ERC funding for brain cancer and protein research at the University of Bergen
Two researchers at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bergen have been awarded prestigious ERC Advanced Grants. Professor Hrvoje Miletic and Professor Thomas Arnesen will lead projects on brain tumours and protein biology that aim to advance fundamental understanding and improve future treatment.
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The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Advanced Grants to 319 leading researchers across Europe. (external link) At the University of Bergen (UiB), two of these grants go to projects at the Department of Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine.
Each project receives up to EUR 2.5 million over five years, with the possibility of an additional EUR 1 million.
Investigating cell communication in brain tumours
Professor Hrvoje Miletic studies malignant brain tumours. Patients diagnosed with these tumours have an average survival of around 18 months. Treatment has seen limited progress over the past two decades:
“Both the tumour’s location in the brain and its resistance to standard treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy make it difficult to treat”, explains Miletic.
His research team has already contributed important discoveries about how malignant brain tumours grow. The new ERC-funded project will investigate how different cells communicate within the tumour microenvironment.
“The goal is to develop a gene therapy that disrupts interactions between tumour cells and astrocytes. This may strengthen the effects of chemotherapy and support the body’s immune response to the tumour”, says Miletic
Miletic says the ERC grant creates new opportunities to generate knowledge that could benefit patients in the long term.
“This award is excellent news and creates unique opportunities for research on malignant brain tumours,” the professor says.
Read more: Hrvoje Miletic is hoping to solve the mystery of malignant brain tumors
New ERC grant to study how proteins function in cells
Professor Thomas Arnesen and his research group, the Arnesen Lab (external link) at the Department of Biomedicine, have received ERC funding for the second time.
In the project NterSwitch, the team will study how proteins are regulated in human cells.
Arnesen explains: “Almost all proteins in human cells carry chemical modifications. The project will examine how and why an acetyl group is added to the end of proteins”.
Although this modification is widespread, researchers still do not fully understand how it influences biological systems, human physiology, and disease. The project aims to determine how this process regulates protein function and lifespan, and how this affects cells and organisms.
The work builds on more than 20 years of research at the University of Bergen.
Arnesen previously received an ERC Consolidator Grant for the period 2018 to 2023. He notes that the competition for ERC funding is extremely strong and that the outcome is often decided by small margins.
He adds that the funding is essential for advancing both fundamental and translational research.