Denmark has received one of the coveted ERC Advanced Grants from the EU in the Life Sciences domain. The award went to Professor Søren Kragh Moestrup, DrMedSc, Aarhus University, for the TROJA project.

The European Research Council (ERC) has just published the list of its first award of the extremely prestigious Advanced Grants for research in the Life Sciences domain (health sciences, food research, biology and molecular biology). A total of 76 grants were awarded, one of which went to Denmark.

Professor Søren Kragh Moestrup, DrMedSc, Aarhus University, was awarded the research grant for his TROJA project, which stands for T argeting R eceptors O f J ointly A ssembled Ligand-Drug Constructs .

A scientific breakthrough in this field has enormous perspectives for the medical treatment of disease.In popular terms, TROJA is about using the organism’s molecular systems for sorting waste products to put medications into those cells where they are intended to work specifically.The TROJA technique can utilise some of the body’s own proteins as “Trojan horses” to enable medications to enter diseased cells.The TROJA technique can also be used to render certain types of parasites harmless when they have attacked the body.

“The TROJA project is basic research, but the long-term objective is to improve patients’ medical treatment.By hitting particular cells in a targeted way, we expect to be able to treat far more patients with medicine, and to achieve a much greater effect in treatment using existing medications.We also expect that the TROJA technique will make it possible in future to use effective medications that are not used today because they cause too many side effects,” says Professor Moestrup.

The attractive award is accompanied by a grant of approximatelyDKK 18 million over five years. According to Professor Moestrup, this will be used to strengthen the research group – which is internationally recognised for its receptor research – by providing expertise in chemistry and pharmacology.

Denmark has previously received seven awards from ERC, five of which went to researchers at Aarhus University – two Advanced Grants and three Starting Grants – all in Physical Sciences and Engineering. Read more at:

www.au.dk/en/news/archive/2008/050808a

Briefly about ERC

The European Research Council (ERC) was set up by the European Commission in February 2007 to support investigator-driven frontier research. Unlike other EU-supported research, where the research areas are politically decided and are more application-oriented, the ERC research areas are defined by the scientists themselves. The ERC’s total budget amounts to EUR 7.5 billion (2007–2013).

The ERC is an independent scientific council and an administrative body that promotes top-quality science in the EU by supporting and motivating the most talented and innovative scientists, researchers and engineers, who are encouraged to submit their proposals for projects in the domains: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, Social Sciences & Humanities and interdisciplinary research areas. The very prestigious ERC research grants are personal.

Read more at: http://erc.europa.eu

More information:

Professor Søren Kragh Moestrup, DrMedSc, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aarhus University, tel. +458942 2882, mobile +452899 2282, e-mail skm@biokemi.au.dk

Dean Søren Mogensen, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aarhus University, tel. +458942 1765, mobile +452899 2065

Jens Rostrup-Nielsen, Director of R&D, Haldor Topsoe, and ERC member, tel. +45 4527 2000

Anders Correll, Rectorate Publicity Manager, Aarhus University, mobile +45 2899 2235

22 October 2008

Anders Correl
Rectorate Publicity Manager
ac@adm.au.dk
mobile +45 2899 2235