Romanian researchers win grants in EU's Proof of Concept program

Romanian researchers Mihai Miron and Sofia Pascu have won non-refundable grants of EUR 150,000 in the EU's Proof of Concept program, G4media.ro reported.

In total, fifty-five grantees of the European Research Council (ERC) have been awarded Proof of Concept funding to explore the commercial or societal potential of their research results. The grants are part of the EU's research and innovation program Horizon 2020.

The awarded projects cover various topics, such as making gecko-inspired gripping technology to help automate the assembly of products with tiny parts; tapping into the international digital music market by producing song word metadata for playlist generators; and enhancing the safety of live vaccines for mosquito-transmitted viruses.

Mihai Miron, a native of Beclean, in Bistrița county, won the grant for a project developed in France, at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). The project is titled "Shape controlled spin-Orbit memories: Fabrication process and technology transfer."

Sofia Pascu, from Cluj, won the grant for a project developed at the University of Bath, in the U.K. The project is titled "A modular sensing and imaging toolkit for the early diagnosis of prostate cancer employing lab-on-the-chip methodologies."

The full list of grant recipients is available here.

(Photo: Siarhei Yurchanka | Dreamstime.com)