by Robert Schreiber
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Nov 08, 2025
The College of Freiburg has secured 4 coveted Synergy Grants from the European Analysis Council, strengthening its position as a pacesetter in collaborative science and technological innovation. These grants will fund daring new analysis tasks in fields starting from photovoltaics and mobile biology to most cancers remedy applied sciences, cell community effectivity, and early medieval European archaeology.
Professor Stefan Glunz leads the ‘UltimatePV – Final Photovoltaics’ challenge, which plans to rework the design and effectivity of photo voltaic cells. Glunz and his staff, working in partnership with establishments together with EPFL in Switzerland and CNRS in France, intention to develop ultrathin photovoltaic units with progressive photonic buildings. Their method is predicted to considerably cut back materials utilization by an element of ten, whereas growing cost service focus and total power conversion effectivity. The staff’s aim is to allow energy-selective extraction of photo-generated carriers earlier than power loss by means of thermalization, promising future photo voltaic cell designs that surpass present limits. The UltimatePV collaboration receives almost ten million euros in ERC help, with 3.35 million euros allotted to Freiburg.
Professor Claudine Kraft is awarded ERC funding for the ‘DegrAbility: On the Degradability of Protein Aggregates by Autophagy’ challenge. Joined by colleagues from the Max Perutz Lab in Vienna and UC Berkeley, her staff investigates why sure protein aggregates are degraded by way of autophagy whereas others persist. Utilizing superior structural and biochemical analyses, they discover the interactions between autophagic equipment and protein aggregates. Preliminary analysis means that degradation failures might relate extra to molecular interactions than to the properties of aggregates themselves. These findings might inform efforts to alleviate breakdowns in autophagy which are linked to neurodegenerative situations and mobile getting old. The challenge brings in virtually ten million euros in funding, with 3.33 million euros for Freiburg.
Junior Professor Caglar Ataman leads ‘Zee-Zoom-Zap’, a pioneering program to develop a mixed diagnostic and therapeutic system for pancreatic most cancers. The intention is to carry out optical imaging, non-invasive biopsy, and localized remedy throughout a single endoscopic session. Ataman’s staff is engineering multifunctional optical catheters able to high-resolution, three-dimensional microscopy all through the pancreatic duct. Utilizing state-of-the-art 3D micro- and nanoprinting, the challenge intends to determine a brand new commonplace for endoscopic devices, working alongside analysis companions in Denmark and Spain. The initiative will handle longstanding gaps in early detection and intervention for pancreatic most cancers and is granted ten million euros, with Freiburg’s share exceeding two million.
Archaeologist Dr. Susanne Brather-Walter participates within the ‘CoCo – Linked Communities in Early Medieval Europe’ challenge, a multi-country collaboration led by researchers from Leiden, Milan, Brno, and Leuven. The challenge revisits long-standing assumptions concerning the fragmentation of Europe after the Western Roman Empire by analyzing grave finds and burial practices. Evaluating hundreds of burial websites and artifacts, the staff works to reconstruct the continent’s hidden social and cultural hyperlinks, now illuminated additional by historical DNA research. Brather-Walter focuses on the distribution and patterns of bead finds throughout Central Europe, Scandinavia, and Italy. The trouble is funded for 11.1 million euros, with Freiburg receiving almost half one million.
Professor Rudiger Quay’s ERC-backed DISRUPT challenge takes intention on the escalating power prices of cell communications infrastructure. As director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Utilized Stable State Physics and professor at Freiburg’s Division of Sustainable Methods Engineering, Quay and his staff suggest novel high-frequency semiconductor applied sciences to doubtlessly halve the power consumption of next-generation networks. Collaborators embody Delft College of Know-how and College School Dublin, and the challenge secures round ten million euros.
Altogether, the 4 ERC Synergy Grant tasks symbolize an funding of about 41 million euros, with the College of Freiburg immediately receiving over 9 million euros for its vital roles throughout the disciplines.
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