University of Groningen x Innovayt // MSCA Doctoral Networks
The University of Groningen, in collaboration with 19 other partners (including universities, research institutions, and EU-leading players from industry), successfully reached funding under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks (MSCA-DN) programme for their project, BiodeCCodiNNg, after a close-to-flawless evaluation, scoring 98.8%. The project will be coordinated by the young and talented Professor Sandy Schmidt, who will be supervising 2 out of the 10 Doctoral Candidates. Altogether, the partners will receive €2.7 million in grant for implementing BiodeCCodiNNg, which is expected to kick-start 1st of January 2023 and last until 31st of December 2026.
Driven by the paucity of knowledge around the largely underexploited family of enzymes performing N-N and C-C bond formations, the main goal of the project is to train 10 Ph.D. students with out-of-the-box thinking and an entrepreneurial mindset to expand the repertoire of enzymes for industrial biotechnology. Decoding novel reaction chemistries from enzymes that are not accessible with the existing biocatalyst portfolio is a formidable challenge. However, if they succeed, it will open brand-new opportunities for a more environmentally friendly production of chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Preparing grant applications involves more than writing the application. One key to this successful case was starting sooner rather than later, allowing time for defining main objectives; finding and engaging main partners, universities, and Professors; handling unforeseen events; and more. On behalf of the consortium, Innovayt coordinated and prepared this funding application.
It was a great pleasure to work with such an enthusiastic team of Innovayt. It has been a very fruitful, enjoyable, and successful collaboration. We are very much looking forward to our next collaboration!
– Professor Sandy Schmidt, University of Groningen
The University of Groningen has been a loyal and recurring client of Innovayt. In 2016, we supported them in reaching funding under the MSCA Innovative Training Networks (MSCA-ITN) programme for their project (OXYTRAIN), with a total budget surpassing €3 million. The university has also taken part in other successfully funded projects supported by Innovayt, such as the MSCA-ITN CC-TOP, with grant close to €4 million, led by the Technishe Universität Darmstadt. Another example is a project that was led by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), which received over €7 million in funding.