• University of Freiburg researchers are involved in four funded projects. The University will receive a total of more than nine million euros.
• The recipients of the grants are studying highly efficient solar cells, self-cleaning in body cells, the combination of diagnostics and therapy for cancer, and early medieval European communities.
• The European Research Council (ERC) awards Synergy Grants to excellent international research teams.
The photovoltaic researcher Prof. Dr. Stefan Glunz, the molecular biologist Prof. Dr. Claudine Kraft, and the microsystems engineer JProf. Dr. Çağlar Ataman have been selected to receive Synergy Grants from the European Research Council (ERC). A further University of Freiburg researcher, the archaeologist Dr. Susanne Brather-Walter, is collaborating on a Synergy Grant. In addition, Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Quay will receive an ERC Synergy Grant for the Freiburg Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, where he serves as director. Quay is also a professor at the University of Freiburg’s Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering (INATECH).
The ERC awards Synergy Grants to international, interdisciplinary research teams whose project fulfils the criterion of scholarly excellence and may be expected to produce promising results. This year, 66 of 712 submitted proposals were selected for funding.
‘Four Synergy Grants testify to the great strength of Freiburg research and how firmly embedded we are in European networks’, says Prof. Dr. Stefan Rensing, Vice Rector for Research and Innovation. ‘The selected research projects treat highly relevant topics and can make important contributions to overcoming social challenges.’ In total, the four projects will receive around 41 million euros from the ERC over a six-year period; the University of Freiburg will receive a good nine million euros of this amount.
A new generation of solar cells
The project ‘UltimatePV – Ultimate Photovoltaics’ by Prof. Dr. Stefan Glunz aims to rethink the modern solar cell and develop a new generation of resource-efficient photovoltaic technologies with highest conversion efficiencies.
The use of novel photonic structures will significantly improve the optical properties of the solar cells, leading to a tenfold reduction in material consumption. The charge carrier concentration increases considerably in the resulting ultrathin solar cells. This makes it possible to extract the light-excited charge carriers via energy-selective contacts before they lose some of their energy through thermalization. ‘Such concepts could enable future efficiencies far exceeding the current state of the art and make a fundamental contribution to the energy transition’, says Glunz.
Glunz serves as professor for photovoltaic energy conversion at the University of Freiburg’s Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering (INATECH) and as director of the photovoltaics research area at the Freiburg Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. Also collaborating on the project are Prof. Dr. Christoph Ballif from EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland) and Dr. Stéphane Collin from the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris, France. In addition, the project is supported by partner institutions like the Fraunhofer ISE, the Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM), the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (C2N), and the Institut Photovoltaïque d'Île-de-France (IPVF). The project will receive just under ten million euros from the ERC, 3.35 million euros of which will go to the University of Freiburg.
The refuse collection service of body cells
‘DegrAbility: On the Degradability of Protein Aggregates by Autophagy’ is the name of Prof. Dr. Claudine Kraft’s project. It focuses on autophagy – degradation processes in cells that play an important role for their regeneration and ability to function. In particular, the three responsible researchers are investigating the conditions governing whether a protein aggregate is degraded through autophagy or not.
Kraft is studying the biological relevance of the mechanisms, which her partners make visible using high-resolution structural analyses at the atomic level and test in biochemical reconstitution systems at the molecular level. By using specifically modifiable cell models, Kraft’s team can determine how these mechanisms influence autophagy and what consequences this has for the functioning of the cells. Until now, it was assumed that the properties of a protein aggregate determine whether it can be degraded or not. However, initial findings indicate that the problem lies in the interaction between the autophagic machinery and the aggregate. ‘We’re using expertise attained only through our three complementary approaches’, says Kraft. ‘Our findings could enable targeted intervention in cellular degradation processes that have been interrupted, which is often the case in ageing and neurodegenerative disease processes.’
Kraft is a professor at the University of Freiburg’s Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies. Also collaborating on the project are Prof. Dr. Sascha Martens from the Max Perutz Lab at the University of Vienna, Austria, and Prof. Dr. James H. Hurley from the University of California, Berkeley, USA. The project will receive just under ten million euros, 3.33 million euros of which will go to the University of Freiburg.
Theranostics for pancreatic cancer
The project ‘Zee-Zoom-Zap: A New Paradigm for Cancer Theranostics’ by junior professor Dr. Çağlar Ataman is investigating a new theranostic approach – combining therapy and diagnostics – for pancreatic cancer. It involves combining early diagnosis, non-invasive biopsy, and local therapy and performing them optically in a single endoscopic intervention.
One of the main challenges is to enable specific and high-resolution imaging at the cellular level and at a previously unachieved depth. Ataman and his team are responsible for developing multifunctional optical catheters that can be used for fluorescence studies and 3D tomographic microscopy through the entire pancreatic duct. Using the latest 3D micro- and nanoprinting technologies, the researchers aim to create a micro-manufacturing pipeline that enables the monolithic manufacturing of endoscopic microscopes in clinical quality. ‘There has been little progress in the early diagnosis and therapy of aggressive pancreatic cancer for decades’, says Ataman. ‘We’re grateful to the ERC Synergy Programme for giving us the opportunity to hopefully change that.’
Ataman has been a junior professor at the University of Freiburg’s Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) since 2022, where he focuses on biomedical imaging. Also collaborating on the ERC-funded project are Prof. Dr. Andreas Kjær from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Dr. Peter Eskil Andersen from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), and Prof. Dr. Miguel A. González Ballester from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. The ERC is providing the project with a total of ten million euros in funding. The Freiburg share is somewhat more than two million euros.
European connections in the Early Middle Ages
Dr. Susanne Brather-Walter is an associated researcher in the ERC Synergy Grant project ‘CoCo – Connected Communities in Early Medieval Europe’. It examines the widespread notion that a previously united and connected Europe disintegrated into a fragmented continent divided up into various ethnic kingdoms after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
Early medieval Europeans can be identified on the basis of their graves, many of which have been dug up across the entire continent. The astounding number of objects that were recovered from these graves as well as common burial practices testify to a tightly connected world. The analysis of old DNA is currently confirming this at a rapid pace. The project reveals how these connections originated and how they were maintained. Brather-Walter and her two assistants are studying the widespread bead finds in Central Europe, Scandinavia, and Italy, using archaeological and natural scientific methods comparatively. ‘We maintain that the connections between “common people” were just as decisive for Europe’s development after the end of the Roman Empire as the heroic deeds of kings, noblemen, bishops, and saints described in written records’, she says.
Brather-Walter is an academic staff member at the University of Freiburg’s Institute of Archaeology. The project is led by a research team at Leiden University, Netherlands; Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy; Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic; and KU Leuven, Belgium. The funding amount is approximately 11.1 million euros. The University of Freiburg will receive just under 0.5 million euros.
Reducing the energy consumption of mobile phone networks
And another ERC Synergy Grant has been awarded to Freiburg: Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Quay has received a grant for his 'DISRUPT' project at Freiburg's Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF. Quay also serves as professor for energy-efficient high-frequency electronics at the University of Freiburg's Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering (INATECH). His project involves an innovative technological approach that could lower the energy consumption of the next generation of mobile phone networks by 50 per cent.
'It's a great honour to be recognized for many years of work on highly scalable high-frequency semiconductor technologies in Europe with an ERC Synergy Grant', says Quay. 'I'm grateful to have such competent colleagues at the Fraunhofer IAF and the University of Freiburg, as well as in the DISRUPT project.' The other institutions involved in the project are the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, and the University College Dublin, Ireland. It will receive around ten million euros in funding.
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