The European Research Council (ERC) has celebrated a symbolic milestone with the awarding of the 2000th ERC grant. It has been granted to Dr. Matthew Holt, who will join the VIB Department of Molecular and Developmental Genetics at K.U. Leuven, Belgium, in January 2012.

The ERC has funded its 2000th grantee. 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. The scientist will use the grant to study the function of glial cells in brain function. According to the ERC, this 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 is one of the 480 researchers selected out of 4,080 applicants in the latest annual competition for ERC Starting Grants. 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.

With regard to the ERC project ASTROFUNC, 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.