The European Research Council’s (ERC) mission is to encourage research of the highest quality through extensive and long-term funding. Grants are applied for in international competition with research excellence as the only selection criterion. Advanced Grants (AdG) which run for a maximum of 5 years and are worth up to EUR 2.5 million, enable researchers to explore their most innovative and ambitious ideas.
These are the two MultiPark researchers who have received Advanced Grants in this round:
Chemistry professor Sara Linse’s research project, CHAPLIN, is to investigate the thermodynamic basis for how a group of chaperone proteins work. This applies to chaperone proteins that increase other proteins’ solubility and thereby protect against neurogenerative diseases such as ALS, Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and type 2 diabetes. One characteristic that the researchers hope to understand is how the chaperone proteins combine a very strong specificity in the matter of what they achieve with essentially no selection concerning the sequence of the proteins they help. Sara Linse’s team must therefore address the issue in ways others than the traditional search for specific elements that are directly involved in the interaction between two proteins. The research team will thus use a number of methods based on calorimetry, spectroscopy (optical and nuclear magnetic resonance) and microscopy (optical and electron), as well as the scattering of light, neutrons and X-rays. It is hoped that these efforts will find out if the answer lies in special characteristics of the chaperone proteins and, if so, what these are.
I hope that after five years we will be close to an answer to the fundamental question.
“It is immensely pleasing and flattering. The ERC grant enables us to take an in-depth approach using this exciting research, develop new methodologies and collect data in a systematic way. I hope that after five years we will be close to an answer to the fundamental question,” says Sara Linse, professor of biochemistry and structural biology.
Project name: CHAPLIN/Chaperone action – a thermodynamic view
Oskar Hansson is a consultant and professor of neurology, focusing on neurodegenerative diseases. He has previously found blood biomarkers that are linked to Alzheimer’s disease and shown that by using blood samples, memory tests and a special algorithm, it is possible to determine if an individual will develop the disease or not. His research is now in an implementation phase, where tests are being carried out in primary and specialist care concerning how the new blood biomarkers can improve diagnostics and treatment for patients.
“We will now optimise the blood sample tests further so that we can identify people with Alzheimer’s disease before they have any symptoms,” says Oskar Hansson.
By identifying the disease before the cognitive challenges arise, he hopes that ultimately medicines will be able to slow down the disease at a very early stage. As several disease-modifying drugs are now entering healthcare, there are good possibilities for evaluating diagnostics and treatment.
we will use our new blood tests to rapidly screen through different relevant drugs that are approved for other diseases, and establish whether or not they also have a positive effect on Alzheimer’s disease.
“In this project, we will use our new blood tests to rapidly screen through different relevant drugs that are approved for other diseases, and establish whether or not they also have a positive effect on Alzheimer’s disease. This is a high-risk project, but the benefits could be considerable if we succeed. I am very grateful for the grant from the ERC, which provides the conditions for us clinical researchers to conduct this bolder type of research,” says Oskar Hansson.
Project name: ADVANCE-AD/ Novel biomarkers for improving diagnostics, prognostics, and treatments of Alzheimer’s disease.
The main content of this news article was originally published on the Lund university page