Eight new Studentships ERC Consolidator for researchers in Portugal

The European Research Council (ERC ) has awarded eight Consolidator Grants to researchers developing research at FCT Units. This was the result for Portugal in the 2017 edition of the Call to these prestigious Studentships from the European Union, aimed at researchers who have between 7 and 12 years of post-doctoral experience. The eight Studentships correspond to a total of €16,208.28M, which represents a significant financial investment in Portuguese research.

The researchers and projects covered by the aforementioned Studentships they are:

Manuela Gomes , from 3Bs at the University of Minho, with the MagTendon project, focused on magnetically assisted tissue engineering technologies for tendon regeneration;

Mariana Pinho , from the António Xavier Institute of Chemical and Biological Technology (ITQB) at NOVA University Lisbon, who applied for the ChronosAntibiotics project, which aims to understand the cell cycle of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and find tools to combat this resistance;

Luísa Figueiredo , from the Institute of Molecular Medicine (iMM) of the University of Lisbon, who intends to investigate African trypanosomes and the implications of this parasite in the development of human trypanosomiasis with the FatTryp project;

Joseph Paton , researcher at the Champalimaud Foundation, who submitted the Dycocirc project, which aims to study the circuit mechanisms of the basal ganglia underlying dynamic cognitive behavior;

Susana Lima , from the Champalimaud Foundation, will develop the YinYang project, in which she will investigate the relationship between the hypothalamus circuits and defensive and reproductive behavior in females;

Michael Orger , from the Champalimaud Foundation, who in the Neurofish project will observe the brain circuits that control visual and motor behavior;

Luís Teixeira , from the Gulbenkian Institute of Science (IGC), who intends to carry out the Wolbakian project, which involves studying the functional genetics of the proliferation of the Wolbachia bacteria;

Ana Domingos , from the Gulbenkian Institute of Science, who studies the sympathetic and immunological mechanisms at the origin of obesity in her SympatimmunObesity project. 

In this Call In the Consolidator Grants programme, the ERC awarded 329 projects from 2,538 applications received, representing a total of €600 million in funding for scientific research in Europe.

These Studentships ERC for Portuguese research come together with the results of the Call this year's Starting Grants , Studentships for researchers with 2 to 7 years of post-doctoral experience, who were announced in September, with the allocation of another eight Studentships to researchers developing projects in Portugal. By the end of the year, the results of the Call ERC Advanced Grants , aimed at senior researchers, internationally established in their research area.