Grant

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded one of the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grants to Empa researcher Dorina Opris. Thanks to the grant, which is worth around 2 million Euros, she will be able to expand her research team in the field of novel polymers for energy conversion over the next five years.

The European Research Council (ERC) is funding an interdisciplinary collaborative project with 10 million euros for the structural and biophysical analysis of selected photoreceptors and their development into "OptoGPCRs", light-controlled molecular switches with a wide range of applications in biology and medicine.

Vanesa Rocha Martin is studying how bacteria can be used to treat infant colic. As part of her Pioneer Fellowship, she is now turning her findings into a first-line therapy with a proven effect.

The Werner Siemens Foundation has given a major grant to the Supramolecular Nano-Materials and Interfaces Laboratory (SuNMIL), headed by Francesco Stellacci, within EPFL’s School of Engineering. His team, which is working on a compound that can block viral activity, hopes to make progress in the fight against SARS-CoV-2.

Two researchers from ETH Zurich have been awarded USD 1.5 million each from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to explore the diverse symbiotic relationships between bacteria and other aquatic organisms.

Geochemist Denise Mitrano received this year’s SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship. This fellowship enables her to establish her own research group at the ETH Zurich as an assistant professor. She would like to use this opportunity to get one step closer to her career goal: to become a full professor.