• H2020
• Excellent Science
• European Research Council

The European Research Council has awarded a significant grant to Imperial College London to fund research into obesity.

The ERC grant will help scientists develop an implant that will reduce appetite in obese patients. According to Imperial College London, the implant ‘aims to detect signals in the nerves and instruct the brain and the gut that it is full’.

The project, led by Professor Sir Stephen Bloom and Professor Chris Toumazou, will receive €7m and is only one of 11 in the EU to receive this stream of funding.

The funding for the project comes from the ERC’s Synergy Grants, which allows scientists to collaborate and share skills, knowledge and resources when addressing research problems. The grants scheme was introduced in 2012.