ERC Starting Grant Winners 2026
Four researchers working in the laboratories of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Sorbonne University have been awarded funding from the European Research Council (ERC) as part of its 2026 Starting Grant scheme.
The award winners
Researchers from Sorbonne University
- Yoonseok Baek, postdoctoral fellow at the Kastler Brossel Laboratory (LKB - CNRS/Sorbonne University/ENS/Collège de France). Yoonseok Baek is coordinating the “FOSCADE” project (Fluorescence-Guided Characterisation of Volumetric Scattering for Deep-Tissue Imaging).
Researchers from partner institutions
- Lara Krüger, research team leader within the Cell Biology and Cancer research unit (UMR144 - Institut Curie/CNRS/Sorbonne University). Lara Krüger is coordinating the “POLYFATE” project (How polarised lysosome partitioning drives fate diversification in stem cell division).
- Laurent Formery, research team leader with the Integrative Biology of Marine Organisms research unit (BIOM - CNRS/Sorbonne University) at the Banyuls-sur-Mer Ocean Observatory. Laurent Formery is coordinating the “ECHINODEV” project (Deciphering the plasticity of conserved developmental programmes in pentaradial echinoderms).
- Pieter Lammers, CNRS tenure track position (chaire de professeur junior) at the Laboratory of Probability, Statistics and Modelling (LPSM - Collège de France/CNRS/Sorbonne University). Pieter Lammers is coordinating the “GeStruct” project (Geometric Structure of Lattice Spin O(N) models).
ERC Starting Grants
The ERC Starting Grant scheme provides funding for projects led by researchers with between 2 to 7 years of experience since completing their PhD.
Successful applicants will be awarded an average of €1.5 million over a five-year period to conduct cutting-edge, high-impact research, supported by a team of their choice for the project’s specific needs.
The sole selection criterion is scientific excellence.