06.09.2024 ERC Starting Grant for Dr. Mareike Grotheer

Congratulations to Mareike Grotheer, who has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant, which provides the award winners with an average of 1.5 million euros over a period of five years. The aim is to support young researchers with innovative ideas in setting up a research group. At the University of Marburg, Mareike Grotheer is among three young scientists who have been successful in the latest funding round of the European Research Council (ERC).

‘We are delighted that the ERC grant has enabled three young researchers to realise their great research ideas here at the University of Marburg. This shows the strength of our profile areas Microbiology, Biodiversity, Climate and Mind, Brain, Behaviour and highlights the expertise of Philipps-Universität Marburg, which it is also contributing to two Cluster of Excellence applications,’ says Prof. Dr Thomas Nauss, President of Philipps-Universität Marburg.

Dr. Mareike Grotheer focus in ther research on the connection between learning and the structural and functional properties of the developing brain. Especially, myelin which plays an important role during learning processes. Myelin is a fatty sheath that covers the connections between brain cells (neurons) and is crucial for the plastic behaviour of the brain. Using the latest techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Grotheer and her team want to find out how myelin influences learning and maturation processes in the brain.  ‘We don't just want to study adults here, but also babies who are just starting to crawl and children who are learning to juggle or a new language. In this way, we want to uncover how the neuronal basis of learning changes over the course of human development,’ says Mareike Grotheer.