ERC award for young researcher investigating common diseases
A young researcher has been awarded a EUR 1.5 million Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to support her research into the genetics of common diseases in humans. Dr Eleftheria Zeggini, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the United Kingdom, will use the grant to help her identify the underlying genetic variants that contribute to human diseases, and develop new and more refined tools to help researchers tackle them. 'It's a great honour to be a recipient of this award, which will boost our research into the genetics of complex human traits,' says Dr Zeggini. Along with her team, the young researcher will carry out large-scale studies to investigate the genetic architecture of complex phenotypes - the term used to describe an organism's observable characteristics or traits. Her research will focus initially on cardiometabolic and musculoskeletal phenotypes. Such an approach will enable the scientists to identify and address statistical genetics challenges by designing, evaluating and proposing analytical strategies. The ERC Starting Grant scheme aims to support up-and-coming research leaders who are about to establish or consolidate a research team to conduct independent research in Europe. The ERC seeks to encourage high-quality research in Europe through competitive funding and by supporting investigator-initiated frontier research across all fields of research, on the basis of scientific excellence. Dr Zeggini will conduct a powerful next-generation association study leveraging whole-genome sequence data and the unique characteristics of population isolates in which rare alleles may have risen in frequency, making them easier to detect. The main objective of Dr Zeggini's work is to provide the substrate for analytical method development, and to identify robust novel associations with complex disease-related traits. 'I am delighted that Dr Zeggini and her work have been recognised by this grant. It is vital for the future of research that we foster new talent and offer them the opportunities to grow,' says Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute Director Professor Mike Stratton. 'The European Research Council scheme is an excellent paradigm for European research.' More than 4 080 applications were submitted for the ERC Starting Grant awards from the ERC Starting Grant fund that totals EUR 670 million; of these applications, only 12% were successful - odds that make Dr Zeggini's success even more of an achievement. This year, the number of applications increased by 42% compared with 2010. The average age of selected researchers was 37, and 21% of applicants were women. In this latest round, 35% of selected applicants' projects were in the field of life sciences. The ERC, set up in 2007 under the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), was the first pan-European funding body for frontier research. The total budget allocated to the ERC for the period 2007 to 2013 is EUR 7.5 billion, which represents 15% of the overall FP7 budget. By the time FP7 comes to an end in 2013, the ERC will have awarded approximately 5000 grants; it can count 3 Nobel laureates and 3 Fields Medallists among its grant holders.For more information, please visit:European Research Council:http://erc.europa.eu/
Countries
United Kingdom