Millions in EU funding for Edward Lemke and Andreas Walther
Two researchers from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have been awarded ERC Advanced Grants by the European Research Council (ERC), each receiving millions in EU funding over five years. As announced today by the ERC, the following two JGU researchers will receive funding: Professor Dr. Edward Lemke, Professor of Synthetic Biophysics at JGU and Adjunct Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) will receive approximately EUR 3 million, and Professor Dr. Andreas Walther, Professor of Macromolecular Materials and Systems at JGU and Max Planck Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research will receive approximately EUR 2.6 million.
The ERC Advanced Grant is one of the ERC’s most highly endowed funding schemes. It is aimed at established leading researchers with an outstanding scientific track record who seek to open up new fields of research. Edward Lemke previously received an ERC Advanced Grant in 2019 and an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2015, which is similarly substantial in funding volume. Andreas Walther received an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2020 and an ERC Starting Grant, the ERC funding scheme for excellent early-career researchers at the beginning of their independent careers, in 2015.
“We are delighted by the success of Edward Lemke and Andreas Walther and warmly congratulate them,” said Professor Dr. Stefan Müller-Stach, Vice President for Research and Academic Careers at JGU. “The funding provided through the ERC Advanced Grants is a clear testament to the research strength of these two scientists as well as to that of our university as a whole, and it further sharpens our research profile. Through these grants, we are strengthening our position as a hub for interdisciplinary, visionary, and internationally outstanding research.”
“Securing two ERC Advanced Grants – one of the most prestigious and highly competitive research grants in the world – is an outstanding achievement,” said Clemens Hoch, Minister of Science, Further Education and Health for the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, congratulating the participating researchers at JGU. “The awarding of these grants is impressive, as it demonstrates the potential of our research landscape. Interdisciplinary projects such as MShapeM and ProtoEco generate new knowledge and have also excelled in highly competitive environments thanks to their innovative research approaches. In doing so, they help to further strengthen our state’s international visibility in the field of science.”
The projects in detail:
Edward Lemke: Molecular Shape Microscopy (MShapeM)
Understanding how proteins work in living cells is one of biology's great challenges. Fluorescence technologies are compatible studies on living cells, but studying protein structures on the single-digit nanometre range severely restricts the time resolution, typically to that of fixed-cell experiments. Moreover, as most proteins are complex multi-domain machines, to truly understand their biological function, we need more than imaging of their position; we need to visualise their actual conformation, i.e. their 3D structure and dynamics and how their shape changes throughout their molecular activity.
The project Molecular Shape Microscopy (MShapeM) is designed to achieve real-time nanometer-resolution imaging of protein conformational dynamics inside the living cell. MShapeM is not a single technology, but integrates synergistic advances in three cutting-edge domains: (1) protein and RNA bioengineering using RNA editing to reprogram multiple codons to incorporate several small fluorescent dyes with amino-acid precision into endogenous proteins; (2) innovative dye chemistry for developing dual-fluorogenic dyes for high signal-to-noise live-cell imaging; and (3) advanced super-resolution microscopy, to continuously track multiple stably emitting dyes at very high temporal and nanometer spatial resolution. Benchmark applications include the study of highly dynamic large proteins for which conformational dynamics are critical but poorly understood and not accessible with any other technology. By capturing "molecular action movies" of proteins at work, MShapeM will blend the boundaries between structural and live-cell imaging, affording unprecedented visual acuity on protein function in its native environment.
Andreas Walther: Protoecologies between Artificial Cells and Mammalian Cells (ProtoEco)
Can artificial materials one day coexist with natural cells – and in doing so form something almost like a small ecology? This is the question Andreas Walther addresses in his project ProtoEco, short for Protoecologies between Artificial Cells and Mammalian Cells. The aim is no longer to view artificial cells merely as isolated miniature systems, but to develop them so that they can interact with natural cells, influence them, and in turn be influenced by them. The project therefore places at its center a vision that goes far beyond classical biomaterials: biohybrid communities in which artificial and living cells exchange matter, energy, and signals.
At the heart of the project are so-called protoecologies – artificially constructed micro-communities composed of artificial and natural cells. These systems are not intended simply to exist side by side, but to communicate with each other, support one another, and jointly give rise to new properties. To achieve this, the team is developing different types of artificial cells that can be brought together with living mammalian cells in ordered 2D and 3D structures to understand how stable interactions and adaptive processes can emerge. This is particularly exciting in the context of application regarding the tumor microenvironment, where the project could open new avenues toward locally adaptive, self-regulating therapeutic concepts. Instead of relying on passive drug release, ProtoEco is working toward systems that sense their surroundings, make simple decisions, and respond accordingly.
In this way, the project connects fundamental questions in chemistry and synthetic biology with a far-reaching technological perspective. It seeks not only to better understand how life-like behavior can emerge from chemically designed systems, but also to lay the foundations for intelligent biomaterials, tissue engineering, adaptive immunotherapies, and, in the long term, even programmable probiotics. ProtoEco thus shifts the perspective on artificial cells: away from merely imitating individual cellular functions and toward a new class of cooperative, adaptive, and communicating artificial-living systems.