Prof. Michael Glickman and Prof. Jackie Schiller from the Technion won ERC Advanced grants - prestigious grants on behalf of the European Union's Horizon Europe program given to veteran researchers with unprecedented achievements in research in the last decade. Each of them will receive 2.5 million euros
Prof. Michael Glickman and Prof. Jackie Schiller from the Technion won ERC Advanced grants - prestigious grants on behalf of the European Union's Horizon Europe program given to veteran researchers with unprecedented achievements in research in the last decade. Each of them will receive 2.5 million euros.
Prof. Michael Glickman The Dean of the Faculty of Biology, will receive the grant for researching "damage mechanisms in signal transmission in the ubiquitin system and their effect on neurodegeneration in the brain". Prof. Glickman and his team developed an innovative model for the study of Alzheimer's disease by using nerve cells produced from human stem cells. The proposed research is based on their hypothesis that damage to the ubiquitin system, the belief in cleaning cells from damaged proteins, may lead to the development of Alzheimer's disease in nerve cells. The grant will allow researchers to identify the specific component of the ubiquitin system that causes the development of the disease in the initial stages, to understand the mechanism, and in the long term to develop innovative treatments for the disease.
Prof. Jackie Schiller From the Rapaport Faculty of Medicine, you will receive the grant for the study of "dendrites as the main computational units for continuous motor learning in the cerebral cortex". At the heart of the research: an innovative hypothesis regarding how the brain manages to preserve existing memories when learning new tasks - a challenge that artificial intelligence has not yet solved. According to Prof. Schiller's hypothesis, these amazing memory abilities are based on the ability of the branching dendritic trees within the cerebral cortex cells to store many pieces of information at the same time. Another hypothesis of Prof. Schiller is that disruptions in this mechanism are a major factor in various brain disorders such as those involved in Parkinson's disease.
ERC Advanced is one of Horizon Europe's most prestigious and competitive grants, and it provides exceptional researchers with the opportunity to engage in ambitious, curiosity-driven projects that may lead to dramatic breakthroughs. The grants are dedicated to a wide range of fields at the forefront of research from the life sciences and exact sciences to the social sciences and the humanities.
The President of the European Research Commission (ERC) Maria Leptin congratulated the winners and added that "I am especially happy that this year we see more mid-career researchers among the winners. I hope that this will encourage more researchers at this stage in their careers to apply for these grants."
Iliana Ivanova, the head of innovation, research, culture, education and youth in the Horizon Europe program, said that "these grants will not only support leading researchers in expanding the frontiers of knowledge but will also add 2,500 jobs for postdoctoral fellows, doctoral students and other researchers. This investment nurtures the next generation of brilliant minds."
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