image: Happy grant recipients: Karley Campbell from the Department of Arctic and Marine Biology and Florian Ströhl from the Department of Physics and Technology.
Credit: UiT
Florian Ströhl and Karley Campbell have been awarded the ERC Starting Grant 2024 for their groundbreaking projects in microscope technology and microorganisms in Arctic Sea ice.
The grants from the European Research Council (ERC) are approximately 1.8 and 2,5 million euros, and they are given to outstanding researchers who aim to fill knowledge gaps and advance the frontier of research.
Among nearly 3,500 applications, 494 grants were distributed. 14 went to applicants from Norway – among them Ströhl and Campbell.
"What an achievement – congratulations to both! This is one of the most prestigious grants in the EU, and we are proud that our researchers are at the forefront of technology development, health, and the Arctic – strategic focus areas at UiT," says Jan-Gunnar Winther, Pro-rector for research and development at UiT.
Developing new Microscope Techniques
Researcher Florian Ströhl is honoured. Together with Norwegian and international colleagues, he will develop new technology that enables research on heart cells.
The new technology can be used in advanced cell therapy to treat heart diseases.
”A sick heart can show mechanical changes down to the cellular level. We are going to develop a microscopy method that allows us to 'feel' the stiffness of cells inside heart tissue using nothing but light,” says Ströhl.
According to him, there will be many application areas for the technology.
”For example, it could be used in aquaculture to study how immune cells live on salmons, or we could map material properties in plastics and metals,” says the pleased grant recipient.
Microorganisms in Sea Ice
To marine biologist Karley Campbell, the ERC grant represents a unique opportunity to research one of the largest biomes on the planet: Sea Ice.
"We will investigate which microorganisms live in the sea ice and how they respond to climate changes," says Campbell.
She explains that sea ice consists of several unique habitats where microbes such as algae and bacteria grow. However, except for the bottom ice layer, we know almost nothing.
"Previous research has focused on the bottom layer, and the UN climate report was largely based on this limited understanding. But now, by expanding our focus, we aim to develop models that can predict what the Arctic will look like in the future," says the excited researcher.