EU Funding Supports Cryopreservation Research

Professor Matthew Gibson from the Department of Chemistry and Warwick Medical School has received €150,000 to develop methods to store and transport cells used in toxicity testing. “This ERC Proof of Concept funding will enable us to focus on translating our unique cryopreservation technology to the industrially-relevant challenge of hepatocyte storage and shows the unique value of the ERC in supporting both basic and translational research,” he said.

Professor Gibson is one of seventy-six top researchers in Europe who will receive ERC Proof of Concept grants of €150,000 each, which act as top-up funding for grantees to explore the innovation potential of their scientific discoveries and bring the results of their frontier research closer to market. This final injection of €11.4 million pushes the total number of ERC Proof of Concept funded projects for 2019 to 200. With the additional money researchers can, for example, investigate business opportunities, establish intellectual property rights or conduct technical validation for their frontier research findings.

Professor Pam Thomas, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Warwick, said: “These grants from the European Research Council support exciting developments from researchers at an early stage and this latest grant for Professor Gibson’s work into cryopreservation is a welcome boost for innovation at the University of Warwick.”

ERC grantees can apply for funding in one of the three rounds of the yearly call: with the first already past (Jan 21) the deadlines are now for 23 April and 17 September. Further information at www.erc.europa.eu