Eight new ERC Studentships for researchers in Portugal

TheEuropean Research Council (ERC) has awarded eight Consolidator Grants to researchers conducting research at FCT Units. This was the result for Portugal in the 2017 edition of Call these prestigious Studentships , aimed at researchers with between 7 and 12 years of post-doctoral experience. The eight Studentships to a total of €16,208,280, which translates into a significant financial investment in Portuguese research.

The researchers and projects awarded these Studentships :

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 submitted 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) at the University of Lisbon, who intends to use the FatTryp project to investigate African trypanosomes and the implications of this parasite in the development of human trypanosomiasis;

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

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

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

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

Ana Domingos, from the Gulbenkian Institute of Science, who studies the sympathetic and immunological mechanisms behind obesity in herSympatimmunObesity project. 

In this Consolidator Grants Call , the ERC selected 329 projects from among 2,538 applications received, which amounted to a total of €600 million in funding for scientific research in Europe.

These Studentships for Portuguese research are in addition to the results of Call year Call Starting Grants Call , Studentships researchers with 2 to 7 years of post-doctoral experience, which were announced in September, with eight other Studentships awarded Studentships researchers developing projects in Portugal. By the end of the year, the results of Call Advanced Grants Call , aimed at senior researchers who are internationally established in their field of research, will also be announced.