Prestigious ERC Synergy Grant awarded to Prof. Gonen Ashkenasy
Prof. Gonen Ashkenasy of the Department of Chemistry at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev focuses on a new research field - Systems Chemistry.
His main research effort is devoted to the design and synthesis of multicomponent chemical systems, named molecular networks, and to analyze their dynamic self-organization. In the future, this research will lead to the development of artificial cells and to an understanding of the beginnings of life on Earth.
Four groups from Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Israel received the prestigious ERC Synergy Grant to fund joint research. The research will enable them to understand new principles for the organization of biological systems and to shed light on possible scenarios in the early stages of evolution. The researchers suggest that the results of their study could also be applied to the development of devices for nanotechnology and biotechnology. The grant is given for 6 years, and Ben-Gurion University's share is about 3.4 million euros.
Prof. Ashkenasy explains: "Our work will demonstrate how artificial cells can be designed and constructed in the laboratory. It will shed new light on the possibility of making molecules and aggregates that build the medium in which they operate, catalyze chemical reactions in that medium, and even replicate themselves. If we achieve these three goals, it will be unprecedented."
The European Research Council funds outstanding researchers to conduct groundbreaking research. The ERC Synergy grant is awarded with the aim of bringing groups of researchers to work together, thus combining complementary skills and resources to tackle particularly challenging research problems and accomplish groundbreaking discoveries.
Prof. Ashkenasy serves as the Director of the Minerva Center for Studying the Planetary Emergence of Life.
