LMU-Physiker Tim Liedl ist Professor für Experimentalphysik und Mitglied der Exzellenzcluster e-conversion und BiosysteM. (Foto: Stephan Höck/LMU)
Physicist Professor Tim Liedl, biochemist Professor Roland Beckmann, and meteorologist Professor Fabian Hoffmann have each been awarded a Synergy Grant for projects carried out in international research teams. Synergy Grants are one of the most coveted awards of the European Research Council (ERC).
With its highly competitive Synergy Grants, the ERC supports projects that can only be realized with the interdisciplinary collaboration of two to four teams of researchers and which lead to “advances at the frontiers of knowledge.” The funding per project consists of up to 14 million euros for a period of up to 6 years. “I am extremely pleased about the success of our researchers who have been awarded ERC Synergy Grants. This is an impressive recognition of the scientific excellence of our scholars and the innovative strength of our university”, Matthias Tschöp, President of LMU.
Using DNA to build the next generation of technology
Constructing nanomachines – tiny devices built atom by atom – has long been the stuff of science fiction. An ERC Synergy Grant, funded with around 9 million euros, has been awarded to Professors Jeremy Baumberg (University of Cambridge), Tim Liedl (LMU Munich), and Peer Fischer (University of Heidelberg) for the DNA4RENOMS (DNA for Reconfigurable Nano-Opto-Mechanical Systems) project to help make this dream a reality. Modern technologies such as smartphones, projectors, acceleration sensors, and medical implants rely on micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS). These are microscopic machines etched into silicon chips which can sense movement, eject ink, or steer light in optical devices. Despite their success, they remain expensive to manufacture and involve much waste of materials and energy. What is more, their further miniaturization using conventional production methods has reached its limits.
The new project takes a radically different approach. Instead of chipping away silicon layer by layer like a stonemason, the team will build up their nanomachines from the molecular level, using the self-assembling properties of DNA – the same molecule that encodes genetic information – to create reconfigurable nano-opto-mechanical systems (NOMS). By combining these DNA frameworks with optical control, the team aims to build devices that move, sense, and react at the nanoscale. “Essentially, we will pluck DNA with lasers – and listen to their snap,” says LMU physicist Tim Liedl, who is a member of the “e-conversion” and “BiosysteM” clusters of excellence. These optically controlled nanomachines could form the foundation for a new class of sensors, mechanical amplifiers, and even artificial muscles, with potential uses in medicine, robotics, and sustainable manufacturing. Because DNA structures can be disassembled and rebuilt, this approach also promises a new model of atom-efficient, recyclable nanotechnology – a crucial step toward more sustainable materials and devices. “This is not just about making something small,” says Liedl. “It’s about inventing a completely new way to make machines – one that nature itself could approve of.” The ERC Synergy Grant provides long-term support for this ambitious collaboration, which unites expertise in DNA assembly, optical manipulation, and nanoscale mechanics.
More LMU researchers awarded
The ERC is funding two additional LMU researchers with highly endowed Synergy Grants: Roland Beckmann, Professor of Biochemistry and member of the Excellence Clusters NUCLEATE and BioSysteM, studies ribosomes – the protein factories of the cell – and how they influence health and disease. His team has discovered a previously underestimated class of snoRNPs that plays a key role in the assembly of new ribosomes. Within the international research consortium snoOPERA (Beyond Modification: Defining Hidden Roles of snoRNPs in Ribosome Assembly), these factors will be examined in detail, both structurally and functionally, in order to better understand how they control ribosome assembly and what their relevance is for human health and disease.
In addition, Prof. Fabian Hoffmann, who led an Emmy Noether junior research group at the LMU Institute of Meteorology until September 2025, has secured an ERC Synergy Grant for his project TurPhyCloud (The Role of Turbulence in the Physics of Clouds). The atmospheric scientist, now based at Freie Universität Berlin, aims to find out how clouds – especially stratocumulus clouds – respond to climate change. The project combines high-resolution field measurements with new simulation approaches to model turbulent processes in clouds more precisely. The goal is to significantly improve weather and climate models and thus enable more reliable predictions of future climate developments.
Orignal article: https://www.lmu.de/en/newsroom/news-overview/news/erc-synergy-grants-big-success-for-lmu-researchers-2.html