Nektarios Tavernarakis, Researcher at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH) and Professor at the Medical School of the University of Crete, is one of just 45 scientists from across Europe, and the only one in Greece, that recently secured funding from the innovation-supporting Proof of Concept Programme of the European Research Council (ERC).

Dr. Apostolos Delis has earned a prestigious Horizon 2020 European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant 2016. The program entitled Seafaring Lives in Transition. Mediterranean Maritime Labour and Shipping during Globalization, 1850s-1920s’ explores the transition from sail to steam navigation and the effects of this technological innovation on seafaring populations in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, between the 1850s and the 1920s, whose lives were drastically changed by the advent of the steam.

Dr. Vassiliki Nikoletopoulou, Researcher at the IMBB, earned a highly competitive ERC starting grant. This grant is a funding scheme that supports young talented research leaders to gain independence and build their own research laboratory in Europe. The research interests and expertise of Dr. Nikoletopoulou bridge over the fields of neurobiology and metabolism.

Greek researchers from the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL) of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), in collaboration with the Universities of Cambridge, UK and Mexico, have created a novel energy-efficient switch utilising a "liquid form" of light. The device could be a breakthrough in electronics providing unprecedented energy - efficient circuits.

Professor Nektarios Tavernarakis, Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of FORTH, was appointed as new member of the Scientific Council of the ERC. New members are selected by an independent Identification Committee, composed of six distinguished scientists appointed by the Commission. The scientific community was consulted in this process.

Alexandros Lappas, a chemical physicist and Research Director in the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL) at FORTH, will be supported by the Fulbright Foundation under their 2016-17 Visiting Scholars program (www.fulbright.gr) with the purpose to lecture and conduct research in the United States.

Nektarios Tavernarakis, a researcher at the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), has recently been awarded for the second time the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigator Grant for his research proposal titled “MacroAutophagy and Necrotic Neurodegeneration in Ageing”.

Research at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, published today in the premier international scientific journal Nature, reveals an intricate molecular mechanism that coordinates the biogenesis and selective elimination of mitochondria, to regulate cellular energy homeostasis during ageing.

A state-of-the art approach to enhance the resolution of non-invasive medical diagnosis techniques is to utilize nano-size materials which are delivered at the regions of interest and allow improved tissue contrast. For such applications, magnetic iron oxides are emerging as promising probes in the diagnosis of various diseases and especially in the area of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).