ERC Grant for Professor Andreas Herrmann

Professor Andreas Herrmann is driven by a visionary approach: the revolutionization of medication administration. His aim is to precisely and controllably direct medications to their intended locations within the body through external ultrasound activation, optimizing their effectiveness.

Techniques from optogenetics and photopharmacology have yielded promising new therapy possibilities, shedding light on brain functions or enhancing understanding of neural disorders. However, there are limitations that greatly impede significant progress in these areas: light cannot penetrate deep tissue layers to exert its effects. In contrast, ultrasound can penetrate deep into tissue. With submillimeter resolution, this approach holds promise for new applications.

Together with his team, Andreas Herrmann seeks to develop new control systems for activating drugs based on nucleic acids like DNA, which can also be active in deeper tissue layers.

For his research, the head of the Institute for Macromolecular Materials and Systems and Scientific Director of the Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials (DWI), located at Forckenbeckstraße 50 on Campus Melaten, has secured one of the prestigious Advanced Grants. Andreas Herrmann’s team will thus be able to intensively pursue their research activities for the next five years under ERC funding. He has been awarded €2.5 million for his project “Remote controlling biological systems by sonopharmacology and sonogenetics” (SONOPHARMAGEN) by the European Research Council (ERC) as part of the ERC Advanced Grant.

Professor Andreas Herrmann has now secured his third ERC Grant: he received his first ERC Advanced Grant in 2016 and an ERC Starting Grant in 2009. The ERC Advanced Grants are part of the EU’s Horizon Europe program and target established top researchers. This grant is one of the most prestigious and competitive scientific awards and instruments of EU research funding.