ERC Advanced Grant of €2.5 millionEuropean Research Council Honors Kidney Researcher Prof. Dr. Tobias Huber

11 April 2024, by Newsroom editorial office

Photo: UKE

Prof. Dr. Tobias Huber

Prof. Dr. Tobias Huber, professor of nephrology at the Faculty of Medicine and director of the III. Department of Medicine the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) will receive €2.5 million in funding over the next 5 years from the European Research Council for his research on a severe kidney filtering disorder.

“ We are delighted that the European Research Council has once again honored outstanding kidney research at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). The ERC fosters our local transdisciplinary collaboration with a particular focus on immune-mediated renal disease, thus helping to provide better medical care to the many kidney patients in the long run. I congratulate Prof. Huber on this wonderful achievement,” says Prof. Dr. Robert Blanche, dean of the Faculty of Medicine and UKE board member.

Seeking novel therapeutic strategies for severe kidney disease

Kidney failure is a growing health threat the world over and a frequent cause of death. A significant portion of kidney diseases derives from immunological processes that can take a particularly aggressive course. For example, focal segmental glomerularsclerosis (FSGS), a severe kidney disorder that involves damage to the kidney filters. The exact causes of the disease are unknown, presumably permeability factors circulating in the blood play a role. As therapeutic options for FSGS are very limited at the moment, there is an urgent need to develop novel treatment strategies.

“The approved new research project titled Decode and Cure Primary Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (CureFSGS) aims to identify the various forms of focal segmental glomerularsclerosis and develop new cures,” says Prof. Huber. “CureFSGS hence builds on combining large collections of tissue samples with cutting-edge analysis methods to develop new and, for the first time, gene-based therapeutic strategies.

Second ERC grant for kidney researcher Tobias Huber

CureFSGS receives an ERC Advanced Grant. It is considered the most important individual research grant in the European Union and goes to a German kidney scientist for the first time. The European Research Council’s Advanced Grants honor top experts with a stellar academic record who are endeavoring to forge new research areas. The academic achievement is evaluated based on the past ten years of the scientist’s work. Funding is granted within the scope of the Horizon Europe research program.

Prof. Huber, who is heading the collaborative center CRC 1192 on immune-mediated renal diseases, previously received another ERC Grant: In 2014, he was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant. Huber is among the most-quoted researchers around the globe and was recently appointed president of the International Society of Glomerular Disease.