Lucrative ERC grants for five LMU researchers
Grant and Award Announcement
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-May-2026 22:15 ET (27-May-2026 02:15 GMT/UTC)
Five LMU researchers have been awarded Consolidator Grants by the European Research Council. Their projects deal with climate change, strokes, quantum physics, mitochondria, and cancer diagnosis.
The results were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and presented by collaborators at the 67th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition Orlando, Florida (LBA-2).
Polydopamine-coated magnetic liposomes offer insight into the lectin–glycan interactions in motion. By observing minute changes in the rotational motion of magnetic nanoparticles under alternating magnetic field, the technique reveals binding patterns, including strong multivalent binding events under natural and physiological conditions. The findings of this study emphasize the role of structure–property relationships, while designing magnetic liposome-based biorecognition systems. This approach could accelerate innovations in diagnostics, glycoscience research, and drug discovery.
MUTE-Seq is a new liquid-biopsy method powered by an engineered ultra-precise CRISPR enzyme, FnCas9-AF2, which can distinguish single-base mismatches across all sgRNA positions with near-zero off-target activity. By selectively removing wild-type DNA before sequencing, it boosts true mutant signals up to tens of times and enables detection as low as ~0.005% VAF. The technique improves MRD monitoring and early-stage cancer detection while avoiding the need for costly ultra-deep sequencing.
A study of 13,126 participants from the UK Biobank found that individuals diagnosed with diabetes after age 50 had a lower risk of all-cause dementia compared to those diagnosed before 50. The protective effect was strongest among those with high genetic risk for dementia or carrying the APOE ε4 allele. These results highlight the importance of early diabetes management and personalized prevention strategies for high-risk groups.