INLer Sara Abalde-Cela wins ERC Consolidator Grant

INL is honoured to announce that one of its researchers, Dr. Sara Abalde-Cela has been awarded with the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant.

On November 9th, the European Research Council revealed the 349 mid-career researchers selected to receive a total of €728 million in Consolidator Grants. This year’s recipients, including Dr. Abalde-Cela, represent universities and research centres across 25 EU Member States and associated countries.

The ERC grant, first established by the European Union in 2007, is Europe’s leading funding organisation for frontier research. Supported by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, the grants follow a bottom-up approach, enabling mid-career researchers in any field to pursue groundbreaking ideas. Consolidator Grants provide up to €2 million over five years. This year’s call attracted more than 3,000 applications, a 35% increase compared to last year.

Dr. Sara Abalde-Cela, Research Scientist PI in the Diéguez group, earned the grant with her proposal titled “Deciphering multilevel cell-to-cell communication through microfluidic and plasmonic decoders” , marking the first ERC grant awarded to a researcher at INL.

Academically, Dr. Abalde-Cela holds a PhD in Nanotechnology from University of Vigo and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge. She joined INL in 2017, as an Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) researcher and has since become an invaluable asset to the laboratory. Among her notable contributions are co-founding INL’s first spin-off, RUBYnanomed, and serving as Interim Research Group Leader.

This remarkable milestone not only underscores Dr. Abalde-Cela’s success but also reinforces INL’s commitment to fostering high-level talent and advancing scientific excellence.