Prestigious EU Grant for RWTH Researcher

Professor Peter Boor has been awarded a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council.

 

ERC Consolidator Grants are among the most valuable and prestigious research grants in Europe. Awarded by the European Research Council , they are designed to support excellent scientists at the career stage at which they may still be consolidating their own independent research team or program. Applicant researchers must demonstrate the ground-breaking nature, ambition and feasibility of their scientific proposal. Consolidator Grants may be awarded up to two million euros for a period of five years.

Professor Peter Boor, Department of Translational Nephropathology, Senior Physician at the Institute of Pathology at Uniklinik RWTH Aachen

AIM.imaging.CKD – AI-augmented, Multiscale Image-Based Diagnostics of Chronic Kidney Disease

Ten percent of the world's population suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD). By 2040, this disease is expected to be the fifth leading cause of death worldwide. Those affected belong to the most complex patient groups in internal medicine. However, this field produces the fewest translational, randomized clinical trials, mainly due to the lack of reproducible diagnostic approaches that reflect the activity of the disease in the kidney.

The aim of AIM.imaging.CKD is to develop, validate and integrate such approaches in the area of image-based diagnostics for CKD. Using various methods, AI-based image analysis models are created. With preclinical tests and clinical validation, the focus is on accelerated implementation in clinical practice. Combining these models offers a comprehensive approach for improved diagnostics. The results should fundamentally change the image-based diagnostics of kidney diseases and thus lead to improved patient care.

Short CV – Peter Boor

Peter Boor studied medicine at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, and at RWTH Aachen University. In 2009, he received his doctorate from RWTH and the Slovak Medical University in Bratislava; in 2012, he obtained his Venia Legendi in experimental pathology. Between 2009 and 2018, he has worked as a pathologist and served as group leader and instructor at RWTH’s Institute of Pathology.

Since 2018, he has been head of the Department of Translational Nephropathology and, since 2019, head of digital pathology at the Comprehensive Diagnostic Center Aachen (CDCA), Uniklinik RWTH Aachen. Recently, to contribute to a better understanding of COVID-19 and its pathogenesis, he established DeRegCOVID, a central registry of autopsies of deceased COVID-19 victims.