Toni Gabaldón (CRG), Frank Koppens (ICFO) and Gerasimos Konstantatos (ICFO) have been awarded each with an ERC Consolidator Grant 2016. The European Research Council (ERC) released on December 13 the list of 314 new grantees that will receive €605 million from Brussels. The grants fall under the Excellent Science pillar of Horizon 2020, the EU´s research and innovation programme.
Professors Toni Gabaldón (CRG), Frank Koppens (ICFO) and Gerasimos Konstantatos (ICFO)
ICREA Professors at ICFO Gerasimos Konstantatos and Frank Koppens have both been awarded Consolidator Grants for their projects HEINSOL and TOPONANOP respectively.
Toni Gabaldón, head of the Comparative Genomics laboratory at the Bioinformatics and Genomics programme of the CRG and also ICREA Professor, has been awarded for his project RETVOLUTION (Reticulate evolution: patterns and impacts of non-vertical inheritance in eukaryotic genomes).
Prof Konstantatos’ project, HEINSOL, aims to develop the first highly efficient, robust solution processed solar cell platform based on environmentally friendly, Earth abundant materials. The final goal is to introduce a new architectural platform that will truly expand the material availability for the Photovoltaic Industry.
The vision of Prof. Koppens’ TOPONANOP project is to exploit the extraordinary topological properties of novel quantum materials in order to control light at the nanoscale in a radically new way. Topological nano-photonics is a new paradigm for novel quantum materials and will enable novel future applications in miniaturized photonic isolators, diodes and logic circuits and could lead to completely new concepts for communication systems, optical transistors and optical information processing.
The work of Prof. Gabaldón is focused around the use of comparative genomics and phylogenomics to study the origin, evolution and function of complex biological systems. His project is centered in reticulate evolution, a concept that describes the origination of a lineage through the partial merging of two ancestor lineages, leading to relationships better described by a phylogenetic network than a bifurcating tree.
For this call, the ERC has evaluated 2,274 research proposals this time, out of which 13.8% have been selected for funding.
More information at ICFO and CGR websites.