Özyeğin University awarded the first European Research Council (ERC) project

Özyeğin University Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering faculty member, Assistant Prof. Dr. Sedat Nizamoğlu has been qualified for the European Research Council's (ERC) Starting Grant. Dr. Nizamoğlu will be using the funding provided by the council for 5 years for his research project titled “Novel Nanoengineered Optoelectronic Biointerfaces”.

Dr. Nizamoglu will be developing novel nanomaterial based neural interfaces for blindness of retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt’s disease, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of severe vision loss in Western societies and today it is estimated that it affects more than 30 million people worldwide. Therefore, the project is expected to have high impact and may herald a new paradigm in neural interfacing.

The ERC, which has a tradition of supporting the world's top researchers and their ground-breaking projects, provides funding to support scientific work in many countries every year. The ERC funding is regarded as the most prestigious research funding in Europe and has been awarded to several Nobel Laureate scientists previously.

Unlike other funds provided by the European Union, the ERC funding is granted to a single individual rather than a research group, institution, or consortium. The recipient of the project funding can carry his or her project to any institution in Europe. ERC projects are divided into three groups for researchers in various stages of their careers. The groups are 0–7 years (starting), 7–12 years (consolidator), and senior researchers conducting advanced research for the last 10 years (advanced). Dr. Nizamoğlu’s project has been qualified for support in the starting category.

European Research Council provides the most prestigious individual support provided by European Union to encourage the highest quality research in Europe. ERC defines their goals as to support the best of the best in Europe across all fields of science, scholarship and engineering. Therefore, the funding is highly competitive and open to all candidates around the world.

Dr. Nizamoğlu's grant is the first ERC Advanced grant received by Özyeğin University. Since 2007 after the ERC grants were started, only 6 researchers have received the ERC funding in Turkey.

About Assist. Prof. Dr. Sedat Nizamoğlu  Sedat Nizamoglu received his B.S. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) in 2005, and M. S. degree in Physics as a Valedictorian in 2007 at Bilkent University. He pursued his Ph.D. studies in EEE at Bilkent University focusing on novel solid-state lighting technologies with an emphasis on quantum dot (nanophosphors) integrated light-emitting diodes. Immediately after graduation, he continued as a research fellow with a joint affiliation with Harvard Medical School and Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital in USA. He actively engaged in the multidisciplinary research projects integrating biology, medicine and engineering.