TUM secures €1.5M grants for ten quantum and life science projects

Technical University of Munich researchers will pursue ten new projects thanks to prestigious European Research Council Starting Grants. Each grant provides up to €1. 5 million to support early-career scientists at TUM, bringing the university’s total number of ERC Grants secured since 2007 to 280. One project, AXhaustMS led by Ali Maisam Afzali, investigates whether exhausted astrocytes, supporting cells in the brain and spinal cord, contribute to the progressive disability experienced by people with multiple sclerosis, “even modern therapies that effectively suppress inflammatory relapses have so far been unable to stop this process.” The findings could lead to new treatments restoring astrocyte function, potentially extending beyond MS to other neurological diseases. Each ERC Starting Grant provides up to €1. 5 million in funding, enabling early-career researchers at the Technical University of Munich to pursue ambitious projects across diverse scientific disciplines. The projects selected address critical questions ranging from the fundamental connections between human well-being and environmental health to the development of secure quantum encryption methods.…