ERC Consolidator Grant for Prof. Lucio Isa
Seven ETH researchers can look forward to generous funding for their projects: the European Research Council (ERC) has approved a total amount of around 15 million Swiss francs. Prof. Luico Isa, head of Soft Materials and Interfaces, is one of those researchers.
The European Research Council (ERC) offers a range of funding instruments for supporting particularly excellent and creative projects. The Consolidator Grants are intended to help outstanding researchers to consolidate their position in basic research – often by building up their own research group.
Lucio Isa focuses on the development of new materials and processes based on micro and nanoparticles and the complex interfaces they form with surrounding fluids. With this project, he aims at developing a new class of active microparticles that can adapt their shape and properties to the environment and correspondingly change the way in which they move and interact with their neighbors. He will produce micro materials with internal feedback and signaling schemes, which are inspired by both robotic systems and biological microorganisms, by exploiting a combination of synthesis and micro-nanofabrication techniques. These materials present new opportunities for transport and manipulation of matter at the microscale, as required by applications such as targeted drug delivery or removing pollutants from the environment.