University of Freiburg receives four ERC Synergy Grants for major research initiatives

by Robert Schreiber
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Nov 08, 2025

The University of Freiburg has secured four coveted Synergy Grants from the European Research Council, strengthening its role as a leader in collaborative science and technological innovation. These grants will fund bold new research projects in fields ranging from photovoltaics and cellular biology to cancer treatment technologies, mobile network efficiency, and early medieval European archaeology.

Professor Stefan Glunz leads the 'UltimatePV - Ultimate Photovoltaics' project, which plans to transform the design and efficiency of solar cells. Glunz and his team, working in partnership with institutions including EPFL in Switzerland and CNRS in France, aim to develop ultrathin photovoltaic devices with innovative photonic structures. Their approach is expected to significantly reduce material usage by a factor of ten, while increasing charge carrier concentration and overall energy conversion efficiency. The team's goal is to enable energy-selective extraction of photo-generated carriers before energy loss through thermalization, promising future solar cell designs that surpass current limits. The UltimatePV collaboration receives nearly ten million euros in ERC support, with 3.35 million euros allocated to Freiburg.

Professor Claudine Kraft is awarded ERC funding for the 'DegrAbility: On the Degradability of Protein Aggregates by Autophagy' project. Joined by colleagues from the Max Perutz Lab in Vienna and UC Berkeley, her team investigates why certain protein aggregates are degraded via autophagy while others persist. Using advanced structural and biochemical analyses, they explore the interactions between autophagic machinery and protein aggregates. Initial research suggests that degradation failures may relate more to molecular interactions than to the properties of aggregates themselves. These findings could inform efforts to alleviate breakdowns in autophagy that are linked to neurodegenerative conditions and cellular aging. The project brings in almost ten million euros in funding, with 3.33 million euros for Freiburg.

Junior Professor Caglar Ataman leads 'Zee-Zoom-Zap', a pioneering program to develop a combined diagnostic and therapeutic system for pancreatic cancer. The aim is to perform optical imaging, non-invasive biopsy, and localized treatment during a single endoscopic session. Ataman's team is engineering multifunctional optical catheters capable of high-resolution, three-dimensional microscopy throughout the pancreatic duct. Using state-of-the-art 3D micro- and nanoprinting, the project intends to establish a new standard for endoscopic instruments, working alongside research partners in Denmark and Spain. The initiative will address longstanding gaps in early detection and intervention for pancreatic cancer and is granted ten million euros, with Freiburg's share exceeding two million.

Archaeologist Dr. Susanne Brather-Walter participates in the 'CoCo - Connected Communities in Early Medieval Europe' project, a multi-country collaboration led by researchers from Leiden, Milan, Brno, and Leuven. The project revisits long-standing assumptions about the fragmentation of Europe after the Western Roman Empire by analyzing grave finds and burial practices. Comparing thousands of burial sites and artifacts, the team works to reconstruct the continent's hidden social and cultural links, now illuminated further by ancient DNA studies. Brather-Walter focuses on the distribution and patterns of bead finds across Central Europe, Scandinavia, and Italy. The effort is funded for 11.1 million euros, with Freiburg receiving nearly half a million.

Professor Rudiger Quay's ERC-backed DISRUPT project takes aim at the escalating energy costs of mobile communications infrastructure. As director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics and professor at Freiburg's Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering, Quay and his team propose novel high-frequency semiconductor technologies to potentially halve the energy consumption of next-generation networks. Collaborators include Delft University of Technology and University College Dublin, and the project secures around ten million euros.

Altogether, the four ERC Synergy Grant projects represent an investment of about 41 million euros, with the University of Freiburg directly receiving over nine million euros for its critical roles across the disciplines.