June 23, 2026 | Two researchers from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have been awarded ERC Advanced Grants by the European Research Council (ERC), each receiving millions in EU funding over five years: Professor Edward Lemke, Professor of Synthetic Biophysics at JGU and Adjunct Director at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), will receive approximately EUR 3 million, while Professor Andreas Walther, Professor of Macromolecular Materials and Systems at JGU and Max Planck Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, will receive about EUR 2.6 million. The ERC Advanced Grant is one of the ERC’s most highly endowed funding schemes. It is aimed at established leading researchers with an outstanding scientific track record who seek to open up new fields of research. Edward Lemke previously received an ERC Advanced Grant in 2019 and an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2015, which is similarly substantial in funding volume. Andreas Walther received an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2020 and an ERC Starting Grant, the ERC funding scheme for excellent early-career researchers at the beginning of their independent careers, in 2015.

Read the full press release | The projects in detail:

Edward Lemke: Molecular Shape Microscopy (MShapeM)

Andreas Walther: Protoecologies between Artificial Cells and Mammalian Cells (ProtoEco)