Four researchers at Uppsala University win ERC Consolidator Grants

Thomas Dorlo, Professor at the Department of Pharmacy, has been awarded a grant for his project TRANSPHORM, on how to stop the neglected tropical parasitic disease leishmaniasis from spreading. This is one of the major challenges in global health, Dorlo explains:

“Our project explores a bold new idea: using medicines not just to cure patients, but to block transmission by targeting the sandflies that suck blood from these patients and spread the parasite. This is a completely new approach to secure the ‘last mile’ toward elimination of leishmaniasis. If successful, this could transform how we fight vector-borne diseases.”

What does receiving this grant mean to you?

“For me, this is not just about continuing what I have done before, it’s about growth. This grant enables me to push beyond my current expertise and explore completely new scientific territory. It allows us for instance to combine pharmacometrics with vector control and epidemiological modelling – fields that are rarely integrated. That’s what makes ERC funding so unique: it empowers us to innovate at the intersections between fields,” says Dorlo.

Simultaneous extreme weather events

Gabriele Messori, Professor of Meteorology at the Department of Earth Sciences, has been awarded a grant for his project DYCLEX, focusing on extreme weather events that occur simultaneously.

“My research interest revolves around extreme weather events such as heat waves, cold spells, strong winds and heavy rain. The project focuses on multivariate extreme weather events, in other words, the simultaneous occurrence of different extreme weather events in one or more places. I specifically want to answer questions about why these extreme weather events occur at the same time, how predictable they are and how climate change will affect their occurrence and characteristics,” Messori explains.

What does receiving this grant mean to you?

“It means the world to me. Being able to devote most of my time to basic research for five years is quite simply a dream. This project will enable me to think deeply and carefully about extreme weather – a subject I’m passionate about. The long timeframe allows greater scope for exploring new and perhaps more untested ideas than one has in a normal project.”

Mapping the microenvironment of tumours

Xingqi Chen, Associate Professor at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, has been awarded a grant for the project ScaleMAP, a scalable mapping of the microenvironment of tumours inspired by geographical information systems.

“Receiving this ERC Consolidator Grant is a great honour. It provides the long-term, flexible support needed to pursue ambitious, high-risk ideas that would otherwise be difficult to undertake. It allows me to build an interdisciplinary research programme and develop technologies that can benefit both basic research and clinical applications,” says Xingqi Chen.

What questions do you aim to answer in this project?

“In this project, we aim to understand how cancer cells and their surrounding microenvironment change over time and space. To do this, we will develop new scalable technologies that allow us to map molecular and cellular features across entire tissue sections with very high resolution. These tools will help us study how tumours evolve, how they interact with their surroundings, and which processes may drive metastasis. Ultimately, this work may reveal new biological insights and point to potential therapeutic opportunities.”

Prediction of catastrophic events

Qinghua Lei, Associate Professor of Geohydrology at the Department of Earth Sciences, has been awarded a grant for the project FORECAST. The project addresses one of the key unsolved problems in geoscience: the prediction of catastrophic events, including landslides, rockbursts, glacier breakoffs and volcanic eruptions.

“The project aims to establish the scientific foundations of geohazard prediction science, uniting multiphysics, statistical mechanics, nonlinear dynamics, and high-performance computing into a unified prediction framework. The research is strongly multidisciplinary and covers a spectrum ranging from innovative large-scale computational modelling to novel real-time dynamical forecasting methods,” Qinghua Lei explains.

What does receiving this grant mean to you?

“Receiving the ERC Consolidator Grant provides a unique opportunity to pursue ambitious, curiosity-driven research at the forefront of geoscience, and it offers the long-term support needed to build a world-leading research team. Personally, it is a major milestone in my career and a strong motivation to advance fundamental science that can ultimately contribute to improved geohazard forecasting and risk mitigation.”

Annica Hulth