5 Ghent University researchers win an ERC Starting Grant
5 Ghent University researchers win an ERC Starting GrantFive Ghent University researchers will receive an ERC Starting Grant. This grant will allow them to expand their research group and conduct groundbreaking research.
5 Ghent University researchers win an ERC Starting Grant
(05-09-2024)
Five Ghent University researchers will receive an ERC Starting Grant. This grant will allow them to expand their research group and conduct groundbreaking research.
The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the award of 494 Starting Grants to young scientists and scholars across Europe, five of which are based at Ghent University: Inge Bellemans (LUMOCX), Eveline Pinseel (Diadapt), Hristo Svilenov (PicoBody), Thomas Tarnaud (Urenimod) en Ioulia Tzouvadaki (Nefeli). With this result, Ghent University confirms its top position among Belgian universities.
The ERC Starting Grant funding - totalling nearly €780 million for this call - supports cutting-edge research in a wide range of fields, from life sciences and physics to social sciences and humanities. It will help researchers at the beginning of their careers to launch their own projects, form their teams and pursue their most promising ideas.
The ERC Starting Grant Projects
LUMOCX (Inge Bellemans)
This project investigates how metal, oxygen and cement can be produced from lunar dust to build a permanent lunar base, avoiding the high transport costs from Earth. Traditional methods of metal extraction, such as using coke and hydrogen, are difficult to apply on the moon because these substances would also need to be transported. A promising solution is high-temperature electrolysis, in which electricity from solar panels can be used to produce not only metal but also oxygen and cement without additional substances from Earth. This method is waste-free and all products are useful for a lunar base. Because conditions on the moon, such as lower gravity and atmospheric pressure, are different from those on Earth, it is important to extensively research and optimise this technique. This is done by combining experiments and simulations under terrestrial and lunar conditions, with our group focusing on determining material properties at high temperatures. Besides its use on the moon, this technique is also promising for the green transition on Earth, as it offers an alternative to carbon-based methods that emit a lot of CO2. Instead of using hydrogen, high-temperature electrolysis avoids the intermediate step from electricity to hydrogen, and produces oxygen instead of CO2, offering significant advantages for environmentally friendly metal production.
DIADAPT (Eveline Pinseel)
Diatoms are a group of single-celled algae that are widespread in oceans and freshwater, but also in soils. Their importance for the healthy functioning of our planet can hardly be overstated. They are responsible for 20% of the yearly oxygen production on Earth through photosynthesis, which is more than all rainforests combined, and they form the basis of marine food webs. Dead diatom cells sink in massive numbers to the seabed, and in this way export the greenhouse gas CO2 to the deep sea. As such, they help cool our Earth and are an important regulator of the global climate system. However, the nutrient-rich and well-mixed parts of the oceans, where diatoms are most productive, are threatened by global warming.
Although diatoms have survived major fluctuations in the global climate over the past 60 million years, we know little about how, and how quickly, they can adapt to changes in their environment. With DIADAPT, Eveline Pinseel and her team want to change this. Specifically, DIADAPT will expose the genetic drivers of how diatoms adapt to changes in climate, both over microevolutionary (years) and macroevolutionary (millions of years) timescales. DIADAPT will focus on both the evolution of genes and how these genes are expressed. Ultimately, this will help us to better understand how diatoms adapt to changes in climate, and thus to what extent these important microalgae can continue to buffer climate warming in the (near) future as well as serve as energy source for marine foodwebs.
PicoBody (Hristo Svilenov)
Biotherapeutics can be very efficient in treating infectious diseases. However, the discovery and development of better antimicrobial biotherapeutics require new fundamental discoveries and the development of novel technologies. In PicoBody, Hristo and his team will explore the antimicrobial properties of a particular type of bovine proteins called picobodies. To this end, the project will deliver a discovery and production platform for picobodies using advanced molecular biology and mammalian cell culture techniques. Furthermore, PicoBody will explore how the biological microenvironment regulates the activity of natural antimicrobial picobodies. The function and activity of the picobodies will be tested using a range of complementary in vitro and in vivo methods. Overall, the project is expected to deliver new drugs and tools for fighting the increasing antimicrobial resistance.
URENIMOD (Thomas Tarnaud)
Epilepsy is a common and chronic neurological disorder, that is treated with anti-seizure medication or with responsive electrostimulation. Unfortunately, approximately one in three patients does not respond to these treatments. Furthermore, responsive electrostimulation requires an invasive surgery to implant electrodes in the brain. In the URENIMOD project, Thomas Tarnaud will develop an effective and minimally invasive treatment for epilepsy based on ultrasound by combining computer simulations of the brain with preclinical experiments.
Ultrasound refers to sound waves that are inaudible to humans. The advantage of ultrasonic waves is their short wavelength, so that they can be focused non-invasively on deep brain structures. Furthermore, ultrasonic transducers can be implanted subcutaneously to insonicate neurological targets without brain surgery. By microscopic vibrations in the cell membrane, ultrasound can modulate various brain cell types. At the same time, these ultrasonic vibrations can be leveraged to record deep brain activity non-invasively. In the URENIMOD technology, these recorded brain signals will be used for the automatic detection and treatment of epileptic seizures. Here, deep reinforcement learning will be applied to realize optimal and patient-specific treatment. The project concentrates on focal epilepsy, but the envisioned technology can be modified for the treatment of a wide range of neurological disorders, e.g., Parkinson’s disease, migraine, and depression.
NEFELI (Ioulia Tzouvadaki)
Implantable systems and bioelectronic technologies still struggle to perform highly sensitive measurements in the body, they often treat electrical and chemical signals separately and require complicated equipment. Moreover, traditional systems struggle to efficiently deal with the growing amount of data because the components for sensing, storing and processing information are physically separate. In the NEFELI project, we aim to develop a small, implantable technology using dedicated neuromorphic devices. This technology can simultaneously measure and process multiple key biological and electrical signals associated with neurodegenerative diseases, providing directly input information for targeted treatments. By combining measurement and processing and reducing the need for energy-consuming data processing, this technology can pave the way for new, advanced medical systems.
About the ERC
The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants. With its additional Proof of Concept Grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to bridge the gap between their pioneering research and early phases of its commercialisation.
The overall ERC budget from 2021 to 2027 is more than €16 billion, as part of the Horizon Europe programme, under the responsibility of European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Iliana Ivanova.
Researchers within and outside of Ghent University who wish to apply for an ERC Grant with our university as host institution, can contact the EU Team for advice and support.
