ERC funding for human DNA research
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded €2.2m of funding to an India scientist to help investigate human DNA.
The ERC made the award to Indian researcher Ramesh Pillai, one of 13 Indians to receive ‘blue sky’ research grants from the EU funding body. Pillai will be based at the European Molecular Biological Laboratory in Grenoble, France and told Northern Voice Online he will be investigating “how the cell world controls the genetic information within it”.
A total of 13 Indian researchers have been awarded ERC grants since 2007; the body has stated it would be happy to increase this number. Last month, ERC secretary general Professor Donald Dingwell travelled to major cities in India in an attempt to attract new applications from the country ahead of Horizon 2020.
The ERC has awarded €5.7bn of research funding to over 3,400 scientists in the last six years.
