Erik Benson and Arvid Guterstam, both assistant professors at Karolinska Institutet, have been awarded the prestigious ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council. With the grant, they will have the opportunity to realise groundbreaking research projects in DNA nanotechnology for improved drug delivery, and the brain's social functions that may be of great importance for future diagnosis and understanding of autism.
The ERC Starting Grant is one of the most prestigious research grants in Europe, aimed at promising researchers at the beginning of their careers. The grant provides up to EUR 1.5 million over five years and aims to support ground-breaking research with the potential to change the field of research.
Erik Benson , assistant professor at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology , is researching how DNA can be used as a building material to create nanostructures that bind to pathogens or deliver drugs to cells.
The power of evolution against disease
In Erik Benson's project Selection of DNA nanostructures for multivalent binding and drug delivery (SELECTDNA), he draws inspiration from nature's own engineering - evolution - to create structures that work better than today's design methods.
"Instead of building one structure at a time, we create millions of variants and use selection experiments to find the best ones," says Erik Benson. "We are developing both experimental techniques and computer tools to understand which structures are most promising."
The goal is to develop strong binders against disease-causing proteins that can be quickly used for diagnostics, and to understand how different cells take up DNA structures. In the long term, the project can contribute to new methods for fighting infections and for improved drug delivery.
For Erik Benson, Karolinska Institutet is an ideal environment for advanced research.
"KI has a strong combination of basic and applied medical research. Colleagues are open to new ideas and we have access to world-leading facilities and expertise," he says.
He also highlights the support from KI's Grants Office (GO) as crucial in the application process.
"GO was a great support both before the interview and in the work of creating the agreement with the ERC after the announcement. It made the whole demanding process much smoother."
How the brain simulates other people's beliefs
Arvid Guterstam , assistant professor at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience , has been awarded the ERC Starting Grant for the project Simulating other minds in autism (MINDSIM), where he investigates how the brain automatically computes other people's beliefs - an ability that is central to everyday social interactions.
"In this project, we will test a new hypothesis about how the brain builds a representation of other people's mental content, which in psychology is referred to as theory of mind," explains Arvid Guterstam. "My hypothesis is that the brain uses low-level systems such as visual motion to automatically link social agents with the targets of their beliefs."
The project combines advanced behavioural experiments, brain imaging and studies of patients with electrodes implanted in the brain.
Previous research has shown that autistic individuals automatically compute others' beliefs in a different manner compared to neurotypical people. In a final phase of MINDSIM, autistic individuals are studied.
"My research is primarily curiosity-driven basic research with the goal of understanding human social cognition," he says. "Autism is a social variation where there are currently large gaps in knowledge about the underlying brain mechanisms. This makes it a very exciting area of research."
MINDSIM is a high-risk project, but with great scientific potential. The ERC grant is crucial to be able to implement it.
"Without the support from the ERC, it would not have been possible to launch such an ambitious project. By the end of the funding period, I hope that we will have new insights into how the brain simulates other people's beliefs - and how this differs in autistic people."
The starting grants from the ERC for KI research are an important step towards understanding complex biological and psychological processes from the molecular level to human behaviour.
