Credit: Wilke Meijer. Copyright: Hubrecht Institute 9 December 2025 ERC Consolidator Grant for Ina Sonnen Back to news Group leader Ina Sonnen receives a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The grant worth 2.125 million euros will enable her to strengthen her research group and take her work on cell signaling dynamics to the next level. For multicellular organisms to function properly, communication between cells is essential. Cells communicate through signaling pathways: series of chemical reactions between molecules in and outside cells. A fundamental question is how cells communicate robustly and precisely in the context of noise in biochemical reactions present in all cells. Cellular signals are not simply present or absent, but can vary in strength over time. These changes over time are referred to as signaling dynamics. In several pathways, these dynamics look like waves: oscillations. How exactly biological information in multicellular organisms is encoded in these oscillations is still largely unknown. Decoding oscillations With the ERC grant, Sonnen aims to decode some of the underlying universal principles. “This grant is a recognition of everything we have achieved so far and what we plan to do in the future,” says Sonnen. Together with the tenure she earned this year, this gives her lab the stability and prospect of continuing, and taking their research to the next level. Microscopy image of the tail of a mouse embryo, showing the formation of somites (yellow) and the unsegmented region (pink). Credit: Wilke Meijer, copyright: Hubrecht Institute. The Sonnen lab will study cellular signals in different contexts: from embryonic development to adult tissues. “In vertebrate embryos, we will focus on the formation of somites – blocks of tissue that give rise to vertebrae, muscles and other tissues,” says Sonnen. “And as an example of an adult tissue, we will study the small intestine.” Her group will compare mouse and human tissues, with the aim of discovering a general principle, applying to several multicellular vertebrate organisms. “I look forward to getting towards a more mechanistic understanding of how oscillations regulate cell types,” she says. Technical advances Studying this requires the development of new methods. Sonnen will combine several techniques, such as microfluidics-based entrainment, proteomics and inverted light-sheet microscopy, aiming to get to single-cell resolution of information transmission in the context of tissues. “With microfluidics-based entrainment you can subtly influence the signaling dynamics in a tissue, by loading the tissue onto a chip and allowing fluids containing specific molecules to flow past it,” Sonnen explains. To see the effect of this on signaling pathways in single cells, she will determine protein levels with proteomics, and look at the cells with microscopy techniques. Combining strengths Sonnen will collaborate with experts in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States, that are specialized in information theory, dynamic systems analysis and mass spectrometry. The Sonnen lab will also make their developed techniques available to other researchers worldwide. Apart from scientists interested in the fundamentals of cell signaling, this could also be interesting for cancer researchers, as deregulated cell signaling is a driver of cancer. About the ERC Consolidator Grant The Consolidator Grant is a personal grant awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) to scientists aiming to establish or strengthen their research team. Researchers with 7 to 12 years of experience since the completion of their PhD can apply. To be selected for this grant, scientists should have a scientific track record showing great promise and submit an excellent research proposal. This year, Consolidator Grants were awarded to 349 researchers working in various research fields in 25 different countries. Ina Sonnen is group leader at the Hubrecht Institute.
