The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Starting Grant to Antonia Wachter-Zeh. Her project inCREASE (Coding for Security and DNA Storage) deals with protecting data from unauthorized access and errors. For example, advances in quantum computers could mean that current encryption methods may soon be insecure. Prof. Wachter-Zeh is working on new encryption methods using algebraic codes that could help to block this threat. A second application of her research is storing data efficiently in DNA, which is potentially a medium for high-density and reliable storage.
ERC Starting Grants are aimed at scientists with 2-7 years of experience since the completion of their doctoral studies, and who have a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal. The Grants are endowed with up to 1.5 million Euro.
The list of 2018 ERC Starting Grant awardees can be found here.
Former TUM-LNT Postdoc Mansoor Yousefi also received a Starting Grant.
For more information (in German) please see this link.