North Caucasus Federal University has won the third season of the science reality show "Passion for Grants". The team of scientists successfully passed all the tests of the project and won a grant from the Russian Science Foundation in the amount of 5 million rubles annually for the development of their research.

The reality show, organized with the support of the Institute for Internet Development and the Russian Science Foundation, brought together five teams of young scientists from different cities of Russia.: Stavropol, Krasnodar, Irkutsk, Rostov‑on‑Don and Novosibirsk. For three months, researchers have been competing for grants from the foundation, demonstrating their developments and overcoming scientific challenges.

The NCFU team, working in partnership with the Federal Agrarian Research Center, presented a project in the field of genetics and sheep breeding. Scientists are searching for genes that affect the meat productivity of Russian merino breeds, with the aim of gradually replacing wool breeds with meat breeds through marker breeding.

As part of the study, the scientists first studied mutations in the myostatin gene, which limits the growth of muscle mass in animals. Then they came up with the idea of "turning off" this gene to produce sheep with increased muscle mass — a kind of "bodybuilder" among the representatives of their species. Based on these data, the team has developed a scientific approach to creating a new meat breed.

The jury evaluated the scientific and social significance of the research, as well as the potential of the research team. The victory of the NCFU team was a vivid confirmation of the high level of university science and the relevance of the work carried out for the domestic livestock industry.

— We are very pleased that our project has received such a high rating. This is not only financial support, but also an opportunity to make a real contribution to the development of domestic animal husbandry," said Alexander Krivoruchko, Professor at the NCFU Basic Department of Genetics and Animal Breeding.

You can watch the reality show "Passion for Grants" on the official RNF VKontakte community.

In the releases, you will see the backstage of scientific research, get acquainted with the difficulties and discoveries on the way to the result, share the emotions of the NCFU team at key moments of the project and witness the moment the winners are announced.