• H2020
• Industrial Leadership
• Micro and Nanoelectronics & Photonics

A Hebrew University scientist benefitting from a European Research Council grant has used the funding to study the possibility of creating a new indicator to help detect the early signs of cancer.

The €1.5m grant financed an investigation into developing new, high-resolution, molecular CT (computed tomography) imaging equipment to help the early detection of cancer and arteriosclerosis. If successful, the imaging equipment will report the diseases’ locations, their severity and the effectiveness of treatment.

Speaking about the investigation to the Neighbourhood Info Centre, research leader Dr Galia Blum said the ERC grant was crucial to the investigative project: “Research is a very expensive thing. The sums required are large and difficult to obtain. The grant, which will be spread over five years, will finance all the costs of operating a laboratory at the Hebrew University and includes manpower, equipment and materials. The cost of the required equipment alone reaches €400,000.”

The ERC is benefitting from a budget of over €13bn under Horizon 2020.