Gero Miesenböck has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant to investigate the homeostatic regulation and biological function of sleep. The project will seek to identify the molecular changes that drive sleep-inducing neurons in the fly brain into the electrically active state.
Gero said: ‘I’m thrilled this worked out — especially since this may have been the last chance for UK residents to apply. The ERC is one of the very few funding agencies that understand “the usefulness of useless knowledge”, to quote Abraham Flexner’s famous argument for curiosity-driven research.’
More information on the Award is available on the University of Oxford website.