Two out of seven ERC Advanced Grants for D-BIOL researchers
21 projects from ETH were submitted for ERC Advanced Grants, seven were successful. Two of these are researchers of the Department of Biology: Prof. Julia Vorholt is one of the successful applicants, Prof. Ruedi Aebersold receives this very popular grant even for the second time.
Julia Vorholt is a professor of microbiology at ETH Zurich’s Institute of Microbiology who has done pioneering work in understanding the metabolism of bacteria and how they adapt to plants. In her ERC project she is aiming at identifying causal relationships, both among plant-associated bacteria (the plant microbiota) as well as between bacteria and plants. Her findings will aid efforts to encourage sustainable plant growth and diminish plant diseases.
Ruedi Aebersold is a professor of molecular systems biology. His research examines all issues relating to how proteins control and catalyse the complex biochemical processes of living cells. In his European Research Council (ERC) project, he aims to map protein networks and classify the relationship between the structure of such networks and profiles of observable characteristics (phenotypes), such as certain diseases. The project’s importance lies in determining the basic mechanisms for how genetic differences are expressed in phenotypes via changes in protein networks. This is Aebersold’s second ERC Advanced Grant; he was awarded his first in 2008.