Ellen Nollen awarded ERC Starting Grant of €1.5m

Ellen Nollen and Jan Jacob Schuringa of the UMCG have both been awarded a European grant of €1.5 million for further research. They will each receive an ERC Starting Independent Researcher grant. These grants are specifically awarded to promising young research leaders who have set up their own research team and own research line. The ERC grants are aimed at strengthening excellent research teams. The grants are funded by the ERCEA, the European Research Council Executive Agency.

Dr. Ellen Nollen (Dept. of Genetics) was awarded the ERC grant for further research into the role of the moag-4 gene (‘modifier of aggregation-4’) in the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Earlier she had discovered that this gene regulates the aggregation and damaging effects of disease proteins during the aging process of cells. In her research proposal ‘Protein damage control: regulation of toxic protein aggregation in aging-associated neurodegenerative diseases’ she describes how she will gain more insight into disease mechanisms. See more on her work.

Prof. Jan Jacob Schuringa (Dept. of Experimental Hematology) was awarded his ERC grant for his work on: 'Human leukemic stem cells: from identification towards targeting and eradication'. The central line in this project is the development of a mouse ‘leukemia clinic’. New treatments will be tested in a patient-specific way in this clinic. The ultimate goal of such studies is to develop a more effective method for treating patients with leukemia.