Fellow awarded European Research Council Consolidator Grant

A Fellow of St Catharine's has been selected for a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant. Dr Rahul Roychoudhuri (2020), Director of Studies in Pathology at St Catharine's and Associate Professor at the University of Cambridge's Department of Pathology, is aiming to break new ground in understanding how inflammatory responses are kept in check by regulatory T (Treg) cells. Receiving the news that his proposal had been successful, he said:

"I am absolutely thrilled that our proposal was selected for an ERC Consolidator Award. I am so proud of the hard work of our outstanding team of postdoctoral researchers and PhD students whose ideas and research have formed the basis for this proposal. I am also extremely grateful to our collaborators for all the ideas, guidance and encouragement along the way. Finally, I would like to thank the ERC Consolidator Grants committee for their enormous effort in selecting proposals and providing feedback. The award will provide my group with the time and resources to undertake high-risk research with the scope to inform the development of new therapies for individuals with inflammatory diseases and cancer. It is now up to us to deliver on this gracious investment."

Regulatory T (Treg) cells are rare immune cells with powerful suppressive functions. Loss of Treg cells results in lethal inflammation, while defects in their function are associated with autoimmunity and allergy. Treg cells also suppress immune responses in cancer. There is intense medical interest in exploiting the powerful biological functions of Treg cells to treat patients with inflammatory diseases, transplantation and cancer. This research aims to better understand how Treg cells keep aberrant immune responses in check, in order to identify new ways of exploiting the suppressive function of Treg cells to treat patients with autoimmune, allergic and age-related inflammatory disorders.

Dr Roychoudhuri is among 313 winners of the latest round of Consolidator Grants, backed with some €632 million. Part of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, this new round of grants will create an estimated 1,900 jobs for postdoctoral fellows, PhD students and other staff at 189 host institutions. Commenting on the latest grants, President of the ERC Professor Maria Leptin said:

”Even in times of crisis and conflict and suffering, it is our duty to keep science on track and give our brightest minds free reign to explore their ideas. We do not know today how their work might revolutionise tomorrow - we do know that they will open up new horizons, satisfy our curiosity and most likely help us prepare for unpredictable future challenges. So, I am thrilled to see a new group of ERC grant winners funded for their scientific journey. I wish them the best of luck on their way to push the frontiers of our knowledge!”