ERC grants
The European Research Council (ERC) promotes pioneering research and awards grants worth millions to outstanding scientists for ground-breaking projects.
ERC Synergy Grants
The Synergy Grant is one of the most prestigious science awards of the European Research Council (ERC). The highly competitive grant supports pioneering projects that can only be accomplished through interdisciplinary collaboration between two to four teams of scientists and lead to advances at the frontier of knowledge. The funding amount is up to 14 million euros for a period of up to six years.
The following project by a member of the faculty is currently being funded as part of an ERC Synergy Grant:
- ERC SynergyGrant
- MicroClock - The bacillus subtilis circadian clock: from molecules to mutualism
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Martha Merrow
- Institution
- Institute for Medical Psychology
- Funding
- 2025 to 2031
- Website
- Project description in CORDIS
- Topics
- Circadian clocks generate endogenous rhythms, enabling organisms to adapt their physiological and behavioural activities to 24-hour cyclic changes in the environment. Though prevalent in eukaryotes, little is known about circadian clocks in bacteria. The ERC-funded MicroClock project seeks to address this knowledge gap based on a recently discovered circadian clock in Bacillus subtilis that increases in vigour when co-cultured with Arabidopsis (rockcress) or Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker’s yeast). The project will define the novel concept of temporal mutualism whereby mutualistic interactions between microbes and other organisms in their environment use circadian clocks. To do so, it will characterise the molecular structure and function of the Bacillus subtilis circadian clock and identify regulatory nodes common to plant/bacterium and fungus/bacterium temporal mutualism.
Source: CORDIS
ERC Advanced Grants
The ERC Advanced Grants (up to 3.5 million euros over a maximum of five years) are aimed at established scientists from all disciplines whose highly innovative research goes significantly beyond the current state of research and opens up new areas of research.
The following projects by members of the faculty are currently being funded under an ERC Advanced Grant:
- ERC Advanced Grant
- MONOFUN-CV - Modulating non-canonical functions of microRNAs in cardiovascular disease
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Christian Weber
- Institution
- Institute of Cardiovascular Prevention
- Funding
- 2026 to 2030
- Website
- Project description in CORDIS
- Topics
- Atherosclerosis often results in cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the leading cause of death globally. MicroRNA miR-126-5p has been found to bind to caspase-3 with the help of MEX3A, revealing new insights into miRNA function beyond the RNA-induced silencing complex. The ERC-funded MONOFUN-CV project will examine the role of MEX3A in mouse atherosclerosis and its association with human risk variants. The research findings are expected to shed light on how MEX3A interacts with miR-126-5p and identify potential MEX3A-based therapies. It will also analyse miRNAs affected by MEX3A through techniques such as eCLIP, and explore the structural basis of MEX3A functions. Additionally, the project will investigate the interactions between miR-126-5p and caspase-3.
Source: CORDIS
- ERC Advanced Grant
- APROSUS - Microbiome-derived asthma and allergy protective substances for prevention
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Dr. Erika von Mutius
- Affiliation
- Department of Pediatrics, Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital
- Funding
- 2023 to 2027
- Website
- Description of the project - CORDIS
- Topics
- Asthma affects both children and adults. However, it is the most common chronic disease among children. It is estimated that one in 10 school-age children suffer from asthma. Allergies are also very prevalent, with up to 50 % of children being diagnosed with them. Unfortunately, there is no cure or effective prevention available. The ERC-funded APROSUS project will advance the field of microbiome research towards in-depth characterisation of microbe-derived metabolite complexes to better understand their associated asthma and allergy protective properties. Project work will be based on previous studies carried out by the team, whereby both asthma and allergies were explored together, identifying relevant taxa of the environmental microbiome and discovering microbiome-derived functional agents conferring protection.
Source: CORDIS
- ERC Advanced Grant
- NeuroCentro - Novel mechanisms of neurogenesis- from centrosome to engineering migration
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Magdalena Götz
- Affiliation
- Chair of Physiological Genomics, Biomedical Center (BMC)
- Funding
- 2020 to 2026
- Website
- Description of the project - CORDIS
- Topics
- The centrosome is an organelle that serves as the microtubule-organising centre of the animal cell and is involved in functions such as cell division, cilia formation and migration. Mutations in centrosome-associated proteins lead to brain diseases, but the mechanisms of this process are not known. The EU-funded NeuroCentro project will study fundamental functions of neural-specific centrosome proteins, aiming to understand the brain-specific phenotype of mutations. The research capitalises on a recent project team discovery of novel centrosome-associated RNA-binding proteins in human neural stem cells with significant and selective associations with periventricular heterotopia (PH), a neuronal migration disorder. In the end, researchers will attempt to apply advanced genetic tools to restore centrosome function and revert defects causing PH.
Source: CORDIS
ERC Consolidator Grants
The ERC Consolidator Grants (up to three million euros over a maximum of five years) are aimed at outstanding young researchers from all disciplines whose own independent working group is in the consolidation phase.
The following projects by members of the faculty are currently being funded under an ERC Consolidator Grant:
- ERC Consolidator Grant
- TRAINED - The role of trained immunity in brain-body communication and secondary organ dysfunction
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Arthur Liesz
- Affiliation
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD)
- Funding
- 2026 to 2031
- Website
- Project description in CORDIS
- Topics
- The immune system has an inherent ability to retain memory of past threats, adjusting its responses accordingly. While this trained immunity is beneficial in fighting infections, it can become harmful when triggered by a heart attack or stroke as it can cause persistent inflammation that damages distant organs. This maladaptive process is thought to contribute significantly to multimorbidity. The key objective of the ERC-funded TRAINED project is to investigate the underlying mechanisms of organ dysfunction due to systemic immune activation. Researchers will use spatial multiomics and translational models to map the epigenetic changes involved and identify molecular targets for therapeutic intervention. Collectively, the project will lay the foundation for treatments that prevent maladaptive responses following acute injuries.
Source: CORDIS
- ERC Consolidator Grant
- CONNECT - Cutting-edge neuroimaging for functional brain network evaluation in cancer patients
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Sophia Stoecklein
- Affiliation
- Department of Radiology
- Funding
- 2025 to 2030
- Website
- Project description in CORDIS
- Topics
- As part of the project, a comprehensive reference database with thousands of fMRI datasets will be built. Based on this resource, the team will develop an AI-supported method capable of detecting, mapping, and quantifying network deviations in individual patients. The project will also investigate the biological mechanisms underlying these abnormalities, by analyzing structural pathways and molecular signatures from tumor samples. In two clinical cohorts, the team will then evaluate the clinical potential of this approach.
Source: LMU
- ERC Consolidator Grant
- IMPROVE_LIFE - Investigate maternal and paternal risk factors for violence during pregnancy: lasting impact for everyone
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Heidi Stöckl
- Affiliation
- Institute of Medical Data Processing, Biometrics and Epidemiology (IBE)
- Funding
- 2024 to 2029
- Website
- Description of the project - CORDIS
- Topics
- Globally, one in three women experience physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence during their lifetime, a phenomenon that often escalates during pregnancy. This period can see violence emerge for the first time, intensify, or temporarily subside, impacting both maternal health and the well-being of unborn children. The consequences are far-reaching, with potential effects spanning generations. The ERC-funded IMPROVE_LIFE project will study the complexities of violence during pregnancy. By leveraging clinical biomarkers and synthesising global data sets, it will shed light on short- and long-term impacts, from health outcomes to intergenerational transmission. It also delves into the underlying risk factors and societal perceptions that perpetuate this cycle of abuse. Findings will inform effective policies and interventions.
Source: CORDIS
- ERC Consolidator Grant
- CATACLIS - Cancer tailored next generation cellular therapies
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Sebastian Kobold
- Affiliation
- Department of Clinical Pharmacology
- Funding
- 2024 to 2029
- Website
- Topics
- Cancer immunotherapy represents one of the most effective strategies to combat human malignancies, by harnessing the power of the immune system. However, despite the success in leukaemia, immune cell therapies against solid tumours have limited clinical success. Funded by the European Research Council, the CATACLIS project proposes to develop cellular products based on patient-specific characteristics. The project will leverage single-cell data from patients to improve T cell function and overcome issues associated with access to tumour tissue, antigen selection and immune suppression. The project is expected to yield novel cellular therapies tailored for individual patients.
Source: CORDIS
- ERC Consolidator Grant
- switchDecoding - Decoding the path to cellular variation within pathogen populations
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. T. Nicolai Siegel
- Affiliation
- Chair of Physiological Chemistry, Biomedical Center (BMC)
- Funding
- 2023 to 2028
- Website
- Project description in CORDIS
- Topics
- Cell-to-cell heterogeneity is widespread in isogenic populations and plays a critical role in how unicellular pathogens adapt to hostile environments and evade immune responses. Despite its importance, the mechanisms controlling the degree of heterogeneity in pathogen populations remain poorly understood. The ERC-funded switchDecoding project aims to move beyond simply cataloguing cell subpopulations and instead elucidate the molecular pathways that establish and modulate cellular variation. Using Trypanosoma brucei as a model, the project will combine single-cell multi-omics, lineage tracing and CRISPR-Cas-based genome editing to dissect the regulatory mechanisms underlying antigenic variation. A deeper understanding of heterogeneity-controlling pathways will improve predictions of how pathogens develop drug resistance and inform the development of novel therapeutic strategies that target cell-to-cell variation to enhance infection clearance.
Source: CORDIS
- ERC Consolidator Grant
- ExoDevo - Extracellular vesicles-mediated cross-talk during human brain development and disease
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Silvia Cappello
- Affiliation
- Chair of Physiological Genomics, Biomedical Center (BMC)
- Funding
- 2023 to 2027
- Website
- Project description in CORDIS
- Topics
- Cellular communication is enabled by many factors including secreted vesicles that transfer nucleic acids, lipids, and proteins. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are involved in neuron-to-neuron communication, while EV's role in the progenitor-to-neuron and -astrocyte communication during brain development has been poorly investigated. Notably, more than 60% of the genes associated with neurodevelopmental diseases encode proteins carried by EVs. The ERC-funded ExoDevo project aims to investigate the role of EVs during brain development. It will focus on the physiological function of EVs, mediating the cell-to-cell signalling, using transcriptomics, proteomics, imaging, and functional analysis of EVs from human cerebral organoids. This study will provide a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms in brain development and neurodevelopmental pathologies.
Source: CORDIS
- ERC Consolidator Grant
- TRUSTED - Central and peripheral nervous system action of GIPR in obesity and diabetes
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Timo Müller
- Affiliation
- Walther Straub Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology
- Funding
- 2022 to 2027
- Website
- Project description in CORDIS
- Topics
- Global incidences of obesity and type 2 diabetes are growing. There is a strong relationship between obesity and the onset of diabetes, and effective pharmaceutical therapies for obesity are lacking. Nervous system regulation of glucagon, a hormone that increases blood sugar (glucose) level to prevent it from dropping too low, and insulin, a hormone that decreases blood sugar level, plays a role in both. The EU-funded TRUSTED project will investigate the currently enigmatic role of glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor (GIPR) agonists and antagonists in energy and glucose metabolism. This will be complemented by studies of the role of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R)/GIPR co-agonists in this critical regulation.
Source: CORDIS
- ERC Consolidator Grant
- CALVARIA - Translational aspects of the discovery of skull marrow-meninges connections
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Ali Ertürk
- Affiliation
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD)
- Funding
- 2021 to 2025
- Website
- Description of the project - CORDIS
- Topics
- As more and more people around the world are living longer, society is facing growing challenges arising from neurodegenerative diseases affecting millions of people. The recent discovery of the skull-meninges connections (SMCs) that can mediate immune cell trafficking into the brain is extremely promising for new diagnostics and treatments. However, the comprehensive cellular and structural features of the SMCs and the skull/calvaria need further research. The EU-funded CALVARIA project will use advanced experimental technologies of tissue clearing, proteomics and single-cell RNA sequencing to investigate possible exploitation of the discovery for easier access from the skull/calvaria bone marrow, enabling better drug delivery into the brain, control of neuroinflammation and easier detection of brain pathologies.
Source: CORDIS
- ERC Consolidator Grant
- CompHematoPathology – Computational hematopathology for improved diagnostics
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Carsten Marr
- Affiliation
- Medical Clinic and Polyclinic III
- Funding
- 2020 to 2026
- Website
- Project description in CORDIS
- Topics
- Haematological malignancies, such as leukaemia and lymphoma, affect millions of adults and children every year, often with lethal consequences. Diagnosis relies on cellular abnormalities, and cytologists are specially trained to detect diseases from the single cell composition of blood, bone marrow and lymphoid tissues. After 150 years of research into blood diseases, clinicians still rely on their eyes for interpretation of the histopathology slides. The EU-funded CompHematoPathology project is bringing the power of artificial intelligence and mathematical modelling to the diagnoses of haematological malignancies. Using these tools and expertly annotated image data, CompHematoPathology plans to develop a data-driven model to predict blood dynamics in health and disease. It promises to enhance throughput, improve diagnoses and ultimately improve the treatment of patients with haematological malignancies.
Source: Cordis
ERC Starting Grants
The ERC Starting Grants (up to 2.5 million euros over a maximum of five years) are aimed at outstanding young researchers from all disciplines who are at the beginning of an independent scientific career in Europe and would like to set up their own working group or have already done so and would like to establish one in the longer term.
The following projects by members of the faculty are currently being funded under an ERC Startng Grant:
- ERC Starting Grant
- PHAGE-PRO – Advancing phage therapy through synergistic strategies: phage-mediated killing and competitive exclusion using engineered prophages
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Carolin Wendling
- Institution
- Chair of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene, Max von Pettenkofer Institute
- Funding
- 2025 to 2029
- Website
- Project in CORDIS
- Topics
- The increasing resistance of pathogenic bacteria to antibiotics worldwide is now seen as a global threat, meaning that alternative treatment options are urgently needed. Bacterial viruses, so-called bacteriophages, which can infect and kill bacteria, offer a promising alternative. Phage therapy, which was discovered over 100 years ago, has so far failed to gain acceptance for several reasons, including the time-consuming identification of suitable phages and the limited efficacy of orally administered phages. The PHAGE-PRO project aims to overcome these disadvantages. Instead of traditionally used lytic phages, prophages that can integrate their DNA into bacterial genomes will be used. These prophages are introduced into probiotics, which increases their in vivo shelf life. The development of an AI-supported platform should also make it possible to identify suitable phages much more quickly.
Source: LMU
- ERC Starting Grant
- OMEGA - Overcoming monocyte complexity in pulmonary fibrosis progression from onset to end-stage
- Project leader
- Dr. Isis Fernandez
- Institution
- Medical Clinic and Polyclinic V
- Funding
- 2025 to 2030
- Website
- Project in CORDIS
- Topics
- Progressive pulmonary fibrosis is a life-threatening disease with a high mortality rate and low quality of life. Our current understanding of the mechanisms underlying the disease is limited to advanced stages, when interventions are less effective because of the irreversible lung scarring. With the project OMEGA, Dr. Isis Fernandez will explore the early mechanisms driving pulmonary fibrosis to better understand its etiology and develop timely therapies that could stop the disease in its tracks. OMEGA focuses on circulating monocytes, which are linked to disease progression from the insipient state to end-stage disease, and by using interstitial lung abnormalities, the earliest detectable signs, to discover targets for early treatment of pulmonary fibrosis. With access to cutting-edge technology and unique patient cohorts, OMEGA will investigate how monocytes acquire pathogenic traits, offering new strategies to prevent the progression of this deadly disease.
Quelle: Helmholtz Zentrum München
- ERC Starting Grant
- ARISE – Activate repair in stroke
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Dr. Anna-Sophia Wahl
- Institution
- Chair of Neuroanatomy, Anatomical Institute and Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD)
- Funding
- 2025 to 2029
- Website
- Project description in CORDIS
- Topics
- The brain has the remarkable ability to initiate self-repair mechanisms after damage - a prerequisite for the recovery of lost functions. ARISE aims to uncover fundamental, previously misunderstood principles of how the brain's self-healing is orchestrated and how it can be improved. Using state-of-the-art, high-resolution microscopy and artificial intelligence, experiments will be carried out to find out how individual nerve cells are rewired after an injury, why some of them participate in the repair processes while others do not, and how neuronal reconnection can be stimulated to promote the recovery of impaired functions.
Source: LMU
- ERC Starting Grant
- MEKanics - Cell mechanics of megakaryocytes in 3D tissues - deciphering mechanobiology of platelet formation
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Florian Gärtner
- Institution
- Department of Medicine I
- Funding
- 2024 to 2028
- Website
- Project in CORDIS
- Topics
- Homeostatic platelet counts are crucial for vascular integrity and vital to life. Megakaryocytes (MEKs) are giant hematopoietic cells forming large protrusions that fragment to constantly replenish the circulating platelet pool. Nevertheless, severe blood loss, sepsis and aggressive cancer therapies, often cause critically low platelet levels - a major public health problem in Europe's aging population. Despite the unmet clinical need to control platelet production, there is a major lack of knowledge about the mechanistic cell biology of MEKs, hampering the development of innovative therapies. MEKanics will go beyond the state of the art and proposes a combined cell biological and biophysical approach to study MEKs in physiological tissue environments to uncover the mechanical principles that drive platelet formation. I will use quantitative microscopy to characterize cytoskeletal dynamics of MEKs confined in 3D environments of controlled adhesiveness, geometry and stiffness to reveal the mechanisms of force generation and transmission critical for MEK protrusion formation. Further, I will explore how protrusion mechanics affect cytoplasmic transport and partitioning of organelles required for functional platelets. Using super-resolution intravital imaging, I will investigate these processes in their physiological bone marrow niche. By integrating scRNAseq and live-cell microscopy, I will map morpho-dynamics with transcriptomics to identify the gene signature initiating protrusion formation of MEKs in response to mechanical stimuli. A novel MEK cell-system with optimized access to genetic manipulations will allow high-throughput screening of candidate genes. Together, the unique combination of genetics, engineering, quantitative microscopy and intravital tools will provide a holistic cell mechanical model of MEKs in 3D tissues paving the way for new therapeutic approaches to control platelet formation and to advance devices for large-scale platelet production.
source: Gepris
- ERC StartingGrant
- EpiCblood - Towards early cancer detection and tumor classification using epigenomic biomarkers in blood
- Project leader
- Dr. Rodrigo Villaseñor
- Institution
- Chair of Molecular Biology, Biomedical Center (BMC)
- Funding
- 2024 to 2028
- Website
- Topics
- Detecting cancer at an early stage can improve the chances of successful treatment and long-term survival. Dying cells release small DNA fragments wrapped around a core of histone proteins into the bloodstream, called circulating nucleosomes. These carry DNA sequence information and chemical modifications that are stable in the blood, reflecting promising disease biomarkers. The EpiCblood project, funded by the European Research Council, will explore the diagnostic potential of circulating nucleosomes for early cancer detection and tumour classification. The goal is to use several abundant histone modifications and cancer-specific combinatorial histone marks to predict the tissue of origin of the tumour and its gene expression pattern noninvasively. The results may advance liquid biopsy assays for personalised cancer management and early detection.
Source: CORDIS
- ERC Starting Grant
- ImmGenDC - Dissecting the context-specificity of genetic immune regulation in plasmacytoid dendritic cells
- Project leader
- Dr. Sarah Kim-Hellmuth
- Institution
- Department of Pediatrics, Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital
- Funding
- 2022 to 2028
- Website
- Project in CORDIS
- Topics
- Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are specialised immune cells that play a crucial role in the body's defense against viral infections and in modulating immune responses. Accumulating evidence indicates the presence of functionally distinct pDC subsets which may explain the interindividual variations in antiviral responses and autoimmune diseases. The ERC-funded ImmGenDC project will sequence the genome of single pDCs from healthy individuals across three ancestry populations. The research team aims to identify novel pDC subtypes and their regulatory circuits to enhance our understanding of immune response variability and aid the development of precision medicine interventions for autoimmune diseases.
Source: CORDIS
- ERC Starting Grant
- oxDOPAMINE - Unraveling the mystery of preferential degeneration of midbrain neurons in neurodegerative diseases
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Lena Burbulla
- Institution
- Chair of Metabolic Biochemistry, Biomedical Center (BMC)
- Funding
- 2021 to 2027
- Website
- Topics
- In Parkinson's disease (PD), oxidised dopamine and alpha-synuclein serve as key mediators of mitochondrial and lysosomal dysfunction in midbrain dopaminergic neurons that preferentially degenerate in this progressive movement disorder. The working hypothesis of the EU-funded oxDOPAMINE project is that oxidation of dopamine aberrantly increases in PD. Scientists will investigate pathways of dopamine oxidation that predisposes human neurons to selective vulnerability and degeneration. Based on recent data implicating defective synaptic dopamine metabolism and iron dyshomeostasis in the oxidation of dopamine early in disease pathogenesis, they will study disorders associated with iron accumulation and progressive dopamine neuron degeneration to find common pathogenic mechanisms. Results may lead to novel strategies for restoring synaptic dysfunction and iron homeostasis as a means of preventing neurodegeneration.
Source: CORDIS
- ERC Starting Grant
- T-MEMORE - Thrombotic memory-linking a break in tolerance to platelets to rethrombosis
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Konstantin Stark
- Institution
- Department of Medicine I
- Funding
- 2020 to 2025
- Website
- Project in CORDIS
- Topics
- Accumulating evidence indicates that thrombosis - the formation of blood clots - leaves systemic traces and is much more than a local event. The EU-funded T-MEMORE project will test a novel concept that venous thromboembolism is a chronic disease caused by an immune response against activated platelets. Researchers will dissect the mechanisms of platelet production and removal in the bone marrow, spleen and liver and determine the profile of patients at risk or with recurrent thrombotic events. Manipulation of platelet-directed immunity will be tested as an alternative to the standard preventative therapy for venous thromboembolism with anticoagulant.
Source: CORDIS
- ERC Starting Grant
- Neuroprecise - Precision medicine in traumatic brain injury using individual neurosteroid response
- Project leader
- Prof. Dr. Inga Koerte
- Institution
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy
- Funding
- 2019 to 2026
- Website
- Project in CORDIS
- Topics
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects approximately 1.8 million people in Europe every year. The current patient stratification system is based on the severity of symptoms for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. However, this does not allow to predict long-term outcomes after TBI. The main hypothesis of the EU-funded NEUROPRECISE project is that TBI leads to a neurosteroid response with individual variability associated with the trajectory of recovery. The project proposes a longitudinal study to characterise neurosteroid response to TBI with respect to age and sex. Researchers will further explore differences in the neurosteroid response for the individually tailored acute therapy and prevention of long-term impairment in a rodent model. NEUROPRECISE strives to overcome barriers in TBI treatment by establishing ways to stratify patients based on the individual differences in the response to TBI.
Source: CORDIS