Georgios Sotiriou receives a starting grant from the European Research Council (ERC)
KI researchers Erik Melén and Georgios Sotiriou (pictured) have received starting grants from the European Research Council (ERC) for conducting their own independent research.
The purpose of the ERC Starting Grants is to support talented early-career scientist, who have already produced excellent supervised work, into becoming independent researchers and the research leaders of tomorrow. The ERC Starting Grants are worth EUR 1.5 million, distributed over five years. In addition to that Georgios Sotiriou, who is the first KI grant recipient working within the field of physical science and engineering, receives EUR 312,500 to cover equipment costs.
Read more in a press release from ERC
Fighting antimicrobial resistance with nanoengineering
Georgios Sotiriou, Assistant Professor at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, conducts research with the overall mission to develop nanobiomaterials, tools and methods for medicine using core engineering sciences. The key focus lies on flame aerosol engineering of smart nanoscale materials and devices for biomedical applications.
The aim of his ERC project, PROMETHEUS, is to employ flame nanoengineering and develop the next generation of antibacterial medical devices to fight infections and antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial resistance constitutes one of the most serious public health threats with estimations to become the leading cause of human deaths in 30 years
“I am extremely delighted and honored to receive this grant that will enable me to work on the exciting field of nanoengineering for medicine and try to tackle tomorrow’s global health challenges”, says Georgios Sotiriou.
The approach of his and his colleagues’ research is multidisciplinary, combining expertise from material and process engineering, bioengineering and health sciences. This allows for the design of biomaterials and devices that exhibit the desired functionality in applications ranging from diagnostics (biosensors) to therapeutic interventions.
Text: Selma Wolofsky
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