182 applications were evaluated by the SNSF Scientific Steering Committee as part of the call for the “SNSF Consolidator Grants 2022”. In this competitive application process, a total of 30 highly qualified scientists and thus around 17 percent of the applications have received the funding. The SNSF Consolidator Grant 2022 is a transitional measure to replace EU funding programs within "Horizon Europe" of the European Research Council (ERC).
Research project
Biofilms are surface-associated microbial communities, which are considered to be the most abundant form of bacterial life on Earth. As biofilms develop on surfaces of medical devices, catheters and implants, they are a major problem in hospitals. Knut Drescher investigates how bacteria organize themselves, interact with each other and form resistant biofilms. In his SNSF-funded project, Knut Drescher now wants to gain insights into the causes, properties and consequences of subpopulations during biofilm formation. His research may open up new ways for exploiting the properties of subpopulations to disrupt biofilms in medical and industrial settings.
Knut Drescher
Prof. Knut Drescher has been an Associate Professor of microbiology and biophysics at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, since 2021. He studied physics at the University of Oxford and received his PhD in experimental biophysics at the University of Cambridge, UK, in 2011. As a postdoc at Princeton University, USA, he moved into microbiology and began investigating bacterial communities, known as biofilms. He has already been awarded several research prizes and grants, most recently the ERC "Starting Grant".
SNSF Consolidator Grant 2022
Due to Switzerland’s current status of non-associated third-country in Horizon Europe, the SNF has launched the new transitional measure SNSF Consolidator Grants 2022 on behalf of the Swiss government. It is aimed at researchers who planned to apply for an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2022. Successful applicants will be able to conduct research in Switzerland and consolidate their scientific independence.
Public lecture with Knut Drescher
As part of the public lecture series "Einblicke Biozentrum" (in German), Knut Drescher will give a lecture on "Bakterien – Die Macht der Gemeinschaft " on February 14, 2023 at 7 p.m.
Contact: Communications, Heike Sacher