Scientists win three more prestigious awards Studentships ERC for Portugal

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded three Studentships Starting Grants to Portuguese research. Two Portuguese scientists and one Israeli, carrying out research in Portugal, saw their projects distinguished through the award of these prestigious Studentships , which finance up to 1.5 million euros per project, for a period of 5 years. The results were officially announced by the ERC on December 4th.

Vanessa Morais and Cláudio Franco , both FCT researchers, develop their research projects at the Institute of Molecular Medicine of the University of Lisbon and Noam Shemesh is a researcher at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown.

Vanessa Morais investigates the quality control and conservation of mitochondria in synapses – the junctions between nerve cells – based on the hypothesis that synaptic mitochondria have acquired specific mechanisms for controlling localized stress and that the disruption of these mechanisms contributes to neurodegeneration. The study he is developing aims to reveal the specific molecular properties of synaptic mitochondria and provide the knowledge needed to better understand their role in neurodegenerative diseases. Vanessa Morais states that “this Studentship The ERC Starting Grant provides me with the necessary resources to form my own research team, become a more autonomous researcher, dedicate myself fully to science and pursue my passion for understanding and unraveling the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration.”

Cláudio Franco investigates the importance of polarization and movement of cells lining blood vessels in the formation of the hierarchical vascular network of arteries, veins and capillaries. Given the relevance of the hierarchical structure of the vascular network in human physiology – aneurysms and diabetic retinopathies, for example, result from anomalies in the establishment of the vascular network – this research will allow us to define the basis for the development of new therapies for diseases associated with vascular disorders. For Cláudio Franco, “it is a great honor to be a beneficiary of the ERC Starting Grant , because it gives me the means and freedom to develop challenging research projects, with the prospect of having a lasting impact on society.”

THE Studentship Starting Grant awarded to Noam Shemesh is for his contribution to an innovative application of functional magnetic resonance imaging to the study of neuronal function in both disease and health states. The researcher will continue his work to modify the technique so that it is possible to directly monitor the activity of nerve cells. With this research, Noam Shemesh aims to answer the question “how does our brain generate behavior?” by studying the relationship between behavior and the underlying neurological circuit.

In this Call , the European Research Council (ERC) distinguished 291 projects (among 2920 applications received), which amounted to a total of 429 million euros in funding for scientific research in Europe. Since the beginning of the Calls ERC, in 2007, 56 were awarded Studentships ERC to researchers based in Portuguese research centers: 33 Starting Grants (for researchers with 2 to 7 years of post-doctoral experience); 13 Consolidator Grants (for researchers with between 7 and 12 years of post-doctoral experience) and 10 Advanced Grants (for senior researchers, internationally established in their research area).

(Image credits: Institute of Molecular Medicine and Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown)