ERC Advanced Grants at the University of Münster
With an ERC Advanced Grant, leading researchers, who are well-established in their field, are given the opportunity to carry out an ambitious and ground-breaking project.
2024 | Prof Dr Armido Studer "Radical Chemistry with the Hydrogen Atom Through Water Activation (H-dot)" (chemistry)
Funding period
2024–2029
Abstract
Water activation, which allows the transfer of universally abundant hydrogen into value added compounds, is an important research field in modern science. This task has been realized mainly by using transition-metal-based systems. Herein we will use a conceptually novel mild water activation strategy which proceeds through a photocatalytic phosphine-mediated radical process. The active species in these processes is a metal-free R3P-OH2 radical cation intermediate where both hydrogen atoms are used in the following chemical transformation through sequential heterolytic (H+) and homolytic (H•) cleavage of the two O-H bonds. The R3P-OH radical intermediate provides an ideal platform to mimic the reactivity of a "free" hydrogen atom that can be directly transferred to various π-systems to give H-adduct C-radicals, which are eventually reduced by a thiol cocatalyst leading to overall transfer hydrogenation of π-systems, with the two H-atoms of water ending up in the product. The driving force is the strong P-O bond formed in the phosphine oxide byproduct.
2023 | Prof Dr Frank Glorius "Energy Transfer Catalysis: A Highway to Molecular Complexity (HighEnT)" (chemistry)
Funding period
2023–2028
Abstract
The development of novel synthetic methodologies is one of the most essential chemical research areas since the access to organic molecules is the foundation for many applied sciences (e.g. medicinal chemistry, materials science). In recent years, the construction of increasingly complex molecular scaffolds has gained significance, with a particular need for conformationally restricted, three-dimensional architectures. However, the synthesis of such molecular frameworks remains exceptionally challenging, limiting their application in other research branches. Consequently, revealing novel strategies to convert simple feedstock chemicals into complex building blocks has a beneficial impact on society as a whole. In HighEnT we will disclose ground-breaking methodologies augmenting the synthetic toolbox of organic chemists focusing on expanding the chemical space to discover pharmacologically relevant structural motifs.
2022 | Prof Dr Lydia Sorokin "Breaking into the brain - basement membranes and the perivascular niche (B3M)" (biochemistry)
Funding period
2022–2027
Abstract
The microenvironment around blood capillaries is known as the perivascular niche and plays an important role in various conditions, including neuroinflammation. The scope of the B3M project funded by the European Research Council is to study the perivascular niche of cerebral vessels by recreating it in vitro. Using hydrogels with tunable properties as a scaffold and endothelial cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, researchers will recapitulate the architecture and function of the in vivo perivascular niche. The in vitro system will allow investigation of the cellular and molecular events that dictate leukocyte penetration of the perivascular niche leading to neuroinflammation.
2022 | Prof Dr Christian Weinheimer "Low radon and low internal radioactivity for dark matter and rare event xenon detectors (LowRad)" (nuclear physics)
Funding period
2022–2027
Abstract
Two leading collaborations – the XENON/DARWIN and LUX-ZEPLIN (liquid xenon detectors) – that study dark matter are joining forces to create the next-generation dark matter detector. The detector will also be sensitive to other rare physics processes, such as the neutrinoless double beta decays, solar neutrinos, axions, etc. Despite the existence of shielding systems for muons or neutrons, the sensitivity of both detectors is limited by radioactive decays within the xenon, especially of the radioactive noble gas isotopes 222Rn and 85Kr. The EU-funded LowRad project will establish cryogenic distillation set-ups to reduce the concentrations of 222Rn and 85Kr to unprecedented levels. These should help reduce their background contributions to the detector by a factor of 10.
2019 | Prof Dr Wilhelm Winter "Amenability, Approximation and Reconstruction (AMAREC)" (mathematics)
Funding period
2019–2025
Abstract
Algebras of continuous linear operators on Hilbert spaces were originally devised as a suitable mathematical framework for describing quantum mechanics. In modern mathematics, the scope has broadened due to the highly versatile nature of operator algebras. Topics of particular interest include the analysis of groups and their actions. Amenability is a finiteness property that has a large number of equivalent formulations. The EU-funded AMAREC project will conduct an analysis of amenability in terms of approximation properties in the context of abstract C*-algebras, topological dynamical systems and discrete groups. Approximation properties will serve as a bridge between these setups and will be used to systematically recover geometric information about the underlying structures.
Completed projects
Year Recipient Subject area 2018 Prof Dr Ralf Adams biomedicine 2018 Prof Dr Frank Glorius chemistry 2016 Prof Dr Armido Studer chemistry 2013 Prof Dr Ralf Adams biomedicine 2011 Prof Dr Gerhard Erker chemistry 2010 Prof Dr Joachim Cuntz mathematics 2010 Prof Dr Erez Raz cellular biology