Two leading researchers of the ZNZ have been awarded the European Union’s top research award, the “Advanced Grant” of the European Research Council (ERC). The EU will support research projects with a total of approximately 5 million Euro.
Prof. Adriano Aguzzi, Institute of Neuropathology (UZH), receives the grant for his research on prion diseases. In their ERC project, Aguzzi’s group will investigate which molecules control prion production and reproduction and how prions damage the brain. Research will also be directed at elucidating the role prion proteins play in the body’s normal physiology.
Prof. Fritjof Helmchen, Brain Research Institute (UZH), was awarded the grant for his project aimed at employing innovative methods to characterize brain dynamics. The objective of his research will be to advance optical measurement techniques and theoretical models to better understand the principles of information processing of complex neural networks in the mouse brain. In the long term, a better understanding of healthy signal flow in brain circuits and their adaptations during learning should provide a basis for understanding disrupted signal flow in neurological disease, such as Parkinson’s disease.
See also media release UZH Mediadesk
Image: Anna Maltsev, UZH (modified)