ERC Starting Grant for Prof. Gerard Roelfes
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Starting Grant to Prof. Gerard Roelfes of the Stratingh Institute for Chemistry. The ERC Starting Grant is a prestigious European research grant for scientists conducting innovative research. Prof. Roelfes will receive EUR 1.4 million over the course of five years, which will enable him to appoint three PhD students. His research into “Modular assembly of DNA-based systems; bio-inspired artificial allosteric assemblies” combines organic chemistry and biochemistry.
The research will focus on artificial allosterically controlled enzymes: proteins responding to changes in their environment by increasing or decreasing their activity. They are created by attaching DNA fragments to them. This makes them recognize and bind small molecules thus changing the proteins structure. They subsequently increase or decrease their activity.
This research may lead to biomedical applications. It can be used in systems that autonomously detect cell abnormalities and repair the damage.
Last modified: | 31 January 2017 11.13 p.m. |
More news
-
06 June 2023
Three FSE researchers receive an NWO XS grant
With the XS grants, NWO strives to encourage curiosity-driven and bold research involving a quick analysis of a promising idea. A special aspect is that the applicants themselves assess the other applications.
-
05 June 2023
Rehabilitation through virtual reality games
Digital Health Care Technologies, also known as eHealth, could drastically change the field of healthcare. The combination of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, wearables, telehealth, telemonitoring, and Artificial Intelligence is opening new...
-
30 May 2023
Godwit migration is learned rather than innate
The timing, route, and destination for godwit migration is learned rather than innate. Researchers at the University of Groningen discovered this in a daring experiment, which has been published in the latest issue of the journal Current Biology.