Physicist Dr Sabina Hillebrandt, plant scientist Dr Isabel Saur and economist Professor Dr Johannes Wohlfart from the University of Cologne have each been awarded a Starting Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). The Starting Grant provides funding of up to 1.5 million euros for a period of five years to excellent early-career researchers. “Three new ERC Starting Grants is a real success. I’d like to warmly congratulate our colleagues on their achievement. The funding highlights the wide range of excellent research initiatives at our university in the humanities and social sciences, in the life sciences and in the natural sciences”, says Professor Dr Joybrato Mukherjee, Rector of the University of Cologne.
Dr Sabina Hillebrandt from the Humboldt Centre for Nano- and Biophotonics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has been awarded the ERC Starting Grant for her project ‘OLED-based bidirectional Neuroimplant’ (OdiN).
Millions of people worldwide suffer from neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s. Current therapies can typically only slow down disease progression or alleviate symptoms, but they cannot offer a cure. Effective treatments therefore must focus on preserving neurons and their function, a strategy known as neuroprotection. The OdiN project is developing a novel, flexible implant designed not only to monitor, but also to actively protect vulnerable nerve cells.
Its core innovation lies in combining organic electronics with light therapy. The implant, just a few hundred micrometres in size, uses near-infrared organic light-emitting diodes (NIR OLEDs) to trigger photobiomodulation – a process shown to support the survival of neurons in neurodegenerative diseases. Simultaneously, an integrated detector consisting of an OLED and photodiode, records neural activity to enable precise feedback-controlled stimulation. The neuroimplant will first be tested in cell models and then in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease.
Unlike existing methods, this approach offers targeted and minimally invasive modulation of neurons without genetic manipulation – and with minimal burdenfor patients. “The ERC Starting Grant gives me the unique opportunity to build on my expertise in OLED technology and biomedical application and to advance this into the emerging fields of NIR OLEDs and photobiomodulation, enabling the development of novel neuroimplants unlike anything that has existed before,” says Hillebrandt. OdiN has the potential to pave the way for innovative therapies targeting neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr Isabel Saur from the Institute of Plant Sciences at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences receives funding for her project ‘Molecular determinants underlying non-host resistance to devastating fungal diseases of cereal plants’ (noDisease).
Plant diseases cause enormous crop losses worldwide every year. Chemical pesticides are often expensive and can harm the environment. Yet, nature itself offers a promising alternative: some plant species are naturally immune to certain pathogens. This phenomenon is known as non-host resistance and is considered particularly stable and effective in the long term. For example, the mildew fungus Blumeria hordei only infects barley but cannot cause disease in wheat.
This is exactly where the noDisease research project comes in. The team aims to uncover the genetic and molecular factors that grant wheat its natural immunity to Blumeria hordei. The insights gained will be used to equip susceptible barley with similar immunity traits, creating disease-resistant varieties.
Using modern molecular biological and biochemical high-throughput methods, the researchers will quickly identify and characterize the relevant resistance genes and investigate their function. At the same time, they will test whether these genes can be transferred between plant species and whether their protective properties remain effective in different crops.
With this innovative approach, noDisease aims to make a lasting contribution to developing robust, environmentally friendly and sustainable plant varieties that are resistant to fungal diseases.
“The ERC grant will enable us to develop strategies for identifying non-host resistance that do not depend on whether a susceptible host plant can be crossed with a resistant non-host plant. So far, this has only been possible to a very limited extent”, says Saur.
Isabel Saur is a member of the CEPLAS Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences, in which the participating researchers develop novel strategies for sustainable plant breeding.
Professor Dr Johannes Wohlfart receives the Starting Grant for the project ‘Modes of Expectation Formation in Macro and Finance’ (MODES). Professor Dr Johannes Wohlfart was appointed to the ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence in 2024 and is a member of the Department of Economics at the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences.
In economically uncertain times, expectations play a crucial role. How do people think about inflation, unemployment, or stock markets? What are their expectations for the future, and what is the basis for their assumptions? These expectations are central to macroeconomics and finance, forming the focus of an expanding research field.
The MODES research project systematically investigates different “modes of expectation formation”, i.e. the various approaches people use to form their economic expectations.
To date, little is known about when each strategy of expectation formation is applied, how the resulting expectations influence actual decisions, and the consequences this has for the broader economy. The project combines AI-assisted, interactive surveys with modern economic models to systematically study how people form their expectations. The analysis examines how different groups, including households, business managers and financial investors, think about inflation, stock returns and unemployment. The survey results are linked with bank account and administrative register data on the respondents' financial decisions and background characteristics.
“These insights will be incorporated into realistic macroeconomic models to improve our understanding of how different expectation formation processes affect markets, prices, and jobs”, says Wohlfart. “The aim is to develop a consistent yet differentiated picture of how expectations arise and impact the macroeconomy.”
Johannes Wohlfart is a professor at the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy. ECONtribute is the only DFG-funded Cluster of Excellence in economics and a joint initiative of the Universities of Bonn and Cologne.
Press and Communications Team:
Jan Voelkel
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Further information:
https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/news/erc-2025-starting-grants-results