Four Radboud researchers receive ERC grants to form research group

Two researchers from Radboud University and one from Radboudumc are to receive a Starting Grant of 1.5 million Euros from the European Research Council (ERC). This grant is awarded to talented young scientists, giving them the opportunity to form their own research group. Furthermore, astrophysicist Heino Falcke will receive an ERC Proof of Concept Grant.

The winners of the ERC Starting Grants are neuroscientist Floris de Lange, computer scientist Alexandra Silva and chemist Martijn Verdoes.

Perception and context

Neuroscientist Floris de Lange is interested in perception and decision making. Knowledge, expectations and attention play important roles in these processes, but the exact way in which perception and decision making occur in the brain is still unknown. With his ERC Starting Grant, De Lange aims to investigate how context influences visual perception. He will examine the influence of both spatial and temporal context on cortical processing of individual elements. Furthermore, De Lange will investigate the link between context and perceptual atypicalities in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to test the hypothesis that ASD is marked by deficient processing of contextual information.

Foundations of network programming

In our ever-connected world, increasingly complex network systems play a crucial role in many daily tasks. This asks for fast networks with a high performance that are secure and easily controllable. Recent years saw the growth of a new software ecosystem - Software-defined networking (SDN) - which advocates a clean and open interface between networking devices and the software that controls them. Computer scientist Alexandra Silva will use her ERC grant to design new abstractions for programming of networks at the Programming Principles, Logic and Verification Group of University College London. Silva worked at Radboud University from September 2011 to September 2015.

Cancer immune defence

Cancer uses several immunological mechanisms to escape the body's immune system. Different types of immune cells are even 'abused' by tumours in order for them to grow without being attacked by the immune system. With his ERC Starting Grant, chemist Martijn Verdoes will set up a chemical, immunological platform aiming to develop new molecules that will counteract the immunosepression in tumours. Furthermore, Verdoes will work on the development of multifunctional anti-cancer vaccins, in order to fight tumours from several immunological approaches at the same time.

Proof of Concept grant

Astrophysicist Heino Falcke will receive an ERC Proof of Concept grant of 150.000 Euros as a special endowment for his ERC project on LOFAR, a revolutionary radio telescope which consists of thousands of radio antennas scattered across the Netherlands and the rest of Europe. In combination, these antennas are far more sensitive than any individual antenna and by combining vast quantities of data, LOFAR is better able to determine the distance and direction of a particular source. The algorithms and techniques developed in this project can also be used to improve localization services on earth, like GPS systems in cars, planes or ships. With this Proof of Concept Grant, Falcke and his colleagues from the Radboud Radio Lab can investigate these possibilities by exploring both the technical challenges and the commercial potential.

Source: Radboud University