The ERC funds its 2000th grantee

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The European Research Council (ERC) celebrates a symbolic milestone today, with the awarding of the 2000th ERC grant. With his ERC Starting Grant, Dr. Matthew Holt will join the VIB Department of Molecular and Developmental Genetics at K.U. Leuven, Belgium, in January 2012.

This British top scientist will use the grant to study the function of glial cells in brain function. This ERC project – “Molecular Studies of Astrocyte Function in Health and Disease” (AstroFunc) – has the potential not only to increase our understanding of normal brain function, but also to benefit patients suffering from a range of neurological conditions. Dr. Holt has a particular interest in the cause and progression of stroke, which remains the major cause of adult disability in the EU.

When hearing the news of being grantee number 2000, Dr. Holt stated: “A large remaining challenge in neuroscience is to understand the role that astrocytes (glia) play in both normal brain function and pathology. We’re now at an incredibly exciting point, where we finally have the experimental tools that allow us to ask the relevant questions. The ERC grant is the best way for us to be able to put together all the necessary means required to undertake such an interdisciplinary project. There is a very high risk to this research, but the potential for increasing our understanding in the long-term is enormous. So, I am exceptionally grateful to the ERC, and also my host institution VIB, for giving me such fantastic support. Being the 2000th researcher in the ERC schemes is really the ‘icing on the cake’ as far as I’m concerned”.

Dr. Holt graduated in Applied Biochemistry at the University of Liverpool, before carrying out his Ph.D. in Physiology at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. In 2003, he started postdoctoral work in biochemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen in Germany. Since 2010, he has been an independent researcher at the Free University in Berlin, supported by the Neurocure Initiative. Dr. Holt will move to Belgium next year to establish a new interdisciplinary research group, funded by an ERC Starting Grant of almost €1.5 million. He is one of the 480 researchers selected out of 4,080 applicants in the latest annual competition for ERC Starting Grants (see press release).

About the ERC project ASTROFUNC
The brain consists of two major cell types – neurons and glia. Dr. Holt’s research concentrates on a particular type of glial cell – the astrocyte, which is actually the major cell type in the human brain. Until recently, these cells were often dismissed as merely being “brain glue” (a supportive matrix on which neurons grow and function). However, recent research suggests that this view is too simplistic, and astrocytes are more than 2 passive cells, actively modulating neuronal function. Dr. Holt’s group aims to identify the molecules and interactions that control this function – by taking advantage of recently developed techniques to rapidly isolate astrocytes and analyze their contents. In the long-term, the group hopes to identify important components that can be altered using advanced genetics to assess their importance in vivo. By understanding the basic signalling pathways used by astrocytes, Dr. Holt hopes the research will ultimately offer an alternative strategy for treating many neurological conditions - as every major brain injury and disease produces a ‘damage response’ in astrocytes (reactive gliosis). By understanding how astrocytes respond to injury and try to protect the nervous system, it is hoped that new therapeutic techniques can be developed.

Links
Researcher's lab website
VIB announcement on ERC Starting Grant 2011 results
Announcement of ERC 1000th grantee (June 2010)

More about the ERC grants
Set up in 2007 by the EU, the European Research Council is the first pan-European funding organisation for frontier research. It aims to stimulate scientific excellence in Europe by encouraging competition for funding between the very best, most creative researchers of any nationality and age. The ERC also strives to attract top researchers from elsewhere in the world to come to Europe. The two core funding schemes offered by ERC are the 'ERC Starting Grants' for younger, early-career researchers and the 'ERC Advanced Grants' for senior research leaders. This year, two smaller initiatives were added, namely the 'ERC Proof of Concept' scheme for researchers already holding an ERC grant, and the 'ERC Synergy scheme' targeting small groups of principal investigators working together on one project.