The University of Freiburg has secured four coveted Synergy Grants from the European Research Council, strengthening its role as a leader in collaborative science and technology innovation. These grants will fund bold new research projects in areas ranging from solar photovoltaics and cellular biology to cancer treatment technologies, mobile network efficiency and early medieval European archaeology.
Professor Stefan Glunz leads the project ‘UltimatePV – Ultimate Photovoltaics’, which plans to transform the design and efficiency of solar cells. Glunz and his team, in collaboration with institutions such as EPFL in Switzerland and CNRS in France, want to develop ultra-thin photovoltaic devices with innovative photonic structures. Their approach is expected to significantly reduce material consumption by a factor of ten, while increasing charge carrier concentration and overall energy conversion efficiency. The team’s goal is to enable energy-selective extraction of photogenerated carriers before energy loss through thermalization, promising future solar cell designs that go beyond current limits. The UltimatePV collaboration will receive almost ten million euros in ERC support, of which 3.35 million euros will be allocated to Freiburg.
Professor Claudine Kraft receives ERC funding for the project ‘DegrAbility: On the Degradability of Protein Aggregates by Autophagy’. Together with colleagues from the Max Perutz Lab in Vienna and UC Berkeley, her team is investigating why certain protein aggregates are broken down via autophagy, while others persist. Using advanced structural and biochemical analyses, they investigate the interactions between autophagic machinery and protein aggregates. Initial research shows that failure to degrade may have more to do with molecular interactions than with the properties of the aggregates themselves. These findings could support efforts to alleviate the disturbances in autophagy associated with neurodegenerative diseases and cellular aging. The project provides almost ten million euros in financing, of which 3.33 million euros for Freiburg.
Junior Professor Caglar Ataman leads ‘Zee-Zoom-Zap’, a pioneering program to develop a combined diagnostic and therapeutic system for pancreatic cancer. The aim is to perform optical imaging, non-invasive biopsy and localized treatment during one endoscopic session. Ataman’s team is developing multifunctional optical catheters capable of high-resolution three-dimensional microscopy throughout the entire pancreatic duct. Using state-of-the-art 3D micro- and nanoprinting, the project aims to establish a new standard for endoscopic instruments, in collaboration with research partners in Denmark and Spain. The initiative will address long-standing gaps in the early detection and intervention of pancreatic cancer and will be awarded ten million euros, with Freiburg’s share amounting to more than two million.
Archaeologist Dr. Susanne Brather-Walter takes part in the project ‘CoCo – Connected Communities in Early Medieval Europe’, a multi-country collaboration led by researchers from Leiden, Milan, Brno and Leuven. The project revises long-standing assumptions about the fragmentation of Europe after the Western Roman Empire by analyzing grave finds and burial practices. By comparing thousands of burial sites and artifacts, the team aims to reconstruct the continent’s hidden social and cultural ties, now further illuminated by centuries-old DNA studies. Brather-Walter focuses on the distribution and patterns of bead finds in Central Europe, Scandinavia and Italy. The effort is funded for 11.1 million euros, while Freiburg receives almost half a million.
Professor Rudiger Quay’s ERC-supported DISRUPT project focuses on the escalating energy costs of mobile communications infrastructure. As director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics and professor at the Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering in Freiburg, Quay and his team propose new high-frequency semiconductor technologies to potentially halve the energy consumption of next-generation networks. Collaborations include Delft University of Technology and University College Dublin, and the project will raise around ten million euros.
In total, the four ERC Synergy Grant projects represent an investment of approximately 41 million euros, with the University of Freiburg directly receiving more than nine million euros for its crucial role in all disciplines.
