation of scientists while tackling some of the biggest unanswered questions in human health.
cisCODE: decoding the rules of gene regulation
Most disease-linked genetic variants sit not in genes themselves, but in the DNA around them, and are often found in enhancers, which are switch-like regions that turn genes on and off, sometimes from over a million base pairs away from the genes they control. Right now, it is difficult to predict what effect a change in one of these regions will have, making it harder to diagnose disease, assess risk or safely design gene and cell therapies.
Dr Mikhail Spivakov (pictured left), Head of the Functional Gene Control group at the LMS, is leading one of the three work packages within cisCODE. His team will focus on understanding how multiple enhancers work together to control the same genes.
The network’s research programme aims to:
Doctoral researchers will use cutting-edge laboratory and computational approaches, including single-cell studies, 3D genome mapping and artificial intelligence, to move from cataloguing regulatory DNA elements to understanding and predicting how they work.
The network is led by Salvatore Spicuglia at INSERM, France’s national institute for health and medical research. It brings together 13 academic and 9 non-academic partners across 14 centres in the EU and UK.
MEDIculous REMeDy: advancing precision medicine for metabolic disease
Despite major advances in treatment, obesity, diabetes and their complications continue to affect millions of people worldwide. One of the biggest challenges is that metabolic diseases do not affect everyone in the same way. Differences in genetics, biology and environmental exposures can lead to very different disease trajectories and responses to treatment, making it difficult to predict risk and identify the most effective interventions for individual patients.
The MEDIculous REMeDy network has been established to tackle this complexity, bringing together experts from across Europe to develop new precision medicine approaches for metabolic disease.
Dr Lila Allou (pictured centre), Head of the Genomic Variation and Disease group, is a supervisor within the network and serves on its recruitment committee. Her project will investigate the role of previously uncharacterised proteins from the so-called “dark genome” in diabetic peripheral neuropathy, a common complication of type 2 diabetes. Dr William Scott (pictured right), Head of the Metabolic Memory and Plasticity group, is also a supervisor within MEDIculous REMeDy and chairs the network’s training committee. His project will explore how lipid cycling is regulated in human fat cells and how this influences metabolic health and type 2 diabetes remission, using CRISPR-based genetic screening and advanced human cellular models.
MEDIculous REMeDy brings together 12 academic and non-academic partners alongside 7 industry partners from across Europe.
Training future research leaders
As Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks, both programmes combine ambitious research with specialist training for early-career scientists. Doctoral researchers will benefit from international collaboration, interdisciplinary research experience, professional development opportunities and secondments across academic, clinical and industry settings.
The new awards build on the LMS’s existing participation in European doctoral training programmes. Professor Boris Lenhard, Head of the Computational Regulatory Genomics group, is already involved in the earlier MSCA-funded DANIO-ReCODE network, which combines genomics, artificial intelligence and experimental biology to understand how vertebrates regenerate damaged tissues and identify pathways that could support future regenerative therapies in humans. He currently supervises Sugyung Kim, a doctoral researcher based at the LMS through the programme.
Together, these networks highlight the LMS’s contribution to international research collaborations while helping to equip the next generation of scientists with the skills, expertise and partnerships needed to tackle major challenges in human health and biology.