EU Awards Grants To Researchers At Top Israeli University

Five Israeli scientists have been awarded grants from the prestigious European Research Council, the European Union’s organization that funds groundbreaking scientific and technological research. 

The researchers all hail from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, and will use the funds to advance in their respective fields. 

The five assistant professors are:

Assaf Zinger from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, who is engineering nanoparticles that mimic human breast milk for oral medicine that could not otherwise be distributed evenly throughout the body;

Yuval Shagam from the Faculty of Chemistry, who plans to apply research into molecular physics to quantum-controlled chemistry experiments and information technology;

Charlotte Vogt, also from the Faculty of Chemistry, who is researching metal nanoparticle-based catalysts, which could shift reliance away from fossil fuels and create more sustainable industrial processes;

Hila Peleg from the Faculty of Computer Science, who is developing algorithms to improve programmers’ ability to write correct code quickly; and

Ben Engelhard from the Department of Neuroscience, who is working on a theory that learning is triggered by dopamine, and researching how the brain learns complex tasks. 

“It is part of our mission to give early-career talent the independence to pursue ambitious, curiosity-driven research that can shape our future,” said ERC President Professor Maria Leptin.