Thursday, 23 November 2023
ERC Consolidator Grant awarded to Dr Elena Del Corro, senior researcher at the ICN2
Dr Elena Del Corro, senior researcher in the ICN2 Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices Group, is the recipient of one of the prestigious Consolidator Grants 2023 of the the European Research Council. She will develop the TriboMed project, aimed at integrating triboelectric energy generators into active implantable medical devices to improve life of patients suffering from diseases linked to the activity of the vagus nerve.
The names of the researchers selected for this year’s Consolidator Grants of the European Research Council (ERC) have been disclosed today. Out of 2,130 candidates, 308 excellent scientists will be supported by this funding, meant to help them consolidate their own independent research activity and team. Worth in total €627 million, the grants are part of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme.
Dr Elena Del Corro, senior researcher in the ICN2 Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices Group, is one of the recipient of this prestigious grant. The project that she presented, titled TriboMed, aims at taking advantage of triboelectric energy –produced by electric charge transfer between two objects when they contact or slide against each other—to power active implantable medical devices (AIMDs).
Dr Del Corro will design a triboelectric energy generator for this purpose and integrate it into the medical device, so as to make it completely autonomous. In fact, most implants currently make use of bulky batteries, which eventually run out of charge and need to be replaced. TriboMed will focus on developing an implantable and self-powered AIMD for vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). According to Dr Del Corro, her new device would increase the acceptance of self-driven neuromodulation therapies, producing a life-changing impact on a very large patient population, suffering of several chronic systemic conditions (such as Crohn’s disease, rheumatic arthritis and obesity).
Prof. Klaas-Jan Tielrooij, leader of the ICN2 Ultrafast Dynamics in Nanoscale Systems Group and associate professor at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), has also been awarded a ERC Consolidator Grant 2023 for his project EQUATE. However, since the TU/e is the host institution, it does not enter into the count of the grants awarded to ICN2 and the Spanish institutions.
Del Corro’s ERC Consolidator grant adds to the 13 ERC grants (4 Proof of Concept, 5 Starting, 2 Consolidator, 2 Advanced) already received by current and former ICN2 members (with ICN2 as hosting institute). In detail, Prof. Daniel Maspoch scored four ERC grants, a Consolidator in 2013 for the InanoMOF project, a Proof of Concept in 2019 for the Hybead project, an Advanced in 2020 for CLIPOFF-CHEM, and another Proof of Concept in 2021 for SAFE-ON; Prof. Sergio Valenzuela won a Starting grant in 2021 for the SpinBound project and a Proof of Concept in 2019 for SOTMEM; Dr Klass-Jan Tielrooij was assigned a Starting grant in 2018 for the CUHL project and a Proof of Concept in 2021 for COOLGRAELE; Prof Clivia Sotomayor-Torres received an ERC Advanced in 2019 for her project LEIT; Prof Gustau Catalán was awarded a Starting grant in 2017 for the FLEXOELECTRICITY project; Prof. María Escudero Escribano received a Consolidator Grant in 2021 for her ATOMISTIC project; and former ICN2 researcher Dr Pietro Gambardella won a Starting grant (2008-2013) for the NOMAD project. Finally, Dr José Hugo García was given an ERC Starting Grant 2022 for her project AI4PSIN.
About the ERC
The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants. With its additional Proof of Concept Grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to bridge the gap between their pioneering research and early phases of its commercialisation. The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council. Since November 2021, Maria Leptin is the President of the ERC. The overall ERC budget from 2021 to 2027 is more than €16 billion, as part of the Horizon Europe programme, under the responsibility of European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Iliana Ivanova.