2015-11 List of ERC NRF SA - National Research Foundation

Transcription

Project ID:
309509
Acronym:
RNAI
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Chirlmin Joo
c.joo@tudelft.nl
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT, DELFT, NL
www.tudelft.nl
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
LS1 - Molecular and Structural
Biology and Biochemistry
Unveiling the Molecular Basis of RNA Interference with Single Molecule Fluorescence
Recent groundbreaking discoveries have changed our view on RNA from that of a passive information
carrier to an important regulatory element. MicroRNA is a small regulatory RNA that controls nearly all
mRNAs in eukaryotic cells. Since this regulation process (termed RNA interference/RNAi) occurs in a
sequence-specific manner, we can manipulate gene expression using custom-designed small RNAs. This
remarkable discovery introduced the possibility of RNA-based gene therapy and triggered intensive
research on the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), the core machinery of RNAi. The molecular
mechanism of RISC is, however, poorly understood due to the limited spatial and temporal resolution
of traditional tools, which has deterred development of an RNAi assay applicable to medical sciences. I
will use single-molecule fluorescence to investigate the entire process of RISC action with high spatiotemporal resolution. From ‘RISC assembly’ through ‘target mRNA search’ to ‘target mRNA
degradation,’ it requires the cooperative action of multiple RISC components. As the protein-protein
and protein-RNA interactions are dynamic processes, it is challenging to study them in bulk where the
interactions are diffusion-limited and subsequent processes are masked from observation. With singlemolecule microscopy, I will observe all the processes in real time and quantitatively examine the
kinetics. In addition, I will dissect the complex processes of RISC action by observing multiple RISC
components simultaneously, using multicolor FRET that I have developed. Furthermore, to elucidate
the complex nature of RNAi, I will reconstitute protein complexes with a single-molecule
immunoprecipitation technique that I have recently innovated. This first single-molecule study on RISC
will enable us to reveal novel molecular mechanisms of RNAi. The fruitful outcome will aid the
development of RNAi free from off-target interactions, which will lead to RNAi-based gene therapy in
the near future.
End Date:
31/8/2017
Project ID:
310930
Acronym:
NUCLEARACTIN
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Maria Kristina Vartiainen
maria.vartiainen@helsinki.fi
HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO, HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO, FI
http://www.helsinki.fi/university/
Actin as the Master Organizer of Nuclear Structure and Function
Unlike previously thought the nucleus is a highly compartmentalized organelle. Both the genome and
processes associated with it show non-random distribution within the nucleus. This
compartmentalization has a fundamental impact on nuclear processes. However, the mechanisms
driving this organization are poorly understood. I hypothesize that actin plays a key role in this
process. Nevertheless, the true potential of nuclear actin has not been fully appreciated, due to two
fundamental open questions in this field, namely 1) what is the biological significance of nuclear actin
and 2) what is the molecular mechanism by which actin operates in the nucleus? I intend to address
these key questions by manipulating actin specifically in the nucleus, and by identifying nuclear actin
binding partners, respectively. My lab has recently identified the nuclear import mechanism for actin,
which offers us a unique tool to manipulate nuclear actin. We will therefore create cell lines with
decreased/increased nuclear actin, and analyze the consequences by using cell biological and gene
expression tools, combined with deep sequencing. This will disclose the genes that depend on actin for
their expression, and reveal the biological significance of nuclear actin in organizing the general nuclear
landscape. To unravel the mechanisms by which actin functions in the nucleus, we will implement a
novel multi-readout, fluorescence microscopy screen to identify nuclear actin binding proteins, which
will be analyzed by different biochemical methods. This approach will reveal how actin is connected to
nuclear machineries, and what biochemical features of actin are required to power the essential
nuclear processes. These techniques will significantly broaden our understanding on the nuclear
functions of actin, and thus likely reveal molecular mechanisms that regulate nuclear organization,
which are highly relevant to basic biological processes, such as cell differentiation and epigenetics.
End Date:
31/10/2017
Project ID:
311318
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PROTDYN2FUNCTION
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Paul Schanda
paul.schanda@ibs.fr
COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES,
GRENOBLE, FR
www.cea.fr
Functional protein dynamics studied
by solution- and solid-state NMR spectroscopy
Proteins are highly flexible objects that perform their functions by sampling a wide range of
conformations. The characterization of such motions is, therefore, crucial to establish the link between
protein structure and function. In this project we will use advanced nuclear magnetic resonance in
solution state and solid state to characterize functionally important motions in two challenging classes
of proteins. The first target of these studies will be a large molecular chaperone of close to 1MDa in
size. Conformational changes and dynamics are a prerequisite for the function of this assembly, as it
binds, encloses and folds unfolded substrate proteins. Atomic-resolution structures of such large
objects frozen in their crystal lattice do not provide access to dynamic information nor insight into the
folding process itself. Here, we will exploit the complementary advantages of solid- and solution-state
NMR spectroscopy to probe the dynamics, allostery and binding in a ≈1MDa object. Furthermore, we
will study how the chaperone cage influences folding, by observing in real time and at atomic
resolution how substrate proteins achieve their native fold inside and outside this large molecular
edifice. We will furthermore study the mechanism of substrate translocation across membranes by
characterizing structure, interactions and dynamics in a solute carrier protein. The dynamics of integral
membrane proteins is currently poorly understood. This relates to the need to address membrane
protein dynamics in an environment that closely resembles the native membrane. NMR techniques on
proteoliposomes as well as nanodiscs are uniquely suited to get insight into native dynamics. We will
use such techniques to relate the process of substrate translocation to inherent protein dynamics over
a wide range of time scales. The development of novel NMR methods will be an integral part of these
studies, and will allow us to probe protein motion at unprecedented detail.
End Date:
31/3/2018
Project ID:
335439
Acronym:
ABDESIGN
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Sarel-Jacob Fleishman
sarel.fleishman@weizmann.ac.il
WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, REHOVOT, IL
www.weizmann.ac.il
Computational design of novel protein function in antibodies
We propose to elucidate the structural design principles of naturally occurring antibody
complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) and to computationally design novel antibody functions.
Antibodies represent the most versatile known system for molecular recognition. Research has yielded
many insights into antibody design principles and promising biotechnological and pharmaceutical
applications. Still, our understanding of how CDRs encode specific loop conformations lags far behind
our understanding of structure-function relationships in non-immunological scaffolds. Thus, design of
antibodies from first principles has not been demonstrated. We propose a computational-experimental
strategy to address this challenge. We will: (a) characterize the design principles and sequence
elements that rigidify antibody CDRs. Natural antibody loops will be subjected to computational
modeling, crystallography, and a combined in vitro evolution and deep-sequencing approach to isolate
sequence features that rigidify loop backbones; (b) develop a novel computational-design strategy,
which uses the >1000 solved structures of antibodies deposited in structure databases to realistically
model CDRs and design them to recognize proteins that have not been co-crystallized with antibodies.
For example, we will design novel antibodies targeting insulin, for which clinically useful diagnostics are
needed. By accessing much larger sequence/structure spaces than are available to natural immunesystem repertoires and experimental methods, computational antibody design could produce higherspecificity and higher-affinity binders, even to challenging targets; and (c) develop new strategies to
program conformational change in CDRs, generating, e.g., the first allosteric antibodies. These will
allow targeting, in principle, of any molecule, potentially revolutionizing how antibodies are generated
for research and medicine, providing new insights on the design principles of protein functional sites.
End Date:
31/8/2018
Project ID:
337116
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TRXN-PURGE
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Tokameh Mahmoudi
t.mahmoudi@erasmusmc.nl
ERASMUS UNIVERSITAIR MEDISCH CENTRUM ROTTERDAM, ROTTERDAM, NL
www.erasmusmc.nl
Mechanisms of transcription in HIV latency; novel strategies to activate
The persistence of a transcriptionally competent but latent HIV infected memory CD4+T cell reservoir,
despite the effectiveness of Highly Active Antiretroviral therapy (HAART) against active virus, presents
the main impediment to HIV eradication. A novel concept in HIV eradication is to activate latent virus
to subsequently eliminate with HAART. Much effort has gone into identification of protein complexes
that regulate HIV LTR activity. Strategies have mainly relied on candidate approaches. However, due to
technical limitations, comprehensive unbiased identification of host proteins associated with and
necessary for silencing of the latent HIV LTR has not been possible. Trxn-PURGE proposes a novel
multidisciplinary approach combining current knowledge of HIV transcription and new insights into
eradication strategies with state of the art high though-put approaches, mycology, virology, genetics
and conventional biochemistry to identify novel players in maintenance and activation of HIV
transcriptional latency. We will: 1. Use a novel unbiased strategy to identify the in vivo latent LTRbound protein complex directly from infected T cells. 2. Conduct a cell-based high-throughput Haploid
genetic screen to identify novel factors essential for maintenance of HIV latency. 3. Having identified
three putative activators from a limited library, we will perform a large-scale screen with unbiased
library of fungal supernatants to identify molecules capable of activation of latent HIV. These parallel
approaches will identify novel molecular targets and molecules in activation of HIV transcriptional
latency, which we will functionally and mechanistically characterize alone and in synergy with known
compounds implicated in latent LTR activation in both 4. T cell lines and 5. primary human CD4+T cells
harboring latent HIV. By unravelling its molecular mechanisms, Trxn-PURGE will set the stage for the
development of a clinical combinatorial therapy to activate latent HIV.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
339367
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NCB-TNT
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. James Henderson Naismith
naismith@st-andrews.ac.uk
THE UNIVERSITY COURT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS, ST ANDREWS,
UK
www.st-andrews.ac.uk
New chemical biology for tailoring novel therapeutics
Most of our drugs derive from natural products, many more natural products possess biological activity
but our inability to synthesise novel analogues hampers our ability to use them either as tools or
medicines. Cyclic peptides are common structural motifs in natural products and medicines
(vancomycin, gramicidin). They are widely recognised to constitute a promising and still underexploited
class of molecule for novel therapeutics; specifically an important role for cyclic peptides in the
inhibition of protein-protein interactions has been demonstrated. We will harness the power of the
recently identified macrocyclases from the ribosomally-derived cyanobactin superfamily to prepare
diverse modified cyclic peptides. These enzymes exhibit the remarkable ability to macrocyclise
unactivated peptide substrates. Different members of this family of macrocyclases process peptides
into macrocycles containing from six up to twenty residues. We have characterised and re-engineered
one member of the family (PatG) which makes eight residue macrocycles. We will determine the
structural and biochemical features of the macrocyclases that are known to lead to six or to twenty
residue macrocycles. We will use these insights to put these enzymes to work in novel chemical
reactions. We will combine macrocyclases with other enzymes from the cyanobactin biosynthetic
pathways (whose structures and mechanism we have largely determined) and work on solid phase
peptide substrates. By bringing together the power of solid phase methods (split and pool) and the
novel chemistry enabled by the enzymes, we will generate highly diverse macrocyclic scaffolds
containing amino acids, enzymatically modified amino acids, non-natural amino acids and non-amino
acid building blocks. Successful completion of the project will revolutionise the design of cyclic peptideinspired libraries with diverse backbone scaffolds for applications in target identification, drug
discovery and tool screening.
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
617837
Acronym:
TRANSLATE
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Jernej Ule
j.ule@ucl.ac.uk
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON, LONDON, UK
http://www.ucl.ac.uk
Specificity of translational control during unfolded protein response
Unfolded protein response (UPR) is activated by multiple types of cellular stress, and can promote
either cell survival or apoptosis. The balance between these opposing outcomes is delicately regulated,
and when lost, contributes to diverse diseases. UPR enables cells to halt general translation, while
inducing translation and transcription of specific mRNAs that escape repression. Even though the
general machinery controlling translation is well understood, several fundamental open questions
remain: 1) how are mRNAs selected for translation during UPR, 2) what role does mRNA structure and
sequence play in this selection, 3) what role does UPR pathway play in the highly differentiated cells,
such as neurons? My lab employs an integrative approach to understand how RNA-binding proteins
(RBPs) control specific mRNAs. We recently developed hiCLIP, a method that globally quantifies
interactions between RBPs and double-stranded RNA in live cells. Our preliminary findings
demonstrate that a double-stranded RBP binds to structured motifs in mRNAs to control stress-induced
translation. I propose to determine how combinatorial recognition of RNA sequence and structure by
RBPs controls mRNA localisation, stability and translation during UPR. In addition, we will assess the
role of UPR pathway in neuronal differentiation. Taken together, this study aims to elucidate how cells
select specific mRNAs for translation, and thereby survive during stress or respond to signals that
control differentiation.
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
637733
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PentaBrain
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Hugues Joseph Nury
hugues.nury@gmail.com
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, GRENOBLE, FR
www.cnrs.fr
Structural studies of mammalian Cys-loop receptors
In the brain, Cys-loop receptors mediate fast neurotransmission. They function as allosteric signal
transducers across the plasma membrane: upon binding of one or more neurotransmitter molecules to
an extracellular site, the receptors undergo complex conformational transitions that result in transient
opening of an intrinsic ion channel. The Cys-loop family comprises receptors activated by serotonin,
acetylcholine, glycine and GABA. Mammalian receptors are also the targets of a legion of psycho-active
and therapeutic compounds (including nicotine, benzodiazepines, anti-emetics, general anaesthetics).
Our structural knowledge is currently limited to invertebrate homologues. Atomic structures
mammalian receptors are therefore acutely missing in order to understand their physiological role in
molecular terms, and to be able to develop new drugs targeting them. The project proposes to
decipher the operation mechanism, the pharmacology and conformational transitions of mammalian
Cys-loop receptors. Starting with a solid body of preliminary results, we will obtain new high-resolution
structures, taking advantage of antibody-based crystallization chaperones. We will try and record for
the first time a ‘molecular movie’ of the gating conformational transition in cristallo. On the way, we
will also investigate the potential of antibody-based modulators of Cys-loop receptors for biomedical
applications.The applicant has solved in the past the structures of a bacterial Cys-loop receptor and of
the mouse serotonin receptor. The proposed research will take place at the CNRS in Grenoble, France,
in a very favourable environment for structural biology.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
647278
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CilDyn
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Christian Siebold
christian@strubi.ox.ac.uk
THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,
OXFORD, UK
www.ox.ac.uk
Molecular analysis of the Hedgehog signal transduction complex in the primary cilium
The unexpected connection between the primary cilium and cell-to-cell signalling is one of the most
exciting discoveries in cell and developmental biology in the last decade. In particular, the Hedgehog
(Hh) pathway relies on the primary cilium to fulfil its fundamental functions in orchestrating vertebrate
development. This microtubule-based antenna, up to 5 µm long, protrudes from the plasma
membrane of almost every human cell and is the essential compartment for the entire Hh signalling
cascade. All its molecular components, from the most upstream transmembrane Hh receptor down to
the ultimate transcription factors, are dynamically localised and enriched in the primary cilium. The aim
of this proposal, which combines structural biology and live cell imaging, is to understand the function
and signalling consequences of the multivalent interactions between Hh signal transducer proteins as
well as their spatial and temporal regulation in the primary cilium. The key questions my laboratory will
address are: What are the rules for assembly of Hh signal transduction complexes? How dynamic are
these complexes in size and organisation? How are these processes linked to the transport and
accumulation in the primary cilium?I will combine state-of-the art structural biology techniques (with
an emphasis on X-ray crystallography) to study the molecular architecture of binary and higher-order
Hh signal transduction complexes and live cell fluorescence microscopy (for protein localisation and
direct protein interactions). These two approaches will allow me to identify and define specific proteinprotein interfaces at the atomic level and test their functional consequences in the cell in real time. My
goal is to consolidate a world-class morphogen signal transduction laboratory, deciphering
fundamental biological insights. Importantly, my results and reagents can potentially feed into the
development of novel anti-cancer therapeutics and reagents promoting stem cell therapy.
End Date:
31/7/2020
Project ID:
647474
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NeuroInCellNMR
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Philipp Selenko
selenko@fmp-berlin.de
FORSCHUNGSVERBUND BERLIN E.V., BERLIN, DE
www.fv-berlin.de
In-cell NMR monitoring of alpha-Synuclein aggregation in neuronal cells
Intracellular aggregation of the human amyloid protein alpha-synuclein is causally involved in
Parkinson’s disease, a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder. The goal of this project is to combine
low-resolution, fluorescence-imaging methods with high-resolution in-cell NMR and EPR spectroscopy
techniques to derive macroscopic and microscopic insights into alpha-synuclein aggregate structures
directly in neuronal cells. To achieve this goal, we will employ different sets of cultured neurons and
investigate intracellular alpha-synuclein aggregation under defined conditions of mitochondrial
dysfunction and cellular oxidative stress, two of the most common denominators of the disease.
Importantly, we will also establish a human stem cell model for studying alpha-synuclein aggregation
with high-resolution in-cell NMR and EPR methods, by using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)
derived dopaminergic neurons from Parkinson’s disease patients and control individuals. Results from
this study will provide novel insights into the native mechanisms of intracellular aggregate formation
and ultimately enable novel pharmacological approaches for therapeutic intervention.
End Date:
31/10/2020
Project ID:
309831
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PATHOPROT
Evaluation Panel:
LS2 - Genetics, Genomics,
Bioinformatics and Systems
Biology
Dr. Anders Johan Malmström
johan.malmstrom@med.lu.se
LUNDS UNIVERSITET, LUND, SE
www.lu.se
In vivo pathogen proteome profiling using selected reaction monitoring
Bacterial infections represent a major and global health problem, which is further aggravated by the
rapid and ongoing increase in antibiotic resistance. The limited success in the development of targeted
therapies for particular invasive strains can be attributed to our limited knowledge how pathogens
modulate their proteome homeostasis in vivo, knowledge that has so far remained elusive due to
technical limitations. Here I propose the use of proteome-wide selected reaction monitoring mass
spectrometry (SRM-MS) for pathogen proteome profiling from samples obtained directly from in vivo
using group A streptococci (GAS) as a model system. The proposal describes the use of SRM-MS to
facilitate the construction of comprehensive and quantitative molecular anatomy knowledge models
outlining spatial organization, pathway organization, absolute protein concentration estimations and
interaction partners with host for complete microbial proteomes. Using the molecular anatomy as
benchmark I intend compare how the proteome homeostasis is controlled in pathogens isolated
directly from patients with different degree of disease severity to understand how disease severity,
anatomical location and host dependencies effects the proteome homeostasis. The outlined proposal
describes a generic strategy to provide comprehensive understanding of the pathogen adaption
directly in vivo and represents a paradigm shift in the field of bacterial infectious disease. This proposal
addresses central aspects within the medical microbiology field that has been long sought for but never
studied due to technology limitations and will influence the development of the next generation
targeted vaccine and therapeutic development programs.
End Date:
30/4/2018
Project ID:
310018
Host Institution:
Acronym:
IHCAP
Evaluation Panel:
Biology
Dr. Marc Derek Tischkowitz
mdt33@cam.ac.uk
THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
CAMBRIDGE, CAMBRIDGE, UK
www.cam.ac.uk
Investigating Hereditary Cancer Predisposition – a combined genomics approach
Background: Hereditary cancer is an important cause of morbidity and mortality and over the last 20
years, the majority of highly penetrant risk alleles such as BRCA1, BRCA2 in breast cancer and APC,
MLH1, MSH2 in colon cancer have been identified. However, there are many men and women who
have a strong family of cancer for whom we cannot provide answers because no mutation is found in
known genes. Objectives:
i) To identify new candidate breast cancer susceptibility loci by an
innovative combination of exome sequencing technology and genome-wide allele-specific expression
analysis of
BRCA1/2-negative women with strong family histories of BC. This approach will be
complemented by exomic sequencing of carefully selected matched cohorts of women with unilateral
and bilateral breast cancer on whom extensive demographic and clinical data is available. ii) To study
selected gene candidates in more detail at the DNA, RNA and protein level. iii) To apply the knowledge
gained in the genomic study of breast cancer to other cancer predisposition syndromes. Significance:
At present, the new combined approach of EST and ASE has several advantages over the alternative
option of whole genome sequencing in the identification of rare functional variants; not only will EST
plus ASE be cheaper and faster than a whole genome sequencing approach, but it will also allow us to
explore the potentially unappreciated roles of allelic silencing (through regulatory or epigenetic
variants) in cancer susceptibility, which would not be captured using genomic sequencing in isolation.
We will commence the project with breast cancer families and then apply the same approach to other
types of hereditary cancers. This proposal is focused on individuals who face a truly high risk for cancer
but for whom predictive information is lacking and therefore this proposal is likely to have a direct
translational benefit.
End Date:
30/4/2018
Project ID:
310325
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NONCODEVOL
Evaluation Panel:
Biology
Dr. Juan Antonio Gabaldón Estevan
toni.gabaldon@crg.eu
FUNDACIO CENTRE DE REGULACIO GENOMICA, BARCELONA, ES
www.crg.es
Evolutionary genomics of long, non-coding RNAs
Recent genomics analyses have facilitated the discovery of a novel major class of stable transcripts,
now called long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). A growing number of analyses have implicated lncRNAs in
the regulation of gene expression, dosage compensation and imprinting, and there is increasing
evidence suggesting the involvement of lncRNAs in various diseases such as cancer. Despite recent
advances, however, the role of the large majority of lncRNAs remains unknown and there is current
debate on what fraction of lncRNAs may just represent transcriptional noise. Moreover, despite a
growing number of lncRNAs catalogues for diverse model species, we lack a proper understanding of
how these molecules evolve across genomes. Evolutionary analyses of protein-coding genes have
proved tremendously useful in elucidating functional relationships and in understanding how the
processes in which they are involved are shaped during evolution. Similar insights may be expected
from a proper evolutionary characterization of lncRNAs, although the lack of proper tools and basic
knowledge of underlying evolutionary mechanisms are a sizable challenge. Here, I propose to combine
state-of-the-art computational and sequencing techniques in order to elucidate what evolutionary
mechanisms are shaping this enigmatic component of eukaryotic genomes.The first goal is to enable
large-scale phylogenomic analyses of lncRNAs by developing, for these molecules, methodologies that
are now standard in the evolutionary analysis of protein-coding genes. The second goal is to explore, at
high levels of resolution, the evolutionary dynamics of lncRNAs across selected eukaryotic groups for
which novel genome-wide data will be produced experimentally using recently developed sequencing
techniques that enable obtaining genome-wide footprints of RNA secondary structure. Finally, this
dataset will be used to test the impact on lncRNAs evolution of processes known to be important in
protein-coding genes.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
310765
Host Institution:
Acronym:
MACMODEL
Evaluation Panel:
Biology
Dr. Eugene Berezikov
e.berezikov@umcg.nl
ACADEMISCH ZIEKENHUIS GRONINGEN, GRONINGEN, NL
www.umcg.nl
Harvesting the power of a new model organism: stem cells, regeneration and ageing in
Macrostomum lignano
The ‘stem-cell theory’ of ageing posits that the functional decline in adult stem cells is one of the
factors contributing to ageing. Importantly, the number of stem cells does not diminish with age in
many tissues but rather there are intrinsic and extrinsic changes that affect their functionality. Is it
possible to reverse these changes? Experiments in the emerging model Macrostomum lignano suggest
that this is indeed the case. Remarkably, induced regeneration in this animal leads to extended
lifespan: repeated amputation, followed by regeneration, results in animals that live far beyond the
median lifespan of 205 days. Regeneration in M. lignano is facilitated by stem cells called neoblasts,
and it appears that regeneration resets the ‘ageing program’ in these animals. Due to its high
regeneration capacity, small size, transparency and clear morphology, ease of culture, short generation
time and amenability to genetic manipulation, M. lignano has great potential as a model organism for
stem cell research. I have recently started developing genomic and genetic tools and resources for this
model, and at present my group has generated a draft genome assembly, produced de novo
transcriptome assembly, discovered several neoblast marker genes and made the first stable
transgenic lines in this animal. Here I propose to study molecular mechanisms underlying rejuvenation
in M. lignano, and to further advance M. lignano as a model organism through development of missing
genetic tools and resources. I will address how young, aged and regenerated worms differ in their gene
and small RNA expression profiles, and what are the differences and variation levels between neoblasts
of young, old and regenerated animals. The biological roles of the identified candidate genes and their
effects on the lifespan and neoblast activity will be investigated. In parallel, methods for efficient
transgenesis and gene manipulation will be developed, and the genome annotation improved.
End Date:
31/10/2017
Project ID:
311000
Host Institution:
Acronym:
AGELESS
Evaluation Panel:
Biology
Dr. Emma Teeling
emma.teeling@ucd.ie
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN,
DUBLIN, IE
www.ucd.ie
C ompar ativ e g enomi cs / ‘w il dl i fe’ tr ans cr i ptomi cs unc ov er s t he m ec hani sms of
hal ted ageing i n
mammals
Ageing is the gradual and irreversible breakdown of living systems associated with the advancement of
time, which leads to an increase in vulnerability and eventual mortality. Despite recent advances in
ageing research, the intrinsic complexity of the ageing process has prevented a full understanding of
this process, therefore, ageing remains a grand challenge in contemporary biology. In AGELESS, we will
tackle this challenge by uncovering the molecular mechanisms of halted ageing in a unique model
system, the bats. Bats are the longest-lived mammals relative to their body size, and defy the ‘rate-ofliving’ theories as they use twice as much the energy as other species of considerable size, but live far
longer. This suggests that bats have some underlying mechanisms that may explain their exceptional
longevity. In AGELESS, we will identify the molecular mechanisms that enable mammals to achieve
extraordinary longevity, using state-of-the-art comparative genomic methodologies focused on bats.
We will identify, using population transcriptomics and telomere/mtDNA genomics, the molecular
changes that occur in an ageing wild population of bats to uncover how bats ‘age’ so slowly compared
with other mammals. In silico whole genome analyses, field based ageing transcriptomic data, mtDNA
and telomeric studies will be integrated and analysed using a networks approach, to ascertain how
these systems interact to halt ageing. For the first time, we will be able to utilize the diversity seen
within nature to identify key molecular targets and regions that regulate and control ageing in
mammals. AGELESS will provide a deeper understanding of the causal mechanisms of ageing,
potentially uncovering the crucial molecular pathways that can be modified to halt, alleviate and
perhaps even reverse this process in man.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
648039
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DUB-DECODE
Evaluation Panel:
Biology
Dr. Chuna Ram Choudhary
chuna.choudhary@cpr.ku.dk
KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET, COPENHAGEN, DK
www.ku.dk
Systematic Decoding of Deubiquitylase-Regulated Signaling Networks
Cellular processes are largely governed by sophisticated protein posttranslational modification (PTM)dependent signaling networks, and a systematic understanding of regulatory PTM-based networks is a
key goal in modern biology. Ubiquitin is a small, evolutionarily conserved signaling protein that acts as
a PTM after being covalently conjugated to other proteins. Reversible ubiquitylation forms the most
versatile and largest eukaryote-exclusive signaling system, and regulates the stability and function of
almost all proteins in cells. Deubiquitylases (DUBs) are ubiquitin-specific proteases that remove
substrate-conjugated ubiquitin, and thereby regulate virtually all ubiquitylation-dependent signaling.
Because of their central role in ubiquitin signaling, DUBs have essential functions in mammalian
physiology and development, and the dysregulated expression and mutation of DUBs is frequently
associated with human diseases. Despite their vital functions, very little is known about the proteins
and ubiquitylation sites that are regulated by DUBs and this knowledge gap is hampering our
understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which DUBs control diverse biological processes.
Recently, we developed a mass spectrometry-based proteomics approach that allowed unbiased and
site-specific quantification of ubiquitylation on a systems-wide scale. Here we propose to
comprehensively investigate DUB-regulated ubiquitin signaling in human cells. We will integrate
interdisciplinary approaches to develop next-generation cell models and innovative proteomic
technologies to systematically decode DUB function in human cells. This will enable a novel and
detailed understanding of DUB-regulated signaling networks, and open up new avenues for further
research into the mechanisms and biological functions of ubiquitylation and of ubiquitin-like modifiers.
End Date:
30/9/2020
Project ID:
294523
Host Institution:
Acronym:
WNTEXPORT
Evaluation Panel:
LS3 - Cellular and
Developmental Biology
Dr. Jean-Paul B.B. Vincent
JP.Vincent@crick.ac.uk
MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL/THE FRANCIS CRICK INSTITUTE LIMITED,
SWINDON/LONDON, UK
www.mrc.ac.uk/www.crick.ac.uk
Sorting processes that ensure short and long-range action of Wnts in developing epithelia
Wnts are signaling proteins that act both at short and long range in developing tissues. Several
proteins, such as Wntless, are specifically devoted to Wnt secretion, indicating that Wnts may follow a
distinct secretory route. Moreover, Wnts carry two lipid modifications, which are likely to interfere
with diffusion in the extracellular space. Much of our work will focus on the trafficking of Wingless (the
main Drosophila Wnt), which forms a concentration gradient in wing imaginal discs. To chart the route
taken by Wingless from the ER to responding cells, we will devise techniques (e.g. BirA-dependent in
vivo biotinylation) to pulse label endogenously expressed Wingless in the secretory pathway and at the
cell surface. Wingless routing will also be investigated in conditions that alter Evi/Wntless trafficking.
We will capitalize on our observation that Wingless and Wntless are present on exosomes in
conditioned medium. These exosomes will be purified and characterized by mass spectrometry and the
resulting information will be used to devise rigorous functional assays. Similar approaches will be used
to identify and characterize proteins that associate with soluble Wingless, which is also present in
conditioned medium. Our proposed approaches will also enable us to assess, for the first time, the
function of exosomes in an intact animal. Once secreted, Wingless and associated proteins spread in
the extracellular space while remaining associated with the epithelial surface. We will use single
molecule imaging in a reconstituted system along with mathematical modeling to test the hypothesis
that the glypican-Wnt interaction is sufficiently strong to ensure surface retention while allowing
diffusion in two dimensions. Finally we will use biochemical approaches and molecular genetics in
Drosophila and mice to investigate the mode of action of Notum, a glypican-modifying enzyme that
could be relevant to the progression of Wnt signaling dependent cancers.
End Date:
30/6/2017
Project ID:
322699
Host Institution:
Acronym:
THE FUSION MACHINE
Evaluation Panel:
LS3 - Cellular and
Prof. Manfred Lindau
ml95@cornell.edu
MAX PLANCK GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN E.V.,
GÖTTINGEN, DE
www.mpg.de
The nanomechanical mechanism of exocytotic fusion pore formation
Cells release neurotransmitters, hormones and other compounds stored in secretory vesicles by a
process called exocytosis. In this process, the molecules are released upon stimulation by a
nanomachine forming a fusion pore that connects the vesicular lumen to the extracellular space.
Similar fusion events are also essential for intracellular transport mechanisms and virus-induced fusion.
Here I propose a multidisciplinary approach using highly innovative techniques to determine the
nanomechanical mechanism of fusion pore formation. The proposal is based on the hypothesis that the
vesicle fusion nanomachine is formed by the mechanical interactions of the SNARE proteins
synaptobrevin, syntaxin, and SNAP-25 and that the fusion pore is opened by intra-membrane
movement of the transmembrane domains. I will combine fluorescence resonance energy transfer
microscopy with detection of individual fusion events using microfabricated electrochemical detector
arrays to demonstrate that fusion pore formation is produced directly by a conformational change in
the SNARE complex. I will estimate the energies that are needed to pull the synaptobrevin C terminus
into the hydrophobic membrane core and the forces that are generated by the SNARE complex for wild
type and a set of specific mutations using molecular dynamics simulations. I will determine how these
energies and forces relate to inhibition and facilitation of experimentally observed fusion, performing
patch clamp capacitance measurements of vesicle fusion in chromaffin cells expressing wild type and
mutated SNARE proteins. Based on these results I will develop a detailed picture of the molecular
steps, the energies, and the forces exerted by the molecular nanomachine of fusion pore formation
and will ultimately generate a molecular movie of this fundamental biological process. Understanding
cellular and viral fusion events will likely lead to novel treatments from spasms and neurodegeneration
to cancer and infectious disease
End Date:
31/3/2018
Project ID:
323052
Acronym:
SYMDEV
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
LS3 - Cellular and
Prof. Yrjö Helariutta
yrjo.helariutta@slcu.cam.ac.uk
www.cam.ac.uk
The role of symplastic communication during root development
The symplastic route composed of plasmodesmata (PD) channels and the transporting phloem tissue
(rich in PD) is the major pathway for carbon allocation in plants. How the symplastic transport route is
formed during plant ontogeny and what is its significance in conducting and distributing morhogenetic
signals to the growing organs is poorly understood at the moment and is addressed here. My
laboratory has recently made a breakthrough that facilitates the analysis of symplastic communication.
In a genetic screen we identified gain-of-function mutations in a locus that codes for a CALLOSE
SYNTHASE isoform CALS3. The cals3-d mutations result in restricted symplastic trafficking through the
PD. Using the cals3-d mutations in a vector system that allows cell type specific and inducible control of
expression of the transgene, icals3m, we have been able to construct a molecular tool, with which we
can regulate the passage of the various signaling molecules between the neighboring cells. This tool
has already opened several new lines of research on symplastic communication concerning
understanding of the regulation of PD channels, phloem development and symplastically moving
signals. By a combination of experimental approaches at molecular, genetic, imaging and theoretically
levels we will investigate here: (1) How is symplastic trafficking regulated? (2) What are the
(symplastic) signals specifying phloem development? (3) How do the signals emanating from the
phloem control root development? (4) Can we predict new regulatory factors controlling symplastic
trafficking in space and time, based on the experimental data (on the distribution of symplastic
channels, symplastically controlled genes and symplastically mobile molecules)?
End Date:
31/5/2018
Project ID:
339847
Host Institution:
Acronym:
MYODYN
Evaluation Panel:
LS3 - Cellular and
Dr. Bruno Goud
bruno.goud@curie.fr
INSTITUT CURIE, PARIS, FR
www.curie.fr
Myosins and the dynamics of intracellular membranes
Myosins are fascinating proteins with unique biochemical and physical properties. The multiple roles
that they play in the dynamics of intracellular membranes are only beginning to emerge. Recent
findings from the research team have highlighted unexpected roles in membrane deformation and in
membrane fission played by two myosins (myosin 1b and myosin II) functioning at the interface
between the Golgi, TGN (Trans-Golgi Network) and endosomes. Building on these results, we propose
to establish a comprehensive model describing how several myosins work in concert with F-actin and
with microtubule-based motors for sustaining transport events and membrane dynamics in a region of
the cell at the crossroads of complex trafficking pathways. Towards this general objective, our main
goals are: Goal 1: to understand the role of myosin 1b in membrane deformation Goal 2: to understand
the role of nonmuscle myosin II in membrane fission Goal 3: to characterize the actin structures
required for myosin functions Goal 4: to identify and to characterize other myosins functioning at the
Golgi/TGN/endosome interface and to investigate their functional coordination Goal 5: to understand
how myosins are functionally coordinated with microtubule-based motors. The function of myosins will
be studied both at the cellular and physical level using two main original methodological approaches
available to the research team: minimal in vitro assays (giant liposomes and membrane nanotubes) and
normalized cell systems (micropatterns). This proposal represents a new development in the activity of
the research team composed of cell biologists, experimental and theoretical physicists. Success of this
proposal will rely on the strong experience of cross-disciplinary approaches that allowed the research
team in the past to elucidate several physical mechanisms underlying transport processes and
membrane dynamics.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
637530
Host Institution:
Acronym:
REPROWORM
Evaluation Panel:
LS3 - Cellular and
Dr. Baris Tursun
baris.tursun@mdc-berlin.de
MAX-DELBRUCK-CENTRUM FUR MOLEKULARE MEDIZIN IN DER HELMHOLTZGEMEINSCHAFT, BERLIN, DE
www.mdc-berlin.de
Safeguarding Cell Identities: Mechanisms Counteracting Cell Fate Reprogramming
Regenerating tissues by reprogramming cells has the potential to become a therapeutic approach for
replacing lost tissues in patients suffering from injury or degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or
Muscular Dystrophy. Strategies to generate required tissues using embryonic stem cells or induced
pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are associated with either ethical or medical safety issues. An alternative
strategy is to directly reprogram cells to the required tissue type by forced expression of cell fateinducing transcription factors (TFs). Direct reprogramming (DR) has the potential to circumvent unsafe
proliferative pluripotent cell stages and it allows in vivo procedures. However to date, DR is successful
in only a few cell types and it is not well understood why most cells are refractory to DR. Recently, we
provided evidence that inhibitory mechanisms play an important role in restricting cell fate conversion.
We identified factors inhibiting direct conversion of germ cells into specific neurons or muscle cells.
Additionally, preliminary studies in our group revealed other factors that inhibit ectopic cell fate
induction in somatic cells. The objective of this proposal is to further understand mechanisms that
restrict DR. We aim to identify and characterize factors involved in safeguarding differentiated cells and
thereby counteract induction of ectopic fates in different cells. We use C. elegans as an in vivo model
and apply large-scale forward and reverse genetic screenings with high-throughput. Next generation
sequencing, tissue-specific biochemistry (ChIP-seq, SILAC) and 4D imaging will be used to elucidate the
molecular function of identified DR-regulating factors. Finally, we will test the ability to convert cells in
aged animals and assess the effects of ageing on the ability to induce ectopic cell fates. Our research
has the potential to facilitate the generation of specific tissues from different cellular contexts for
future biomedical approaches.
End Date:
29/2/2020
Project ID:
639234
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PROCELLDEATH
Evaluation Panel:
LS3 - Cellular and
Prof. Moritz Karl Nowack
moritz.nowack@vib.be
VIB, GHENT, BE
www.vib.be
Unraveling the regulatory network of developmental programmed cell death in plants
Programmed cell death (PCD) is a fundamental biological process that actively terminates a cell’s vital
functions by a well-ordered sequence of events. In both animals and plants, various types of PCD are
crucial for development, health, and the responses to various stresses. Despite their importance, only
little is known about PCD processes and their molecular control in plants. Still, an intricate regulatory
network must exist that renders specific plant cell types competent to initiate and execute PCD at
precisely determined developmental stages. I recently established a powerful developmental PCD
model system in Arabidopsis thaliana, based on a PCD process occurring during root cap development.
This root cap model has the potential to revolutionize existing concepts of plant PCD, as it combines a
precisely predictable PCD process in easily accessible cells on the root periphery with the abundance of
resources available for Arabidopsis research. Exploiting the root cap system will enable me to tackle
unresolved fundamental questions about the regulation of developmental PCD in plants: How do cells
acquire PCD competency during differentiation? Which signals trigger PCD execution at just the right
moment? What are the actual mechanisms that disrupt the vital functions of a plant cell? I will obtain
answers to these questions through a comprehensive strategy combining complementary approaches,
taking advantage of cell-type specific transcriptomics, forward and reverse genetics, advanced live-cell
imaging, biochemistry, and computational modeling. Our unpublished data point to the existence of a
common core mechanism controlling PCD not only in the root cap, but also in other vital organs
including the vasculature, anthers, or developing seeds. Thus, this project will not only be significant to
advance our knowledge on PCD as a general developmental mechanism in plants, but also to generate
new leads to tap the so far underexploited potential of PCD in agriculture.
End Date:
31/3/2020
Project ID:
647186
Acronym:
MolCellTissMech
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
LS3 - Cellular and
Dr. Guillaume Thomas Charras
g.charras@ucl.ac.uk
Molecular and cellular determinants of cell monolayer mechanics
Epithelial monolayers are amongst the simplest tissues in the body, yet they play fundamental roles in
adult organisms where they separate the internal environment from the external environment and in
development when the intrinsic forces generated by cells within the monolayer drive tissue
morphogenesis. The mechanics of these simple tissues is dictated by the cytoskeletal and adhesive
proteins that interface the constituent cells into a tissue-scale mechanical syncitium. Mutations in
these proteins lead to diseases with fragilised epithelia. However, a quantitative understanding of how
subcellular structures govern monolayer mechanics, how cells sense their mechanical environment and
what mechanical forces participate in tissue morphogenesis is lacking.To overcome these challenges,
my lab devised a new technique to study the mechanics of load-bearing monolayers under wellcontrolled mechanical conditions while allowing imaging at subcellular, cellular and tissue resolutions.
Using this instrument, my proposal aims to understand the molecular determinants of monolayer
mechanics as well as the cellular behaviours that drive tissue morphogenesis. I will focus on four
objectives: 1) discover the molecular determinants of monolayer mechanics, 2) characterise monolayer
mechanics, 3) dissect how tension is sensed by monolayers, and 4) investigate the biophysics of
individual cell behaviours participating in tissue morphogenesis.Together these studies will enable us
to understand how monolayer mechanics is affected by changes in single cell behaviour, subcellular
organisation, and molecular turnover. This multi-scale characterisation of monolayer mechanics will set
the stage for new theoretical descriptions of living tissues involving both molecular-scale phenomena
(cytoskeletal turnover, contractility, and protein unfolding) operating on short time-scales and
rearrangements due to cell-scale phenomena (cell intercalation, cell division) acting on longer times.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
649024
Host Institution:
Acronym:
RegEvolve
Evaluation Panel:
LS3 - Cellular and
Dr. Jochen Christian Rink
rink@mpi-cbg.de
DRESDEN, DE
www.mpg.de
Comparative analysis of planarian regeneration - why some worms r eg ener ate w hi l e other s
don’t
The ability to regenerate lost body parts is widespread amongst animals, yet humans, for example, can
only regenerate specific organs. Why some animals regenerate while others hardly do remains a
fascinating conundrum, especially so in face of “survival of the fittest”. Even amongst planarian
flatworms, famous for their ability to regenerate from random tissue fragments, species exist that have
completely lost the ability to regenerate. This proposal will exploit the unique diversity of planarian
regenerative abilities amongst to ask why some worms regenerate while others do not. We and others
have established that planarian Wnt signalling acts as critical node in the evolution of regeneration
defects. Using this finding as strategic focus for comparisons between regenerating and nonregenerating species, we will investigate i) the cell biological mechanisms that shape Wnt pathway
activity; ii) the genomic mechanisms that differentially deploy critical pathway regulators; and iii)
evolutionary mechanisms in form of life history trait trade-offs as possible driving force behind the drift
of regenerative abilities. Key to the project is a diverse collection of regenerating and regenerationdeficient species that my lab has established. Focused comparisons between our two primary model
species D. lacteum and S. mediterranea, employing pan-planarian antibodies and functional genomics,
will allow us to understand the detailed causes of altered pathway activity. Comparisons amongst the
entire collection of 50 species will provide the necessary breadth for identifying and studying the
evolutionary principles that “naturally select” regeneration-deficient planarians. The comparative
approach of RegEvolve will thus uniquely bridge the proximate (molecular)- with the ultimate
(evolutionary) causes of regeneration defects and such interdisciplinary endeavour between molecular
and evolutionary regeneration research will lead to new and profound insights into both fields.
End Date:
30/9/2020
Project ID:
671083
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ACTOMYOSIN RING
Evaluation Panel:
LS3 - Cellular and
Prof. Mohan Balasubramanian
m.k.balasubramanian@warwick.ac.uk
THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK, COVENTRY, UK
www.warwick.ac.uk
Understanding Cytokinetic Actomyosin Ring Assembly Through Genetic Code Expansion, Click
Chemistry, DNA origami, and in vitro Reconstitution
The mechanism of cell division is conserved in many eukaryotes, from yeast to man. A contractile ring
of filamentous actin and myosin II motors generates the force to bisect a mother cell into two
daughters. The actomyosin ring is among the most complex cellular machines, comprising over 150
proteins. Understanding how these proteins organize themselves into a functional ring with
appropriate contractile properties remains one of the great challenges in cell biology. Efforts to
generate a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism of actomyosin ring assembly have been
hampered by the lack of structural information on the arrangement of actin, myosin II, and actin
modulators in the ring in its native state. Fundamental questions such as how actin filaments are
assembled and organized into a ring remain actively debated. This project will investigate key issues
pertaining to cytokinesis in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, which divides employing an
actomyosin based contractile ring, using the methods of genetics, biochemistry, cellular imaging, DNA
origami, genetic code expansion, and click chemistry. Specifically, we will (1) attempt to visualize actin
filament assembly in live cells expressing fluorescent actin generated through synthetic biological
approaches, including genetic code expansion and click chemistry (2) decipher actin filament polarity in
the actomyosin ring using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy of labelled dimeric and
multimeric myosins V and VI generated through DNA origami approaches (3) address when, where,
and how actin filaments for cytokinesis are assembled and organized into a ring and (4) reconstitute
actin filament and functional actomyosin ring assembly in permeabilized spheroplasts and in
supported bilayers. Success in the project will provide major insight into the mechanism of actomyosin
ring assembly and illuminate principles behind cytoskeletal self-organization.
End Date:
31/10/2020
Project ID:
309322
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TUMORGAN
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Dr. Jan Kristian Pietras
kristian.pietras@med.lu.se
www.lu.se
Exploring the tumor as a communicating organ
The failure to bring about major advances in cancer care over the past decades points to the need for a
revolution in our view of cancer as a disease caused by a lack of growth control in malignant cells. We
propose that a tumor should be considered a communicating organ made of multiple cell types that
collectively evolve into a clinically manifested and deadly disease. With this proposition follows that
targeting of communication within tumors to attenuate the support from the stroma is the only viable
strategy to achieve long term therapeutic benefit. Our research addresses the need to study the
cellular context of cancer with a higher resolution. The general aim of the proposed work is to identify
subsets of different cell types within the tumor stroma that hold utility as therapeutic targets and
biomarkers. The work will be performed through a set of experiments bridging basic biology, preclinical studies and molecular oncology. The specific aims are: 1) Identification of cellular subsets of
the tumor vasculature 2) Investigation of the therapeutic utility of cellular subsets of the tumor
vasculature 3) Exploration of the potential of cellular subsets of the tumor vasculature as biomarkers
The aims of the study will be pursued through a series of methodological refinements. Firstly,
identification of novel components of tumors will be achieved by the assembly of a mouse genetic tool
box enabling isolation, lineage tracing and functional studies. Secondly, single cell transcriptome
sequencing will be performed to identify cellular subsets using materials from both mouse and man.
Thirdly, the utility as therapeutic targets of the new cellular subsets will be assessed using a live
imaging approach. Fourthly, the clinical significance of the new cellular subsets will be investigated
using exclusive patient materials. Taken together, the information provided by our studies will enable
us to take cancer therapy into a new era of personalized medicine.
End Date:
28/2/2018
Project ID:
311082
Host Institution:
Acronym:
AGEINGSTEMCELLFATE
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Dr. Tim Julius Schulz
tim.schulz@dife.de
DEUTSCHES INSTITUT FUER ERNAEHRUNGSFORSCHUNG POTSDAM
REHBRUCKE, NUTHETAL, DE
www.dife.de
The Role of Ectopic Adipocyte Progenitors in Age-related Stem Cell Dysfunction, Systemic
Inflammation, and Metabolic Disease
Ageing is accompanied by ectopic white adipose tissue depositions in skeletal muscle and other
anatomical locations, such as brown adipose tissue and the bone marrow. Ectopic fat accrual
contributes to organ dysfunction, systemic insulin resistance, and other perturbations that have been
implicated in metabolic diseases. This research proposal aims to identify the regulatory cues that
control the development of ectopic progenitor cells that give rise to this type of fat. It is hypothesized
that an age-related dysfunction of the stem cell niche leads to an imbalance between (1) tissue-specific
stem cells and (2) fibroblast-like, primarily adipogenic progenitors that reside within many tissues.
Novel methodologies that assess stem/progenitor cell characteristics on the single cell level will be
combined with animal models of lineage tracing to determine the developmental origin of these
adipogenic progenitors and processes that regulate their function. Notch signalling is a key signalling
pathway that relies on direct physical interaction to control stem cell fate. It is proposed that impaired
Notch activity contributes to the phenotypical shift of precursor cell distribution in aged tissues. Lastly,
the role of the stem cell niche in ectopic adipocyte progenitor formation will be analyzed. External
signals originating from the surrounding niche cells regulate the developmental fate of stem cells.
Secreted factors and their role in the formation of ectopic adipocyte precursors during senescence will
be identified using a combination of biochemical and systems biology approaches. Accomplishment of
these studies will help to understand the basic processes of stem cell ageing and identify mechanisms
of age-related functional decline in tissue regeneration. By targeting the population of tissue-resident
adipogenic progenitor cells, therapeutic strategies could be developed to counteract metabolic
complications associated with the ageing process.
End Date:
28/2/2018
Project ID:
311549
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CALMIRS
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Prof. Leon Johannes De Windt
l.dewindt@maastrichtuniversity.nl
UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT, MAASTRICHT, NL
http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl
RNA-based regulation of signal transduction –
Regulation of calcineurin/NFAT signaling by microRNA-based mechanisms
Heart failure is a serious clinical disorder that represents the primary cause of hospitalization and death
in Europe and the United States. There is a dire need for new paradigms and therapeutic approaches
for treatment of this devastating disease. The heart responds to mechanical load and various
extracellular stimuli by hypertrophic growth and sustained pathological hypertrophy is a major clinical
predictor of heart failure. A variety of stress-responsive signaling pathways promote cardiac
hypertrophy, but the precise mechanisms that link these pathways to cardiac disease are only
beginning to be unveiled. Signal transduction is traditionally concentrated on the protein coding part of
the genome, but it is now appreciated that the protein coding part of the genome only constitutes
1.5% of the genome. RNA based mechanisms may provide a more complete understanding of the
fundamentals of cellular signaling. As a proof-of-principle, we focus on a principal hypertrophic
signaling cascade, cardiac calcineurin/NFAT signaling. Here we will establish that microRNAs are
intimately interwoven with this signaling cascade, influence signaling strength by unexpected upstream
mechanisms. Secondly, we will firmly establish that microRNA target genes critically contribute to
genesis of heart failure. Third, the surprising stability of circulating microRNAs has opened the
possibility to develop the next generation of biomarkers and provide unexpected mechanisms how
genetic information is transported between cells in multicellular organs and fascilitate inter-cellular
communication. Finally, microRNA-based therapeutic silencing is remarkably powerful and offers
opportunities to specifically intervene in pathological signaling as the next generation heart failure
therapeutics. CALMIRS aims to mine the wealth of these RNA mechanisms to enable the development
of next generation RNA based signal transduction biology, with surprising new diagnostic and
therapeutic opportunities.
End Date:
31/1/2018
Project ID:
322977
Host Institution:
Acronym:
WAYS
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Prof. Adriana Caterina Elvira Maggi
adriana.maggi@unimi.it
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO, MILANO, IT
www.unimi.it
Role of Liver Estrogen Receptor in female Energy Metabolism, Reproduction and Aging: What About
Your Liver Sexual Functions?
In mammals, the liver is the peripheral integrator of nutrient availability and energetic needs of the
entire organism. We recently demonstrated that dietary amino acids (AA) activate liver Estrogen
Receptors (ER) and that, in case of food scarcity, the lowered circulating AA decrease liver ER activity
and reduce IGF-1 synthesis with the consequent blockage of the estrous cycle. Here, we hypothesize
that in females liver ERa is also a sensor of the endogenous signalling induced by transitions among
reproductive stages and a key organizer for the changes required to adapt energy metabolism to
reproductive necessities. Thus, we propose that in mammals liver ERa is regulated by reproductive
functions and that, in case of ovary malfunctioning, the altered estrogenic signalling causes metabolic
impairment leading to local and perhaps systemic disruption of energy homeostasis. To demonstrate
our theory, we will explore: i) the molecular pathways activating liver ERa and the related ERa
transcriptome by genome-wide analytical tools; ii) the hepatic metabolism and the systemic
consequences of liver ER pharmacological and genetic manipulations by means of metabolomic
technologies; iii) the association between altered signalling on liver ER and the onset of metabolic
disorders; iv) the molecular interactions between ER and PPAR activity and the effect of estrogens on
liver autophagy. WAYS research is facilitated by a series of tools such as ER conditional KO, reporter
mice, arrays of genes known as target of liver ERa, and others generated by our laboratory in
collaboration with EU groups in previous EU programs. The vision of the liver as a functional unit with
reproductive organs constitutes a paradigm shift in our understanding of woman physiology; thus, the
full comprehension of liver ERa activity and regulation will be a critical step for the conception of new
therapies for several diseases affecting women including the metabolic syndrome or the non-alcoholic
steatosis.
End Date:
31/3/2018
Project ID:
336204
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ISLETMESENCHYME
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Dr. Limor Landsman
limorl@post.tau.ac.il
TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY, TEL AVIV, IL
http://www.tau.ac.il/
ß-cell Dysfunction in Diabetes: Elucidating the Role of Islet-Associated Mesenchymal Cells
Glucose homeostasis relies on tightly controlled release of insulin by pancreatic beta-cells. Diabetes,
characterized by increased blood glucose levels, is a chronic disease now reaching epidemic
proportions. The most common form of this disease is Type 2 diabetes (T2D), which was previously
regarded as a disease of insulin resistance. However, work over the past decade had shifted this
paradigm by implicating beta-cell failure as a key factor in this disease. Despite major progress, the
cellular and molecular basis of this T2D is far from being elucidated. Here, I present a novel pancreatic
cell population, islet-associated mesenchymal cells (isMCs), which are with close contact to beta-cells
in both human and mouse pancreata. My preliminary findings revealed that isMCs function to maintain
beta-cells maturity and functionality. I therefore hypothesize that impaired isMCs function serve as an
underlying cause for diabetes. To test this hypothesis, we will characterize the continuous requirement
of isMCs for glucose homeostasis by their specific depletion in vivo. Next, we will link genes associated
with T2D to isMCs function, by manipulating their expression and elucidating the effect on beta-cell
function. Finally, we will investigate the source of diabetes prevalence found in pancreatic cancer and
pancreatitis patients, by identifying how isMCs ability to maintain beta-cell function is affected in these
diseases. To this end, we will use transgenic mouse models and culture systems to specifically
manipulate cells and genes, and to study the resultant effect on beta-cell phenotype and glucose
homeostasis. The implications of this work are far reaching as they will point to isMCs as a new player
in glucose regulation, and as a contributor to beta-cell dysfunction in diabetes. Furthermore, the
findings of this study will implicate isMCs a novel target for therapeutic approaches to diabetes, a
currently unmet medical need.
End Date:
30/9/2018
Project ID:
614847
Host Institution:
Acronym:
LIFEWITHOUTINSULIN
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Prof. Roberto Coppari
roberto.coppari@unige.ch
UNIVERSITE DE GENEVE, GENEVE, CH
www.unige.ch
Metabolic actions of brain leptin receptors signaling in type 1 diabetes
An established dogma is that insulin is absolutely required for survival. This notion has been supported
by the fact that the sole life-saving intervention available to the millions affected by type 1 diabetes
mellitus (T1DM; an illness caused by pancreatic β-cell loss and hence insulin deficiency) is insulin
therapy. This treatment however does not restore normal metabolic homeostasis. In fact, the lifeexpectancy and -quality of T1DM people is worse compared to normal subjects. In part, this is due to
challenging morbidities of T1DM, as for example heart disease and hypoglycemia, both of which are
thought to be caused by insulin therapy itself. Indeed, owing to insulin’s lipogenic actions, this
treatment likely contributes to the ectopic lipid deposition (i.e.: in non-adipose tissues) and extremely
high incidence of coronary artery disease seen in T1DM subjects. Also, due to insulin’s potent, fastacting, glycemia-lowering action, this therapy significantly increases the risk of hypoglycemia; a
disabling and life threatening event. Because insulin therapy does not restore metabolic homeostasis in
T1DM subjects, better intervention is urgently needed. To these ends, we and others have shown that
the hyperglycemic and lethal consequences of insulin deficiency can be rescued by administration of
the adipocyte-secreted hormone leptin. Not only these results challenge an established view, they also
raise a fundamental biological and medical question: what are the mechanisms by which leptin
improves hyperglycemia and permits survival in the context of insulin deficiency? This proposal aims at
identifying the critical cellular and molecular components underlying the beneficial effects of leptin in
the context of insulin deficiency. Once identified, manipulation of these components has the potential
to improve life-expectancy and -quality of the millions affected by insulin deficiency (e.g.: T1DM and
also some late-stage type 2 diabetics).
End Date:
31/5/2019
Project ID:
616917
Host Institution:
Acronym:
RARITOR
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Dr. Mario Pende
mario.pende@inserm.fr
INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTE ET DE LA RECHERCHE MEDICALE (INSERM),
PARIS, FR
www.inserm.fr
mTOR pathophysiology in rare human diseases
The mammalian Target Of Rapamycin (mTOR) is a master regulator of growth. mTOR is a protein kinase
that exists in two distinct complexes in the cell and transduces virtually all anabolic signals from the
environment: nutrients, such as glucose and amino acids, growth factor peptides, such as insulin and
insulin like growth factors, oxygen, mitochondrial metabolites, energy status. mTOR is required to
sustain cell responses to nutrient availability including cell growth, proliferation, macromolecule
biosynthesis, and suppress autophagy. During the past ten years we have generated and characterized
a wide panel of mouse mutants in the mTOR pathway. We were involved in revealing specific
phenotypes that increased our knowledge of mTOR roles in pathophysiology: mutants with small cells,
mutants resistant to tumorigenesis in specific tissues and after specific oncogenic insults, mutants
mimicking caloric restriction and promoting longevity, mutants with muscle dystrophy, mutants with
altered insulin action. The overall goal of our research proposal for the next five years is twofold. From
one hand we want to better understand fundamental processes including cell size control and
organismal longevity. To this end we want to determine the molecular targets of the mTORC1/S6
kinase cassette that may explain the alterations in cell size and lifespan when these kinases are
deregulated (project 1). From the other hand we want to understand and cure rare human genetic
diseases that arise from pathological changes in the activity of the mTOR pathway in children or that
may benefit from therapeutical intervention on this pathway. These diseases include Tuberous
Sclerosis Complex, PEComas and hemangiomas (project 2), metabolic diseases (projects 3), lysosomal
storage diseases (project 4). The translational approaches in this proposal will stem from a close
interaction with multiple Medical Dept. in our shared research campus of the Necker Children Hospital.
End Date:
31/1/2020
Project ID:
617676
Acronym:
PHONICS
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Dr. Edgar Rodrigues Almeida Gomes
edgargomes@fm.ul.pt
INSTITUTO DE MEDICINA MOLECULAR, LISBOA, PT
www.imm.ul.pt
Positioning the nucleus for cell migration and muscle fiber function
The cell nucleus is positioned at specific places within the cytoplasm and this position is important for
different cellular, developmental and physiological processes. Nuclear positioning depends on
connections between nuclear envelope proteins and the cytoskeleton. In migrating cells, we found that
the nucleus is positioned away from the front of the cell and this event is important for cell migration.
We performed an RNAi screen for nuclear positioning and found new nuclear envelope proteins
involved in nuclear positioning. In fully developed myofibers, nuclei are specifically positioned at the
periphery of the myofiber, while during development and regeneration, as well as in multiple muscle
pathologies, the nucleus is centrally positioned. We found new mechanisms drive nuclear movement
during myofiber formation. We also showed that nuclear position is important for muscle function.
However why nuclear positioning is important for myofiber activity remains an open question. We
now propose to use unique systems to monitor cell migration and myofiber formation in combination
with biochemistry, cell biology, high- and super-resolution microscopy approaches to: 1) Identify novel
molecular mechanisms that mediate nuclear positioning during cell migration and myofiber formation.
3) Determine a role for nuclear positioning in myofiber function as well as the significance of altered
nuclear positioning in different forms of muscle pathology. The proposed work will establish new
mechanisms for nuclear positioning. Importantly, by identifying mechanisms and understanding the
role of nuclear positioning in myofiber function, we will lay the foundations for future studies to
ameliorate or treat muscle disorders as well as other conditions where nucleus positioning may prove
to play a role such as cancer.
End Date:
30/6/2019
Project ID:
637458
Host Institution:
Acronym:
MISTRANSMITO
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Dr. Henna Riikka Susanna Tyynismaa
henna.tyynismaa@helsinki.fi
HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO, HELSINKI, FI
http://www.helsinki.fi/university/
Tissue-specific mitochondrial signaling and adaptations to mistranslation
Mitochondria play a central role in the energy metabolism of our bodies and their defects give rise to a
large variety of clinical phenotypes that can affect practically any tissue. The mechanisms for the
tissue-specific outcomes of mitochondrial diseases are poorly understood. Mitochondrial energy
production relies on two separate protein synthesis machineries, cytoplasmic and mitochondrial, but
the mechanisms regulating the concerted actions between the two are largely to be discovered.
Defects in either protein synthesis system that lead to accumulation of mistranslated mitochondrial
proteins, intrinsic or imported from the cytoplasm, result in stress signals from mitochondria and in
adaptive responses within the organelle and the entire cell. My hypothesis is that some of these signals
and adaptive mechanisms are tissue-specific. My group will test the hypothesis by 1) generating and
characterizing mouse models of cytoplasmic and mitochondrial mistranslation to be able to address
our questions in different tissues. 2) We will develop methods for detection of ribosome stalling in
mouse tissues to identify the consequences of mistranslation for individual proteins. 3) We will use
systems biology approaches to identify stress signal responses to mitochondrial and/or cytoplasmic
mistranslation using different tissues of our models, to identify those that are unique or global. 4) Our
previous study has identified an interesting candidate responder to mistranslation stress and we will
test the role of this factor in knockout animal models and by crossing with the mistranslation mice. I
expect to gain important new knowledge of in vivo responses to mistranslation and execution of
quality control. This proposal investigates key questions in understanding differential tissue
involvement in metabolic defects, and will provide new directions for utilization of tissue-specific
adaptations in finding interventions for mitochondrial diseases.
End Date:
30/6/2020
Project ID:
638193
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CRCStemCellDynamics
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Dr. Louis Vermeulen
l.vermeulen@amc.uva.nl
Academisch Medisch Centrum bij de Universiteit van Amsterdam,
AMSTERDAM, NL
www.amc.nl
Molecular Subtype Specific Stem Cell Dynamics in Developing and Established Colorectal Cancers
Annually 1.2 million new cases of colorectal cancer (CRC) are seen worldwide and over 50% of patients
die of the disease making it a leading cause of cancer-related mortality. A crucial contributing factor to
these disappointing figures is that CRC is a heterogeneous disease and tumours differ extensively in the
clinical presentation and response to therapy. Recent unsupervised classification studies highlight that
only a proportion of this heterogeneity can be explained by the variation in commonly found (epi)genetic aberrations. Hence the origins of CRC heterogeneity remain poorly understood. The central
hypothesis of this research project is that the cell of origin contributes to the phenotype and functional
properties of the pre-malignant clone and the resulting malignancy. To study this concept I will
generate cell of origin- and mutation-specific molecular profiles of oncogenic clones and relate those to
human CRC samples. Furthermore, I will quantitatively investigate how mutations and the cell of origin
act in concert to determine the functional characteristics of the pre-malignant clone that ultimately
develops into an invasive intestinal tumour. These studies are paralleled by the investigation of stem
cell dynamics within established human CRCs by means of a novel marker independent lineage tracing
strategy in combination with mathematical analysis techniques. This will provide critical and
quantitative information on the relevance of the cancer stem cell concept in CRC and on the degree of
inter-tumour variation with respect to the frequency and functional features of stem-like cells within
individual CRCs and molecular subtypes of the disease. I am convinced that a better and quantitative
understanding of the dynamical properties of stem cells during tumour development and within
established CRCs will be pivotal for an improved classification, prevention and treatment of CRC.
End Date:
31/3/2020
Project ID:
638891
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NutrientSensingVivo
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Dr. Alejo Efeyan
aefeyan@cnio.es
FUNDACION CENTRO NACIONAL DE INVESTIGACIONES ONCOLOGICAS
CARLOS III, MADRID, ES
www.cnio.es
The Physiology of Nutrient Sensing by mTOR
A major role of metabolic alterations in the development of several human diseases, as diabetes,
cancer and in the onset of ageing is becoming increasingly evident. This has a deep impact for human
health due to the alarming increase in nutrient intake and obesity in the last decades. Fundamental
aspects of how aberrant nutrient fluctuations trigger deregulated hormone levels and endocrine
signals have been elucidated, being a prime example the phenomenon of insulin resistance. In
contrast, how changes in nutrient levels elicit direct cell-autonomous signal transduction cascades and
the consequences of these responses in physiology are less clear.The signalling circuitry of direct
nutrient sensing converges with that of hormones in the regulation of the mechanistic target of
rapamycin (mTOR) kinase, a driver of anabolism, cell growth and proliferation. Deregulation of
mTORC1 activity underlies the pathogenesis of cancer and diabetes, and its inhibitor rapamycin is
approved as an anti-cancer agent and delays ageing from yeast to mammals. In spite of its importance
for human disease, our understanding of the nutrient sensing signalling pathway and its impact in
physiology is largely incomplete, as only a few years ago the direct molecular link between nutrients
and mTORC1 activation, the Rag GTPases, were identified.The present proposal aims to determine how
the nutrient sensing signalling pathway affects mammalian physiology and metabolism, and whether
its deregulation contributes to cancer, insulin resistance and aging. In particular, the objectives are: 1)
To identify novel regulators of the Rag GTPases with unbiased and candidate-based approaches. 2) To
establish the consequences of deregulated nutrient-dependent activation of mTORC1 in physiology, by
means of genetically engineered mice. 3) To determine the impact of the nutrient sensing pathway in
the effects of dietary restriction and nutrient limitation in glucose homeostasis and cancer.
End Date:
31/12/2020
Project ID:
639382
Host Institution:
Acronym:
aCROBAT
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Prof. Zachary Philip Gerhart-Hines
zpg@sund.ku.dk
KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET, COPENHAGEN N, DK
www.ku.dk
Circadian Regulation Of Brown Adipose Thermogenesis
Obesity and diabetes have reached pandemic proportions and new therapeutic strategies are critically
needed. Brown adipose tissue (BAT), a major source of heat production, possesses significant energydissipating capacity and therefore represents a promising target to use in combating these diseases.
Recently, I discovered a novel link between circadian rhythm and thermogenic stress in the control of
the conserved, calorie-burning functions of BAT. Circadian and thermogenic signaling to BAT
incorporates blood-borne hormonal and nutrient cues with direct neuronal input. Yet how these
responses coordinately shape BAT energy-expending potential through the regulation of cell surface
receptors, metabolic enzymes, and transcriptional effectors is still not understood. My primary goal is
to investigate this previously unappreciated network of crosstalk that allows mammals to effectively
orchestrate daily rhythms in BAT metabolism, while maintaining their ability to adapt to abrupt
changes in energy demand. My group will address this question using gain and loss-of-function in vitro
and in vivo studies, newly-generated mouse models, customized physiological phenotyping, and
cutting-edge advances in next generation RNA sequencing and mass spectrometry. Preliminary, smallscale validations of our methodologies have already yielded a number of novel candidates that may
drive key facets of BAT metabolism. Additionally, we will extend our circadian and thermogenic studies
into humans to evaluate the translational potential. Our results will advance the fundamental
understanding of how daily oscillations in bioenergetic networks establish a framework for the
anticipation of and adaptation to environmental challenges. Importantly, we expect that these
mechanistic insights will reveal pharmacological targets through which we can unlock evolutionary
constraints and harness the energy-expending potential of BAT for the prevention and treatment of
obesity and diabetes.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
646849
Host Institution:
Acronym:
LYMPHORG
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Dr. Taija Marianna Makinen
taija.makinen@igp.uu.se
UPPSALA UNIVERSITET, UPPSALA, SE
www.uu.se
Organ-specific mechanisms of lymphatic vascular development and specialisation
Lymphatic vasculature maintains tissue fluid homeostasis and has important emerging roles in
inflammation, immunity, lipid metabolism, blood pressure regulation and cancer metastasis. Lymphatic
vessels are specialised to fulfil the functional needs of different organs while diseases associated with
lymphatic dysfunction frequently affect vessels of specific tissues. How functional specialisation of
vessels is achieved and what underlies tissue-specific vessel failure is not understood. I hypothesise
that organ-specific manifestation of lymphatic dysfunction in disease is due to vascular bed-specific
differences in vessel formation. In this project my aim is to identify genes and mechanisms required for
organ-specific lymphatic development. Building on our recent discovery of a previously unknown
progenitor cell type that is required for lymphatic development in an organ-specific manner I set out to
identify the origin and function of lymphatic endothelial progenitor cells (LEPC) during development
and assess their potential for therapeutic lymphatic regeneration. Towards this aim, we will identify
organ-specific origins of lymphatic vasculature using lineage tracing and determine genetic signatures
of lymphatic endothelial progenitors by mRNA sequencing. Cells and tissues from normal and mutant
mice that show organ-specific lymphatic defects will be analysed. To identify molecular and cellular
mechanisms of LEPC derived vessel formation, we will functionally characterise LEPC signature genes
using mouse models and visualise vessel development by in vivo two-photon microscopy. The function
and therapeutic potential of LEPCs and LEPC derived vessels will be assessed using mouse models of
tolerance, inflammation, obesity and lymphoedema. This work will provide novel insights into organspecific mechanisms of vascular morphogenesis and identify a progenitor cell that may be expoited to
restore lymphatic function in disorders associated with lymphatic vessel failure.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
646903
Host Institution:
Acronym:
INFANTLEUKEMIA
Evaluation Panel:
LS4 - Physiology,
Pathophysiology and
Endocrinology
Prof. Pablo Menéndez Buján
pmenendez@carrerasresearch.org
Fundació Institut de Recerca Contra la Leucemia Josep Carreras, BARCELONA,
ES
www.carrerasresearch.org
GENOMIC, CELLULAR AND DEVELOPMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION OFINFANT MLL-AF4+ ACUTE
LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA
Infant cancer is very distinct to adult cancer and it is progressively seen as a developmental disease. An
intriguing infant cancer is the t(4;11) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) characterized by the hallmark
rearrangement MLL-AF4 (MA4), and associated with dismal prognosis. The 100% concordance in twins
and its prenatal onset suggest an extremely rapid disease progression. Many key issues remain elusive:
Is MA4 leukemogenic? Which are other relevant oncogenic drivers? Which is the nature of the cell
transformed by MA4? Which is the leukemia-initiating cell (LIC)? Does this ALL follow a hierarchical or
stochastic cancer model? How to explain therapy resistance and CNS involvement? To what extent do
genetics vs epigenetics contribute this ALL?These questions remain a challenge due to: 1) the absence
of prospective studies on diagnostic/remission-matched samples, 2) the lack of models which faithfully
reproduce the disease and 3) a surprising genomic stability of this ALL.I hypothesize that a MultilayerOmics to function approach in patient blasts and early human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells
(HSPC) is required to fully scrutinize the biology underlying this life-threatening leukemia. I will perform
genome-wide studies on the mutational landscape, DNA and H3K79 methylation profiles, and
transcriptome on a uniquely available, large cohort of diagnostic/remission-matched samples. Omics
data integration will provide unprecedented information about oncogenic drivers which must be
analyzed in ground-breaking functional assays using patient blasts and early HSPCs carrying a
CRISPR/Cas9-mediated locus/allele-specific t(4;11). Serial xenografts combined with exome-seq in
paired diagnostic samples and xenografts will identify the LIC and determine whether variegated
genetics may underlie clonal functional heterogeneity. This project will provide a precise understanding
and a disease model for MA4+ ALL, offering a platform for new treatment strategies.
End Date:
0/1/1900
Project ID:
309865
Acronym:
NEUROCODEC
Dr. Bahador Bahrami
bbahrami@gmail.com
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
LS5 - Neurosciences and Neural
Disorders
Neurobiological basis of collective decision making in the human brain
We continually interact with each other & share information to make decisions together as friends,
families, committees, juries, interest groups and institutions. The question of how collective decisions
are made dates back many centuries and has been vigorously studied in social psychology and political
economics, but the biological basis of collective decision making in human brain is almost entirely
unknown. This question is arguably at the heart of human society’s urgent need to communicate
effectively & find better ways of arriving at global collective decisions. My research has provided new
and potentially important computational models of collective decision-making based on empirical data
from visual psychophysics. I propose to characterize the neurobiological basis of joint decisions by
combining recent advances in economics and social cognitive neuroscience in a novel interdisciplinary
research program that will ask 4 questions: (1)How do we learn to make better collective decisions?
(2)What are the brain mechanisms underlying the different psychological components of collective
decision making? (3)What makes some people better & some others worse at joint decisions? (4)What
is the role of the neuro-modulatory hormones oxytocin & testosterone in collective decisions? I plan to
develop a formal theoretical model of collective decision-making (Q1) & use converging evidence from
complementary methodologies e.g. behavioural experiments & fMRI (Q2), structural brain imaging
(Q3) and neuro-pharmacology (Q4) to test & advance the model. My findings could help understand
what physiological events underlie our ability to learn from experience to contribute effectively to
group efforts and also disclose the biological basis that makes some of us better and some worse at
working in groups . The results may provide a clearer picture of how hormonal interactions in the brain
strike a balance between trusting ourselves vs accepting the opinion of others.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
311149
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ER-HSP
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Dr. Frederic Darios
frederic.darios@upmc.fr
PARIS, FR
www.inserm.fr
Role of endoplasmic reticulum in neurodegeneration: physiopathology of a form of hereditary
spastic paraplegia as a model
Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a dynamic, tubular intracellular network implicated in a variety of cellular
functions. Although it is known to play a role in neurodegeneration, its organization and precise
function in neurons have been neglected. I will use the physiopathology of certain forms of hereditary
spastic paraplegia (HSP) as a model to understand why and how alteration of ER dynamics in neurons
can lead to neurodegeneration. I will focus on three genetic entities, SPG11, SPG15 and SPG48, which
are clinically and biochemically related, since the proteins encoded by these genes (spatacsin, spastizin
and KIAA0415) are all present in a multiprotein complex important for ER function. The project has
three objectives: Elucidate the role of spatacsin, spastizin and KIAA0415 in the regulation of ER
morphology and dynamics; - Establish the link between abnormal ER function and neurodegeneration;
- Identify new partners of spatacsin, spastizin and KIAA0415 implicated in ER function. - We will first
develop and characterize physiopathological experimental models: (i) an SPG11 knockout mouse; (ii)
primary cultures of neurons subjected to RNA interference to downregulate expression of the SPG11,
15 and 48 genes; (iii) neurons differentiated from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells derived from
fibroblasts of patients with mutations in SPG11, 15 and 48. ER organization and dynamics will be
analyzed in these models using electron and fluorescence microscopy (confocal microscopy, super
resolution Structured Illumination Microcopy), as well as videomicroscopy on living cultured neurons.
The cell culture models will allow us to determine how the functions of ER that are altered in the
pathological models in culture are linked to neuronal death. This pioneering work will help understand
the functions of neuronal ER in both normal and pathological conditions – HSP, but also other
neurodegenerative diseases.
End Date:
31/3/2018
Project ID:
311403
Host Institution:
Acronym:
GLISFCO
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Dr. Yael Grosjean
yael.grosjean@u-bourgogne.fr
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, DIJON, FR
www.cnrs.fr
Glia, Smell, Food & Courtship in Drosophila
Odors are key components for sensory communication involved in behaviors such as social
communication or food search. Recently, molecular receptors, neuronal architecture, physiological
regulation, and behavioral consequences underlying these biological processes are starting to be
revealed in an increasing number of animal models. But more and more breakthroughs are highlighting
some unexpected results asking for deeper studies. The Drosophila melanogaster has proven to be a
particular powerful tool to understand, to test, and to manipulate the complex neurogenetical
interactions between molecular and cellular partners controlling such behaviors. We have shown that a
subset of glia is mastering the activity of a population of neurons involved in chemoperception in
Drosophila (e.g. glutamatergic neurons). We have also recently uncovered a striking molecular and
neuronal architecture regulating courtship using food odors instead of classical pheromones in fruit
flies. Our emerging team at the CSGA-UMR 6265 CNRS will expand these pioneer works to understand
how glia and neurons are interacting to impact fly chemosensory choice. For this aim, we will develop
powerful genetic tools in Drosophila to reveal and to manipulate the communication between glial
cells and neurons in peripheral sensory organs and in projection centers in the brain. We will also look
for conserved mechanisms in other insect species (mosquito). The expected data are susceptible to
touch a large scientific public since olfaction plays a key sensory modality in most animal species. The
collected data on glial function in neuronal activity control will have also a strong impact on finding
new strategies to understand neuronal disorders in humans.
End Date:
31/10/2017
Project ID:
322541
Host Institution:
Acronym:
MESSI
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Prof. Christian Lüscher
christian.luscher@unige.ch
www.unige.ch
Mesocorticolimbic System: functional anatomy,
drug-evoked synaptic plasticity & behavioral correlates of Synaptic Inhibition
The mesocorticolimbic (MCL) system, extending from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the nucleus
accumbens and prefrontal cortex, comprises a dopamine (DA) projection implicated in reinforcement
learning. The MCL system is the target of addictive substances and of drug-evoked synaptic plasticity, a
cellular mechanism that may underlie the adaptive, pathological behaviors that occur after repeated
drug exposure. While most previous work has focused on excitatory transmission, recent studies
suggest that inhibitory transmission may play a crucial role in mediating specific functions of the MCL
system. However the identity of the inhibitory synapses and circuits and the plasticity mechanisms
underlying these forms of normal and pathological learning remain elusive. We hypothesize that
distinct inhibitory circuits in the MCL system mediate specific behaviors and that adaptive synaptic
plasticity of these circuits are fundamental to both normal reward learning and addictive behaviors.
We will test this hypothesis using optogenetic projection targeting to characterize specific inhibitory
projections, to selectively change the activity of these neurons in freely behaving animals to explore
their behavioral relevance, and to identify precise circuit changes that underlie behavioral alterations
after drug exposure. Taken together, the experiments we propose will not only identify the specific
circuits and basic role of inhibition in mediating reward-related behaviors, but will allow us to
understand how the alteration of these circuits after drugs can result in pathological behavior.
Ultimately, our results will establish the importance of inhibitory synaptic transmission in the MCL
system, are likely to fundamentally change current views of this important modulatory system, and will
allow us to design strategies to interfere with drug-evoked synaptic plasticity to revert addictive
behavior.
End Date:
28/2/2018
Project ID:
323113
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NETSIGNAL
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Prof. Dmitri Rusakov
d.rusakov@ucl.ac.uk
Signal Formation in Synaptic Circuits with Astroglia
In the past decade, astroglia have emerged as an active and critical partner in neural circuit
communication in the brain, in health and disease. However, the increasing variety of mechanisms
which reportedly contribute to astroglia-neuron signal exchange is nearing a conceptual bottleneck.
How these multiple and diverse mechanisms relate to the functional organisation of astroglia, whether
this relationship persists or whether it adapts to neural activity remains poorly understood. Building
upon substantial preliminary work and extensive collaboration, our overall objective is to establish
principles that guide signal formation, integration and propagation in neural circuits interacting with
astroglia. We will focus mainly on hippocampal circuitry and combine single-cell electrophysiology,
multi-photon excitation imaging, time-resolved and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy,
pharmaco- and optogenetic tools and extensive biophysical and neural network modelling. Firstly, we
will establish whether and how glia-neuron signal exchange relates to the structure and function of
individual synaptic connections represented by postsynaptic dendritic spines and presynaptic axonal
boutons. Secondly, we will identify cellular mechanisms by which individual astrocytes integrate, in
space and time, calcium signals arising from distinct types of local physiological input. Thirdly, we will
determine physiological machinery that prompts use-dependent, meta-plastic changes in the neural
circuit-astroglia exchange and in glial signal processing. Fourthly, we will establish the relationship
between neural network oscillations and periodic activities of astroglial assemblies. Finally, we will
undertake a computational and theoretical analysis of principles that govern the role astroglia in
information handling by neural networks. We expect that the results will provide novel and conceptual
insights into the basic machinery underpinning the activity of brain circuits.
End Date:
31/5/2018
Project ID:
323606
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PARIETALACTION
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Prof. Guy A. Orban
guy.orban@med.kuleuven.be
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PARMA, PARMA, IT
www.unipr.it
The human Parietal Lobe
We will use univariate and multivariate functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) techniques,
surface and stereo EEG, and in depth single cell recording to investigate the role of human parietal lobe
in the monocular or stereoscopic observation of actions performed by conspecifics either using their
biological effectors or artificial implements (tools, spears, bicycle, microphone, etc). The fMRI
techniques will provide evidence for segregated processing of different types of observed actions
within the parietal cortex. The EEG techniques will provide the time course of the electric activity in the
parietal regions in comparison to the events and dynamic changes in the video and the time course in
other parts of the action observation network. The stereo EEG also provides a more precise localization
than fMRI, serving as an important confirmation of the fMRI results. The single cell recordings are
crucial to demonstrate the selectivity of the neuronal processes for actions observed, their postural or
kinematic parameters or localization in the visual field. This selectivity is crucial to show the presence
of mirror neurons for the different types of actions and the use of tools, to document the contribution
of the parietal neurons to discrimination between actions, and to assess the benefits of stereoscopic
viewing. This project should yield a comprehensive view of the role of parietal lobe in action planning
and understanding, including using artificial implements, and pave the way for understanding how
higher-order parietal cognitive processes are rooted in the simpler action planning and understanding
capacities.
End Date:
31/3/2018
Project ID:
335561
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CHEMOSENSORYCIRCUITS
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Prof. Emre Yaksi
emre.yaksi@nerf.be
NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET NTNU, TRONDHEIM,
NO
www.ntnu.no
Function of Chemosensory Circuits
Smell and taste are the least studied of all senses. Very little is known about chemosensory information
processing beyond the level of receptor neurons. Every morning we enjoy our coffee thanks to our
brains ability to combine and process multiple sensory modalities. Meanwhile, we can still review a
document on our desk by adjusting the weights of numerous sensory inputs that constantly bombard
our brains. Yet, the smell of our coffee may remind us that pleasant weekend breakfast through
associative learning and memory. In the proposed project we will explore the function and the
architecture of neural circuits that are involved in olfactory and gustatory information processing,
namely habenula and brainstem. Moreover we will investigate the fundamental principles underlying
multimodal sensory integration and the neural basis of behavior in these highly conserved brain areas.
To achieve these goals we will take an innovative approach by combining two-photon calcium imaging,
optogenetics and electrophysiology with the expanding genetic toolbox of a small vertebrate, the
zebrafish. This pioneering approach will enable us to design new types of experiments that were
unthinkable only a few years ago. Using this unique combination of methods, we will monitor and
perturb the activity of functionally distinct elements of habenular and brainstem circuits, in vivo. The
habenula and brainstem are important in mediating stress/anxiety and eating habits respectively.
Therefore, understanding the neural computations in these brain regions is important for
comprehending the neural mechanisms underlying psychological conditions related to anxiety and
eating disorders. We anticipate that our results will go beyond chemical senses and contribute new
insights to the understanding of how brain circuits work and interact with the sensory world to shape
neural activity and behavioral outputs of animals.
End Date:
31/3/2019
Project ID:
335590
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NEVAI
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Dr. Dario Bonanomi
bonanomi@salk.edu
Ospedale San Raffaele, MILANO, IT
www.hsr.it
Neurovascular Interactions and Pathfinding in the Spinal Motor System
Neurons and blood vessels rely on common guidance signals to wire into elaborate neural and vascular
networks that are closely juxtaposed and interdependent: vascular supply of oxygen and nutrients is
essential to sustain the high metabolic rate of the nervous system, and conversely neural control of
vascular tone is crucial for circulatory homeostasis. However, it remains unclear how the nervous and
vascular systems establish an intimate physical and functional relationship. This proposal seeks to
reveal the developmental mechanisms that link neuronal connectivity and vascularization of the
nervous system, focusing on the interactions between vascular endothelial cells and spinal motor
neurons that control locomotion, respiration and autonomic responses. Motor neuron diseases and a
variety of other neurodegenerative conditions are precipitated by vascular abnormalities. Thus,
understanding the molecular basis of neurovascular crosstalk may offer novel therapeutic
opportunities. My group will use mutagenesis-based forward genetics in reporter mice combined with
gene profiling of motor neurons and endothelial cells to screen for novel regulators of neurovascular
interactions and pathfinding. Candidate genes will be further characterized using in vivo mouse and
chick models, in addition to in vitro studies to uncover the mechanisms of action. Through this multidisciplinary approach, the proposal will address these fundamental questions: (i) Do neurovascular
interactions instruct the assembly of neural and vascular networks? (ii) What signaling pathways
connect region-specific vascularization of the CNS to the local metabolic and functional demand of
neuronal tissues? (iii) What mechanisms account for specificity, spatiotemporal control and integration
of guidance signaling? In addition, this research plan will generate comprehensive
transcriptional/proteomic datasets and novel mouse mutants for future studies of neurovascular
communication and patterning.
End Date:
31/12/2019
Project ID:
337011
Acronym:
LUNAR.CLOCK
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Dr. Karla Gisela Kristin Tessmar-Raible
kristin.tessmar@mfpl.ac.at
UNIVERSITAET WIEN, WIEN, AT
www.univie.ac.at
Molecular neurobiology of a moonlight entrained circalunar clock
Numerous scientific studies have established that the lunar cycle synchronizes reproductive behaviour
and sexual maturation of animals as diverse as corals, polychaetes and fishes. Classical and recent work
shows that in animals such as the annelid Platynereis dumerilii, dim nocturnal light serves as
entrainment cue for an endogenous oscillator – a circalunar clock – that orchestrates reproductive and
behavioral cycles. As circalunar clocks run with a (semi-)monthly period, they represent a fundamental
biological phenomenon clearly distinct from the widely studied, solar light-entrained circadian (24h)
clocks. Despite the vital importance of circalunar clocks, very little is known about the underlying
molecular processes and responsible neuron types. This knowledge gap reflects the fact that until now,
no suitable model system has been available to study circalunar clocks on the molecular and cellular
level. This proposal takes full advantage of the recent establishment of substantial molecular resources
and critical techniques for functional analyses in Platynereis, as well as our pioneering work on the first
circalunar clock-regulated genes and the identification of four molecular candidates for the nocturnal
light receptor. This now allows us to tackle two fundamental objectives: First, we aim to discover the
molecular and cellular nature of the lunar light sensor(s) and their interplay with solar light
photoreceptors. Second, we aim to characterize circalunar oscillatory genes and their associated
neuron types that will pave the way to unravel the molecular and cellular nature of the circalunar
oscillator. This work will provide new mechanistic insight into an unexplored biological mysterycircalunar clocks and their regulation by light. It also offers new conceptual advance into how animals
accomplish the separation of diurnal versus nocturnal light information for the synchronization of
reproductive behaviour, a challenge common in the natural environment.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
339237
Acronym:
P75NTR
Prof. Carlos Fernando Ibañez Moliner
carlos.ibanez@ki.se
KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET, STOCKHOLM, SE
www.ki.se
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Understanding death-receptor signaling and physiology in the nervous system: A roadmap for the
development of new treatments to neurodegenerative diseases and neurotrauma
The aim of this proposal is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms and physiological relevance of
death-receptor signaling in the nervous system and to harness this knowledge for the development of
novel treatments to neurodegenerative diseases and neurotrauma. The main focus is on the p75
neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR), which is predominantly expressed in the developing nervous system
and is highly induced upon different types of adult neural injury. Additional studies on other death
receptors, such as DR6, are also described. p75NTR signaling can induce neuronal death, reduce axonal
growth and decrease synaptic function, hence there is a good rationale for inhibiting p75NTR in neural
injury and neurodegeneration. Recent discoveries from my laboratory have clarified the mechanism of
p75NTR activation and provided new insights into the underlying logic of p75NTR signaling, paving the
way for a genetic dissection of p75NTR function and physiology. These discoveries have open new
avenues to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying ligand-specific responses and downstream
signal propagation by death-receptors, unravel the physiological relevance of death-receptor signaling
pathways in health and disease, and develop new strategies to block death-receptor activity in neural
injury and neurodegeneration. To drive progress in this research area it is proposed to: i) Elucidate the
mechanisms by which p75NTR and other death receptors become activated by different ligands and
elicit distinct, ligand-specific cellular responses; ii) Elucidate the mechanisms underlying the specificity
and diversity of p75NTR signaling and decipher their underlying logic; iii) Elucidate the physiological
significance of distinct p75NTR signaling pathways through genetic dissection in knock-in mice; iv)
Harness this knowledge to identify and characterize novel p75NTR inhibitors. This is research of a highgain/high-risk nature, posed to open unique opportunities in research & development.
End Date:
31/5/2019
Project ID:
340318
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PEPTIDELEARNING
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Prof. Liliane Schoofs
liliane.schoofs@bio.kuleuven.be
KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN, LEUVEN, BE
www.kuleuven.be
The Role of Neuropeptides in Learning and Memory.
Humanity has always been intrigued by the nearly mythical properties of the brain. With its billions of
neurons and innumerable connections, the brain is of such complex nature, that trying to understand it
may seem a vain project. Yet, by using the ‘mini-brain’ of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans,
which shares many components with the human brain but counts only 302 neurons, thorough research
can penetrate into this complexity. We here pursue to deliver a much-needed understanding of how
learning and memory processes are regulated by neuropeptide signaling in the brain. Neuropeptides
are small regulatory proteins that are implicated in a variety of processes. Growing evidence exists for
their involvement in learning and memory, but how they exert these effects is largely unexplored. In C.
elegans we recently disentangled a conserved vasopressin/ocytocin-related system that –as in
humans– mediates associative learning. As such, we can deliver the experience, model and logical
approach to provide detailed insights in neuropeptidergic control of learning and memory. We will first
identify the endogenous ligand of all orphan C. elegans neuropeptide GPCRs, as this will provide the
essential basis to build this project on. Mutants of neuropeptide-receptor pairs will then be tested for
their ability to learn or maintain associative short- or long-term memory. We will also define in which
cells and circuits relevant neuropeptides and receptors are needed for these functions, in order to
generate models of neuropeptidergic control of learning and memory. We envisage the use of novel
tools and cutting-edge experimental setups to take this research beyond its current horizon. Via single
cell RNA sequencing, optogenetic analyses and in vivo calcium imaging, we will develop a workflow to
build integrative models of associative learning and memory processes mediated by neuropeptides,
which will serve as a scaffold for the study of these processes in more complex brains.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
615094
Acronym:
EVONEURO
Prof. Richard Roland Benton
richard.benton@unil.ch
UNIVERSITE DE LAUSANNE, LAUSANNE, CH
www.unil.ch
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Evolution of olfactory circuits
Nervous systems have undergone remarkable diversification in their structure and function as animals
have adapted to distinct ecological niches. What are the genetic mechanisms underlying neural circuit
evolution? The project addresses this fundamental question in the Drosophila olfactory system, a
superior "evo-neuro" model for several reasons: (i) as in mammals, the Drosophila olfactory system has
a modular organization, with individual olfactory receptors functionally and anatomically defining
discrete sensory circuits that can be traced from the periphery to the brain; (ii) these circuits are
dynamically evolving, with frequent acquisition (and loss) of receptors, olfactory neurons and odorevoked behaviors with the ever-changing landscape of environmental volatiles; (iii) Drosophila offers
unparalleled experimental accessibility to visualize and manipulate neural circuits; (iv) a wealth of
insect genomes permits comparative studies to relate intra- and interspecific genotypic and phenotypic
variation. Five aims address distinct aspects of olfactory circuit evolution: 1. Evolution of receptor
specificity; 2. Evolution of receptor expression; 3. Evolution of sensory neuron targeting; 4. Evolution of
interneuron wiring; 5. Evolution of olfactory behavior. This multidisciplinary project uses cutting-edge
approaches in comparative genomics, electrophysiology, neurogenetics, transcriptomics, behavioral
tracking and population genetics. By addressing how particular olfactory circuits and behaviors have
evolved in Drosophila, it will provide general insights into the genetic mechanisms of nervous system
evolution relevant both for other brain regions and for other species. We also anticipate that
determining how brains have been sculpted through random mutation and natural selection in the past
may enable future directed manipulation of the connectivity and activity of neural circuits, to enhance
our understanding of brains and our ability to repair them.
End Date:
31/5/2019
Project ID:
638314
Acronym:
MoNaLISA
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Dr. Ilaria Testa
itesta@gwdg.de
KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLAN, STOCKHOLM, SE
www.kth.se
Long-term molecular nanoscale imaging of neuronal function
Synaptic function is difficult to analyze in living neurons using conventional optics, since the synaptic
organelles and protein clusters are small and tightly spaced. The solution to this problem can come
from the field of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy, or nanoscopy. However, the current
approaches to nanoscopy are still far from reaching this goal. Single molecule-based approaches
(including STORM and PALM) provide high spatial resolution, but slow recording, insufficient for live
imaging. Ensemble approaches (including SSIM and STED) are able to record faster, but with poorer
resolution or with high, potentially toxic, laser powers. It is currently impossible to image the same
neuron for hours and days, with both high spatial (~30 nm) and temporal (10-1000 Hz) resolution, and
with minimal photodamage. My aim is to fill this gap, by developing, for the first time, a microscope
that combines the advantages of both single molecule-based and ensemble approaches. I will base the
microscope on RESOLFT, a low-photodamage ensemble approach that I have pioneered recently. I will
use line patterns to speed up the recording and 2photon-switching for 3D ability. I will combine this
with sensitive detection schemes that allow single-molecule detection and counting, relying on my
previous expertise with PALM and GSDIM. The new set-up, termed molecular nanoscale long-term
imaging with sequential acquisition (MoNaLISA), will track neuronal organelles and proteins on
different time scales, spanning from milliseconds to days, with a resolution close to the molecular
scale. To obtain the first proof-of-principle results, I will address several issues still open in the synaptic
transmission field, relating to synaptic vesicle recycling, biogenesis and degradation. Overall, my
project will introduce a novel paradigm to imaging in the life sciences, which will enable fast and
quantitative nano-imaging of cells and tissues.
End Date:
31/3/2020
Project ID:
639272
Acronym:
SurfaceInhibition
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Dr. Koen Gerard Aloïs Vervaeke
koenv@ibv.uio.no
UNIVERSITETET I OSLO, OSLO, NO
www.uio.no
The role of 5HT3a inhibitory interneurons in sensory processing
How do cortical circuits process sensory stimuli that leads to perception? Sensory input is encoded by
complex interactions between principal excitatory neurons and a diverse population of inhibitory cells.
Distinct inhibitory neurons control different subcellular domains of target principal neurons, suggesting
specific roles of different cells during sensory processing. However, the individual contribution of these
inhibitory subtypes to sensory processing remains poorly understood. This is mainly due to the
technical challenges of recording the activity of identified cell types in-vivo, in response to quantified
sensory stimuli. Therefore, I propose a novel approach based on four pillars: 1) An optically accessible
circuit in the superficial layers of the cortex, comprised of inhibitory cells expressing the serotonin
receptor 5HT3a, and the distal dendrites of pyramidal neurons. 2) A novel combination of
electrophysiology and 3D two-photon imaging to simultaneously record the activity of morphologically
identified 5HT3a cells and their dendritic targets. 3) A head-fixed perceptual decision task, whereby
mice use their whiskers to determine the location of an object, allowing an accurate description of the
sensory stimulus. 4) The integration of experimental data and computer models to gain mechanistic
insights into circuit functions. The 5HT3a cells and the distal dendrites of pyramidal neurons receive
‘top-down’ contextual information from other cortical areas that is essential for constructing
meaningful perceptions of sensory stimuli. Thus I hypothesize that 5HT3a cells influence sensory
perceptions by controlling the excitability of the pyramidal cell distal dendrites that integrate top-down
and sensory input. Thus, I will not only reveal novel functions of inhibitory neurons, I will also shed light
on how top-down and sensory input is integrated, and I will provide novel methods to test the
functions of other cell types in normal mice and disease models.
End Date:
31/3/2020
Project ID:
640093
Acronym:
LOCOMOUSE
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Dr. Megan Rose Carey
megan.carey@neuro.fchampalimaud.org
FUNDACAO D. ANNA SOMMER CHAMPALIMAUD E DR. CARLOS MONTEZ
CHAMPALIMAUD, LISBOA, PT
http://fchampalimaud.org/
Cerebellar circuit mechanisms of coordinated locomotion in mice
A remarkable aspect of motor control is our seemingly effortless ability to generate coordinated
movements. How is activity within neural circuits orchestrated to allow us to engage in complex
activities like gymnastics, riding a bike, or walking down the street while drinking a cup of coffee? The
cerebellum is critical for coordinated movement, and the well-described, stereotyped circuitry of the
cerebellum has made it an attractive system for neural circuits research. Much is known about how
activity and plasticity in its identified cell types contribute to simple forms of motor learning. In
contrast, while gait ataxia, or uncoordinated walking, is a hallmark of cerebellar damage, the circuit
mechanisms underlying cerebellar contributions to coordinated locomotion are not well understood.
One limitation has been the difficulty in extracting quantitative measures of coordination from the
complex, whole body action of locomotion. We have developed a custom-built system (LocoMouse) to
analyze mouse locomotor coordination. It tracks continuous paw, snout, and tail trajectories in 3D with
unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution and it has allowed us to identify specific, quantitative
locomotor elements that depend on intact cerebellar function. Here we will combine this quantitative
behavioral approach with electrophysiology and optogenetics to investigate circuit mechanisms of
locomotor coordination. We will 1) Optogenetically silence the output of cerebellar subregions to
understand their distinct contributions to locomotion. 2) Record from identified neurons and correlate
their activity with specific locomotor parameters. 3) Optogenetically stimulate defined cell types to
investigate circuit mechanisms of coordinated locomotion. These experiments will establish causal
relationships between neural circuit activity and coordinated motor control, a problem with important
implications for both health and disease.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
646880
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SynChI
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Dr. Joshua Avi Goldberg
joshg@ekmd.huji.ac.il
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM, IL
www.huji.ac.il
Striatal cholinergic cell assemblies in movement disorders
Pathological neuronal synchrony is the hallmark of many neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s
disease (PD) and Huntington’s disease (HD), which further share deficits in cholinergic signaling.
Moreover, recent findings have underscored the therapeutic relevance of the synchrony among striatal
cholinergic interneurons (ChI) that orchestrate this signaling. They have shown that excessively
synchronous ChI discharge induces di-synaptic release of dopamine, GABA and glutamate. Here, I
propose to elucidate how ChI synchronization is generated under normal and pathological conditions
and thereby identify novel therapeutic targets to treat PD and HD. This study has only very recently
become feasible with the advent of powerful tools that I have mastered to explore ChI synchrony. We
will employ a combination of cutting-edge in vitro and in vivo techniques to simultaneously record a far
larger population of pre-identified ChIs than is currently possible. We will express GCaMP6, a
genetically encoded calcium indicator (GECI), exclusively in ChIs, and use multiphoton microscopy to
image calcium transients from several ChIs simultaneously in conjunction with intracellular recording
from individual ChIs in acute brain slices and in anesthetized mice. Additionally, we will use endoscopic
GECI imaging in freely-moving classically conditioned mice. We will employ modern analyses that
reveal low-dimensional structures in large neuronal datasets to quantify synchrony (1) during on-going
activity; (2) during optogenetic activation of afferents; and (3), in the freely-moving mice, while
presenting conditioned cues. Finally, we will study the origins of pathological synchrony in PD and HD
mouse models and explore means to correct this condition. This comprehensive approach should
explain the pathological ChI synchrony observed in PD; identify novel targets to treat PD and HD; and
create a general methodology to study pathological synchrony in many other neurological disorders.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
647989
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Brain circRNAs
Evaluation Panel:
Disorders
Dr. Sebastian Kadener
skadener@cc.huji.ac.il
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM, IL
www.huji.ac.il
Rounding the circle: Unravelling the biogenesis, function and mechanism of action of circRNAs in the
Drosophila brain.
Tight regulation of RNA metabolism is essential for normal brain function. This includes co and posttranscriptional regulation, which are extremely prevalent in neurons. Recently, circular RNAs
(circRNAs), a highly abundant new type of regulatory non-coding RNA have been found across the
animal kingdom. Two of these RNAs have been shown to act as miRNA sponges but no function is
known for the thousands of other circRNAs, indicating the existence of a widespread layer of previously
unknown gene regulation.The present proposal aims to comprehensively determine the role and mode
of actions of circRNAs in gene expression and RNA metabolism in the fly brain. We will do so by
studying their biogenesis, transport, and mechanism of action, as well as by determining the roles of
circRNAs in neuronal function and behaviour. Briefly, we will: 1) identify factors involved in the
biogenesis, localization, and stabilization of circRNAs; 2) determine neuro-developmental, molecular,
neural and behavioural phenotypes associated with down or up regulation of specific circRNAs; 3)
study the molecular mechanisms of action of circRNAs: identify circRNAs that work as miRNA sponges
and determine whether circRNAs can encode proteins or act as signalling molecules and 4) perform
mechanistic studies in order to determine cause-effect relationships between circRNA function and
brain physiology and behaviour. The present proposal will reveal the key pathways by which circRNAs
control gene expression and influence neuronal function and behaviour. Therefore it will be one of the
pioneer works in the study of this new and important area of research, which we predict will
fundamentally transform the study of gene expression regulation in the brain
End Date:
31/1/2021
Project ID:
309704
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
MUTFLYGUTBACT
LS6 - Immunity and Infection
Dr. François Eric Leulier
francois.leulier@ens-lyon.fr
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, LYON, FR
www.cnrs.fr
Host-intestinal bacteria mutualism: "Learning on the fly"
Metazoans establish reciprocal interactions with the bacterial communities that colonize their mucosal
surfaces. These interactions contribute to many aspects of host physiology including the promotion of
digestive efficiency and proper immune system development and homeostasis. In return, the
microbiota derives benefit from the association with its host by inhabiting a nutrient rich environment.
When deregulated this relationship results in pathological outcomes such as episodic infectious
diseases, chronic inflammatory diseases, metabolic disorders or even some cancers. Despite recent
progress, a clear view of the physiological benefits associated with host/microbiota relationship
remains elusive. Hence the molecular mechanisms through which the microbiota exerts its beneficial
influences are still largely undefined. The goal of this research proposal is to decipher the molecular
dialogue governing the mutualistic interaction between intestinal bacteria and their host. To this end,
we will use an animal model, Drosophila melanogaster and one of its natural commensals,
Lactobacillus plantarum. We aim to develop a multiscale functional approach to study the molecular
mechanisms underlying their mutualistic association. This integrated approach will couple a host and a
bacteria centred-view of this beneficial interaction to identify, the bacterial and host genetic networks
required to sustain a mutualistic relationship. We will reveal how these molecular activities translate
into cellular, tissular and organismal functional benefits and will uncover the interdependency of these
benefits. Using a model lactic acid bacteria species and an animal host model with evolutionary
conserved molecular and physiological features, our approach is relevant to most lactobacilli/host
interactions including those occurring in humans. This project will provide fresh and unbiased insight
into the fundamental biological question of host/microbe mutualism.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
323035
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ANTI-VIROME
Prof. Frank Kirchhoff
frank.kirchhoff@uni-ulm.de
UNIVERSITAET ULM, ULM, DE
https://www.uni-ulm.de
Evaluation Panel:
A combined evolutionary and proteomics approach to the discovery, induction and application of
antiviral immunity factors
Humans are equipped with a variety of intrinsic immunity or host restriction factors. These evolved
under positive selection pressure for diversification and represent a first line of defence against
invading viruses. Unfortunately, however, many pathogens have evolved effective antagonists against
our defences. For example, the capability of HIV-1 to counteract human restriction factors that
interfere with reverse transcription, uncoating and virion release has been a prerequisite for the global
spread of AIDS. We are just beginning to understand the diversity and induction of antiretroviral
factors and how pandemic HIV-1 group M (major) strains evolved to counteract all of them. Here, I
propose to use a genetics, proteomics and evolutionary approach to discover and define as-yetunknown antiviral effectors and their inducers. To identify novel antiviral factors, we will examine the
capability of all primate genes that are under strong positive selection pressure to inhibit HIV and its
simian (SIV) precursors. This examination from the evolutionary perspective of the invading pathogen
will also reveal which adaptations allowed HIV-1 to cause the AIDS pandemic. Furthermore, complex
peptide-protein libraries representing essentially the entire human peptidome, will be utilized to
identify novel specific inducers of antiviral restriction factors. My ultimate aim is to unravel the
network of inducers and effectors of antiviral immunity - the "Anti-Virome" - and to use this knowledge
to develop novel effective preventive and therapeutic approaches based on the induction of
combinations of antiviral factors targeting different steps of the viral life cycle. The results of this
innovative and interdisciplinary program will provide fundamental new insights into intrinsic immunity
and may offer alternatives to conventional vaccine and therapeutic approaches because most
restriction factors have broad antiviral activity and are thus effective against various pathogens.
End Date:
31/3/2018
Project ID:
323040
Host Institution:
Acronym:
EPINFLAM
Prof. Manolis Pasparakis
pasparakis@uni-koeln.de
UNIVERSITAET ZU KOELN, KOELN, DE
www.uni-koeln.de
Evaluation Panel:
Epithelial cells in inflammation
The cross talk between the host and the microbiota is believed to be the major determinant of health
and disease in the gastrointestinal tract. Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic inflammatory
conditions of the intestine with unclear aetiology. Deregulation of the cross talk between the intestinal
microbiota and the host immune system is considered a main factor contributing to IBD. Genomic
studies revealed associations of NOD2 and of genes regulating autophagy and ER stress with an
increased risk for IBD. Mutations in these pathways compromise Paneth cell dependent epithelial
antibacterial defences causing alterations in the intestinal microbiota, termed dysbiosis. However,
mutations in NOD2 or autophagy genes are not sufficient to cause intestinal inflammation in humans
or in mice, suggesting that dysbiosis by itself cannot cause inflammation but additional, as yet
unidentified, factors are required to precipitate the pathogenesis of IBD in genetically susceptible
individuals. Mouse model studies revealed that epithelial specific mutations sensitizing intestinal
epithelial cells to apoptosis or necroptosis triggered spontaneous intestinal pathologies with many
features of human IBD, including loss of Paneth cells, impaired epithelial antimicrobial defences and
chronic intestinal inflammation. We hypothesize that pathways controlling programmed cell death
critically contribute to the pathogenesis of IBD by acting on Paneth cells to regulate epithelial
antibacterial defences and simultaneously regulating intestinal epithelial cell survival and the integrity
of the epithelial barrier. The aims of this research proposal are: a) to dissect the pathways regulating
Paneth cell death and the development of dysbiosis in the gut, and b) to elucidate the additional
genetic or environmental factors regulating intestinal epithelial barrier integrity that are likely to
synergise with Paneth cell dysfunction and dysbiosis to trigger chronic intestinal inflammation.
End Date:
30/4/2018
Project ID:
335809
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SUMOFLU
Dr. Benjamin Hale
hale.ben@virology.uzh.ch
UNIVERSITAET ZUERICH, ZURICH, CH
http://www.uzh.ch
Evaluation Panel:
Interplay between influenza viruses and host SUMO pathways
Influenza viruses cause a significant seasonal disease burden and continually threaten to initiate
human pandemics. Antivirals are available for treatment of influenza, however drug-resistant viruses
often emerge. Thus, there is urgent need to develop new antivirals with lower chances of selecting
resistance. As viruses rely extensively on cellular functions, one way to minimise resistance is to target
new antivirals against host factors. This concept requires a fundamental understanding of mechanisms
underpinning the interplay between influenza viruses and their hosts. In this project, we will
investigate the role that host SUMO pathways play during influenza virus replication. SUMO proteins
are important regulators of cell signalling, and are covalently linked to other proteins in order to alter
structure, localization or function. As such, SUMO conjugation regulates many diverse aspects of
biology. Our own work shows that global cellular SUMOylation increases during influenza virus
infection, and that virus replication is severely impaired when cells are depleted of key enzymes and
components required for general SUMO conjugation. Here, we will determine what viral components
trigger SUMOylation, and which specific cellular enzymes are involved. We will characterize where in
the cell SUMO conjugates accumulate, and for the first time apply large-scale affinity-based
quantitative proteomics to the identification of proteins that become SUMO modified during infection.
A key aim will be to correlate changes to the SUMO sub-proteome with the function of specific host
SUMO-modifying enzymes, thereby establishing the mechanistic role of these modifications during
virus replication. Understanding basic mechanisms underlying SUMOylation during influenza virus
infection will provide new insights into the fundamental biology of these important pathogens. The
work could also lead to identification of key cellular pathways that can be exploited as novel
therapeutic targets
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
337399
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
PNEUMOCELL
Dr. Jan-Willem Veening
j.w.veening@rug.nl
RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN, GRONINGEN, NL
www.rug.nl
Noise in gene expression as a determinant of virulence of the human pathogen Streptococcus
pneumoniae
Not all cells in bacterial populations exhibit exactly the same phenotype, even though they grow in the
same environment and are genetically identical. One of the main driving forces of phenotypic variation
is stochasticity, or noise, in gene expression. Possible molecular origins contributing to noise in protein
synthesis are stochastic fluctuations in the biochemical reactions of gene expression itself, namely
transcription and translation. The driving hypothesis of this application is that the human pathogen
Streptococcus pneumoniae utilizes noisy gene expression to successfully colonize and invade its host.
To test this supposition, the total amount of noise in key regulatory networks for virulence factor
production will be quantified. Using natural and synthetic bistable switches as highly sensitive probes
for noise, in combination with state-of-the-art single-cell imaging, microfluidics and direct
transcriptome sequencing, the molecular mechanisms underlying noise generation in S. pneumoniae
will be determined. By constructing strains with altered levels of phenotypic variation, the importance
of noisy gene expression in S. pneumoniae pathogenesis will be tested. S. pneumoniae is a leading
cause of bacterial pneumoniae, meningitis, and sepsis worldwide. The molecular mechanisms that
cause switching of S. pneumoniae to its virulent states are barely understood, although it becomes
increasingly clear that noise-driven phenotypic variation plays an important role in pneumococcal
pathogenesis. Therefore, understanding the molecular origins of phenotypic variation in S.
pneumoniae might not only provide novel fundamental insights in gene expression, but also result in
the identification of new anti-pneumococcal targets.
End Date:
31/10/2018
Project ID:
340217
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
MCS-INTEST
Prof. Georgios Kollias
kollias@fleming.gr
BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER ALEXANDER FLEMING, VARI, EL
www.fleming.gr
Mesenchymal Cells of the Lamina Propria in Intestinal Epithelial and Immunological Homeostasis.
Mesenchymal cells (MCs) of the intestinal lamina propria refer to a variety of cell types, most
commonly intestinal myofibroblasts, fibroblasts, pericytes, and mesenchymal stromal cells, which show
many similarities in terms of origin, function and molecular markers. Understanding the physiological
significance of MCs in epithelial and immunological homeostasis and the pathophysiology of chronic
intestinal inflammatory and neoplastic disease remains a great challenge. In this proposal, we put
forward the challenging hypothesis that, especially during acute or chronic inflammatory and
tumorigenic conditions, MCs play important physiological roles in intestinal homeostasis regulating key
processes such as epithelial damage, regeneration and tumorigenesis, intestinal inflammation and
lymphoid tissue formation. We further posit that a unifying principle underlying such functions would
be the innate character of MCs, which we hypothesize are capable of directly sensing and metabolizing
innate signals from microbiota or cytokines in order to exert homeostatic epithelial and immunological
regulatory functions in the intestine. We will be using genetic approaches to target innate pathways in
MCs and state of the art phenotyping to discover the physiologically important signals orchestrating
intestinal homeostasis in various animal models of intestinal pathophysiology. We will also study MC
lineage relations and plasticity during disease and develop ways to interfere therapeutically with MC
physiology to achieve translational added value for intestinal diseases, as well as for a range of other
pathologies sharing similar characteristics.
End Date:
30/6/2019
Project ID:
614578
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
DANGER ATP
Dr. Pablo Pelegrin Vivancos
pablo.pelegrin@ffis.es
FUNDACION PARA LA FORMACION E INVESTIGACION SANITARIAS DE LA
REGION DE MURCIA, MURCIA, ES
www.ffis.es
Regulation of inflammatory response by extracellular ATP and P2X7 receptor signalling: through and
beyond the inflammasome.
Inflammatory diseases affect over 80 million people worldwide and accompany many diseases of
industrialized countries, being the majority of them infection-free conditions. There are few efficient
anti-inflammatory drugs to treat chronic inflammation and thus, there is an urgent need to validate
novel targets. We now know that innate immunity is the main coordinator and driver of inflammation.
Recently, we and others have shown that the activation of purinergic P2X7 receptors (P2X7R) in
immune cells is a novel and increasingly validated pathway to initiate inflammation through the
activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and the release of IL-1β and IL-18 cytokines. However, how
NLRP3 sense P2X7R activation is not fully understood. Furthermore, extracellular ATP, the physiological
P2X7R agonist, is a crucial danger signal released by injured cells, and one of the most important
mediators of infection-free inflammation. We have also identified novel signalling roles for P2X7R
independent on the NLRP3 inflammasome, including the release of proteases or inflammatory lipids.
Therefore, P2X7R has generated increasing interest as a therapeutic target in inflammatory diseases,
being drug like P2X7R antagonist in clinical trials to treat inflammatory diseases. However, it is often
questioned the functionality of P2X7R in vivo, where it is thought that extracellular ATP levels are
below the threshold to activate P2X7R. The overall significance of this proposal relays to elucidate how
extracellular ATP controls host-defence in vivo, ultimately depicting P2X7R signalling through and
beyond inflammasome activation. We foresee that our results will generate a leading innovative
knowledge about in vivo extracellular ATP signalling during the host response to infection and sterile
danger.
End Date:
31/8/2019
Project ID:
615680
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
VIVARNASILENCING
Dr. Ronald Van Rij
r.vanrij@ncmls.ru.nl
STICHTING KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT, NIJMEGEN, NL
www.ru.nl and www.umcn.nl
Antiviral Defense in the Vector Mosquito Aedes aegypti: induction and suppression of RNA silencing
pathways
BACKGROUND: Mosquitoes and other blood-feeding arthropods transmit important human and animal
viruses (arthropod-borne viruses, arboviruses). With the increasing global threat of arboviruses, it is
essential to understand the virus-vector interactions that determine virus transmission. The mosquito
antiviral immune response is a key determinant of virus replication and transmission. We recently
showed that arboviruses are targeted by a poorly-understood RNA silencing pathway in the major
vector mosquito Aedes aegypti: the Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway. Our (published and
unpublished) observations imply that the piRNA pathway contributes to antiviral defense against
different classes of viruses in somatic tissues of mosquitoes. Moreover, we identified a novel class of
endogenous gene-derived piRNAs in mosquitoes that may form a new paradigm for piRNA-based
regulation of cellular gene expression. AIM: This proposal has a three-fold aim: i) to delineate the
biogenesis and function of the novel classes of virus- and gene-derived piRNAs, ii) to characterize
mechanisms by which (arbo)viruses suppress or evade antiviral RNA silencing pathways, and by doing
so, iii) to establish mosquitoes as an experimental model to characterize the complex piRNA
machinery. APPROACH: We will use Aedes cell lines that recapitulate all aspects of piRNA biogenesis.
This allows us to use a unique, powerful approach of genomic, cell biological, biochemical, and
proteomic methodologies to study piRNA biogenesis and function. IMPORTANCE AND INNOVATION:
This is the first study to comprehensively characterize viral and cellular piRNA biogenesis and function
in mosquitoes. This proposal provides novel insights into the antiviral response in mosquitoes and may
uncover novel regulatory functions of endogenous piRNAs. Moreover, it establishes a platform for
functional and biochemical dissection of the complex biogenesis of piRNAs - the most enigmatic class
of small silencing RNAs.
End Date:
31/7/2019
Project ID:
616050
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
MYELOSHOCK
Dr. Pierre Bruhns
bruhns@pasteur.fr
PARIS, FR
www.inserm.fr
Role of myeloid cells, their mediators and their antibody receptors in allergic shock (anaphylaxis)
using humanized mouse models and clinical samples
Anaphylaxis is a hyperacute allergic reaction of increasing incidence that can be of fatal consequence
and that has no specific treatment. Anaphylaxis is thought to rely on mechanisms involving mast cells
that bear allergen-specific IgE and that release histamine when encountering allergen. Clinical cases,
however, report anaphylaxis in the absence of specific IgE or medical history of allergy. We reported
that murine models of anaphylaxis rely on IgG, rather than on IgE, that enable neutrophils, monocytes
and basophils, rather than mast cells, to release Platelet Activating Factor following engagement of
their IgG receptors. Supporting these findings, allergen-specific IgG are found in anaphylactic patients,
and we reported that anaphylaxis in mice expressing a human IgG receptor relies also on circulating
myeloid cells. We aim at unravelling the parameters that control anaphylaxis in a novel clinicallyrelevant model of drug-induced anaphylaxis, strengthened by human-based studies involved patients
undergoing drug-induced anaphylaxis in collaboration with clinicians and, altogether, rethink the
principles of anaphylaxis. Do allergen-specific IgG concur to anaphylaxis in humans? Do these IgG
antibodies regulate IgE-induced reactions? Which IgG receptors are involved? In which tissue does the
anaphylactic reaction start? Which cell type(s) are responsible? Among the mediators that are
released, which ones are responsible for the shock? Can an anaphylactic reaction be stopped
specifically for an allergen? We propose to address these questions by exploiting humanized mice we
obtained and by establishing novel models, by visualizing anaphylactic reactions in real time in vivo, by
dissecting the cascade of events leading to the shock. Finally, we aim at establishing the proof of
concept of allergen capture/encapsulation and propose the first allergen-specific strategy for treating
the life-threatening clinical situation that represents drug-induced anaphylaxis.
End Date:
31/8/2019
Project ID:
617432
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
MOMAAV
Dr. Federico Mingozzi
fmingozzi@genethon.fr
UNIVERSITE PIERRE ET MARIE CURIE - PARIS 6, PARIS, FR
www.upmc.fr
Molecular signatures and Modulation of immunity to Adeno-Associated Virus vectors
Experience with adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector-mediated gene transfer in human trials has
unveiled the therapeutic potential of this approach, with some of the most exciting results coming
from clinical studies of gene transfer for hemophilia B, congenital blindness, and the recent market
approval of the first AAV-based gene therapy in Europe. Follow-up data of subjects treated with AAV
vectors is showing sustained correction of the disease phenotype for several years after gene transfer,
and recent data confirmed that AAV vectors can drive expression of a transgene in humans for >10
years. With clinical development, however, some of the limitations of the approach, not entirely
identified in preclinical studies, became obvious; in particular it is well established that the host
immune system represents an important obstacle to be overcome in terms of both safety and efficacy
of gene transfer in vivo with AAV vectors. The overall goal of this proposal is to gain critical, missing
knowledge on the interactions between AAV vectors and the immune system in order to develop
strategies to achieve safe, effective, and long-lasting gene transfer in humans. In this proposal we will:
1) Define the molecular signatures of the immune system in humans undergoing gene transfer with
AAV vectors using cutting-edge, high-content immunophenotyping technologies; 2) Study the role of
anti-AAV antibodies as determinants of AAV capsid immunogenicity using both in vitro and in vivo
systems; 3) Identify novel pharmacological and cellular approaches to overcome T cell immunity to
AAV; 4) Develop novel strategies to overcome pre-existing antibody responses to AAV. This proposal
exploits the knowledge and the skills available in our lab to develop new tools and to provide novel,
basic insights into the human immune responses to AAV that will have a direct impact on the quality of
life of patients affected by inherited disorders.
End Date:
30/6/2019
Project ID:
639209
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
ComBact
Dr. Suzan Rooijakkers
s.h.m.rooijakkers@umcutrecht.nl
UNIVERSITAIR MEDISCH CENTRUM UTRECHT, UTRECHT, NL
www.umcutrecht.nl
How complement molecules kill bacteria
This proposal aims to provide insight into how bacteria are killed by the complement system, an
important part of the host immune response against bacterial infections. Complement is a large
protein network in plasma that labels bacteria for phagocytosis and directly kills them via the
formation of a pore-forming complex (Membrane Attack Complex (MAC)). Currently we do not
understand how complement activation results in bacterial killing. This knowledge gap is mainly caused
by the lack of tools to study the enzymes that trigger MAC formation: the C5 convertases. In my lab,
we recently established a novel assay system for C5 convertases that allows us for the first time to
study these enzymes under purified conditions. This model, combined with my expertise in
microbiology, places my lab in a unique position to understand C5 convertase biology (Aim 1),
determine the enzyme's role in MAC functioning (Aim 2) and elucidate how the MAC kills bacteria (Aim
3). Thus, I aim to provide insight into the molecular events necessary for bacterial killing by the
complement system. I will use biochemical, structural and microbiological approaches to elucidate the
precise molecular arrangement of C5 convertases in vitro and on bacterial cells. I will generate unique
tools to study how C5 convertases regulate MAC insertion into bacterial membranes. Finally, I will
engineer fluorescent bacteria and labeled complement proteins to perform advanced microscopy
analyses of how MAC kills bacteria.
These insights will lead to fundamental knowledge about the
functioning of complement and will create new avenues for blocking the undesired complement
activation during systemic infections and acute inflammatory processes. Furthermore this knowledge
will improve desired complement activation by therapeutic antibodies and vaccination strategies in
infectious diseases. Finally, this work opens up new possibilities to understand how both humans and
bacteria regulate complement.
End Date:
29/2/2020
Project ID:
640511
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PERSYST
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Enrico Lugli
enrico.lugli@humanitasresearch.it
HUMANITAS MIRASOLE SPA, ROZZANO, IT
www.humanitas.it
Generation and maintenance of long-lived memory T cells in humans
Defining the molecular mechanisms governing memory T cell differentiation and homeostasis is of
pivotal importance to generate durable and protective T cell responses against infections and cancers.
Considerable knowledge in this regard has been acquired in mouse models but is still limited about
human T cells. In particular, some mechanisms are assumed to occur in humans but were never
formally demonstrated. We showed that memory T cells adoptively-transferred with bone marrow
transplantation failed to persist in recipient hosts in the absence of antigen. By contrast, self/tumorspecific naïve T cells rapidly acquired T memory stem cell (TSCM) attributes and subsequently
reconstituted the memory T cell pool by homeostatic differentiation. Current models indicate human
TSCM cells as superior to conventional memory T cells in regards to effector potential and persistence
capacity. Genome-wide expression analysis identified candidate TSCM cell-specific transcriptional
regulators that were shown to inhibit senescence, promote self-renewal and regulate somatic
differentiation. In this project, by using single cell technologies, primary human samples and in vivo
humanized models, we will define the molecular mechanisms at the basis of memory T cell formation
and maintenance in humans. We will initially define the antigenic requirement for the long-term
persistence of memory T cells by following the fate of adoptively-transferred T cells. As the field
remains unexplored, we will investigate the acquisition of memory attributes by self/tumor-specific T
cells on multiple functional levels. The gene products specifically expressed by self-renewing TSCM cells
will be finally tested for their capability to arrest T cell differentiation and generate long-lived memory
T cells with enhanced stem cell-like properties. Our results will impact multiple physiological and
pathological situations involving T cell-mediated immune responses.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
669415
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PHII
Prof. Alberto Mantovani
alberto.mantovani@humanitasresearch.it
HUMANITAS MIRASOLE SPA, ROZZANO, IT
www.humanitas.it
Evaluation Panel:
PTX3 in Humoral Innate Immunity
The innate immune system includes a cellular and a humoral arm. Structural diversity is a
characteristic of humoral fluid phase pattern recognition molecules. These include
complement
components, collectins, ficolins, and pentraxins. We have used the long pentraxin PTX3, identified by
the applicant (cDNA and genomic, mouse and human), as a prototypic fluid phase pattern recognition
molecule to dissect its function, as well as to define general properties of humoral innate immunity and
its interplay with the cellular arm. The general objective of this application is to explore unexpected
vistas on humoral innate immunity, using PTX3 as a molecular tool. Specifically two hypothesis will be
tested based on preliminary data. First the applicant will test the hypothesis that matrix and microbe
recognition are related functions of PTX3 and that a microenvironmental signal (acidic pH) sets PTX3 in
a matrix recognition, tissue repair mode. A second related line of work will focus on inflammation as a
key component of the tumor microenvironment. The applicant will test the hypothesis that PTX3 and
elements of the humoral
innate immune system are essential components of cancer related
inflammation. In particular, based on preliminary data, the hypothesis will be tested that PTX3 acts as
an extrinsic oncosuppressor in murine carcinogenesis and in selected human cancers by suppressing
the recruitment of tumor-promoting inflammatory cells. These studies are expected to provide new
unexpected vistas on the humoral arm of the innate immune system.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
294099
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PRESBYOPIA
Evaluation Panel:
LS7 - Diagnostic Tools,
Therapies and Public Health
Prof. Susana Marcos Celestino
susana@io.cfmac.csic.es
AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS,
MADRID, ES
http://www.csic.es
Bio-inspired optical corrections of presbyopia
The human crystalline lens has the capability to dynamically change its shape to focus near and far
objects. By age 55, the accommodation capability is lost and optical aids are needed for near vision.
Many questions remain open that are critical to understand accommodation, the failure in presbyopia,
and the prospects for its correction. Multifocal presbyopic corrections are increasingly used. However,
the ideal multifocal pattern, and the optical factors affecting depth-of-focus and adaptation to
simultaneous vision remain to be elucidated. The most satisfactory treatment of presbyopia should rely
on the restoration of the dynamic and continuous focusing ability of the eye, and this could be
achieved in the form of accommodative intraocular lenses (IOLs). Current approaches, relying on
potential IOL axial shifts, have proved little effective accommodative amplitude. The project will seek in
nature innovative solutions to treat presbyopia. Deeper understanding of the crystalline lens changes
with dynamic accommodation and aging will be gained. Novel imaging techniques will be developed
and used to assess the dynamic changes of crystalline lens structure, gradient index distribution and
microscopic structure of the lens fibers and capsule. In addition, the treatment of presbyopia by
multifocal corrections will be explored. Wavefront sensing and optical coherence tomography will be
used to understand the bases for the multifocality found in some animal species (as possible
inspiration for multifocal patterns), and adaptive optics and visual simulation to understand the
reasons for the limited performance of current multifocal treatments, to investigate neural adaptation
to the blur in simultaneous vision and to test the proposed new multifocal patterns. Finally, the
understanding of the crystalline lens properties and the biomechanics of the implanted IOLs gained in
the project will allow to develop a first prototype of crystalline-lens mimicking accommodative IOL.
End Date:
30/4/2017
Project ID:
294683
Host Institution:
Acronym:
RADMED
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Harald Horst Heinz Wilhem Schmidt
h.schmidt@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Radical Medicine: Redefining Oxidative Stress
Oxidative stress, an excess of radical and other reactive oxygen species (ROS), has been suggested as a
major disease mechanism. However, the major clinical trials using anti-oxidants have been failures,
even suggesting serious side effects. Here, I propose completely different approaches: First, instead of
letting radicals form and then scavenge them we will identify their diseases-relevant sources and
prevent their formation or specifically repair the damage caused by ROS. Second, we will differentiate
beneficial signalling roles of ROS. In combination, this will result in unprecedented precision and
molecular specificity. In 2010, I submitted a somewhat related proposal to the ERC and received a
comment as being “too focused on essential hypertension”. This proposal has a much broader focus
and impact beyond cardiovascular diseases. In the past months we achieved major breakthroughs by
identifying a radical/ROS source (NOX4) as fundamental mechanism in stroke, the fastest growing and
soon no 1 cause of death. We are also developing in phase II a radical formation inhibitor for
neurotrauma. Moreover, our basic research facilitated the development of drug classes re-activating
an oxidatively damaged signalling receptor, now in phase III. Further, we identified angiogenesis as a
radical/ROS-dependent and protective (!) signalling event. This proposal is just the beginning: our basic
science will open up new fields and leap forward in personalized medicine with groundbreaking
technologies and approaches. We will contribute to the diagnosis and early identification of patients at
risk and to monitor their successful treatment (in vitro/blood-based); to the localization of disease
processes (in vivo/molecular imaging) before the onset of symptoms; and to a new generation of more
effective, predictable, and mechanism-based drugs. We also expect to later apply our findings and
tools to neurobiology and oncology, where ROS also play physiological and pathological roles.
End Date:
31/7/2017
Project ID:
308223
Host Institution:
Acronym:
MATRIX
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Hans Pol S Van Oosterwyck
hans.vanoosterwyck@mech.kuleuven.be
www.kuleuven.be
In silico and in vitro Models of Angiogenesis: unravelling the role of the extracellular matrix
Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from the existing vasculature, is a process that is
fundamental to normal tissue growth, wound repair and disease. The control of angiogenesis is of
utmost importance for tissue regenerative therapies as well as cancer treatment, however this remains
a challenge. The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a one of the key controlling factors of angiogenesis. The
mechanisms through which the ECM exerts its influence are poorly understood. MAtrix will create
unprecedented opportunities for unraveling the role of the ECM in angiogenesis. It will do so by
creating a highly innovative, multiscale in silico model that provides quantitative, subcellular resolution
on cell-matrix interaction, which is key to the understanding of cell migration. In this way, MAtrix goes
substantially beyond the state of the art in terms of computational models of angiogenesis. It will
integrate mechanisms of ECM-mediated cell migration and relate them to intracellular regulatory
mechanisms of angiogenesis. Apart from its innovation in terms of computational modelling, MAtrix’
impact is related to its interdisciplinarity, involving computer simulations and in vitro experiments. This
will enable to investigate research hypotheses on the role of the ECM in angiogenesis that are
generated by the in silico model. State of the art technologies (fluorescence microscopy, cell and ECM
mechanics, biomaterials design) will be applied –in conjunction with the in silico model- to quantity
cell-ECM mechanical interaction at a subcellular level and the dynamics of cell migration. In vitro
experiments will be performed for a broad range of biomaterials and their characteristics. In this way,
MAtrix will deliver a proof-of-concept that an in silico model can help in identifying and prioritising
biomaterials characteristics, relevant for angiogenesis. MAtrix’ findings can have a major impact on the
development of therapies that want to control the angiogenic response.
End Date:
31/3/2018
Project ID:
309767
Acronym:
INTERACT
Principal
Investigator:
Prof. Inez Yvonne Ronald Germeys
Host Institution:
inez.germeys@kuleuven.be
UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT/KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN,
MAASTRICHT/LEUVEN, NL/BE
http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/https://www.kuleuven.be/
Evaluation Panel:
LS7 - Diagnostic
Tools, Therapies
and Public Health
Counteracting psychosis by optimizing interaction
Psychotic disorders are amongst the most severe mental disorders. However, current treatments have
failed to reduce disability or change the prospects for recovery for patients with a psychotic disorder.
In this project, I will investigate an entirely novel therapy, targeting the core vulnerability profile of
altered person-environment interactions underlying psychosis, specifically increased stress-reactivity
and reduced motivated and goal-directed behaviour. My colleagues and I have developed a digital
apparatus, the ‘PsyMate’, allowing real-time interventions for patients with severe mental illness. In
this project, the PsyMate will be used to (1)reduce psychotic and emotional reactivity to stress with
“detachment and acceptance” exercises in real life situations, and (2)improve motivated and goaldirected behaviour with real-time behavioural activation therapy. In a randomized controlled trial, I will
investigate whether this self-management therapy, conducted outside the office in the patient’s real
life, is capable of reducing psychotic reactivity to stress and of improving motivated behaviour in
participants with an at-risk mental state for psychosis. In order to understand the impact of this
intervention in terms of brain plasticity and prediction of response, I will use an experimental medicine
approach to investigate the neural effects of the intervention. I will focus particularly on prefrontal
dopamine-reactivity as the brain mechanism mediating altered person-environment interactions. In
the current study, I will examine prefrontal dopamine reactivity towards positive as well as stressful
negative events as the biological process mediating underlying motivated behaviour and
environmental reactivity. Furthermore, I will investigate whether a self-management therapy
specifically focused at aberrant person-environment interactions alters brain plasticity at the level of
prefrontal dopaminergic neurotransmission in persons at risk for psychosis.
End Date:
31/3/2018
Project ID:
310612
Acronym:
HEART4FLOW
Prof. Antonius Hendrikus Gerardus Ebbers
tino.ebbers@liu.se
LINKOPINGS UNIVERSITET, LINKOPING, SE
www.liu.se
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Improved Diagnosis and Management of Heart Disease by 4D Blood Flow Assessment
The primary purpose of the cardiovascular system is to drive, control and maintain blood flow to all
parts of the body. Despite the primacy of flow, cardiac diagnostics still rely almost exclusively on tools
focused on morphological assessment. The objective of the HEART4FLOW project is to develop the
next generation of methods for the non-invasive quantitative assessment of cardiac diseases and
therapies by focusing on blood flow dynamics, with the goals of earlier and more accurate detection
and improved management of cardiac diseases. Recently, a novel moment framework for flow
quantification using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been presented which allows for
simultaneous measurement of time-resolved, three-dimensional (time + 3D = 4D) blood flow velocity
and turbulence intensity. In the HEART4FLOW project, this framework is extended and exploited for
assessment of intracardiac blood flow dynamics. A user-friendly quantitative assessment approach is
obtained for intracardiac blood flow energetics and wall interaction, as well as stenotic and regurgitant
blood flow. Furthermore, the accuracy, measurement time, and robustness of 4D flow MRI acquisition
are optimized, allowing its use in large clinical trails. Studying intracardiac blood flow dynamics in
patients and healthy subjects at rest and under stress will improve our understanding of the roles of
flow dynamics in both health and disease, leading to improved cardiac diagnostics, novel assessments
of pharmaceutical, interventional, and surgical therapies, and promoting exploration of new avenues
for management of cardiac disorders.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
310884
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Anna Caecilia Josephina Wilhelmina Janssens
cecile.janssens@emory.edu
STICHTING VU-VUMC, AMSTERDAM, NL
www.vu.nl
Acronym:
GENOMICMEDICINE
Towards evidence-based genomic medicine: filling the evidence gaps through modelling studies
At increasingly high rate, genome-wide association and whole genome sequencing studies unravel
genetic variants implicated in common diseases such as coronary heart disease, cancer, dementia and
type 2 diabetes. One of the major promises is that these advances will lead to more personalized
medicine, in which preventive and therapeutic interventions are targeted to individuals based on their
genetic profiles. There is increasing interest in the early adoption of novel applications and many
commercial applications are already marketed without supporting empirical evidence. Already now,
regulatory agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration face substantial gaps in empirical
evidence, which hamper proper recommendations. The increasing interest in genomic medicine, the
evidence gaps and the scarcity of research budgets are strong incentives to search for novel strategies
that make the process of translation research more efficient and effective. This project aims to
investigate modelling approaches that can be used to predict the expected outcomes of empirical
studies on the basis of published epidemiological and intervention studies. This approach can be used
to 1) identify genomic applications that are promising and warrant further empirical research, and 2)
fill in evidence gaps by identifying applications that are not expected to improve health or health care.
When they are valid, precise and simple, modelling studies can optimize the process of translational
research so that time and money are allocated to the most promising applications. In this project, I will
1) characterize empirical studies in translational research in terms of the main outcome measures used
and their key determinants; 2) develop simulation models that predict outcome measures; 3)
investigate how accuracy and precision of the estimates vary with varying model complexity; and 4).
investigate the generalizability of the modelling approaches.
End Date:
31/12/2018
Project ID:
321121
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
GEM-TRAIT
PE10 - Earth System Science
Prof. Yadvinder Singh Malhi
yadvinder.malhi@ouce.ox.ac.uk
OXFORD, UK
www.ox.ac.uk
GEM-TRAIT: The Global Ecosystems Monitoring and Trait Study: a novel approach to quantifying the
role of biodiversity in the functioning and future of tropical forests.
This proposal directly addresses one of the great challenges in Earth system science: how will the
terrestrial biosphere respond to global atmospheric change and, more specifically, how does the
biodiversity of the biosphere moderate or affect that response? This proposal focuses on tropical
forests. We are currently unable to understand how tropical forests will respond to climate change
because there is (i) a data-deficit: we simply do not have the data to understand the relationship
between tropical forest diversity and ecosystem science; and (ii) a theory-deficit: we have not
developed an adequate and quantitative theoretical framework to relate functional biodiversity to
ecosystem function. This proposal will directly address both these deficits. Firstly, I will build a unique
global tropical ecosystems monitoring network (GEM), that will measure in comprehensive detail the
structure, productivity and metabolism of 47 tropical forest sites over a globally synchronous 2.5 year
period. In addition, I will develop a large dataset of functional diversity by collecting functional traits of
leaves and wood. Secondly, the theory deficit will be addressed by drawing on the recent development
of a novel mathematical formalism that links biodiversity to ecosystem function. This formalism
focuses on the distribution of traits within an ecosystem, links this distribution to ecosystem function,
and develops predictions of how the shape of the distribution is controlled by environment, biological
interactions and previous states of the ecosystem. I will further develop this theory, test its predictions
against my unique field data, and ultimately use it to develop a new biodiversity-focussed way of
representing tropical forests in ecosystem and Earth system models. This new approach used to
answer questions such as: how does the functional diversity of tropical forests affect their resilience to
climate change, and how will this diversity respond to atmospheric change?
End Date:
30/4/2018
Project ID:
311736
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PD-HUMMODEL
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Antonella Consiglio
aconsiglio@ibub.pcb.ub.es
UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA, BARCELONA, ES
http://www.ub.edu
Elucidating early pathogenic mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease through a
humanized dynamic in vitro model
Our understanding of Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathogenesis is currently limited by difficulties in
obtaining live neurons from patients and the inability to model the sporadic, most frequent, form of
PD. It may be possible to overcome these challenges by reprogramming somatic cells from patients
into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). In preliminary studies, we have generated a collection of 50
iPSC lines representing both sporadic PD and familial PD patients, and identified distinct PD-related
neurodegeneration phenotypes arising, upon long-term culture, in DAn differentiated from these PDiPSC. Here, I propose to take advantage of this genuinely human PD model to investigate: i)
mechanistic insights responsible for the PD phenotype identified in our model (by combining molecular
and biochemical analyses to study mitochondrial function and redox profile, as well as genome-wide
transcriptional profile of control versus PD-patient specific iPSC-derived DAn); ii) early functional
alterations in patient-specific iPSC-derived DAn, which would predate neurodegeneration signs and
provide valuable information as to ways to prevent, rather than rescue, neurodegeneration in PD
patients (by electrophysiological recordings in in vitro reconstructed neuronal/glial networks to assess
synaptic dynamics together with neuronal excitability); iii) further refinements in our iPSC-based PD
model, including the generation of iPSC lines representing asymptomatic patients carrying pathogenic
mutations, and the correction of known mutations by gene edition, all of which will allow exploring the
relationship between pathogenic mutations and the genetic makeup of patients; and iv) whether DAn
degeneration in PD is solely a cell-autonomous phenomenon, or whether it is influenced by an altered
cross-talk between DAn and glial cells. These studies may impact significantly on our understanding of
PD pathogenesis and on the development of new therapy strategy.
End Date:
30/6/2018
Project ID:
322737
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TRIPLE-BC
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Johannes Albert Foekens
j.foekens@erasmusmc.nl
ERASMUS UNIVERSITAIR MEDISCH CENTRUM ROTTERDAM, ROTTERDAM, NL
www.erasmusmc.nl
Identification and functional validation of drugable targets/pathways for triple negative breast
cancer
Patients suffering from triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) have a poor prognosis as these tumors
frequently confer resistance against chemotherapeutic agents and lack drug targets such as estrogen
receptor, progesterone receptor, and epidermal growth factor receptor 2. Insufficient knowledge on
the biology of this specific breast tumor type and its heterogeneity hinder the identification of
potential novel drug targets. Lethality enhancer screening is an ideal approach to identify new drug
targets in tumors with specific genetic aberrations. We plan to adapt this concept of synthetic lethality
by anticipating that while TNBC cells confer resistance to available anticancer drugs, specific knock
down of particular genes by RNA-interference (RNAi) may result in a synergistic cell killing. Another
important aspect of our approach is that we will concentrate in our screens on the top 500 candidate
genes shown to be crucial in TNBC for cellular processes. The genes will be prioritized by Bayesian
network analysis on prior knowledge on clinical TNBC from our own extensive genomics and
proteomics studies, the literature, next generation sequencing efforts, and databases listing drugability
of targets. We will employ RNAi-based knock down of drugable targets in 22 cell lines to reveal genes
essential for drug resistance in TNBC. In addition to 2D cultures, screens will also be applied to 3D
cultures, which are thought to better reflect the in vivo situation. The most effective combinations for
each TNBC subtype will further be functionally investigated in vitro and in vivo to unravel the molecular
nature of the synthetic lethality. Finally, translational studies will be performed to establish the
potential clinical relevance of the identified targets/pathways in large numbers of human TNBC and
non-TNBC tumors on tissue microarrays. It is expected that the newly designed (combination)
therapies result in a decline in TNBC mortality and reduction of healthcare costs.
End Date:
31/3/2018
Project ID:
322856
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TRIPOD
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. David Robert Klatzmann
david.klatzmann@upmc.fr
PARIS, FR
www.inserm.fr
Deciphering the regulatory T cell repertoire: towards biomarkers and biotherapies for autoimmune
diseases
The discovery of regulatory T cells (Tregs) is a breakthrough in immunology: it revolutionises our
understanding of autoimmune disease (AID) pathophysiology and treatment opportunities. Treg
numbers or function is defective in most mouse and human AIDs and their restoration induces clinical
improvement, as we recently showed using low-dose IL-2 to induce Tregs in patients with AID. The
TRiPoD project is based on 3 well supported assertions: - Tregs have huge therapeutic potential - Deep
understanding of the Treg T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire is key to exploiting this potential - Deep
sequencing technologies required for this purpose have come of age TRiPoD aims (i) to decipher the
Treg repertoire against insulin and myelin at high resolution, (ii) to discover biomarkers for AIDs, and
(iii) to develop therapies based on engineered Tregs. Deep sequencing of TCRs from insulin- and
myelin-specific Tregs generated in vitro will identify dominant TCRs and antigen-specific Treg
signatures. These will be analysed during thymocyte differentiation, at steady state and during disease
progression, in mice and humans. Their potential as biomarkers (e.g. a Treg TCR specific for insulin for
monitoring type 1 diabetes [T1D]) will be tested in experimental models and in clinical trials of IL-2 in
T1D and multiple sclerosis (MS). We will also generate antigen-specific Tregs expressing the dominant
TCRs. These will be engineered for suicide gene expression to improve safety and for autocrine IL-2
production to ensure better survival and function. Ultimately, TRiPoD will contribute to a better
understanding of the pathophysiology of T1D and MS, identify novel biomarkers for the follow-up of
patients at high risk of, or with T1D or MS, and generate novel therapeutics for clinical development.
More generally, our results and new approaches developed in TRiPoD should pioneer biomarker
discovery and biotherapies in other immunopathologies.
End Date:
30/4/2018
Project ID:
336189
Host Institution:
Acronym:
THERACAV
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Paul Alan Prentice
p.prentice@dundee.ac.uk
UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE, DUNDEE, UK
www.dundee.ac.uk
Harnessing Cavitation for Therapy
Focused Ultrasound Surgery (FUS) is rapidly emerging as a technique setting the gold-standard for the
treatment of a wide range of diseases, including cancer. Current practise relies on the conversion of
acoustic energy to thermal, for localised and minimally-invasive ablation with non-ionising radiation.
Cavitation (the formation, and subsequent pressure driven dynamics, of bubbles) is a common
occurrence at the high intensities typically employed for FUS. The extremely rapid, often violent
evolution of cavitation in tissue exposed to focused ultrasound, poses a high risk of collateral damage
to healthy tissue proximal to the site of pathology. TheraCav will demonstrate cavitation can be
controlled and harnessed, to redefine the remit of FUS to include targeted drug delivery and rapid
ablation formation via enhanced heating. Conceptually, cavitation could act to significantly
permeabilise targeted tissue, rendering specific volumes highly susceptible to drug delivery through
extravasation from the vasculature. Moreover, cavitation may actively pump and promote drug
transport directly to the diseased tissue. If cavitation is to fulfil this potential, however, it is crucial that
precise monitoring and control strategies are developed, demonstrating that it can be safely
introduced and utilised tissue. Through a series of novel and ambitious objectives, TheraCav will
develop techniques and devices to deliver this capability, calibrated against a recent innovation that
has allowed the direct observation of cavitation at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. A
series of translational work packages will test the monitoring and control strategies developed, in
tissue-mimicking materials and ultimately soft-embalmed cadaver models, for anatomical verification.
Finally, a radical and highly ambitious objective of activating photodynamic therapy drug compounds,
via cavitation sonoluminescence and reactive oxygen species production, will be investigated.
End Date:
30/9/2018
Project ID:
336267
Acronym:
3D-OA-HISTO
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Simo Jaakko Saarakkala
simo.saarakkala@oulu.fi
OULUN YLIOPISTO, OULU, FI
www.oulu.fi
Development of 3D Histopathological Grading of Osteoarthritis
Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common musculoskeletal disease occurring worldwide. Despite
extensive research, etiology of OA is still poorly understood. Histopathological grading (HPG) of 2D
tissue sections is the gold standard reference method for determination of OA stage. However,
traditional 2D-HPG is destructive and based only on subjective visual evaluation. These limitations
induce bias to clinical in vitro OA diagnostics and basic research that both rely strongly on HPG.
Objectives: 1) To establish and validate the very first 3D-HPG of OA based on cutting-edge nano/microCT (Computed Tomography) technologies in vitro; 2) To use the established method to clarify the
beginning phases of OA; and 3) To validate 3D-HPG of OA for in vivo use. Methods: Several hundreds
of human osteochondral samples from patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty will be collected.
The samples will be imaged in vitro with nano/micro-CT and clinical high-end extremity CT devices
using specific contrast-agents to quantify tissue constituents and structure in 3D in large volume. From
this information, a novel 3D-HPG is developed with statistical classification algorithms. Finally, the
developed novel 3D-HPG of OA will be applied clinically in vivo. Significance: This is the very first study
to establish 3D-HPG of OA pathology in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the developed technique hugely
improves the understanding of the beginning phases of OA. Ultimately, the study will contribute for
improving OA patients’ quality of life by slowing the disease progression, and for providing powerful
tools to develop new OA therapies.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
336331
Host Institution:
Acronym:
INCELL
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Julien Valette
julien.valette@cea.fr
FONTENAY-AUX-ROSES, FR
www.cea.fr
Exploring brain intracellular space using diffusion-weighted NMR spectroscopy in vivo
Alterations of the intracellular space, including intracellular protein accumulation, organelle and
cytoskeleton dislocation, and modifications in cell shape, are an early hallmark of many
neurodegenerative processes. The ability to assess and quantify these alterations non-invasively would
be of tremendous interest, not only in a clinical context, but also for preclinical research. However, no
tool currently exists allowing such measurements. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance
spectroscopy (DW-MRS) gives access to the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of brain metabolites in
vivo, which is related to their average quadratic displacement. Since metabolites are purely
intracellular, their ADC is solely governed by the properties of the intracellular space. The dependency
of the ADC on the delay during which displacement is measured (the “diffusion time” Td) tells how
metabolite motion deviates from free diffusion, which can in theory help untangle and quantify the
different factors governing motion. So far, DW-MRS has only been performed in a limited number of
studies, for Td ranging from ~10 to ~100 milliseconds, and has not yet demonstrated its ability to
quantitatively assess the intracellular space. In the present work, we will develop cutting-edge DWMRS methods to probe brain metabolite motion for Td varying over several orders of magnitude (from
~0.1 milliseconds to ~10 seconds). The dependency of the ADC over Td will provide unique insights
about the mechanisms governing metabolite motion at very different scales. Data will be modeled to
quantitatively extract parameters such as the intracellular viscosity, the size of intracellular structures,
and cell shape and size. Estimated parameter values will be compared to values derived from other
techniques, such as microscopy. Finally, developed methods will be used to investigate early
alterations of the intracellular space in animal models of neurodegeneration.
End Date:
30/11/2018
Project ID:
336454
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CONQUEST
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Mangala Srinivas
m.srinivas@ncmls.ru.nl
STICHTING KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT, NIJMEGEN, NL
www.ru.nl and www.umcn.nl
Clinical ultrasound platform for the quantitative and longitudinal imaging of theranostics and cellular
therapy
The success of modern medical treatments such as cellular therapy and targeted treatments requires
appropriate tools for in vivo monitoring. Imaging modalities, such as magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET)
are key candidates due to their noninvasive nature. However, these imaging techniques are extremely
expensive and can involve radiation, both of which hinder their longitudinal and repetitive use.
Ultrasound has so far been unsuitable due to the absence of a label to differentiate regions of interest
from tissue background, the main problem being that current ultrasound contrast agents (CAs) have
active lifetimes in the order of minutes. The CoNQUeST platform (Clinical Nanoparticles for
Quantitative Ultrasound with high STability) proposed here is an entirely new type of ultrasound CA
that is extremely stable (lifetime of a year) and is not affected by insonation. This mechanism of
contrast generation appears completely novel: The polymeric particles are under 200nm in diameter
and must contain a soluble metal (M.Srinivas et al., patent pending, filed 09/2012). Based on the
current state of the art, these particles are too small and do not contain the requisite gaseous
component for ultrasound contrast. CoNQUeST particles are applicable to longitudinal and repeated
imaging, as is necessary for cell tracking, due to their stability. Furthermore, these particles can be
chemically bound to targeting agents, dyes and drugs, and are suitable for multimodal imaging,
including MRI (both 1H and 19F), fluorescence and SPECT. Finally, the CoNQUeST agents are suitable
for clinical use. I propose the application of the CoNQUeST agents to a clinical trial for tracking
dendritic cell therapy in melanoma patients, longitudinal theranostic imaging in preclinical models and
thorough characterisation of this novel mechanism of ultrasound contrast generation.
End Date:
31/3/2018
Project ID:
337333
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SMALLVESSELMRI
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Jacobus Jan Marinus Zwanenburg
j.j.m.zwanenburg@umcutrecht.nl
www.umcutrecht.nl
Towards understanding cerebral small vessel disease: Innovative, MRI-based, functional markers to
discover the terra incognita between large vessels and macroscopic brain lesions
Small vessel disease (SVD) causes 25% of all cerebral strokes and is a major cause of cognitive decline
(dementia) and functional disability (ageing) in the elderly. Two important challenges hamper the
development of effective treatments. First, still little is known about the mechanism by which SVD
leads to macroscopic, ischemic brain damage and, thus, to cognitive decline. Second, the current
clinical markers and image-based markers of SVD do not reflect SVD itself, but macroscopic brain
damage secondary to SVD. Unlike large vessels, small vessels are not visible with current imaging
techniques, which leave, thus, a ‘terra incognita’ of small vessel pathology between large vessels on
the one hand, and macroscopic brain damage on the other. The aim of this program is to remove the
major current obstacle towards developing effective treatments for SVD, by innovative magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) techniques that yield non-invasive markers of small vessel (dys)function in
the human brain. I will use two innovative sets of image-based markers to discover the ‘terra
incognita’. The first set comprises pulsatile tissue motion, strain and potential pulsations in the
capillary flow, recognizing the role of stress and strain in cell function (including endothelial cells and
neurons). The second set uses the perivascular fluid as an endogenous marker of the blood-brainbarrier function, which is located in the endothelium of the small vessels. These innovative, imagebased markers will open a window towards the mechanism by which SVD leads to brain damage.
Further, these markers will enable the selection and monitoring of patients who are eligible for new
treatments. I will obtain the required sensitivity and resolution, by exploiting the benefits of high field
MRI (7T). I am experienced in cardiac strain imaging, high field brain imaging, and have been successful
in multiple translational projects that have introduced new MRI technology into patient studies.
End Date:
30/11/2018
Project ID:
338040
Host Institution:
Acronym:
HYPERPOLARIZED MRI
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Rachel Katz-Brull
rkb@hadassah.org.il
HADASSAH MEDICAL ORGANIZATION, JERUSALEM, IL
www.hadassah.org.il
Citicoline and deoxyglucose as new molecular imaging probes of DNP hyperpolarized MRI for cancer
and neuroimaging
Radioactively labeled deoxyglucose and choline are the leading molecular imaging probes for positron
emission tomography (PET). The clinical applications for this imaging modality include brain function,
cardiac imaging, and inflammation, along with oncological applications which are taking the lead. The
radiation exposure associated with these examinations is limiting the use of this powerful technology
in repeated examinations, in specific populations (pregnant women and children), as a screening tool
for the wide population, and as a clinical research tool. Hyperpolarized magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) is an evolving pre-clinical and clinical imaging modality which is non-invasive and nonradioactive. As in PET, the molecular imaging probe used is at the heart of this examination. Originally
developed for the purpose of distinguishing the metabolic products of the injected molecular probe,
our group, in collaborations with researchers abroad, is a pioneer in showing that direct imaging of
specific molecular probes (stable isotope labeled choline and glucose analogs) with hyperpolarized MRI
is capable of showing specific tissue uptake, a pre-requisite for diagnostic imaging. The purpose of the
current proposal is to establish hyperpolarized MRI capabilities in our own lab and reach two general
goals: 1) to use various physiological and pharmacological models to further establish and characterize
the conditions in which non-radioactive choline and glucose analogs and derivatives can be useful as
imaging probes; and 2) to investigate further the molecular probe that is best suitable for these
imaging applications in terms of pharmacokinetics, metabolism, and imaging efficiency. Our focus will
be on 1) the actual chemical entity of the probes - where citicoline and deoxyglucose are promising
candidates; and 2) the stable isotope labeling strategy. The overriding goal is to aid in translation of this
pre-clinical imaging approach to clinical use.
End Date:
31/10/2018
Project ID:
338991
Host Institution:
Acronym:
VASCMIR
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Andrew Baker
pip.hope@ed.ac.uk
THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, EDINBURGH, UK
www.ed.ac.uk
Vascular remodelling and miRNA therapeutics
The central hypothesis of VascmiR is that microRNAs (miRs) fundamentally control pathological
remodelling of the vasculature. The complexity of vascular bed heterogeneity and subsequent
response to injury, the potential importance of miRNA in vascular pathology and the paucity in
knowledge relating to many facets of miRNA function in the vessel wall including target pathways,
mechanistic features of miRNA-mediated cell:cell communication mediated by miRNA export and
uptake etc. provides an excellent opportunity for groundbreaking basic and translational research in
the field. VascmiR will envelop these concepts in a broad, cutting edge portfolio of high risk and indepth studies that encompass fundamental research, mouse genetics to create novel models and miR
intervention studies in small and large animal models coupled with targeted miRNA therapeutics.
Collective synergy by assessing pulmonary as well as peripheral venous and arterial pathological
vascular remodelling models of disease under a single funding mechanism will afford substantial
scientific advancement. VascmiR will go beyond current state-of-the-art and create new knowledge of
miRNA in vascular pathologies, all of which have
important unmet clinical need. VascmiR will
streamline fundamental new opportunities for targeted miRNA-based therapeutics to improve human
health in cardiovascular setting. I envisage that a co-ordinated, multifaceted and integrative
programme in these vascular pathology settings to better understand the mechanistic role of miRNA in
vascular remodelling will have a major impact on the field, leading to early translation of advanced
miRNA therapeutics in the vasculature.
End Date:
30/6/2019
Project ID:
339228
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SEECAT
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Pablo Luis Artal Soriano
pablo@um.es
UNIVERSIDAD DE MURCIA, MURCIA, ES
http://www.um.es/
Seeing through cataracts with advanced photonics
Cataract is the opacification of the crystalline lens of the human eye. It is usually related with age and is
one of the leading causes of blindness. The increase in light scatter in the lens reduces the contrast in
the retinal images severely degrading vision. The current solution is to perform surgery to remove the
natural lens that is substituted by an artificial intraocular lens. This is a successful procedure restoring
good quality of vision in most patients. However, in many situations it would be incredible
advantageous to actually “see” through a cataractous eye. The optics of the eye is affected by two
factors: aberrations and scatter. In the last decade, correcting optical aberrations in the eye was
accomplished by using adaptive optics techniques. This permitted to obtain high resolution images of
the retina and also to improve vision. However, the possibility of correcting scatter in the eye was
never considered before. We propose here the use of spatial and temporal advanced photonics
techniques for imaging through the turbid media of the cataractous lens. We envision two direct
applications of this technology: a dedicated fundus camera to register images of the retina in patients
affected by cataracts and a novel type of opto-electronics spectacles restoring some vision in cataract
patients. The fundus camera would offer clinicians the unique opportunity to determine if there is any
retinal pathology underneath the cataractous eye. The scatter-correcting goggles would be useful in
those cases where surgery were not possible for any reason or as a temporarily relieve until the
surgery is performed. The same type of technology could be applied in the case of normal eyes with
lower levels of scatter but desiring to achieve a better than normal vision for some specific tasks. This
proposal presents a completely new and disruptive idea, which if successful would render immediate
and significant benefits to patients worldwide.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
340248
Host Institution:
Acronym:
INDIVUHEART
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Thomas Hans Eschenhagen
t.eschenhagen@uke.de
UNIVERSITAETSKLINIKUM HAMBURG-EPPENDORF, HAMBURG, DE
www.uke.uni-hamburg.de
Individualized early risk assessment for heart diseases
Heart failure (HF) is the common end-stage of different medical conditions. It is the only growing
cardiovascular disease and its prognosis remains worse than that of many malignancies. The lack of
evidence-based treatment for patients with diastolic HF (HFpEF) exemplifies that the current “one for
all” therapy has to be advanced by an individualized approach. Inherited cardiomyopathies can serve
as paradigmatic examples of different HF pathogenesis. Both gain- and loss-of-function mutations of
the same gene cause disease, calling for disease-specific agonism or antagonism of this gene´s
function. However, mutations alone do not predict the severity of cardiomyopathies nor therapy,
because their impact on cardiac myocyte function is modified by numerous factors, including the
genetic context. Today, patient-specific cardiac myocytes can be evaluated by the induced pluripotent
stem cell (hiPSC) technology. Yet, unfolding the true potential of this technology requires robust,
quantitative, high content assays. Our recently developed method to generate 3D-engineered heart
tissue (EHT) from hiPSC provide an automated, high content analysis of heart muscle function and the
response to stressors in the dish. The aim of this project is to make the technology a clinically
applicable test. Major steps are (i) in depths clinical phenotyping and genotyping of patients with
cardiomyopathies or HFpEF, (ii) follow-up of the clinical course, (iii) generation of hiPSC lines (40
patients, 40 healthy controls), and (iv) quantitative assessment of hiPSC-EHT function under basal
conditions and in response to pro-arrhythmic or cardio-active drugs and chronic afterload
enhancement. The product of this study is an SOP-based assay with standard values for hiPSC-EHT
function/stress responses from healthy volunteers and patients with different heart diseases. The
project could change clinical practice and be a step towards individualized risk prediction and therapy
of HF.
End Date:
31/5/2019
Project ID:
617060
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DIRECT
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Marc Antoine Gijsbert Gilles Vooijs
marc.vooijs@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Disabling Radiotherapy resistance in Cancer Treatment
Cancer is a devastating disease affecting 1 in 3 people in their lifetime. The incidence is rising because
of our aging population and causes a huge economic impact on our society because of hospitalization
and lost productivity. Radiotherapy alone or in combination with surgery and/or chemotherapy is used
in ~50% of all patients and uses ionizing radiation to induce DNA breaks that are lethal to cells. While
significant progress has been made, radiotherapy is often limited because of side-effects in normal
tissues and tumor control often fails because of resistance and metastases. Novel treatment paradigms
are urgently needed. Among the key classical biological factors that determine radiation response in
normal and tumor cells are the 4R; Reoxygenation, Repopulation, Redistribution and Repair. They are
determined by intrinsic (genetic) as well as extrinsic factors from the tumor microenvironment and
underlie tumor heterogeneity a hallmark of cancers and a decisive factor in clinical response. Yet,
standard cancer treatments are largely based on the flawed assumption that tumors are homogenous
within and between patients. We hypothesized that NOTCH signaling and tumor hypoxia cause tumor
heterogeneity and are tumor selective therapeutic targets. First we will study key biological
mechanisms that determine intra tumor heterogeneity, second we will establish their role in therapy
response and third we will exploit this knowledge to enhance radiotherapy and provide proof of
concept of a highly innovative approach to selectively activate cancer therapeutics targeting the
NOTCH stem cell pathway in therapy resistant tumor cells without adverse effects in normal tissues.
DIRECT interrogates the molecular details of key cancer therapy response parameters providing
opportunities for the next generation of tumor cell specific treatments that improve disease outcome.
End Date:
30/4/2019
Project ID:
617471
Host Institution:
Acronym:
HAIRY CELL LEUKEMIA
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Enrico Tiacci
etiacci@solido.umbria.it
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PERUGIA, PERUGIA, IT
www.unipg.it/en/
Genetics-driven targeted therapy of Hairy Cell Leukemia
Hairy Cell Leukemia (HCL), a chronic B-cell neoplasm, is initially sensitive to chemotherapy with purine
analogs, but ~40% of patients eventually relapses and becomes less responsive to these drugs.
Furthermore, purine analogs may cause myelotoxicity, immune-suppression and severe opportunistic
infections. Therefore, molecularly-targeted less toxic drugs are highly desirable in HCL. However, its
low incidence and the initial efficacy of purine analogs has made HCL an orphan in the world of cancer
research and has spoiled the academic and industrial interest in developing better treatments for this
disease. But recently we identified the V600E activating mutation in the BRAF kinase as the key genetic
lesion of HCL (similar to BCR-ABL1 in chronic myeloid leukemia). Orally available specific BRAF
inhibitors (e.g., Vemurafenib) have in the meantime showed remarkable efficacy in melanoma patients
harboring the BRAF-V600E mutation, although resistance to such drugs eventually develops in this
malignancy through reactivation of MEK (the downstream target of BRAF). The ground-breaking
objective of this project is to introduce for the first time in HCL, by means of phase-2 investigatordriven pilot clinical trials, the concept of BRAF and/or MEK inhibition as an oral, non chemotherapybased, entirely out-patient, genetics-driven and rationally designed treatment strategy, first in patients
with active disease despite (or severe toxicity from) previous chemotherapy with purine analogs, and
then, potentially, in the frontline setting. In comparison to melanoma, deeper and longer effect of
BRAF inhibition may be expected in HCL, due to its much lower genetic complexity and proliferation
rate. Anyway, potential mechanisms of resistance will be searched for to identify other genes
recurrently mutated or aberrantly expressed in HCL patients developing resistance to BRAF inhibition
(if any), and the clinical feasibility of combined BRAF and MEK inhibition will be addressed.
End Date:
31/3/2019
Project ID:
636855
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ONCOMECHAML
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Florian Grebien
florian.grebien@lbicr.lbg.ac.at
LUDWIG BOLTZMANN GESELLSCHAFT GMBH, VIENNA, AT
www.lbg.ac.at
Common Oncogenic Mechanisms in Multi-Partner Translocation Families in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is the most frequent cancer of the blood system, with >80% mortality
within 5 years of diagnosis. Straightforward clinical decisions are complicated by the genetic
complexity of AML. In particular, fusion proteins arising from chromosomal aberrations are recurrently
found in AML and often act as strong driver oncogenes. In “Multi-Partner Translocation” (MPT)
families, one specific gene is fused to many recipient loci. Due to this modular architecture, MPT
families are of particular interest to comparative studies of oncogenic mechanisms. The three most
common MPT families in AML represent translocations of the MLL, RUNX1 and NUP98 genes. Despite
their clinical significance, the molecular mechanism of transformation remains unknown for the
majority of fusion proteins and it is unclear if transforming mechanisms are conserved within and
across different MPT families.We hypothesize that common oncogenic mechanisms of fusion proteins
are encoded in physical and genetic cellular interaction networks that are specific to MPT families. We
propose to delineate critical common effectors of oncogenic mechanisms in AML driven by MPT
families through a comprehensive, comparative, functional analysis of 20 clinically representative MLL-,
RUNX1- and NUP98-fusion proteins using a unique experimental pipeline. Characterization of protein
interactomes and their effects on gene expression will identify common cellular denominators of MPT
families, whose functional contribution will be assessed through pooled shRNA screens in clinically
relevant model systems. High-confidence hits will be validated in mouse models and primary cells from
AML patients. This project will generate large informative datasets and novel experimental systems
that are of relevance for basic and clinical cancer research. It will contribute to improved
understanding of oncogenic mechanisms, which may directly impact on diagnostic and therapeutic
strategies in the management of AML.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
637780
Acronym:
BIOELECPRO
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Martin James O'Halloran
martin.ohalloran@nuigalway.ie
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, GALWAY, GALWAY, IE
www.nuigalway.ie
Frontier Research on the Dielectric Properties of Biological Tissue
The dielectric properties of biological tissues are of fundamental importance to the understanding of
the interaction of electromagnetic fields with the human body. These properties are used to determine
the safety of electronic devices, and in the design, development and refinement of electromagnetic
medical imaging and therapeutic devices. Many historical studies have aimed to establish the dielectric
properties of a broad range of tissues. A growing number of recent studies have sought to more
accurately estimate these dielectric properties by standardising measurement procedures, and in some
cases, measuring the dielectric properties in-vivo. However, these studies have often produced results
in direct conflict with historical studies, casting doubt on the accuracy of the currently utilised dielectric
properties. At best, this uncertainty could significantly delay the development of electromagnetic
imaging or therapeutic medical devices. At worst, the health dangers of electromagnetic radiation
could be under-estimated. The applicant will embark upon frontier research to develop improved
methods and standards for the measurement of the dielectric properties of biological tissue. The
research programme will accelerate the design and development of electromagnetic imaging and
therapeutic devices, at a time when the technology is gaining significant momentum. The primary
objective of the research is to develop a deep understanding of the fundamental factors which
contribute to errors in dielectric property measurement. These factors will include in-vivo/ex-vivo
measurements and dielectric measurement method used, amongst many others. Secondly, a new
open-access repository of dielectric measurements will be created based on a greatly enhanced
understanding of the mechanisms underlying dielectric property measurement. Finally, new
electromagnetic-based imaging and therapeutic medical devices will be investigated, based on the
solid foundation of dielectric data.
End Date:
30/9/2020
Project ID:
640643
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SEGWAY
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Stéphanie DEBETTE
sdebette@bu.edu
UNIVERSITE DE BORDEAUX, BORDEAUX, FR
www.nouvelle-univ-bordeaux.fr
Study on Environmental and GenomeWide predictors of early structural brain Alterations in Young
students
Mounting evidence suggests that early life factors have an important impact on the occurrence of latelife neurological diseases. From a public health perspective this is of particular relevance for dementia,
the prevalence of which is increasing drastically, with no available preventive treatment, and
epidemiological data suggesting that pathological processes may begin many years before clinical
diagnosis. MRI-defined structural brain phenotypes are powerful intermediate markers for dementia,
and can already show measurable alterations in young and middle-aged adults. These include global
and regional brain volumes, gray matter volume and cortical thickness, and markers of white matter
integrity. The SEGWAY project aims to: (i) explore the heritability and genetic determinants of
structural brain phenotypes in young adults in their early twenties participating in the i-Share study,
the largest ongoing student cohort; (ii) take a lifetime perspective by examining the shared genetic
contribution to structural brain alterations in young adulthood (i-Share) and late-life, among
participants of a large French population-based study (3C-Dijon); (iii) explore the interaction between
genetic variants and vascular risk factors with established impact on structural brain phenotypes, in
both age groups; (iv) examine the clinical significance of genetic risk variants for structural brain
alterations by testing their association with cognitive performance in young and older adults.
Replication and of our findings will be sought in the multigenerational Framingham Heart Study and
other independent samples. Identifying common biological mechanisms underlying both early and latelife structural brain changes would provide important information on the mechanisms and timecourse
of brain aging throughout a lifetime and could be of major importance for identifying of molecular drug
targets and characterizing high risk populations most likely to benefit from early interventions.
End Date:
30/11/2020
Project ID:
646734
Host Institution:
Acronym:
IXSI3D
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Hugo Wilhelmus Antonius Maria de Jong
h.w.a.m.dejong@umcutrecht.nl
www.umcutrecht.nl
Translating Hybrid Imaging for Interventions: Intra-operative Guidance and Evaluation using 2D and
3D Interventional X-ray Scintigraphy Imaging
I propose to research, build and evaluate Interventional X-ray and Scintigraphy Imaging (IXSI). This will
provide for the first time real-time, multimodality imaging during medical interventions by combining
live x-ray and live nuclear imaging simultaneously from an identical viewpoint. The hybrid x-ray/nuclear
imaging device will enable surgeons and interventional radiologists to exploit the power of molecular
imaging in the operating theatre and intervention room through i) live guidance using 2D imaging and
ii) 3D quantitative evaluation (IXSI3D). Systems, like the successful PET/CT and SPECT/CT, have
revolutionized diagnostic medical imaging; however they acquire x-ray (anatomical information) and
nuclear images (molecular information) in sequence. Our new technology brings live, hybrid imaging to
operations and interventions. This will have a broad and powerful impact, particularly in oncological
applications, including internal radiotherapy, tumor resection and biopsies.For combined X-ray/nuclear
imaging, an x-ray tube, an x-ray detector and a gamma camera with collimator are required. Our
concept relies on placing these three elements in one line, thus enabling imaging of the same field-ofview. However, straight-forward combination of these elements would block the line of views. Inspired
by how eyes see around the nose, I invented a gamma camera geometry that sees around the x-ray
tube. I have created a prototype, and using a provisional set-up based on this novel concept (patent
pending), I have demonstrated IXSI’s basic principles. This proposal describes the quantum leap in
medical imaging: clinical realization of IXSI for guidance, and the development of IXSI3D that enables
intra-operative quantitative evaluation. I will develop algorithms and hardware, build a mobile system
and prove it’s potential in a clinical research protocol. This will be the start of a new era in imageguided intervention.
End Date:
30/11/2020
Project ID:
647047
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CRADLE
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Frederic Amant
frederic.amant@uzleuven.be
www.kuleuven.be
Cancer treatment during pregnancy: from fetal safety to maternal efficacy
The evolution in drug regulation of the last 50 years has left pregnant women and their fetuses
orphaned. This is particularly problematic for cancer during pregnancy, which raises a difficult and
conflicting medical ethical decision process and which has recently become increasingly frequent. In
2012 we published the first prospective study indicating that antenatal exposure to cancer treatment
can overall be considered safe. Building on this proof of concept, the current proposal wants to take a
groundbreaking step towards developing a standard of care for cancer during pregnancy by addressing
–in an integrated fashion- the challenges at the level of the fetus, the mother and the fetomaternal
barrier. At the core of this proposal lies an international registry of pregnant women with cancer, along
with a registry of their children, and biobanks of maternal, placental, cord blood and tumoral tissues.
Research track ‘child’ aims to deliver robust evidence of fetal safety. Research track ‘mother’ aims to
address the emerging concerns in the oncological management of the mother, and specifically, the
possible distinct biology of pregnancy-associated breast cancer, the most frequent cancer type in
pregnancy. The research approach includes large-scale clinical follow-up studies along with laboratory
studies on patient biomaterials, including pharmacological investigations and RNA-sequencing studies.
Complementary to these studies is research track ‘placenta’ in which cutting-edge models of human
placental research are used to address the poorly understood physiological basis of the placental
barrier function in this specific situation. This ambitious program will rely on a multidisciplinary team of
experts. Not only may the scientific deliverables of this proposal constitute a major step forward to the
well-being of both mother and fetus in a pregnancy complicated by cancer, the methodological
approach may also provide critical impetus to further research in this field.
End Date:
30/9/2020
Project ID:
323977
Host Institution:
Acronym:
MEMOTV
Evaluation Panel:
SH4 - The Human Mind and Its
Complexity
Prof. Thomas Rudolf Elbert
thomas.elbert@uni-konstanz.de
UNIVERSITAT KONSTANZ, KONSTANZ, DE
www.uni-konstanz.de/
Epigenetic, neural and cognitive memories of traumatic stress and violence
MemoTV investigates the mechanisms through which stressful experiences shape memories in humans
on epigenetic, neural and behavioural/cognitive levels. We will explore how these memories interact
with cultural settings in ways that result in malfunctioning and mental suffering. Frequent exposure to
the severe stressors associated with domestic and organised violence leads to the detrimental
conditions associated with extreme and traumatic stress. Such exposure reorganises the functioning of
the brain and mind in a lasting, self-perpetuating manner so that even very subtle cues, sometimes
merely arising from imaginative processes alone, can continuously activate a corresponding stage of
the defence cascade. We will investigate survivors of organised and domestic violence in different
cultural settings: the German trauma clinic, Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, the townships of South Africa and
a Burundian peace corps. Specifically, with regard to violence and trauma, MemoTV's ultimate goal is
to identify the psycho-physiological mechanisms that lastingly alter the functional organisation of brain
and mind. As means for suggesting methods to prevent and potentially reverse the consequences of
maladaptive plasticity, MemoTV focuses on the exposure to and exertion of violence: (1) These
extreme and intense stressors are thought to produce lasting changes. Reversing clinical symptoms and
improving psychological functioning through treatment provides the detection of causal mechanisms.
(2) The applicant’s group has demonstrated international leadership and expertise in field work in wartorn crisis regions. (3) The detection and influence of the mechanisms that govern the cycle of violence
and adversity is a highly relevant societal topic. With its bold attempt to redefine the mind and its
related functional brain organisation as interactive processes in the co-construction of humans from
their genetic and socio-cultural systems, MemoTV enters an uncharted territory.
End Date:
31/7/2018
Project ID:
324182
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PIPP
Evaluation Panel:
SH2 - Institutions, Values,
Beliefs and Behaviour
Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer
motak@idi.org.il
THE ISRAEL DEMOCRACY INSTITUTE ASSOCIATION-IDI, JERUSALEM, IL
www.idi.org.il
Proportionality in Public Policy:
Towards a Better Balance between Interests and Rights in Decision-Making
This research project seeks to improve the quality and consistency of policy decisions by offering a
novel approach to the study and practice of proportionality, one of the most important metaconstitutional principles for adjudicating among competing values. Although proportionality is wellestablished as a legal principle, its abstractness produces inconsistent application across judges and
cases. Moreover, proportionality has been poorly integrated into policymaking, where it has the
greatest potential to enhance the quality of democratic governance. We propose to shift scholarly
attention away from its traditional focus on judicial review to the policy making process. Our aim is to
develop procedural guidelines for deeper integration of Proportionality Analysis (PA) into the policy
making process, in order to help policymakers make decisions that achieve a better balance between
competing public interests and protected constitutional rights, and facilitate judicial review processes.
Relying on choice architecture, we hypothesize that it is possible to reduce potential biases and
cognitive errors and better protect human rights in policy choices by structuring policy analysis in ways
that: (1) integrate elements of proportionality analysis; (2) offer a simultaneous process for the
evaluation of alternatives and criteria; and (3) include normative guidelines. In the first stage of the
project, we intend to employ comparative legal and policy research in six democracies, in order to
better understand the challenges involved with integrating PA into the policymaking world. In the
project's second stage, we will conduct a series of empirical behavioural experiments with
policymakers in order to test the proposed procedural measures. The fruits of our research will serve
legal scholars and students of public policy as well as policy-makers and judges throughout the
democratic world.
End Date:
31/7/2018
Project ID:
647973
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Drug-Seq
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Raphaël Rodriguez
raphael.rodriguez@curie.fr
INSTITUT CURIE, PARIS, FR
www.curie.fr
Unravelling the Genomic Targets of Drugs Using High-Throughput Sequencing
This proposal is centred on the development of small molecule probes derived from DNA damaging
agents to identify their genomic targets using a novel unbiased approach. Although, several genotoxic
drugs have been used for decades to treat cancers, the exact mechanisms by which they operate are
not fully understood. It is established that these compounds interfere with the processes of
transcription and replication, thereby promoting genomic instability and cell death. However, there is
as yet no genome-wide map of the exact location of sites that are putative targets for these drugs in
vivo. This information is critical to understand and rationalize cellular responses to genotoxic agents.
Here, we propose to develop an innovative discovery- based methodology that will combine click
chemistry in situ, affinity pull-down techniques and high throughput DNA sequencing (Drug-Seq), to
identify the genomic interactome of DNA damaging drugs in order to elucidate their cellular activity at
the molecular level. Two independent lines of enquiry will be followed. Firstly, we will establish the
genomic interacting landscape of landmark drugs including etoposide, camptothecin and cisplatin using
Drug-Seq. Secondly, we will perform regular chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) of
selected proteins linked to the cellular response of interest to validate Drug-Seq and further identify
druggable genomic sites. An important aim of this proposal is to establish a universal methodology to
decipher small molecule/genome interactions in vivo that trigger a particular response in diseaserelevant models. We also seek to interrogate the role of chromatin in regulating drug/genome
interactions and to define whether it is possible to act on the epigenome to modulate the activity and
specificity of these drugs. Collectively, we anticipate our study will lay down the foundation for
personalized medicine with the implementation of rational rather than empirical clinical protocols.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
648124
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NANOBUBBLE
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Kevin Braeckmans
kevin.braeckmans@ugent.be
UNIVERSITEIT GENT, GENT, BE
http://www.ugent.be
Laser-induced vapour nanobubbles for intracellular delivery of nanomaterials and treatment of
biofilm infections
Lasers have found widespread application in medicine, such as for photothermal therapy. Gold
nanoparticles (AuNPs), are often used as enhancers of the photothermal effect since they can
efficiently absorb laser light and convert it into thermal energy. When absorbing intense nano- or
picosecond laser pulses, AuNPs can become extremely hot and water vapor nanobubbles (VNBs) can
emerge around these particles in tissue. A VNB will expand up to several hundred nm until the thermal
energy from the AuNP is consumed, after which the bubble violently collapses, causing mechanical
damage to neighbouring structures. In this project the aim is to make use of the disruptive mechanical
force of VNBs to enable highly controlled and efficient delivery of macromolecules and nanoparticles in
cells and biofilms. First, optical set-ups and microfluidics devices will be developed for high-throughput
treatment of cells and biofilms. Second, VNBs will be used to achieve efficient cytosolic delivery of
functional macromolecules in mammalian cells by cell membrane perforation or by inducing
endosomal escape of endocytosed nanomedicine formulations that are functionalized with AuNPs.
These concepts will be applied to tumorigenesis research, generation of induced pluripotent stem cells
and modulation of effector T-cells for adoptive T-cell anti-cancer therapy. Third, contrast nanoparticles
for cell imaging will be delivered into the cytosol of mammalian cells through VNB induced cell
membrane perforation. This will enable more reliable in vivo imaging of labelled cells, labelling of
subcellular structures for time-lapse microscopy and intracellular biosensing. Finally, [... confidential...]
laser-induced VNBs will be used [... confidential...] for improved eradication of biofilms. This concept
will be applied to biofilm infections in dental root canals and chronic wounds.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
649116
Acronym:
PROGSY
Prof. Per Jonas Levi Svenningsson
per.svenningsson@ki.se
KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET, STOCKHOLM, SE
www.ki.se
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Prosaposin and GPR37 in synucleinopathies
The next breakthrough in the treatment of synucleinopathies, incl Parkinson´s disease (PD), will be
aimed at interference of disease progression based on insights into the underlying pathogenic process.
The pathological hallmark of PD are Lewy bodies (LBs), in which α-synuclein is the major constituent
together with other PD-linked gene products (DJ-1, LRRK2, parkin, and GBA) and aggregated GPR37.
GPR37 is exceptional among GPCRs having a high propensity for intracellular receptor accumulation
and aggregation leading to neurotoxicity. However, unexpectedly, our results suggest that GPR37 is
neuroprotective in dopaminergic when located at the plasma membrane. Consistently, prosaposin
(PSAP), and its neurotrophic fragment prosaptide, were recently identified as agonists at GPR37. PSAP
is a neuroprotective protein that regulates intracellular lysosomal enzyme function, with saposin C
being a co-factor of GBA. In addition, we hypothesize that PSAP is secreted following cellular stress
and, via membraneous GPR37, cue dopamine neurons to initiate survival pathways. Pivotal to this
programme is modeling and analysis of the atomic structures of GPR37 in complex with prosaptide,
which will grossly facilitate mechanistic understanding and drug development with potential use in
diagnosis and treatment. Novel applications and technological advancements of fluorescence
correlation spectroscopy will be implemented for single molecule trafficking of GPR37 and its ligands
and will examine whether GPCR multimerization beyond dimer formation may be neurotoxic. Normal
and cGPR37KO mice will be virally transduced by α-synuclein to delineate in the relative contributions
of improved lysosomal function versus GPR37 agonism for neuroprotection by prosaptides. Evolving
from the autopsy studies that anti–GPR37 label LBs and that prosaposin is released upon cellular injury,
we will develop GPR37 ligands as PET tracers for LBs in synucleinopathies.
End Date:
31/7/2020
Project ID:
670951
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CleverGenes
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Seppo Ylä-Herttuala
seppo.ylaherttuala@uef.fi
ITA-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO, KUOPIO, FI
www.uef.fi
Novel Gene Therapy Based on the Activation of Endogenous Genes for the Treatment of Ischemia Concepts of endogenetherapy, release of promoter pausing, promoter-targeted ncRNAs and nuclear
RNAi
Background: Therapeutic angiogenesis with vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) has great
potential to become a novel, minimally invasive new treatment for a large number of patients with
severe myocardial ischemia. However, this requires development of new technology. Advancing stateof-the-art: We propose a paradigm shift in gene therapy for chronic ischemia by activating endogenous
VEGF-A,-B and -C genes and angiogenic transcription programs from the native promoters instead of
gene transfer of exogenous cDNA to target tissues. We will develop a new platform technology
(endogenetherapy) based on our novel concept of the release of promoter pausing and new promotertargeted upregulating short hairpinRNAs, tissue-specific superenhancerRNAs activating specific
transcription centers involving gene clusters in different chromosomal regions, small circularRNAs
formed from self-splicing exons-introns that can be regulated with oligonucleotides and small
molecules such as metabolites, nuclear RNAi vectors and specific CRISPR/gRNAmutatedCas9-VP16
technology with an ability to target integration into genomic safe harbor sites. After preclinical studies
in mice and in a newly developed chronic cardiac ischemia model in pigs with special emphasis on the
analysis of clinically relevant blood flow, metabolic and functional outcomes based on MRI, ultrasound,
photoacoustic and PET imaging, the best construct will be taken to a phase I clinical study in patients
with severe myocardial ischemia. Since endogenetherapy also involves epigenetic changes, which are
reversible and long-lasting, we expect to efficiently activate natural angiogenic programs. Significance:
If successful, this approach will begin a new era in gene therapy. Since there is a clear lack of
technology capable of targeted upregulation of endogenous genes, the novel endogenetherapy
approach may become widely applicable beyond cardiovascular diseases also in other areas of
medicine and biomedical research.
End Date:
31/10/2020
Project ID:
268904
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DIVERSITY
Evaluation Panel:
LS8 - Evolutionary, Population
and Environmental Biology
Prof. Sunetra Gupta
sunetra.gupta@zoo.ox.ac.uk
OXFORD, UK
www.ox.ac.uk
Evolution of Pathogen and Host Diversity
The study of host-pathogen systems is of central importance to the control of infectious disease, but
also provides unique opportunities to observe evolution in action. Many pathogen species have
diversified under selection pressures from the host; conversely, genes that are important in host
defence also exhibit high degrees of polymorphism. This proposal divides into two parts: (1) the
evolution of pathogen diversity under host immune selection, and (2) the evolution of host diversity
under pathogen selection.
I have developed a body of theoretical work showing that discrete
population structures can arise through immune selection rather than limitations on genetic exchange.
The predictions of this framework concerning the structure and dynamics of antigenic, metabolic and
virulence genes will be empirically tested using three different systems: the bacterial pathogen,
Neisseira meningitidis, the influenza virus, and the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The
current theory will also be expanded and modified to address a number of outstanding questions such
whether it can explain the occurrence of influenza pandemics. With regard to host diversity, we will be
attempting to validate and extend a novel framework incoporating epistatic interactions between
malaria-protective genetic disorders of haemoglobin to understand their intriguing geographical
distribution and their mode of action against the malarial disease. We will also be exploring the
potential of mechanisms that can organise pathogens into discrete strains to generate patterns among
host genes responsible for pathogen recognition, such as the Major Histocompatibility Complex. The
co-evolution of hosts and pathogens under immune selection thus forms the ultimate theme of this
proposal.
End Date:
31/5/2017
Project ID:
309403
Host Institution:
Acronym:
GENOMEFUN
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Tatiana Giraud
tatiana.giraud@u-psud.fr
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, ORSAY, FR
www.cnrs.fr
Genomics of adaptive divergence in Fungi
Understanding the genetic and genomic processes behind adaptive phenotypes remains a holy grail in
biology. Fungi are poorly studied regarding these processes, despite their great tractability as model
eukaryote organisms and their medical, industrial, and ecological importance. This project therefore
aims to investigate the major evolutionary forces in the adaptive divergence of fungi —as model
eukaryotes with small genomes— by the integration of high-throughput sequencing and innovative
approaches. Two groups of fungi will be used to investigate different time scales and footprints of
adaptation. The first model group are Penicillium fungal species. Some species being used for cheese
and antibiotic production, they are excellent models for understanding adaptive processes under
strong and recent selection. The second model is Microbotryum violaceum, a complex of sibling
species, causing anther smut disease on different Caryophyllaceae plant species. This model is ideal to
address the question of long term pathogen-host adaptation. We will integrate high-throughput
sequencing and state-of-the-art inference methods to identify the evolutionary processes involved in
adaptive divergence and the genomic consequences of domestication. Different experimental and
sequencing approaches will then help to validate the flagged genes and genomic regions. The proposed
research should yield unprecedented insights into the genomics of adaptive divergence, i.e. on the
kinds of traits, the genetic architecture of these traits, the genomic regions and processes involved, and
the importance of neutral processes. There are also applied implications for understanding emerging
fungal diseases in plants and processes of domestication in micro-organisms, and more generally
adaptation to global changes.
End Date:
28/2/2018
Project ID:
309453
Host Institution:
Acronym:
POLYINBREED
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Jane Margaret Reid
jane.reid@abdn.ac.uk
THE UNIVERSITY COURT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN, ABERDEEN, UK
http://www.abdn.ac.uk
Coevolutionary Quantitative Genetics of Polyandry and Inbreeding in the Wild: New Theory and Test
A fundamental aim in biology is to understand the (co)evolutionary dynamics of the adaptive
reproductive strategies that translate ecology into evolution. However, until now, it has not been
possible to explicitly test key hypotheses explaining the evolution of major reproductive strategies in
wild populations experiencing real-life ecological variation. I will revolutionise our understanding of the
(co)evolution of two fundamental reproductive strategies, and our approach to achieving such
understanding, by deriving entirely new evolutionary quantitative genetic theory and providing the
first explicit tests of this theory in nature. Genetic polyandry (female reproduction with multiple
males) and inbreeding (reproduction among relatives) are fundamental reproductive strategies that
profoundly influence the social, genetic and genomic structures of populations. Yet decades of
research have failed to explain their (co)evolution and persistence in the face of sexually antagonistic
selection. Current theory is inadequate because it does not consider ecology or coevolution or make
critical quantitative predictions that permit definitive test of key hypotheses in wild populations. Key
forces of direct and indirect selection on genetic variation underlying polyandry and inbreeding have
consequently never been explicitly estimated. I will derive new theory that defines the (co)evolution of
polyandry and inbreeding in terms of sex-specific genetic (co)variances, thereby providing the
conceptual advance required to drive a new generation of empirical test. I will estimate these genetic
(co)variances through state-of-the-art quantitative genetic analysis of outstanding wild population
data, thereby providing the first explicit tests of key hypotheses explaining the (co)evolution of
polyandry and inbreeding in nature. I will thereby initiate and implement a new approach to
understanding the evolution of reproductive strategies and answer long-standing questions in biology.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
310820
Host Institution:
Acronym:
STATEMIG
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Stuart Bearhop
s.bearhop@exeter.ac.uk
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER, EXETER, UK
www.ex.ac.uk
Fitness drivers in long-distance migrants: the interacting roles of physiology, social biology, ecological
and physical environments
Long distance migration in birds is among the most dramatic and exciting phenomena in nature.
However despite many years of study, there are still huge gaps in our understanding of how this
behaviour shapes individual ecology and influences population processes. For example, we have very
little understanding of how migratory animals manage trade offs within and among seasons and how
these in turn drive variation in productivity, survival or breeding phenology. Increased understanding in
this area has important implications for ecology, evolution conservation and management Our lack of
progress in this area is almost inevitable given the complex nature of migration. Migration is sequential
in nature, meaning that an animal’s state in one season is heavily influenced by previous conditions.
Therefore the costs/benefits of behaviours can be carried over into subsequent seasons and thus the
processes regulating fitness may not occur at the time it is being expressed. This also means that
regulating processes and response can also be separated spatially making it even harder to identify
cause. These effects are likely to be emphasized in migrants because fuelling flights and breeding also
places huge physiological demands on migratory birds. Yet few studies have linked the stress incurred
during migration with subsequent fitness. Integrating mechanism and function would provide very
important insights into the ecology and evolution of migration. In order to progress we need to able to
follow large numbers of individuals throughout their annual cycles, tracking the different conditions
they experience and how this influences their state at each point in time. I would use state of the art
technologies and statistical tools to follow migratory geese throughout the year and integrate, for the
first time, how interactions among physiological, social, ecological and climatic environments underpin
state and in turn fitness across the annual cycle.
End Date:
31/1/2018
Project ID:
310886
Host Institution:
Acronym:
HISTFUNC
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Jens-Christian Svenning
svenning@biology.au.dk
AARHUS UNIVERSITET, AARHUS, DK
www.au.dk
Macroecological studies of long-term historical constraints on functional diversity and ecosystem
functioning across continents
Earth’s environment is ongoing massive changes with strong impacts on ecosystems and their services
to human societies. It is thus crucial to improve understanding of ecosystem functioning and its
dynamics under environmental change. I propose to do this by assessing the novel hypothesis that
ecosystem functioning is subject to long-term constraints mediated by biodiversity effects and driven
by past climate change and other historical factors. If supported, we will have to rethink ecosystem
ecology, as traditionally ecosystem functioning is understood as the outcome of contemporary
environmental drivers and their interplay with dominant species. I will employ an unconventional
macroecological approach to ecosystem ecology to investigate this hypothesis for major organism
groups and ecosystems across continents, modeling effects of historical factors such as past climate
change. My specific objectives are to assess if and how (1) large-scale patterns in functional diversity of
a key producer group, vascular plants, and (2) a key consumer group, mammals, are affected by
historical factors; (3) if and how plant and mammal functional diversity are linked, and, if such links
exist, how and to what extent they are shaped by historical factors; (4) if and how large-scale patterns
in vegetation-related ecosystem functioning are shaped by historical factors; (5) if ecosystem
functioning is linked to diversity of plants and mammals, and if such links exist, if they are shaped by
historical factors; and finally (6) directly translate my findings into a novel framework for predicting
spatiotemporal dynamics of ecosystem functioning that accounts for historical constraints. The project
relies on extensive geospatial data now available on ecosystem functioning, species distributions, and
functional traits as well as on paleodistributions, phylogenies, paleoclimate, environment, and human
impacts, in combination with advanced statistical and mechanistic modeling.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
311024
Acronym:
NEOTROPICS
Dr. Alexandre Marcos Antonelli
alexandre.antonelli@dpes.gu.se
GOETEBORGS UNIVERSITET, GOETEBORG, SE
www.gu.se
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
The Past, Present and Future of Neotropical Biodiversity
The American tropics – the Neotropics – comprise more species than any other region on Earth,
including thousands of species used as crops, medicines and crafts. Understanding the evolution of this
biodiversity and predicting the effects of climate and habitat changes on species losses constitute a
major scientific challenge. This project will: 1) Estimate the rates of historical migration, speciation
and extinction among and within all major Neotropical biomes and regions, thereby identifying key
areas for ‘evolutionary’ conservation (i.e., those necessary for biotic interchange and vegetation shifts,
and those that may function as ‘species pumps’ to the rest of the continent). 2) Test competing
hypotheses of speciation (soil specialisation, temperature increases, polyploidy, habitat shifts, range
expansion) for the two main centres of Neotropical biodiversity: the tropical Andes and Amazonia. 3)
Produce new estimates on species losses due to on-going climate and habitat changes based on our
new findings in 1) and 2) above. To achieve these goals we will develop novel bioinformatics pipelines
that will greatly improve our use of biological databases. We will analyse DNA sequences,
georeferences and biotic traits for tens of thousands of plant and animal species. Our tools will enable
continuously up-to-date inferences and allow the easy integration of new data by students and
researchers interested in the evolution of particular species groups or biomes. This is a multidisciplinary project that requires a wide range of skills in molecular phylogenetics, bioinformatics, field
botany, ecology and palaeontology. It will greatly profit from the well-established scientific network I
have built up in my career, the vast collections of Neotropical species deposited at European natural
history collections, and the excellent laboratory and cultivation facilities available in Gothenburg,
Sweden.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
311092
Host Institution:
Acronym:
JAWEVOL
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Martin Daniel Brazeau
m.brazeau@imperial.ac.uk
IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE, LONDON, UK
www.imperial.ac.uk
The Origin of Jawed Vertebrates and the Evolution of Morphology in Deep Time
Jawed vertebrates account for more than 99% of modern vertebrate diversity. Collectively, they
comprise chondrichthyans (sharks, rays, and chimaeras) and osteichthyans (bony fishes and terrestrial
vertebrates, including humans). The anatomy of jawed vertebrates includes a series of complex traits
such as jaws, teeth, paired appendages, and novel skeletal tissues such as bone. In spite of the
intensive investigation of jawed vertebrate evolution in comparative morphology and molecular
developmental evolution, the origin and early diversification of this important group remains
mysterious. This project seeks to inject a large body of fresh data into the problem of early jawed
vertebrate origins and evolution and develop modernized tools for morphological phylogenetics. We
will use an integration of expeditionary fieldwork, modern digital imaging technology, and newly
developed numerical methods in phylogenetics to address the problems of early jawed vertebrate
origins. The work will focus on the morphology and relationships of fossil jawed vertebrates from the
Palaeozoic Era (approx. 540-250 million years ago) which exhibit the earliest evidence of jaws, teeth,
and paired appendages. Fieldwork in Mongolia will deliver new taxonomic and morphological data
from poorly explored regions and attack a major geographic bias in existing fossil archives. The project
will exploit computed tomography scanning to analyze existing fossil archives of extract species. This
work will provide a detailed scheme of phylogenetic relationships inferring the relationships of early
fossil forms to modern jawed vertebrate lineages and document the evolutionary assembly of complex
morphological traits of jawed vertebrates. These results will yield refined timelines for jawed
vertebrate evolution that can help calibrate molecular clock studies and deliver a rich comparative
framework for evolutionary morphological and developmental studies.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
311870
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CANCOOP
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Friederike Range
friederike.range@vetmeduni.ac.at
VETERINAERMEDIZINISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN, VIENNA, AT
www.vetmeduni.ac.at
Understanding the Proximate Mechanisms of
Canine Cooperation
Although it is clear that human collaborative skills are exceptional, elucidating similarities and
differences of proximate processes underlying cooperative interactions between non-primate and
primate taxa may have important implications for our understanding of cooperation in humans and
non human-animals via a profound knowledge of 1) socio-cognitive skills as adaptations to specific
environments and/or 2) the evolutionary background and origin of our own skills. The closely related
wolves and dogs constitute the ideal non-primate model to implement this approach, since
cooperation is at the core of their social organization and they are adapted to very different
environments. I propose a series of experiments with wolves (N = 20) and identically raised and kept
dogs (N= 20) that will focus on cognitive processes closely linked to the emotional system such as
empathy, inequity aversion and delayed gratification that are thought to be involved in triggering and
maintaining primate cooperation. In Part 1 of the project, we will investigate whether and to what
extent these processes are present in canines, while in Part 2 we will elucidate how they influence
partner choice in cooperative interactions. Using social network theory, we will integrate knowledge
about animals’ emotional tendencies and cognitive abilities to model canine cooperation. This is an
important step towards unifying theoretical and empirical approaches in animal behaviour. CanCoop
incorporates innovative methods and a novel approach that has the potential to elucidate the
interactions between proximate and ultimate processes in regard to cooperation. The nature of
CanCoop guarantees public and media attention needed for proper societal dissemination of the
results, which will be relevant for animal behaviour, social sciences, wildlife and zoo management.
End Date:
31/1/2018
Project ID:
322564
Acronym:
NEWGENES
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Klaus Diethard Tautz
tautz@evolbio.mpg.de
PLÖN, DE
www.mpg.de
The role of de novo evolution in the emergence of new genes
Gene evolution has long been thought to be driven primarily by duplication or transposition
mechanisms, followed by divergence of the duplicated copy. However, every evolutionary lineage
harbours also so-called orphan genes, which have no homologues in other evolutionary lineages i.e.
which do not appear to have arisen via gene duplication mechanisms, or have diverged to a point
where their origins can not be traced anymore. Orphan genes are generally thought to be important
drivers of taxon specific adaptations and interactions with the environment. New insights from
comparative genomics and phylogenetic analysis suggests now that orphan genes could indeed be
created through de novo evolution and it is becoming increasingly clear that this mechanism might
occur at high rates, which would provide a continuous source of material for new gene functions.
However, only initial evidence is available for this so far and little is known about the evolutionary
dynamics and mechanisms of de novo gene emergence. The present proposal will use experimental
and functional approaches to study the role and the evolutionary potential of the emergence of
completely new genes from random sequences. This will open up new perspectives in understanding
the evolution of genomes and the molecular mechanisms of adaptation.
End Date:
31/1/2018
Project ID:
322603
Acronym:
SIP-VOL+
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. ülo Niinemets
ylo.niinemets@emu.ee
EESTI MAAULIKOOL, TARTU, EE
www.emu.ee
Stress-Induced Plant Volatiles in Biosphere-Atmosphere System
Vegetation forms a key interface between Earth surface and atmosphere. The important role of
vegetation carbon, water and energy exchanges is well established, but the overall impact of plant
trace gas (VOC) emission for large-scale Earth processes is poorly understood. Although it is widely
accepted that VOCs play major roles in the formation of ozone, secondary organic aerosols (SOA) and
cloud condensation nuclei (CNN) with potentially profound impacts on air quality and Earth radiative
balance, the research has so far focused only on constitutive emissions from species considered
“emitters”. However, differently from constitutive VOCs emitted only by certain species, all plant
species can be triggered to emit induced VOCs under abiotic and biotic stress. So far, induced highreactivity VOCs are not considered in global VOC budget, and thus, this proposal tests the key
assumption that VOC emissions worldwide have been vastly underestimated. As global change is
resulting in higher level of stress in Earth ecosystems, the relevance of induced emissions is further
expected to gain in importance. The current project has the overall objective to evaluate the effect of
plant-generated VOC emissions on air composition and environment under global change, with
particular emphasis on the role of VOCs induced in response to environmental stress. The study first
quantifies the VOC production vs. stress severity relationships across species with differing stress
tolerance and advances and parameterizes the qualitative induced VOC model developed by PI. The
novel quantitative model is further verified by flux measurements and scaled up to regional and global
scales to assess the contribution of induced emissions to overall VOC budget, and study the feedbacks
between stress, ozone, SOA and CNN formation and the Earth climate using an hierarchy of available
models. This highly cross-disciplinary project is expected to result in key contributions in two research
fields of major significance: plant stress tolerance from molecules to globe and the role of vegetation
component in atmospheric reactivity and Earth climate. The first part of the study provides
fundamental insight into the stress responsiveness of plants with differing tolerance to environmental
limitations, extending “leaf economics spectrum”, a hotspot of current plant ecology research. The
second part provides quantitative information on large-scale importance of plant VOCs in globally
changing climates with major relevance for understanding the role of plants in the Earth’s large scale
processes.
End Date:
30/4/2018
Project ID:
335542
Host Institution:
Acronym:
MARKETS
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Erica Tobyn Kiers
toby.kiers@vu.nl
www.vu.nl
The evolution of plant-fungal markets
Throughout the Earth’s history, the mutualism between plants and their fungal partners has mediated
nutrient cycles and energy flow in ecosystems. Underground, mycorrhizal fungi and plant roots form
vast networks of connected individuals, in which sugars from roots are exchanged for nutrients from
fungi. How is cooperation maintained in plant-fungal networks? Selfish individuals can potentially
exploit the collaboration, reaping nutrient benefits while paying no costs. So, why cooperate at all? I
recently demonstrated that plant and fungal partners are able to detect variation in nutrient
provisioning by the other, and adjust their own strategy accordingly (Kiers et al. Science 2011). We
argued that the partnership functions like an economic market: partners compete by trading resources,
and those offering the best rate of exchange are rewarded. While this work suggests that plants and
fungi can successfully negotiate conditions of trade, we have yet to conclusively demonstrate what
drives ‘fair’ trade dynamics. In particular, we do not know how partner performance is evaluated, nor
how trade strategies respond to changes in resource levels. I present an interdisciplinary program of
research to address this problem by investigating four aspects critical to market regulation in nature:
(1) Responses to external resources, (2) Partner decisions, (3) Network formation, (4) Conflict
resolution within networks.
Using a combination of gene-level characterization, microscale
manipulation of nutrient landscapes, experimental evolution, and game theory, I will test: (1) how
plant and fungal trading strategies respond to changing resource levels; (2) how hosts control fungal
‘behavior’, stimulating them to collect specific nutrients; (3) the role of fungal fusion in network
formation; (4) how genetic conflicts within a fungal network are resolved. This work opens up a new
field of research into how markets evolve and are stabilized in non-animal systems.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
337023
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ECOSTRESS
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Dror Hawlena
dror.hawlena@mail.huji.ac.il
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM., JERUSALEM, IL
www.huji.ac.il
Physiological Reaction to Predation- A General Way to Link Individuals to Ecosystems
This proposal aims to advance a new general theory that links plasticity in prey responses to predation
and biogeochemical processes to explain context-dependent variations in ecosystem functioning. The
physiological reaction of prey to predation involves allocating resources from production to support
emergency functions. An example of such a reaction is an increase in maintenance respiration
concomitant with higher carbohydrate and lower N demand. Such changes in prey energy and
elemental budget should alter the role prey play in regulating the quality of detrital inputs to soils.
Nutrient content of detritus is an important determinant of the way soil communities regulate
ecosystem processes. Thus, the physiological reaction of prey to predation can potentially explicate
changes in ecosystem functioning. My first empirical examination of a few selected mechanisms of this
theory has yielded very promising insights. The main objectives of this proposal are: (1) To
systematically test whether prey reactions to predation are consistent with the proposed theory’s
predictions across species and ecosystems; (2) to examine the interface between stress physiology and
anti-predatory behaviors in explaining predator induced diet shift, and (3) to evaluate how predator
induced responses at the individual level regulate ecosystem processes. To address these objectives, I
propose combining manipulative field experiments, highly controlled laboratory and garden
experiments, and stable-isotopes pulse chase approaches. I will examine individual prey responses and
the emerging patterns across five food-chains that represent phylogenetically distant taxa and
disparate ecosystems. The proposed study is expected to revolutionize our understanding of the
mechanisms by which aboveground predators regulate ecosystem processes. Promoting such a
mechanistic understanding is crucial to predict how human-induced changes in biodiversity will affect
life-supporting ecosystem services.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
339347
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SPACERADARPOLLINATOR
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Lars Chittka
l.chittka@qmul.ac.uk
QUEEN MARY AND WESTFIELD COLLEGE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, LONDON,
UK
http://www.qmul.ac.uk
Space use by bees– radar tracking of spatial movement patterns of key pollinators
Current radar tracking technology to monitor insect movements in space allows us to catch only
glimpses of their spatial movements – it is severely constrained by the restricted range that can be
covered, the fact that individuals can only be tracked one at a time, and the lack of a height dimension.
Here we propose ground-breaking technology advances to make insect telemetry fit for the 21st
century, to answer multiple fundamental questions in pollinator space use and its implications for the
plants they pollinate. We will work towards transponder miniaturisation to make application to a large
number of insect species viable; we will develop radar technology to allow coverage of areas of up to
10km2 and the exploration of the 3rd dimension of insect flight, and we will adapt the equipment so
that multiple individuals can be traced simultaneously. We will identify the rules of bee movements at
the landscape scale, and the extent to which they use familiar landmarks and learnt vectors to link
multiple locations. We will explore whether speed-accuracy tradeoffs are relevant in landmark
navigation. Natural resource exploration and exploitation will be monitored over the entire foraging
career of select individuals, and we will quantify individual differences in space use. Tracking bees in
three dimensions will allow us to ask whether looking at the landscape from above aids efficient
navigation. The tracking of multiple bees simultaneously will allow us to monitor competitive
interactions as well as the possibility of social learning in space use. For the first time we will also track
the spatial movement strategies of queens and males to see how they interface the search for mates
with the need to forage efficiently. Our findings will have wide-ranging applications not just for the
understanding of pollinator space use, but also for the conservation, management, and the
understanding of mating patterns in the plants they pollinate.
End Date:
31/3/2019
Project ID:
340904
Host Institution:
Acronym:
EVOLVINGNODULES
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Martin Parniske
parniske@lmu.de
LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN, MUENCHEN, DE
www.uni-muenchen.de
Molecular inventions underlying the evolution of the nitrogen-fixing root nodule symbiosis
Crop production worldwide is sustained through nitrogen fertilizer produced via the energy-demanding
Haber-Bosch process. One group of closely related plants evolved to become independent of nitrogen
from the soil by engaging in symbiosis with bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen to plant-usable
ammonium and are hosted within specialized organs, the root nodules. Nodulation evolved several
times independently but exclusively in four related orders, the Fabales, Fagales, Cucurbitales and
Rosales (FaFaCuRo) based on a putative genetic predisposition to evolve root nodules acquired by a
common ancestor of this clade. This project aims to identify the elusive genetic switches involved in
the evolution of nodulation. It builds on the underlying idea that a succession of events co-opted
preexisting developmental programs to be activated by symbiotic stimuli. We will systematically
investigate and compare the prewired connections between signaling pathways and developmental
modules present in non-nodulating and nodulating relatives, to identify components acquired by
nodulators. The Rosaceae represent a particularly attractive family to test evolutionary hypotheses by
transferring candidate switches from a nodulator into the genome of closely related sister genera to
enable nitrogen fixing root nodule symbiosis. Most genera of the Rosaceae including economically
valuable targets such as apple and strawberry are non-nodulating. A minority of Rosaceae form
ancestral, lateral root related actinorhiza nodules with Frankia actinobacteria, which differs from the
derived, more complex symbiosis of legumes with rhizobia. Frankia strains have a very broad host
range and can fix nitrogen at ambient oxygen concentrations thus imposing minimal constraints on a
host environment suitable for efficient symbiosis. Thus, by retracing small evolutionary steps within the
Rosaceae we will take a huge leap towards nitrogen-fertilizer independent crops for sustainable
agriculture.
End Date:
31/12/2018
Project ID:
614725
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PATHPHYLODYN
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Oliver Pybus
oliver.pybus@zoo.ox.ac.uk
OXFORD, UK
www.ox.ac.uk
Pathogen Phylodynamics: Unifying Evolution, Infection and Immunity
Genetic sequences represent a rich source of information about evolutionary and ecological processes
in natural populations. However the development of methods to recover this information is being
outpaced by the explosion in sequence data, especially since the introduction of ‘next-generation’
sequencing. This problem is particularly acute for the inter-disciplinary field of pathogen
phylodynamics. The rapid evolution of many pathogens means their ecological and evolutionary
dynamics occur on the same timescale and therefore new analytical methods are required to study this
joint behaviour. Further, the small genome sizes and medical importance of many viruses mean that
hundreds of thousands of homologous sequences are already available, and sample sizes will continue
to grow. The main goal of this proposal is to develop and apply multiple new frameworks of
evolutionary analysis, to unlock the full potential of current data and to exploit new types of sequence
data for which no rigorous analytical methods currently exist. Across four related themes I will use
these novel methods to answer major unsolved questions about the evolutionary dynamics of viruses
and their hosts: (i) How can we measure adaptation in data sets comprising many thousands of
genomes? (ii) Can we reveal the adaptation of viral lineages to the genetic variation in immunity
present in host populations? (iii) How can we combine mathematical ecological models with viral
genomics to better predict the outcome of chronic HIV and hepatitis C virus infection, or the success of
anti-viral drug therapy? (iv) Can we apply methods from ecology and evolution to analyse new data on
immune receptor diversity, and use them to better understand the dynamics of leukaemia and viral
infection? The suite of analytical methods created during this project will open fresh avenues of
research, creating opportunities to exploit the future growth in genetic data on biological diversity
across many disciplines.
End Date:
30/4/2019
Project ID:
616346
Host Institution:
Acronym:
WATERWALKING
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Abderrahman Khila
abderrahman.khila@ens-lyon.fr
www.cnrs.fr
Water-walking insects: marrying evo-devo with ecology for a better understanding of morphological
evolution
Understanding the origin of the remarkable biodiversity in nature is an important goal in biological
studies. Despite recent advances in evolutionary developmental biology, our understanding of the
interaction between developmental genetic processes and the ecological environment in shaping the
phenotype remains largely fragmented. This is mainly because of the difficulty to transfer molecular
genetic tools to natural systems where we have a good understanding of the ecology. In this proposal,
we combine original natural systems, water-walking insects, with state of the art tools of functional
and developmental genetics, to study the interplay between developmental genetic pathways and the
ecological environment, and how this interaction can shape adaptive phenotypic change. About 200
million years ago, the common ancestor of water-walking insects (Heteroptera, Gerromorpha) invaded
water surface and radiated into a diverse array of niches, from shorelines to open oceans. This
ecological transition and specialization is associated with an array of adaptive changes that enabled
these insects to support their body weight and generate efficient propulsion on the water surface. In
this project, we aim to develop a multilevel functional approach that combines developmental and
evolutionary genetics, ecology, and comparative genomics and transcriptomics, to study a set of key
morphological traits directly associated with the initial event of transition to water surface life, and the
diversification that followed. To achieve this, we chose three water-walking insects, along with a
terrestrial and under-water outgroups, based on their morphology, ecology, and amenability for
laboratory culturing and functional experiments. We will identify the genes and genetic changes
responsible for the development and evolution of the hydrophobic bristles –a key trait that was
instrumental in the transition from terrestrial to water surface life. In addition, we will identify the
geneti
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
336019
Acronym:
RATE
Prof. Sabine Carey
sabine.carey@uni-mannheim.de
UNIVERSITAET MANNHEIM, MANNHEIM, DE
www.uni-mannheim.de
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Repression and the Escalation of Conflict
The objective of this project is to uncover and explain the escalation and non-escalation of repression
and intra-state armed conflict by analyzing how characteristics of the government and its formal and
informal security apparatus shape the dynamics of such violence, paying particular attention to the
role of monitoring and accountability. RATE analyzes when and under what conditions what types of
human rights violations lead to the escalation or deterrence of further repression and armed conflict.
Although there has been substantial increase in research on civil war, we know surprisingly little about
the dynamics that escalate armed conflict within country-borders and those that prevent an escalation
and what role human rights violations and informal armed actors play in those dynamics. While civil
wars are a relatively rare occurrence, repression and human rights violations are not. What can this tell
us about the link between human rights violations and repression? What leads to the escalation of
political violence, increasing the severity and breadth of repression? What hampers the escalation of
repression into civil war? Does the avoidance of civil war come at the cost of increased repression? The
proposed project produces new data on personal integrity rights and civil liberties, disaggregated by
type, intensity, perpetrator, as well as time and space, and on pro-government militias to investigate
the conditions under which repression escalates and how monitoring and accountability of formal and
particularly informal armed actors affect these escalation processes. It analyzes whether particular
human rights violations prevent the escalation of violence by compromising the personal security of
the people living in that country. An exploratory case study and agent-based models will be used to
refine the theoretical argument, which will then be tested on the new data with cross-national
quantitative analyses and three qualitative comparative case studies.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
616474
Host Institution:
Acronym:
EVOCOGN
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Joah Madden
j.r.madden@exeter.ac.uk
www.ex.ac.uk
The Evolution of Cognitive Performance
I aim to determine how cognitive abilities evolve under natural selection; one of the most important,
yet poorly understood issues in modern biology. Comparative studies inform us how species differ, and
hence, one can infer selective pressures. However, studies of how heritable inter-individual cognitive
differences determine fitness in the face of natural selection are absent. I will use methods and
paradigms developed in comparative psychology, cognitive science and behavioural ecology, applying
them to free-living animals, and so determine how cognition evolves. Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus)
present an ideal system. Large numbers (100s) of individuals can be reared under controlled conditions
and then exposed to natural selection pressures. Precocial chicks can be reared without differences in
parental care. During rearing, chicks will complete a suite of automated cognitive training and testing,
and their performance will be recorded. Conditions before and during rearing will be manipulated
including maternal investment in eggs and diet complexity during rearing. Crucially, these captive
reared birds will be released and exposed to natural selection. Surviving birds will be recaptured and
bred from, producing large broods so that heritability can be studied. Empirical work will describe how
individuals vary in their performance across a suite of cognitive domains; how such performance links
to their natural behaviours; how their performance contributes to their fitness; how variation in
performance is inherited; and how variation in performance is influenced by early life maternal or
environmental factors. These are all significant steps in themselves, but the real strength of this project
is addressing them in synchrony in a single, free-living study system. This provides a robust framework
to tackle the broad question of how cognitive performance evolves that can be applied across a wider
suite of conditions and taxa, including humans.
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
617279
Host Institution:
Acronym:
EVOLRECOMBADAPT
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Felicity Clare Jones
fcjones@tuebingen.mpg.de
TÜBINGEN, DE
www.mpg.de
Recombination in Adaptive Evolution
Meiotic recombination is a key source of genetic diversity with considerable implications for the
genomic landscape and evolutionary process. By shuffling parental alleles to produce novel haplotypes,
recombination impacts the strength of selection on nearby polymorphisms, and can increase the rate
of adaptation in natural populations. Recombination defects can have serious phenotypic
consequences: inviable gametes, miscarriages and developmental abnormalities. Strikingly,
recombination rate differs by orders of magnitude across the genome, among individuals, sexes,
populations and species. Despite recent progress, we know little about how molecular constraints and
evolutionary forces interact to shape recombination in natural populations. We will close this
knowledge gap using threespine stickleback fish—an exceptional evolutionary model system that
bridges molecular genetic studies and adaptive evolution in the wild. This research program combines
next-generation genomics with cutting-edge molecular biology and transgenics. We will 1) create
kilobase-scale maps of the recombination landscape in adaptively diverging populations; 2) genetically
dissect factors cis- and trans-acting factors that cause recombination variation; 3) characterize
molecular mechanisms of recombination modifiers using cutting-edge techniques; and 4) test
evolutionary theory that predicts natural selection favours recombination suppression in hybrids. This
will significantly improve our understanding of recombination and introduce sophisticated genetic
engineering techniques that further cement sticklebacks as an evolutionary model organism. Our
ultimate goal is to understand how molecular mechanisms and natural selection shape and constrain
recombination during adaptive divergence. This research connects a fundamental biological process
that underlies severe human diseases with the tempo of adaptation in natural populations
End Date:
31/7/2019
Project ID:
617457
Acronym:
PHYLOCANCER
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. David Posada Gonzalez
dposada@uvigo.es
UNIVERSIDAD DE VIGO, VIGO PONTEVEDRA, ES
www.uvigo.es
Phylogeography and somatic evolution of cancer tumor cells
By far, most evolutionary research has focused on the changes that occur in the germline of individuals
across generations, within and between species. For different reasons, much less attention has been
given to the process of change within the somatic line of a multicellular individual. The formation of
cancer tumors due to uncontrolled cell proliferation is one of the most prominent forms of somatic
evolution. The evolution of cancer tumors in a body can be likened with the evolution of populations in
more or less fragmented habitats. The tumor is usually a expanding population of clonal cells, which
may differentiate to a bigger or lesser extent (population structure) and disperse to contiguous (range
expansion) or more distant tissues (long distance colonization). During tumor progression, this
population of cells is subject to distinct somatic evolutionary processes like mutation, drift, selection or
migration, which can act at different points in time and geographical space. Very recently, the
discovery of extensive intratumor heterogeneity, together with the rise of single cell genomics, has
created an unique opportunity to study the phylogeography of cancer tumor cells. So far evolutionary
inferences drawn from cancer genomes have been mostly qualitative. Here we propose to study a
thousand single cell genomes from different regions in primary tumors and matched metastases. We
will develop and apply state-of-the-art statistical and computational techniques from phylogenetics,
phylogeography and population genomics to understand the tempo and mode of evolution of cell
lineages within and between cancer tumors. By doing so we aim to construct a robust theoretical and
methodological evolutionary framework that can contribute to a better understanding of the process
of somatic evolution and shed light into the biology of cancer.
End Date:
30/9/2019
Project ID:
637643
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TREECLIMBERS
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Hans Joris Verbeeck
hans.verbeeck@ugent.be
http://www.ugent.be
Modelling lianas as key drivers of tropical forest responses to climate change
Tropical forests are essential components of the earth system. Yet, much uncertainty exists about the
exact role of this biome in the global carbon cycle. Our limited understanding of tropical forest
functioning is reflected in uncertain global vegetation model projections. A large source of uncertainty
in these models is their representation of ecosystem demographic processes. Interestingly, fieldwork
has revealed lianas as important components of tropical forests, which are apparently increasing in
abundance. Liana proliferation might be a key adaptation mechanism of tropical forests to climate
change, which has potentially large impacts on the long term tropical forest biome carbon balance.
Nevertheless, no single terrestrial ecosystem model currently includes lianas. TREECLIMBERS will
generate important insights into the mechanisms by which lianas influence the carbon balance of
tropical forests, by building the first vegetation model that includes lianas. We will make the first
integrative study of (1) the contribution of lianas to instantaneous carbon and water fluxes, (2) liana
contribution and influence on canopy structure, (3) their role for long term demographic processes,
and (4) of their role in forest responses to drought events. TREECLIMBERS will develop the first liana
plant functional type (PFT) by combining a unique global meta-analysis of existing data with innovative
terrestrial LiDAR 3D measurements of the canopy to study the contribution of lianas to the canopy
structure. New and available data will be integrated in the Ecosystem Demography (ED) model, a
forerunner of the next generation of vegetation models. By using model-data fusion we will, for the
first time, integrate the large amount of available and emerging liana data, leading to an integrated
insight into the role of lianas in tropical forest functioning. This project aims to show that shifts in
floristic composition due to global change may have important impacts in tropical forests.
End Date:
31/3/2020
Project ID:
638240
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SEXSEA
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Susana, Margarida Barroso Coelho
coelho@sb-roscoff.fr
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, ROSCOFF, FR
www.cnrs.fr
Origin and evolution of the sexes and reproductive systems: novel insights from a distant eukaryotic
lineage
Sexual reproduction is an extraordinarily widespread phenomenon that assures the production of new
genetic combinations in nearly all eukaryotic lineages. Although the core mechanisms of sexual
reproduction (meiosis and syngamy) are highly conserved, the control mechanisms that determine
whether an individual is male or female are remarkably labile across eukaryotes. In genetically
controlled sexual systems, gender is determined by sex chromosomes, which have emerged
independently and repeatedly during evolution. Sex chromosomes have been studied in only a handful
of classical model organism, and empirical knowledge on the origin and evolution of the sexes is still
surprisingly incomplete. The goal of our project is to exploit the remarkable richness of sexual
characteristics of the brown algae to gain novel insights into the functional and evolutionary
interactions between the sex chromosomes and key eukaryotic reproductive and life cycle features.
First, we will use the model brown alga Ectocarpus to reveal the fundamental genetic mechanisms by
which sex chromosomes control reproductive and life cycle traits of broad importance to all
eukaryotes, including sex determination and asexual reproduction through parthenogenesis but also
the control of gamete size and the regulation of developmental switches during the life cycle. Secondly,
we will employ a combination of experimental and computational approaches on selected brown algal
species exhibiting a range of reproductive and life cycle features to understand the long term
evolutionary consequences of the variations in these traits to the structure of their sex chromosomes,
in a phylogenetic context. These analyses will not only reveal fundamental forces that shape sex
chromosome evolution in the scope of the tree of life, but will also uncover the mechanisms underlying
important evolutionary transitions between major reproductive and life cycle modes and shed new
light on the origin and evolution of the sexes.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
638333
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ComplEvol
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Pascal-Antoine-John- Luc Christin
p.christin@sheffield.ac.uk
THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD, SHEFFIELD, UK
www.shef.ac.uk
Evolutionary origins of complex ecological adaptations
During evolution, organisms adapt to diverse environmental conditions by evolving new morphological
and/or biochemical traits, some of which are of impressive complexity. This is for example the case of
eyes, wings or complex biochemical pathways, which all involve multiple components. The evolution of
such complex traits has always intrigued evolutionary biologists, including Charles Darwin, and is still
only partially understood. How can natural selection on random mutations lead over time to novel
complex ecological adaptations that allow organisms to thrive in diverse environments? This question
will be addressed here by studying a species complex that presents exceptional variation in a key
ecological adaptation, namely C4 photosynthesis. This trait results from multiple anatomical and
biochemical components that function together to increase plant productivity in warm and dry
environments. Capitalizing on a species complex of grasses that includes C4 as well as the ancestral C3
photosynthetic types and multiple intermediate states, the ComplEvol project will combine methods
from different fields to infer (i) the history of mutations that generated components for C4
photosynthesis during the dispersal into different ecological conditions, (ii) the factors controlling the
spread of these mutations among populations, (iii) the effects of these mutations on the properties of
the encoded C4 enzymes, (iv) the effects of different anatomical and biochemical C4 components on
the performance of the plants (fundamental niche), and (v) the relationships between these
components and the distribution of individuals in contrasted environments (realised niche). The
incorporation of these different dimensions of evolution and ecology will shed new lights on the
processes that allow over time the emergence of major ecological novelties through the repeated
action of natural selection on minor changes within populations.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
638873
Host Institution:
Acronym:
BeeDanceGap
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Ellouise Leadbeater
elli.leadbeater@rhul.ac.uk
ROYAL HOLLOWAY AND BEDFORD NEW COLLEGE, EGHAM, UK
https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/
Honeybee communication: animal social learning at the height of social complexity
Learning from others is fundamental to ecological success across the animal kingdom, but a key theme
to emerge from recent research is that individuals respond differently to social information.
Understanding this diversity is an imposing challenge, because it is hard to replicate the overwhelming
complexity of free-living groups within controlled laboratory conditions. Yet here I propose that one of
the most complex social models that we know of— the sophisticated eusocial societies of honeybees—
offer unrivaled and yet unrecognized potential to study social information flow through a natural
group. The honeybee “dance language” is one of the most celebrated communication systems in the
animal world, and central to a powerful information network that drives our most high-profile
pollinator to food, but bee colonies are uniquely tractable for two reasons. Firstly, next-generation
transcriptomics could allow us to delve deep into this complexity at the molecular level, on a scale that
is simply not available in vertebrate social systems. I propose to track information flow through a
natural group using brain gene expression profiles, to understand how dances elicit learning in the bee
brain. Secondly, although bee foraging ranges are vast and diverse, social learning takes place in one
centralized location (the hive). The social sciences now offer powerful new tools to analyze social
networks, and I will use a cutting-edge network-based modelling approach to understand how the
importance of social learning mechanisms shifts with ecology. In the face of global pollinator decline,
understanding the contribution of foraging drivers to colony success has never been more pressing, but
the importance of the dance language reaches far beyond food security concerns. This research
integrates proximate and ultimate perspectives to produce a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary
program; a high-risk, high-gain journey into new territory for understanding animal communication.
End Date:
31/1/2021
Project ID:
639096
Host Institution:
Acronym:
HybridMiX
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Yingguang Frank Chan
frank.chan@tue.mpg.de
TÜBINGEN, DE
www.mpg.de
Genetic Mapping of Evolutionary Developmental Variation using Hybrid Mouse in vitro Crosses
Discovering the genetic changes underlying species differences is a central goal in evolutionary
genetics. Most evolutionarily important traits affecting fitness are complex or quantitative traits,
whose genetic bases are elusive. In mammals, dissecting the genetic basis of complex trait variation is
particularly challenging, because efficient genetic mapping requires enormous pedigrees or specialized
genetic panels that are typically beyond the resources of individual groups. Using a radically novel
method to circumvent breeding limitations by “breeding” mice in vitro, I propose to dissect the genetic
basis of evolutionary developmental variation. This ground-breaking approach will allow me to create
large genetic mapping panels of potentially any size from mouse interspecific hybrids of increasing
evolutionary divergence. In vitro crosses promise a breakthrough in evolutionary biology: by bypassing
hybrid sterility and inviability, we will ask which genetic changes underlie species differences. The
proposed experiments address how genetic changes accumulate during evolution of new species to
shape gene regulatory networks and cause phenotypic changes at the gene expression, fitness and
organismal level. This research has the potential to revolutionize genetic mapping. If realized, its
impact on personalized medicine, agricultural science and evolutionary research cannot be
understated.
End Date:
31/7/2020
Project ID:
294780
Acronym:
NOVABREED
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
LS9 - Applied life Sciences and
Non-Medical Biotechnology
Prof. Michele Morgante
michele.morgante@uniud.it
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI UDINE, UDINE, IT
www.uniud.it
Novel variation in plant breeding and the plant pan-genomes
The analysis of variation in plants has revealed that their genomes are characterised by high levels of
structural variation, consisting of both smaller insertion/deletions, mostly due to recent insertions of
transposable elements, and of larger insertion/deletion similar to those termed in humans Copy
Number Variants (CNVs). These observations indicate that a single genome sequence might not reflect
the entire genomic complement of a species, and prompted us to introduce the concept of the plant
pan-genome, including core genomic features common to all individuals and a Dispensable Genome
(DG) composed of partially shared and/or non shared DNA sequence elements. The very active
transposable element systems present in many plant genomes may account for a large fraction of the
DG. The mechanisms by which the CNV-like variants are generated and the direction of the mutational
events are still unknown. Uncovering the intriguing nature of the DG, i.e. its composition, origin and
function, represents a step forward towards an understanding of the processes generating genetic
diversity and phenotypic variation. Additionally, since the DG clearly appears to be for the most part
the youngest and most dynamic component of the pan genome, it is of great interest to understand
whether it is a major contributor to the creation of new genetic variation in plant evolution and more
specifically in the breeding process. We thus aim at: i) defining extent and composition of the pan
genome in two plant species, maize and grapevine; ii) identifying the different mechanisms that
generate and maintain the dispensable portion in these 2 species; iii) identifying the phenotypic effects
of the DG; iv) estimating the rates and modes of creation of new genetic variation due to DG
components and whether this could represent an important factor in the breeding process; v)
extending our findings to other plant species for which the genome sequence in the meantime may
have become available.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
309485
Host Institution:
Acronym:
BIOLEAP
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Tomas Morosinotto
tomas.morosinotto@unipd.it
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA, PADOVA, IT
www.unipd.it
Biotechnological optimization of light use efficiency in algae photobioreactors
New renewable energy source are highly needed to compensate exhausting fossil fuels reserves and
reduce greenhouse gases emissions. Some species of algae have an interesting potential as feedstock
for the production of biodiesel thanks to their ability to accumulate large amount of lipids. Strong
research efforts are however needed to fulfil this potential and address many issues involving
optimization of cultivation systems, biomass harvesting and algae genetic improvement. This proposal
aims to address one of these issues, the optimization of algae light use efficiency. Light, in fact,
provides the energy supporting algae growth and must be exploited with the highest possible efficiency
to achieve sufficient productivity. In a photobioreactor algae are highly concentrated and this cause a
inhomogeneous light distribution with a large fraction of the cells exposed to very low light or even in
the dark. Algae are also actively mixed and they can abruptly move from dark to full illumination and
vice versa. This proposal aims to assess how alternation of dark/light cycles affect algae growth and
functionality of photosynthetic apparatus both in batch and continuous cultures. In collaboration with
the Chemical Engineering department, experimental data will be exploited to build a model describing
the photobioreactor, a fundamental tool to improve its design. The other main scope of this proposal is
the isolation of genetically improved strains more suitable to the artificial environment of a
photobioreactor. A first part of the work of setting up protocols for transformation will be followed by
a second phase for generation and selection of mutants with altered photosynthetic performances.
Transcriptome analyses in different light conditions will also be instrumental to identify genes to be
targeted by genetic engineering.
End Date:
30/9/2017
Project ID:
335284
Host Institution:
Acronym:
METALSYM
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Manuel Gonzalez Guerrero
manuel.gonzalez@upm.es
UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRID, MADRID, ES
www.upm.es
Metal transport in the tripartite symbiosis arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi-legume-rhizobia
Plant nutrition is essential to understand any physiological process in plant biology, as well as to
improve crops, and agricultural practices. The root microbiome plays an important role in plant
nutrition. The best characterized microbiome elements are two plant endosymbionts: arbuscular
mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and rhizobia. AMF are responsible for delivering most of the mineral nutrients
required by the host plant. Similarly, rhizobia in legume nodules provide the vast majority of the
nitrogen requirements. Given their importance for plant nutrition a significant effort in understanding
macronutrient exchange among the symbionts has been made. However, very little is known about
metal micronutrient exchange. This is in contrast to the role of metals as essential nutrients for life (3050 % of the proteins are metalloproteins) and to the yield-limiting effect that low soil metal
bioavailability has worldwide. AMF are a source of metals, transferring the incorporated metals to the
host,. Nitrogen-fixing rhizobia in mature nodules act as metal sinks, since the main enzymes required
are highly expressed metalloproteins. We hypothesize that by changing the expression levels of the
metal transporters involved, we will increase nitrogen fixation rates and increase plant metal uptake,
resulting in higher crop production and fruit metal biofortification. Towards this goal, we will answer: i)
How are metals incorporated from the AMF into the plant?, ii) How are metals delivered to the
nodule?, iii) How are metals recovered from senescent nodules?, and iv) How does the natural
variation of symbiotic-specific metal transporters affect yields and metal content of the fruit? In this
project, we will use a multidisciplinary approach that involves metallotranscriptomics, plant physiology
and molecular biology, and state-of-the art synchrotron based X-ray fluorescence to study metal
distributions.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
336559
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ERGOX
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Florian Peter Seebeck
florian.seebeck@unibas.ch
UNIVERSITAET BASEL, BASEL, CH
www.unibas.ch
Enzymology of oxidative sulfur transfers
Oxidative stress causes cancer, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and infective disease. Much of
cellular oxidative stress is mediated, communicated, mitigated or amplified by a complex system of
sulphur containing small metabolites or protein based cysteines. Characterization of key players and
reactions in this network is crucial for preventive and therapeutic interventions. I propose a new
perspective on sulphur biochemistry. The reactivity of sulphur with the oxidative stressors superoxide,
peroxides or hydroxyl radicals is well established, but far less is known about reactions between
sulphur and molecular oxygen. I shall demonstrate that this reaction is fundamental to cellular life, and
how advances in this field provide new options in medicine, biotechnology and the food industry.
Assisted by a team of three PhD students and a postdoctoral researcher I intend to establish this new
research field by identification, characterization and engineering of enzymatic activities which catalyse
oxidative carbon-sulfur bond formation and cleavage. Specific systems in this study include the
biosynthetic enzymes for ergothioneine, sparsomycine and alliin, all of which are sulphur containing
secondary metabolites with potent activities on cellular functions.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
339341
Host Institution:
Acronym:
AMAIZE
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Dirk, Gustaaf Inzé
diinz@psb.ugent.be
VIB, GENT, BE
www.vib.be
Atlas of leaf growth regulatory networks in MAIZE
Understanding how organisms regulate size is one of the most fascinating open questions in biology.
The aim of the AMAIZE project is to unravel how growth of maize leaves is controlled. Maize leaf
development offers great opportunities to study the dynamics of growth regulatory networks,
essentially because leaf development is a linear system with cell division at the leaf basis followed by
cell expansion and maturation. Furthermore, the growth zone is relatively large allowing easy access of
tissues at different positions. Four different perturbations of maize leaf size will be analyzed with
cellular resolution: wild-type and plants having larger leaves (as a consequence of GA20OX1
overexpression), both grown under either well-watered or mild drought conditions. Firstly, a 3D
cellular map of the growth zone of the fourth leaf will be made. RNA-SEQ of three different tissues
(adaxial- and abaxial epidermis; mesophyll) obtained by laser dissection with an interval of 2.5 mm
along the growth zone will allow for the analysis of the transcriptome with high resolution.
Additionally, the composition of fifty selected growth regulatory protein complexes and DNA targets of
transcription factors will be determined with an interval of 5 mm along the growth zone.
Computational methods will be used to construct comprehensive integrative maps of the cellular and
molecular processes occurring along the growth zone. Finally, selected regulatory nodes of the growth
regulatory networks will be further functionally analyzed using a transactivation system in maize.
AMAIZE opens up new perspectives for the identification of optimal growth regulatory networks that
can be selected for by advanced breeding or for which more robust variants (e.g. reduced susceptibility
to drought) can be obtained through genetic engineering. The ability to improve the growth of maize
and in analogy other cereals could have a high impact in providing food security
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
340469
Acronym:
ADREEM
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Mark Bradley
mark.bradley@ed.ac.uk
www.ed.ac.uk
Adding Another Dimension – Arrays of 3D Bio-Responsive Materials
This proposal is focused in the areas of chemical medicine and chemical biology with the key drivers
being the discovery and development of new materials that have practical functionality and
application. The project will enable the fabrication of thousands of three-dimensional “smartpolymers” that will allow: (i). The precise and controlled release of drugs upon the addition of either a
small molecule trigger or in response to disease, (ii). The discovery of materials that control and
manipulate cells with the identification of scaffolds that provide the necessary biochemical cues for
directing cell fate and drive tissue regeneration and (iii). The development of new classes of “smartpolymers” able, in real-time, to sense and report bacterial contamination. The newly discovered
materials will find multiple biomedical applications in regenerative medicine and biotechnology ranging
from 3D cell culture, bone repair and niche stabilisation to bacterial sensing/removal, while offering a
new paradigm in drug delivery with biomarker triggered drug release.
End Date:
31/10/2019
Project ID:
615945
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PEPTIDEPADLOCK
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Mark Howarth
mark.howarth@bioch.ox.ac.uk
OXFORD, UK
www.ox.ac.uk
Peptide padlocks evolved towards infinite affinity for antibody nanoassembly and ultrasensitive cell
capture
Our ability to tailor individual proteins is now sophisticated, but our ability to assemble such proteins
into larger structures is still primitive. Proteins are typically joined by reversible or non-specific
linkages. We have designed a unique way to connect protein building blocks irreversibly and precisely,
via spontaneous isopeptide bond formation. This involves modifying proteins with a short peptide tag
(SpyTag) that is based upon remarkable chemistry used by pathogenic Gram-positive bacteria. Here we
will develop this novel approach to address major challenges in synthetic biology. We will engineer
SpyTag capture towards infinite affinity (defined as diffusion-limited on-rate and no off-rate), to
transform the sensitivity of peptide detection in living systems. We will also apply SpyTag to create a
new generation of protein polymers, irreversibly assembled with molecular precision and tailored
branching. In parallel we will harness SpyTag to enhance circulating tumor cell (CTC) capture, one of
the most promising ways to achieve early cancer diagnosis. In capturing CTCs and other rare cells from
blood, the high forces mean that even the strongest non-covalent linkages fail. SpyTag covalent
bridging, in concert with super-resolution live cell fluorescence microscopy, will give us the opportunity
to answer key questions about the forces and membrane dynamics at the magnetic bead:cell synapse.
We will exploit these insights and SpyTag-assembled antibody polymers to dramatically reduce the
threshold of antigen expression for CTC capture. This comprehensive program of research will explore
novel concepts in protein recognition and cellular response to force, while creating conceptually new
tools, making it possible for biologists in a wide range of areas to step beyond existing barriers.
End Date:
30/4/2019
Project ID:
639226
Host Institution:
Acronym:
MAMI
Evaluation Panel:
LS9 - Applied Life Sciences and
Dr. MARIA CARMEN Collado Amores
mcolam@iata.csic.es
PATERNA, ES
http://www.csic.es
The Power of Maternal Microbes on Infant Health
Recent reports suggest that early microbial colonization has an important role for in promoting health.
This may contribute to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, allergies and inflammatory
conditions. Advances in understanding host-microbe interactions imply that maternal microbiota plays
a crucial role on health programming. This process begins in utero and it is modulated by mode of
delivery and diet. My research has shown that i) specific shifts in milk microbial composition are
associated with lactation time and mode of delivery, ii) milk microbes drive the infant microbiota
composition; iii) maternal microbiota dysbiosis may be transferred to the infant. However, factors
defining maternal microbiota and its biological role upon infant’s health are not yet fully understood.
Hence, this project aims to characterize maternal microbes to be transferred to neonates and
determine their function in infant health programming. The specific aims are:(1) understanding how
the maternal microbiome is influenced by host and environmental factors;(2) characterizing the
microbial core and bioactive compounds transmitted to the offspring mainly via breastfeeding and
their key roles in the microbial modulation and host response;(3) understanding the interactions
among breast milk bioactive compounds and their role in infant health;(4) shedding light on how
maternal microbes influence the infant immune system & (5)development of new dietary strategies
and therapies based on microbial replacement and modulation. To achieve these objectives, a systems
biology approach by means of state-of-the-art techniques and new methodologies based on
subpopulation enrichment by flow cytometer-sorter to study host–microbe interactions will be used.
Results obtained will demonstrate the interaction between infant nutrition, microbes and host
response in early life and its key role in health programming, enabling new applications in the field of
personalized nutrition & medicine.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
647275
Acronym:
ProFF
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Yannick Francois Rondelez
rondelez@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, TOKYO, FR
www.cnrs.fr
Programming in vitro evolution using molecular fitness functions
Natural enzymes are awesome catalysts, in terms of their catalytic efficiency, selectivity, control
mechanisms, etc. Revamped as laboratory or industrial tools, they have allowed more than a few
breakthroughs, such as PCR, next generation sequencing or green chemistry. The next revolution will
be brought by a new generation of extensively modified “enzymatic” catalysts working in non-natural
environments, possibly build from non-natural chemistries and targeting an unlimited range of nonnatural functions. However, their design is still an arduous process; computational design lacks
precision while the combinatorial approach, directed evolution, is limited by labor-intensive or ad hoc
selection stages.We will remove the selection bottleneck in directed evolution by introducing
biochemical computers able to perform this step autonomously. Based on recent developments in
DNA-based molecular programming, these molecular scouts will be co-compartmentalized with genetic
libraries into billions of individual compartments in micrometric emulsions. At each generation and in
each droplet, after expression of the genotype, these molecular programs will autonomously: ievaluate the phenotypic signature of a candidate, ii- integrate this information into a predefined
scoring function and iii- propagate the relevant genetic information according to this score.The
programmability of this approach will make directed evolution versatile, faster, and able to address
more challenging problems. The evolution dynamics itself become tunable, offering new perspectives
on the fitness landscape of biopolymer catalysts. A quantitative in silico model will be built and
integrated in a computer-assisted tool for the fast set-up of in vitro experiments and tuning of the
various experimental knobs. Overall, we will close a virtuous circle by evolving the molecular tools
enabling the programmable selection of the next generation of catalytic tools.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
647857
Acronym:
SENSOILS
Dr. Lionel Xavier Dupuy
lionel.dupuy@hutton.ac.uk
THE JAMES HUTTON INSTITUTE, DUNDEE, UK
http://www.hutton.ac.uk/
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Sensing soil processes for improved crop nitrogen bioavailability
Food production is predicated on the application of nitrogen fertilisers, which can contribute
significantly to the production of greenhouse gasses and eutrophication of agroecosystems. The use of
nitrogen fertilisers must, therefore, be optimised. The recent development of transparent soils in my
group gives great scope to unravel the processes involved in the reactive transport of nutrients in soil
and their interaction with the soil biota. My team will combine principles of optics, chemical
engineering, the physics, chemistry, and biology of soils, and plant biology to image and characterise
nitrogen movement in soil at the micro-scale. We will develop a new generation of transparent soil
analogues that measure the biological and chemical status of soils. This will enable, for the first time, to
characterise transport at the surface of soil particles and to elucidate the role of root–particle–particle
contacts, exudation and microbial transformation on the bioavailability of nitrate and ammonium. The
legacy of the research will be knowledge, concepts, model soil systems and imaging approaches to
understand and predict nutrient bioavailability in soil with an emphasis on nitrification as a model for
nitrogen movement in soil. Transparent soils and imaging technologies will be patented and could pave
the way for 3D chemical sensors, and have application in crop breeding and precision phenotyping.
Understanding of nutrient movements in soil will lead to substantial progress in the development of
more efficient fertilisers. New model soil systems could be used to better understand the spread of
soil-borne diseases, the bio-remediation of contaminated soils and the mechanisms underlying soil
biodiversity and activity.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
306457
Host Institution:
Acronym:
FANTAST
Dr. Timothy Daniel Browning
t.d.browning@bristol.ac.uk
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL, BRISTOL, UK
www.bristol.ac.uk
Evaluation Panel:
PE1 - Mathematics
Frontiers of Analytic Number Theory And Selected Topics
This proposal sits at the interface of analytic number theory and selected topics, viewed through the
prism of Diophantine equations defining higher-dimensional algebraic varieties. A core part of the
proposal involves using analytic methods (such as complex analysis, Fourier analysis and additive
combinatorics) to tackle a range of problems about Diophantine equations. These include such basic
questions as precisely when families of equations admit integer or rational solutions and, furthermore,
how ``dense'' these solutions are when they exist. In the reverse direction, a significant component of
the proposal is dedicated to established problems in number theory (such as stable cohomology of
moduli spaces and uniform spectral gaps for arithmetic lattices) which can be tackled via the successful
analysis of intermediary Diophantine equations.
End Date:
30/11/2017
Project ID:
337039
Host Institution:
Acronym:
WALLXBIRGEOM
Dr. Arend Bayer
arend.bayer@ed.ac.uk
www.ed.ac.uk
Evaluation Panel:
PE1 - Mathematics
Wall-crossing and Birational Geometry
We will use modern techniques in algebraic geometry, originating from string theory and mirror
symmetry, to study fundamental problems of classical flavour. More concretely, we apply wallcrossing in the derived category to the birational geometry of moduli spaces. Bridgeland stability is a
notion of stability for complexes in the derived category. Wall-crossing describes how moduli spaces of
stable complexes change under deformation of the stability condition, often via a birational surgery
occurring in its minimal model program (MMP). This relates wall-crossing to the most basic question of
algebraic geometry, the classification of algebraic varieties. Our previous results additionally provide a
very direct connection between Bridgeland stability conditions and positivity of divisors, the main tool
of modern birational geometry. This makes the above link significantly more effective, precise and
useful. We will exploit this in the following long-term projects: 1. Prove a Bogomolov-Gieseker type
inequality for threefolds that we conjectured previously. This would provide a solution in dimension
three to well-known open problems of seemingly completely different nature: the existence of
Bridgeland stability conditions, Fujita's conjecture on very ampleness of adjoint line bundles, and
projective normality of toric varieties. 2. Study the birational geometry of moduli space of sheaves via
wall-crossing, adding more geometric meaning to their MMP. 3. Prove that the MMP for local CalabiYau threefolds is completely induced by deformation of Bridgeland stability conditions. The motivation
is a derived version of the Kawamata-Morrison cone conjecture, classical questions on Chern classes of
stable bundles, and mirror symmetry. 4. Answer major open questions on the birational geometry of
the moduli space of genus zero curves (for example, the F-conjecture) using exceptional collections in
the derived category and wall-crossing.
End Date:
30/11/2018
Project ID:
340340
Host Institution:
Acronym:
COMPASP
Prof. Stanislav Smirnov
stanislav.smirnov@unige.ch
www.unige.ch
Evaluation Panel:
PE1 - Mathematics
Complex analysis and statistical physics
The goal of this project is to achieve breakthroughs in a few fundamental questions in 2D statistical
physics, using techniques from complex analysis, probability, dynamical systems, geometric measure
theory and theoretical physics. Over the last decade, we significantly expanded our understanding of
2D lattice models of statistical physics, their conformally invariant scaling limits and related random
geometries. However, there seem to be serious obstacles, preventing further development and
requiring novel ideas. We plan to attack those, in particular we intend to: (A) Describe new scaling
limits by Schramm’s SLE curves and their generalizations, (B) Study discrete complex structures and use
them to describe more 2D models, (C) Describe the scaling limits of random planar graphs by the
Liouville Quantum Gravity, (D) Understand universality and lay framework for the Renormalization
Group Formalism, (E) Go beyond the current setup of spin models and SLEs. These problems are known
to be very difficult, but fundamental questions, which have the potential to lead to significant
breakthroughs in our understanding of phase transitions, allowing for further progresses. In resolving
them, we plan to exploit interactions of different subjects, and recent advances are encouraging.
End Date:
31/12/2018
Project ID:
615216
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
LIFEINVERSE
PE1 - Mathematics
Prof. Martin Burger
martin.burger@wwu.de
WESTFAELISCHE WILHELMS-UNIVERSITAET MUENSTER, MUENSTER, DE
www.uni-muenster.de
Variational Methods for Dynamic Inverse Problems in the Life Sciences
This project will develop novel techniques for solving inverse problems in life sciences, in particular
related to dynamic imaging. Major challenges in this area are efficient four- dimensional image
reconstruction under low SNR conditions and further the quantification of image series as obtained
from molecular imaging or life microscopy techniques. We will tackle both of them in a rather unified
framework as inverse problems for time-dependent (systems of) partial differential equations. In the
solution of these inverse problems we will investigate novel approaches for the following aspects
specific to the above-mentioned problems in the life sciences: 1. Solution of inverse problems for PDEs
in complex time-varying geometries 2. Development of appropriate variational regularization models
for dynamic images, including noise and motion models 3. Improved forward and inverse modelling of
cellular and intracellular dynamics leading to novel inverse problems for nonlinear partial differential
equations 4. Construction and implementation of efficient iterative solution methods for the arising 4D
inverse problems and their variational formulation All tasks will be driven by concrete applications in
biology and medicine and their success will be evaluated in applications to real problems and data. This
is based on interdisciplinary work related to electrocardiology and developmental biology. The overall
development of methods will however be carried out in a flexible and modular way, so that they
become accessible for larger problem classes.
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
616797
Host Institution:
Acronym:
VORT3DEULER
Dr. Jose Luis Rodrigo
j.rodrigo@warwick.ac.uk
www.warwick.ac.uk
Evaluation Panel:
PE1 - Mathematics
3D Euler, Vortex Dynamics and PDE
This proposal deals with a collection of problems in PDE arising from fluid mechanics.The primary
motivation is the understanding of the evolution of isolated vortex lines for 3D Euler. The importance
of the evolution of vorticity in incompressible fluid mechanics is very well known. To date, only
nonrigorous approaches are known to try to obtain an evolution equation for isolated vortex lines. Two
desingularization procedures are carried out (including a time renormalization) to obtain an evolution
equation (the binormal equation). While an isolated vortex line does not fit any known concept of
solution (given the singularity of the velocity), and there has been significant recent activity on the
nonuniqueness of solutions of Euler (De Lellis & Szekelyhidi, and recently Isett) it is expected that the
geometric assumptions made about the solution will still make it possible to find a suitable concept of
solution. In the proposal I describe an approach that should help to rigorously understand vortex lines.
It is motivated by a programme developed for the Surface Quasi-Geostrophic (SQG) equation with C.
Fefferman and for some related desingularized models with my student Zoe Atkins (Nov 2012 PhD).
SQG has been of great interest in the PDE community due to the striking similarities it exhibits with 3D
Euler. In particular, the evolution of sharp fronts for SQG corresponds to the evolution of vortex lines.
In recent years I have developed an approach that overcomes the divergences known to exist for the
velocity field (as in 3D Euler). The positive results obtained for SQG motivate the methodology and
tools described in the proposal, including the construction of solutions with very large gradients and
simple geometry and the use of a measure-theoretic approach to identify fundamental curves within
these objects. Surprising connections with other equations motivate some other directions and linked
projects, for example with Prandtl and boundary layer ther theory.
End Date:
30/6/2019
Project ID:
647133
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
IChaos
PE1 - Mathematics
Dr. Alexander Bufetov
alexander.bufetov@univ-amu.fr
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, MARSEILLE, FR
www.cnrs.fr
Intermediate Chaos
The transition from order to chaos has been a central theme of investigation in dynamical systems in
the last two decades. Structures that exhibit a mix of deterministic and chaotic properties, for example,
quasi-crystals, naturally arise in problems of geometry and mathematical physics. Despite intense
study, key questions about these structures remain wide open.The proposed research is an
investigation of intermediate chaos in ergodic theory of dynamical systems. Specific examples include
systems of geometric origin such as interval exchange maps, translation and Hamiltonian flows on
surfaces of higher genus, symbolic substitution systems important in the study of quasi-crystals as well
as dynamical systems arising in asymptotic combinatorics and mathematical physics such as
determinantal and Pfaffian point processes. Specific tasks include computation of the Hausdorff
dimension for the spectral measure of interval exchange maps (problem posed by Ya. Sinai), limit
theorems for Hamiltonian flows on surfaces of higher genus (question of A. Katok), development of
entropy theory and functional limit theorems for determinantal point processes and a description of
the ergodic decomposition for infinite orthogonally-invariant measures on the space of infinite real
matrices (the real case of the problem, posed in 2000 by A. Borodin and G. Olshanski, of harmonic
analysis on the infinite-dimensional analogue of the Grassmann manifold). The project consolidates the
proposer's past work, in particular, his limit theorems for translation flows (Annals of Math. 2014), his
proof of the 1985 Vershik-Kerov entropy conjecture (GAFA 2012) and his solution of the complex case
of the Borodin-Olshanski problem (preprint 2013). The proposer is currently PI of project ANR-11-IDEX0001-02 (1.11.2013--30.10.2015; budget 360000 euro) under the Programme "Investissements
d'avenir" of the Government of the French Republic.
End Date:
31/12/2020
Project ID:
306284
Host Institution:
Acronym:
QUAERERE
Prof. Johannes Renatus Quaas
johannes.quaas@uni-leipzig.de
UNIVERSITAET LEIPZIG, LEIPZIG, DE
http://www.uni-leipzig.de
Evaluation Panel:
Quantifying aerosol-cloud-climate effects by regime
Global climate change is widely considered one of the main concerns of humankind. However,
predictions are highly uncertain, with no substantial improvement since more than three decades.
They are hampered by the huge uncertainty of climate forcing, which is dominated by the uncertainty
in anthropogenic aerosol-cloud-climate effects (“aerosol indirect effects”). The goal of QUAERERE
(Latin for researching) is a reliable, observations-based, global quantification of these effects, which
would also imply a constraint on climate sensitivity and thus climate predictions. This goal is now
reachable combining recent advances in different disciplines: (i) a decade-long satellite dataset
involving retrievals of the relevant quantities is now available, complemented by a complete aerosol
dataset from a new reanalysis; (ii) on the basis of high-resolved numerical weather pre•diction models,
which include parameterisations of aerosol cycles and cloud-precipitation microphysics, cloud-system
resolving simulations at a regional scale are now possible; reliable simulations beyond idealised cases
are thus possible. These tools are complemented by comprehensive global climate models and
reference ob•servations from ground-based sites. The problem in aerosol-cloud-climate effects is in its
complexity: Various processes counteract each other, and large spatiotemporal variability of clouds
buffers the forcing effects. QUAERERE proposes a two-fold “divide-and-conquer” approach to this
complex problem: (i) aerosol-cloud-climate effects will be investigated by regime; this allows to
circumvent the problem of aerosol-cloud-climate ef•fects being buffered when averaging over different
regimes; and (ii) by investigating individual terms con•tributing to the aerosol-cloud-climate effects
separately; this allows to analyse individual statistical relation•ship in satellite observations and model
results consistently, and to perform model sensitivity studies for cause-effect attribution.
End Date:
30/9/2017
Project ID:
307582
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
CARBONSINK
Dr. Alexandra Turchyn
avt25@cam.ac.uk
www.cam.ac.uk
Life beneath the ocean floor: The subsurface sink of carbon in the marine environment
One prominent idea for mitigating global climate change is to remove CO2 from the atmosphere by
storing it in fluids in the natural environment; for example dissolved within sediments below the ocean
floor or in oceanic crust. This carbon sequestration is popular because it would allow us to place
carbon into semi-permanent (on human timescales) storage, ‘buying time’ to wean us from our
dependence on carbon-based energy sources. Application of such a mitigation technique presumes
knowledge of what will happen to carbon when it is dissolved in various environments. Studies of
naturally produced excess dissolved CO2 are, however, equivocal; this lack of knowledge represents a
huge deficit in our comprehension of the global carbon cycle and specifically the processes removing
carbon from the surface of the planet over geological timescales. This proposal will resolve the sink for
CO2 within marine sediments and oceanic crust. Beneath much of the ocean floor exists the ‘deep
biosphere’, microbial populations living largely in the absence of oxygen, consuming organic carbon
that has fallen to the sea floor, producing a large excess of dissolved inorganic carbon. This dissolved
inorganic carbon can diffuse back to the ocean or can precipitate in situ as carbonate minerals.
Previous attempts to quantify the flux of carbon through the deep biosphere focused mostly on studies
of sulfur and carbon, and these studies cannot reveal the fate of the produced inorganic carbon. I
propose a novel approach to constrain the fate of carbon through the study of the subsurface calcium
cycle. Calcium is the element involved in precipitating carbon as in situ carbonate minerals and thus
will directly provide the required mass balance to determine the fate of CO2 in the marine subsurface.
This mass balance will be achieved through experiments, measurements, and numerical modeling, to
achieve the primary objective of constraining the fate of carbon in submarine environments.
End Date:
30/11/2017
Project ID:
339206
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
DIOLS
Prof. Stefan Schouten
stefan.schouten@nioz.nl
STICHTING KONINKLIJK NEDERLANDS INSTITUUT VOOR ZEEONDERZOEK
(NIOZ), DEN HOORN TEXEL, NL
www.nioz.nl
Long chain diols as novel organic proxies for paleoclimate reconstructions
Accurate reconstructions of past climate changes are essential to understand e.g. the sensitivity of
Earth’s climate to global increases in atmospheric greenhouse gasses such as CO2. For these
reconstructions it is vital to have proxies which are well constrained and are able to provide robust
quantitative estimates. However, it has become clear that currently used proxies are sometimes
associated with large uncertainties and thus more proxies are needed in order to perform reliable
paleoclimate reconstructions. In my group we are developing new proxies based on so-called long
chain diols. These compounds are synthesized by several groups of algae and occur abundantly in
present day oceans as well as ancient sediments. Initial results have shown that one set of compounds,
the 1,14-diols, can be used to reconstruct past primary productivity and upwelling conditions.
Excitingly, the distribution of another set of compounds, the long chain 1,13- and 1,15-diols, show a
strong relationship with sea surface temperature and can be used to reconstruct past sea surface
temperatures in several parts of the oceans. Finally, culture experiments indicate that the stable
carbon isotopic composition of diatoms producing 1,14-diols is strongly related to CO2 concentrations,
raising the possibility that it may be used to reconstruct ancient pCO2 levels. In this ERC proposal I
want to develop, test and apply these exciting new proxies in order to provide robust and accurate
reconstructions of past oceans. To this end this ERC project is subdivided in several different
subprojects, each designed to investigate long chain diol proxies but from a different perspective, in
particular cultivation and molecular biology, organic geochemistry, (paleo)limnology and
paleoceanography. The combination of these subprojects will result in a highly multidisciplinary project
needed to make progress in the development of these unique proxies.
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
308074
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ELITE
Prof. Emmanuelle J Javaux
ej.javaux@ulg.ac.be
UNIVERSITE DE LIEGE, LIEGE, BE
www.ulg.ac.be
Evaluation Panel:
Early Life Traces, Evolution, and Implications for Astrobiology
Tracking the early traces of life preserved in very old rocks and reconstructing the major steps of its
evolution is an exciting and most challenging domain of research. How amazing it is to have a cell that
is 1.5 or 3.2 billion years old under a microscope! From these and other disseminated fragments of life
preserved along the geological timescale, one can build the puzzle of biosphere evolution and rising
biological complexity. The possibility that life may exist beyond Earth on other habitable planets lies
yet at another scale of scientific debates and popular dreams. We have the chance now to live at a
time when technology enable us to study in the finest details the very old record of life, or to land on
planets with microscope and analytical tools, mimicking a geologist exploring extraterrestrial rocky
outcrops to find traces of water and perhaps life. There is still a lot to be done however, to solve major
questions of life evolution on Earth, and to look for unambiguous life traces, on Earth or beyond. The
project ELiTE aims to provide key answers to some of these fundamental questions. Astrobiology
studies the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the Universe, starting with life on Earth, the only
biological planet known so far. The ambitious objectives of the project ELiTE are the following: 1) The
identification of Early traces of life and their preservation conditions, in Precambrian rocks of
established age 2) The characterization of their biological affinities, using innovative approaches
comprising micro to nanoscale morphological, ultrastructural and chemical analyses of fossil and recent
analog material 3) The determination of the timing of major steps in evolution. In particular, the
project ELiTE aims to decipher two major and inter-related steps in early life evolution and the rise of
biological complexity: the evolution of cyanobacteria, responsible for Earth oxygenation and ancestor
of the chloroplast, influencing drastically the evolution of life and the planet Earth, and the evolution of
the domain Eucarya since LECA (Last Eucaryotic Universal Ancestor). 4) The determination of causes of
observed pattern of evolution in relation with the environmental context (oxygenation, impacts,
glaciations, tectonics, nutrient availability in changing ocean chemistry) and biological innovations and
interactions (ecosystems evolution). Objective 1 has implications for the search for unambiguous
traces of life on Earth and beyond Earth. Objectives 2 to 4 have implications for the understanding of
causes and patterns of biological evolution and rise of complexity in Earth life. Providing answers to
these most fundamental questions will have major impact on our understanding of early life evolution,
with implications for the search for life beyond Earth.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
335915
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SEISMIC
Dr. Andre Niemeijer
a.r.niemeijer@uu.nl
UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT, UTRECHT, NL
www.uu.nl
Evaluation Panel:
Slip and Earthquake Nucleation in Experimental and Numerical Simulations: a Multi-scale, Integrated
and Coupled Approach
Earthquakes represent one of the deadliest and costliest natural disasters affecting our planet – and
one of the hardest to predict. To improve seismic hazard evaluation in earthquake-prone regions, an
understanding of earthquake nucleation and of the underlying microphysical and chemical processes is
crucial. A better understanding of the processes that control earthquake nucleation is also of rapidly
growing importance for mitigation of induced seismicity, caused by activities such as gas and oil
production, and geological storage of CO2 or gas. The SEISMIC project is a multi-scale study aimed at
understanding the parameters that control slip (in)stability in experiments and models addressing
earthquake nucleation. A central question to be tackled is what controls the velocity-dependence of
fault friction and hence the potential for accelerating, seismogenic slip, and on what length scales the
processes operate. A novel acoustic imaging technique will be developed and applied in experiments to
obtain direct information on the internal microstructural evolution of fault slip zones during
deformation, and on how this evolution leads to unstable slip. The SEISMIC project will link
experiments with sophisticated numerical models of grain-scale frictional processes. Using both
experiments and grain scale modelling, the SEISMIC project will in turn directly test boundary element
models for large scale fault slip. The coupling of experiments with grain-scale numerical models, based
on in-situ imaging, will provide the first, integrated, multiscale physical basis for extrapolation and
upscaling of lab friction parameters to natural conditions. Ultimately, the SEISMIC project will test and
validate the resulting models for fault slip by simulating and comparing patterns of seismicity for two
natural-laboratory cases: a) for the l’Aquila region of Central Italy, and b) for a reservoir-scale case
study involving induced seismicity in the Netherlands.
End Date:
31/8/2018
Project ID:
339390
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ACRCC
Prof. Theodore Shepherd
theodore.shepherd@reading.ac.uk
THE UNIVERSITY OF READING, READING, UK
http://www.rdg.ac.uk
Evaluation Panel:
Understanding the atmospheric circulation response to climate change
Computer models based on known physical laws are our primary tool for predicting climate change. Yet
the state-of-the-art models exhibit a disturbingly wide range of predictions of future climate change,
especially when examined at the regional scale, which has not decreased as the models have become
more comprehensive. The reasons for this are not understood. This represents a basic challenge to our
fundamental understanding of climate. The divergence of model projections is presumably related to
systematic model errors in the large-scale fluxes of heat, moisture and momentum that control
regional aspects of climate. That these errors stubbornly persist in spite of increases in the spatial
resolution of the models suggests that they are associated with errors in the representation of
unresolved processes, whose effects must be parameterised. Most attention in climate science has
hitherto focused on the thermodynamic aspects of climate. Dynamical aspects, which involve the
atmospheric circulation, have received much less attention. However regional climate, including
persistent climate regimes and extremes, is strongly controlled by atmospheric circulation patterns,
which exhibit chaotic variability and whose representation in climate models depends sensitively on
parameterised processes. Moreover the dynamical aspects of model projections are much less robust
than the thermodynamic ones. There are good reasons to believe that model bias, the divergence of
model projections, and chaotic variability are somehow related, although the relationships are not well
understood. This calls for studying them together. My proposed research will focus on this problem,
addressing these three aspects of the atmospheric circulation response to climate change in parallel: (i)
diagnosing the sources of model error; (ii) elucidating the relationship between model error and the
spread in model projections; (iii) understanding the physical mechanisms of atmospheric variability.
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
340863
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
PROMETHEUS
Prof. Juan Manuel Garcia Ruiz
juanma.garciaruiz@gmail.com
MADRID, ES
http://www.csic.es
Pattern formation and mineral self-organization in highly alkaline natural environments
The precipitation of alkaline-earth carbonates in silica-rich alkaline solutions yields nanocrystalline
aggregates that develop non-crystallographic morphologies. These purely inorganic hierarchical
materials, discovered by the IP of this project, form under geochemically plausible conditions and
closely resemble typical biologically induced mineral textures and shapes, thus the name ‘biomorphs’.
The existence of silica biomorphs has questioned the use morphology as an unambiguous criterion for
detection of primitive life remnants. Beyond applications, the study of silica biomorphs has revealed a
totally new morphogenetic mechanism capable of creating crystalline materials with positive or
negative constant curvature and biomineral-like textures which lead to the design of new pathways
towards concerted morphogenesis and bottom-up self-assembly created by a self-triggered chemical
coupling mechanism. The potential interest of these fascinating structures in Earth Sciences has never
been explored mostly because of their complexity and multidisciplinary nature. PROMETHEUS
proposes an in depth investigation of the nature of mineral structures such as silica biomorphs and
chemical gardens, and the role of mineral self-organization in extreme alkaline geological
environments. The results will impact current understanding of the early geological and biological
history of Earth by pushing forward the unexplored field of inorganic biomimetic pattern formation.
PROMETHEUS will provide this discipline with much needed theoretical and experimental foundations
for its quantitative application to Earth Sciences. The ambitious research program in PROMETHEUS will
require the development of high-end methods and instruments for the non-intrusive in-situ
characterization of geochemically important variables, including pH mapping with microscopic
resolution, time resolved imaging of concentration gradients, microscopic fluid dynamics, and
characterization of ultraslow growth rates.
End Date:
31/7/2019
Project ID:
340923
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TGRES
Prof. Richard David Pancost
r.d.pancost@bristol.ac.uk
www.bristol.ac.uk
Evaluation Panel:
The Greenhouse Earth System
Human activity is fundamentally changing the chemical composition of the atmosphere and warming
the Earth. However, the impact of these changes, especially on continental precipitation patterns and
biogeochemical cycles, remains poorly understood. The study of ancient climates allows a mechanistic
exploration of the Earth system and the opportunity to evaluate new generations of climate models.
My proposed research will focus on three inter-related paleoclimatic themes, applied to the very warm
climates of the Early Eocene, one of the most fascinating intervals in Earth history. First, I will generate
new records of continental temperature using bacterial membrane lipid based proxies that have been
recalibrated and critically evaluated for wetland environments. Second, I will assess how the global
hydrological cycle responded to both transient and long-term warmth, including evaluating
precipitation change and its impact on erosional and weathering regimes; this will entail the
development of compound-specific hydrogen isotopic tools in modern contexts, doubling the number
of such deep time records, and interpreting those data in the context of isotope-enabled climate
models. Third, I will generate the first Paleogene records of terrestrial methane cycling using lipids
derived from methanotrophs and methanogens, calibrated in modern settings and applied to Eocene
lignites. These objectives are intrinsically linked via the feedbacks between pCO2, temperature,
hydrology and carbon cycling. Each objective will comprise: the development of the proxies in modern
settings in collaboration with world-leading biogeochemists; creation of unprecedented and globally
widespread geochemical records for the Eocene; and quantitative interpretation of our findings using
climate/biogeochemical models. Collectively, the work will exploit very recent discoveries to develop
or create new proxies and apply them to a major challenge in understanding Earth history.
End Date:
31/12/2018
Project ID:
616027
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
STARDUST2ASTEROIDS
Prof. Martin Bizzarro
bizzarro@snm.ku.dk
www.ku.dk
Stardust to asteroids: Unravelling the formation and earliest evolution of a habitable solar system
As far as we know, our solar system is unique. It could, in principle, be the only planetary system in the
Universe to harbor intelligent life or, indeed, life at all. As such, attempting to reconstruct its history is
one of the most fundamental pursuits in the natural sciences. Whereas astronomical observations of
star- forming regions provide a framework for understanding the formation of low-mass stars and the
early evolution of planetary systems in general, direct information about the earliest solar system can
only come from primitive meteorites and their components and some differentiated meteorites that
record the birth of the solar system. The main objective of this proposal is to investigate the timescales
and processes – including the role of supernovas – leading to the formation of the solar system by
measurement of isotopic variations in meteorites. To achieve our objectives, we will integrate longlived and short-lived radioisotope chronometers with the presence/absence of nucleosynthetic
anomalies in various meteorites and meteoritic components. Our isotopic measurements will be
obtained using state-of-the-art technologies such as second-generation mass spectrometers housed in
laboratories directed by the PI and fully dedicated to cosmochemistry. This will allow us to: 1) define
the mechanism and timescale for the collapse of the protosolar molecular cloud and emergence of the
protoplanetary disk, 2) constrain the source and locale of chondrule-forming event(s) as well as the
nature of the mechanism(s) required to transport chondrules to the accretion regions of chondrites,
and 3) provide robust estimates of the timing and mechanism of asteroidal differentiation. We aim to
understand how the variable initial conditions imposed by the range of possible stellar environments
and protoplanetary disk properties regulated the formation and assemblage of disk solids into
asteroidal and planetary bodies comprising our solar system.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
637483
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
TERRA
Dr. Richard James Butler
butler.richard.j@gmail.com
THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM, BIRMINGHAM, UK
www.bham.ac.uk
375 Million Years of the Diversification of Life on Land: Shifting the Paradigm?
Life on land today is spectacularly diverse, representing 75–95% of all species on Earth. However, it
remains unclear how this extraordinary diversity has been acquired across deep geological time. This
research project will address this major knowledge gap by reassessing the dominant paradigm of
terrestrial diversification, an exponential increase in diversity over the last 375 million years, using the
rich and well-studied fossil record of tetrapods (four-limbed vertebrates) as an exemplar group.
Previous analyses of tetrapod diversification have been based on an outdated and problematic dataset
that is likely to artificially inflate apparent diversity towards the present day. A major new dataset will
be assembled, detailing the spatial and temporal distribution of terrestrial tetrapods across their entire
fossil record in unprecedented detail. These data will be analysed using the latest approaches to
sampling-standardisation in order to generate completely novel, rigorous curves of diversification
through time. These will be compared within a cutting-edge statistical framework to alternate
diversification models, as well as to changes in rock record sampling, global environments (e.g. sea
level and atmospheric composition) and marine diversity. These comparisons will allow us to address
the following key questions: (i) Does terrestrial diversification follow an exponential pattern over the
last 375 million years? (ii) Is the terrestrial fossil record as complete as the marine fossil record? (iii) Are
long-term patterns of terrestrial diversification driven by physical changes in the Earth system such as
climate change? (iv) Did marine and terrestrial biodiversity follow similar trajectories across geological
time? (v) How severely did mass extinction events impact upon terrestrial tetrapod diversification? Our
work will establish a new, rigorous paradigm for the long-term pattern of terrestrial diversification, and
test and identify its drivers.
End Date:
30/6/2020
Project ID:
637770
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
WAPITI
Dr. Jean-Baptiste Bruno Sallée
jbsallee@gmail.com
UNIVERSITE PIERRE ET MARIE CURIE - PARIS 6, PARIS, FR
www.upmc.fr
Water-mass transformation and Pathways In The Weddell Sea: uncovering the dynamics of a global
climate chokepoint from In-situ measurements
Deep water formed around the Antarctic continent drives the world ocean circulation. 50-70% of this
deep water is formed within only about 10% of the Antarctic circumpolar band: the Weddell Sea.
Subtle changes in the circulation of the Weddell Sea can lead to major changes in floating ice-shelves,
with critical implications for global sea-level, the production of deep water and the global ocean
overturning circulation. Despite these critical climate implications, the Antarctic shelf circulation
remains poorly understood. I propose an ambitious project at the crossroads of experimental and
numerical oceanography. By drawing on the strengths of each discipline I will explore the regional
water-mass pathways in the Weddell Sea: an unchartered cornerstone for understanding the polar
ocean circulation and its links to global climate. A key issue facing climate scientists will be addressed:
“What sets the tridimensional water-mass structure and pathways in the Weddell Sea and modulates
the flow of deep waters between the Antarctica ice-shelves and the global ocean circulation?” To
address this question I propose to investigate several key aspects of the Weddell Sea system: the
dynamical forcing of the Weddell gyre and its response to atmospheric variability; the forcing and the
circulation on the continental shelf and its interaction with the gyre; and the time-scale and mixing
associated with bottom water sinking along the continental shelf. WAPITI approaches these objectives
through a series of innovations, including (i) an ambitious field experiment to investigate the shelf
circulation and processes, (ii) a powerful conceptual framework applied for the first time to a realistic
eddy-resolving model of the Weddell gyre, and (iii) a novel instrument that will be developed to
directly observe the sinking of deep water into the abyssal ocean for the first time. Collectively, the
project will contribute a new insight into global climate feedbacks.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
637776
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ALKENoNE
Dr. Jaime Lynn Garrand
jaime.toney@glasgow.ac.uk
UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW, GLASGOW, UK
www.gla.ac.uk
Evaluation Panel:
Algal Lipids: the Key to Earth Now and aNcient Earth
Alkenones are algal lipids that have been used for decades to reconstruct quantitative past sea surface
temperature. Although alkenones are being discovered in an increasing number of lake sites
worldwide, only two terrestrial temperature records have been reconstructed so far. The development
of this research field is limited by the lack of interdisciplinary research that combines modern biological
and ecological algal research with the organic geochemical techniques needed to develop a
quantitative biomarker (or molecular fossil) for past lake temperatures. More research is needed for
alkenones to become a widely used tool for reconstructing past terrestrial temperature change. The
early career Principal Investigator has discovered a new lake alkenone-producing species of haptophyte
algae that produces alkenones in high abundances both in the environment and in laboratory cultures.
This makes the new species an ideal organism for developing a culture-based temperature calibration
and exploring other potential environmental controls. In this project, alkenone production will be
manipulated, and monitored using state-of-the-art photobioreactors with real-time detectors for cell
density, light, and temperature. The latest algal culture and isolation techniques that are used in
microalgal biofuel development will be applied to developing the lake temperature proxy. The
objectives will be achieved through the analysis of 90 new Canadian lakes to develop a core-top
temperature calibration across a large latitudinal and temperature gradient (Δ latitude = 5°, Δ spring
surface temperature = 9°C). The results will be used to assess how regional palaeo-temperature (Uk37),
palaeo-moisture (δDwax) and palaeo-evaporation (δDalgal) respond during times of past global
warmth (e.g., Medieval Warm Period, 900-1200 AD) to find an accurate analogue for assessing future
drought risk in the interior of Canada.
End Date:
31/3/2020
Project ID:
638665
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
EURO-LAB
Dr. Catherine Ann Rychert
c.rychert@soton.ac.uk
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON, SOUTHAMPTON, UK
http://www.southampton.ac.uk
Experiment to Unearth the Rheological Oceanic Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary
Plate tectonics has been a fundamental tenet of Earth Science for nearly 50 years, but fundamental
questions remain, such as where is the base of the plate and what makes a plate, “plate-like?” A better
understanding of the transition from the rigid lithospheric plate to the weaker mantle beneath – the
rheological lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB) - has important implications for the driving
forces of plate tectonics, natural hazard mitigation, mantle dynamics, the evolution of the planet, and
climate change. There are many proxies used to estimate the depth and nature of the base of tectonic
plates, but to date no consensus has been reached. For example, temperature is known to have a
strong effect on the mechanical behaviour of rocks. However, it has also been suggested that the
chemical composition of the plate provides additional strength or that melt weakens the mantle
beneath the plate.We are at a critical juncture where large-scale efforts using geophysical,
geochemical, and geological techniques are being launched to better understand the definition of the
tectonic plate. The simple and short history of the ocean plate makes it the ideal location to advance
our understanding. However, imaging the oceanic LAB has proved challenging given the remoteness of
the oceans and associated difficulties in instrumentation. Most observations come from only one
ocean, the Pacific, from indirect, remote observations, at different areas and scales.I propose a largescale effort to systematically image an oceanic plate beneath the Atlantic from birth at ridge to 40 My
old seafloor. I will deploy ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) and magnetotelluric (MT) instruments,
and I will image the plate at a range of resolution scales (laterally and in depth) and sensitivities to
physical and chemical properties. This large, focused, interdisciplinary effort will finally determine the
processes and properties that make a plate strongand define it.
End Date:
31/3/2021
Project ID:
339787
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NEXT
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Constituents of Matter
Prof. Juan José Gomez Cadenas
gomez@mail.cern.ch
MADRID, ES
http://www.csic.es
Towards the NEXT generation of bb0nu experimets
Neutrinoless double beta decay is a hypothetical, very slow radioactive process whose observation
would establish unambiguously that massive neutrinos are Majorana particles --- that is to say,
identical to their antiparticles ---, which implies that a new physics scale beyond the Standard Model
must exist. Furthermore, it would prove that total lepton number is not a conserved quantity,
suggesting that this new physics could also be the origin of the observed asymmetry between matter
and antimatter in the Universe. In recent years, many innovative ideas have been put forward to
improve the sensitivity of \bbonu\ experiments. In general, these propositions have sought to increase
the number of experimental signatures available to reject backgrounds while attempting to use
isotopes and detector techniques which can be more easily scaled to large masses. The objective of
this project is to realize the NEXT experiment, an innovativedetector based on a high-pressure xenon
gas (HPXe) TPC that will run at the Laboratorio Subterr\'aneo de Canfranc (LSC), in Spain. Our primary
goal is to complete the construction and commissioning of a 150 kg HPXe TPC (NEXT-100) by 2014, and
start a physics run in 2015 that can improve the present bound set by the EXO experiment and perhaps
discover the Majorana nature of neutrinos. In addition, we will carry out an R\&D program focused in
demonstrating the scalability of the technology to the ton scale.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
648982
Host Institution:
Acronym:
STERCP
Prof. Noel Sebastian Keenlyside
noel.keenlyside@gfi.uib.no
UNIVERSITETET I BERGEN, BERGEN, NO
www.uib.no
Evaluation Panel:
Synchronisation to enhance reliability of climate predictions
Climate prediction is the next frontier in climate research. Prediction of climate on timescales from a
season to a decade has shown progress, but beyond the ocean skill remains low. And while the
historical evolution of climate at global scales can be reasonably simulated, agreement at a regional
level is limited and large uncertainties exist in future climate change. These large uncertainties pose a
major challenge to those providing climate services and to informing policy makers.This proposal aims
to investigate the potential of an innovative technique to reduce model systematic error, and hence to
improve climate prediction skill and reduce uncertainties in future climate projections. The current
practice to account for model systematic error, as for example adopted by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, is to perform simulations with ensembles of different models. This leads to
more reliable predictions, and to a better representation of climate. Instead of running models
independently, we propose to connect the different models in manner that they synchronise and
errors compensate, thus leading to a model superior to any of the individual models – a super model.
The concept stems from theoretical non-dynamics and relies on advanced machine learning
algorithms. Its application to climate modelling has been rudimentary. Nevertheless, our initial results
show it holds great promise for improving climate prediction. To achieve even greater gains, we will
extend the approach to allow greater connectivity among multiple complex climate models to create a
true super climate model. We will assess the approach’s potential to enhance seasonal-to-decadal
prediction, focusing on the Tropical Pacific and North Atlantic, and to reduce uncertainties in climate
projections. Importantly, this work will improve our understanding of climate, as well as how
systematic model errors impact prediction skill and contribute to climate change uncertainties.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
291038
Acronym:
INTERFACE
Prof. Eugene Polzik
polzik@nbi.dk
Københavns Universitet, COPENHAGEN, DK
www.ku.dk
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Quantum Optical Interfaces for Atoms and Nano-electro-mechanical Systems
Quantum interfaces capable of transferring quantum states and generating entanglement between
fields and matter are set to play a growing role in the development of science and technology.
Development of such interfaces has been a crucial component in quantum information processing and
communication. In the past decade quantum interfaces between atoms and optical photons have been
extensively explored by a number of leading groups. Quantum state transfer between light and atoms,
such as quantum memory and quantum teleportation, entanglement of massive objects, as well as
measurements and sensing beyond standard quantum limits have been demonstrated by the group of
the PI. We propose to develop a robust, integrated and scalable atom-light interface and to
incorporate it into a hybrid multi-facet quantum network with other relevant quantum systems, such
as nano-mechanical oscillators and electronic circuits. Towards this ambitious goal we will develop
room temperature atomic quantum memories in spin protecting micro-cells (mu-cells) and optomechanical and electromechanical strongly coupled systems. Interfacing atoms, electronic circuits and
nano-mechanical oscillators we will perform ultrasensitive quantum limited field and force
measurements and quantum teleportation of states across the range of these systems.
In the
fundamental sense, this research program will further broaden the horizons of quantum physics and
quantum information processing by expanding it into new and unexplored macroscopic domains.
End Date:
30/6/2017
Project ID:
307245
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SAGNACSPEEDMETER
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. Stefan Hild
stefan.hild@glasgow.ac.uk
UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW, GLASGOW, UK
www.gla.ac.uk
Interferometry beyond the Standard Quantum Limit using a Velocity Sensitive Sagnac Interferometer
From the very first Michelson Interferometer invented over 100 years ago to today’s kilometre-scale
gravitational wave detectors the sensitivity of interferometric length measurements has been
improved by about 10 orders of magnitude and is now limited by the so-called Standard Quantum Limit
(SQL), a manifestation of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. The SQL is comprised of the inevitable
combination of sensing noise (photon shot noise) and back action noise (photon radiation pressure
noise) when repeatedly measuring the position of a test mass. However, by measuring a different
variable, i.e. the test mass velocity (speedmeter) instead of its position (position-meter), it is possible
to evade back action noise. The momentum of a free test mass can be measured continuously to
arbitrary accuracy without being limited by the SQL. Since a Sagnac interferometer is sensitive only to
the time-dependent part of the arm-length difference it is automatically a speed meter and therefore
brings measurements beyond the SQL into our reach. Theoretical analyses have shown that the
speedmeter approach is the most promising track towards wide-band sub-SQL measurements. An
experimental test of this technique is urgently required! Therefore, my three main objectives of this
proposal are: 1) Realisation of an ultra-low noise, quantum radiation pressure dominated speedmeter
test bed. 2) Experimental demonstration of back action noise supression in a Sagnac speedmeter. 3)
Development of speedmeter based sub-SQL interferometery for future gravitational wave detectors
such as the Einstein Telescope. By the end of this project I will have demonstrated the sub-SQL
potential of the Sagnac speedmeter configuration. A positive outcome of this project is expected to
lead to the Sagnac speedmeter superseding the Michelson interferometer as state-of-the-art
instrument for ultra-high sensitivity lengths measurements.
End Date:
31/8/2017
Project ID:
307286
Host Institution:
Acronym:
XD-STRING
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. Alessandro Tomasiello
alessandro.tomasiello@unimib.it
UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO-BICOCCA, MILANO, IT
www.unimib.it
The Structure of the Extra Dimensions of String Theory
String theory predicts the existence of several spatial dimensions in addition to the three of our
everyday experience. The space spanned by these dimensions might be small enough to have escaped
detection so far. The aim of this project is to characterize which spaces are allowed by the dynamics of
the theory, and what physics they give rise to. A few years ago, I discovered a reformulation of
supergravity in terms of differential forms, based on the so-called generalized complex geometry. This
method was originally limited to string theory vacuum solutions, and over the years it has permitted to
find many of them, often with applications to AdS/CFT. Recently, I was able to extend it to deal with
any kind of spacetime dependence; this will allow to probe the choice of extra dimensions more
extensively, for example by studying black hole solutions. It will help single out interesting geometries
for the extra dimensions, even before one sets out to understand the effective four-dimensional
Lagrangian that would result from compactifying string theory on it. Moreover, I plan to extend the
method even further, to deal with controlled supersymmetry breaking. That would open the possibility
of producing systematically vacuum solutions which have a positive cosmological constant. The vacua
obtained in this way would be fully classical, and under better control than current models.
End Date:
31/8/2017
Project ID:
307783
Host Institution:
Acronym:
3D-QUEST
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. Fabio Sciarrino
fabio.sciarrino@uniroma1.it
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA, ROMA, IT
www.uniroma1.it
3D-Quantum Integrated Optical Simulation
Quantum information was born from the merging of classical information and quantum physics. Its
main objective consists of understanding the quantum nature of information and learning how to
process it by using physical systems which operate by following quantum mechanics laws. Quantum
simulation is a fundamental instrument to investigate phenomena of quantum systems dynamics, such
as quantum transport, particle localizations and energy transfer, quantum-to-classical transition, and
even quantum improved computation, all tasks that are hard to simulate with classical approaches.
Within this framework integrated photonic circuits have a strong potential to realize quantum
information processing by optical systems. The aim of 3D-QUEST is to develop and implement
quantum simulation by exploiting 3-dimensional integrated photonic circuits. 3D-QUEST is structured
to demonstrate the potential of linear optics to implement a computational power beyond the one of a
classical computer. Such "hard-to-simulate" scenario is disclosed when multiphoton-multimode
platforms are realized. The 3D-QUEST research program will focus on three tasks of growing difficulty.
A-1. To simulate bosonic-fermionic dynamics with integrated optical systems acting on 2 photon
entangled states. A-2. To pave the way towards hard-to-simulate, scalable quantum linear optical
circuits by investigating m-port interferometers acting on n-photon states with n>2. A-3. To exploit 3dimensional integrated structures for the observation of new quantum optical phenomena and for the
quantum simulation of more complex scenarios.
3D-QUEST will exploit the potential of the
femtosecond laser writing integrated waveguides. This technique will be adopted to realize 3dimensional capabilities and high flexibility, bringing in this way the optical quantum simulation in to
new regime.
End Date:
31/7/2017
Project ID:
307986
Host Institution:
Acronym:
STRONGINT
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Prof. Achim Schwenk
schwenk@physik.tu-darmstadt.de
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET DARMSTADT, DARMSTADT, DE
www.tu-darmstadt.de
The strong interaction at neutron-rich extremes
"The strong interaction at neutron-rich extremes" (STRONGINT) will investigate the structure of matter
at the neutron-rich frontier in the laboratory and in the cosmos based on chiral effective field theory
(EFT) interactions. Chiral EFT opens up a systematic path to investigate many-body forces and provides
unique constraints for three-neutron and four-neutron interactions. We will for the first time explore
the predicted many-body forces in neutron matter and neutron-rich matter. One milestone will be set
by the development of a systematic power counting for neutron-rich matter. This will enable us to
carry out diagrammatic approaches, and to develop ground-breaking nonperturbative Monte-Carlo
calculations. Our results will strongly constrain the nuclear equation of state at the extremes reached
in core-collapse supernovae and neutron stars. Based on the developments for neutron-rich matter,
we will investigate spin correlations and develop a systematic description of neutrino-matter
interactions, which can set the new standard for supernova simulations. Our pioneering studies have
revealed new facets of three-body forces in neutron-rich nuclei, such as their role in determining the
location of the neutron dripline in oxygen and in elucidating the doubly-magic nature of calcium-48.
We will investigate the impact of chiral three-nucleon forces on key regions in the r-process path and
develop a chiral EFT for valence-shell interactions. This will open new horizons for understanding the
shell structure of nuclei. Another milestone will be set by the first calculation of neutrino-less doublebeta decay based on chiral EFT interactions and consistent electroweak currents. The proposed
interdisciplinary problems are essential for a successful and quantitative understanding of these big
science questions.
End Date:
31/8/2017
Project ID:
335146
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. Geoffrey Gaston Joseph Jean-Vincent Compère
gcompere@ulb.ac.be
UNIVERSITE LIBRE DE BRUXELLES, BRUXELLES, BE
www.ulb.ac.be
Acronym:
HOLOBHC
Holography for realistic black holes and cosmologies
String theory provides with a consistent framework which combines quantum mechanics and gravity.
Two grand challenges of fundamental physics - building realistic models of black holes and cosmologies
- can be addressed in this framework thanks to novel holographic methods. Recent astrophysical
evidence indicates that some black holes rotate extremely fast, as close as 98% to the extremality
bound. No quantum gravity model for such black holes has been formulated so far. My first objective is
building the first model in string theory of an extremal black hole. Taking on this challenge is made
possible thanks to recent advances in a remarkable duality known as the gauge/gravity
correspondence. If successful, this program will pave the way to a description of quantum gravity
effects that have been conjectured to occur close to the horizon of very fast rotating black holes.
Supernovae detection has established that our universe is starting a phase of accelerated expansion.
This brings a pressing need to better understand still enigmatic features of de Sitter spacetime that
models our universe at late times. My second objective is to derive new universal properties of the
cosmological horizon of de Sitter spacetime using tools inspired from the gauge/gravity
correspondence. These results will contribute to understand its remarkable entropy, which, according
to the standard model of cosmology, bounds the entropy of our observable universe.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
335260
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PDF4BSM
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. Juan Rojo Chacon
juan.rojo@cern.ch
OXFORD, UK
www.ox.ac.uk
Parton Distributions in the Higgs Boson Era
With the recent discovery of a Higgs-like particle at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), particle physics
has entered a completely new era. The central goal for high energy physics in the following years will
be the detailed determination of the properties of this new particle, in particular checking its
consistency with the Standard Model Higgs boson hypothesis, and to further explore the highest
energy domain in search for further new physics, like supersymmetry or extra dimensions, closely
related to the Higgs-like boson properties and to dark matter and dark energy studies. It is thus of
paramount importance to be able to provide accurate theoretical predictions for signal and
background processes both for Higgs production and for hypothetical new particles, in order to
optimize both the characterization of cross sections, couplings and branching fractions, but also to
maxime the LHC discovery potential. A crucial ingredient of these theoretical predictions for an hadron
collider as the LHC are the Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs) of the proton. This project aims to fully
exploit the LHC potential to achieve the ultimate experimental and theoretical precision in the
determination of PDFs to make essential contributions to our understanding of the structure of the
nucleon, in particular in the regions more relevant for Higgs and BSM physics searches at the LH, the
match between PDFs and NLO Monte Carlo event generators, a crucial tool for accurate exclusive
event description at the LHC, and to propose new avenues in New Physics searches from precision LHC
measurements, where PDFs are often the dominant systematic uncertainties.
End Date:
30/6/2019
Project ID:
335739
Host Institution:
Acronym:
FIELDS-KNOTS
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. Piotr Sulkowski
psulkows@gmail.com
UNIWERSYTET WARSZAWSKI, WARSAW, PL
www.uw.edu.pl
Quantum fields and knot homologies
This project is concerned with fundamental problems arising at the interface of quantum field theory,
knot theory, and the theory of random matrices. The main aim of the project is to understand two of
the most profound phenomena in physics and mathematics, namely quantization and categorification,
and to establish an explicit and rigorous framework where they come into play in an interrelated
fashion. The project and its aims focus on the following areas:
- Knot homologies and
superpolynomials. The aim of the project in this area is to determine homological knot invariants and
to derive an explicit form of colored superpolynomials for a large class of knots and links. - Super-Apolynomial. The aim of the project in this area is to develop a theory of the super-A-polynomial, to find
an explicit form of the super-A-polynomial for a large class of knots, and to understand its properties. Three-dimensional supersymmetric N=2 theories. This project aims to find and understand dualities
between theories in this class, in particular theories related to knots by 3d-3d duality, and to generalize
this duality to the level of homological knot invariants. - Topological recursion and quantization. The
project aims to develop a quantization procedure based on the topological recursion, to demonstrate
its consistency with knot-theoretic quantization of A-polynomials, and to generalize this quantization
scheme to super-A-polynomials. All these research areas are connected via remarkable dualities
unraveled very recently by physicists and mathematicians. The project is interdisciplinary and aims to
reach the above goals by taking advantage of these dualities, and through simultaneous and
complementary development in quantum field theory, knot theory, and random matrix theory, in
collaboration with renowned experts in each of those fields.
End Date:
30/11/2018
Project ID:
339253
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PALP
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Prof. Anne L'huillier Wahlström
anne.lhuillier@fysik.lth.se
www.lu.se
Physics of Atoms with Attosecond Light Pulses
The field of attosecond science is now entering the second decade of its existence, with good prospects
for breakthroughs in a number of areas. We want to take the next step in this development: from
mastering the generation and control of attosecond pulses to breaking new marks starting with the
simplest systems, atoms. The aim of the present application is to advance the emerging new research
field “Ultrafast Atomic Physics”, where one- or two-electron wave packets are created by absorption of
attosecond pulse(s) and analyzed or controlled by another short pulse. Our project can be divided into
three parts: 1. Interferometric measurements using tunable attosecond pulses How long time does it
take for an electron to escape its potential? We will measure photoemission time delays for several
atomic systems, using a tunable attosecond pulse source. This type of measurements will be extended
to multiple ionization and excitation processes, using coincidence measurements to disentangle the
different channels and infrared ionization for analysis. 2. XUV pump/XUV probe experiments using
intense attosecond pulses How long does it take for an atom to become an ion once a hole has been
created? Using intense attosecond pulses and the possibility to do XUV pump/ XUV probe experiments,
we will study the transition between nonsequential double ionization, where the photons are absorbed
simultaneously and all electrons emitted at the same time and sequential ionization where electrons
are emitted one at a time. 3. "Complete" attosecond experiments using high-repetition rate
attosecond pulses We foresee a paradigm shift in attosecond science with the new high repetition rate
systems based on optical parametric chirped pulse amplification which are coming to age. We want to
combine coincidence measurement with angular detection, allowing us to characterize (two-particle)
electronic wave packets both in time and in momentum and to study their quantum-mechanical
properties.
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
615117
Host Institution:
Acronym:
QUANTSTRO
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. Florian Schreck
f.schreck@uva.nl
UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM, AMSTERDAM, NL
www.uva.nl
Quantum-Degenerate Strontium:
Mixtures, Molecules, and Many-Body Physics
In 2009 my research team created the first Bose-Einstein condensate of strontium. This breakthrough
is the foundation of my research program, which will investigate quantum many-body phenomena with
a focus on quantum magnetism and physics related to the quantum Hall effect. We are especially
interested in studying unusual, strongly correlated quantum states, among them states with
topological order. The unique properties of strontium make it ideally suited to follow four different
approaches to this physics. 1) We will immerse our quantum gas into artificial gauge fields, which e.g.
let neutral atoms behave as if they were charged particles in a strong magnetic field. These fields will
allow us to study quantum Hall states or topological insulators. 2) We will study SU(N) magnetism,
which is an unusual form of magnetism not found in condensed matter, but of high interest for theory.
A high degree of frustration can lead to spin liquid behaviour. 3) We will use sympathetic
Pomeranchuk cooling of a potassium spin mixture by fermionic strontium to reach low entropy
quantum phases. Our goal is to study magnetically ordered states and frustrated antiferromagnetism.
4) We will create RbSr ground-state molecules, which are polar, open-shell molecules. They will allow
us to engineer unique quantum-many body systems with long-range interactions, e.g. lattice-spin
models that can support topological states. We will pursue this research not only on our existing Rb/Sr
quantum gas mixture apparatus, but we will construct a new K/Sr quantum gas microscope. This
machine will be very valuable to explore exotic quantum states. The properties of strontium will enable
an innovative single-atom detection method based on shelving in a metastable state and quench
cooling, which will allow us to take internal state-resolved, 3D, or super-resolution images of the lattice
gas.
End Date:
31/3/2019
Project ID:
617185
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TOPCOUP
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. Markus Cristinziani
cristinz@uni-bonn.de
RHEINISCHE FRIEDRICH-WILHELMS-UNIVERSITAT BONN, BONN, DE
www.uni-bonn.de
Determination of top couplings in associated top pair events using ATLAS data
The discovery of a new particle, compatible with the Higgs boson, at the Large Hadron Collider, marked
a major triumph of the Standard Model of particle physics. However, many fundamental questions
remain and direct or indirect evidence of new physics can be probed with the large number of protonproton collision data, collected in 2011 and 2012 at 7 and 8 TeV centre-of-mass energy. With this
proposal we plan to exploit the large sample of top-quark pair events that is already recorded, and the
sample that will be collected from 2015 onwards, at the ultimate energy of 14 TeV. In particular we
plan to study the coupling of top quarks to neutral bosons, by measuring the production of associated
̄ . Anomalous electromagnetic or weak couplings could be uncovered by studying
ttγ, ttZ̄ and ttH
kinematic properties of the resulting photon or Z-boson, once the signal is established. By studying the
̄ production in detail the mechanism of Yukawa coupling of the Higgs boson to fermions will be
ttH
tested, possibly providing important confidence in the characterisation of the new boson. In all
measurements we plan to include the tt̄ dilepton channel, that, despite the smaller branching fraction
has typically superior signal-to-noise ratios. An essential part of the programme will be the calibration
of the b-tagging algorithms, where we plan to use tt̄ events. For associated Higgs production we will
explore the decays H→ bb̄ and H→ γγ.
End Date:
31/12/2018
Project ID:
637352
Host Institution:
Acronym:
GQCOP
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. Gerardo Adesso
gerardo.adesso@nottingham.ac.uk
THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM, NOTTINGHAM, UK
www.nottingham.ac.uk
Genuine Quantumness in Cooperative Phenomena
The proposed research programme addresses issues of fundamental and technological importance in
quantum information science and its interplay with complexity. The main aim of this project is to
provide a new paradigmatic foundation for the characterisation of quantumness in cooperative
phenomena and to develop novel platforms for its practical utilisation in quantum technology
applications.To reach its main goal, this programme will target five specific objectives:O1. Constructing
a quantitative theory of quantumness in composite systems;O2. Benchmarking genuine quantumness
in information and communication protocols;O3. Devising practical solutions for quantum-enhanced
metrology in noisy conditions;O4. Developing quantum thermal engineering for refrigerators and heat
engines;O5. Establishing a cybernetics framework for regulative phenomena in the quantum
domain.This project is deeply driven by the scientific curiosity to explore the ultimate range of
applicability of quantum mechanics. Along the route to satisfying such curiosity, this project will fulfill
a crucial two-fold mission. On the fundamental side, it will lead to a radically new level of
understanding of quantumness, in its various manifestations, and the functional role it plays for natural
and artificial complex systems traditionally confined to a classical domain of investigation. On the
practical side, it will deliver novel concrete recipes for communication, sensing and cooling
technologies in realistic conditions, rigorously assessing in which ways and to which extent these can
be enhanced by engineering and harnessing quantumness.Along with a skillful team which this grant
will allow to assemble, benefitting from the vivid research environment at Nottingham, and mainly
thanks to his creativity, broad mathematical and physical preparation and relevant inter-disciplinary
expertise, the applicant is in a unique position to accomplish this timely and ambitious mission.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
639022
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NewNGR
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. Pau Figueras
p.figueras@qmul.ac.uk
QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, LONDON, UK
www.qmul.ac.uk/
New frontiers in numerical general relativity
In recent years general relativity (GR) has become an increasingly important new tool in areas of
physics beyond its traditional playground in astrophysics. The main motivation for this comes from the
AdS/CFT correspondence which conjectures an equivalence between gravity in anti-de Sitter (AdS)
spaces and certain conformal field theories (CFT’s). Via this correspondence, GR now plays a key role in
improving our understanding of non-gravitational physics at strong coupling.
The AdS/CFT
correspondence naturally leads to the study of GR in dimensions greater than four and/or in AdS
spaces. Our current understanding of GR in these new settings is rather limited but it has been realized
that the physics of gravity can be significantly different than in the 4d asymptotically flat case.
Moreover, to access these new gravitational phenomena numerical methods have been and will be
essential. However, the use of numerical GR beyond the traditional 4d asymptotically flat case is still in
its infancy. The goal of this project is to improve our understanding of GR in higher dimensions and/or
AdS spaces using numerical techniques. To achieve this goal, we will focus on the study of the following
topics: 1. Develop stable codes for doing numerical GR in AdS and higher dimensions. We will use
numerical GR and the AdS/CFT correspondence to study out of equilibrium phenomena in strongly
coupled CFT’s. We will also use numerical GR to understand the endpoint of the various black hole
instabilities and thereby address long standing conjectures in GR. 2. New types of stationary black
holes. We will use numerical GR to numerically construct new types of black holes in higher dimensions
and in AdS, with novel topologies and fewer symmetries than the known ones. We shall apply them to
the study of equilibrium configurations in strongly coupled gauge theories at finite temperature.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
639068
Host Institution:
Acronym:
BSMFLEET
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. Diego Martinez Santos
diego.martinez.santos@cern.ch
UNIVERSIDAD DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA,
ES
http://www.usc.es
Challenging the Standard Model using an extended Physics program in LHCb
We know that the Standard Model (SM) of Particle Physics is not the ultimate theory of Nature. It
misses a quantum description of gravity, it does not offer any explanation to the composition of Dark
Matter, and the matter-antimatter unbalance of the Universe is predicted to be significantly smaller
than what we actually see. Those are fundamental questions that still need an answer. Alternative
models to SM exist, based on ideas such as SuperSymmetry or extra dimensions, and are currently
being tested at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. But after the first run of the LHC the SM is yet
unbeaten at accelerators, which imposes severe constraints in Physics beyond the SM (BSM). From this
point, I see two further working directions: on one side, we must increase our precision in the previous
measurements in order to access smaller BSM effects. On the other hand; we should attack the SM
with a new fleet of observables sensitive to different BSM scenarios, and make sure that we are making
full use of what the LHC offers to us. I propose to create a team at Universidade de Santiago de
Compostela that will expand the use of LHCb beyond its original design, while also reinforcing the core
LHCb analyses in which I played a leading role so far. LHCb has up to now collected world-leading
samples of decays of b and c quarks. My proposal implies to use LHCb for collecting and analysing also
world-leading samples of rare s quarks complementary to those of NA62. In the rare s decays the SM
sources of Flavour Violation have a stronger suppression than anywhere else, and therefore those
decays are excellent places to search for new Flavour Violating sources that otherwise would be hidden
behind the SM contributions. It is very important to do this now, since we may not have a similar
opportunity in years. In addition, the team will also exploit LHCb to search for μμ resonances predicted
in models like NMSSM, and for which LHCb also offers a unique potential that must be used.
End Date:
31/3/2020
Project ID:
639729
Host Institution:
Acronym:
preQFT
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. John Joseph Carrasco
dr.jjmc@gmail.com
GIF-SUR-YVETTE, FR
www.cea.fr
Strategic Predictions for Quantum Field Theories
Ambitious Questions: * How does the relatively calm macroscopic universe survive and emerge from
the violent quantum fluctuations of its underlying microphysics? * How do classical notions of space
and time emerge from fundamental principles, and what governs their evolution? These questions are
difficult to answer---perhaps impossible given current ideas and frameworks---but I believe a strategic
path forward is to thoroughly understand the quantum predictions of our Yang-Mills and Gravity
theories, and unambiguously identify their non-perturbative UV completions. The first step forward,
and the goal of this project, is to move towards the trivialization of perturbative calculations.
Consider the notion of failure-point calculations -- calculations that push modern methods and worldclass technologies to their breaking-point. Such calculations, for their very success, engender the
chance of cultivating and exploiting previously unappreciated structure. In doing so, such calculations
advance the state of the art forward to some degree, dependent on the class of the problems and
nature of the solution. With scattering amplitude calculations, we battle against (naive) combinatorial
complexity as we go either higher in order of quantum correction ( loop order ), or higher in number of
external particles scattering (multiplicity), so our advances must be revolutionary to lift us forward. Yet I
and others have shown that the very complications of generalized gauge freedom promise a potential
salvation at least as powerful as the complications that confront us. The potential reward is enormous,
a rewriting of perturbative quantum field theory to make these principles manifest and calculation
natural, an ambitious but now realistic goal. The path forward is optimized through strategic
calculations.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
646623
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NEUCOS
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. Walter Winter
walter.winter@desy.de
STIFTUNG DEUTSCHES ELEKTRONEN-SYNCHROTRON DESY, ZEUTHEN, DE
www.desy.de
Neutrinos and the origin of the cosmic rays
The discovery of cosmic neutrinos is one of the major breakthroughs in science in the year 2013. These
neutrinos are expected to point back to the origin of the cosmic rays, which are produced in the most
powerful accelerators in the universe. In order to solve the puzzle where the highest energetic
neutrinos and cosmic rays come from, the key information could be the composition of the observed
cosmic ray flux. The question critical for the future development of high-energy astrophysics is
especially how heavier nuclei can be accelerated and escape from the sources, such as gamma-ray
bursts or active galactic nuclei, without disintegration, or what the consequences for the neutrino
fluxes and cosmic ray compositions at the sources are. Neutrinos, on the other hand, may be good for
surprises, such as new physics only detectable at extreme energies, distances, or densities. In addition,
the possibility to measure neutrino properties in neutrino telescopes has been emerging, either using
astrophysical or atmospheric neutrino fluxes, which means that the border line between neutrino
physics and astrophysics applications in these experiments fades. The key idea of this proposal is
therefore to combine the expertise from astrophysics and particle physics in a multi-disciplinary
working group 1) to study the effect of heavy nuclei on the source fluxes from multiple messengers,
such as a neutrinos, cosmic rays, and gamma-rays, using efficient descriptions for the radiation
processes and particle interactions, and 2) to optimize future experiment infrastructure in ice and sea
water for both astro- and particle physics applications. The key goals are to eventually identify the
origin of the cosmic rays and cosmic neutrinos, and to solve the open questions in particle physics,
such as neutrino mass hierarchy and leptonic CP violation.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
647356
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CutLoops
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Prof. Ruth Britto-Pacumio
britto@maths.tcd.ie
THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS
OF BOARD OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN
ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN, DUBLIN, IE
www.tcd.ie
Loop amplitudes in quantum field theory
The traditional formulation of relativistic quantum theory is ill-equipped to handle the range of difficult
computations needed to describe particle collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) within a suitable
time frame. Yet, recent work shows that probability amplitudes in quantum gauge field theories, such
as those describing the Standard Model and its extensions, take surprisingly simple forms. The
simplicity indicates deep structure in gauge theory that has already led to dramatic computational
improvements, but remains to be fully understood. For precision calculations and investigations of the
deep structure of gauge theory, a comprehensive method for computing multi-loop amplitudes
systematically and efficiently must be found.The goal of this proposal is to construct a new and
complete approach to computing amplitudes from a detailed understanding of their singularities,
based on prior successes of so-called on-shell methods combined with the latest developments in the
mathematics of Feynman integrals. Scattering processes relevant to the LHC and to formal
investigations of quantum field theory will be computed within the new framework.
End Date:
30/9/2020
Project ID:
647771
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DIVI
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Dr. Peter Gerhard Baum
peter.baum@lmu.de
LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN, GARCHING, DE
www.uni-muenchen.de
Direct Visualization of Light-Driven Atomic-Scale Carrier Dynamics in Space and Time
Electronics is rapidly speeding up. Ultimately, miniaturization will reach atomic dimensions and the
switching speed will reach optical frequencies. This ultimate regime of lightwave electronics, where
atomic-scale charges are controlled by few-cycle laser fields, holds promise to advance information
processing technology from today’s microwave frequencies to the thousand times faster regime of
optical light fields. All materials, including dielectrics, semiconductors and molecular crystals, react to
such field oscillations with an intricate interplay between atomic-scale charge displacements
(polarizations) and collective carrier motion on the nanometer scale (currents). This entanglement
provides a rich set of potential mechanisms for switching and control. However, our ability to
eventually realize lightwave electronics, or even to make first steps, will critically depend on our ability
to actually measure electronic motion in the relevant environment: within/around atoms. The most
fundamental approach would be a direct visualization in space and time. This project, if realized, will
offer that: a spatiotemporal recording of electronic motion with sub-atomic spatial resolution and suboptical-cycle time resolution, i.e. picometers and few-femtoseconds/attoseconds. Drawing on our
unique combination of expertise covering electron diffraction and few-cycle laser optics likewise, we
will replace the photon pulses of conventional attosecond spectroscopy with freely propagating singleelectron pulses at picometer de Broglie wavelength, compressed in time by sculpted laser fields.
Stroboscopic diffraction/microscopy will provide, after playback of the image sequence, a direct
visualization of fundamental electronic activity in space and time. Profound study of atomic-scale lightmatter interaction in simple and complex materials will provide a comprehensive picture of the
fundamental physics allowing or limiting the high-speed electronics of the future.
End Date:
31/7/2020
Project ID:
648615
Host Institution:
Acronym:
VIBRA
Evaluation Panel:
PE2 - Fundamental
Prof. Dario Polli
dario.polli@polimi.it
POLITECNICO DI MILANO, MILANO, IT
www.polimi.it
Very fast Imaging by Broadband coherent RAman
The VIBRA project aims at developing an innovative microscope for real-time non-invasive imaging of
cells and tissues, which promises to have a revolutionary impact on several fields of biology and
medicine. Chemically specific vibrational signatures of molecules enable their direct structural
characterization. Reliable and quantitative endogenous bio-markers can be established, e.g., to follow
cell differentiation and to identify crucial properties of tissues (malignant vs benign phenotype of a
tumour). In this way neoplasms can be located and their borders with normal tissue traced for surgery.
Spontaneous Raman spectroscopy demonstrated this capability, but it is intrinsically too slow for
imaging. Coherent Raman microscopy, on the other hand, can reach extremely high speed (up to the
video rate) but at the expense of poor chemical selectivity, being limited to a single vibrational
frequency.The ground-breaking goal of VIBRA is to combine the most detailed molecular information
over the entire vibrational spectrum with the highest acquisition speed. The PI will develop a complete
coherent Raman microscope for near-video-rate broadband vibrational imaging. This high risk/high
gain goal will be achieved by the combination of four key developments: improved pulsed laser source;
optimized non-linear interaction, enhancing the signal; increase in acquisition speed, thanks to
innovative spectrometers; parallel on-board data processing.In the final application phase, the VIBRA
project will validate the performances of the novel vibrational imaging system studying two important
bio-medical problems: cancerous cell differentiation and detection of neuronal tumours. This will pave
the way towards future “virtual histopathology”: intraoperative non-invasive evaluation of cancerous
tissue. My vision is to allow researchers and doctors without a specific knowledge in lasers and optics
to routinely visualize functional properties of cells and tissues in vivo.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
291073
Acronym:
GLASSDEF
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
PE3 - Condensed Matter
Physics
Prof. Jean-Louis Barrat
jean-louis.barrat@ujf-grenoble.fr
UNIVERSITE JOSEPH FOURIER GRENOBLE 1, GRENOBLE, FR
www.ujf-grenoble.fr
Driven Glasses: from statistical physics to materials properties
Amorphous systems form a large fraction of the solid materials that surround us, from polymer glasses
to mineral or metallic glasses, from toothpaste (a colloidal paste) to granular materials. Still, a
theoretical framework for describing the mechanical properties of such materials, comparable to the
dislocation theory that describes crystalline systems, is still missing. Our understanding of prominent
experimental feature such as the heterogeneous character of deformation, or the temperature and
rate dependence of the mechanical response, is very limited. These materials indeed combine several
difficulties. In contrast to liquids or crystals, they are intrinsically out of equilibrium, and their
microstructure presents a large statistical distribution of mechanically distinct local environments. The
importance of the notion of heterogeneity in the mechanical behaviour of amorphous systems is being
increasingly recognized, still there is no numerical or theoretical model that incorporates this
microscopic feature into a macroscopic description of deformation and flow. The aim of the proposed
research program is to build such models, within a multiscale approach seeking inspiration from
dislocation dynamics, from the statistical physics of glasses and from the physics of dynamical critical
phenomena. The proposed approach is based on a combination of intensive numerical simulations at
the atomic scale and at a coarse grained scale, which will necessitate the development of efficient
numerical schemes. The statistical analysis will allow us to understand the universal and non universal
features of material behaviour in terms of the interactions between the atomic constituents, and to
establish the validity and importance of new concepts such as mechanical activation or dynamical
heterogeneities.
End Date:
30/6/2017
Project ID:
306447
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ABINITIODGA
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Prof. Karsten Held
held@ifp.tuwien.ac.at
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN, WIEN, AT
www.tuwien.ac.at
Ab initio Dynamical Vertex Approximation
Some of the most fascinating physical phenomena are experimentally observed in strongly correlated
electron systems and, on the theoretical side, only poorly understood hitherto. The aim of the ERC
project AbinitioDGA is the development, implementation and application of a new, 21th century
method for the ab initio calculation of materials with such strong electronic correlations. AbinitioDGA
includes strong electronic correlations on all time and length scales and hence is a big step beyond the
state-of-the-art methods, such as the local density approximation, dynamical mean field theory, and
the GW approach (Green function G times screened interaction W). It has the potential for an
extraordinary high impact not only in the field of computational materials science but also for a better
understanding of quantum critical heavy fermion systems, high-temperature superconductors, and
transport through nano- and heterostructures. These four physical problems and related materials will
be studied within the ERC project, besides the methodological development. On the technical side,
AbinitioDGA realizes Hedin's idea to include vertex corrections beyond the GW approximation. All
vertex corrections which can be traced back to a fully irreducible local vertex and the bare non-local
Coulomb interaction are included. This way, AbinitioDGA does not only contain the GW physics of
screened exchange and the strong local correlations of dynamical mean field theory but also non-local
correlations beyond on all length scales. Through the latter, AbinitioDGA can prospectively describe
phenomena such as quantum criticality, spin-fluctuation mediated superconductivity, and weak
localization corrections to the conductivity. Nonetheless, the computational effort is still manageable
even for realistic materials calculations, making the considerable effort to implement AbinitioDGA
worthwhile.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
306845
Host Institution:
Acronym:
D4PARTICLES
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Dr. Ludovic Berthier
ludovic.berthier@univ-montp2.fr
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, MONTPELLIER, FR
www.cnrs.fr
Statistical physics of dense particle systems in the absence of thermal fluctuations
Frontier research in statistical mechanics and soft condensed matter focuses on systems of everincreasing complexity. Among these are systems where microscopic dynamics are not controlled by
thermal fluctuations, either because the sources of the fluctuations have not a thermal origin, or
because “microscopic” sources of fluctuations are altogether absent. Practical applications comprise
everyday products such as paints or foodstuff which are soft solids composed of dense suspensions of
particles that are too large for thermal fluctuations to play any role. Non-Brownian “active” matter,
obtained when particles internally produce motion, represents another growing field with applications
in biophysics and soft matter. Because these systems all evolve far from equilibrium, there exists no
general framework to tackle these problems theoretically from a fundamental perspective. I will
develop a radically new approach to lay the foundations of a detailed theoretical understanding of the
physics of a broad but coherent class of materials evolving far from equilibrium. To go beyond
phenomenology, I will carry theoretical research to elucidate the physics of particle systems that are
simultaneously Dense, Disordered, Driven and Dissipative—D4PARTICLES. By combining numerical
analysis of model systems to fully microscopic statistical mechanics analysis, my overall aim is to
discover the general principles governing the physics of athermal particle systems far from equilibrium
and to reach a complete theoretical understanding and obtain predictive tools regarding the phase
behavior, structure and dynamics of D4PARTICLES. Reaching a new level of theoretical understanding
of a broad range of materials will impact fundamental research by opening up statistical physics to a
whole new class of complex systems and should foster experimental activity towards design and
quantitative characterization of large class of disordered solids and soft materials.
End Date:
30/9/2017
Project ID:
307387
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PHYMORPH
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Prof. Arezki Boudaoud
arezki.boudaoud@ens-lyon.fr
ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE DE LYON, LYON, FR
www.ens-lyon.eu
Unravelling the physical basis of morphogenesis in plants
Morphogenesis is the remarkable process by which a developing organism acquires its shape. While
molecular and genetic studies have been highly successful in explaining the cellular basis of
development and the role of biochemical gradients in coordinating cell fate, understanding
morphogenesis remains a central challenge for both biophysics and developmental biology. Indeed,
shape is imposed by structural elements, so that an investigation of morphogenesis must address how
these elements are controlled at the cell level, and how the mechanical properties of these elements
lead to specific growth patterns. Using plants as model systems, we will tackle the following questions:
i.
Does the genetic identity of a cell correspond to a mechanical identity? ii. Do the mechanical
properties of the different cell domains predict shape changes? iii. How does the intrinsic stochasticity
of cell mechanics and cell growth lead to reproducible shapes? To do so, we will develop a unique
combination of physical and biological approaches. For instance, we will measure simultaneously
physical properties and growth in specific cell groups by building a novel tool coupling atomic force
microscopy and upright confocal microscopy; we will integrate the data within physical growth models;
and we will validate our approaches using genetic and pharmacological alterations of cell mechanics.
In plants, shape is entirely determined by the extracellular matrix (cell walls) and osmotic pressure.
From that perspective, plants cells involve fewer mechanical parameters than animal cells and are thus
perfectly suited to study the physical basis of morphogenesis. Therefore we propose such a study
within the shoot apical meristem of Arabidopsis thaliana, a small population of stem cells that
orchestrates the aerial architecture of the plant.
This work will unravel the physical basis of
morphogenesis and shed light on how stochastic cell behaviour can lead to robust shapes.
End Date:
30/9/2017
Project ID:
308136
Host Institution:
Acronym:
POLAFLOW
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Dr. Daniele Sanvitto
daniele.sanvitto@nano.cnr.it
CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE, ROMA, IT
www.cnr.it
Polariton condensates: from fundamental physics to quantum based devices
Polaritons are quantum superpositions of light and matter which combine appealing properties of
both: the high coherence of photons and the strong interaction (non-linearities) of electrons. With the
report of their Bose-Einstein condensation in 2006, they stand as one of the most exciting
semiconductor-optical system of today. Given their peculiar character, they encompass different
interdisciplinary areas of research which spans from the physics of phase transitions, critical
phenomena and strongly-correlated systems (superfuidity, superconductivity, etc.) to various branches
of quantum physics (quantum optics, quantum information, etc.), till the possibility of building
polariton-based optical logics for implementation of optical circuits; all exciting realms yet to be
explored. The majority of the outstanding findings reported have been realised in structureless
samples with no, or random, potential barriers for polariton states. This proposal aims at developing
the polariton physics in the presence of designed and controllable potential landscapes which will
allow the observation and study of a new series of phenomena related to the system's reduced
dimensionality and out-of-equilibrium character. Strong of several and complementary techniques to
realize such potentials in microcavities, both in my institute and in partnership with leading growers
worldwide, I will explore three phases of prospective physics in the framework where the polariton
flow can be controlled, driven, localised and guided. First, I will study transport and interferometry.
Then, these straightforward upgrades on the polariton state-of-the-art will be used to design
elementary devices, such as polariton transistors (classical logic) or entangling devices (quantum logic).
In a final phase, polariton lattices with controllable attributes will be used to study fundamental
quantum phases from the superfluid to the Mott insulator, with prospects of realizing a polariton
quantum simulator.
End Date:
31/10/2017
Project ID:
321031
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DM
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Dr. Alexander Balatsky
balatsky@gmail.com
www.kth.se
Dirac Materials
The elegant Dirac equation, describing the linear dispersion (energy/momentum) relation of electrons
at relativistic speeds, has profound consequences such as the prediction of antiparticles, reflection less
tunneling (Klein paradox) and others. Recent discovery of graphene and topological insulators (TI)
highlights the scientific importance and technological promise of materials with “relativistic Dirac
dispersion" of electrons for functional materials and device applications with novel functionalities. One
might use term ‘Dirac materials’ to encompass a subset of (materials) systems in which the low energy
phase space for fermion excitations is reduced compared to conventional band structure predictions
(i.e. point or lines of nodes vs. full Fermi Surface). Dirac materials are characterized by universal low
energy properties due to presence of the nodal excitations. It is this reduction of phase space due to
additional symmetries that can be turned on and off that opens a new door to functionality of Dirac
materials. We propose to use the sensitivity of nodes in the electron spectrum of Dirac materials to
induce controlled modifications of the Dirac points/lines via band structure engineering in artificial
structures and via inelastic scattering processes with controlled doping. Proposed research will expand
our theoretical understanding and guide design of materials and engineered geometries that allow
tunable energy profiles of Dirac carriers.
End Date:
31/3/2018
Project ID:
337425
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SUPERCONDUCTINGMOTT
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Dr. Suchitra Esther Sebastian
ses59@cam.ac.uk
www.cam.ac.uk
UNCONVENTIONAL SUPERCONDUCTIVITY FROM A MOTT INSULATING PARENT MATERIAL
The mystery of unconventional superconductivity is one that is yet to be solved after decades of
research. Better superconductors will have a crucial role in improved energy efficient applications such
as power storage and transmission. While the highest temperature superconductors to date are the
copper oxide family of antiferromagnetic Mott insulators, the origin of unconventional
superconductivity in these materials remains mysterious. Furthermore, there are strikingly few other
examples where unconventional superconductivity emerges from Mott insulating materials. In this
project we adopt a two-pronged approach to find unconventional superconductivity and potentially
novel quantum spin liquid phases in new classes of Mott insulating materials, and to understand the
nature of the normal state out of which superconductivity develops in the family of copper oxide
superconductors. In the first part of the project, multiple spin-orbit coupled Mott insulating materials
will be tuned to induce superconductivity and / or an unconventional quantum spin liquid phase, and a
roadmap relating materials properties to emergent unconventional superconductivity developed. In
the second part of the project, we will aim to better understand the normal state out of which
superconductivity emerges in cuprate superconductors by a study of the nature of Fermi surface
evolution from a the small Fermi surface in the underdoped regime to a large Fermi surface in the
overdoped regime, potentially via a quantum critical point underlying the superconducting dome. Our
findings are anticipated to have important implications for the creation of newer and better
superconductors.
End Date:
31/7/2018
Project ID:
340210
Host Institution:
Acronym:
MUNATOP
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Prof. Adiel (Ady) Stern
adiel.stern@weizmann.ac.il
WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, REHOVOT, IL
www.weizmann.ac.il
Multi-Dimensional Study of non Abelian Topological States of Matter
Non-abelian topological states of matter are of great interest in condensed matter physics, both due to
their extraordinary fundamental properties and to their possible use for quantum computation. The
insensitivity of their topological characteristics to disorder, noise, and interaction with the environment
may lead to realization of quantum computers with very long coherence times. The realization of a
quantum computer ranks among the foremost outstanding problems in physics, particularly in light of
the revolutionary rewards the achievement of this goal promises. The proposed theoretical study is
multi-dimensional. On the methodological side the multi-dimensionality is in the breadth of the studies
we discuss, ranging all the way from phenomenology to mathematical physics. We will aim at detailed
understanding of present and future experimental results. We will analyze experimental setups
designed to identify, characterize and manipulate non-abelian states. And we will propose and classify
novel non-abelian states. On the concrete side, the multi-dimensionality is literal. The systems we
consider include quantum dots, one dimensional quantum wires, two dimensional planar systems, and
surfaces of three dimensional systems. Our proposal starts with Majorana fermions in systems where
spin-orbit coupling, Zeeman fields and proximity coupling to superconductivity are at play. It continues
with “edge anyons”, non-abelian quasiparticles residing on edges of abelian Quantum Hall states. It
ends with open issues in the physics of the Quantum Hall Effect. We expect that this study will result in
clear schemes for unquestionable experimental identification of Majorana fermions, new predictions
for more of their measurable consequences, understanding of the feasibility of fractionalized phases in
quantum wires, feasible experimental schemes for realizing and observing edge anyons, steps towards
their classification, and better understanding of quantum Hall interferometry.
End Date:
30/9/2018
Project ID:
340906
Host Institution:
Acronym:
MOLPROCOMP
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Prof. Kurt Kremer
kremer@mpip-mainz.mpg.de
MAINZ, DE
www.mpg.de
From Structure Property to Structure Process Property Relations in Soft Matter – a Computational
Physics Approach
From cell biology to polymer photovoltaics, (self-)assembly processes that give rise to morphology and
functionality result from non-equilibrium processes, which are driven by both, external forces, such as
flow due to pressure gradients, inserting energy, or manipulation on a local molecular level, or internal
forces, such as relaxation into a state of lower free energy. The resulting material is arrested in a
metastable state. Most previous work has focused on the relationship between structure and
properties, while insight into the guiding principles governing the formation of a (new) material, has
been lacking. However, a comprehensive molecular level understanding of non-equilibrium assembly
would allow for control and manipulation of material processes and their resulting properties. This lag
of knowledge can be traced to the formidable challenge in obtaining a molecular picture of nonequilibrium assembly. Non-equilibrium processes have been studied extensively on a macroscopic level
by non-equilibrium thermodynamics. We take a novel route approaching the challenge from a
molecular point of view. Recent advances in experimental, but especially computational modeling, now
allow to follow (supra-) molecular structural evolution across the range of length and time scales
necessary to comprehend, and ultimately control and manipulate macroscopic functional properties of
soft matter at the molecular level. Soft matter is particularly suited for that approach, as it is “slow”
and easy to manipulate. We take the computational physics route, based on simulations on different
levels of resolution (all atom, coarse grained, continuum) in combination with recent multiscale and
adaptive resolution techniques. This work will initiate the way towards a paradigm change from
conventional Structure Property Relations (SPR) to molecularly based Structure Process Property
Relations (SPPR).
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
615767
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CIRQUSS
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Dr. Patrice Emmanuel Bertet
patrice.bertet@cea.fr
GIF-SUR-YVETTE, FR
www.cea.fr
Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics with Single Electronic and Nuclear Spins
Electronic spins are usually detected by their interaction with electromagnetic fields at microwave
frequencies. Since this interaction is very weak, only large ensembles of spins can be detected. In
circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) on the other hand, artificial superconducting atoms are made
to interact strongly with microwave fields at the single photon level, and quantum-limited detection of
few-photon microwave signals has been developed. The goal of this project is to apply the concepts
and techniques of cQED to the detection and manipulation of electronic and nuclear spins, in order to
reach a novel regime in which a single electronic spin strongly interacts with single microwave photons.
This will lead to 1) A considerable enhancement of the sensitivity of spin detection by microwave
methods. We plan to detect resonantly single electronic spins in a few milliseconds. This could enable
A) to perform electron spin resonance spectroscopy on few-molecule samples B) to measure the
magnetization of various nano-objects at millikelvin temperatures, using the spin as a magnetic sensor
with nanoscale resolution. 2) Applications in quantum information science. Strong interaction with
microwave fields at the quantum level will enable the generation of entangled states of distant
individual electronic and nuclear spins, using superconducting qubits, resonators and microwave
photons, as “quantum data buses” mediating the entanglement. Since spins can have coherence times
in the seconds range, this could pave the way towards a scalable implementation of quantum
information processing protocols. These ideas will be primarily implemented with NV centers in
diamond, which are electronic spins with properties suitable for the project.
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
615564
Host Institution:
Acronym:
APARTHEID-STOPS
Evaluation Panel:
SH5 - Cultures and Cultural
Production
Dr. Louise Bethlehem
louise.bethlehem@mail.huji.ac.il
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM., JERUSALEM, IL
www.huji.ac.il
Apartheid -- The Global Itinerary: South African Cultural Formations in Transnational Circulation,
1948-1990
This proposal proceeds from an anomaly. Apartheid routinely breached the separation that it names.
Whereas the South African regime was deeply isolationist in international terms, new research links it
to the Cold War and decolonization. Yet this trend does not consider sufficiently that the global contest
over the meaning of apartheid and resistance to it occurs on the terrain of culture. My project argues
that studying the global circulation of South African cultural formations in the apartheid era provides
novel historiographic leverage over Western liberalism during the Cold War. It recasts apartheid as an
apparatus of transnational cultural production, turning existing historiography inside out. This study
seeks: • To provide the first systematic account of the deterritorialization of “apartheid”—as political
signifier and as apparatus generating circuits of transnational cultural production. • To analyze these
itinerant cultural formations across media and national borders, articulating new intersections. • To
map the itineraries of major South African exiles, where exile is taken to be a system of interlinked
circuits of affiliation and cultural production. • To revise the historiography of states other than South
Africa through the lens of deterritorialized apartheid-era formations at their respective destinations. •
To show how apartheid reveals contradictions within Western liberalism during the Cold War, with
special reference to racial inequality. Methodologically, I introduce the model of thick convergence to
analyze three periods: 1. Kliptown & Bandung: Novel possibilities, 1948-1960. 2. Sharpeville &
Memphis: Drumming up resistance, 1960-1976. 3. From Soweto to Berlin: Spectacle at the barricades,
1976-1990. Each explores a cultural dominant in the form of texts, soundscapes or photographs. My
work stands at the frontier of transnational research, furnishing powerful new insights into why South
Africa matters on the stage of global history.
End Date:
30/4/2019
Project ID:
616811
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TRANSITION
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Dr. Freddy Bouchet
freddy.bouchet@ens-lyon.fr
www.cnrs.fr
Large Deviations and Non Equilibrium Phase Transitions for Turbulent Flows, Climate, and the Solar
System
The aim of this project is to predict and compute extremely rare but essential trajectories in complex
physical systems. We will compute rare transitions trajectories, first between two different turbulent
attractors in models of planetary jet dynamics, and second between two configurations of ocean
currents for a model of the thermohaline circulation. We will compute the dynamics and the
probability for collisions between two planets in the solar system, on time scales of order of billions of
years. We will evaluate rare events that lead to extremely large drags or torques on objects embedded
in turbulent flows, directly from the dynamics. Because of the huge range of time scales, all those
trajectories are not accessible through direct numerical simulations. The project's unity stems from the
methodology based on large-deviations theory. Large deviation rate functions generalize the concept
of entropy or free energy in non-equilibrium extended systems: they provide a global characterization
of their most probable state, their large fluctuations and their phase transitions. Impressive explicit
computations of large deviation rate functions have been recently performed in simple nonequilibrium systems. The main aim of this project is to bridge the gap between those extremely
interesting new concepts and algorithms, and complex dynamical systems such as turbulent flows,
semi-realistic models of fluids related to climate dynamics, or the long time behavior of the solar
system. In order to achieve this goal, we will use macroscopic fluctuation theory, instanton theory, and
other analytical methods in order to compute explicitly large deviation rate functions for essential
macroscopic quantities (the velocity or density fields). We will also develop and use algorithms
specifically dedicated at computing the statistics of extremely rare trajectories, based on the
generalization of importance sampling implemented through cloning or multilevel splitting methods.
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
615594
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TRANSRIGHTS
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Sofia Isabel Da Costa D'aboim Inglez
sofia.aboim@ics.ul.pt
INSTITUTO DE CIENCIAS SOCIAIS DA UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA, LISBOA, PT
www.ics.ul.pt
Gender citizenship and sexual rights in Europe: transgender lives from a transnational perspective
The TRANSRIGHTS project investigates transgender lives and the institutional apparatus that frames
them. Rather than focusing exclusively on self displayed identities, four lines of inquiry will be
developed. Firstly, gender politics and sexual rights are analyzed as the opposition between politics of
equality and of difference is unable to provide answers for the inclusion of trans-people. Secondly, by
comparing the lives of trans-people in five European countries – Portugal, France, United Kingdom, the
Netherlands and Sweden – we wish to attain an overview of how institutional frameworks impact on
these lives. Thirdly, our approach will take into account the immigration of trans-individuals to Europe,
whether in search for recognition or as a way of survival often leading to sex work. Fourthly, by
comparing different countries, different groups of transgender people, different forms of attaining
inclusion or dealing with exclusion, different conceptions of gender citizenship and sexual rights, we
wish not only to gain a deeper understanding of societal change and its impact on the lives of
transgender individuals, but also to identify the gaps between policies and rights and the categories
actually mobilized for self-identification. Such a task implies examining the voices of trans-people, the
effect of policies on the materiality of lives as well as conceptualizations of selfhood that do not
necessarily confine to the European context. Project outputs will contribute to the fields of gender,
sexuality and citizenship by providing a grounded theoretical debate, discussing the gender categories
of citizenship. Trans-people are a heterogeneous group that represents one of the most challenging
boundaries for framing this debate within and beyond Europe. The voices of trans-people are essential
to avoid an excessive reduction of lives to institutional categories, whether from the institutional
apparatus, the LGBT movements or the social sciences.
End Date:
31/8/2019
Project ID:
638760
Acronym:
STATOPINS
Dr. Anton Roustiamovich Akhmerov
a.r.akhmerov@tudelft.nl
www.tudelft.nl
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Theory of statistical topological insulators
Topological insulators (TI) are a novel class of materials with insulating bulk and conducting surface.
The conduction of the surface is protected by the topological properties of the bulk, as long as a
fundamental symmetry is present (for instance time-reversal symmetry). My goal is to investigate to
what limits does the protection hold in cases where the protecting symmetry is broken, and only
present in statistical sense, after averaging over the disordered ensemble. In a pilot study I showed
that materials that are protected by such average symmetry, which I have called “statistical topological
insulators” (STI) significantly extend the classification of topological phases of matter and promise new
methods to robustly control the conducting surface properties. I plan to develop a general theory of STI
for physically relevant symmetries, describe the observable properties of their protected surface
states, invent ways to predict whether materials are expected to be STI, and explore the generalization
of STIs to strongly interacting topological phases of matter. I expect that the outcome of my research
will significantly extend our understanding of topological phases of matter, and provide new ways to
design materials with robust properties.
End Date:
29/2/2020
Project ID:
639739
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Strained2DMaterials
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Prof. Kirill Igorevich Bolotin
bolotin@gmail.com
FREIE UNIVERSITAET BERLIN, BERLIN, DE
www.fu-berlin.de
Unlocking new physics in controllably strained two-dimensional materials
We will use strain engineering as an enabling tool to study previously inaccessible or hard-to-study
phenomena in two-dimensional atomic crystals (2DACs: graphene, bilayer graphene, and monolayer
transition metal dichalcogenides). In our first objective, we develop unique experimental tools to
control and characterize mechanical strain in 2DACs. These are the distinguishing features of our
approach: (i) The use of very low disorder suspended devices; (ii) Both uniform and controlled nonuniform strain will be induced; (iii) The level of strain will be precisely adjusted and determined in-situ
during measurements. We will then use controllably-strained samples to study electrical, mechanical,
thermal, and optical properties of 2DACs:Application of strain in suspended graphene will be shown to
control amplitudes and dispersion relation of flexural out-of-plane phonons (FPs), a mode unique to 2D
and quasi-2D materials. We will demonstrate, for the first time, that FPs dominate electrical, thermal,
and mechanical of suspended graphene. Moreover, we will show dramatic mechanical softening of
graphene in the regime of weak strain, similar to "entropic spring" behaviour seen in polymers.We will
engineer strain distributions in high-mobility suspended graphene devices that translate into nearconstant "pseudomagnetic field" and observe Quantum Hall-like quantization at zero external
magnetic field.Strain-induced changes in topology of the band structure of bilayer graphene will be
shown to affect Quantum Hall states and the Berry phase.Through strain engineering, we will
controllably adjust - and even make spatially dependent - the band gap energy and binding energies of
excitons in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs). We will study complex interplay
between and direct and indirect excitons and look for emergence of a new phase of matter, an
excitonic insulator, in strained narrow-bandgap TMDC.
End Date:
31/10/2020
Project ID:
647100
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SUSPINTRONICS
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Dr. Javier Eulogio Villegas Hernandez
javier.villegas@thalesgroup.com
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, PALAISEAU, FR
www.cnrs.fr
Magnetic, electric-field and light induced control of spin-polarized supercurrents: fundamentals for
an offbeat electronics
This project aims at establishing the basis for high-temperature superconducting spintronics. The
innovative idea is to use spin-polarized superconducting pairs -instead of normal electrons- to convey
and manipulate information, taking advantage of the coherent transport inherent to superconductivity.
To further increase the potential of this approach, we intend to create multiple control knobs:
magnetic field, the classical one in spintronics, as well as the knobs customary in conventional
electronics: electric field and light. This will endow superconducting spintronics with a magnetic and
electric memory, as well as with photosensitivity. The basic ingredient for this ambitious project is
complex-oxide heterostructures. The approach consists of combining the following fundamental
effects:(a)
Superconducting proximity effects, in order to transfer superconductivity into
ferromagnets.(b) Ferroelectric field-effects, in order to modulate the superconductor/ferromagnet
interactions and tune Josephson coupling. (c) Spin-torque and ferromagnetic resonance effects, in
order to couple superconductivity and magnetization dynamics.(d) Photoconductivity and
photoelectric effects, in order to manipulate the interactions between superconductors and
ferroics.This research is essentially fundamental, but the novel concepts pursued will increase the
technological possibilities of superconductivity and spintronics -whose applications are at present
completely disconnected.
End Date:
30/9/2020
Project ID:
647471
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SUPERNEMS
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Dr. Oliver Aneurin Williams
williamso@cf.ac.uk
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY, CARDIFF, UK
www.cardiff.ac.uk
Superconducting Diamond Quantum Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems
In this project, the fabrication and characterisation of all diamond superconducting Nano-ElectroMechanical Systems (NEMS) is proposed for the investigation of macroscopic quantum states. This
involves state of the art Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) of diamond, doping, nanofabrication and
modelling of devices. The fundamental properties of superconducting diamond, the associated
mechanical properties of diamond NEMS and the characterisation of low temperature and low
dimensional quantum effects will be investigated. Critically, the unprecedented resonant frequencies
of diamond cantilevers allow the possibility of cooling cantilever devices down to the ground state.
Coupled with its superconducting-based read out possibilities, this material offers new opportunities
for challenging the Standard Quantum Limit, the study of quantum entanglement and the fabrication
of superconducting diamond Qubits. This work is highly ambitious, as it aims to manipulate systems by
exploiting fundamental quantum limits. However, the applicant has already demonstrated the
individual constituents of this approach and thus it is not reckless to propose to integrate them.
End Date:
30/6/2020
Project ID:
648011
Host Institution:
Acronym:
QuantumMagnonics
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Dr. Martin Peter Weides
martin.weides@kit.edu
KARLSRUHER INSTITUT FUER TECHNOLOGIE, KARLSRUHE, DE
www.kit.edu
Interfacing spin waves with superconducting quantum circuits for single magnon creation and
detection
The proposed project will experimentally interface ferromagnets with superconducting quantum
circuits to study dynamics within the magnet. To this end, magnonic elements made up by thin,
structured magnetic films will be strongly coupled to the qubit. Superconducting qubits are ideal
detectors due to their quantum limited back-action on the measured object and energy resolution.
Spectroscopy and coherence measurements on the hybrid system will be made in order to address
fundamental aspects such as spin wave generation, detection, coherence, or wave propagation down
to mK temperatures and at ultra-low power (atto-watts). Amplitude and phase noise of spin wave
resonators will be determined. At the final stage of the project, the quantum limited resolution of
qubits will facilitate single magnon creation and detection. Quantum states are swapped between
qubit and magnon, and superpositioned and entangled states will be explored. Monitoring the qubit
response to its magnetic environment the low and high-frequency flux noise spectrum of spin waves
will be inferred. The research methodology employs junctions, resonators, and qubits as research
objects and detectors. The samples will be characterized at cryogenic temperatures by transport,
magnetometry, resonator and qubit setups. Magnetic materials will be deposited and structured
beneath or ontop the superconducting quantum circuits. Exploring spin wave dynamics in thin films by
coupling to a superconducting qubit complements conventional measurement techniques based on
photon, electron or neutron scattering methods, which require highly populated excitations. The
project connects to and extends research objects of ground-breaking nature to open up new horizons
for quantum, magnon and spin electronics. Magnetic material physics is enhanced by new research
concepts such as quantum resolved spectroscopy and coherence measurements on intrinsic dynamic
states.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
648589
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SUPER-2D
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Dr. Alexander Grueneis
grueneis@ph2.uni-koeln.de
UNIVERSITAET ZU KOELN, KOELN, DE
www.uni-koeln.de
Many-body physics and superconductivity in 2D materials
The goal of this project is to prepare and functionalize layered materials and then to characterize them
in-situ using a novel combination of electrical transport, photoelectron and optical spectroscopy. This
approach provides a solution to the intense research efforts in trying to engineer, probe and unravel
many-body physics and the superconducting coupling mechanism in layered solids. The materials
under investigation are based on the families of graphene, dichalcogenides and iron based
superconductors. Chemical functionalization using dopants and strain allows for an unprecedented
control over their physical properties. The proposed material systems provide a new arena to explore
diverse condensed matter phenomena such as electron correlation, electron-phonon coupling and
superconductivity. The groundbreaking aspects of this proposal are as follows: (1) development of a
unique setup where electrical transport, angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) and optical
spectroscopy is measured in-situ on the same sample, (2) large-area deterministic layer-by-layer
growth by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) and molecular beam epitaxy, (3) the effects of mechanical
strain and hence large pseudomagnetic fields on the electronic band structure will be investigated
using ARPES, (4) the effects of alkali metal doping on the superconducting transition temperature and
the spectral function will be investigated using transport, ARPES and optical spectroscopies shining
light onto the superconducting pairing mechanisms in different classes of materials. The proposal's
feasibility is firmly grounded on the pioneering work of the PI’s group on superconducting coupling in
functionalized graphene and the in-situ ARPES measurements of a CVD grown graphene/BN
heterostructure.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
669598
Acronym:
SynDiv
Prof. Cornelis Dekker
c.dekker@tudelft.nl
www.tudelft.nl
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
A nanophysics approach to synthetic cell division
Imagine building a living cell from basic components, a vesicle filled with biomolecules that can sustain
itself and reproduce into similar offspring. Can this be done?This proposal addresses the most
tantalizing aspect: synthetic cell division. We aim to build liposomes (lipid vesicles enclosing an
aqueous solution with proteins and DNA) that can spontaneously divide through a contractile protein
ring at the vesicle perimeter. To realize this, we employ an experimental biophysics approach that
addresses both the actual division and the prerequisite spatial control, with:1. Cells in nanofabricated
shapes. We will study cell-division proteins and DNA in live E.coli bacteria that are molded into userdefined arbitrary shapes and sizes. Clarifying the effects of cell shape will elucidate the guiding
principles for the spatiotemporal organization of the cell-division machinery.2. Proteins and DNA in
nanofabricated chambers. We will use a bottom up approach to study the basic divisome components
in vitro exploiting the full control provided by nanochambers. This will resolve the spatial organization
of the fascinating patterns of Min proteins and chromatin that dictate the localization of the division
ring.3. Liposomes on chip. We will develop a chip-based technology to generate liposomes for
exploring synthetic cell division. We will use both microfluidic constrictions and a biomimetic approach
(encapsulation of divisome proteins such as FtsZ) to induce autonomous liposome splitting, thus
enabling a simplified but tightly controlled form of synthetic cell division.To our knowledge, this
nanofabrication-based approach to synthetic division is unique. We expect to be able to make
important contributions to understanding cell division, and anticipate that on a 5-year scale we indeed
can master synthetic division. We believe that our mix of nanophysics and synthetic biology is bound to
yield deep insight into the biophysical underpinnings of cellular reproduction.
End Date:
30/6/2020
Project ID:
670918
Acronym:
PICOPROP
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Physics
Prof. Laszlo Forro
laszlo.forro@epfl.ch
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE, LAUSANNE, CH
www.epfl.ch
Photo Induced Collective Properties of Hybrid Halide Perovskites
The recent discovery of the organo-inorganic perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 as very efficient material in
photoelectric conversion is multifaceted: it turns out that this compound is promising not only in
photovoltaics, but it is lasing, it gives bright light emitting diodes, promising in water splitting and we
are persuaded that it can play an important role in basic sciences, as well. We have recently realized
that under white light illumination the photoelectrons, due to their very long recombination time, stay
in the conduction band and the resistivity of a single crystal shows a metallic behavior. If the lifetime is
sufficiently long and the density of these excited carrier is high enough they could condense into a
Fermi sea. The project’s goal is to realize this highly unusual state and to document its properties by
magneto-transport and spectroscopic techniques. We will check in our model compound the longsought superconductivity of photo-excited carriers, extensively searched for in cuprates, if we could
stabilize it by fine tuning the interactions by hydrostatic pressure under constant illumination. The
availability of high quality samples is primordial for this program. It turns out that CH3NH3PbI3 is ideal
compound, it seems to be almost free of charged defects (its room temperature resistance is 5 orders
of magnitude higher than that of Phosphorus doped Silicon at 1013 cm-3 doping concentration) and we
can grow excellent single crystals of it. Furthermore, it has a flexibility in material design: one can vary
all the constituents, and even the dimensionality by making layered materials with the main chemical
motifs. A special effort will be devoted to tune the spin-orbit coupling by different elements, since this
could be at the origin of the long recombination time of the photo-electrons. We suspect that the
highly tunable, clean and disorder-free doping obtained by shining light on these ionic crystals opens a
new era in material discovery.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
307358
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ANGLE
Evaluation Panel:
PE4 - Physical and Analytical
Chemical Sciences
Dr. Graeme Matthew Day
g.m.day@soton.ac.uk
Accelerated design and discovery of novel molecular materials via global lattice energy minimisation
The goal of crystal engineering is the design of functional crystalline materials in which the
arrangement of basic structural building blocks imparts desired properties. The engineering of organic
molecular crystals has, to date, relied largely on empirical rules governing the intermolecular
association of functional groups in the solid state. However, many materials properties depend
intricately on the complete crystal structure, i.e. the unit cell, space group and atomic positions, which
cannot be predicted solely using such rules. Therefore, the development of computational methods for
crystal structure prediction (CSP) from first principles has been a goal of computational chemistry that
could significantly accelerate the design of new materials. It is only recently that the necessary
advances in the modelling of intermolecular interactions and developments in algorithms for
identifying all relevant crystal structures have come together to provide predictive methods that are
becoming reliable and affordable on a timescale that could usefully complement an experimental
research programme. The principle aim of the proposed work is to establish the use of state-of-the-art
crystal structure prediction methods as a means of guiding the discovery and design of novel molecular
materials. This research proposal both continues the development of the computational methods for
CSP and, by developing a computational framework for screening of potential molecules, develops the
application of these methods for materials design. The areas on which we will focus are organic
molecular semiconductors with high charge carrier mobilities and, building on our recently published
results in Nature [1], the development of porous organic molecular materials. The project will both
deliver novel materials, as well as improvements in the reliability of computational methods that will
find widespread applications in materials chemistry. [1] Nature 2011, 474, 367-371.
End Date:
30/9/2017
Project ID:
307523
Host Institution:
Acronym:
LIGHT
Evaluation Panel:
Chemical Sciences
Prof. Maarten Blanka Jozef Roeffaers
maarten.roeffaers@biw.kuleuven.be
www.kuleuven.be
advanced Light mIcroscopy for Green cHemisTry
Optimization of catalytic materials and hence of chemical processes heavily relies on gaining detailed
insight into the complex dynamics underlying the outcome of a catalytic process and using this
information in the rational design of improved catalysts. So far, spectroscopic approaches have already
contributed importantly; however a strong need for new and improved in situ spectroscopic methods
with micro- and nanometer resolution still remains. This project aims to develop advanced light
microscopy tools that will significantly contribute to this goal.
End Date:
30/9/2017
Project ID:
320737
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CHEMAGEB
Evaluation Panel:
Chemical Sciences
Prof. Roman Tauler Ferrer
roma.tauler@idaea.csic.es
MADRID, ES
http://www.csic.es
CHEMometric and High-throughput Omics Analytical Methods for Assessment of Global Change
Effects on Environmental and Biological Systems
We propose to develop new chemometric and high-throughput analytical methods to assess the
effects of environmental and climate changes on target biological systems which are representative of
ecosystems. This project will combine powerful chemometric and analytical high-throughput
methodologies with toxicological tests to examine the effects of environmental stressors (like chemical
pollution) and of climate change (like temperature, water scarcity or food shortage), on genomic and
metabonomic profiles of target biological systems. The complex nature of experimental data produced
by high-throughput analytical techniques, such as DNA microarrays, hyphenated chromatography-mass
spectrometry or multi-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, requires powerful data
analysis tools to extract, summarize and interpret the large amount of information that such
megavariate data sets may contain. There is a need to improve and automate every step in the analysis
of the data generated from genomic and metabonomic studies using new chemometric and multi- and
megavariate tools. The main purpose of this project is to develop such tools. As a result of the whole
study, a detailed report on the effects of global change and chemical pollution on the genomic and
metabonomic profiles of a selected set of representative target biological systems will be delivered and
used for global risk assessment. The information acquired, data sets and computer software will be
stored in public data bases using modern data compression and data management technologies. And
all the methodologies developed in the project will be published.
End Date:
31/3/2018
Project ID:
320951
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DREAMS
Evaluation Panel:
Chemical Sciences
Prof. Vincenzo Barone
vincenzo.barone@sns.it
SCUOLA NORMALE SUPERIORE DI PISA, PISA, IT
www.sns.it
Development of a Research Environment for Advanced Modelling of Soft matter
DREAMS aims at developing an integrated theoretical-computational approach for the efficient
description of linear and non-linear spectroscopies of several classes of organic probes, dispersed in
polymeric matrices that range in complexity from simple polyolefins all the way to large biomolecules
(proteins and polysaccharides). In order to reach this objective, developments along the following lines
are required: (i) elaboration of new theoretical models, to expand the scope of currently available
treatments; (ii) definition of specific treatments for intermediate regions / regimes in the context of
space- and time-multiscale descriptions; (iii) algorithmic implementation of the developed models /
protocols in computational codes and, (iv) their efficient integration allowing for seamless flow of
information and easy use by non-specialists. A crucial asset for the success of the planned theoreticalcomputational developments is represented by an extensive network of solid collaborations with
leading experimental groups, that will be involved in the synthesis and characterization of the different
chromophore / matrix systems, as well as in the in-depth characterization of their spectroscopic
responses. These interactions will thus allow for a stringent and exhaustive validation of the
capabilities required of a general and versatile computational tool; at the same time, the experimental
groups will make full use of advanced theoretical interpretations in the context of a real-world
technological problem. In summary, DREAMS relies on a carefully planned combination of theoretical
developments, computational implementations, and interactions with experimentalists, in order to
achieve a novel and cutting-edge result, namely to provide the scientific community with a set of
computational tools that will make possible the simulation and prediction of response and
spectroscopic properties of multi-component materials.
End Date:
31/1/2018
Project ID:
335879
Host Institution:
Acronym:
BIOGRAPHENE
Evaluation Panel:
Chemical Sciences
Dr. Gregory Schneider
g.f.schneider@chem.leidenuniv.nl
UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN, LEIDEN, NL
http://www.leidenuniv.nl
Sequencing biological molecules with graphene
Graphene – a one atom thin material – has the potential to act as a sensor, primarily the surface and
the edges of graphene. This proposal aims at exploring new biosensing routes by exploiting the unique
surface and edge chemistry of graphene.
End Date:
30/4/2019
Project ID:
615834
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ESTYMA
Evaluation Panel:
Chemical Sciences
Prof. Alessandro Troisi
a.troisi@warwick.ac.uk
www.warwick.ac.uk
Excited state quantum dynamics in molecular aggregates: a unified description from biology to
devices
The coherent dynamics of excitons in systems of biological interest and in organic materials can now be
studied with advanced experimental techniques, including two dimensional electronic spectroscopy,
with time resolution of few femtoseconds. The theory of open quantum systems, that should support
the interpretation of these new experiments, has been developed in different contexts over the past
60 years but seems now very inadequate for the problems of current interest. First of all, the systems
under investigation are extremely complex and the most common approach, based on the
development of phenomenological models, is often not very informative. Many different models yield
results in agreement with the experiments and there is no systematic way to derive these models or to
select the best model among many. Secondly, the quantum dynamics of excitons is so fast that one
cannot assume that the dynamics of environment is much faster than the dynamics of the system, an
assumption crucial for most theories. A remedy to the current limitation is proposed here through the
following research objectives. (1) A general and automatic protocol will be developed to generate
simple treatable models of the system from an accurate atomistic description of the same system
based on computational chemistry methods. (2) A professionally-written software will be developed to
study the quantum dynamics of model Hamiltonians for excitons in molecular aggregates. This
software will incorporate different methodologies and will be designed to be usable also by nonspecialists in the theory of quantum open systems (e.g. spectroscopists, computational chemists). (3) A
broad number of problems will be studied with this methodology including (i) exciton dynamics in light
harvesting complexes and artificial proteins and (ii) exciton dynamics in molecular aggregates of
relevance for organic electronics devices.
End Date:
31/3/2019
Project ID:
638258
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NanoChemBioVision
Evaluation Panel:
Chemical Sciences
Dr. Sumeet Mahajan
s.mahajan@soton.ac.uk
Next Generation Label-free Chemical Nanoscopy for Biomedical Applications
Imagine if one could simply use an optical microscope and see whether a particular virus has infected a
biological specimen or not! Or if a single disease causing molecular structure could be detected, 20
years before the disease manifests itself! Conventional microscopy simply does not have such spatial
resolution! The challenge is to image endogenous molecules and structures composed of them
specifically, in real-time, without tampering and sample destruction. Non-Linear optical techniques
such as vibrational sum frequency generation (vSFG) and coherent Raman scattering (CRS), which use
the intrinsic properties of molecules for selectively imaging them, provide a solution. They are noninvasive, label-free, chemically selective and non-destructive with capability for video-rate imaging of
biomolecules and biochemical structures. However, they need to overcome the frontier of spatial
resolution to be able to provide information at <100 nm level, which is much below the limit for these
techniques and conventional microscopy. The proposal addresses this challenge by developing and
implementing a generic, simple optical ultra-high resolution technology using a novel approach based
on super-oscillatory modulation of light coupled with wavelength mixing. We will uniquely apply this
approach to the chemically selective vSFG and CRS techniques. Ultra-high spatial resolution with these
techniques will allow unprecedented new insight into many biochemical phenomena. To demonstrate
the utility of ‘chemical nanoscopy’ developed in this proposal vesicular transport in axons of neurons
will be studied, which is highly relevant to cognitive decline observed in ageing and neurodegenerative
disorders. The project outcomes have the potential to revolutionize research and biomedical
understanding by opening doors to ‘unseen biology’, unravelling disease, viral infection and allergy
mechanisms and ultimately, yielding better diagnostics and therapeutics.
End Date:
31/3/2020
Project ID:
638278
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SUPERFOAM
Evaluation Panel:
Chemical Sciences
Dr. Björn Braunschweig
bjoern.braunschweig@lfg.fau.de
FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITAET ERLANGEN NUERNBERG, ERLANGEN,
DE
www.uni-erlangen.de
Structure-Property Relations in Aqueous Foam and Their Control on a Molecular Level
Foams are of enormous importance as we find them in many technological relevant applications and
food products. Foams as hierarchical materials are dominated by the arrangement and distri-bution of
gas bubbles on a macroscopic scale, as well as by thickness and composition of lamella on a
mesoscopic scale. Liquid-gas interfaces are, however, the building block of foam with over-whelming
importance as their molecular properties easily dominate hierarchical elements on larger length scales.
In order to formulate foam with specific properties, its structure must be controlled at the molecular
level of a liquid-gas interface. Here, the molecular composition, molecular order and interactions such
as electrostatics dominate, and thus must be addressed with molecular level probes that can provide
access to both interfacial solvent and solute molecules. Specifically, mo-lecular structures of aqueous
interfaces can be modified by adding different mixtures of surface active molecules such as proteins,
surfactants and polyelectrolytes, and by adjusting electrolyte properties. This is achieved by varying
pH, introducing ions at different ionic strengths as well as by changing viscosities. Such model systems
will be characterized with nonlinear optical spectroscopy amongst other surface sensitive probes. The
gained information will be used to deduce properties of structures on larger length scales such as
lamella, bubbles in a bulk liquid - as a precursor of foam - and finally macroscopic foam. For each
length scale, experiments will be performed to gain access to molecular buildings blocks at liquid-gas
interfaces and their effects on other hierarchical elements. These experiments thus provide essential
information on foam stability and bubble coalescence, they can be used to verify structure-property
relationships and to advance our understanding of foam on a molecular basis.
End Date:
29/2/2020
Project ID:
648991
Acronym:
3MC
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Chemical Sciences
Prof. Petra Elisabeth de Jongh
p.e.dejongh@uu.nl
www.uu.nl
3D Model Catalysts to explore new routes to sustainable fuels
Currently fuels, plastics, and drugs are predominantly manufactured from oil. A transition towards
renewable resources critically depends on new catalysts, for instance to convert small molecules (such
as solar or biomass derived hydrogen, carbon monoxide, water and carbon dioxide) into more complex
ones (such as oxygenates, containing oxygen atoms in their structure). Catalyst development now
often depends on trial and error rather than rational design, as the heterogeneity of these composite
systems hampers detailed understanding of the role of each of the components. I propose 3D model
catalysts as a novel enabling tool to overcome this problem. Their well-defined nature allows
unprecedented precision in the variation of structural parameters (morphology, spatial distribution) of
the individual components, while at the same time they mimic real catalysts closely enough to allow
testing under industrially relevant conditions. Using this approach I will address fundamental
questions, such as:* What are the mechanisms (structural, electronic, chemical) by which non-metal
promoters influence the functionality of copper-based catalysts?* Which nanoalloys can be formed,
how does their composition influence the surface active sites and catalytic functionality under reaction
conditions?* Which size and interface effects occur, and how can we use them to tune the actitivity
and selectivity towards desired products?Our 3D model catalysts will be assembled from ordered
mesoporous silica and carbon support materials and Cu-based promoted and bimetallic nanoparticles.
The combination with high resolution characterization and testing under realistic conditions allows
detailed insight into the role of the different components; critical for the rational design of novel
catalysts for a future more sustainable production of chemicals and fuels from renewable resources.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
669723
Host Institution:
Acronym:
COMP-MICR-CROW-MEM
Evaluation Panel:
Chemical Sciences
Prof. Siewert Jan Marrink
s.j.marrink@rug.nl
RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN, GRONINGEN, NL
www.rug.nl
Computational Microscopy of Crowded Membranes
Cell membranes form a highly complex and heterogeneous mixture of membrane proteins and lipids.
Understanding the protein-lipid interplay that gives rise to the lateral organisation principles of cell
membranes is essential for life and health. Thus, investigations of these crowded membranes is
emerging as a new and exceptionally exciting frontier at the crossroads of biology, life sciences,
physics, and chemistry.However, our current understanding of the detailed organisation of cellular
membranes remains rather elusive. Characterisation of the structural heterogeneity in-vivo remains
very challenging, owing to the lack of experimental methods suitable for studying these fluctuating
nanoscale assemblies of lipids and proteins with the required spatio-temporal resolution. In recent
years, computer simulations have become a unique investigatory tool for understanding the driving
forces governing the lateral organisation of cellular membrane components and this “computational
microscopy” has become indispensible as a complement to traditional microscopy methods.In this ERC
project I will, using advanced computational microscopy, study the interaction of lipids and proteins in
complex, crowded, membrane patches, to enable the driving forces of membrane protein sorting and
clustering to be unravelled at conditions closely mimicking real cellular membranes. The specific
objectives are:• To develop a novel computational microscopy framework for simulating biomolecular
processes at multiple resolutions.• To use this new computational microscopy framework to
investigate the driving forces of membrane protein sorting and clustering.• To provide a molecular
view of realistic, crowded, biological membranes composed of hundreds of different lipids and
proteins.The outcomes will enable subsequent studies of many different types of cell membranes
based on forthcoming lipidomics studies and progress in structural characterisation of membrane
proteins.
End Date:
31/10/2020
Project ID:
305868
Host Institution:
Acronym:
LAB-SMART
Evaluation Panel:
PE5 - Synthetic Chemistry and
Materials
Dr. Michael Ingleson
michael.ingleson@manchester.ac.uk
THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER, MANCHESTER, UK
www.manchester.ac.uk
Lewis Acidic Borocations: improving Suzuki couplings, Material synthesis, Alkylation and Radical
Transformations
Carbon-carbon bond formation is arguably the most important reaction in synthetic chemistry,
exemplified by the award of five noble prizes. The most recent Nobel prize was awarded for the
development of palladium catalysed cross coupling, of which Suzuki cross coupling is the most widely
applied version in industry and academia and utilizes organo-boronates (RB(OR)2) as the nucleophilic
component. The aims of this project are; (i) to simplify the synthesis of organo-boron compounds that
are utilized in (a) Suzuki cross coupling and (b) as boron containing materials for organic electronic
applications. (ii) Reduce the dependency on expensive and toxic palladium by a) extending the Friedel
Crafts C-C bond forming reaction to broad scope, electrophilic trifluoromethylation and electrophilic
arylation (b) generating and applying efficient iron catalysts in an iron analogue of the Suzuki Reaction.
To achieve each of our aims we will utilise the unique properties of electrophilic borocations.
Previously we have used boro-cations that combine a coordinatively unsaturated and electrophilic
boron centre with a ‘masked’ form of a strong base to develop fundamentally new reactivity. These
borocations enabled the sequential one pot activation of a substrate by a strong Lewis acid (the borocation) and then release of the masked Lewis base for a subsequent step (e.g., deprotonation). This
concept of a boron reagent enabling sequential reactivity by subsequent dissociation of a group is a
continual theme through this proposal. This property of borocations will be combined with appropriate
leaving groups on the nucleophile to tackle the important challenges outlined above. Key to expanding
the synthetic utility is design of the borocation to enable the release not only of a neutral Lewis base
(for direct borylation, including the synthesis of RB(OR)2) but also an anionic group (for
arylation/alkenylation) or a cationic moiety (for alkylation).
End Date:
30/9/2017
Project ID:
306250
Host Institution:
Acronym:
IPES
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Dr. David Mecerreyes Molero
david.mecerreyes@ehu.es
UNIVERSIDAD DEL PAIS VASCO EHU UPV, LEIOA, ES
www.ehu.es
Innovative Polymers for Energy Storage
iPes project aims to provide adequate support to Dr. David Mecerreyes (DM) who is at the stage of
consolidating an independent research team. During his scientific career, DM has demonstrated
creative thinking and excellent capacity to carry out research and going beyond the state of the art. His
meritorious record of research, scientific publications (128 ISI articles, h index = 33), project
conception, private sector experience, networking ability (participated in 10 European collaborative
projects) and capacity for supervising and coordinating a research team are presented in detail in the
initial part of the proposal. He recently moved from the private sector to create a new research group
at the University of the Basque Country. He is now in an excellent academic position and research
environment to commit and be devoted to an ERC frontier research project. DM’s proposal passed to
the second stage in the ERC starting grant call of last year. This year the research project has been rebuilt taking into account his group directions and the detected weak points of last year’s proposal. This
is his last opportunity for participating to the ERC starting-grant call. iPes proposes an innovative
research programme at the forefront of polymer chemistry. The proposal goes in depth into the topic
of energetic polymers. iPes activities will fully develop the field of polymers for energy storage by using
an innovative macromolecular engineering approach generating the ground for future innovations. The
main S&T goal is to obtain new polymeric materials, to get an insight into their unique electronic
properties, to model the new energetic polymers and to investigate their application in innovative
battery prototypes. These technologies are currently dominated by inorganic electrode materials. iPes
aims at bringing polymer chemistry to a next level and developing basic knowledge about innovative
polymeric materials which may open up new opportunities for Energy Storage.
End Date:
30/11/2017
Project ID:
307609
Host Institution:
Acronym:
MINT
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Dr. Emilio Manuel Pérez álvarez
emilio.perez@imdea.org
FUNDACION IMDEA NANOCIENCIA, MADRID, ES
http://www.nanociencia.imdea.org/
Mechanically Interlocked Carbon Nanotubes
We present a plan to design, synthesize and exploit the properties of mechanically interlocked carbon
nanotubes (MINTs). The scientific aim of the project is to introduce the mechanical bond as a new tool
for the derivatization of carbon nanotubes. The mechanical link combines the advantages of covalent
and supramolecular modifications, namely: kinetic stability (covalent) and conserved chemical
structure (supramolecular). Besides this, its dynamic nature opens up unique opportunities for both
fundamental studies and applications. From a technological point of view, MINTs should have a
practical impact in the fields of molecular electronics and molecular machinery. A general modular
approach to MINT-based materials for photovoltaic devices and electrochemical sensors is presented.
We also expect to exploit the rigidity and low dimensionality of SWNTs to construct molecular
machines that utilize them as tracks to move across long distances, which is not possible in smallmolecule molecular machines. To achieve these goals we will exploit the PI’s expertise in the chemical
modification of carbon nanostructures, in the self-assembly of electroactive materials and in the
synthesis and characterization of mechanically interlocked molecules.
End Date:
30/9/2017
Project ID:
307784
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PHELIX
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Dr. Nathalie Helene Katsonis
n.h.katsonis@utwente.nl
UNIVERSITEIT TWENTE, ENSCHEDE, NL
www.utwente.nl
Photo-Engineered Helices in Chiral Liquid Crystals
Supramolecular helices are a striking expression of chirality which is found at every level of biological
materials, from plant cell walls to bones. Helical biomaterials formed out of equilibrium display
multiple length scales, adaptation of structure to function and responsiveness to changing
environments, a unique set of features that constitutes a fascinating source of inspiration for materials
science. However, matching the complexity of these biological architectures by rational design of
synthetic systems remains a major contemporary challenge. The aim of this project is to develop
sophisticated helical materials with responsive architectures that are of interest in optical
communication, energy management, photonic materials and mechanical actuation. The innovative
and versatile approach proposed here consists in using light i) to engineer the period, handedness and
orientation of the cholesteric helix, and ii) to stabilise the structures formed out of equilibrium by insitu formation of polymer networks. Three tasks will run concurrently: Task 1: Stimuli-responsive
infrared super-reflectors Task 2: Dynamic templates for long range ordering of nano-objects Task 3:
Photomechanical actuation of helicoids and spiral ribbons “Phelix” will yield complex systems that
reach beyond the state of the art in stimuli-responsive materials, push the frontiers of research on
supramolecular helices and shed new light on transmission of chirality across length scales. Ultimately,
the omnipresence of helical structures in nature means that biomedical applications could be
envisioned also. The proposal builds on my recent investigations on light-responsive helices in
cholesteric liquid crystals. I have demonstrated the expertise in liquid crystals, photochemistry and
microscopy required for this research and my leadership experience ensures its success.
End Date:
31/10/2017
Project ID:
335383
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NINA
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Dr. Per Daniel Eklund
perek@ifm.liu.se
LINKOPINGS UNIVERSITET, LINKOPING, SE
www.liu.se
Nitride-based nanostructured novel thermoelectric thin-film materials
My recent discovery of the anomalously high thermoelectric power factor of ScN thin films
demonstrates that unexpected thermoelectric materials can be found among the early transition-metal
and rare-earth nitrides. Corroborated by first-principles calculations, we have well-founded hypotheses
that these properties stem from nitrogen vacancies, dopants, and alloying, which introduce
controllable sharp features with a large slope at the Fermi level, causing a drastically increased Seebeck
coefficient. In-depth fundamental studies are needed to enable property tuning and materials design in
these systems, to timely exploit my discovery and break new ground.
The project concerns
fundamental, primarily experimental, studies on scandium nitride-based and related single-phase and
nanostructured films. The overall goal is to understand the complex correlations between electronic,
thermal and thermoelectric properties and structural features such as layering, orientation, epitaxy,
dopants and lattice defects. Ab initio calculations of band structures, mixing thermodynamics, and
properties are integrated with the experimental activities. Novel mechanisms are proposed for drastic
reduction of the thermal conductivity with retained high power factor. This will be realized by
intentionally introduced secondary phases and artificial nanolaminates; the layering causing
discontinuities in the phonon distribution and thus reducing thermal conductivity. My expertise in
thin-film processing and advanced materials characterization places me in a unique position to pursue
this novel high-gain approach to thermoelectrics, and an ERC starting grant will be essential in
achieving critical mass and consolidating an internationally leading research platform. The scientific
impact and vision is in pioneering an understanding of a novel class of thermoelectric materials with
potential for thermoelectric devices for widespread use in environmentally friendly energy
applications.
End Date:
30/9/2018
Project ID:
339312
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ORBITMOL
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Prof. John Paul Attfield
j.p.attfield@ed.ac.uk
www.ed.ac.uk
'Orbital molecules' - self-organised states for orbitronics
‘Orbital molecules’ are made up of coupled orbital states on several metal ions within an orbitallyordered (and sometimes also charge-ordered) solid such as a transition metal oxide. Spin-singlet
dimers (a weak metal-metal bond) are known in several materials, but recent discoveries of more
exotic species such as 18-electron heptamers in AlV2O4 and 3-atom trimerons in magnetite (Fe3O4)
have shown that a general new class of quantum electronic states that we call ‘orbital molecules’
awaits exploration. The discovery of trimerons is particularly important as it provides the solution to
the important and long-running problem of the low temperature Verwey phase of magnetite. This was
discovered in 1939 but remained contentious as the complex superstructure was unknown. The
applicant and co-workers recently used a synchrotron microcrystal technique to solve the structure.
This showed that the Verwey transition is driven by Fe2+/3+ charge ordering in a first approximation,
but with the formation of a self-organised network of trimeron orbital molecules that had not been
predicted in over 70 years of previous study. To expand the magnetite discovery into a general
breakthrough in understanding quantum matter, this project will explore chemical tuning of orbital
molecule self-organisation, discovery of novel orbital molecule orders in frustrated networks, and
investigations of trimeron glass and liquid phases in magnetite. Evidence for liquid phases is key to
possible applications. The project will develop high resolution diffraction and total scattering methods
to determine long range and local orbital molecule orders, with further characterisation from
magnetisation and conductivity measurements. Samples will be synthesised at ambient and high
pressures. This study will pioneer a new area of research in the electronic properties of solids, and may
help to underpin future post-silicon orbitronic technologies based on the creation and manipulation of
orbital states.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
340324
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NANOGRAPH@LSI
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Prof. Steven De Feyter
steven.defeyter@chem.kuleuven.be
www.kuleuven.be
Nanostructuring graphene and graphitic substrates for controlled and reproducible functionalization
Graphene is a new class of promising material with exceptional properties and thus warrants a
plethora of potential applications in various domains of science and technology. However, due to
intrinsic zero bandgap and inherently low solubility, a prerequisite for the use of graphene in several
applications is its controlled and reproducible functionalization in a nanostructured fashion. Being a
‘surface-only’ nanomaterial, its properties are extremely sensitive not only to chemical modification
but also to noncovalent interactions with simple organic molecules. A systematic knowledge base for
targeted functionalization of graphene still eludes the scientific community. The present experimental
protocols suffer from important shortcomings. Firstly, graphene functionalization occurs randomly in
solution based methods and there is scarcity of methods that can exert precise control over how and
where the reactions/interactions occur. Secondly, due to random functionalization, producing
reproducible samples of structurally uniform graphene and graphitic materials remains a major
challenge. Lastly, a molecular level understanding of the functionalization process is still lacking which
precludes systematic strategies for manipulation of graphene and graphitic materials.
NANOGRAPH@LSI aims to develop systematic experimental protocols for controlled and reproducible
(covalent, non-covalent as well as the combination of both) functionalization of graphene and graphitic
materials in a nanostructured fashion at the liquid-solid interface (LSI), along with the implementation
of new nanoscale characterisation tools, targeting a broad range of applications in the fields of
electronics, i.e. graphene bandgap engineering, sensing, and separation. Supramolecular self-assembly
of organic building blocks at the liquid-solid interface will be employed as a basic strategy. In view of
the above mentioned applications, also upscaling protocols will be developed and implemented.
End Date:
31/10/2018
Project ID:
340698
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DISORDER CONTROL
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Prof. Matthias Wuttig
wuttig@physik.rwth-aachen.de
RHEINISCH-WESTFAELISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE AACHEN, AACHEN, DE
www.rwth-aachen.de
Tuning Disorder in Chalcogenides
to realize Advanced Functional Devices
Better performance of future computers and communication equipment requires substantially higher
speeds of switching devices at lower energy consumption. Those requirements can only be achieved by
substantial improvement of the transport properties of the materials employed. The transport of
charge and heat is strongly influenced by disorder. In recent years we have found a unique class of
crystalline materials which combines an exceptionally high, yet tuneable degree of disorder with
remarkable transport properties. This class includes the best phase change materials, superconductors
with an unconventional coupling mechanism, good thermoelectrics, as well as known topological
insulators. For these different phenomena disorder is either very beneficial or – if unconditioned rather detrimental. Hence we need to be able to control disorder in these materials to tailor their
properties. Exploring this concept requires the ability to understand, eliminate or harness the effects of
disorder. Recently we have demonstrated an Anderson-type transition from insulating to metallic
behaviour upon annealing. However, to fully utilize these ideas it is mandatory to realize devices with a
more directly controllable degree of disorder. Within the framework of this project, we will develop a
tuneable Anderson insulator to delocalize charge carriers. This allows us to address a) the transition
from an insulator to a metal, the impact of disorder on superconductors (b) and topological insulators
(c) and finally d) the ability to control thermoelectric properties by tuneable electronic disorder. From
the results to be obtained we expect consequences for a wide range of materials listed in our “treasure
map”, with promising new technological applications in various devices.
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
614897
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TRANS-NANO
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Prof. Liberato Manna
liberato.manna@iit.it
FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA, GENOVA, IT
www.iit.it
Advancing the Study of Chemical, Structural and Surface Transformations in Colloidal Nanocrystals
Colloidal inorganic nanocrystals (NCs) are among the most investigated nanomaterials in Nanoscience
due to their high versatility. Research on NCs went through much advancement lately, especially on
synthesis, assembly and on the study of their transformations, most notably via cation exchange (all
fields in which the PI has contributed already). However, the integration of NCs with fabrication tools
that employ conditions such as irradiation, etching and annealing is at a very early stage since we do
not have a systematic knowledge of what transformations are triggered in the NCs under those
conditions. Also, an issue related to the incorporation of NCs in materials/devices is whether, over
time, the NCs will remain as they are, or they will transform into other structures. Plus, these
transformations in NCs are poorly studied as they require fast recording techniques. This proposal will
embark on an ambitious investigation of post-synthetic transformations in solution-grown NCs: by
advancing the understanding of various aspects of chemical, structural and surface transformation of
NCs, we will uncover new fabrication techniques that will employ such nanostructures as the key
ingredients. This in turn will have a strong impact in opto-electronics, as several electronic components
entirely made of NCs will be delivered. Four objectives are targeted: i) developing radically new sets of
experimental tools for the investigation of chemical transformations in NCs, above all the ability to
monitor in real time these transformations; ii) developing solution-grown nanostructures able to
undergo programmed transformations under a defined stimulus; iii) understanding the role of
irradiation on the fate of surface ligands and on cation exchange reactions in NCs; iv) combining
chemical, structural and surface transformations towards NC-based opto-electronics. The success of
the proposal hinges on the proven capabilities of the PI, with ample support from the host Institution.
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
615653
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SYNMICS
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Prof. Martin Albrecht
martin.albrecht@dcb.unibe.ch
UNIVERSITAET BERN, BERN, CH
http://www.unibe.ch
Exploiting Synergistic Properties of Mesoionic Carbene Complexes: Teaching Rusty Metals
Challenging Catalysis
The non-innocence of specific ligands in transition metal complexes is well-documented. For example,
mesoionic carbenes engage in bond activation processes via reversible hydrogen capture. Such
cooperativity between the metal center and the ligand flattens the potential energy surface of a
catalytic reaction and hence rises the competence of the catalyst, thus entailing higher turnover
numbers as well as the conversion of more challenging substrates. Likewise, such cooperativity is
expected to enhance the catalytic activity of metal centers that are typically not considered to be
catalytically very active, such as the ‘rusty’ first row transition metals (Mn, Fe, Ni). Surprisingly,
however, this concept has largely been overlooked when designing catalytic transformations based on
these earth-abundant and low-cost transition metals. This project will exploit the synergistic potential
of mesoionic carbenes as synthetically highly versatile and actively supporting ligands to access a new
generation of sustainable high-performance catalysts based on Me, Fe, and Ni for challenging redox
transformations such as dehydrogenative oxidations. Specificlly, 1,2,3-triazolylidenes, which support
ligand-metal cooperativity through their mesoionic character, will be utilized for (transient)
storage/release of protons and electrons. Apart from enabling challenging transformations — with
obvious impact on synthetic methodology, energy conversion, and molecular electronics — this project
will break into new grounds in catalyst design that will be widely applicable as a new paradigm.
Furthermore, this project will capitalize on the unique synthetic versatility of triazolylidene precursors
and the opportunity to combine different functional entities such as carbohydrates, surfactants, or
dyes with an organometallic entity, thus providing a straightforward approach to new classes of
multifunctional materials for application in therapeutics and diagnostics, or as smart surfaces.
End Date:
31/1/2020
Project ID:
635928
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PRISM
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Dr. Ilja Karina Voets
i.voets@tue.nl
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN, EINDHOVEN, NL
www.tue.nl
Ice-binding proteins: from antifreeze mechanism to resistant soft materials
Crystallization of water into ice is lethal to most organisms and detrimental to many soft materials.
Freeze-tolerant fish living in polar seas evolved to tackle this problem with an unusual coping strategy.
They produce ‘antifreeze’ proteins that block the growth of nascent ice crystals within a narrow
temperature range known as the ‘thermal hysteresis gap’ enabling survival under extreme conditions.
Encoding this functionality into synthetic polymers would open up new avenues in biomedicine,
agrifood and materials science for e.g. cryopreservation, crop hardiness, ice-templating, dispersion
stability, and advanced coatings. Progress requires a profound understanding of the mechanism of
non-colligative freezing point depression at the molecular level and allows for efficient strategies for
the design and preparation of powerful macromolecular antifreezes.I propose to unravel how
antifreeze proteins work and to build upon these insights to explore effective routes towards icebinding polymers aiming to make sensitive soft materials freeze-resistant. Within this challenge we first
focus on single-molecule experiments to visualize bound proteins and study the strength of the noncovalent interaction with ice. We will study if and when adsorption on ‘foreign’ interfaces and solution
assembly impact activity. These fundamental insights will guide our research towards synthetic
antifreeze agents with superior functionality to achieve record supercooling in complex environments.
This knowledge-based design of polymers with high affinity for crystalline interfaces holds great
promise for many areas of science and technology in which crystallization plays a decisive role.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
637313
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ENTANGLED-TM-ALKANE
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Dr. Adrian Benjamin Chaplin
a.b.chaplin@warwick.ac.uk
www.warwick.ac.uk
Entangled pincer ligand architectures and their application in the transition-metal-mediated
activation of alkanes
The selective transformation of alkanes is an area of contemporary importance with wide-ranging
implications for organic synthesis and the effective use of petroleum resources. While homogeneous
transition metal catalysis is a potentially powerful means for achieving this objective, the fundamental
organometallic chemistry of alkane activation reactions has proven to be exceedingly difficult to
investigate due to the weakly interacting nature of alkanes. To address this knowledge gap and provide
the foundation for future advancement of the field, ENTANGLED-TM-ALKANE outlines a systematic
approach for the study of pivotal sigma–alkane complex intermediates; nominally transient and
extremely reactive metal-alkane adducts formed through coordination of an intact C–H bond to the
metal centre. Inspired from supramolecular chemistry, the approach involves the innovative use of
systems containing alkane substrates held in close proximity to reactive metal centres through
mechanical entanglement within supporting tridentate macrocyclic ‘pincer’ ligands (i.e. alkane based
[2]rotaxanes and [2]catenanes). Through the interwoven topology of these systems, problematic
dissociation reactions of sigma–alkane complexes will be circumvented, facilitating isolation and
ultimately enabling their structure and reaction chemistry to be probed in much greater detail than has
been previously possible. The project objectives are to: (a) develop and use new synthetic
(supramolecular) methodologies for the preparation of these mechanically interlocked metal-alkane
assemblies; (b) systematically investigate the organometallic chemistry of the metal centre and its
interaction with the entangled alkane; and through variation of the macromolecules’ components
(macrocycle donors and geometry, alkane, metal), (c) compile a definitive and unprecedented body of
qualitative and quantitative structure-activity relationships for the activation alkanes using transition
metals.
End Date:
31/3/2020
Project ID:
639005
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Crosstag
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Dr. Sander van Kasteren
s.i.van.kasteren@chem.leidenuniv.nl
Unravelling cross-presentation pathways using a chemical biology approach
Immune therapies are therefore currently being pursued to reinvigorate the immune reaction against
tumours. This is not trivial, as the right type of immune cells must be activated against a tumourspecific antigen. One method to achieve this is by targeting tumour antigens to certain crosspresentation-promoting receptors on antigen presenting cells. The most intriguing of these is the
mannose receptor (MR) as the method by which it does this is unknown. This glycoprotein-binding
receptor appears to have two functions on APCs: general uptake-enhancement and, in certain isolated
cases, cross-presentation-enhancment. What ligand parameters are important in causing crosspresentation enhancement is not known. Current tools, such as anti-MR antibodies and randomly
glycosylated ligands fail to selectively enhance cross-presentation. The main aim of this proposal is to
determine what structural parameters of the glycoprotein antigen result in enhanced crosspresentation upon MR-ligation. I will synthesise a library of biologically traceable single glycoform
ligands - with controlled variation in glycan nature, stoichiometry and positioning - for the MR and
study differences in uptake, routing and antigen presentation. A 2nd aim is to uncover what happens
to the antigen after uptake by the MR. I.e. whether changes in antigen routing and proteolysis are
responsible for enhanced cross presentation of different glycoforms. A 3rd aim is to develop a new
method to study the kinetics of surface appearance of epitopes without T-cell reagents to quantify
differences between glycoforms. With this approach I aim to gain new insight into methods for
enhancing cross-presentation resulting in improved immune therapies against cancer. My background
in carbohydrate and protein modification chemistry will provide the toolkit to synthesise the relevant
reagents and my background in immunology will ensure the successful immunological validation of the
synthetic single glycoforms.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
640003
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NEURAMORPH
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Dr. Martin Stefan Salinga
martin.salinga@physik.rwth-aachen.de
RHEINISCH-WESTFAELISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE AACHEN, AACHEN, DE
www.rwth-aachen.de
Dynamics of Amorphous Semiconductors: Intrinsic Nature and Application in Neuromorphic
Hardware
After decades of perfecting the established way of computing, it is now evident that the fundamental
logic of today’s computers will prevent them from ever reaching the efficiency of neural networks as
found in nature. Neuromorphic hardware promises a leap forward by following the inherent working
principles of biological neural networks. In very-large-scale integrated neuromorphic circuits
incorporating an immense number of artificial neurons, the even much larger number of synapses
poses the challenge of imitating especially the synaptic functionality in a most compact way. Over the
last years, various memristive devices have been proposed to represent the weight of a synapse,
determining how well electrical spikes are transmitted from one neuron to another. Existing attempts
to achieve spike-timing-dependent plasticity, however, possess inherent problems. The NEURAMORPH
project aims to develop a simple and compact circuit element to regulate the access to the memristive
device for weight modifications. The dynamics of electrical excitability intrinsic to the employed
amorphous semiconductors will naturally be able to mimic spike-timing-dependent plasticity. For full
control over the properties of these synaptic access elements, a fundamental understanding of the
relaxation processes in such amorphous materials is imperative. To this end, amorphization conditions
will be systematically varied over a wide-range to create very distinct amorphous states. As a measure
for relaxation the temporal evolution of their electrical properties will then be investigated. Based on
experimental results for a variety of materials, molecular dynamics simulations will be employed to
elucidate the relationship between elemental composition, structural dynamics and changing electrical
excitability. Finally, as proof of concept, a prototype of a neuromorphic chip will be developed
incorporating the new kind of synaptic device.
End Date:
30/9/2020
Project ID:
646740
Acronym:
RadMag
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Dr. Richard Alan Layfield
richard.layfield@manchester.ac.uk
THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER, MANCHESTER, UK
www.manchester.ac.uk
Radical Solutions for Hysteresis in Single-Molecule Magnets
Single-molecule magnets (SMMs) display magnetic hysteresis that is molecular in origin, and these
materials have huge potential to be developed as nano-scale devices. The big challenge is to create
SMMs that function without the need for liquid-helium cooling.This project will develop new SMMs
that combine the strong magnetic anisotropy of lanthanide ions with a series of novel radical ligands.
Our innovative SMMs will have controllable molecular and electronic structures, which will ultimately
enable hysteresis at unprecedented temperatures.Highly unusual di- and tri-metallic Ln-SMMs are
proposed in which the metals are bridged by radicals with heavy Group 15 (phosphorus-bismuth) and
Group 16 (sulphur-tellurium) donor atoms. Trimetallic SMMs will also be based on
hexaazatriphenylene (HAT) radicals, and dimetallic SMMs will also be based on nindigo radicals, both of
which are nitrogen-donor ligands.The SMM field is dominated by systems with diamagnetic ligands.
Our radical ligands have never been used in SMM studies: their diffuse unpaired spin provides a way of
switching off the quantum tunnelling mechanisms that otherwise prevent hysteresis. We will exploit
the rich electrochemistry of the target ligands: heavy p-block radicals have huge spin densities on the
donor atoms; HAT radicals can have up to three unpaired electrons; reduced or oxidized nindigo
radicals allow access to redox-switchable SMMs. In the HAT-bridged SMMs, the use of ligands with
more than one unpaired electron is unprecedented. The heavy p-block ligands are themselves are
novel.The PI’s approach to SMMs has already established new directions in lanthanide chemistry and in
molecular magnetism. He now proposes a new, radical approach to SMMs with potential to re-define
the state of the art, and to extend the frontiers of a vibrant multi-disciplinary field. Achieving the aims
will provide a major step towards using SMMs for applications at practical temperatures.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
646747
Host Institution:
Acronym:
N2FEED
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Prof. Sven Schneider
sven.schneider@chemie.uni-goettingen.de
GEORG-AUGUST-UNIVERSITAET GOETTINGEN STIFTUNG OEFFENTLICHEN
RECHTS, GOETTINGEN, DE
http://www.uni-goettingen.de
N2 as Chemical Feedstock – Synthetic Nitrogen Fixation beyond Haber-Bosch
The chemical transformation of dinitrogen is one of the most important industrial processes. Thereby
produced ammonia serves as nitrogen source for almost any synthetic nitrogen containing compound,
such as fertilizers or many polymers and pharmaceuticals. However, despite forcing conditions
associated with high energy consumption, the Haber-Bosch process gives low yields in NH3. Hence,
homogeneous, bioinspired nitrogen fixation is a longstanding goal, yet with very limited success. In this
proposal, we strive to circumvent the Haber-Bosch process for the synthesis of N-containing chemicals
by direct N2 functionalization upon initial splitting into molecular nitrides at ambient conditions and
subsequent C–N bond formation. Catalytic platforms will be developed based on late, electron rich
transition metal complexes with functional pincer ligands, which represents a fundamentally new
approach for this purpose. The overall N2 functionalization effort will be broken down into three
elementary steps, i.e. N2 splitting, de-/hydrogenation of metal bound N-species, and C–N bond
formation. These subprojects are examined individually with a combination of modern synthetic,
physical inorganic, and computational methods. These results will finally enable the rational design of
homogeneous catalysts. Hence, besides the primary goal to directly use N2 as chemical feedstock this
project will also serve the secondary objectives of making important contributions to related timely
and challenging topics, such as C–N coupling by nitrenoid transfer or the use of nitrogen compounds,
especially ammonia, as chemical fuels in energy storage applications. The previous record of my group
in the chemistry of electron-rich transition metal complexes with functional pincer ligands, N2
splitting/coupling, and the activation of other N-containing small-molecules provide a strong basis for
the feasibility of these challenging goals.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
647106
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TUSUPO
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Prof. Sebastien Perrier
s.perrier@warwick.ac.uk
www.warwick.ac.uk
Tubular Supramolecular Polymers: A new class of therapeutic polymers
This research programme will establish a new class of materials and develop them into functional
devices for biomedical applications. We will design tubular supramolecular polymers, supramolecular
polymer brushes (SPBs), based on the self-assembly of cyclic peptide – polymer conjugates. The
synergy between the cyclic peptide, which directs the formation of the SPBs and the polymer
conjugate, which provides functionality, will open the route to a wealth of new functional structures.
We will build on our initial work and expand our research to generate new synthetic routes for the
ligation of polymers to peptides, develop new protocols for the characterisation of the materials, and
establish the mechanism of supramolecular polymerisation. This research programme will open new
horizons in the fundamental understanding and production of supramolecular polymers. In particular,
beyond the generation of new materials, the functionality of these systems may allow the
development of supramolecular living polymers, a long-standing goal in polymer chemistry that is still
elusive. The functionality and versatility of the SPBs obtained in this work open the route to a wealth of
applications, and we will focus on one specific target: the fabrication of drug delivery vectors. We will
exploit the unique combination of features presented by this new class of polymer therapeutics, such
as multiple attachment points for one or more drug(s) / targeting ligands / markers, the ability to selfdisassemble into smaller and easy-to-excrete components, and an elongated shape that enables
diffusion and interaction with cells more efficiently than traditional globular delivery systems. We will
study the pharmacology properties of the SPBs, including their stability, toxicity, mode of cell
penetration and ability to deliver a single or a combination of bioactive agent(s) (in the case of
concerted mechanisms).
End Date:
30/6/2020
Project ID:
647281
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SOLACYLIN
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Prof. Julien Bachmann
julien.bachmann@fau.de
FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITAET ERLANGEN NUERNBERG, ERLANGEN,
DE
www.uni-erlangen.de
A preparative approach to geometric effects in innovative solar cell types based on a nanocylindrical
structure
The ERC Consolidator Grant project SOLACYLIN aims at providing experimental insight into the function
of 'third-generation' photovoltaic systems by generating materials stacks structured in a well-defined,
accurately tunable, nanocylindrical geometry. To this goal, we will develop and exploit advanced
preparative methods based on two fundamental ingredients: (a) ordered 'anodic' porous oxides and (b)
atomic layer deposition (ALD). The former solids will be generated as templates providing ordered
arrays of straight, cyclindrical pores, the diameter and length of which can be varied between 20 nm
and 300 nm and between 0.5 microns and 50 microns, respectively. The latter method will be used to
coat the inner pore walls with one or several layers of the photovoltaic stack, each with a thickness set
to values chosen between 1 nm and 30 nm. We will invent and characterize novel surface reaction
schemes for the deposition in ALD mode (from the gas phase and from solutions) of functional
materials (doped semiconductors and intrinsic light absorbers) with tailored chemical and physical
properties. We will investigate the experimental conditions in which they can be combined in a way
that optimizes the quality of their interfaces. Finally, we will quantify the electrical and photovoltaic
performance of p-i-n junctions prepared with our methods. We will have the unique capability of
describing in a systematic, accurate manner how the experimental photovoltaic parameters depend on
the individual thicknesses of the individual layers and on the length of the cylinders. This direct
experimental handle on the amount of light absorbed, on the one hand, and the charge carrier
transport distances to the electrical contacts, on the other hand, will be correlated with the relevant
material parameters (absorption coefficients, carrier mobilities). This information will unveil the
phenomena limiting the efficiency of each type of solar cell, and suggest avenues to remedy them.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
647719
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Supramol
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Prof. Wolfgang Schmitt
schmittw@tcd.ie
www.tcd.ie
Towards Artificial Enzymes: Bio-inspired Oxidations in Photoactive Metal-Organic Frameworks
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are key compounds related to energy storage and conversion, as
their unprecedented surface areas make them promising materials for gas storage and catalysis
purposes. We believe that their modular construction principles allow the replication of key features of
natural enzymes thus demonstrating how cavity size, shape, charge and functional group availability
influence the performances in catalytic reactions. This proposal addresses the question of how such
novel, bio-inspired metallo-supramolecular systems can be prepared and exploited for sustainable
energy applications. A scientific breakthrough that demonstrates the efficient conversion of light into
chemical energy would be one of the greatest scientific achievements with unprecedented impact to
future generations. We focus on the following key aspects:a) MOFs containing novel, catalytically
active complexes with labile coordination sites will be synthesised using rigid organic ligands that allow
us to control the topologies, cavity sizes and surface areas. We will incorporate photosensitizers to
develop robust porous MOFs in which light-absorption initiates electron-transfer events that lead to
the activation of a catalytic centre. In addition, photoactive molecules will serve as addressable ligands
whereby reversible, photo-induced structural transformations impose changes to porosity and
chemical attributes at the active sites. b) Catalytic studies will focus on important oxidations of alkenes
and alcohols. These reactions are relevant to H2-based energy concepts as the anodic liberation of
protons and electrons can be coupled to their cathodic recombination to produce H2. The studies will
provide proof-of-concept for the development of photocatalytic systems for the highly endergonic H2O
oxidation reaction that will be explored using most stable MOFs. Further, gas storage and magnetic
properties that may also be influenced by light-irradiation will be analysed.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
648283
Host Institution:
Acronym:
GROWMOF
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Prof. Tina Düren
t.duren@bath.ac.uk
UNIVERSITY OF BATH, BATH, UK
http://www.bath.ac.uk/
Modelling of MOF self-assembly, crystal growth and thin film formation
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) constitute one of the most exciting developments in recent
nanoporous material science. Synthesised in a self-assembly process from metal corners and organic
linkers, a near infinite number of materials can be created by combining different building blocks
allowing to fine tune host guest interactions. MOFs are therefore considered promising materials for
many applications such as gas separation, drug delivery or sensors for which MOFs in form of
nanoparticles, composite materials or thin films are required. For MOFs to realise their potential and to
become more than just promising materials, a degree of predictability in the synthesis and the
properties of the resulting material is paramount and the full multiscale pathway from molecular
assembly to crystal growth and thin film formation needs to be better understood.Molecular
simulation has greatly contributed to developing adsorption applications of MOFs and now works
hand-in-hand with experimental methods to characterise MOFs, predict their performance and study
molecular level phenomena. In contrast, hardly any simulation studies exist about the formation of
MOFs, their crystal growth or the formation of thin films. Yet such studies are essential for
understanding the fundamentals which will ultimately lead to a better control of the material
properties. Building on my expertise in molecular modelling including the development of methods to
model the synthesis of porous solids, we will develop new methods to study: 1. the self-assembly
process of MOFs under synthesis conditions 2. the formation of nanoparticles 3. the integration of
MOF nanoparticles into composite materials and the self-assembly into extended structures 4. the
layer-by-layer growth of thin films At the end of the project we will have transformed our
understanding of how MOFs form at a variety of length scales and opened up new research directions
for the targeted synthesis of MOFs fit for applications.
End Date:
31/7/2020
Project ID:
669054
Host Institution:
Acronym:
multiBB
Evaluation Panel:
Materials
Prof. Holger Braunschweig
h.braunschweig@uni-wuerzburg.de
JULIUS-MAXIMILIANS UNIVERSITAET WUERZBURG, WUERZBURG, DE
http://www.uni-wuerzburg.de
Boron-boron multiple bonding
Multiple bonding between atoms is immensely important to chemistry, biology, physics and their
associated industries; multiple bonds are both ubiquitous in everyday products and extremely useful
functionalities for effecting chemical transformations. While very common with the elements carbon,
nitrogen and oxygen, multiple bonding is in comparison extremely rare with other elements. Multiple
bonding between heavier elements of the main group of the periodic table becomes less favourable
the heavier the element becomes. However, this does not explain the relative paucity of multiple
bonding with boron, which is immediately to carbon's left on the periodic table. In particular, isolable,
stable compounds containing multiple bonds between two boron atoms are extremely rare, and until
2007 only a handful of charged examples existed.A revolution in this field has recently been witnessed
with the syntheses of the first neutral compounds with boron-boron double bonds, diborenes, and the
first compounds with boron-boron triple bonds, diborynes. The first neutral diborenes were prepared
in 2007, however, we have recently developed a number of rational, selective and more general routes
to these compounds. The first diboryne compounds were prepared by our group in 2012. The
significance of these two families of molecules is not only their unusual multiple bonding but also the
extremely high electron density on the boron atoms, an unusual situation for an element that is known
for its electron-poor character. This high electron density leads to strong boron-based nucleophilicity
and extremely high reduction potentials – both highly novel phenomena.This proposal aims to: (A)
comprehensively explore the syntheses of these unique compounds and the limits thereof, and to (B)
exploit the unusual reactivity of these electron-rich boron molecules in synthesis, small-molecule
activation and materials science.
End Date:
30/4/2021
Project ID:
306337
Host Institution:
Acronym:
IP4EC
Evaluation Panel:
PE6 - Computer Science and
Informatics
Dr. Marcelo Bertalmío Barate
marcelo.bertalmio@upf.edu
UNIVERSITAT POMPEU FABRA, BARCELONA, ES
https://www.upf.edu
Image processing for enhanced cinematography
The objective is to develop image processing algorithms for cinema that allow people watching a movie
on a screen to see the same details and colors as people at the shooting location can. It is due to
camera and display limitations that the shooting location and the images on the screen are perceived
very differently. We want to be able to use common cameras and displays (as opposed to highly
expensive hardware systems) and work solely on processing the video so that our perception of the
scene and of the images on the screen match, without having to add artifical lights when shooting or to
manually correct the colors to adapt to a particular display device. Given that in terms of sensing
capabilities cameras are in most regards better than human photoreceptors, the superiority of human
vision over camera systems lies in the better processing which is carried out in the retina and visual
cortex. Therefore, rather than working on the hardware, improving lenses and sensors, we will instead
use, whenever possible, existing knowledge on visual neuroscience and models on visual perception to
develop software methods mimicking neural processes in the human visual system, and apply these
methods to images captured with a regular camera. From a technological standpoint, reaching our
goal will be a remarkable achievement which will impact how movies are made (in less time, with less
equipment, with smaller crews, with more artistic freedom) but also which movies are made (since
good-visual-quality productions will become more affordable.) We also anticipate a considerable
technological impact in the realm of consumer video. From a scientific standpoint, this will imply
finding solutions for several challenging open problems in image processing and computer vision, but it
also has a strong potential to bring methodological advances to other domains like experimental
psychology and visual neuroscience.
End Date:
30/9/2017
Project ID:
306994
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SEEVS
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Dr. Feng Hao
feng.hao@ncl.ac.uk
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, NEWCASTLE, UK
www.newcastle.ac.uk
Self-Enforcing E-Voting System: Trustworthy Election in Presence of Corrupt Authorities
This project aims to develop a new generation of e-voting called the “self-enforcing e-voting system”.
The new system does not depend on any trusted authorities, which is different from all currently
existing or proposed e-voting schemes. This has several compelling advantages. First, voting security
will be significantly improved. Second, the democratic process will be enforced as a whole. Third, the
election management will be dramatically simplified. Fourth, the tallying process will become much
faster. The idea of a “self-enforcing” e-voting system has so far received little attention. Although
several researchers have attempted to build such a system in the past decade, none were successful
due to inefficiencies in computation, bandwidth and the number of rounds. My preliminary
investigation indicates that a "self-enforcing e-voting system" is not only practically feasible, but has
the potential to be the future of e-voting technology. I have identify several major research problems
in the field, which need to be addressed urgently before a self-enforcing e-voting system can finally
become viable for practical use. The problems span three disciplines: security, dependability and
usability. My main hypothesis is: “a secure, dependable and usable self-enforcing e-voting system will
trigger a paradigm shift in voting technology”. I believe e-voting has great potential that has yet to be
exploited, and this project is to develop that potential to the full. The work program involves six work
packages: 1) to develop supportive security primitives to lay foundation for future e-voting; 2) to
research the impact of “self-enforcing” requirement on dependability; 3) to develop assistive
technologies to improve the usability in voting; 4) to design system architectures suitable for different
election scenarios; 5) to build open source prototypes; 6) to conduct real-world trial elections and
evaluate the full technical, social, economic and political impacts.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
307483
Host Institution:
Acronym:
FLEXABLE
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Prof. Adrien Bartoli
adrien.bartoli@gmail.com
UNIVERSITE D'AUVERGNE CLERMONT-FERRAND 1, CLERMONT-FERRAND, FR
www.u-clermont1.fr
Deformable Multiple-View Geometry and 3D Reconstruction, with Application to Minimally Invasive
Surgery
Project FLEXABLE lies in the field of 3D Computer Vision, which seeks to recover depth or the 3D shape
of the observed environment from images. One of the most successful and mature techniques in 3D
Computer Vision is Shape-from-Motion which is based on the well-established theory of Multiple-View
Geometry. This uses multiple images and assumes that the environment is rigid. The world is however
made of objects which move and undergo deformations. Researchers have tried to extend Shape-fromMotion to a deformable environment for about a decade, yet with only very limited success to date.
We believe that there are two main reasons for this. Firstly there is still a lack of a solid theory for
Deformable Shape-from-Motion. Fundamental questions, such as what kinds of deformation can
facilitate unambiguous 3D reconstruction, are not yet answered. Secondly practical solutions have not
yet come about: for accurate and dense 3D shape results, the Motion cue must be combined with
other visual cues, since it is certainly weaker in the deformable case. It may require strong objectspecific priors, needing one to bridge the gap with object recognition. This project develops these two
key areas. It includes three main lines of research: theory, its computational implementation, and its
real-world application. Deformable Multiple-View Geometry will generalize the existing rigid theory
and will provide researchers with a rigorous mathematical framework that underpins the use of
Motion as a proper visual cue for Deformable 3D Reconstruction. Our theory will require us to
introduce new mathematical tools from differentiable projective manifolds. Our implementation will
study and develop new computational means for solving the difficult inverse problems formulated in
our theory. Finally, we will develop cutting-edge applications of our framework specific to Minimally
Invasive Surgery, for which there is a very high need for 3D computer vision.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
308036
Acronym:
L3VISU
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Dr. Christoph Lampert
christoph.lampert@ist.ac.at
Institute of Science and Technology Austria, KLOSTERNEUBURG, AT
www.ist.ac.at
Life Long Learning for Visual Scene Understanding (L3ViSU)
My goal in the project is to develop and analyze algorithms that use continuous, open-ended machine
learning from visual input data (images and videos) in order to interpret visual scenes on a level
comparable to humans. L3ViSU is based on the hypothesis that we can only significantly improve the
state of the art in computer vision algorithms by giving them access to background and contextual
knowledge about the visual world, and that the most feasible way to obtain such knowledge is by
extracting it (semi-) automatically from incoming visual stimuli. Consequently, at the core of L3ViSU lies
the idea of life-long visual learning. Sufficient data for such an effort is readily available, e.g. through
digital TV-channels and media- sharing Internet platforms, but the question of how to use these
resources for building better computer vision systems is wide open. In L3ViSU we will rely on modern
machine learning concepts, representing task-independent prior knowledge as prior distributions and
function regularizers. This functional form allows them to help solving specific tasks by guiding the
solution to "reasonable" ones, and to suppress mistakes that violate "common sense". The result will
not only be improved prediction quality, but also a reduction in the amount of manual supervision
necessary, and the possibility to introduce more semantics into computer vision, which has recently
been identified as one of the major tasks for the next decade. L3ViSU is a project on the interface
between computer vision and machine learning. Solving it requires expertise in both areas, as it is
represented in my research group at IST Austria. The life-long learning concepts developed within
L3ViSU, however, will have impact outside of both areas, let it be as basis of life-long learning system
with a different focus, such as in bioinformatics, or as a foundation for projects of commercial value,
such as more intelligent driver assistance or video surveillance systems.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
637640
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ImmRisk
Evaluation Panel:
Biology
Prof. Lude Hendrikus Franke
lude@ludesign.nl
ACADEMISCH ZIEKENHUIS GRONINGEN, GRONINGEN, NL
www.umcg.nl
Defining how environmental factors influence downstream effects of immune-mediated disease riskSNPs
In the last few years genome-wide association studies have revealed thousands of genetic variants
associated to immune-mediated diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease. Although it
is evident that non-genetic factors can also trigger these diseases, presumably by interacting with the
risk SNPs, we do not know what these factors are or how they affect risk-SNPs.I hypothesize that
environmental factors that increase disease risk also mediate the downstream molecular effects of
disease-associated genetic variants. Since I am able to identify the downstream molecular effects of
many risk-SNPs, and can identify molecular pathways regulated by specific exogenous factors like viral,
bacterial or fungal stimuli, I now propose to combine these two approaches into a new analytical
framework that will allow me to identify some of the exogenous factors that interact with risk-SNPs
and together predispose to immune-mediated diseases.My aim is to determine how exogenous
triggers alter molecular pathways that are critical in immune-mediated diseases. For this we will
generate single-cell RNA-seq data on white blood cells from 100 individuals (~1,000 cells per person)
and conduct expression QTL analyses. We will then use this information to identify exogenous risk
factors for immune-mediated diseases by re-analysing public RNA-seq data from >20,000 samples
generated in the presence and absence of different (disease) stimuli.This project is given direction by
three developments by my research group: (1) our collection and integration of large functional
genomics datasets, (2) our ability to develop computational frameworks for identifying the
downstream consequences of SNPs using such datasets, and (3) my methodology to identify contextspecific eQTLs.This research will improve insight into the complex interplay between risk-SNPs and
exogenous factors in modulating the molecular pathways that are crucial for the development of
immune-mediated diseases.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
321162
Acronym:
HELIOS
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Prof. Philip Hilaire Sean Torr
louise.bristow@eng.ox.ac.uk
OXFORD, UK
www.ox.ac.uk
Towards Total Scene Understanding using Structured Models
This project is at the interface between computer vision and linguistics: the aim is to have an algorithm
generate relevant sentences that describe a scene given one or more images. Scene understanding has
been one of the central goals in computer vision for many decades. It involves various individual tasks,
such as object recognition, action understanding and 3D scene recovery. One simple definition of this
task is to say scene understanding is equivalent to being able to generate meaningful natural language
descriptions of a scene, an important problem in computational linguistics. Whilst even a child can do
this with ease, the solution of this fundamental problem has remained elusive. This is because there
has been a large amount of research in computer vision that is very deep, but not broad, leading to an
in depth understanding of edge and feature detectors, tracking, camera calibration, projective
geometry, segmentation, denoising, stereo methods, object detection etc. However, there has been
only a limited amount of research on a framework for integrating these functional elements into a
method for scene understanding. Within this proposal I advocate a complete view of computer vision,
in which the scene is dealt with as a whole, in which problems which are normally considered distinct
by most researchers are unified into a common cost function or energy. I will discuss the form the
energy should take and efficient algorithms for learning and inference. Our preliminary experiments
indicate that such a unified treatment will lead to a paradigm shift in computer vision with a quantum
leap in performance. We intend to build embodied demonstrators including a prosthetic vision aid to
the visually impaired. The World Health Organization gives a figure of over 300 million such people
world wide, which means that in addition to being transformative in the areas of linguistics, HCI,
robotics, and computer vision, this work will have a massive impact world wide
End Date:
31/12/2018
Project ID:
637709
Host Institution:
Acronym:
GREYZONE
Evaluation Panel:
SH2 - The Social World,
Diversity and Common Ground
Dr. Mihaela Mihai
mihaela.mihai@york.ac.uk
www.ed.ac.uk
Illuminating the 'Grey Zone': Addressing Complex Complicity in Human Rights Violations
The grey zone of bystanders, collaborators and beneficiaries of violence escapes the scope of main
Transitional Justice (TJ) institutions and poses tough questions for scholars and architects of postconflict societies. This interdisciplinary project shifts the focus of academic and political debates by
pursuing three objectives: conceptually, it departs from the dominant victim-perpetrator paradigm and
theorises the many faces in the grey zone by analysing the interplay between structure and agency;
normatively, it argues that no account of TJ is complete without engaging the grey zone; empirically, it
tests if, in tackling the grey zone, cinematographic and literary representations can supplement typical
TJ mechanisms (trials, truth commissions, lustration). Four cases are analysed: authoritarianism plus
military occupation (Vichy France), apartheid (South Africa), totalitarianism (Romania 1945–1989) and
military dictatorship (Argentina 1976–1983). The cases provide a variety of contexts of complicity and
feature the most frequently used TJ mechanisms. They serve to a) examine the relationship between
the official story emerging from state-orchestrated TJ mechanisms and artistic narratives of complicity;
b) contextually distinguish disclosive from obscuring artistic representations of the grey zone; c)
explore the contribution of these representations to TJ efforts by studying their effect on public
debates about—and institutional responses to—the past. Working at the frontiers between political
science, philosophy, history, law, literature and cinema, this pioneering project has critical and
institutional impact. Critically, it discloses the limits of current TJ theory and practice by emphasising
the negative political effects of ignoring general complicity in violence. Institutionally, it seeks to enrich
the toolkit of scholars and practitioners by pointing to the potential use of cinema and literature in civic
education aimed at deterrence and reconciliation.
End Date:
29/2/2020
Project ID:
339233
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ALEXANDRIA
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Prof. Wolfgang Nejdl
nejdl@l3s.de
GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ UNIVERSITAET HANNOVER, HANNOVER, DE
www.uni-hannover.de
Foundations for Temporal Retrieval, Exploration and Analytics in Web Archives
Significant parts of our cultural heritage are produced on the Web, yet only insufficient opportunities
exist for accessing and exploring the past of the Web. The ALEXANDRIA project aims to develop
models, tools and techniques necessary to archive and index relevant parts of the Web, and to retrieve
and explore this information in a meaningful way. While the easy accessibility to the current Web is a
good baseline, optimal access to Web archives requires new models and algorithms for retrieval,
exploration, and analytics which go far beyond what is needed to access the current state of the Web.
This includes taking into account the unique temporal dimension of Web archives, structured semantic
information already available on the Web, as well as social media and network information. Within
ALEXANDRIA, we will significantly advance semantic and time-based indexing for Web archives using
human-compiled knowledge available on the Web, to efficiently index, retrieve and explore
information about entities and events from the past. In doing so, we will focus on the concurrent
evolution of this knowledge and the Web content to be indexed, and take into account diversity and
incompleteness of this knowledge. We will further investigate mixed crowd- and machine-based Web
analytics to support long- running and collaborative retrieval and analysis processes on Web archives.
Usage of implicit human feedback will be essential to provide better indexing through insights during
the analysis process and to better focus harvesting of content. The ALEXANDRIA Testbed will provide
an important context for research, exploration and evaluation of the concepts, methods and
algorithms developed in this project, and will provide both relevant collections and algorithms that
enable further research on and practical application of our research results to existing archives like the
Internet Archive, the Internet Memory Foundation and Web archives maintained by European national
libraries.
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
340113
Host Institution:
Acronym:
VHIA
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Prof. Patrice Horaud
radu.horaud@inria.fr
INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE EN INFORMATIQUE ET EN
AUTOMATIQUE, LE CHESNAY, FR
www.inria.fr
Vision and Hearing in Action
The objective of VHIA is to elaborate a holistic computational paradigm of perception and of
perception-action loops. We plan to develop a completely novel twofold approach: (i) learn from
mappings between auditory/visual inputs and structured outputs, and from sensorimotor
contingencies, and (ii) execute perception-action interaction cycles in the real world with a humanoid
robot. VHIA will achieve a unique fine coupling between methodological findings and proof-of-concept
implementations using the
consumer humanoid NAO manufactured in Europe. The proposed
multimodal approach is in strong contrast with current computational paradigms influenced by
unimodal biological theories. These theories have hypothesized a modular view, postulating quasiindependent and parallel perceptual pathways in the brain. VHIA will also take a radically different
view than today's audiovisual fusion models that rely on clean-speech signals and on accurate frontalimages of faces; These models assume that videos and sounds are recorded with hand-held or headmounted sensors, and hence there is a human in the loop who intentionally supervises perception and
interaction. Our approach deeply contradicts the belief that complex and expensive humanoids (often
manufactured in Japan) are required to implement research ideas. VHIA's methodological program
addresses extremely difficult issues: how to build a joint audiovisual space from heterogeneous, noisy,
ambiguous and physically different visual and auditory stimuli, how to model seamless interaction,
how to deal with high-dimensional input data, and how to achieve robust and efficient humanhumanoid communication tasks through a well-thought tradeoff between offline training and online
execution. VHIA bets on the high-risk idea that in the next decades, social robots will have a
considerable economical impact, and there will be millions of humanoids, in our homes, schools and
offices, which will be able to naturally communicate with us.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
614331
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SSS
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Dr. Rasmus Pagh
pagh@itu.dk
IT University of Copenhagen, COPENHAGEN, DK
http://www.itu.dk
Scalable Similarity Search
Similarity search is the task of identifying, in a collection of items, the ones that are “similar” to a given
query item. This task has a range of important applications (e.g. in information retrieval, pattern
recognition, statistics, and machine learning) where data sets are often big, high dimensional, and
possibly noisy. State-of-the-art methods for similarity search offer only weak guarantees when faced
with big data. Either the space overhead is excessive (1000s of times larger than the space for the data
itself), or the work needed to report the similar items may be comparable to the work needed to go
through all items (even if just a tiny fraction of the items are similar). As a result, many applications
have to resort to the use of ad-hoc solutions with only weak theoretical guarantees. This proposal aims
at strengthening the theoretical foundation of scalable similarity search, and developing novel practical
similarity search methods backed by theory. In particular we will: - Leverage new types of embeddings
that are kernelized, asymmetric, and complex-valued. - Consider statistical models of noise in data,
and design similarity search data structures whose performance guarantees are phrased in statistical
terms. - Build a new theory of the communication complexity of distributed, dynamic similarity search,
emphasizing the communication bottleneck present in modern computing infrastructures. The
objective is to produce new methods for similarity search that are: 1) Provably robust, 2) scalable to
large and high-dimensional data sets, 3) substantially more resource efficient than current state-oftheart solutions, and 4) able to provide statistical guarantees on query answers. The study of similarity
search has been an incubator for techniques (e.g. locality-sensitive hashing and random projections)
that have wide-ranging applications. The new techniques developed in this project are likely to have
significant impacts beyond similarity search.
End Date:
30/4/2019
Project ID:
615074
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ERCC
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Prof. Eike Kiltz
eike.kiltz@rub.de
RUHR-UNIVERSITAET BOCHUM, BOCHUM, DE
www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Efficient Resource Constrained Cryptography
Traditionally, cryptographic protocols were run on servers or personal computers which have large and
easily scalable computational resources. For these applications there exist a large variety of wellestablished cryptographic systems. Right now, we are in the midst of the shift toward ubiquitous
computing on resource constrained devices (RCDs): small devices with severe constraints in terms of
computing power, code size, and network capacities. RCDs are used virtually everywhere: smart
phones, bank cards, electronic ID-cards, medical implants, cars, RFIDs as bar code replacement, etc.
Due to their computational constraints, many current cryptographic security solutions are no longer
applicable to RCDs. Existing solutions are often “ad-hoc” and do not come with a formal security
treatment. The central objective of the ERCC project is to initiate an overarching formal treatment of
cryptographic solutions for RCDs, particularly focusing on efficiency. The main conceptual novelty is to
follow the concept of provable security. We intend to design new cryptographic protocols that have a
mathematical proof of security (assuming the hardness of some mathematical problem) and are still
competitive with constructions currently used on RCDs. While we certainly cannot hope that all our
new provably secure constructions will be superior to existing ad-hoc constructions, recent preliminary
research results give rise to optimism. Concretely, we will base our new protocols on hard problems in
ideal and structures lattices and we will study weaker (yet still realistic) security models for RCDs
allowing for efficient instantiations.
End Date:
31/10/2019
Project ID:
617393
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CAUSALPATH
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Prof. Ioannis Tsamardinos
tsamard@csd.uoc.gr
PANEPISTIMIO KRITIS (UNIVERSITY OF CRETE), RETHYMNO, EL
www.uoc.gr
Next Generation Causal Analysis: Inspired by the Induction of Biological Pathways from Cytometry
Data
Discovering the causal mechanisms of a complex system of interacting components is necessary in
order to control it. Computational Causal Discovery (CD) is a field that offers the potential to discover
causal relations under certain conditions from observational data alone or with a limited number of
interventions/manipulations. An important, challenging biological problem that may take decades of
experimental work is the induction of biological cellular pathways; pathways are informal causal
models indispensable in biological research and drug design. Recent exciting advances in flow/mass
cytometry biotechnology allow the generation of large-sample datasets containing measurements on
single cells, thus setting the problem of pathway learning suitable for CD methods. CAUSALPATH builds
upon and further advances recent breakthrough developments in CD methods to enable the induction
of biological pathways from cytometry and other omics data. As a testbed problem we focus on the
differentiation of human T-cells; these are involved in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, as well
as cancer and thus, are targets of new drug development for a range of chronic diseases. The biological
problem acts as our campus for general novel formalisms, practical algorithms, and useful tools
development, pointing to fundamental CD problems: presence of feedback cycles, presence of latent
confounding variables, CD from time-course data, Integrative Causal Analysis (INCA) of heterogeneous
datasets and others. Three features complement CAUSALPATH’s approach: (A) methods development
will co-evolve with biological wet-lab experiments periodically testing the algorithmic postulates, (B)
Open-source tools will be developed for the non-expert, and (C) Commercial exploitation of the results
will be sought out. CAUSALPATH brings together an interdisciplinary team, committed to this vision. It
builds upon the PI’s group recent important results on INCA algorithms.
End Date:
31/12/2019
Project ID:
637277
Host Institution:
Acronym:
FLEXILOG
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Dr. Steven Schockaert
s.schockaert@cs.cardiff.ac.uk
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY, CARDIFF, UK
www.cardiff.ac.uk
Formal lexically informed logics for searching the web
Semantic search engines use structured knowledge to improve traditional web search, e.g. by directly
answering questions from users. Current approaches to semantic search rely on the unrealistic
assumption that all true facts about a given domain are explicitly stated in their knowledge base or on
the web. To reach their full potential, semantic search engines need the ability to reason about known
facts. However, existing logics cannot adequately deal with the imperfect nature of knowledge from
the web. One problem is that relevant information tends to be distributed over several heterogeneous
knowledge bases that are inconsistent with each other. Moreover, domain theories are seldom
complete, which means that a form of so-called plausible reasoning is needed. Finally, as relevant
logical theories do not exist for many domains, reasoning may need to rely on imperfect probabilistic
theories that have been learned from the web. To overcome these challenges, FLEXILOG will introduce
a family of logics for robust reasoning with messy real-world knowledge, based on vector-space
representations of natural language terms (i.e. of lexical knowledge). In particular, we will use lexical
knowledge to estimate the plausibility of logical models, using conceptual simplicity as a proxy for
plausibility (i.e. Occam’s razor). This will enable us to implement various forms of commonsense
reasoning, equipping classical logic with the ability to draw plausible conclusions based on regularities
that are observed in a knowledge base. We will then generalise our approach to probabilistic logics,
and show how we can use the resulting lexically informed probabilistic logics to learn accurate and
comprehensive domain theories from the web. This project will enable a robust data-driven approach
to logic-based semantic search, and more generally lead to fundamental progress in a variety of
knowledge-intensive applications for which logical inference has traditionally been too brittle.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
637972
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ResiBots
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Dr. Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Mouret
mouret@isir.upmc.fr
INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE EN INFORMATIQUE ET EN
AUTOMATIQUE, VILLERS-LÈS-NANCY, FR
www.inria.fr
Robots with animal-like resilience
Despite over 50 years of research in robotics, most existing robots are far from being as resilient as the
simplest animals: they are fragile machines that easily stop functioning in difficult conditions. The goal
of this proposal is to radically change this situation by providing the algorithmic foundations for lowcost robots that can autonomously recover from unforeseen damages in a few minutes. The current
approach to fault tolerance is inherited from safety-critical systems (e.g. spaceships or nuclear plants).
It is inappropriate for low-cost autonomous robots because it relies on diagnostic procedures, which
require expensive proprioceptive sensors, and contingency plans, which cannot cover all the possible
situations that an autonomous robot can encounter. It is here contended that trial-and-error learning
algorithms provide an alternate approach that does not require diagnostic, nor pre-defined
contingency plans. In this project, we will develop and study a novel family of such learning algorithms
that make it possible for autonomous robots to quickly discover compensatory behaviors. We will thus
shed a new light on one of the most fundamental questions of robotics: how can a robot be as adaptive
as an animal? The techniques developed in this project will substantially increase the lifespan of robots
without increasing their cost and open new research avenues for adaptive machines.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
639595
Acronym:
Hi-EST
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Dr. David Carrera Perez
david.carrera@bsc.es
BARCELONA SUPERCOMPUTING CENTER - CENTRO NACIONAL DE
SUPERCOMPUTACION, BARCELONA, ES
www.bsc.es
Holistic Integration of Emerging Supercomputing Technologies
Hi-EST aims to address a new class of placement problem, a challenge for computational sciences that
consists in mapping workloads on top of hardware resources with the goal to maximise the
performance of workloads and the utilization of resources. The objective of the placement problem is
to perform a more efficient management of the computing infrastructure by continuously adjusting the
number and type of resources allocated to each workload. Placement, in this context, is well known for
being NP-hard, and resembles the multi-dimensional knapsack problem. Heuristics have been used in
the past for different domains, providing vertical solutions that cannot be generalised. When the
workload mix is heterogeneous and the infrastructure hybrid, the problem becomes even more
challenging. This is the problem that Hi-EST plans to address. The approach followed will build on top
of four research pillars: supervised learning of the placement properties, placement algorithms for
tasks, placement algorithms for data, and software defined environments for placement
enforcement.Hi-EST plans to advance research frontiers in four different areas: 1) Adaptive Learning
Algorithms: by proposing the first known use of Deep Learning techniques for guiding task and data
placement decisions; 2) Task Placement: by proposing the first known algorithm to map heterogeneous
sets of tasks on top of systems enabled with Active Storage capabilities, and by extending unifying
performance models for heterogeneous workloads to cover and unprecedented number of workload
types; 3) Data Placement: by proposing the first known algorithm used to map data on top of
heterogeneous sets of key/value stores connected to Active Storage technologies; and 4) Software
Defined Environments (SDE): by extending SDE description languages with a still inexistent vocabulary
to describe Supercomputing workloads that will be leveraged to combine data and task placement into
one single decision-making process.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
640110
Host Institution:
Acronym:
BASTION
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Prof. Thorsten Holz
thorsten.holz@rub.de
RUHR-UNIVERSITAET BOCHUM, BOCHUM, DE
www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Leveraging Binary Analysis to Secure the Internet of Things
We are in the midst of the shift towards the Internet of Things (IoT), where more and more (legacy)
devices are connected to the Internet and communicate with each other. This paradigm shift brings
new security challenges and unfortunately many current security solutions are not applicable anymore,
e.g., because of a lack of clear network boundaries or resource-constrained devices. However, security
plays a central role: In addition to its classical function in protecting against manipulation and fraud, it
also enables novel applications and innovative business models. We propose a research program that
leverages binary analysis techniques to improve the security within the IoT. We concentrate on the
software level since this enables us to both analyze a given device for potential security vulnerabilities
and add security features to harden the device against future attacks. More specifically, we
concentrate on the firmware (i.e., the combination of persistent memory together with program code
and data that powers such devices) and develop novel mechanism for binary analysis of such software.
We design an intermediate language to abstract away from the concrete assembly level and this
enables an analysis of many different platforms within a unified analysis framework. We transfer and
extend program analysis techniques such as control-/data-flow analysis or symbolic execution and
apply them to our IL. Given this novel toolset, we can analyze security properties of a given firmware
image (e.g., uncovering undocumented functionality and detecting memory corruption or logical
vulnerabilities,). We also explore how to harden a firmware by retrofitting security mechanisms (e.g.,
adding control-flow integrity or automatically eliminating unnecessary functionality). This research will
deepen our fundamental understanding of binary analysis methods and apply it to a novel area as it
lays the foundations of performing this analysis on the level of intermediate languages.
End Date:
29/2/2020
Project ID:
640550
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DASMT
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Dr. Alexander Fraser
fraser@cis.uni-muenchen.de
www.uni-muenchen.de
Domain Adaptation for Statistical Machine Translation
Rapid translation between European languages is a cornerstone of good governance in the EU, and of
great academic and commercial interest. Statistical approaches to machine translation constitute the
state-of-the-art. The basic knowledge source is a parallel corpus, texts and their translations. For
domains where large parallel corpora are available, such as the proceedings of the European
Parliament, a high level of translation quality is reached. However, in countless other domains where
large parallel corpora are not available, such as medical literature or legal decisions, translation quality
is unacceptably poor. Domain adaptation as a problem of statistical machine translation (SMT) is a
relatively new research area, and there are no standard solutions. The literature contains inconsistent
results and heuristics are widely used. We will solve the problem of domain adaptation for SMT on a
larger scale than has been previously attempted, and base our results on standardized corpora and
open source translation systems. We will solve two basic problems. The first problem is determining
how to benefit from large out-of-domain parallel corpora in domain-specific translation systems. This is
an unsolved problem. The second problem is mining and appropriately weighting knowledge available
from in-domain texts which are not parallel. While there is initial promising work on mining, weighting
is not well studied, an omission which we will correct. We will scale mining by first using Wikipedia, and
then mining from the entire web. Our work will lead to a break-through in translation quality for the
vast number of domains with less parallel text available, and have a direct impact on SMEs providing
translation services. The academic impact of our work will be large because solutions to the challenge
of domain adaptation apply to all natural language processing systems and in numerous other areas of
artificial intelligence research based on machine learning approaches.
End Date:
30/11/2020
Project ID:
647544
Acronym:
PAW
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Dr. Anders Møller
amoeller@cs.au.dk
www.au.dk
Automated Program Analysis for Advanced Web Applications
Web applications that execute in the user's web browser constitute a substantial part of modern
software. JavaScript is the main programming language of the web, although alternatives are
emerging, in particular, TypeScript and Dart. Despite the advances in design of languages and libraries,
it is difficult to prevent errors when programming such web applications. Although the basic principles
of software verification have been known for decades and researchers have developed an abundance
of techniques for formal reasoning about programs, modern software has lots of errors, as everyday
users can testify.
The PAW project will create novel automated program analysis algorithms for
preventing errors and improving performance of advanced web applications. The project hypothesis is
that a scientific breakthrough is within reach, due to recent results in static and dynamic program
analysis for JavaScript. The central idea is to combine static and dynamic analysis in new ways. In
addition, the project will make program analysis algorithms and infrastructure available in a form that
embraces reusability.
End Date:
31/7/2020
Project ID:
647557
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SSBD
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Prof. Graham Cormode
ecas@cormode.org
www.warwick.ac.uk
Small Summaries for Big Data
A fundamental challenge in processing the massive quantities of information generated by modern
applications is in extracting suitable representations of the data that can be stored, manipulated and
interrogated on a single machine. A promising approach is in the design and analysis of compact
summaries: data structures which capture key features of the data, and which can be created
effectively over distributed data sets. Popular summary structures include the Bloom filter, which
compactly represents a set of items, and sketches which allow vector norms and products to be
estimated. These are very attractive, since they can be computed in parallel and combined to yield a
single, compact summary of the data. Yet the full potential of summaries is far from being fully
realized. The Principal Investigator will lead a team, working on important problems around creating
Small Summaries for Big Data. The goal is to substantially advance the state of the art in data
summarization, to the point where accurate and effective summaries are available for a wide array of
problems, and can be used seamlessly in applications that process big data. Several directions will be
pursued, including: designing and evaluating new summaries for fundamental computations such as
tracking the data distribution; summary techniques for complex structures, such as massive matrices,
massive graphs, and beyond; and summaries that allow the verification of outsourced computation
over big data. Success in any one of these areas could lead to substantial impact on practice, as
evidenced by the influence of existing summary techniques. Support in the form of a five-year
research grant will allow the PI to consolidate his research in this area, and build an expert team to
focus on these challenging algorithmic questions.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
666981
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TAMING
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Dr. Jean-Bernard Lasserre
lasserre@laas.fr
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, TOULOUSE, FR
www.cnrs.fr
Taming non convexity?
In many important areas and applications of science one has to solve non convex optimization
problems and ideally and ultimately one would like to find the global optimum. However in most cases
one is faced with NP-hard problems and therefore in practice one has been often satisfied with only a
local optimum obtained with some ad-hoc (local) optimization algorithm. TAMING intends to provide a
systematic methodology for solving hard non convex polynomial optimization problems in all areas of
science. Indeed the last decade has witnessed the emergence of Polynomial Optimization as a new
field in which powerful positivity certificates from real algebraic geometry have permitted to develop
an original and systematic approach to solve (at global optimality) optimization problems with
polynomial (and even semi-algebraic) data. The backbone of this powerful methodology is the «
moment-SOS » approach also known as « Lasserre hierarchy » which has attracted a lot of attention in
many areas (e.g., optimization, applied mathematics, quantum computing, engineering, theoretical
computer science) with important potential applications. It is now a basic tool for analyzing hardness of
approximation in combinatorial optimization and the best candidate algorithm to prove/disprove the
famous Unique Games Conjecture. Recently it has also become a promising new method for solving
the important Optimal Power Flow Problem in the strategic domain of Energy Networks (as the only
method that could solve to optimality certain types of such problems). However in its present form this
promising methodology inherits a high computational cost and a (too) severe problem size limitation
which precludes from its application many important real life problems of significant size. Proving that
indeed this methodology can fulfill its promises and solve important practical problems in various areas
poses major theoretical & practical challenges.
End Date:
31/8/2019
Project ID:
306633
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PETAL
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
Communication Engineering
Dr. Julien Fatome
jfatome@u-bourgogne.fr
www.cnrs.fr
Polarization condEnsation for Telecom AppLications
The aim of the PETAL project is to provide a radically novel approach to polarization control issues and
to transform this parameter into an additional fully exploited asset rather than a problem to be
avoided. While current opto-electronic technologies are principally based on complex active-feedback
loop control and algorithms, the breakthrough idea of PETAL is to explore a new type of phenomenon
based on the unexpected ability of light to self-pull, self-trap and self-stabilize its own polarization
state. Based on a nonlinear effect occurring in optical fibers, this all-optical, broadband and quasiinstantaneous polarization condensation phenomenon could find many applications in photonics and
open up the path to new exciting researches and horizons. In this project, PETAL will first focus on
proof-of-principle and theoretical/numerical modeling of the polarization condensation phenomenon
before implementing this concept in novel and original optical functions for telecommunication
applications. In particular, PETAL will report the first experimental observation of an all-optical selfstabilization and control of signal polarization with an error free transmission. PETAL will also show that
polarization condensation could provide optical regeneration or detection of polarization multiplexed
signals and could be used to implement ideal polarization beam splitter or simplify current coherent
receiver. Based on this novel concept, PETAL will also demonstrate new all-optical functions for signal
processing such as optical flip-flop memory, isotropic-like span transmission or polarization-based
router. Moreover, PETAL aims to go beyond the polarization issues and will generalize this concept to
spatial mode multiplexing applications. Finally, miniaturization and multi-implementation of these
novel functions will be carried out in a same device so as to report the first field-trial experiment of
such a technology.
End Date:
30/9/2017
Project ID:
306772
Host Institution:
Acronym:
SWIFT
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
Dr. Alexandre Yves Jean Bouhelier
alexandre.bouhelier@u-bourgogne.fr
www.cnrs.fr
Surface Plasmon-Based Wifi for Nanoscale Optical Information Transport - SWIFT
This proposal focuses on the design, fabrication, characterization and optimization of novel
groundbreaking communication nano-devices. SWIFT proposes resolutely innovative concepts
adopting metal-based optical nano-antennas as a disruptive technological vehicle. Nanoscale
electronics and photonics exploit novel fascinating physical phenomena and are among the most
promising research areas for providing functional nano-components for data transfer and processing.
The aim of this proposal is to interface these two device-generating technologies to create the first
electrically-driven nanoscale optical antenna transceiver. The concept will enable electron/photon
transduction at the nanoscale by a unique surface plasmon-assisted metal-based design, a significant
leap at the forefront of research in nanoelectronics and nanophotonics. SWIFT proposes a series of
fundamental advances motivated by application-driven perspectives that will push the burgeoning field
of optical antenna to a new area. Deploying optical antenna transceivers enables a paradigm shift in
optical interconnects and communication at ultimate device densities through the following
innovations: • Development a whole new class of plasmon-assisted transducing optical functional
nanodevices.This unique concept addresses the development for ultracompact nanocomponents. •
Prototyping self-sustained plasmonic in/out electrical ports on SPP waveguiding platforms, removing
thus complex optical interfacing that cannot be miniaturized. • Pioneering a technological
breakthrough enabling nanoscale wireless broadcasting of optical information. • Using these
functionalities, we will prospect new research directions by proviing a unique ground for (i) generating
ultrafast electron surges in an integrated electronic layout enabling ultrafast transport studies in
molecular electronics and (ii) for realizing ultrasmall THz sources enabling thus penetration of THz
technology at the nanometer-scale.
End Date:
31/1/2018
Project ID:
320377
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NETSAT
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
Prof. Klaus Schilling
klaus.schilling@telematik.zentrum.de
Zentrum fuer Telematik e.V., WUERZBURG, DE
www.telematik-zentrum.de
Networked Pico-Satellite Distributed System Control
A paradigm shift is emerging in spacecraft engineering from single, large, and multifunctional satellites
towards cooperating groups of small satellites. This will enable innovative applications in areas like
Earth observation or telecommunication. Related interdisciplinary research in the field of formation
control and networked satellites are key challenges of this proposal. Modern miniaturization
techniques allow realization of satellites of continuously smaller masses, thus enabling cost-efficient
implementation of distributed multi-satellite systems. In preparation my team has already realized two
satellites at only 1 kg mass in the University Würzburg’s Ex¬perimental satellite (UWE) program,
emphasizing crucial components for formation flying, like communication (UWE-1, launched 2005),
attitude determination (UWE-2, launched 2009), and attitude control (UWE-3, launched 2013). My
vision for the proposed project is to demonstrate formation control of four pico-satellites in-orbit for
the first time worldwide. To realize this objective, innovative multi-satellite networked orbit control
based on relative position and attitude of each satellite is to be implemented in order to enable Earth
observations based on multipoint measurements. Related sensor systems used in my laboratory in
research for advanced characterization of teams of mobile robots will be transferred to the space
environment. Breakthroughs are expected by combining optimal control strategies for coordination of
relative motion with a robust flow of information in the network of satellites and ground stations,
implemented via innovative use of ad-hoc networks in space. Based on my team’s expertise in
implementing very small satellites, first time a system composed of four satellites will be launched to
demonstrate autonomous distributed formation control in orbit. This research evaluation in space is
expected to open up significant application potential for future distributed satellite system services in
Earth observation.
End Date:
31/7/2019
Project ID:
321149
Host Institution:
Acronym:
HARMONY
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
Prof. Frede Blåbjerg
fbl@et.aau.dk
AALBORG UNIVERSITET, AALBORG, DK
www.aau.dk
Harmonic identification, mitigation and control in power electronics based power systems
Global electrical energy consumption is still increasing which demands that power capacity and power
transmission capabilities must be doubled within 20 years. Today 40 % of the global energy
consumption is processed by electricity in 2040 this may be up to 70 %. Electrical power production is
changing from conventional, fossil based sources to renewable power resources. Highly efficient and
sustainable power electronics in power generation, power transmission/distribution and end-user
applications are introduced to ensure more efficient use of electricity. Traditional centralized electricity
production with unidirectional power flows in transmission and distribution system will be replaced by
the operation and control of intelligent distribution systems which are much more based on power
electronics systems and having bidirectional power flow. Such large scale expansion of power
electronics usage will change the characteristic of the power system by introducing more harmonics
from generation, from the efficient load systems all resulting in a larger risk of instability and more
losses in the future power system. The projects goal is to obtain “Harmony” between the renewable
energy sources, the future power system and the loads in order to keep stability at all levels seen from
a harmonic point of view. The project establishes the necessary theories, models and methods to
identify harmonic problems in a power electronic based power system, a theoretical and hardware
platform to enable control of harmonics and mitigate them, and develops on-line methods to monitor
the harmonic state of the power system. The outcomes are new tools for identifying stability problems
in power electronics based power systems and new control methods for reducing the harmonic
presence and reduce the overall instability risks. Further, new design methods for active and passive
filters in renewable energy systems, in the power system and in the power electronics based loads will
be developed
End Date:
28/2/2018
Project ID:
336716
Acronym:
NANOSCOPY
Dr. Balpreet Singh Ahluwalia
bah000@uit.no
UNIVERSITETET I TROMSOE, TROMSOE, NO
http://uit.no/
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
High-speed chip-based nanoscopy to discover real-time sub-cellular dynamics
Optical nanoscopy has given a glimpse of the impact it may have on medical care in the future. Slow
imaging speed and the complexity of the current nanoscope limits its use for living cells. The imaging
speed is limited by the bulk optics that is used in present nanoscopy. In this project, I propose a
paradigm-shift in the field of advanced microscopy by developing optical nanoscopy based on a
photonic integrated circuit. The project will take advantage of nanotechnology to fabricate an advance
waveguide-chip, while fast telecom optical devices will provide switching of light to the chip, enhancing
the speed of imaging. This unconventional route will change the field of optical microscopy, as a simple
chip-based system can be added to a normal microscope. In this project, I will build a waveguide-based
structured-illumination microscope (W-SIM) to acquire fast images (25 Hz or better) from a living cell
with an optical resolution of 50-100 nm. I will use W-SIM to discover the dynamics (opening and
closing) of fenestrations (100 nm) present in the membrane of a living liver sinusoidal scavenger
endothelial cell. It is believed among the Hepatology community that these fenestrations open and
close dynamically, however there is no scientific evidence to support this hypothesis because of the
lack of suitable tools. The successful imaging of fenestration kinetics in a live cell during this project will
provide new fundamental knowledge and benefit human health with improved diagnoses and drug
discovery for liver. Chip-based nanoscopy is a new research field, inherently making this a high-risk
project, but the possible gains are also high. The W-SIM will be the first of its kind, which may open a
new era of simple, integrated nanoscopy. The proposed multiple-disciplinary project requires a nearunique expertise in the field of laser physics, integrated optics, advanced microscopy and cell-biology
that I have acquired at leading research centers on three continents.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
337508
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DANCER
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
Dr. John William Whelan-Curtin
jww1@st-andrews.ac.uk
UK
DAtacommunications based on NanophotoniC Resonators
A key challenge for the 21st century is, therefore to provide billions of people with the means to
access, move and manipulate, what has become, huge volumes of information. The environmental and
economic implications becoming serious, making energy efficient data communications key to the
operation of today’s society. In this project, the Principal Investigator will develop a new framework
for optical interconnects and provide a common platform that spans Fibre-to-the-home to chip-to-chip
links, even as far as global on-chip interconnects. The project is based on the efficient coupling of the
Photonic Crystal resonators with the outside world. These provide the ultimate confinement of light in
both space and time allowing orders of magnitude improvements in performance relative to the state
of the art, yet in a simpler simple system- the innovator’s dream. New versions of the key components
of optical links- light sources, modulators and photo-detectors- will be realised in this new framework
providing a new paradigm for energy efficient communication.
End Date:
30/11/2018
Project ID:
338402
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NETVOLUTION
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
Dr. Christos-Xenofon Dimitropoulos
fontas@gmail.com
FOUNDATION FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY HELLAS, HERAKLION, EL
www.forth.gr
Evolving Internet Routing:
A Paradigm Shift to Foster Innovation
Although the Internet is a great technological achievement, more than 40 years after its creation some
of its original security and reliability problems remain unsolved. The root cause of these problems is
the rigidity of the Internet architecture or in other words the Internet ossification problem, i.e., the
basic architectural components of the Internet are set to stone and cannot be changed. The most
ossified component of the Internet architecture is the inter-domain routing system. In this project, our
goal is to address this challenge and to introduce a new Internet routing architecture that 1) enables
innovation at the inter-domain level, 2) is backward-compatible with the present Internet architecture,
and 3) provides concrete economic incentives for adopting it. We propose a new Internet routing
paradigm based on a novel techno-economic framework, which exploits emerging technologies and
meets these three goals. Our novel idea is that the combination of routing control logic outsourcing
with Software Defined Networking (SDN) principles enables to innovate at the inter-domain level and
therefore has the potential for a major break-through in the architecture of the Internet routing
system. SDN is a rapidly emerging new computer networking architecture that makes the routing
control plane of a network programmable. Based on our framework, we propose to design, build, and
verify a better inter-domain routing system, which solves fundamental security, reliability, and
manageability problems of the Internet architecture. Our work will be organized in four core topics 1)
build a mutli-domain centralized routing control platform, 2) improve the reliability and security of the
current inter-domain routing system, 3) design techniques for resolving tussles between competing
network domains, 4) introduce advanced network monitoring and security techniques that intelligently
correlate data from multiple domain to diagnose routing outages and attacks.
End Date:
31/12/2018
Project ID:
340200
Host Institution:
Acronym:
WEAR3D
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
Prof. Hakan Urey
hurey@ku.edu.tr
KOC UNIVERSITY, ISTANBUL, TR
www.ku.edu.tr
Wearable Augmented Reality 3D Displays
Wearable displays have advanced rapidly over the past few decades but they are limited in field-ofview due to optical constraints. Likewise, 3D displays have several technological and viewing
discomfort limitations. These limitations result from the missing 3D depth cues in stereoscopic displays,
which are essential for real 3D and for interactive augmented reality (AR) applications. Wear3D
proposal aims to overcome the two fundamental scientific challenges of wearable displays and make
them as natural as wearing a pair of eyeglasses: (i) Eliminate the relay lenses. We need to overcome
the focusing problem of the eyes in order to completely eliminate the large relay lenses. As a result,
miniaturization of wearable displays will be possible by taking full advantage of the advancements in
micro-technologies; (ii) Provide all the essential 3D depth cues to avoid perceptual errors and viewing
discomfort. We need to enable the two eyes to fixate at the correct depth of the objects rather than
the display panel without losing resolution. Thereby, eliminating the conflict between the
accommodation and convergence. Overcoming these challenges would enable a display which can
provide natural looking and interactive 3D and very wide field-of-view (>100deg) in an eyeglasses form
factor. Such a display goes far beyond the state-of-the art in wearable displays and open new research
directions for intelligent human-computer interfaces and AR.
End Date:
31/12/2018
Project ID:
615170
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DIDYMUS
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
Prof. Davide Iannuzzi
d.iannuzzi@vu.nl
www.vu.nl
MICROMACHINED OPTOMECHANICAL DEVICES: looking at cells, tissues, and organs ... with a gentle
touch.
Every time we grab an object to look at its geometrical details or to feel if it is hard or soft, we are
ineluctably confronted with the limits of our senses. Behind its appearances, the object may still hide
information that, encrypted in its microscopic features, remains undetected to our macroscopic
assessment. In life sciences, those limits are more than just frustrating: they are an obstacle to study
and detect life threatening conditions. Many different instruments may overcome those limits, but the
vast majority of them rely either on “sight” (optics) or “touch” (mechanics) separately. On the contrary, I
believe that it is from the combination of those two “senses” that we have more chances to tackle the
future challenges of cell biology, tissue engineering, and medical diagnosis. Inspired by this tantalizing
perspective, and supported by a technology that I have brought from blackboard to market, I have now
designed a scientific program to breach into the microscopic scale via an unbeaten path. The program
develops along three projects addressing the three most relevant scales in life sciences: cells, tissues,
and organs. In the first project, I will design and test a new optomechanical probe to investigate how a
prolonged mechanical load on a brain cell of a living animal may trigger alterations in its Central
Nervous System. With the second project, I will develop an optomechanical tactile instrument that can
assess how subsurface tissues deform in response to a mechanical stroke – a study that may change
the way physicians look at tissue classification. For the third project, I will deliver an acousto-optical gas
trace sensors so compact that can penetrate inside the lungs of an adult patient, where it could be
used for early detection of pulmonary life threatening diseases. Each project represents an opportunity
to open an entire new field, where optics and micromechanics are combined to extend our senses well
beyond their natural limits.
End Date:
31/5/2019
Project ID:
637935
Acronym:
CONT-ACT
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
Dr. Ludovic Dominique Righetti
ludovic.righetti@tuebingen.mpg.de
TÜBINGEN, DE
www.mpg.de
Control of contact interactions for robots acting in the world
What are the algorithmic principles that would allow a robot to run through a rocky terrain, lift a couch
while reaching for an object that rolled under it or manipulate a screwdriver while balancing on top of
a ladder? Answering this seemingly naïve question resorts to understanding the fundamental principles
for robot locomotion and manipulation, which is very challenging. However, it is a necessary step
towards ubiquitous robots capable of helping humans in an uncountable number of tasks. The
fundamental aspect of both locomotion and manipulation is that the dynamic interaction of the robot
with its environment through the creation of physical contacts is at the heart of the tasks. The planning
of such interactions in a general manner is an unsolved problem. Moreover, it is not clear how sensory
information (e.g. tactile and force sensors) can be included to improve the robustness of robot
behaviors. Most of the time, it is simply discarded. CONT-ACT has the ambition to develop a consistent
theoretical framework for motion generation and control where contact interaction is at the core of
the approach and an efficient use of sensory information drives the development of high performance,
adaptive and robust planning and control methods. CONT-ACT develops an architecture based on realtime predictive controllers that fully exploit contact interactions. In addition, the structure of sensory
information during contact interactions is experimentally analyzed to create sensor representations
adapted for control. It is then possible to learn predictive models in sensor space that are used to
create very reactive controllers. The robot constantly improves its performance as it learns better
sensory models. It is a step towards a general theory for robot movement that can be used to control
any robot with legs and arms for both manipulation and locomotion tasks and that allows robots to
constantly improve their performances as they experience the world.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
638992
Host Institution:
Acronym:
OPT4SMART
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
Dr. Giuseppe Notarstefano
giuseppe.notarstefano@unisalento.it
UNIVERSITA DEL SALENTO, LECCE, IT
www.unisalento.it
Distributed Optimization Methods for Smart Cyber-Physical Networks
The combination of embedded electronics and communication capability in almost any mobile or
portable device has turned this century into the age of cyber-physical networks. Smart communicating
devices with their sensing, computing and control capabilities promise to make our cities,
transportation systems, factories and living environments more intelligent, energy-efficient, safe and
secure. This extremely complex system has raised a number of new challenges involving ICT disciplines.
In particular, a novel peer-to-peer distributed computational model is appearing as a new opportunity
in which a service is built-up cooperatively by peers, rather than by a unique provider that knows and
owns all data. The interdisciplinary “Optimization Community” is facing this revolution sharing a
common need: to find new theories, methodologies and tools to optimize over this complex network
system. With this in mind, OPT4SMART has a twofold objective. First, to provide a comprehensive
theoretical framework to solve distributed optimization problems over peer-to-peer networks. Second,
to develop effective numerical tools, based on this framework, to solve estimation, learning, decision
and control problems in cyber-physical networks. To achieve this twofold objective, we will take a
systems-theory perspective. Specific problems from these four areas will be abstracted to a common
mathematical set-up, and addressed by means of interdisciplinary methodologies arising from a
synergic combination of optimization, controls, and graph theories. In particular, OPT4SMART will face
the challenge of solving optimization problems under severe communication limitations, very-largescale problem and data size, and real-time computational constraints. The expected result will be a
combination of strong theoretical methods and effective numerical toolboxes available to people in
Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics and other areas, who are facing optimization in cyberphysical networks.
End Date:
30/9/2020
Project ID:
640079
Host Institution:
Acronym:
QPE
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
Dr. Mark Thompson
mark.thompson@bristol.ac.uk
www.bristol.ac.uk
Quantum Photonic Engineering
By harnessing the unique properties of quantum mechanics (superposition and entanglement) to
encode, transmit and process information, quantum information science offers significant
opportunities to revolutionise information and communication technologies. The far-reaching goal of
this project is to build quantum technology demonstrators that can outperform conventional
technologies in communications and computation. For quantum information technologies (QITs) to
have as big an impact on society as anticipated, a practical and scalable approach is needed. One
promising approach to QITs is the photonics implementation, where single particles of light (photons)
are used to encode, transmit and process quantum information – in the form of photonic quantum-bits
(qubits). Currently, state-of-the-art experiments are limited to the “few-photon” regime, occupying
many metres of space on an optical table, constructed from bulk optical elements, with no routes to
scalability and far from outperforming conventional technologies. Integrated quantum photonics has
recently emerged as a new approach to address these challenges. This research programme will take
an engineering approach to QITs and draw upon rapidly growing field of silicon photonics. We will
develop a silicon-based quantum technology platform where single-photon sources, circuits and
detectors will be integrated into miniature microchip circuits containing thousands of discrete
components, enabling breakthroughs in quantum communications and computation, and developing a
scalable approach to quantum technologies.There are no new physics breakthroughs required to
achieve the goals of this project, however, there are hard engineering challenges that need to be
addressed.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
646923
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DBSModel
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
Dr. Madeleine Mary Lowery
madeleine.lowery@ucd.ie
DUBLIN, IE
www.ucd.ie
Multiscale Modelling of the Neuromuscular System for Closed Loop Deep Brain Stimulation
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective therapy for treating the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease
(PD). Despite its success, the mechanisms of DBS are not understood and there is a need to improve
DBS to improve long-term stimulation in a wider patient population, limit side-effects, and extend
battery life. Currently DBS operates in ‘open-loop’, with stimulus parameters empirically set. Closedloop DBS, which adjusts parameters based on the state of the system, has the potential to overcome
current limitations to increase therapeutic efficacy while reducing side-effects, costs and energy.
Several key questions need to be addressed before closed loop DBS can be implemented clinically. This
research will develop a new multiscale model of the neuromuscular system for closed-loop DBS. The
model will simulate neural sensing and stimulation on a scale not previously considered, encompassing
the electric field around the electrode, the effect on individual neurons and neural networks, and
generation of muscle force. This will involve integration across multiple temporal and spatial scales, in
a complex system with incomplete knowledge of system variables. Experiments will be conducted to
validate the model, and identify new biomarkers of neural activity that can used with signals from the
brain to enable continuous symptom monitoring. The model will be used to design a new control
strategy for closed-loop DBS that can accommodate the nonlinear nature of the system, and short- and
long-term changes in system behavior. Though challenging, this research will provide new insights into
the changes that take place in PD and the mechanisms by which DBS exerts its therapeutic influence.
This knowledge will be used to design a new strategy for closed-loop DBS, ready for testing in patients,
with the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes in PD and fundamentally change the way
in which implanted devices utilise electrical stimulation to modulate neural activity.
End Date:
31/7/2020
Project ID:
648328
Host Institution:
Acronym:
QUANTUMMETALINK
Evaluation Panel:
PE7 - Systems and
Dr. Nicolae Coriolan Panoiu
n.panoiu@ucl.ac.uk
Quantum Metamaterials: A Theoretical and Computational Approach Towards Seamlessly Integrated
Hybrid Classical/Quantum Nano-structures
The overarching aim of this proposal is to initiate and advance an integrated theoretical and
computational research programme in an emerging area of metamaterials research, namely Quantum
Metamaterials. Thus, it is commonly believed that one of the most noteworthy developments
witnessed in the last decade in physical sciences and engineering is the emergence of metamaterials.
Unlike ordinary materials, which are assembled at the atomic level, metamaterials are composite
materials built up from artificially engineered meta-atoms and meta-molecules. The fundamental idea
in this area of research is that remarkable physical properties beyond those available in naturally
occurring materials can be achieved by designing the meta-constituents of the metamaterial and
structuring it at a scale comparable or smaller than the optical wavelength. In this context, a new
paradigm in metamaterials research emerges when the building blocks of metamaterials are quantum
resonators, e.g., quantum dots (QDs), QD molecules, graphene disks coupled to interacting QDs, and
quantum nanowires, case in which the macroscopic properties of quantum metamaterials are
determined by the quantum properties of their basic constituents. We have organised this research
programme along three broad, synergistically integrated themes. The first will focus on the
development of a general theory of the effective, macroscopic properties of quantum metamaterials.
The key challenge is to build a theoretical framework in which the macroscopic properties of quantum
metamaterials are derived directly from those of their quantum building blocks. The second theme will
be geared towards developing a set of numerical methods and software tools for ab initio simulations
of fundamental physical properties quantum metamaterials. The foundational work pertaining to the
first two themes will enable us to pursue the main objective of the third theme, which is the
exploration of new science and novel applications.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
279022
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PLASMAPOR
Evaluation Panel:
PE8 - Products and Processes
Engineering
Dr. Rino Achiel Morent
rino.morent@ugent.be
http://www.ugent.be
Plasma penetration into porous materials for biomedical, textile and filtration applications.
My group will explore the undeveloped field of penetration of non-thermal plasma into porous
structures. Porous materials are an exciting class of materials with a wide range of applications.
However, given the narrow dimensions of the porous network, modifying in a homogeneous way an
entire porous material is a challenging task.
This project is based on the use of non-thermal
atmospheric pressure plasmas for an effective internal surface modification of 3D porous structures. To
make plasma technology reach this desired level of controlled penetration into porous structures, a far
better understanding of the penetration of chemical active species into porous structures is required.
Therefore, my project envisages a thorough study of the interactions between a non-thermal plasma
and a second phase, the second phase being a porous substrate. Through diagnostics of the processrelevant plasma parameters and a quantitative analysis of the plasma-induced effects, the knowledge
on the physics and chemistry of such hybrid plasma systems will be enhanced and, in most cases,
newly founded. My group will start exploring this exciting field by focussing on three cornerstone
research lines. Firstly, I will develop new plasma reactor concepts enabling effective plasma
penetration. Secondly, these newly developed plasma reactors will be employed for the internal
surface modification of porous biodegradable polyester scaffolds used in tissue engineering. Thirdly,
besides the development of biomedical implants, the possibilities for the design of functional porous
textiles and advanced filter materials will also be explored. Realisation of these three cornerstones
would result in a major breakthrough in their specific field which makes this proposal inherently a
relatively high risk/very high gain proposal. I therefore strongly believe that my research program will
open a whole new window of opportunities for porous materials with a large impact on science and
society.
End Date:
31/5/2017
Project ID:
290586
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NMCEL
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Jan Gerrit Korvink
jan.korvink@kit.edu
KARLSRUHER INSTITUT FUER TECHNOLOGIE, KARLSRUHE, DE
www.kit.edu
A modular micro nuclear magnetic resonance in vivo platform for the nematode Caenorhabditis
elegans
Using state-of-the-art microsystems simulation, design and micro-engineering, the NMCEL project will
result in a highly integrated and modular and low cost platform that is a high throughput micro-fluidic
lab-on-a-chip and a sophisticated nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) detector in one package, suitable
for use in a wide-bore commercial NMR magnet. This unique platform targets the controlled in vivo
NMR spectroscopy and imaging of the model organism C. elegans, for this purpose the high throughput
micro-fluidic lab-on-a-chip has the necessary infrastructure to feed, hold, move and immobilise a large
population of C. elegans on demand and over its lifecycle and lifetime, with operations synchronised
with the remaining functions of the platform. In turn, the co-integrated NMR detector is specially
adapted to the range of shapes of the nematode, and its motility, and is optimised with regard to NMR
signal-to-noise ratio and spectral resolution. In order to attain high resolution, the NMR system is
optimised for strong magnetic fields, through the computed layout of devices, the adaptation of
microstructurable materials, and the design of electronics and control circuits. The targeted user of the
platform is a C. elegans micro-biologist with a requirement to detect or discover small molecule (<
1000 Da) metabolites in vivo. High throughput in vivo metabolomic mapping, with a platform that
generates molecular data on an individual-by-individual basis for populations of thousands of
individuals, has the potential to open up a completely new window of research in systems biology. The
NMCEL project aims to address this important step ahead.
End Date:
30/6/2017
Project ID:
306471
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ACTIVEWINDFARMS
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Johan Meyers
johan.meyers@mech.kuleuven.be
www.kuleuven.be
Active Wind Farms: Optimization and Control of Atmospheric Energy Extraction in Gigawatt Wind
Farms
With the recognition that wind energy will become an important contributor to the world’s energy
portfolio, several wind farms with a capacity of over 1 gigawatt are in planning phase. In the past,
engineering of wind farms focused on a bottom-up approach, in which atmospheric wind availability
was considered to be fixed by climate and weather. However, farms of gigawatt size slow down the
Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) as a whole, reducing the availability of wind at turbine hub height.
In Denmark’s large off-shore farms, this leads to underperformance of turbines which can reach levels
of 40%–50% compared to the same turbine in a lone-standing case. For large wind farms, the vertical
structure and turbulence physics of the flow in the ABL become crucial ingredients in their design and
operation. This introduces a new set of scientific challenges related to the design and control of large
wind farms. The major ambition of the present research proposal is to employ optimal control
techniques to control the interaction between large wind farms and the ABL, and optimize overall
farm-power extraction. Individual turbines are used as flow actuators by dynamically pitching their
blades using time scales ranging between 10 to 500 seconds. The application of such control efforts on
the atmospheric boundary layer has never been attempted before, and introduces flow control on a
physical scale which is currently unprecedented. The PI possesses a unique combination of expertise
and tools enabling these developments: efficient parallel large-eddy simulations of wind farms, multiscale turbine modeling, and gradient-based optimization in large optimization-parameter spaces using
adjoint formulations. To ensure a maximum impact on the wind-engineering field, the project aims at
optimal control, experimental wind-tunnel validation, and at including multi-disciplinary aspects,
related to structural mechanics, power quality, and controller design.
End Date:
30/9/2017
Project ID:
306622
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CA2PVM
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Marco Paggi
marco.paggi@imtlucca.it
SCUOLA IMT (ISTITUZIONI, MERCATI, TECNOLOGIE) ALTI STUDI DI LUCCA,
LUCCA, IT
https://www.imtlucca.it/
Multi-field and multi-scale Computational Approach to design and durability of PhotoVoltaic
Modules
Photovoltaics (PV) based on Silicon (Si) semiconductors is one the most growing technology in the
World for renewable, sustainable, non-polluting, widely available clean energy sources. Theoretical and
applied research aims at increasing the conversion efficiency of PV modules and their lifetime. The Si
crystalline microstructure has an important role on both issues. Grain boundaries introduce additional
resistance and reduce the conversion efficiency. Moreover, they are prone to microcracking, thus
influencing the lifetime. At present, the existing standard qualification tests are not sufficient to
provide a quantitative definition of lifetime, since all the possible failure mechanisms are not
accounted for. In this proposal, an innovative computational approach to design and durability
assessment of PV modules is put forward. The aim is to complement real tests by virtual (numerical)
simulations. To achieve a predictive stage, a challenging multi-field (multi-physics) computational
approach is proposed, coupling the nonlinear elastic field, the thermal field and the electric field. To
model real PV modules, an adaptive multi-scale and multi-field strategy will be proposed by
introducing error indicators based on the gradients of the involved fields. This numerical approach will
be applied to determine the upper bound to the probability of failure of the system. This statistical
assessment will involve an optimization analysis that will be efficiently handled by a Mathematicabased hybrid symbolic-numerical framework. Standard and non-standard experimental testing on Si
cells and PV modules will also be performed to complement and validate the numerical approach. The
new methodology based on the challenging integration of advanced physical and mathematical
modelling, innovative computational methods and non-standard experimental techniques is expected
to have a significant impact on the design, qualification and lifetime assessment of complex PV
systems.
End Date:
30/11/2017
Project ID:
307836
Acronym:
RETURN
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Dr. Debra Fern Laefer
debra.laefer@ucd.ie
DUBLIN, IE
www.ucd.ie
RETURN – Rethinking Tunnelling in Urban Neighbourhoods
This project addresses important challenges at the forefront of geotechnical engineering and building
conservation by introducing an entirely new workflow and largely unexploited data source for the
predic-tion of building damage from tunnel-induced subsidence. The project will also make
fundamental and ground-breaking advances in the collection and processing of city-scale, aerial laser
scanning by avoiding any reliance on existing data for building location identification, respective data
affiliation, or building fea-ture recognition. This will create a set of techniques that are robust, scalable,
and widely applicable to a broad range of communities with unreinforced masonry buildings. This will
also lay the groundwork to rapidly generate and deploy city-scale, computational models for
emergency management and disaster re-sponse, as well as for the growing field of environmental
modelling.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
320963
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NEMESIS
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Christopher Rhys Bowen
c.r.bowen@bath.ac.uk
UNIVERSITY OF BATH, BATH, UK
http://www.bath.ac.uk/
Novel Energy Materials: Engineering Science and Integrated Systems (NEMESIS)
The aim of NEMESIS is to establish a world leading research center in ferroelectric and piezoelectric
materials for energy harvesting and energy generation. I will deliver cutting edge multi-disciplinary
research encompassing materials, physics, chemistry and electrical engineering and develop ground
breaking materials and structures for energy creation. The internationally leading research center will
be dedicated to developing new and innovative solutions to generating and harvesting energy using
novel materials at the macro- to nano-scale. Key challenges and novel technical approaches are: 1. To
create energy harvesting nano-generators to convert vibrations into electrical energy in hostile
environments (e.g. wireless sensors in near engine applications). 2. To enable broadband energy
harvesting to generate electrical energy from ambient vibrations which generally exhibit multiple timedependent frequencies. 3. To produce Curie-temperature tuned nano-structured pyroelectrics to
optimise the electrical energy scavenged from temperature fluctuations. To further enhance the
energy generation I aim to couple thermal expansion and pyroelectric effects to produce a new class of
thermal energy harvesting materials and systems. 4. To create nano-structured ferroelectric and
piezoelectric materials for novel water-splitting applications. Two approaches will be considered, the
use of the internal electrical fields present in ferroelectrics to prevent recombination of photo-excited
electron-hole pairs and the electric charge generated on mechanically stressed piezoelectric nano-rods
which convert water to hydrogen and oxygen.
End Date:
31/1/2018
Project ID:
335380
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CAPS
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Dr. Erin Crystal Koos
erin.koos@kit.edu
Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, KARLSRUHE, DE
www.kit.edu
Capillary suspensions: a novel route for versatile, cost efficient and environmentally friendly material
design
A wide variety of materials including coatings and adhesives, emerging materials for nanotechnology
products, as well as everyday food products are processed or delivered as suspensions. The flow
properties of such suspensions must be finely adjusted according to the demands of the respective
processing techniques, even for the feel of cosmetics and the perception of food products is highly
influenced by their rheological properties. The recently developed capillary suspensions concept has
the potential to revolutionize product formulations and material design. When a small amount (less
than 1%) of a second immiscible liquid is added to the continuous phase of a suspension, the
rheological properties of the mixture are dramatically altered from a fluid-like to a gel-like state or
from a weak to a strong gel and the strength can be tuned in a wide range covering orders of
magnitude. Capillary suspensions can be used to create smart, tunable fluids, stabilize mixtures that
would otherwise phase separate, significantly reduce the amount organic or polymeric additives, and
the strong particle network can be used as a precursor for the manufacturing of cost-efficient porous
ceramics and foams with unprecedented properties. This project will investigate the influence of
factors determining capillary suspension formation, the strength of these admixtures as a function of
these aspects, and how capillary suspensions depend on external forces. Only such a fundamental
understanding of the network formation in capillary suspensions on both the micro- and macroscopic
scale will allow for the design of sophisticated new materials. The main objectives of this proposal are
to quantify and predict the strength of these admixtures and then use this information to design a
variety of new materials in very different application areas including, e.g., porous materials, waterbased coatings, ultra low fat foods, and conductive films.
End Date:
31/7/2018
Project ID:
335746
Acronym:
CRYSTENG-MOF-MMM
Dr. Jorge Gascon Sabate
j.gascon@tudelft.nl
www.tudelft.nl
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Pe8 - Products and Processes
Engineering
Crystal Engineering of Metal Organic Frameworks for application in Mixed Matrix Membranes
With this proposal, I seek to develop the gas separating membranes of the future. The overall aim is to
produce composite membranes comprising engineered Metal Organic Framework (MOF) particles and
polymers in the form of Mixed Matrix Membranes (MMMs). By applying these new membranes,
energetically more efficient separations will be possible. Despite the superior performance of
membranes only based on crystalline materials like zeolites or MOFs, polymeric membranes rule the
commercial scene thanks to their easy processing, high reproducibility and mechanical strength.
However, the existing polymeric membrane materials are not optimal: improvements in permeability
are always at the expense of selectivity and vice versa, while plasticization threatens their application
at high pressures. This research aims at utilizing the best of both fields by combining the high
selectivity of MOFs with the easy processing of polymers in the form of Mixed Matrix Membranes. The
main barrier to achieve this goal is the optimization of the MOF-polymer interaction and mass
transport through the composite. This is very challenging because chemical compatibility, particle
morphology and filler dispersion play a key role. Innovatively the project will be the first systematic
study into this multi-scale phenomenon with investigations at all relevant interactions, including MOF
particle tuning targeting the application in MMMs. A thorough study on the synthesis of the selected
MOF structures and on the performance of the composites will allow engineering MOFs at the
molecular and particle levels, resulting in higher selectivity and faster transport. The use of flexible
MOF structures will not only allow a better membrane processing but will also reduce polymer
plasticization. This research will deliver a new generation of mixed matrix membranes, outperforming
the state of the art polymeric membranes.
End Date:
31/8/2018
Project ID:
335928
Host Institution:
Acronym:
GEOPOLYCONC
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. John Lloyd Provis
j.provis@sheffield.ac.uk
www.shef.ac.uk
Durability of geopolymers as 21st century concretes
GeopolyConc will provide the necessary scientific basis for the prediction of the long-term durability
performance of alkali-activated ‘geopolymer’ concretes. These materials can be synthesised from
industrial by-products and widely-available natural resources, and provide the opportunity for a highly
significant reduction in the environmental footprint of the global construction materials industry, as it
expands to meet the infrastructure needs of 21st century society. Experimental and modelling
approaches will be coupled to provide major advances in the state of the art in the science and
engineering of geopolymer concretes. The key scientific focus areas will be: (a) the development of the
first ever rigorous mathematical description of the factors influencing the transport properties of alkaliactivated concretes, and (b) ground-breaking work in understanding and controlling the factors which
lead to the onset of corrosion of steel reinforcing embedded in alkali-activated concretes. This project
will generate confidence in geopolymer concrete durability, which is essential to the application of
these materials in reducing EU and global CO2 emissions. The GeopolyConc project will also be
integrated with leading multinational collaborative test programmes coordinated through a RILEM
Technical Committee (TC DTA) which is chaired by the PI, providing a route to direct international
utilisation of the project outcomes.
End Date:
31/8/2018
Project ID:
335929
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PLASMATS
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Dr. Nathalie Marie-Thérèse De Geyter
nathalie.degeyter@ugent.be
http://www.ugent.be
Plasma-assisted development and functionalization of electrospun mats for tissue engineering
purposes
In this project, I will explore the unique combination of two fascinating research themes:
electrospinning and plasma technology. Electrospun nanofibrous matrices (so-called mats) are an
exciting class of materials with a wide range of possible applications. Nevertheless, the development
and functionalization of these electrospun materials remain very challenging tasks. Atmospheric
pressure plasma technology will be utilized by my research group to create advanced biodegradable
electrospun mats with unprecedented functionality and performance. To realise such a major
breakthrough, plasma technology will be implemented in different steps of the manufacturing process:
pre-electrospinning and post-electrospinning. My group will focus on four cornerstone research lines,
which have been carefully chosen so that all critical issues one could encounter in creating advanced
biodegradable electrospun mats are tackled. Research cornerstone A aims to develop biodegradable
electrospun mats with appropriate bulk properties, while in research cornerstone B preelectrospinning polymer solutions will be exposed to non-thermal atmospheric plasmas. This will be
realized by probing unexplored concepts such as discharges created inside polymer solutions. In a third
cornerstone C, an in-depth study of the interactions between an atmospheric pressure plasma and an
electrospun mat will be carried out. Finally, the last cornerstone D will focus on plasma-assisted surface
modification of biodegradable electrospun mats for tissue engineering purposes. Realization of these
four cornerstones would result in a major breakthrough in their specific field which makes this
proposal inherently a relatively high risk/very high gain proposal. I therefore strongly believe that this
research program will open a whole new window of opportunities for electrospun materials with a
large impact on science and society.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
337077
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DROPCELLARRAY
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Dr. Pavel Levkin
levkin@kit.edu
Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, KARLSRUHE, DE
www.kit.edu
DropletMicroarrays: Ultra High-Throughput Screening of Cells in 3D Microenvironments
High-throughput (HT) screening of live cells is crucial to accelerate both fundamental biological
research and discovery of new drugs. Current methods for HT cell screenings, however, either require a
large number of microplates, are prone to cross-contaminations and are limited to adherent cells (cell
microarrays), or are not compatible with adherent cells as well as with spatial indexing (droplet
microfluidics). We recently demonstrated the use of superhydrophobic-superhydrophilic microarrays
to create high-density arrays of microdroplets or hydrogel micropads. We propose here to develop a
new platform for HT cell screening experiments using the unique properties of the superhydrophilic
microarrays separated by superhydrophobic thin barriers. The new technology will allow us to perform
up to 300K cell experiments in parallel using a single chip. Individual cell experiments will be performed
in thousands of completely isolated microdroplet at defined locations on the chip. This will enable
spatial indexing, time-lapse measurements and screening of either adherent or non-adherent cells.
Parallel manipulations within individual microreservoirs, such as washing, addition of chemical
libraries, or staining will be developed to open new possibilities in the field of live cell studies.
Superhydrophobic barriers will allow complete isolation of the microreservoirs, thus preventing crosscontamination and cell migration. We will also develop a technology for the HT screening of cells in 3D
hydrogel micropads. We will use these methods to gain better understanding of how different
parameters of the 3D cell microenvironment influence various aspects of cell behavior. The project will
require the development of new technological tools which can later be applied to a wide range of cell
screening experiments and biological problems. Our long term aim is to replace the outdated
microplate technology with a more powerful and convenient method for cell screening experiments.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
337739
Host Institution:
Acronym:
HIENA
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Dr. Michael Franciscus Lucas De Volder
mfld2@eng.cam.ac.uk
www.cam.ac.uk
Hierarchical Carbon Nanomaterials
Over the past years, carbon nanomaterial such as graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have
attracted the interest of scientists, because some of their properties are unlike any other engineering
material. Individual graphene sheets and CNTs have shown a Youngs Modulus of 1 TPa and a tensile
strength of 100 GPa, hereby exceeding steel at only a fraction of its weight. Further, they offer high
currents carrying capacities of 10^9 A/cm², and thermal conductivities up to 3500 W/mK, exceeding
diamond. Importantly, these off-the-chart properties are only valid for high quality individualized
nanotubes or sheets. However, most engineering applications require the assembly of tens to millions
of these nanoparticles into one device. Unfortunately, the mechanical and electronic figures of merit of
such assembled materials typically drop by at least an order of magnitude in comparison to the
constituent nanoparticles. In this ERC project, we aim at the development of new techniques to create
structured assemblies of carbon nanoparticles. Herein we emphasize the importance of controlling
hierarchical arrangement at different length scales in order to engineer the properties of the final
device. The project will follow a methodical approach, bringing together different fields of expertise
ranging from macro- and microscale manufacturing, to nanoscale material synthesis and mesoscale
chemical surface modification. For instance, we will pursue combined top-down microfabrication and
bottom-up self-assembly, accompanied with surface modification through hydrothermal processing.
This research will impact scientific understanding of how nanotubes and nanosheets interact, and will
create new hierarchical assembly techniques for nanomaterials. Further, this ERC project pursues
applications with high societal impact, including energy storage and water filtration. Finally, HIENA will
tie relations with EU’s rich CNT industry to disseminate its technologic achievements.
End Date:
31/12/2018
Project ID:
337753
Host Institution:
Acronym:
IGYPURTECH
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Dr. Mara Guadalupe Freire Martins
maragfreire@ua.pt
UNIVERSIDADE DE AVEIRO, AVEIRO, PT
www.ua.pt
IgY Technology: A Purification Platform using Ionic-Liquid-Based Aqueous Biphasic Systems
With the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens the development of antigen-specific antibodies
for use in passive immunotherapy is, nowadays, a major concern in human society. Despite the most
focused mammal antibodies, antibodies obtained from egg yolk of immunized hens, immunoglobulin Y
(IgY), are an alternative option that can be obtained in higher titres by non-stressful and non-invasive
methods. This large amount of available antibodies opens the door for a new kind of cheaper
biopharmaceuticals. However, the production cost of high-quality IgY for large-scale applications
remains higher than other drug therapies due to the lack of an efficient purification method. The
search of new purification platforms is thus a vital demand to which liquid-liquid extraction using
aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) could be the answer. Besides the conventional polymer-based
systems, highly viscous and with a limited polarity/affinity range, a recent type of ABS composed of
ionic liquids (ILs) may be employed. ILs are usually classified as “green solvents” due to their negligible
vapour pressure. Yet, the major advantage of IL-based ABS relies on the possibility of tailoring their
phases’ polarities aiming at extracting a target biomolecule. A proper manipulation of the system
constituents and respective composition allows the pre-concentration, complete extraction, or
purification of the most diverse biomolecules. This research project addresses the development of a
new technique for the extraction and purification of IgY from egg yolk using IL-based ABS. The
proposed plan contemplates the optimization of purification systems at the laboratory scale and their
use in countercurrent chromatography to achieve a simple, cost-effective and scalable process. The
success of this project and its scalability to an industrial level certainly will allow the production of
cheaper antibodies with a long-term impact in human healthcare.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
339380
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ALEM
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Matti Antero Arkkio
antero.arkkio@aalto.fi
AALTO-KORKEAKOULUSAATIO, AALTO, FI
http://www.aalto.fi/en/
ADDITIONAL LOSSES IN ELECTRICAL MACHINES
Electrical motors consume about 40 % of the electrical energy produced in the European Union. About
90 % of this energy is converted to mechanical work. However, 0.5-2.5 % of it goes to so called
additional load losses whose exact origins are unknown. Our ambitious aim is to reveal the origins of
these losses, build up numerical tools for modeling them and optimize electrical motors to minimize
the losses. As the hypothesis of the research, we assume that the additional losses mainly result from
the deterioration of the core materials during the manufacturing process of the machine. By
calorimetric measurements, we have found that the core losses of electrical machines may be twice as
large as comprehensive loss models predict. The electrical steel sheets are punched, welded together
and shrink fit to the frame. This causes residual strains in the core sheets deteriorating their magnetic
characteristics. The cutting burrs make galvanic contacts between the sheets and form paths for interlamination currents. Another potential source of additional losses are the circulating currents between
the parallel strands of random-wound armature windings. The stochastic nature of these potential
sources of additional losses puts more challenge on the research. We shall develop a physical loss
model that couples the mechanical strains and electromagnetic losses in electrical steel sheets and
apply the new model for comprehensive loss analysis of electrical machines. The stochastic variables
related to the core losses and circulating-current losses will be discretized together with the temporal
and spatial discretization of the electromechanical field variables. The numerical stochastic loss model
will be used to search for such machine constructions that are insensitive to the manufacturing defects.
We shall validate the new numerical loss models by electromechanical and calorimetric measurements.
End Date:
28/2/2019
Project ID:
340025
Host Institution:
Acronym:
INTELHYB
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Jürgen Eckert
j.eckert@ifw-dresden.de
LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FUER FESTKOERPER- UND WERKSTOFFFORSCHUNG
DRESDEN E.V., DRESDEN, DE
www.ifw-dresden.de
Next generation of complex metallic materials with intelligent hybrid structures
In a modern society, metallic materials are crucially important (e.g. energy, safety, infrastructure,
transportation, health, medicine, life sciences, IT). Contemporary examples with inherent challenges to
be overcome are the design of ultrahigh specific strength materials. There is a critical need for
successful developments in this area in particular for reduced energy consumption, reduction of
pollutant emissions and passenger safety. Alternative approaches include improved thermal stability
and creep resistance of high-temperature alloys for energy conversion, which are generally used in
power plants and turbine engines, high temperature process technology, and fossil-fuel driven engines.
The ageing European society makes biomedical materials for implant and stent design also crucially
important. A drawback of nearly all current high strength metallic materials is that they lack ductility
(i.e. are brittle and hard to form)- or on the opposite side, they may be highly ductile but lack strength.
The key concept behind INTELHYB is to define new routes for creation of tailored metallic materials
based on scale-bridging intelligent hybrid structures enabling property as well as function optimization.
The novelty of this proposal as compared to conventional ideas is that they apply to monolithic
amorphous materials or bulk microcrystalline. The basis will be founded on innovative strategies for
the design, synthesis and characterization of intrinsic length-scale modulation and phase
transformation under highly non-equilibrium conditions. This will include the incorporation of
dispersed phases which are close to or beyond their thermodynamic and mechanical stability limit thus
forming a hierarchically structured hybrid and ductile/tough alloys. Alternatively, the material itself will
be designed in a manner such that it is at the verge of its thermodynamic/mechanical stability.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
615456
Acronym:
I-CAD
Prof. Joris Wilfried Maria Cornelius Thybaut
joris.thybaut@ugent.be
http://www.ugent.be
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Innovative Catalyst Design for Large-Scale, Sustainable Processes
A systematic and novel, multi-scale model based catalyst design methodology will be developed. The
fundamental nature of the models used is unprecedented and will represent a breakthrough compared
to the more commonly applied statistical, correlative relationships. The methodology will focus on the
intrinsic kinetics of (potentially) large-scale processes for the conversion of renewable feeds into fuels
and chemicals. Non-ideal behaviour, caused by mass and heat transfer limitations or particular reactor
hydrodynamics, will be explicitly accounted for when simulating or optimizing industrial-scale
applications. The selected model reactions are situated in the area of biomass upgrading to fuels and
chemicals: fast pyrolysis oil stabilization, glycerol hydrogenolysis and selective oxidation of (bio)ethanol
to acetaldehyde. For the first time, a systematic microkinetic modelling methodology will be
developed for oxygenates conversion. In particular, stereochemistry in catalysis will be assessed. Two
types of descriptors will be quantified: kinetic descriptors that are catalyst independent and catalyst
descriptors that specifically account for the effect of the catalyst properties on the reaction kinetics.
The latter will be optimized in terms of reactant conversion, product yield or selectivity. Fundamental
relationships will be established between the catalyst descriptors as determined by microkinetic
modelling and independently measured catalyst properties or synthesis parameters. These innovative
relationships allow providing the desired, rational feedback in from optimal descriptor values towards
synthesis parameters for a new catalyst generation. Their fundamental character will guarantee
adequate extrapolative properties that can be exploited for the identification of a groundbreaking next
catalyst generation.
End Date:
31/5/2019
Project ID:
616186
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TRITOS
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Luca Brandt
luca@mech.kth.se
www.kth.se
TRansItions and Turbulence Of complex Suspensions
The aim of this project is to forge a physical understanding of the transitions and of the turbulent flow
of semi-dilute/dense non-colloidal suspensions, for different particle features and suspending fluids. It
is estimated that 10% of the world energy consumption is due to the transport and handling of
granular materials of which particle suspensions are an important part. A deep understanding of the
mechanisms underlying the flow of particle suspensions, the transition to turbulence and the
turbulence characteristics is crucial for many important practical applications involving engineered
complex fluids, such as pastes and paper pulp. A better prediction and control of the flow of
suspensions will therefore have a huge impact. Complex fluids are multiscale by nature where the
physics at the microscale affects the macroscopic behaviour of the flow and vice versa giving rise to
surprising and spectacular phenomena as well as making this one of the most important practical
problem still to solve. Investigating the mechanisms by which the system microstructure determines
the macroscopic flow properties and vice versa will not only give valuable insights into the nature of
flowing suspensions but also will also lead to new ways to model and control it. Future generations of
engineering CFD tools will have to contain models for complex suspensions. The fundamental approach
proposed here, combined with challenging scientific and engineering examples backed up by
experimental evidence, will make this possible and demonstrate it to a wider engineering community.
The proposed project is based on highly accurate simulations of multiphase flow systems and state-ofthe-art experiments. Such a holistic approach will enable us to understand the underlying mechanisms
of instabilities and suspension turbulence and to develop accurate criteria for their prediction far in
advance of what we could achieve with either approach separately.
End Date:
31/3/2019
Project ID:
616695
Host Institution:
Acronym:
POTENT
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Paolo Decuzzi
paolo.decuzzi@iit.it
FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA, GENOVA, IT
www.iit.it
Engineering Discoidal Polymeric Nanoconstructs for the Multi-Physics Treatment of Brain Tumors
Despite significant advances in chemotherapy, the effective treatment of malignant masses via
systemically injectable agents are still limited by insufficient accumulation at the biological target (<<
10% injected dose per gram tumor) and non-specific sequestration by the reticulo-endothelial system
(tumor/liver < 0.1). The goal of this proposal is to engineer Discoidal Polymeric Nanoconstructs (DPNs)
to preferentially target the malignant neovasculature for the delivery of imaging agents, controlled
release of therapeutic molecules and thermal energy. The central hypothesis is that the size, shape,
surface properties and stiffness (4S parameters) of the DPNs can be controlled during synthesis, and
that therapeutic molecules (Temozolomide), Gd(DOTA) complexes and ultra-small Super-Paramagnetic
Iron Oxide nanoparticles (USPIOs) can be efficiently incorporated within the DPN polymeric matrix.
This will be achieved by pursuing 3 specific aims: i) synthesis and physico-chemical characterization of
poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/poly(ethylene glycol) DPNs with multiple 4S combinations; ii) in-silico and in
vitro rational selection of DPN configurations with preferential tumor deposition, low macrophage
uptake and high loading; and iii) in-vivo testing of the DPN imaging and therapeutic performance in
mice bearing Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM). The innovation stays in i) using synergistically three
different targeting strategies (rational selection of the 4S parameters; magnetic guidance via external
magnets acting on the USPIOs; specific ligand-receptor recognition of the tumor neovasculature); ii)
combining therapeutic and imaging molecules within the same nanoconstruct; and iii) employing
synergistically different therapeutic approaches (molecular and thermal ablation therapies). This would
allow us to support minimally invasive screening via clinical imaging and enhance therapeutic efficacy
in GBM patients.
End Date:
30/6/2019
Project ID:
617336
Acronym:
BTVI
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Dr. Alexander Zelikin
zelikin@chem.au.dk
www.au.dk
First Biodegradable Biocatalytic VascularTherapeutic Implants
We aim to perform academic development of a novel biomedical opportunity: localized synthesis of
drugs within biocatalytic therapeutic vascular implants (BVI) for site-specific drug delivery to target
organs and tissues. Primary envisioned targets for therapeutic intervention using BVI are
atherosclerosis, viral hepatitis, and hepatocellular carcinoma: three of the most prevalent and
debilitating conditions which affect hundreds of millions worldwide and which continue to increase in
their importance in the era of increasingly aging population. For hepatic applications, we aim to
develop drug eluting beads which are equipped with tools of enzyme-prodrug therapy (EPT) and are
administered to the liver via trans-arterial catheter embolization. Therein, the beads perform localized
synthesis of drugs and imaging reagents for anticancer combination therapy and theranostics, antiviral
and anti-inflammatory agents for the treatment of hepatitis. Further, we conceive vascular therapeutic
inserts (VTI) as a novel type of implantable biomaterials for treatment of atherosclerosis and reendothelialization of vascular stents and grafts. Using EPT, inserts will tame “the guardian of
cardiovascular grafts”, nitric oxide, for which localized, site specific synthesis and delivery spell success
of therapeutic intervention and/or aided tissue regeneration. This proposal is positioned on the
forefront of biomedical engineering and its success requires excellence in polymer chemistry, materials
design, medicinal chemistry, and translational medicine. Each part of this proposal - design of novel
types of vascular implants, engineering novel biomaterials, developing innovative fabrication and
characterization techniques – is of high value for fundamental biomedical sciences. The project is
target-oriented and once successful, will be of highest practical value and contribute to increased
quality of life of millions of people worldwide.
End Date:
31/3/2019
Project ID:
617972
Acronym:
STRUBA
Dr. Angelo Simone
a.simone@tudelft.nl
www.tudelft.nl
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Computational modelling of structural batteries
Competition in consumer electronics has pushed the boundaries of technological development
towards miniaturization, with weight/size limitations and increasing power demands being the two
most stringent requirements. Although almost all the components of any portable device become
smaller, lighter and more powerful by the months, electrochemical technology is far from presenting
us with the ideal battery. From a different perspective, the equation mobile device = casing +
electronics + battery could be simplified by merging the structural function of the casing with that of
the energy source of the battery into a structural battery. This approach would immediately reduce
weight and size of our mobile devices. This project aims at investigating the effect of electrochemicalmechanical interactions on the mechanical performance of structural batteries. Understanding and
controlling mechanical degradation in structural batteries is of prime importance given the dual
structural-electrical function of these devices. In fact, the main concern when dealing with structural
batteries is whether the internal stresses caused by external loads will influence the performance of
the battery, and, conversely, whether the functioning of the battery will have a detrimental effect on
its mechanical properties. The complexity of these processes can only be addressed with dedicated
computational techniques. This project offers a unique opportunity for the design and implementation
of the first multiphysics and multiscale computational framework for the analysis of structural
batteries. Macroscale processes originating at the level of a basic components will be elucidated
through physically-based constitutive laws. The overall impact of this project will be felt across many
research communities. Apart from the energy storage community, the developed tools and procedures
will influence research and development related to many fibre-reinforced composites.
End Date:
31/5/2019
Project ID:
637460
Acronym:
EyeRegen
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Mark Joseph Ahearne
ahearnm@tcd.ie
www.tcd.ie
Engineering a scaffold based therapy for corneal regeneration
Corneal blindness resulting from disease, physical injury or chemical burns affects millions worldwide
and has a considerable economic and social impact on the lives of people across Europe. In many cases
corneal transplants can restore vision however the shortage of donor corneas suitable for
transplantation has necessitated the development of alternative treatments. The aim of this project is
to develop a new approach to corneal tissue regeneration. Previous approaches at engineering corneal
tissue have required access to donor cells and lengthy culture periods in an attempt to grow tissue in
vitro prior to implantation with only limited success and at great expense. Our approach will differ
fundamentally from these in that we will design artificial corneal scaffolds that do not require donated
cells or in vitro culture but instead will recruit the patient’s own cells to regenerate the cornea postimplantation. These biomaterial scaffolds will incorporate specific chemical and physical cues with the
deliberate aim of attracting cells and inducing tissue formation. Studies will be undertaken to examine
how different chemical, biochemical, physical and mechanical cues can be used to control the
behaviour of corneal epithelial, stromal and endothelial cells. Once the optimal combination of these
cues has been determined, this information will be incorporated into the design of the scaffold. Recent
advances in manufacturing and material processing technology will enable us to develop scaffolds with
organized nanometric architectures and that incorporate controlled growth factor release mechanisms.
Techniques such as 3D bio-printing and nanofiber electrospinning will be used to fabricate scaffolds.
The ability of the scaffold to attract cells and promote matrix remodelling will be examined by
developing an in vitro bioreactor system capable of mimicking the ocular environment and by
performing in vivo tests using a live animal model.
End Date:
30/6/2020
Project ID:
638307
Host Institution:
Acronym:
AEROFLEX
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Dr. Olivier Pierre Marquet
olivier.marquet@onera.fr
OFFICE NATIONAL D'ETUDES ET DE RECHERCHES AEROSPATIALES, MEUDON,
FR
www.onera.fr
AEROelastic instabilities and control of FLEXible Structures
Aeroelastic instabilities are at the origin of large deformations of structures and are limiting the
capacities of products in various industrial branches such as aeronautics, marine industry, or wind
electricity production. If suppressing aeroelastic instabilities is an ultimate goal, a paradigm shift in the
technological development is to take advantage of these instabilities to achieve others objectives, as
reducing the drag of these flexible structures. The ground-breaking challenges addressed in this project
are to design fundamentally new theoretical methodologies for (i) describing mathematically
aeroelastic instabilities, (ii) suppressing them and (iii) using them to reduce mean drag of structures at
a low energetic cost. To that aim, two types of aeroelastic phenomena will be specifically studied: the
flutter, which arises as a result of an unstable coupling instability between two stable dynamics, that of
the structures and that the flow, and vortex-induced vibrations which appear when the fluid dynamics
is unstable. An aeroelastic global stability analysis will be first developed and applied to problems of
increasing complexity, starting from two-dimensional free-vibrating rigid structures and progressing
towards three-dimensional free-deforming elastic structures. The control of these aeroelastic
instabilities will be then addressed with two different objectives: their suppression or their use for flow
control. A theoretical passive control methodology will be established for suppressing linear aeroelastic
instabilities, and extended to high Reynolds number flows and experimental configurations. New
perturbation methods for solving strongly nonlinear problems and adjoint-based control algorithm will
allow to use these aeroelastic instabilities for drag reduction. This project will allow innovative control
solutions to emerge, not only in flutter or vortex-induced vibrations problems, but also in a much
broader class of fluid-structure problems.
End Date:
30/6/2020
Project ID:
639495
Acronym:
INTHERM
Prof. Alberto Fina
alberto.fina@polito.it
POLITECNICO DI TORINO, ALESSANDRIA, IT
www.polito.it
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Design, manufacturing and control of INterfaces in THERMally conductive polymer nanocomposites
This proposal addresses the design, manufacturing and control of interfaces in thermally conductive
polymer/graphene nanocomposites.
In particular, the strong reduction of thermal resistance
associated to the contacts between conductive particles in a percolating network throughout the
polymer matrix is targeted, to overcome the present bottleneck for heat transfer in nanocomposites.
The project includes the investigation of novel chemical modifications of nanoparticles to behave as
thermal bridges between adjacent particles, advanced characterization methods for particle/particle
interfaces and controlled processing methods for the preparations of nanocomposites with superior
thermal conductivity. The results of this project will contribute to the fundamental understanding of
heat transfer in complex solids, while success in mastering interfacial properties would open the way to
a new generation of advanced materials coupling high thermal conductivity with low density, ease of
processing, toughness and corrosion resistance.
End Date:
29/2/2020
Project ID:
646867
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Learn
Evaluation Panel:
Informatics
Prof. Leonardo Mariani
mariani@disco.unimib.it
UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO-BICOCCA, MILAN, IT
www.unimib.it
Learning From Failing and Passing Executions At the Speed of Internet
Modern software systems must be extremely flexible and easily adaptable to different user needs and
environments. However, this flexibility also introduces relevant quality issues. These problems are so
common that is sufficient browsing the Web to find millions of reports about failures observed after
updates and incompatibilities caused by the interaction of a newly installed component with the
existing components. The impact of problems introduced by end-users can be dramatic because endusers can easily modify applications, like developers do, but end-users have neither the knowledge nor
the skill of developers, and they cannot debug and fix the problems that they unintentionally
introduce. It is thus necessary to timely develop novel solutions that can increase the reliability of the
moderns systems, which can be extended and adapted by end-users, with the capability to
automatically address problems that are unknown at development-time. The Learn project aims to
produce innovative solutions for the development of systems that can work around the problems
introduced by end-users when modifying their applications. The three key elements introduced by
Learn to automatically produce a (temporary) fix for the software are: (1) the definition of the
InternetLearn infrastructure, which is a network infrastructure that enables communication between
every individual instance of a same program running at different end-users’ sites, thus augmenting
each application with the capability to access a huge amount of information collected in-the-field from
other sites; (2) the definition of analysis techniques that can learn the characteristics of successful and
failed runs by monitoring executions in the field from a number of instances running at many end-user
sites; and (3) the definition of techniques for the automatic generation and actuation of temporary
fixes on an Internet (World) scale.
End Date:
30/9/2019
Project ID:
639760
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PEDAL
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Dr. Sarah Josephine Gallagher
mccorms1@tcd.ie
www.tcd.ie
Plasmonic Enhancement and Directionality of Emission for Advanced Luminescent Solar Devices
Applying photovoltaic (PV) panels to buildings is an important application for wider PV deployment and
to achieving our 20% Renewable Energy EU targets by 2020. PEDAL will develop a disruptive PV
technology where record increases in efficiency are achieved and costs dramatically reduced; (1)
Diffuse solar radiation will be captured to produce higher efficiencies with concentration ratios over 3
in plasmonically enhanced luminescent solar concentrators (PLSC). Current LSC efficiency achieved is
7.1%, [1]. This proposal will boost efficiency utilising metal nanoparticles (MNP) tuned to luminescent
material type in LSCs, to induce plasmonic enhancement of emission (PI and team have achieved 53%
emission enhancement). MNP will be aligned to enable directional emission within the LSC (being
patented by PI and team). These are both huge steps in the reduction of loss mechanisms within the
device and towards major increases in efficiency.(2) Plasmonically enhanced luminescent downshifting
thin-films (PLDS) will be tailored to increase efficiency of solar cells independent of material
composition. MNP will be used, where the plasmonic resonance will be tailored to the luminescent
species to downshift UV. MNP will be aligned to enable directional emission within the PLDS layer,
reducing losses enabling dramatic increases in a layer adaptable to all solar cells.(3) These novel
systems will be designed, up-scaled and a building integrated component fabricated, with the ability
not only to generate power but with options for demand side management. Previous work has been
limited by quantum efficiency of luminescent species, with this breakthrough in both the use of MNP
for plasmonic emission enhancement and alignment inducing directionality of emission, will lead to
efficiencies of both PLSC and PLDS being radically improved. PEDAL is a project based on new
phenomena that will allow far reaching technological impacts in solar energy conversion and lighting.
End Date:
31/3/2020
Project ID:
640598
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NEW_FUN
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Luis Miguel Nunes Pereira
lmnp@fct.unl.pt
NOVA ID FCT - ASSOCIACAO PARA A INOVACAO E DESENVOLVIMENTO DA
FCT, CAPARICA, PT
www.fct.unl.pt
New era of printed paper electronics based on advanced functional cellulose
Fully recyclable and low cost electronic goods are still far from reality. My interest is in creating
environmental friendly advanced functional materials and processes able to result in new class of
paper based electronic products. This represents a reborn of the paper millenary industry for a
plethora of low cost, recyclable and disposable electronics, putting Europe in the front line of a new era
of consumer electronics. While the vision of the proposal is a very ambitious one, my ground-breaking
research work to date related with oxide based transistors on paper (from which I am one of the coinventors) has contributed to the basic technological breakthroughs needed to create the key elements
to establish a new era of paper electronics. Field effect transistors (FETs), memory and CMOS devices,
with excellent electronic performance and using paper as substrate and dielectric have resulted from
my recent work. What I am proposing now is to reinvent the concept of paper electronics. In
NEW_FUN I want to develop a completely new and disruptive approach where functionalized cellulose
fibers will be used not only as dielectric but also as semiconductor and conductor able to coexist in a
multilayer paper structure. That is, assembling paper that can have different functionalities locally, on
each face or even along its entire thickness/bulk. This way issues such as failure under bending,
mechanical robustness and stability can be minimized. Doing so, electronic and electrochemical devices
can be produced not only on paper but also from paper. The outputs of NEW_FUN will open the door
to turn paper into a real electronic material making possible disposable/recyclable electronic products,
such as smart labels/packages (e.g. food and medicine industry), sensors for air quality control (car,
house and industry environments); disposable electronic devices such as bio-detection platforms, labon-paper systems, among others.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
647067
Host Institution:
Acronym:
BIOLOCHANICS
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Stéphane Henri Anatole Avril
avril@emse.fr
ASSOCIATION POUR LA RECHERCHE ET LE DEVELOPPEMENT DES METHODES
ET PROCESSUS INDUSTRIELS, SAINT-ETIENNE, FR
www.armines.net
Localization in biomechanics and mechanobiology of aneurysms: Towards personalized medicine
Rupture of Aortic Aneurysms (AA), which kills more than 30 000 persons every year in Europe and the
USA, is a complex phenomenon that occurs when the wall stress exceeds the local strength of the aorta
due to degraded properties of the tissue. The state of the art in AA biomechanics and mechanobiology
reveals that major scientific challenges still have to be addressed to permit patient-specific
computational predictions of AA rupture and enable localized repair of the structure with targeted
pharmacologic treatment. A first challenge relates to ensuring an objective prediction of localized
mechanisms preceding rupture. A second challenge relates to modelling the patient-specific evolutions
of material properties leading to the localized mechanisms preceding rupture. Addressing these
challenges is the aim of the BIOLOCHANICS proposal. We will take into account internal length-scales
controlling localization mechanisms preceding AA rupture by implementing an enriched, also named
nonlocal, continuum damage theory in the computational models of AA biomechanics and
mechanobiology. We will also develop very advanced experiments, based on full-field optical
measurements, aimed at characterizing localization mechanisms occurring in aortic tissues and at
identifying local distributions of material properties at different stages of AA progression. A first in vivo
application will be performed on genetic and pharmacological models of mice and rat AA. Eventually, a
retrospective clinical study involving more than 100 patients at the Saint-Etienne University hospital
will permit calibrating estimations of AA rupture risk thanks to our novel approaches and infuse them
into future clinical practice. Through the achievements of BIOLOCHANICS, nonlocal mechanics will be
possibly extended to other soft tissues for applications in orthopaedics, oncology, sport biomechanics,
interventional surgery, human safety, cell biology, etc.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
647863
Host Institution:
Acronym:
COMIET
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Dr. Elena Martínez Fraiz
emartinez@ibecbarcelona.eu
FUNDACIO INSTITUT DE BIOENGINYERIA DE CATALUNYA, BARCELONA, ES
www.ibecbarcelona.eu
Engineering Complex Intestinal Epithelial Tissue Models
Epithelial barriers protect the body against physical, chemical, and microbial insults. Intestinal
epithelium is one of the most actively renewing tissues in the body and a major site of carcinogenesis.
Functional in vitro models of intestinal epithelium have been pursued for a long time. They are key
elements in basic research, disease modelling, drug discovery, and tissue replacing and have become
prime models for adult stem cell research. By taking advantage of the self-organizing properties of
intestinal stem cells, intestinal organoids have been recently established, showing cell renewal’s
kinetics resembling to the one found in vivo. However, the development of in vitro 3D tissue
equivalents accounting for the dimensions, architecture and access to the luminal contents of the in
vivo human intestinal tissue together with its self-renewal properties and cell complexity, remains a
challenge. The goal of this project is to engineer intestinal epithelial tissue models that mimic
physiological characteristics found in in vivo human intestinal tissue, to open up new areas of research
on human intestinal diseases. The proposed models will address the in vivo intestinal epithelial cell
renewal and migration, the multicell-type differentiation and the epithelial cell interactions with the
underlying basement membrane while providing access to the luminal content to go beyond the stateof-the-art organoid models. To do this, we propose to develop an experimental setup that combines
microfabrication techniques, tissue engineering components and recent advances in intestinal stem
cell research, exploiting stem cell self-organizing characteristics. We anticipate this setup to
recapitulate the 3D morphology, the spatio-chemical gradients and the dynamic microenvironment of
the living tissue. We expect the new device to prove useful in understanding cell physiology, adult stem
cell behaviour, and organ development as well as in modelling human intestinal diseases.
End Date:
30/11/2020
Project ID:
648375
Host Institution:
Acronym:
iNanoEOR
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Dongsheng Wen
d.wen@leeds.ac.uk
UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS, LEEDS, UK
www.leeds.ac.uk
In-situ produced nanoparticles for enhanced oil recovery
The era of finding “easy oil” is coming to an end, and future supply will become more reliant on fossil
fuels produced from enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process. Many EoR methods have been used,
including mechanical, chemical, thermal and biological approaches, but there are still 50~70% of the
original oil trapped in reservoir rocks after the primary and secondary recovery. NanoEOR, i.e, injecting
nanoparticles (NPs) together with flooding fluids, is an emerging field. However all proposed
applications are based on pre-fabricated NPs, which encountered enormous problems in NP
stabilization and transport under reservoir conditions. This project proposes a revolutionary concept,
iNanoEOR: in-situ production of NPs inside the reservoir for enhanced oil recovery. Rather than premanufacturing, dispersing and stabilizing NPs in advance, NPs will be produced in the reservoir by
controlled hydrothermal reactions, acting as sensors to improve reservoir characterisation, or as
property modifiers to effectively mobilize the trapped oil. This project will validate the innovative
iNanoEOR concept by answering three questions: i) how the concept works? ii) what kind of NPs should
be produced that can effectively mobilize trapped oil? iii) what are desired NP properties to allow them
flow through a reservoir? Three work programs are designed, and a number of breakthroughs beyond
state-of-art research are expected, which include i) proof-of-concept of the innovative iNanoEOR, ii)
developing a new methodology for temperature measurement inside a reservoir, iii) revelation of the
influence of NPs on EOR under reservoir-like conditions, iv) understanding the controlling factors in NP
transport at different scales. The project will not only contribute directly to iNanoEOR, but also
transfers the PI’s expertise in nanomaterials and multiphase flow into oil and gas sector and underpin
many NP-related subsurface applications, which currently is non-existing in the Europe.
End Date:
31/7/2020
Project ID:
648377
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ReactiveFronts
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Tanguy Eugene Le Borgne
tanguy.le-borgne@univ-rennes1.fr
UNIVERSITE DE RENNES I, RENNES, FR
www.univ-rennes1.fr
Mixing interfaces as reactive hotspots of porous media flows: theoretical upscaling, experimental
imaging and field scale validation
In porous media, mixing interfaces such as contaminant plume fringes or boundaries between water
bodies create highly reactive localized hotspots of chemical and microbiological activity, whether in
engineered or natural systems. These reactive fronts are characterized by high concentration gradients,
complex flow dynamics, variable water saturation, fluctuating redox conditions and multifunctional
biological communities. The spatial and temporal variability of velocity gradients is expected to
elongate mixing interfaces and steepen concentration gradients, thus strongly affecting biochemical
reactivity. However, a major issue with porous media flows is that these essential micro-scale
interactions are inaccessible to direct observation. Furthermore, the lack of a validated upscaling
framework from fluid- to system-scale represents a major barrier to the application of reactive
transport models to natural or industrial problems. The ambition of the ReactiveFronts project is to
address this knowledge gap by setting up a high level interdisciplinary team that will provide a new
theoretical understanding and novel experimental imaging capacities for micro-scale interactions
between flow, mixing and reactions and their impact on reactive front kinetics at the system scale.
ReactiveFronts will develop an original approach to this long-standing problem; combining theoretical,
laboratory and field experimental methods.The focus on reactive interface dynamics, which represents
a paradigm shift for reactive transport modelling in porous media, will require the development of
original theoretical approaches (WP1) and novel microfluidic experiments (WP2). This will form a
strong basis for the study of complex features at increasing spatial scales, including the coupling
between fluid dynamics and biological activity (WP4), the impact of 3D flow topologies and chaotic
mixing on effective reaction kinetics (WP3), and the field scale assessment of these interactions (WP5).
End Date:
30/9/2020
Project ID:
669505
Host Institution:
Acronym:
COTURB
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Javier Jiménez Sendín
jimenez@torroja.dmt.upm.es
UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRID, MADRID, ES
www.upm.es
Coherent Structures in Wall-bounded Turbulence
Turbulence is a multiscale phenomenon for which control efforts have often failed because the
dimension of the attractor is large. However, kinetic energy and drag are controlled by relatively few
slowly evolving large structures that sit on top of a multiscale cascade of smaller eddies. They are
essentially single-scale phenomena whose evolution can be described using less information than for
the full flow. In evolutionary terms they are punctuated ‘equilibria’ for which chaotic evolution is only
intermittent. The rest of the time they can be considered coherent and predictable for relatively long
periods. Coherent structures studied in the 1970s in free-shear flows (e.g. jets) eventually led to
increased understanding and to industrial applications. In wall-bounded cases (e.g. boundary layers),
proposed structures range from exact permanent waves and orbits to qualitative observations such as
hairpins or ejections. Although most of them have been described at low Reynolds numbers, there are
reasons to believe that they persist at higher ones in the ‘LES’ sense in which small scales are treated
statistically. Recent computational and experimental advances provide enough temporally and spatially
resolved data to quantify the relevance of such models to fully developed flows. We propose to use
mostly existing numerical data bases to test the various models of wall-bounded coherent structures,
to quantify how often and how closely the flow approaches them, and to develop moderate-time
predictions. Existing solutions will be extended to the LES equations, methods will be sought to identify
them in fully turbulent flows, and reduced-order models will be developed and tested. In practical
situations, the idea is to be able to detect large eddies and to predict them ‘most of the time’. If simple
enough models are found, the process will be implemented in the laboratory and used to suggest
control strategies.
End Date:
31/1/2021
Project ID:
670747
Host Institution:
Acronym:
FireBar-Concept
Evaluation Panel:
Engineering
Prof. Serge Bourbigot
serge.bourbigot@ensc-lille.fr
UNIVERSITE DES SCIENCES ET TECHNOLOGIES DE LILLE - LILLE I, VILLENEUVE
D’ASCQ, FR
www.ensc-lille.fr
MULTI-CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF FIRE BARRIER: A SYSTEMIC APPROACH
The development of science and technology provides the availability of sophisticated products but
concurrently, increases the use of combustible materials, in particular organic materials. Those
materials are easily flammable and must be flame retarded to make them safer. In case of fire, people
must be protected by materials confining and stopping fire. It is one of the goals of the FireBar-Concept
project to design materials and assembly of materials exhibiting low flammability, protecting
substrates and limiting fire spread. The objective of FireBar-Concept is to make a fire barrier formed at
the right time, at the right location and reacting accordingly against thermal constraint (fire scenario).
This fire barrier can be developed in several ways according to the chemical nature of the material
and/or of its formulation:- Heat barrier formed by inherently flame retarded materials (e.g. mineral
fibers, ceramic …) and exhibiting low thermal conductivity (note the assembly of those materials can
also provide low thermal conductivity controlling porosity and its distribution)- Evolution of reactive
radicals poisoning the flame and forming a protective ‘umbrella’ avoiding the combustion of the
material- Additives promoting charring of the materials and forming an expanding carbonaceous
protective coating or barrier (intumescence)- Additives forming a physical barrier limiting mass transfer
of the degradation products to the flameThe FireBar-Concept project is multidisciplinary and it requires
expertise in material science, chemical engineering, chemistry, thermal science and physics. The
approach is to make 5 actions linked together by transverse developments (3) according to this
scheme: (i) fundamentals of fire barrier, (ii) multi-material and combination of concepts, (iii) modeling
and numerical simulation, (iv) design and development of experimental protocols and (v) optimization
of the systems.
End Date:
31/12/2020
Project ID:
306478
Host Institution:
Acronym:
COSMICDAWN
Dr. Hiranya Vajramani Peiris
h.peiris@ucl.ac.uk
Evaluation Panel:
PE9 - Universe Sciences
Understanding the Origin of Cosmic Structure
The early universe is a “laboratory” for testing physics at very high energies, up to a trillion times
greater than the energies reached by the Large Hadron Collider. The origin of structure in the universe
is deeply tied to this extreme physics, which is imprinted in the primordial ripples seen in the cosmic
microwave background (CMB). CMB data have thus far led the way in constraining early universe
physics, and ESA’s Planck satellite is currently mapping the CMB at the highest precision ever achieved.
However, next generation galaxy surveys – such as the Dark Energy Survey (DES), starting next year –
will rival the CMB in their ability to unlock the secrets of the primordial universe. I will use the Planck
and DES data to rigorously test the theory of inflation, the dominant paradigm for the origin of cosmic
structure, and to seek signatures of new physics that are likely to exist at these unexplored energies. I
have already played a leading role in bringing theory and robust data analysis together to understand
the very early universe. This proposal aims, for the first time, to go beyond simply testing generic
predictions of the inflationary paradigm, to gain a fundamental understanding of the physics
responsible for the origin of cosmic structure. The keys to achieving this goal are: theoretical modelling
at the cutting edge of fundamental physics (describing not just the inflationary period but also pre- and
post-inflationary physics); advanced Bayesian and wavelet methods to extract reliable information
from the data; a deep understanding of data limitations and control of systematics. The project will
produce definitive results at the interface of cosmology and high energy physics, defining the frontiers
of these fields well beyond the lifetimes of the surveys themselves.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
338251
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
STELLARAGES
Dr. Saskia Hekker
hekker@mps.mpg.de
GÖTTINGEN, DE
www.mpg.de
Accurate ages of stars
Age is a fundamental property of stars. It is an essential tool to understand many diverse phenomena
in astrophysics, including the evolution of stars, planetary systems, and the Galaxy. However, age is
currently the most poorly known property of a star, often to no better than 30-40% accuracy, which is
not good enough. The ages of stars cannot be measured directly; they can only be determined by
comparing age-sensitive observables with model predictions. Asteroseismology, the study of stellar
oscillations, offers the unique opportunity to estimate the ages of stars to within 5-10% of their
lifetime. Using state-of-the-art space observations (CoRoT and Kepler) of stellar oscillation frequencies
combined with ground-based spectroscopy (e.g. APOGEE), I propose to uniformly determine accurate
ages of thousands of stars with unprecedented precision. Building on my extensive experience in this
field, I plan to develop and implement new asteroseismic diagnostics for a large number of mainsequence stars, subgiants and red giants. These new age determination methods are expected to be
calibrated using stars in binary systems and clusters, and compared with classical methods. Uniform
age determinations for a large sample of stars in different directions in the sky will greatly advance the
study of stellar populations in the Galaxy. This project is ambitious, and success requires a dedicated
approach from a competent team with the right resources and the right leader.
End Date:
30/9/2018
Project ID:
339231
Host Institution:
Acronym:
HOME
Prof. Dirk Schulze-Makuch
dirksm@wsu.edu
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET BERLIN, BERLIN, DE
www.tu-berlin.de
Evaluation Panel:
Habitability of Martian Environments: Exploring the Physiological and Environmental Limits of Life
The low average temperature and low water activity of the Martian near-surface environment makes it
challenging for living organisms to persist and propagate. Nonetheless, recent mission results indicate
that environmental conditions exceed locally and temporarily the lower thresholds for life to exist.
Furthermore, specific soil minerals, or combinations thereof, appear to provide a suitable habitat for
microbial life, especially if associated with low-temperature brines or hygroscopic salts. Thus, a
quantitative understanding of the habitability potential of the Martian near-surface environment, past
and present, is very much needed and the focus of this proposal. To achieve this objective, we will test
different types of soils and some of Earth’s hardiest organisms, using them as models (‘Marsanalogues’), to see if they can survive and perhaps even grow under the various environmental stresses
known to exist on Mars. A major tool of our laboratory investigations will be the experimentally proven
state-of-the-art Mars Simulation Chamber at the German AeroSpace Center, to which various soils
materials and microorganisms will be exposed. The planned experimental investigations and models
will be concurrently updated by analyzed mission data, particularly from landers and rovers (e.g.,
Curiosity Rover), to adjust our work to the newest Martian geochemical and environmental data
available. Results from our proposed work will timely provide critical scientific knowledge to interpret
incoming data from ESA’s ExoMars mission, which is scheduled for launch in 2016/2018. As one
important deliverable of our work we will also construct a Mars Soil Analyzer, an instrument which will
be designed for a future mission to Mars with the objective to achieve Technology Readiness Level 6 at
the completion of the proposed study.
End Date:
31/7/2019
Project ID:
615929
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
SPCND
Dr. Mark Sullivan
m.sullivan@soton.ac.uk
Supernovae: Physics and Cosmology in the Next Decade
Exploding stars, or supernovae, impact upon many diverse areas of astrophysics, from galaxy
formation, to stellar evolution, to cosmology and studies of dark energy. I am playing a leading role in
new, wide-field, high-cadence optical surveys that are revolutionising the study of supernovae,
searching vast volumes of space, locating hundreds of events to study their demographics in detail, and
uncovering new and bizarre types of explosions. In concert with a major European Southern
Observatory public spectroscopic survey, PESSTO, these imaging surveys will provide an extraordinary
dataset for understanding all facets of the supernova and explosive transient population. My work will
perform several tests of the progenitors and physics of the classical type Ia supernovae in an attempt
to understand how these crucial standard candles depend on their progenitor stellar populations. I will
use these results to inform a new generation of models of type Ia supernovae. I will this distill these
results to make a detailed measurement of the dark energy that powers the accelerating universe in
which we live, greatly improving upon existing measurements of the variation of dark energy over the
last ten billion years. A final aspect of my research is an innovative search for superluminous
supernovae: a new class of supernova explosion a hundred times brighter than traditional supernovae,
capable of being studied in the very distant universe. These objects may become cosmology's new
standard candle, visible far beyond the reach of type Ia supernovae. My new search will significantly
increase both the quantity and quality of superluminous supernova observations, allowing us to further
our understanding of these enigmatic objects and use them in a cosmological setting for the first time.
End Date:
31/5/2019
Project ID:
617119
Host Institution:
Acronym:
EXOLIGHTS
Dr. Giovanna Tinetti
g.tinetti@ucl.ac.uk
Evaluation Panel:
Decoding Lights from Exotic Worlds
It is now accepted that exoplanets are ubiquitous. However little is known about those planets we have
detected beyond the fact they exist and their location. For a minority, we know their weight, size and
orbital parameters. For less than twenty, we have some clues about their atmospheric temperature
and composition. How do we progress from here? We are still far from a hypothetical Hertzsprung–
Russell diagram for planets and we do not even know whether there ever will be such classification for
planets. The planetary parameters mass, radius and temperature alone do not explain the diversity
revealed by current observations. The chemical composition of these planets is needed to trace back
their formation history and evolution, as was the case for the Solar System. Pioneering results were
obtained through transit spectroscopy with Hubble, Spitzer and ground-based facilities, enabling the
detection of ionic, atomic and molecular species and of the planet’s thermal structure. With the arrival
of improved or dedicated instruments in the coming decade, planetary science will expand beyond the
narrow boundaries of our Solar System to encompass our whole Galaxy. In the next five years,
ExoLights will address the following fundamental questions: – Why are exoplanets as they are? – What
are the causes for the observed diversity? – Can their formation history be traced back from their
current composition and evolution? New spectroscopic observations of a select sample of exoplanets’
atmospheres (~ 20 out of the 150 observable today) will be analysed with state-of-the art statistical
techniques and interpreted through a comprehensive set of spectral retrieval models, developed by
the PI and her team. This programme, together with the homogeneous re-analysis of archive
observations of a larger sample of exoplanets, will allow us to use the chemical composition as a
powerful diagnostic of the history, formation mechanisms and evolution of gaseous and rocky
exoplanets.
End Date:
30/4/2019
Project ID:
638809
Host Institution:
Acronym:
AIDA
Prof. Andrei Albert Mesinger
ricercaeuropea@sns.it
SCUOLA NORMALE SUPERIORE DI PISA, PISA, IT
www.sns.it
Evaluation Panel:
An Illumination of the Dark Ages: modeling reionization and interpreting observations
Understanding the dawn of the first galaxies and how their light permeated the early Universe is at the
very frontier of modern astrophysical cosmology.
Generous resources, including ambitions
observational programs, are being devoted to studying these epochs of Cosmic Dawn (CD) and
Reionization (EoR). In order to interpret these observations, we propose to build on our widely-used,
semi-numeric simulation tool, 21cmFAST, and apply it to observations. Using sub-grid, semi-analytic
models, we will incorporate additional physical processes governing the evolution of sources and sinks
of ionizing photons. The resulting state-of-the-art simulations will be well poised to interpret topical
observations of quasar spectra and the cosmic 21cm signal. They would be both physically-motivated
and fast, allowing us to rapidly explore astrophysical parameter space. We will statistically quantify the
resulting degeneracies and constraints, providing a robust answer to the question, "What can we learn
from EoR/CD observations?" As an end goal, these investigations will help us understand when the first
generations of galaxies formed, how they drove the EoR, and what are the associated large-scale
observational signatures.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
646908
Host Institution:
Acronym:
S4F
Dr. Jes Kristian Jørgensen
jeskj@nbi.dk
www.ku.dk
Evaluation Panel:
Setting the Stage for Solar System Formation
Low-mass stars like our Sun are formed in the centers of dark clouds of dust and gas that obscure their
visible light. Deep observations at infrared and submillimeter wavelengths are uniquely suited to probe
the inner regions of these young stellar objects and unravel their structures, as well as the physical and
chemical processes involved. These earliest stages are particularly interesting because the properties of
the deeply embedded objects reflect the star formation process itself and how it relates to its
environment. It is for example during this stage that the final mass of the star and the properties of its
disk – and thus ability to form planets – are determined. It is also during these stages that the first
seeds for the chemical evolution of the protoplanetary disk are planted and where some complex
organic, possibly prebiotic, molecules may be formed. I here apply for an ERC Consolidator Grant that
will support an ambitious program to map the physics and chemistry of the early Solar System. The
proposed research program intends to use new high resolution, high sensitivity observations from the
Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) - including a number of recently approved large programs –
coupled to state-of-the-art radiative transfer tools and theoretical simulations to address some of the
key questions concerning the physics and chemistry of the earliest stages of the Solar System: How is
the chemistry of the earliest protostellar stages related to the physical structure and evolution of the
young stellar object and its surrounding environment? Which complex organic molecules are present in
the inner regions of low-mass protostars? What are the chances the rich chemistry of the earliest
stages is incorporated into planetary systems such as our own?
End Date:
31/7/2020
Project ID:
646928
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
Multi-Pop
Prof. Nathan Bastian
n.j.bastian@ljmu.ac.uk
LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY, LIVERPOOL, UK
http://www.ljmu.ac.uk
Fulfilling the Potential of Globular Clusters as Tracers of Cosmological Mass Assembly
Globular clusters (GCs) are among the oldest luminous sources in the universe, bearing witness to
theearliest stages of galaxy formation as well as their evolution to the present day. While GCs have
played apivotal role in our understanding of the assembly of galaxies, their full potential remains
unfulfilled due toour lack of understanding of how they form. One of the largest stumbling blocks has
been the anomalouschemistry (both metallicity distributions and abundance patterns) of GCs relative
to field stars within galaxy.Here, we will turn the problem around and exploit these differences to
understand the co-evolution of GCsand their host galaxies.Our understanding of GCs and their
formation has undergone a radical change in the past two decades. First,it is now clear that while
traditionally thought of as the quintessential simple stellar populations (i.e., all starswithin a cluster
have the same chemical abundances and age), globular clusters host multiple stellarpopulations with
spreads in He, many light elements (e.g., Na, O, Al) and even Fe in a few cases. Secondly,GCs, once
thought to only be able to form in the special conditions present in the early Universe, are nowknown
to be still forming today (known as Young Massive Clusters - YMCS). These two facts have openedup a
new window into the interconnectedness of GC and galaxy formation and co-evolution.In this project
we will quantitatively test current GC formation models with observations of YMCs, as wellas organise
what is known of the stellar populations within GCs (e.g., abundance spreads, CMDmorphologies),
providing, for the first time, a global view (i.e., which characteristics are specific toindividual GCs and
which are common to all GCs). These results, when combined with what is known aboutmassive cluster
formation in the local universe, will provide an unprecedented opportunity to use GCs toconstrain the
hierarchical assembly of galaxies.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
647208
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
imbh
Dr. Peter Gustaaf Jonker
p.jonker@sron.nl
STICHTING SRON NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR SPACE RESEARCH, UTRECHT,
NL
www.sron.nl
Do intermediate-mass black holes exist?
With this proposed project I will determine whether intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) exist. I
propose to use ESA's new Gaia mission, the rich Hubble Space Telescope data archive, and state-of-theart techniques to investigate systems predicted to exist but not yet found hitherto, such as recoiled
hyper-compact stellar systems, red-supergiant mass donors to ultra-luminous X-ray sources, and white
dwarf tidal disruption events. The latter can only be detected if black holes with masses less than 1E5
Msun are involved. Using these systems and events we can probe the sphere of influence of the IMBH
and determine the black hole mass dynamically.Currently, there are strong indications for the
existence of IMBHs, but dynamical evidence, the irrefutable proof of their existence, is still lacking.
Whereas the unequivocal detection of an IMBH will be a breakthrough discovery in itself, it has also
important consequences for searches of dark matter annihilation signals, it will provide a baseline for
the rate predictions of gravitational wave radiation events involving IMBHs, and the properties of a
population of IMBHs provides important constraints on the growth of supermassive black holes and
galaxies. Finally, if we discover IMBHs in hyper-compact star clusters it validates numerical relativity
simulations that predict that merging black holes receive a recoil kick.My membership of Gaia's Data
Processing and Analysis Consortium gives me a distinct advantage in analysing and interpreting Gaia
data that, through the superb angular resolution, immediate spectroscopic observations and all-sky
coverage, provides unique capabilities ideally suited for answering the question whether IMBHs
exist.My proposed project is the first to recognize the potential of Gaia (WP1&2) as well as the
implications of having red supergiant mass donors in some ultra-luminous X-ray sources (WP3) for
answering the question on the existence of IMBHs.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
638115
Host Institution:
Acronym:
InfoAggregation
Evaluation Panel:
SH1 - Markets, Individuals and
Institutions
Prof. Stephan Lauermann
s.lauermann@gmail.com
RHEINISCHE FRIEDRICH-WILHELMS-UNIVERSITAT BONN, BONN, DE
www.uni-bonn.de
Information Aggregation in Elections
Elections are the foundation for democratic decision making. This research program will examine the
effects of biased and privately informed entities—election organizers—on the ability of elections to
aggregate information: Existing theory demonstrates that large electorates can reach correct decisions
by aggregating information dispersed among many voters. However, existing theory does not account
for the ubiquitous presence of biased organizers who intend to affect the election outcome. Examples
of biased organizers may include a CEO holding a shareholder vote, a regional government holding a
referendum, and political parties in general elections. This project will develop and analyze new
models of voting that account for the effects of biased organizers on information aggregation. One of
the examples I consider is an election organizer who can increase voter participation at some cost (e.g.,
through advertising). Preliminary work suggests that the presence of biased organizers has significant
impact. As increasing participation becomes cheap, equilibria exist where the election organizer
recruits a large number voters and yet the majority votes almost surely for the organizer’s favorite
policy. This failure of information aggregation contrasts starkly with existing results for elections in
which the number of voters is exogenously large.
I will study the effectiveness of institutional
safeguards against such manipulation, including supermajority rules, publicity requirements, and the
regulation of communication to voters, and I will apply the theory in the context of shareholder voting
and corporate control. Thus, this research program has important implications for the design of
elections in realistic voting scenarios.
End Date:
30/6/2020
Project ID:
295769
Host Institution:
Acronym:
GLOBALSPORT
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Niko Besnier
n.besnier@uva.nl
www.uva.nl
Globalization, Sports and the Precarity of Masculinity
In the last few decades, the erosion of the social and economic structures that previously provided a
straightforward raison d’être to men have transformed, in all societies of the world, masculinity into a
problematic category. In the Global South, deepening economic, political and social insecurities have
further compounded the fragility of masculinity. Younger men in particular find it increasingly difficult
to secure a productive role in local economies, and many in the world’s more destitute countries are
investing their hopes in the possibility of becoming a successful professional athlete. But athletic talent
can only translate into economic productivity in the industrial North, and athletic migrations have
become, for large number of boys, young men, families, villages, nations and states in the Global
South, the solution for a masculinity under threat, the way out of economic precarity, and the
embodiment of millenarian hope. At the same time, athletic bodies are inherently fragile, the sports
industry fickle, and the paths of migrant athletes strewn with obstacles, rendering deeply problematic
yet unavoidable the dependence of so many individuals on the success of a few. This multi-sited
comparative ethnographic project seeks to investigate the migratory dynamics at play between
selected developing countries and selected countries in the industrial world in three different sports,
soccer-football, rugby union, and cricket. It explores ways in which these three sports represent for
young talented hopeful in the Global South various embodiments of hope for the redemption of
masculinity and of its productive potentials. The research will open new theoretical avenues for an
understanding of the constitution of masculinity in the context of globalisation, changes in the
structure of nation-states and the meaning of citizenship, and the constitution of everyday lives in
more destitute regions of the world.
End Date:
31/8/2017
Project ID:
312420
Host Institution:
Acronym:
REDEFTIE
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Sonja Utz
s.utz@iwm-kmrc.de
MEDIEN IN DER BILDUNG STIFTUNG, TUEBINGEN, DE
www.iwm-kmrc.de
Redefining tie strength – how social media (can) help us to get non-redundant useful information
and emotional support
Social media offer us effortless ways to stay in touch with large numbers of individuals. These
individuals can be friends (strong ties), acquaintances (weak ties), or people we barely know (absent
ties). Decades of social capital research have shown that strong ties are useful because they provide us
with emotional support and weak ties are useful because they provide us with non-redundant useful
information, but absent ties do not provide us with any benefits at all. Now, social media challenge
these conclusions. Through social media, people connect to absent ties daily, so apparently there are
benefits involved. My central question therefore is: To what extent do social media change how, and
from whom, we seek and receive informational and emotional support? Social media technologies
have changed the frequency and nature of our social connections. Smart phones allow a constant
connection with our social network, sometimes even preventing us from socializing face-to-face.
Twitter facilitates asymmetric relationships, such that even marginalized individuals can connect to
important information sources. Facebook has set a norm where individuals who in the past we would
merely have nodded to, are now embedded in our network of “friends“. It seems natural to assume
that, if the way we maintain our social network changes, the way we extract social capital from that
network also changes. To deepen our understanding of the effects of social media use on receiving
informational and emotional support, I will employ several methods. By means of a large longitudinal
study (subproject 1) in a representative sample, I aim to detect causal relationships between social
media use at time t and informational and emotional benefits at time t+x. In addition, two subprojects
will study in detail the cognitive and affective processes underlying informational (subproject 2) and
emotional (subproject 3) benefits of social media use.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
313172
Acronym:
DISCONEX
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Johannes Angermüller
j.angermuller@warwick.ac.uk
www.warwick.ac.uk
The Discursive Construction of Academic Excellence.
Classifying SSH Researchers Through Text-Processing Practices
DISCONEX investigates two types of text-processing practices by means of which academic researchers
are classified in different national and disciplinary fields of the social sciences and humanities (SSH).
The research project will produce theoretically informed and empirically grounded insights into the
social organization of SSH research. Drawing from constructivist social theory and qualitative methods
in discourse analysis and pragmatics, the research team investigates the discursive construction of
excellence as a practical accomplishment of readers cooperating with texts. In a first step, we collect
CVs from confirmed SSH researchers from France, Germany, the UK and the U.S.. Then we carry out
reader interviews to investigate how membership is negotiated in specialized knowledge communities
of the SSH. In a second step, we investigate non-academic practices of processing large text collections
in order to account for how academic producers are ranked by evaluation professionals and calculative
technologies. Finally, by comparing representations of excellence produced by academic and nonacademic actors, DISCONEX will show how knowledge producers and ranking experts account for the
representations of other types of readers respectively. In the light of the complex interpretive
problems involved in the reading and writing of academic texts, we will produce reflexive knowledge
on how SSH researchers are classified in the light of new modes of academic knowledge production.
Given the important role that written texts play in SSH discourse, the exchange between the sociology
of science and discourse analysis can help establish a new field: the social sciences and humanities
studies (SSHS).
End Date:
28/2/2018
Project ID:
323899
Host Institution:
Acronym:
AUTHORITARIANGLOBAL
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Marlies Glasius
m.e.glasius@uva.nl
www.uva.nl
Authoritarianism in a Global Age: Controlling Information and Communication, Association and
People Movement
The overarching research question of this project is: how is authoritarian rule affected by and
responding to globalisation of (a) information and communication, (b) association, and (c) people
movement? The wholly unpredicted series of revolts that recently spread across the Arab world
suggests that the nature and sustainability of contemporary authoritarian rule are not wellunderstood. Openness to global ICT and media, international NGOs, and inflow and outflow of people
have thrown up new challenges for authoritarian rulers in terms of how to control citizens. This project
investigates changes in both the nature and the sustainability of authoritarian rule in relation to the
erosion of decision-making autonomy at the state level posited by globalisation theorists. In four subprojects, this project will investigate: 1. Whether, how and to what extent globalisation of information
and communication, association, and people movement affect authoritarian persistence (longitudinal
quantitative study, 1970-2011) 2. How, i.e. with what policy mechanisms, authoritarian states respond
to globalisation of information and communication, association, and people movement (qualitative
multi-sited studies relating to Belarus, China, Iran and Zimbabwe) 3. How to understand the
phenomenon of subnational authoritarianism in its engagement with the democratic state and the
wider world in relation to information and communication, association, and people movement (mixed
method subnational studies of states within India and Mexico) 4. What authoritarianism is in a global
age: reconsidering authoritarianism’s defining characteristics of low accountability and high coercion,
and whether these still relate exclusively to statehood (theory study) The project will transcend the
theoretical and empirical separation between globalisation studies (which have neglected authoritarian
contexts) and authoritarianism studies(which have taken relatively little notice of effects of
globalisation)
End Date:
30/9/2018
Project ID:
336230
Host Institution:
Acronym:
UNIJURIS
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Cedric Marie Joseph Ryngaert
c.m.j.ryngaert@uu.nl
www.uu.nl
Unilateralism and the protection of global interests: opportunities and limits of the exercise of state
jurisdiction
In the 20th century, states have increasingly sought to apply their laws to situations and persons
beyond their borders. They typically did so to protect their own interests from harm spilling over their
borders. Recently, however, states appear to be giving their laws ‘extraterritorial’ application to
protect global interests, not only when prosecuting international criminals, but also by enacting
emissions trading schemes to tackle global warming, by taking sanctions against foreign vessels
involved in illegal fishing on the high seas docking in their port, and by fighting foreign corrupt practices
with a view to furthering good governance in developing countries. Thus, it appears that a novel
principle of jurisdiction is crystallizing that protects global interests through unilateral application of
domestic (or regional) law. It is the aim of this research to study this development in-depth, and to
examine in particular whether, and under what circumstances, international law countenances such
an exercise of unilateral jurisdiction that is aimed at the protection of global interests. The project
consists of two pillars. Pillar 1 studies three cases of states or regional organizations unilaterally
applying their own laws to (partly) foreign situations considered as threatening global interests: (a) the
exercise of unilateral jurisdiction aimed at mitigating climate change; (b) the exercise of port state
jurisdiction aimed at protecting sustainable fishing and biological diversity on the high seas; (c) the
exercise of unilateral jurisdiction to tackle foreign corruption practices. Pillar 2 is synthetic in nature,
and assesses whether, and to what extent, general rules of jurisdiction and jurisdictional restraint
concerning the protection of global interests are developing across various fields, including but not
limited to the fields studied in Pillar 1.
End Date:
31/10/2018
Project ID:
340430
Host Institution:
Acronym:
MIGPROSP
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Andrew Peter Geddes
a.geddes@shef.ac.uk
www.shef.ac.uk
Prospects for International Migration Governance
Risk and uncertainty are inherent in any decision-making procedure, but while a substantial body of
work on the governance of international migration focuses on challenges posed to governance
systems, we know remarkably little about the impact of risk and uncertainty on: (i) the cognitive biases
of actors within migration governance systems; (ii) the susceptibility of these biases to change; (iii) the
relationship between cognitive bias and broader questions of systemic resilience, vulnerability and
adaptation and (iv) the similarities and differences in migration governance between major world
regions. Each of these is a significant gap in our knowledge of international migration governance. To
address this gap this project will focus on the context of decision to ask: what are the causes and
consequences of the cognitive biases concerning risk and uncertainty held by actors in migration
governance systems? The project will: (i) test the causes and consequences of the ‘frames’ held by
actors in migration governance systems, specify the scope for these frames to change and to analyse
the likely systemic effects of change on migration governance systems in four major world regions. (ii)
develop a comparative regional analysis of the micro-political foundations of migration governance and
their implications for system adaptation and change. (iii) significantly advance conceptual and
methodological understanding of international migration governance through the use of concepts of
systemic adaptation, vulnerability and resilience that bridge behavioural theories of choice with
theories of institutional and organisational change. (iv) disseminate the results effectively through a
range of appropriate outlets and through engagement with a range of users of the results of this work
in academia, policy-making communities, NGOs and the wider public.
End Date:
31/3/2019
Project ID:
647755
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DYNPOR
Evaluation Panel:
Chemical Sciences
Prof. Véronique Van Speybroeck
veronique.vanspeybroeck@ugent.be
UNIVERSITEIT GENT, ZWIJNAARDE, BE
http://www.ugent.be
First principle molecular dynamics simulations for complex chemical transformations in nanoporous
materials
Chemical transformations in nanoporous materials are vital in many application domains, such as
catalysis, molecular separations, sustainable chemistry,…. Model-guided design is indispensable to
tailoring materials at the nanometer scale level.
At real operating conditions, chemical
transformations taking place at the nanometer scale have a very complex nature, due to the interplay
of several factors such as the number of particles present in the pores of the material, framework
flexibility, competitive pathways, entropy effects,… The textbook concept of a single transition state is
far too simplistic in such cases. A restricted number of configurations of the potential energy surface is
not sufficient to capture the complexity of the transformation. My objective is to simulate complex
chemical transformations in nanoporous materials using first principle molecular dynamics methods at
real operating conditions, capturing the full complexity of the free energy surface. To achieve these
goals advanced sampling methods will be used to explore the interesting regions of the free energy
surface. The number of guest molecules at real operating conditions will be derived and the diffusion
of small molecules through pores with blocking molecules will be studied. New theoretical models will
be developed to keep track of both the framework flexibility and entropy of the lattice. The selected
applications are timely and rely on an extensive network with prominent experimental partners. The
applications will encompass contemporary catalytic conversions in zeolites, active site engineering in
metal organic frameworks and structural transitions in nanoporous materials, and the expected
outcomes will have the potential to yield groundbreaking new insights. The results are expected to
have impact far beyond the horizon of the current project as they will contribute to the transition from
static to dynamically based modeling tools within heterogeneous catalysis
End Date:
31/7/2020
Project ID:
616702
Host Institution:
Acronym:
IBIAS
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Jan Beyers
jan.beyers@ua.ac.be
UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN, ANTWERPEN, BE
www.ua.ac.be
Understanding contemporary interest group politics: mobilization and strategies in multi-layered
systems
This ERC program addresses an unsettled political science problem, namely how does the shifting of
policymaking competencies to higher levels of government affect the opportunities of societal interests
to seek representation. On this issue two completely different theoretical expectations exist. One the
one hand, the Madisonian view entails that shifting competencies upwards is a healthy antidote to the
powers of specific interests that may dominate smaller polities. Multi-levelness may also provide
political opportunities as it enables actors to make strategic venue shifts when they are unable to
attract the necessary attention at one venue. On the other hand, shifting policymaking upwards may
seriously restrict the opportunities for diffuse interests, undermine encompassing forms of interest
representation, and increase the barriers for local groups to gain attention. Instead of creating
opportunities for all, multi-layered systems may decrease opportunities and reproduce or reinforce
representational bias. One of the reasons why the implications of multi-layeredness are so poorly
understood is the fact that political science has not developed a proper understanding of what
representational bias means; some scholars see bias in terms of mobilization, while others conceive it
in terms of the strategic interactions between organized interests and policymakers. This ERC program
will integrate theoretically, methodologically and empirically these different aspects of group politics,
by taking explicitly into account the nature of multi-layered systems. The innovative character of it lies
in the theoretical combination of mapping interest group community dynamics, with a more nuanced
characterization of organizational form and an in-depth investigation of bias in terms of strategies.
End Date:
31/8/2019
Project ID:
617930
Acronym:
ERADICATION
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Vinh-Kim Nguyen
v.k.nguyen@uva.nl
www.uva.nl
Eradication: the science and politics of a world without AIDS
New biomedical technologies and public health strategies are being tested world-wide with the goal of
eradicating the HIV epidemic. Achieving a world without AIDS has become the flagship of the vast
global health apparatus, rallying governments, international organisations, philanthropic and
pharmaceutical capital, research networks and activists. Mass screening and treatment, preventive
drugs and gels, and molecular maps of sexual networks have shifted the biomedical paradigm from one
of control to one of eradication. The biopolitical armamentarium of the push to eradicate may
inadvertently enable unexpected biological, cultural, social and political transformations. Mass
treatment and preventive drugs require very high levels of compliance to achieve the desired public
health effects, foreshadowing the coercive potential of eradication efforts. Intensified mapping of
“most at-risk populations” marks a shift from the existing emphasis on rights and empowerment to one
of surveillance and discipline. As these approaches remain unproven, eradication constitutes a global
public health experiment of unprecedented proportions, whose outcomes will shape global health
efforts for decades to come. Eradication efforts to rid the world of HIV are attempts to order nature as
revealed through a global epidemic, putting them squarely at the centre of anthropological concern.
The two overarching questions are: what will HIV eradication efforts achieve? What are the reasons for
the outcome, be it partial success or partial failure? To answer these questions, a multi-sited
ethnography will be conducted in Africa, Europe and North America of the science and politics of HIV
eradication. It will focus on the testing, preparation, and implementation of the three key technologies
of HIV eradication: universal testing and mass treatment, molecular mapping of sexual and social
networks.
End Date:
31/10/2019
Project ID:
639275
Host Institution:
Acronym:
VITAL
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Ayo Juhani Wahlberg
ayo.wahlberg@anthro.ku.dk
www.ku.dk
The Vitality of Disease - Quality of Life in the Making
Epidemiological reports from around the world suggest that more people than ever before are living
with (especially chronic) diseases. As a consequence, sustained efforts to reduce morbidity and
mortality rates have been joined by systematised efforts to improve the lives – the quality of life – of
those living with disease in ways that are measurable and auditable.VITAL will focus on the making of
‘quality of life’. While social studies of medicine have of late been marked by a ‘bio-turn’, it is apparent
that within contemporary medicine, life is envisaged as much more than cellular and molecular
activity; it is also a social activity and a personal experience. Not only is life sustained, it is also lived. In
recent decades, morbid living – living with disease – has come to be the object of novel forms of
knowledge, expertise, measurement and management while also generating new medical practices
and attendant ways of relating to oneself.VITAL suggests a shift in attention from the ways in which the
social sciences have previously studied morbid living and related issues of quality of life. Rather than
continue longstanding efforts to understand how people cope with disease or to refine definitions and
instruments for measuring the quality of life of the sick, in VITAL we will empirically study the coproduction of ‘quality of life’ within healthcare through four ethnographically-grounded studies of how
‘quality of life’ is assembled, mobilised, negotiated and practiced in concrete medical settings. The four
studies will focus on how knowledge about living with disease is assembled and mobilised, on the one
hand, and how morbid living is negotiated and practiced on the other.The key outcomes of VITAL will
be theoretical advancement of understandings of vitality in the 21st century beyond molecular biology
and methodological innovation to facilitate empirical study of co-production processes that involve
social science knowledge and practice.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
639583
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ToxicExpertise
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Alice Anastasia Mah
a.a.mah@warwick.ac.uk
www.warwick.ac.uk
Toxic Expertise: Environmental Justice and the Global Petrochemical Industry
This research project critically examines ‘toxic expertise’, the contested politics of making scientific
claims about the health impacts of toxic pollution. Toxic expertise has a double meaning: scientific
expertise about the effects of toxic pollution, and the toxic nature of expertise that is used to justify a
lack of corporate social responsibility. The research focuses on the global petrochemical industry as a
significant but controversial source of toxic pollution, with unequal regulations and risks across
different countries and populations. Debates about the global petrochemical industry reflect conflicting
interests between jobs, prosperity, and health. This research contributes to interdisciplinary social
scientific research on science and technology, environmental justice movements, and the uneven
geography of capitalism. In particular, it develops sociological arguments that scientific ‘expertise’ is
inherently political and socially constructed. This mixed method comparative research will be
conducted in three stages. The first stage will examine toxic expertise in the leading global
petrochemical companies and environmental non-governmental organisations in Western Europe,
North America, and China. The second stage will focus on in-depth case studies in the United States
and China, two of the top petrochemical producers in the world. The third stage will develop an
international public resource of toxic expertise to address practical challenges of capacity and scale
inherent within both dominant and citizen-led epidemiology, by developing accessible information and
tools for understanding, monitoring, and reporting toxic pollutants and their health impacts. The
project offers the first systematic sociological analysis of the global petrochemical industry in relation
to environmental justice, responding to calls within critical social science for the democratisation of
science which highlight the need for greater accountability and transparency.
End Date:
31/7/2020
Project ID:
647314
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Becoming Men
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Eileen Marie Moyer
eileenmoyer@hotmail.com
www.uva.nl
Becoming Men: Performing responsible masculinities in contemporary urban Africa
This anthropological study examines the reconfiguration of masculinities in urban Africa over the last
30 years. Focusing on how practices and discourses of empowerment and equality shape male
subjectivities, this study builds upon a significant body of nuanced research on masculinities in Africa.
Since the mid-1980s academic and public discourses have depicted African masculinity as both
precarious and predatory. Economic insecurity, urbanization, shifting gender norms, and growing
gender parity have accompanied claims that African masculinity is ‘in crisis’. More recently, new stories
of urban men embracing responsible fatherhood, condemning intimate partner violence, and
demanding homosexual rights have emerged as exemplars of progressive possibility. To disentangle
these seemingly competing claims about African masculinities and shed light on the scientific, political,
and economic projects that shape them, this research theorises that the discourses and practices that
pathologise and politicise masculinity are simultaneously performing and producing gendered selves
on multiple scales in the name of gender equality. Recently, ‘male involvement’ has become a rallying
cry throughout the vast global development assemblage, around which governments, NGOs, research
networks, activists, and local communities fight gender inequality to promote health, economic
development, and human rights. In this research, a range of male-involvement initiatives provides a
lens through which to study how masculinities are diversely imagined, (re)configured, and performed
through men’s engagements with this assemblage, in both its local and global manifestations. Multisited ethnographic research will focus on six cities where the PI has active research ties: Nairobi and
Kisumu, Kenya; Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa; and Dar es Salaam and Mwanza, Tanzania.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
648693
Host Institution:
Acronym:
EVILTONGUE
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Károly Takács
takacs.karoly@tk.mta.hu
MAGYAR TUDOMANYOS AKADEMIA TARSADALOMTUDOMANYI
KUTATOKOZPONT, BUDAPEST, HU
www.mtapti.hu
No Sword Bites So Fiercly as an Evil Tongue?Gossip Wrecks Reputation, but Enhances Cooperation
Social norms in general, and norms of cooperation in particular, are the cement of all human societies.
For the difficult problems of the maintenance and enforcement of social norms and of cooperation,
humans have developed surprisingly complex solutions. Reputation mechanisms and gossip are
certainly among the compound informal solutions. According to common wisdom, gossip channels
mainly negative and often fictitious information. If it is so, how can dishonest gossip and the resulting
biased reputations legitimize social order and promote cooperation? This is the main puzzle we tackle
in the proposed project exploiting a wide scale of instruments. We use analytical modeling and agentbased simulation to derive hypotheses. We test simple hypotheses in small group experiments. We
develop new methodological tools to appropriately analyze the triadic nature of gossip embedded in
network flows of information. We utilize dynamic network datasets from primary and secondary school
classes, and we gather qualitative and quantitative information from organizations to test conditional
hypotheses about the role that gossip plays in reputation and cooperation in different developmental
and social contexts of life. In addition, we apply new communication technologies currently under
development to explore the hidden world of gossip and the dynamics of reputations in dormitories and
organizations. With the insights gained, we can overcome common stereotypes about gossip and
highlight how gossip is related to credible reputational signals, cooperation, and social order. Expected
results will help us to outline the conditions that can promote cooperativeness in work groups, and
they will help to construct successful prevention strategies of social exclusion and other potentially
harmful consequences of the evil tongue.
End Date:
30/11/2020
Project ID:
312290
Host Institution:
Acronym:
GENDERBALL
Evaluation Panel:
SH3 - Environment, Space and
Population
Prof. Jan Van Bavel
jan.vanbavel@soc.kuleuven.be
www.kuleuven.be
Implications of the Shifting Gender Balance in Education for Reproductive Behaviour in Europe
This project is the first comprehensive study of the demographic consequences of a major recent
development in Europe: while men have always received more education than women in the past, this
gender balance in education has now turned around. For the first time in history, there are more highly
educated women than men reaching the reproductive ages and looking for a partner. I expect that this
will have profound consequences for the demography of reproduction because mating practices have
always implied that men are the majority in higher education. These traditional practices are no longer
compatible with the new gender distribution in education. The objective of my project is to study in
depth the consequences of this historically new situation for reproductive behaviour. The first step of
the project is to reconstruct country-specific time series charting the shifting gender balance in
education across time and space at different ages. These can then be used as contextual information in
subsequent multilevel analyses of reproductive behaviour. In the second part, I will investigate how the
reversal of the gender balance is influencing patterns of assortative mating by level of education. Third, I
will study how the shifting gender balance is connected to the timing and probability of marriage versus
unmarried cohabitation and to the timing and quantum of fertility. Finally, I will investigate the
consequences for divorce and separation. Existing data sources will be used that cover a wide range of
European countries. This project will not only be ground breaking by setting the research agenda for a
new era in the European reproductive landscape. It will also introduce methodological innovations.
First, agent based modelling will be used as a method to study assortative mating. Second, I propose a
new way to study the causal effect of the gender balance in education. These methodological
innovations will prove useful for many other social science projects.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
336155
Host Institution:
Acronym:
COBHAM
Evaluation Panel:
Population
Dr. Massimo Tavoni
massimo.tavoni@polimi.it
POLITECNICO DI MILANO, MILANO, IT
www.polimi.it
The role of consumer behavior and heterogeneity in the integrated assessment of energy and
climate policies
The objective of this project is to quantify the role of consumers’ behaviour on the design and
assessment of policies aimed at enhancing energy efficiency and conservation and at promoting
climate change mitigation. The project brings together different disciplines –namely energy policy,
environmental and ecological economics, behavioral public finance, experimental economics, and
technology policy- in an integrated fashion. COBHAM is designed to go beyond the standard analysis of
energy and climate policies in the presence of environmental externalities, by accounting for the
heterogeneity in consumers’ preferences, the role of social interactions, and the presence of
behavioral tendencies and biases. The project seeks to: i) carry out innovative research in the
theoretical understanding of the interplay between behavioral tendencies and environmental
externalities; ii) generate new empirical data and research on individual preferences by means of
original surveys and controlled experiments; iii) enhance integrated assessment models (IAMs) of
economy, energy and climate with an advanced representation of consumers’ behavior. In doing so,
the project will be able to provide a richer characterization of energy demand and of greenhouse gas
emission scenarios, to better estimate consumers’ responsiveness to energy and climate policies, and
to provide input to the design of new policy instruments aimed at influencing energy and
environmental sustainable behavior. COBHAM is of high public policy relevance given Europe’s
legislation on energy efficiency and CO2 emissions, and can provide important insights also outside the
sphere of energy and climate policymaking.
End Date:
31/7/2019
Project ID:
340753
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NEXTGENBIM
Evaluation Panel:
Population
Prof. Yehuda Kalay
kalay@technion.ac.il
TECHNION - ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, HAIFA, IL
www.technion.ac.il
NEXT-GENERATION BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING TO SUPPORT EVALUATION OF HUMAN
BEHAVIOR IN BUILT ENVIRONMENTS
This proposal argues that current building modeling tools, including popular BIM (Building Information
Modeling) systems, provide a poor, inadequate representation of buildings: they represent only the
physical and material characteristics of buildings. Buildings, unlike other products, cannot be
understood independently of their context, of their intended use, and of their intended users. This
shortcoming hinders the ability of current building models to support evaluations other than those
based on physical and material characteristics of the building, such as lighting, energy consumption,
and structural stability. In particular, the impact of a building that has not yet been built on the life and
activities of its future users—a key element in determining whether or not the proposed building will
meet the needs of its intended users—is not afforded by current building models. To afford
comprehensive prediction and evaluation of future buildings, we also need to model the purpose and
function of the building, and the social, cultural, and economic profile of the people who will use it.
Although predicting users' behavior in a built environment and their interaction with the building and
with other people is a highly complex task, vast research exists that is devoted to analyzing and
explaining human behavior in built environments. Still, due to the shortcomings of building models, this
knowledge rarely make into the practice of architectural design, at the time buildings are being
designed. The proposed research aims at remedying that shortcoming by developing a more a
comprehensive building modeling method, which will include form, function, and use information. A
better model will lead to better designed buildings. In an era when the irrevocable impact of the built
environment on the cost, quality, and perhaps even possibility of life on earth has been recognized, the
need to make every effort to improve the tools used by building designers is self-evident.
End Date:
30/11/2018
Project ID:
615159
Acronym:
DEPRIVEDHOODS
Prof. Maarten Van Ham
m.vanham@tudelft.nl
www.tudelft.nl
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Population
Socio-spatial inequality, deprived neighbourhoods, and neighbourhood effects
The objective of DEPRIVEDHOODS is to come to a better understanding of the relationship between
socio-economic inequality, poverty and neighbourhoods. The spatial concentration of poverty within
cities is of great concern to national governments, partly based on a belief in neighbourhood effects:
the idea that living in deprived neighbourhoods has an additional negative effect on residents’ life
chances over and above the effect of their own characteristics. This belief has contributed to the
development of area-based policies designed to introduce a more ‘favourable’ socio-economic mix in
deprived neighbourhoods. Despite the persistent belief in neighbourhood effects, there is surprisingly
little evidence that living in deprived neighbourhoods really affects individual lives. There is little
consensus on the importance of neighbourhood effects, the underlying causal mechanisms, the
conditions under which they are important and the most effective policy responses. It is likely that
most studies claiming to have found that poor neighbourhoods make people poor(er) only show that
poor people live in poor neighbourhoods because they cannot afford to live elsewhere.
DEPRIVEDHOODS will break new ground by simultaneously studying neighbourhood sorting over the
life course, neighbourhood change, and neighbourhood effects, within one theoretical and analytical
framework. This project will be methodologically challenging and will be the first integrated, multicountry research project on neighbourhood effects to use unique geo-referenced longitudinal data
from Sweden, United Kingdom, Estonia, and The Netherlands. Special attention will be paid to the
operationalization of neighbourhoods and how it affects modelling outcomes. Through its integrated
and international approach, DEPRIVEDHOODS will fundamentally advance understandings of the ways
in which individual outcomes interact with the neighbourhood, which will ultimately lead to more
targeted and effective policy measures.
End Date:
31/7/2019
Project ID:
637462
Host Institution:
Acronym:
DecentLivingEnergy
Evaluation Panel:
Population
Dr. Narasimha Desirazu Rao
nrao@iiasa.ac.at
INTERNATIONALES INSTITUT FUER ANGEWANDTE SYSTEMANALYSE,
LAXENBURG, AT
www.iiasa.ac.at
Energy and emissions thresholds for providing decent living standards to all
There is confusion surrounding how poverty eradication will contribute to climate change. This is due
to knowledge gaps related to the material basis of poverty, and the relationship between energy and
human development. Addressing this issue rigorously requires bridging gaps between global justice,
economics, energy systems analysis, and industrial ecology, and applying this knowledge to projections
of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. This project will develop a body of knowledge that quantifies the
energy needs and related climate change impacts for providing decent living standards to all. The
research will address three questions: which goods and services, and with what characteristics,
constitute ‘decent living standards’? What energy resources are required to provide these goods and
services in different countries, and what impact will this energy use have on climate change? How do
the constituents of decent living and their energy needs evolve as countries develop? The first task will
operationalize basic needs views of human development and advance their empirical validity by
discerning characteristics of basic goods in household consumption patterns. The second will quantify
the energy needs (and climate-related emissions) for decent living constituents and reveal their
dependence on culture, climate, technology, and other contextual conditions in countries. This will be
done using lifecycle analysis and input-output analysis, and mapping energy to climate change using
state-of-the-art energy-economy integrated assessment modelling tools for 5 emerging economies that
face the challenges of eradicating poverty and mitigating climate change. The third task will shed light
on path dependencies and trends in the evolution of basic goods and their energy intensity using
empirical analysis. This research will identify opportunities to shift developing societies towards lowcarbon pathways, and help quantify burden-sharing arrangements for climate mitigation.
End Date:
31/5/2018
Project ID:
637768
Host Institution:
Acronym:
EQUALIZE
Evaluation Panel:
Population
Dr. Iñaki Permanyer Ugartemendia
inaki.permanyer@uab.es
CENTRE D ESTUDIS DEMOGRAFICS, BARCELONA, ES
www.ced.uab.es
Equalizing or disequalizing? Opposing socio-demographic determinants of the spatial distribution of
welfare.
This project aims to investigate the extent to which current trends in family formation, living
arrangements and gender-specific education levels are related to the spatial distribution of welfare and
the emergence of jobless households in contemporary societies. Inter alia, we aim to explore whether
the welfare disequalizing, impoverishing and polarizing effects that are currently associated with recent
patterns in assortative mating, lone parenthood and household composition are offset by an
unprecedented phenomenon that is sweeping the world during the last decades: the rapid process
education expansion in tandem with a reversal of the gender gap in education. The extent to which
these two opposing forces occur and which of them is more influential in shaping the distribution of
welfare between and within countries is among the main goals of this project. To this end, we will draw
upon a variety of household surveys and the world largest sources of census microdata: the Integrated
Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) project and the Latin American and Caribbean Demographic
Centre. Because of their unparalleled geographical coverage and detail, these sources of data
constitute exceptional instruments to study socio-demographic phenomena that have been vastly
underutilized by the international research community. Triangulating our analysis at the micro, meso
and macro levels, we will establish formal linkages between welfare distributions and its sociodemographic correlates to unveil insightful relationships that have been unsatisfactorily explored so far
because of the lack of appropriately harmonized, sufficiently detailed and georeferenced datasets. We
will strongly emphasize the spatial distribution of variables to unravel local patterns that might take
place at highly disaggregated levels, therefore not being discernible to traditional (not as finelygrained) approaches.
End Date:
30/4/2020
Project ID:
639403
Host Institution:
Acronym:
WORKANDHOME
Evaluation Panel:
Population
Dr. Darja Reuschke
dr35@st-andrews.ac.uk
UK
Reshaping society and space: home-based self-employment and businesses
The aim of WORKANDHOME is to develop a new framework for understanding fundamental changes
currently taking place to work that situates individuals as economic actors within the context of their
wider life domains, household, home and neighbourhood. This will break new ground in how we
understand and classify economic activity, the home, the firm, places of economic activity, labour
markets and ‘residential’ neighbourhoods. Significant and rising numbers of people work from home as
a self-employed worker or business owner throughout Europe. This will be the first study that explores
social, economic and spatial aspects of homeworking by self-employed workers and business owners
including the role of new technologies and social media in dissolving the home-work boundary. This is
an important new area for social science research since home-based self-employment and businesses
vividly manifest the interconnection of ‘home’ and ‘work’ and of the ‘economic’ and the ‘social’ as part
of an increasingly complex society. WORKANDHOME will integrate theoretical perspectives from
economic geography, entrepreneurship and small business research, sociology, economics, housing
and neighbourhood studies. In order to investigate new realities of how people work and live, this
study will integrate analytical methods across the social sciences and computer sciences and create a
new fusion of primary, secondary and ‘big’ social media data from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany,
Europe and the world. WORKANDHOME offers a major step forward in understanding how people live,
work, do business and shape space. Its integrated and international approach will stimulate
considerable interdisciplinary exchange across disciplines in the social sciences for better
understanding and tackling contemporary societal and economic changes and challenges.
End Date:
30/9/2020
Project ID:
647860
Acronym:
LIFECOURSE
Prof. Inga Dora Sigfusdottir
ingadora@hr.is
HASKOLINN I REYKJAVIK EHF, REYKJAVIK, IS
www.ru.is
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Population
A MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS ON THE EFFECTS OF STRESS ON BIOLOGY, EMOTIONS AND BEHAVIOUR
THROUGHOUT CHILDHOOD
The overall objective of the proposed research is to improve our understanding of the interplay
between biological, environmental, and social factors that influence the development of harmful
behaviours in adolescents. We propose to conduct the first multilevel cohort study of its kind that
would combine biological, behavioural, and social data from before birth through adolescence for an
entire population birth cohort of adolescents. The program is based in Iceland due to a unique
infrastructure for the collection of health and social registry data as well as available access to a whole
cohort of adolescents. We will extend our previous work using a multilevel developmental framework
to identify both individual and collective level variables to study the independent and interactive
effects of biological, environmental, and social determinants of adolescent harmful behaviours, with
special emphasis on the influence of stress on substance use, self-inflicted harm, suicidal behaviour,
and delinquency. Our retrospective longitudinal database will include existing registry information on
maternal, child, and environmental determinants of adolescent harmful behaviours, measured prior to
birth, at the time of birth, and during the infant, toddler, preschool, middle-childhood and early
adolescent years, for the entire 2000 year birth cohort. We will prospectively measure biomarkers in
human saliva and use an existing social survey infrastructure to add to the registry database. We have
acquired all necessary ethical and organizational permissions and have carried out a preliminary study
that shows registry data compliance of over 90% for all variables we intend to combine. This is a
fundamental research project, examining unchartered territory. The results of this project will
stimulate international research but more importantly, an understanding that will lead to better
policies, planning and quality of life for young people in Europe and beyond.
End Date:
30/6/2020
Project ID:
295603
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ADAM
Evaluation Panel:
Complexity
Prof. Shihab Shamma
sas@umd.edu
ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE, PARIS, FR
http://www.ens.fr/
The Adaptive Auditory Mind
Listening in realistic situations is an active process that engages perceptual and cognitive faculties,
endowing speech with meaning, music with joy, and environmental sounds with emotion. Through
hearing, humans and other animals navigate complex acoustic scenes, separate sound mixtures, and
assess their behavioral relevance. These remarkable feats are currently beyond our understanding and
exceed the capabilities of the most sophisticated audio engineering systems. The goal of the proposed
research is to investigate experimentally a novel view of hearing, where active hearing emerges from a
deep interplay between adaptive sensory processes and goal-directed cognition. Specifically, we shall
explore the postulate that versatile perception is mediated by rapid-plasticity at the neuronal level. At
the conjunction of sensory and cognitive processing, rapid-plasticity pervades all levels of auditory
system, from the cochlea up to the auditory and prefrontal cortices. Exploiting fundamental statistical
regularities of acoustics, it is what allows humans and other animal to deal so successfully with natural
acoustic scenes where artificial systems fail. The project builds on the internationally recognized
leadership of the PI in the fields of physiology and computational modeling, combined with the
expertise of the Co-Investigator in psychophysics. Building on these highly complementary fields and
several technical innovations, we hope to promote a novel view of auditory perception and cognition.
We aim also to contribute significantly to translational research in the domain of signal processing for
clinical hearing aids, given that many current limitations are not technological but rather conceptual.
The project will finally result in the creation of laboratory facilities and an intellectual network unique
in France and rare in all of Europe, combining cognitive, neural, and computational approaches to
auditory neuroscience.
End Date:
30/9/2017
Project ID:
313398
Host Institution:
Acronym:
INTERACT
Evaluation Panel:
Complexity
Dr. Antonia Felicity De Courcy Hamilton
a.hamilton@ucl.ac.uk
Understanding Mechanisms of Human Social Interaction using Interactive Avatars
Human social interaction depends on non-verbal unconscious behaviour as much as on verbal signals.
Mimicry (unconscious copying of actions) is a good example of a social behaviour which is caused by
and has consequences for our evaluation of others. However, studying mimicry with traditional
methods is hard because of the trade-off between good experimental control and realistic social
interaction. INTERACT will (1) establish a new approach to the science of mimicry, bringing together
methods from social psychology, cognitive neuroscience and computer science, and (2) use this
approach to understand the information processing mechanisms underlying mimicry of hand actions.
First, we will develop interactive avatars which can mimic a participant’s hand actions or be mimicked
by the participant in the context of a simple drum rhythm task. Using computer-generated avatars
allows us to precisely control and measure movement timing and structure during mimicry, and to
record how participants interact with avatars with different socially-relevant features (age /
attractiveness or even aliens). Thus, the INTERACT system will enable high-resolution, well-controlled
studies of how people detect and control mimicry. Second, we will use the interactive avatars to
examine mimicry in unprecedented detail, studying how the timing and structure of an action and form
of the avatar impact on the control and detection of mimicry in typical adults. Building on this, we will
define the brain mechanisms of mimicry and why mimicry might go wrong in adults with autism
spectrum condition. The results will test current hypotheses of mimicry and will reveal the information
processing mechanisms underlying human mimicry and its relationship to other social processes.
Completion of the project will benefit research and practice in social neuroscience, developmental and
educational psychology, computer science and robotics, and all researchers interested in human social
behaviour.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
313502
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ROSE
Evaluation Panel:
Complexity
Dr. Rick Willem Frans Nouwen
r.w.f.nouwen@uu.nl
www.uu.nl
Restriction and Obviation in Scalar Expressions: the semantics and pragmatics of range markers
across and throughout languages
Most languages have a fairly well developed system of words for numbers, called numerals. It is crosslinguistically common, moreover, for languages to have a very rich paradigm of modifiers of such
numerals. For instance, English allows the numeral "fifty" to be modified by comparatives ("more than
50"), (adverbial) superlatives ("at least 50"), equatives ("as many as 50"), locative prepositions ("over
50"), directional prepositions ("up to 50"), disjunctions ("50 or more") and adverbs ("exactly 50"). As
illustrated by the set of English modifiers, typically, such paradigms do not consist of specialised
vocabulary but instead consist of expressions 'borrowed' from other areas of the grammar. This project
sets out to use the rich vocabulary of modified numerals to make
advances in semantics and
pragmatics. In particular, we will look at a subset of modifiers that have restrictions on their use,
restrictions that may be obviated in specific contexts. This subset contains e.g. adverbial superlatives
and directional prepositions. Accordingly, there is a semantic connection between superlativity and
spatial expression that needs to be explored. More importantly, however, the found connections will
clarify the nature of numerical, and more generally scalar, quantification. This is very welcome, since
there is a surprising lack of insight in how we use numerical expressions to communicate quantitative
information. In particular, there is no consensus as to what semantic and pragmatic processes govern
the relatively simple meanings conveyed by sentences containing numerals and similarly scalar
expressions. What is needed right now to break through this standstill are projects that aim at
uncovering hitherto unexplored connections within language. Significant theoretical progress
moreover relies on access to large bodies of new and reliable data. To this end, the project includes indepth cross-linguistic and experimental studies.
End Date:
28/2/2018
Project ID:
648429
Host Institution:
Acronym:
TRANSPOP
Evaluation Panel:
Prof. Peter Alexandrov Stamatov
peter.a.stamatov@gmail.com
UNIVERSIDAD CARLOS III DE MADRID, MADRID, ES
http://www.uc3m.es
T he Tr ans for mati on of Popul ar Poli tic s i n Eur ope’s L ong Ni neteenth C entury
How did ordinary people acquire the capacity to mobilize and influence the political decision-making
process? How did standard forms of popular collective action emerge and get institutionalized in
European modernity? To address these questions, this project explores the transformation of European
popular politics in the long nineteenth-century (c. 1789-1914), while also offering a systematic and
empirically rigorous causal account of the processes that led to the emergence of the typical forms of
social movement activities that dominate the current landscape of popular protest. The project will
seek to address two interconnected problems in current scholarship. First, it will enrich our knowledge
of the scope and variety of popular politics in the period by focusing on cases (Hungary, Italy, the
Netherlands, and Spain) that unlike the “core” cases of Great Britain and France have not been studied
exhaustively.
Second, it will transcend the limitations of existing treatments that have focused
predominantly on class formation and state building as the ultimate determinants of popular politics in
the period. Through careful archival research and innovative quantitative techniques, the participants
will consider an interrelated set of questions on the proper causal relationship between political scale
and political mobilization and on the varied cultural and organizational forms of social movement
activity.
End Date:
31/7/2020
Project ID:
648433
Acronym:
ICONICAL
Dr. Ferdinand Cornelius Grozema
f.c.grozema@tudelft.nl
www.tudelft.nl
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Chemical Sciences
In control of exciton and charge dynamics in molecular crystals
The aim of the work proposed here is to achieve control over charge and excited state dynamics in
organic crystalline materials and in this way to come to solid state materials with explicit built-in
functionality. The charge and excited state dynamics do not only depend on the properties of individual
molecules but are to a large extent determined by the interactions between multiple molecules. By
careful engineering of the properties of individual molecules and of the way they aggregate in the solid
crystalline state it is in principle possible to design materials that exhibit a specific functionality.
Examples of this are materials that are optimized to give high charge carrier mobilities and high exciton
diffusion coefficients. It is also possible to design more complex functionality. An example of this is
singlet exciton fission, a process by which one singlet excited state transforms into a combination of
two triplet states. This spin-allowed process can in principle increase the efficiency of organic solar cells
by a factor 1.5. A second example is upconversion of low energy photons into higher energy photons.
This is possible by combining two low-energy triplet excited states into a single singlet excited state by
triplet-triplet annihilation. Finally, it is possible gain control over charge separation on the interface of
two different materials to increase the charge separation efficiency in photovoltaic cells. In this work,
we will explore ways to achieve control of charge and exciton dynamics in a combined effort including
organic synthesis, computational chemistry and time-resolved spectroscopy and conductivity
experiments. This research represents a major step forward in the understanding of the relation
between molecular and solid state structure and the electronic properties of organic crystalline
materials. This is of considerable fundamental interest but also has direct implications for the
utilization of these materials in electronic devices.
End Date:
31/5/2020
Project ID:
313695
Host Institution:
Acronym:
LOWLANDS
Evaluation Panel:
Complexity
Dr. Anders Søgaard
soegaard@hum.ku.dk
www.ku.dk
Parsing low-resource languages and domains
There are noticeable asymmetries in availability of high-quality natural language processing (NLP). We
can adequately summarize English newspapers and translate them into Korean, but we cannot
translate Korean newspaper articles into English, and summarizing micro-blogs is much more difficult
than summarizing newspaper articles. This is a fundamental problem for modern societies, their
development and democracy, as well as perhaps the most important research problem in NLP right
now. Most NLP technologies rely on highly accurate syntactic parsing. Reliable parsing models can be
induced from large collections of manually annotated data, but such collections are typically limited to
sampled newswire in major languages. Highly accurate parsing is therefore not available for other
languages and other domains. The NLP community is well aware of this problem, but unsupervised
techniques that do not rely on manually annotated data cannot be used for real-world applications,
where highly accurate parsing is needed, and sample bias correction methods that automatically
correct the bias in newswire when parsing, say, micro-blogs, do not yet lead to robust improvements
across the board. The objective of this project is to develop new learning methods for parsing natural
language for which no unbiased labeled data exists. In order to do so, we need to fundamentally
rethink the unsupervised parsing problem, including how we evaluate unsupervised parsers, but we
also need to supplement unsupervised learning techniques with robust methods for automatically
correcting sample selection biases in related data. Such methods will be applicable to both crossdomain and cross-language syntactic parsing and will pave the way toward robust and scalable NLP.
The societal impact of robust and scalable NLP is unforeseeable and comparable to how efficient
information retrieval techniques have revolutionized modern societies.
End Date:
31/12/2017
Project ID:
323943
Host Institution:
Acronym:
HUMVOL
Evaluation Panel:
Complexity
Prof. Patrick Haggard
p.haggard@ucl.ac.uk
Human Volition, Agency and Responsibility
At the heart of human nature lies the idea of a free agent, whose conscious thoughts and decisions
motivate their voluntary actions, and who is therefore responsible for what they do. Voluntary actions
can be defined as actions that an individual agent generates internally, rather than in response to any
environmental event. However, the concept of voluntary action remains controversial, and lacks a
scientific evidence base. Neuroscience rejects dualistic notions of ‘conscious free will’, and instead
views actions as products of mechanistic brain processes, which are often unconscious. Thus, volition
is often eliminated from psychology, or replaced with alternative, more behaviourist formulations such
as ‘executive function’, or ‘reward-directed action’. However, the generative quality of human action,
and the strong subjective experience of agency and responsibility for one’s own actions, still require
scientific investigation. Even if we may not have conscious free will as envisaged, cognitive
neuroscience has acquired appropriate methods to investigate and measure what we do have, and to
explore implications for society. HUMVOL therefore aims to investigate scientifically the neural bases
of human volition (Work Package WP1), agency (WP2) and responsibility (WP3). Subjective aspects are
not neglected, because they may offer powerful cues to the mechanisms and functions of voluntary
action. The core methods are behavioural, psychophysical and neural experiments with healthy
volunteers. EEG and fMRI will allow direct measures of brain processes associated with volition, while
subliminal priming and non-invasive brain stimulation will allow their direct manipulation. Mental
chronometry and explicit agency judgements allow the impact of these processes on subjective
experience to be assessed. Finally, interdisciplinary engagements will focus on how neuroscientific
evidence could influence societal concepts of voluntary action, particularly in the Law.
End Date:
31/5/2018
Project ID:
324186
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PROBIO
Evaluation Panel:
Complexity
Prof. John Austin Dupre
j.a.dupre@exeter.ac.uk
www.ex.ac.uk
A Process Ontology for Contemporary Biology
This project aims, first, to rethink central issues in the philosophy of biology by elaborating an ontology
for biology that takes full account of the processual nature of living systems as an interacting hierarchy
of processes at diverse spatial and temporal scales. The concept of a stable biological thing will be
analysed as a stabilised process relative to an appropriate time scale, and this conception should make
possible a better understanding of familiar biological pluralisms (about genes, organisms, species,
etc…) in terms of different ways in which distinct scientific practices intersect with biological processes.
Second, the concept of process developed will be used to rethink some further highly topical
philosophical issues in contemporary philosophy of science.
The processual perspective will be
deployed to provide a critique of the widely discussed recent versions of mechanism. The project will
explore generally the relevance of this perspective to influential contemporary accounts of causation
and explanation, especially those that have been derived from mechanism. Finally the project will
apply the preceding ideas to some important areas of contemporary biology: systems biology,
synthetic biology, and microbiology. These investigations will be carried on in parallel with the more
general philosophical enquiries, with the idea that the two will be mutually informative: the
philosophical analyses will not only be applied to scientific concepts, but will also themselves be
evaluated for their relevance to real cutting edge biology. This evaluation will be guided by interaction
with scientific practitioners and an expert Advisory Board, as well as text-based study. The project
aims to be of direct relevance to both philosophy and science.
End Date:
30/4/2018
Project ID:
335607
Host Institution:
Acronym:
EMOTIONS IN CONFLICT
Evaluation Panel:
Complexity
Dr. Eran Halperin
eranh75@hotmail.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY CENTER (IDC) HERZLIYA, HERZLIYA, IL
www.idc.ac.il
Direct and Indirect Emotion Regulation as a New Path of Conflict Resolution
Intractable conflicts are one of the gravest challenges to both humanity and science. These conflicts are
initiated and perpetuated by people; therefore changing people's hearts and minds constitutes a huge
step towards resolution. Research on emotions in conflicts has led to the realization that intergroup
emotions are critical to conflict dynamics. This project’s intrinsic question is whether and how
intergroup emotions can be regulated to alter attitudes and behavior towards peace. I offer an
innovative path, using two strategies of emotion regulation. The first is Direct Emotion Regulation,
where traditional, effective emotion regulation strategies can be used to change intergroup emotional
experiences and subsequently political positions in conflict situations. The second, Indirect Emotion
Regulation, serves to implicitly alter concrete cognitive appraisals, thus changing attitudes by changing
discrete emotions. This is the first attempt ever to integrate psychological aggregated knowledge on
emotion regulation with conflict resolution. I propose 16 studies, conducted in the context of the
intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Seven studies will focus on direct emotion regulation, reducing
intergroup anger and hatred, while 9 studies will focus on indirect regulation, aspiring to reduce fear
and despair. In both paths, correlational and in-lab experimental studies will be used to refine
adequate strategies of down regulating destructive emotions, the results of which will be used to
develop innovative, theory-driven education and media interventions that will be tested utilizing wide
scale experience sampling methodology. This project aspires to bridge the gap between basic and
applied science, creating a pioneering, interdisciplinary framework which contributes to existing
knowledge on emotion regulation in conflict and implements ways to apply it in real-world
circumstances.
End Date:
31/1/2019
Project ID:
615539
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CAREGIVING
Evaluation Panel:
Complexity
Prof. Morten Lindtner Kringelbach
morten.kringelbach@psych.ox.ac.uk
OXFORD, UK
www.ox.ac.uk
The plasticity of parental caregiving: characterizing the brain mechanisms underlying normal and
disrupted development of parenting
The survival of species depends critically on infant survival and development. Human infants are,
however, vulnerable and completely dependent on caregiving parents, not just for survival but also for
their development. Darwin and Lorenz have long argued that there are specific infant facial features
that elicit attention and responsiveness in adults. Until recently this has not been possible to study but
neuroimaging has started to reveal some of the brain circuitry. However, it is not known how the brain
changes over time in new parents as they gain experience with caregiving. Equally, little is known
about the underlying brain mechanisms associated with disruption to normal parental caregiving. I
propose to study the brain changes associated with normal and disrupted development of parental
caregiving in new parents who will undergo neuroimaging and psychological testing using standardised
databases and test batteries of caregiving tasks. Subproject 1 will investigate the normal development
of parental caregiving, beginning before pregnancy, using a longitudinal study of structural and
functional brain changes in both women and men combined with their behavioural measures on
caregiving tasks. Subproject 2 will investigate the disrupted development of parental caregiving using a
cross-sectional design to study the brain and behavioural effects on caregiving during potential
disruptive changes to the parent or child. Specifically, my focus will be on A) parental sleep disruption
and B) infant craniofacial abnormality of cleft lip and palate. Finally, understanding the full brain
mechanisms and architecture underlying parental caregiving requires a mechanistic synthesis of the
findings of normal and disrupted development. Subproject 3 will use our existing advanced
computational models to combine the findings from normal and disrupted development in order to
identify the fundamental brain mechanisms and networks underlying the development of parenting.
End Date:
30/4/2019
Project ID:
617700
Host Institution:
Acronym:
EXPECT HEAL-TH
Evaluation Panel:
Complexity
Prof. Andrea Evers
a.evers@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Empowering expectations for health and disease: training the immune and endocrine system
Expectations about health and disease induce immune and endocrine responses and directly affect
health and treatment outcomes. However, there is an urge to understand the mechanical
underpinnings how expectations affect immune and endocrine responses and how this knowledge can
be used for therapeutic interventions. My research group studies the main expectancy learning
mechanisms for itch and pain as a generic expectancy model across symptoms and conditions. We
recently showed that dual expectancy learning processes (i.e. conditioning and suggestions) are most
powerful for itch symptoms, corresponding with findings for other symptoms and conditions. Based on
these studies, I propose a groundbreaking dual expectancy learning approach, testing whether
combined expectancy learning processes (i.e. both conditioning and suggestions, offered with
personalized cues and exposure to relevant stressors) affect most profoundly the immune and
endocrine system, in turn affecting health and disease outcomes. The major aim is to unravel the
central mechanisms of how peoples’ expectations affect immune and endocrine responses and related
health outcomes, through the use of pioneering multidisciplinary methods in healthy and clinical
populations. First, we systematically train immune and endocrine responses and relate them to
psychological, neurobiological and genetic mechanisms. Second, we test these manipulations for
physical health challenges (e.g. inflammatory or allergic histamine reactions) in healthy subjects and
patients. Third, we study the long-term effects in chronic inflammatory itch and pain conditions (e.g.
replacing anti-inflammatory pharmacotherapies, reducing side effects). This interdisciplinary, crossboundary project progresses key theoretical knowledge of the central expectation mechanisms for
immune and endocrine responses. Findings open new horizons for health prevention and therapeutic
interventions for various inflammatory conditions and physical symptoms.
End Date:
31/8/2019
Project ID:
648963
Host Institution:
Acronym:
EVOLPROOF
Evaluation Panel:
Dr. Samuel Alizon
samuel.alizon@cnrs.fr
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, MONTPELLIER, FR
www.cnrs.fr
Ar e HPV v acci nes ‘ ev ol uti on -pr oof’? Mul til ev el ev ol uti onar y ec ol ogy of human onc
ov ir us es
There is a threat that evolutionary responses can render vaccines ineffective, as illustrated by the
emergence of the increasingly virulent Marek Disease Virus strains in poultry following vaccination
campaigns. Assessing the ‘evolution-proof’ nature of vaccines targeting human viruses is challenging
because it requires an understanding of the epidemiology, the within-host ecology and the
evolutionary potential of the virus. To date, most investigations into the spread of vaccine-resistant
strains are theoretical and are rarely constrained by data.We propose a novel alliance between
evolutionary ecology and clinical research to assess the risk of vaccines selecting for resistant or
virulent strains. Human papillomaviruses (HPV) and their vaccines provide an ideal study system.
However, the scope of the project is wider and encompasses other DNA viruses. The project is divided
into three parts. In Part A, we will decipher HPV within-host dynamics in genital infections. By
combining mathematical modelling and longitudinal patient data, we will be able to parameterise
within-host models and compare them. In Part B, we will jointly analyse host, virus and genital
microbiota diversity using a community ecology approach to understand the infectious process. These
results will be integrated into evolutionary epidemiology models allowing for diverse infections. In Part
C, we will estimate virus substitution rates and use the results from Parts 1 and 2 to develop a
multilevel analysis of HPV evolution in response to vaccination. We will also tackle more general
questions related to the evolution of the virulence of human oncoviruses.A major asset of the project is
the collection of clinical data in order to address a major public health issue using ideas and methods
from evolutionary ecology. This will set a new agenda for the study of human viral infections and
establish a perennial leading research group in Europe.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
637488
Host Institution:
Acronym:
MotMotLearn
Evaluation Panel:
Complexity
Dr. Joseph Michael Galea
j.galea@bham.ac.uk
THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM, BIRMINGHAM, UK
www.bham.ac.uk
Motivating Motor Learning: The Role of Reward, Punishment and Dopamine
Motor learning (the ability of the brain to learn and update how an action is executed) is a fundamental
process which influences many aspects of our lives such as learning to walk during childhood; the dayto-day behavioural adjustments required as an adult or in healthy ageing; and the rehabilitation
process following an illness or injury. Despite the impact to society, it has proved extremely difficult to
develop interventions that significantly enhance human motor learning. Therefore, devising protocols
which optimise motor learning is a state-of-the-art research question that promises to deliver
scientific, clinical and societal impact.Seeking reward and avoiding punishment are powerful factors in
motivating humans to alter behaviour during cognition-based learning (selecting which action to
perform), with sensitivity to reward and punishment being biased by the availability of dopamine in the
brain. Intriguingly, reward and punishment are also known to affect generic motor learning (deciding
how an action is executed) tasks which involve multiple underlying mechanisms. However to establish
their potential for optimizing motor learning, we must understand how explicit reward- and
punishment-based motivational feedback impact motor learning systems with unique computational
and anatomical features (use-dependent/model-free/model-based). Using an unprecedented
combination of behavioural analysis, computational modelling, genetics and pharmacology,
MotMotLearn will provide the first systems-based account of how reward, punishment and dopamine
influence motor learning. This novel approach will enable MotMotLearn to develop theoreticallygrounded protocols that utilise reward/punishment in conjunction with dopaminergic medication to
optimise motor learning in healthy individuals and stroke patients suffering motor impairments.
MotMotLearn will have a profound scientific impact in motor learning with applications to
development, ageing, rehabilitation and sports.
End Date:
30/9/2020
Project ID:
637915
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Corruption Roots
Evaluation Panel:
Complexity
Dr. Shaul Shalvi
S.Shalvi@uva.nl
www.uva.nl
At the roots of corruption: a behavioral ethics approach
For many years, human cooperation has been praised as beneficial in organizational and personal
settings. Indeed, cooperation allows people to develop trust, build meaningful relationships, achieve
mutually beneficial outcomes, and strengthen bonding with one's group members. However, while the
benefits of cooperation are clear, very little is known about its possible negative aspects. Such negative
aspects include the potential emergence of unethical conduct among cooperating partners, or as
termed here – corrupt collaboration. Such joint unethical efforts, benefiting (directly or indirectly) one
or more of the involved parties, occur in business, sports, and even academia. Corrupt collaboration
emerges when one party bends ethical rules (here: lie) to set the stage for another party to further
bend ethical rules and get the job done, that is, secure personal profit based on joint unethical acts.
We propose that corrupt collaborations most commonly occur when all involved parties gain from the
corrupt behavior. The current proposal is aimed at unfolding the roots and nature of corrupt
collaborations; their existence, the psychological and biological processes underlying them, and the
settings most likely to make corrupt collaboration emerge and spread. Accordingly, the information
gathered in the current proposal has the potential to change the commonly held conceptions regarding
the unidimensional – positive – nature of cooperation. It will help create a comprehensive
understanding of cooperation and, specifically, when it should be encouraged or, alternatively,
monitored.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
639291
Host Institution:
Acronym:
VARIKIN
Evaluation Panel:
Complexity
Dr. Fiona Marie Jordan
joanna.bruck@bristol.ac.uk
www.bristol.ac.uk
Cultural Evolution of Kinship Diversity: Variation in Language, Cognition, and Social Norms Regarding
Family
Why do human societies differ in whom they class as family? Why are cousins classed with siblings in
some societies but not others? Accounting for the variable ways that cultures classify kin is an enduring
puzzle. The VARIKIN project takes a cultural evolutionary approach to variety and unity and engages
different fields–cultural phylogenetics, corpus linguistics, and cross-cultural child development.
VARIKIN-Evolution asks how and why does kinship diversity evolve across cultures and over time?
Using comparative phylogenetic modeling of cultural evolution we investigate the dynamics of how
kinship terminologies and family norms change in eight language families. Are there “universal”
patterns of change, or does local cultural history and context determine changes in family
organisation? How do social norms drive change in kinship terminology? VARIKIN-Usage investigates
how people use kinship language by using corpus linguistics, surveys, and interviews to quantify
patterns of usage in spoken and written language. How frequently are kinship terms used in different
contexts and what meanings are more prevalent? Do patterns vary between languages, and can the
patterns of usage at the individual level be linked to historical processes of change? VARIKINDevelopment investigates how children acquire and understand kinship across cultures. Using
participant observation and elicitation tasks, we characterise children’s social learning of kinship in a
small-scale, non-Western community. Are there cross-cultural patterns of acquisition? Can socialisation
produce constraints on the kinds of kinship children can learn? These three research directions are
united by a coherent framework for the integration of macro- and micro-evolutionary processes. With
a highly multidisciplinary background, the Applicant is uniquely positioned to direct this vanguard
project towards a comprehensive understanding of diversity in how we classify our social worlds.
End Date:
30/6/2020
Project ID:
639445
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NewEat
Evaluation Panel:
Complexity
Prof. Jens Blechert
jens.blechert@sbg.ac.at
PARIS-LODRON-UNIVERSITAT SALZBURG, SALZBURG, AT
www.uni-salzburg.at/
Transdiagnostic views on eating disorders and obesity and new approaches for treatment
Eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and
overweight/obesity are highly prevalent in the EU and worldwide. They cause tremendous suffering,
elevate suicide rates, and account for multiple organic effects that increase all-cause mortality.
Etiological and maintenance factors are not well understood and transdiagnostic theoretical models
across eating and weight disorders are largely missing. The present project aims to develop an
integrated theoretical framework by studying psychological factors that contribute to non-homeostatic
eating across the full spectrum of eating-related disorders. It is proposed that high levels on
psychological traits such as restraint eating (i.e., chronic dieting behaviour), emotional eating (i.e.,
eating in response to negative emotional events rather than hunger), craving/food addiction (i.e.,
intense and chronic urge to consume palatable foods), impulsivity (i.e., inadequate food consumption
planning and low self-control), and low self-esteem influence neural systems that balance appetitive
(mostly bottom-up) with regulatory (mostly top-down) processes. This model is tested in the four
patient groups and healthy controls utilizing an integrated set of assessment methods, involving
psychometric testing, smartphone based ambulatory assessment, and neurocognitive laboratory
measurement. Derived from this model, novel behavioural interventions such as smartphone based
stimulus control and cognitive inhibition training will be developed. Results will have implications for
theoretical models of eating and weight disorders as well as for neuroaffective models of appetite
regulation. Smartphone technology might usefully complement current interventions in supporting an
effective transfer to daily life and help alleviate the burden for patients with eating-related mental and
physical diseases.
End Date:
30/6/2020
Project ID:
335949
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ARISTOTLE
Evaluation Panel:
Production
Dr. Marco Sgarbi
marco.sgarbi@unive.it
UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA, VENEZIA, IT
www.unive.it
Aristotle in the Italian Vernacular: Rethinking Renaissance and Early-Modern Intellectual History (c.
1400–c. 1650)
From the twelfth to the seventeenth century, Aristotle’s writings lay at the foundation of Western
culture, providing a body of knowledge and a set of analytical tools applicable to all areas of human
investigation. Scholars of the Renaissance have emphasized the remarkable longevity and versatility of
Aristotelianism, but their attention has remained firmly, and almost exclusively, fixed on the
transmission of Aristotle’s works in Latin. Scarce attention has gone to works in the vernacular.
Nonetheless, several important Renaissance figures wished to make Aristotle’s works accessible and
available outside the narrow circle of professional philosophers and university professors. They
believed that his works could provide essential knowledge to a broad set of readers, and embarked on
an intense programme of translation and commentary to see this happen. It is the argument of this
project that vernacular Aristotelianism made fundamental contributions to the thought of the period,
anticipating many of the features of early modern philosophy and contributing to a new encyclopaedia
of knowledge. Our project aims to offer the first detailed and comprehensive study of the vernacular
diffusion of Aristotle through a series of analyses of its main texts. We will thus study works that fall
within the two main Renaissance divisions of speculative philosophy (metaphysics, natural philosophy,
mathematics, and logic) and civil philosophy (ethics, politics, rhetoric, and poetics). We will give strong
attention to the contextualization of the texts they examine, as is standard practice in the best kind of
intellectual history, focusing on institutional contexts, reading publics, the value of the vernacular, new
visions of knowledge and eclecticism. With the work of the PI, two professors, 5 post-docs and two PhD
students we aim to make considerable advances in the understanding of both speculative and civil
philosophy within vernacular Aristotelianism.
End Date:
30/4/2019
Project ID:
336564
Host Institution:
Acronym:
VR3PP
Evaluation Panel:
Production
Dr. Christos Lynteris
cl537@cam.ac.uk
www.cam.ac.uk
Visual Representations of the Third Plague Pandemic
The project will investigate how the emergence of photography as a new technology played a pivotal
role in the wider acceptance of bacteriological explanations of pestilence in the course of the third
plague pandemic (1855-1959) and how it transformed public consciousness of infectious disease,
hygiene, and the role of international cooperation in the protection of public health, by establishing
plague as a paradigmatic agent of death and disorder in the modern age, whilst, at the same time,
opening up an era where the meaning of health emergencies is actively and publically negotiated on a
cross-cultural global basis. The project will collect and analyse for the first time all visual documents of
the third plague pandemic, which broke out in 1855 in Southwest China and raged across the globe
until 1959, causing the death of approximately 12 million people. The project’s aim is to engage in a
historical and anthropological analysis of this global network of visual representations, underlining how
it played a crucial role in the negotiation of geopolitical, colonial and biopolitical relations at the turn of
the 20th century, with great bearing on public health consciousness and the social imagination of a
new era of globalised hygienic modernity. Research will focus on four regions: China and Japan; India;
Africa; South and North America, the first investigated by the Principal Investigator, while the rest
being allocated to 3 postdoctoral researchers, all employed full-time in the project. While investigating
the visual record of plague in their respective regions, researchers will engage in a collaborative and
interdisciplinary analysis of the entangled history of the visual representation of the third pandemic,
taking as a common analytical ground 4 different but vitally interlinked aspects of the visual
representation of the pandemic: a) the built environment; b) civil disturbance and public order; c)
death, corpses and burial; d) race, class and discrimination.
End Date:
30/9/2018
Project ID:
615574
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NAMO
Evaluation Panel:
Production
Dr. Ulrich Timme Kragh
utkragh@gmail.com
www.ku.dk
Narrative Modes of Historical Discourse in Asia
Modern historiography produced in Asia belongs to the history-paradigm of the European humanities
and it is from within these epistemological confines that Western as well as Eastern scholars of Asian
studies view the Asian writing of the past. While source criticism and historicism have today become
key parts of historical consciousness in Asia, Asian historical representations are nonetheless firmly
embedded in pre-modern Asian literary traditions via specific uses in historical writing of traditional
rhetorical structures of narrative, emplotment, tropes, and literary imagery. Taking such linkage
between present and past Asian traditions of historiography as its premise, project NAMO – with four
team members consisting of the PI and three Postdocs – will examine the literary features of Asian
historiography in India, China, and Tibet across the longue durée of the classical, medieval, and modern
periods. First, a new method for the study of the literary forms that characterize historiography in Asia
will be established by adapting basic analytical principles from Asian literary theories drawn from
twelve classical Indian and Chinese works on poetics. Next, the team will determine the specific literary
characteristics of narrative, plot, tropes, and historical explanation found in seventeen classical and
medieval histories composed in China, India, and Tibet. Finally, it will be examined to which extent
those traditional literary features still function as constitutive rhetorical elements in modern Asian
history writing. This will be done by analyzing the literary forms used in a selection of twenty
representative histories written in the People's Republic of China and the Republic of India during the
period 1980-2010. The outcome will be a novel approach for the empirical study of Asian history that
will open up a new level of comparative work in the theory of history across non-Western and Western
traditions.
End Date:
30/11/2019
Project ID:
636983
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PLATINUM
Evaluation Panel:
Production
Dr. Maria Chiara Scappaticcio
chiara.scappat@libero.it
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI FEDERICO II., NAPOLI, IT
www.unina.it
Papyri and LAtin Texts: INsights and Updated Methodologies.Towards a philological, literary, and
historical approach to Latin papyri
The aim of PLATINUM is to scrutinize Latin texts on papyrus from several points of view in order to
highlight their substantial contribution to our knowledge of innovations in ancient Roman literature,
language, history, and society, especially in the multilingual and multicultural contexts of the Eastern
part of the Empire between the 1st century B.C. and 8th century A.D. The first phase of the project will
consist in assembling, updating and publishing critical editions, in order to present a new and more
accurate corpus of Latin papyri on an easily accessible online platform. The second phase will be
focused on providing the texts with a specific, pluridisciplinary commentary that gives new insights on
Roman culture. Coming mainly from Egypt and other Roman provinces (as well as Herculaneum and
Ravenna), Latin papyri deserve more scholarly attention not only from papyrologists and
paleographers, but also from scholars of Latin language, as well as intellectual and cultural historians of
Rome. Latin papyri, tablets, and ostraka (potsherds) are constantly increasing in number through
archaeological discoveries. Because they are so rare, they are even more valuable than the Greek
papyri, which have garnered much attention. The Latin papyri have hitherto represented a border-line
field of study that has not been fully exploited either by papyrologists or by scholars of Latin literature.
Moreover, the obsolete bibliography and the considerable number of unpublished texts make the
study of Latin papyri (and bilingual Latin-Greek, Latin-Coptic, Latin-Punic texts) - whether literary (e.g.
Cicero, Vergil, law), paraliterary (grammar, medicine, magic), or documentary (letters, official registers,
receipts) – a pioneering and challenging task. A more through study will reveal the untapped potential
of Latin texts on papyrus for renewing our knowledge of the circulation and reception of Latin language
and education, as a cultural engine in Mediterranean societies.
End Date:
31/3/2020
Project ID:
639276
Host Institution:
Acronym:
PhilPharm
Evaluation Panel:
Production
Prof. Barbara Osimani
barbaraosimani@gmail.com
www.uni-muenchen.de
Philosophy of Pharmacology: Safety, Statistical standards and Evidence Amalgamation
The project intends addresses safety assessment in pharmacology with a view on philosophical work on
causality and causal inference from statistical data ((Pearl 2000; Spirtes, Glymour, Scheines 2000,
Woodward 2003, Cartwright, 2007b). This interest is motivated by the fact that current evidence
standards emphasize internal validity of studies and hence randomization, disregarding alternative
routes to causal assessment, such as the joint support of different sorts of evidence to a given
hypothesis. This may be particularly detrimental in that, much of the evidence for harms comes from
anecdotal reports, case series, or survey data, which standard guidelines of evidence evaluation regard
as being of poorer quality with respect to controlled (randomized) experiments. Although the role of
this "lower level" evidence is increasingly acknowledged to be a valid source of information for the risk
profile of medications (Howick et al. 2009, Hauben and Aronson, 2007), current practices have
difficulty in assigning it a precise epistemic status and integrating it with more standard methods of
hypothesis testing. The philosophical debate has already addressed similar questions in relation to the
assessment of treatment efficacy (Worral 2010, Papineau, 1993; Cartwright, 2007). However, none of
these contributions expressly addresses the specific issues arising in causal assessment for harms. The
project intends to change the evidence standards for safety assessment by providing a unified
framework for the amalgamation of diverse evidence in safety assessment. In particular, the project
intends to: 1) present a foundational analysis on statistical/causal inference with a focus on safety
assessment; 2) Build a unified epistemic framework within which different kinds of evidence can be
combined and used for decision; 3) Provide the theoretical framework for the development of new
standards of drug evaluation.
End Date:
31/3/2020
Project ID:
670446
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Filmcolors
Evaluation Panel:
Production
Prof. Barbara Flueckiger
baflueckiger@gmail.com
UNIVERSITAET ZUERICH, ZURICH, CH
http://www.uzh.ch
Film Colors. An Interdisciplinary Approach.
Film is in essence colored light projected onto a screen. Its aesthetics are thus highly determined by the
material properties of film and the optical configuration of the cinematic apparatus. To this day,
however, there is no systematic study of the relationship between the technology and aesthetics of
film colors, despite the fact that, following the digital turn in film production and distribution, the
understanding of this relationship is more essential than ever before.Over 200 film color processes
were developed since the invention of film. They are presented on the Timeline of Historical Film
Colors, which will be an integral part of the project.The groundbreaking nature of this project lies in a
truly interdisciplinary research design with a novel methodology to explore the interaction of
technological advances and limitations with film color aesthetics, identifying diachronic patterns of
stylistic means. To this end it develops a tool through recent advancements in digital humanities for
crowd-sourcing of color analyses of large groups of films. In-depth studies of technical papers and
scientific measurements of film colors will investigate the technical basis of films’ aesthetic
appearance. These insights will be applied to the digitization and restoration of historical films to
explore and disseminate the results. While every serious art restoration connects scientific analyses
with art-historical and aesthetic investigations, a similar approach is rarely applied to film. In summary,
the present research proposal capitalizes on the principal investigator’s preceding studies to bridge the
gap between technology and aesthetics. With the methods described here, the results will trace
previously hidden roots of aesthetic developments of film colors. While the project is ambitious, it
builds on a sizable methodological foundation to optimize risk management and guarantee significant
advances in the understanding of film colors.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
295555
Acronym:
LAR
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
SH6 - The Study of the Human
Past
Prof. Jörg Rüpke
joerg.ruepke@uni-erfurt.de
UNIVERSITAT ERFURT, ERFURT, DE
www.uni-erfurt.de
Lived Ancient Religion: Questioning "cults" and "polis religion"
This project takes a completely new perspective on the religious history of Mediterranean antiquity,
starting from the individual and “lived” religion instead of cities or peoples. “Lived ancient religion”
suggests a set of experiences, of practices addressed to, and conceptions of the divine, which are
appropriated, expressed, and shared by individuals in diverse social spaces. Within this spatial
continuum from the primary space of a) the family, b) the secondary space of associations, c) to the
shared space of public institutions and d) trans-local literary communication four research fields are
defined. In each of them a sub-project addresses representative complexes of evidence in different
parts of the Mediterranean in the Imperial period. They are bound together by the transversal analysis
of the interaction of individuals with the agents of traditions and providers of religious services in the
various fields. The methodological innova¬tion of the “lived ancient religion” approach is defined
through the notions of religious experience, embodiment, and “culture formed in interaction", which
are intended to replace the present foci of symbols, rituals, and “culture as text”. In order to
transgress the usual research boundaries of “cults” and “religions” the bodies of evidence brought
together within the sub-projects cover ancient Mediterranean religion geographically in an extended
manner, focusing on Egypt and Italy, Syria and Greece, but also including evidence from the Western
and Danubian provinces as well as from North Africa. The project of “Lived Ancient Religion” is
pioneering inasmuch as it develops and tests a far-reaching alternative model to “cults” and “polis
religion” in order to analyse and describe ancient Mediterranean religion. Its risk lies in modifying the
methodology implied in the “lived religion” approach to contemporary religion for the necessities of a
body of evidence that is characteristic of a “dead religion”.
End Date:
31/5/2017
Project ID:
312542
Host Institution:
Acronym:
CARCHIPELAGO
Evaluation Panel:
Past
Prof. Clare Anderson
ca26@le.ac.uk
UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER, LEICESTER, UK
www.le.ac.uk
The Carceral Archipelago: transnational circulations in global perspective, 1415-1960
This project centres ‘the carceral archipelago’ in the history of the making of the modern world. It
analyses the relationships and circulations between and across convict transportation, penal colonies
and labour, migration, coercion and confinement. It incorporates all the global powers engaged in
transportation for the purpose of expansion and colonization - Europe, Russia, Latin America, China,
Japan – over the period from Portugal’s first use of convicts in North Africa in 1415 to the dissolution of
Stalin’s gulags in 1960. It uses an innovative theoretical base to shift convict transportation out of the
history of crime and punishment into the new questions being raised by global and postcolonial
history. The project maps for the first time global networks of transportation and penal colonies. It
undertakes case study archival research on relatively unexplored convict flows, and on the mobility of
ideas and practices around transportation and other modes of confinement. It analyses its findings
within the broader literature, including on transportation but also debates around the definition of
freedom/ unfreedom, the importance of circulating labour, and global divergence and convergence. It
redefines what we mean by ‘transportation,’ explores penal transportation as an engine of global
change, de-centres Europe in historical analysis, and defines long-term impacts on economy, society
and identity. It places special stress on investigating whether a transnational approach to the topic
gives us a fresh theoretical starting point for studying global history that moves beyond ‘nation’ or
‘empire.’ The project lies at the intersections of national, colonial and global history, and economic,
social and cultural history. It will be of wide interest to scholars of labour, migration, punishment and
confinement; comparative and global history; diaspora, creolization and cultural translation; and
museum and heritage studies.
End Date:
28/2/2018
Project ID:
336608
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NEITHER NOR
Evaluation Panel:
Past
Dr. Umar Ryad
u.ryad@uu.nl
www.uu.nl
Neither visitors, nor colonial victims: Muslims in Interwar Europe and European Trans-cultural
History
No comprehensive attempt has yet been made to cover the history of Muslims in interwar Europe.
Historians of the modern Middle East underestimate the role of interwar Muslim actors in writing a
history of Islam, whereas historians of Europe underestimate their role in intra-European
developments. Existing works focus either on the nineteenth-century Muslim travelers, diplomats,
students and residents or on the later post-World War II influx of Muslim immigrant workers. Based on
personal and official archives, memoirs, press writings and correspondences, this project analyses the
multiple aspects of the global Muslim religious, political and intellectual affiliations in interwar Europe,
broadly defined. How did Muslims in interwar Europe act and interact among each other; and within
the European socio-political and cultural context? The project answers this question by studying the
intellectual and religio-political roles played by Muslim “intellectual agents” during the interwar years
and up until the rest of World War II (1918-1946). We hypothesize that histoire croisée (entangled
history) is the most appropriate approach to study the encounters and experiences of Muslim actors in
interwar Europe from within. By exploring the complex relationship between the historical data and
the social, political, theological and cultural patterns of Muslims as a new social structure in interwar
Europe, the study represents a step towards a systematic global approach of Muslim connections in
interwar Europe. The project contributes to our historical conceptualization of Europe itself as much as
to our understanding of the contemporary scene of Islam in Europe and the world today, without
resorting to a neatly tailored hypothesis. Many Muslim groups in the West nowadays still trace their
heritage to the ideas of the great reformers of the early 20th century. More historical reflection on
Islam in Europe can put the present “fear" for Islamization of the West into perspective.
End Date:
31/5/2019
Project ID:
670519
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
MAMSIE
Prof. Conny Aerts
conny@ster.kuleuven.be
www.kuleuven.be
Mixing and Angular Momentum tranSport of massIvE stars
With the CoRoT & Kepler data analysed, the time is optimal to move from observational
asteroseismology to innovative stellar modelling of the steal factories of the Universe. With MAMSIE,
we follow the footsteps of helioseismologists some 30 years after them, but this time we shall be
developing inversion methods for stellar structure based on gravity-mode oscillations that probe the
deep stellar interior. MAMSIE will lead to new models for a variety of single and binary stars with
masses between 3 and 30 M⊙ whose space photometry and high-resolution spectroscopy reveal
sufficient seismic information on their gravity modes to invert the frequencies and compute the stars’
structure. In contrast to the conventional theoretical approach to stellar evolution, the data-driven
approach of MAMSIE will allow us to include angular momentum transport due to internal gravity
waves, as well as mixing prescriptions for turbulent entrainment, from coupling of the output of 3D
hydrodynamical simulations of these phenomena to specialised seismic observables of relevance for
massive stars. Our sample includes slow and fast rotators, with and without a magnetic field, with and
without a stellar wind. The new models will be placed in an evolutionary context for optimal
assessment of the evolution of internal rotation, angular momentum, and chemical mixing throughout
stellar life of massive stars. The output of the stellar modelling will provide fundamentals for all topics
in modern astrophysics that rely on massive star models. MAMSIE is overarching and will require a
multidisciplinary team led by an expert in gravity-mode oscillations working in close collaboration with
a 3D hydrodynamics expert; it will offer a highly competitive environment for PhD and postdoctoral
research on the astrophysics of massive stars.
End Date:
31/12/2020
Project ID:
617777
Host Institution:
Acronym:
UP-NORTH
Evaluation Panel:
Past
Dr. Rhiannon Stevens
rhiannon.stevens@ucl.ac.uk
CAMBRIDGE/UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON, CAMBRIDGE/LONDON, UK
www.cam.ac.uk/http://www.ucl.ac.uk
COLONISATION AND CULTURAL DIVERSIFICATION IN UNFAMILIAR LANDSCAPES
This project explores the relationship between climate change and human behaviour. During the
harshest conditions of the last ice age European human populations abandoned northern latitudes,
with their range contracting to southern regions. By the time ice sheets retreated and large areas of
land became available for resettlement there had been a hiatus of at least 7000 years. This project
examines the recolonisation of these Northern regions which took place during a period of rapid
climate change, the last major global warming event on earth. As people move eastwards and
northwards increasing diversification is seen in their stone and bone tool industries which indicate
human development. This project examines whether climate a) drove the human dispersal and
development, b) played a more indirect role, or c) was of little significance to humans at this time.
State-of-the-art scientific techniques (radiocarbon dating, DNA, stable isotope, clumped isotope and
charcoal ring width analyses) will be used to create integrated chronological, palaeoclimatic and
palaeoecological frameworks that are directly linked to the Late and Final Palaeolithic archaeological
record. Temporal and spatial trends in climate change, prey abundance and behaviour, and
technological development will be compared and considered in light of regional and global climate
trends and archaeological evidence for hunting strategies, human mobility and landscape use. Such
data will provide an insight into the conditions Palaeolithic people experienced and how this influenced
their perceptions of the landscape they inhabited and the decisions they made.
End Date:
30/9/2019
Project ID:
647467
Acronym:
JEWSEAST
Prof. Alexandra Fredricka Caroline Cuffel
alexandra.cuffel@rub.de
RUHR-UNIVERSITAT BOCHUM, BOCHUM, DE
www.rub.de
Host Institution:
Evaluation Panel:
Past
Jews and Christians in the East: Strategies of Interaction between the Mediterranean and the Indian
Ocean
This project analyzes Jews in Eastern Christian communities and Eastern Christian sources, beyond the
Byzantine context, namely, relations between Jews and Christian communities in the Middle East
Central Asia, the Caucasus, Ethiopia, and South India. In order to obtain a truly accurate understanding
of the dynamics of Jewish-Christian relations in the non-Latin world during the Middle Ages, these
various regions and traditions must be studied together because they were all profoundly
interconnected through the exchange and translation of texts, artistic motifs and techniques, and other
goods, via long-distance trade along the “silk road”, the Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean, which,
of course, also entailed the movement and encounter of peoples, Jews and Christians among them.
The research team endeavors to answer four intertwined questions: 1) what we can know about actual
“real-life” interactions between Jews and a variety of Eastern Christian communities; 2) what were the
meanings and functions of invented or rhetorical Jewish identities; 3) what is the significance of JewishChristian polemics, both written and visual, in lands or among communities where: a) there were
supposedly few to no Jews, or Jewish identity was “invented”; b) there were Jewish and Christian
communities who had the opportunity to be in regular contact with one another; 4) how were
Christian stories, laws, biblical interpretations, or motifs in which Jews featured prominently, or Jewish
tales and motifs about Christians transformed as they were transported from one cultural milieu to
another? Because scholars have examined Jewish relations with Christians, and even Muslims primarily
in the context of uneven power relationships; namely Jewish-Christian relations in Western Europe or
Byzantium, or Jewish-Muslim relations in the Islamic one leaving Jewish-Christian relations untouched
apart from shared communal structures, this project opens a new field.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
648427
Host Institution:
Acronym:
NEGEVBYZ
Evaluation Panel:
Past
Prof. GUY HAIM BAR OZ
guybar@research.haifa.ac.il
UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA, HAIFA, IL
www.haifa.ac.il
Crisis on the margins of the Byzantine Empire: A bio-archaeological project on resilience and collapse
in early Christian development of the Negev Desert
This project proposes an innovative, integrative and data-intensive approach to understand the
parameters for long-term sustainable functioning of complex societies under vulnerable conditions.
The broad aim of the research is to explore contexts of collapse and resilience in an ancient society
with high levels of socio-political complexity and technological ingenuity within a resource-limited
environment. It focuses on the Byzantine early Christian urban centres of the Negev Desert (4th-7th
cent. AD) disclosing both the triumph of human ingenuity in conquering the desert through large-scale
human settlement and agricultural development as well as a striking and as yet ambiguous case of
wholesale systemic collapse. To test hypotheses regarding social disintegration, economic stress,
environmental degradation due to climatic or anthropogenic causes, and the question of plague the
project integrates approaches in the archaeology of households, landscapes and garbage through use
of biomolecular, botanical, zoological, geological, chronometric, artifactual and contextual sources of
data. Dealing with societal vulnerability in marginal regions is timely and relevant in a world where
accelerating development rapidly expands such problems, previously localized, to global levels.
Although it is a risky endeavour to engage the record of past societies to inform the present and
forecast the future due to the typically underdetermined nature of historical and proxy data, this
project offers substantial gain to theoretical and empirical research on societal vulnerability in two
main avenues: (1) providing an opportunity to critically re-evaluate the current state of knowledge in
the field based on an extensive corpus of new, high-quality data and (2) drawing more nuanced and
informed broad generalizations regarding limiting states for human ingenuity in reconciling social and
economic development with sustainable management of the environment and its resources.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
610028
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
IMBALANCE-P
SYG6 - Synergy
Prof. Josep Penuelas
josep.penuelas@uab.cat
CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION ECOLOGICA YAPLICACIONES FORESTALES,
BELLATERRA, ES
http://www.creaf.uab.es/
Effects of phosphorus limitations on Life, Earth system and Society
P is an earthbound and finite element and the prospect of constrained access to mineable P resources
has already triggered geopolitical disputes. In contrast to P, availabilities of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N)
to ecosystems are rapidly increasing in most areas of the globe. The resulting imminent change in the
stoichiometry of available elements will have no equivalent in the Earth’s history and will bear
profound, yet, unknown consequences for life, the Earth System and human society. The ongoing shifts
in C:N:P balances in ecosystems will necessarily affect the structure, function and diversity of the Earth
system. P-market crises might put pressure on the global food system and create environmental ripple
effects ranging from expansion of agricultural land to P-price-induced changes in land management
exacerbating the stoichiometric resource imbalance. Yet, the impacts of this unprecedented human
disturbance of elemental stoichiometry remain a research enigma. The IMBALANCE-P-team, that
gathers four leading researchers in the fields of ecosystem diversity and ecology, biogeochemistry,
Earth System modelling, and global agricultural and resource economics, is formidably positioned to
address this Earth System management challenge by providing improved understanding and
quantitative foresight needed to formulate a range of policy options that will contain the risks and
mitigate the consequences of stoichiometric imbalances. IMBALANCE-P will integrate some of Europe's
leading integrated assessment and Earth system models, calibrated using ecosystem nutrient limitation
data obtained from field experiments. The project will establish an international process of sciencebased P-diplomacy.
End Date:
31/8/2020
Project ID:
610055
Host Institution:
Acronym:
ICE2ICE
Prof. Eystein Jansen
post@geo.uib.no
UNIVERSITETET I BERGEN, BERGEN, NO
www.uib.no
Evaluation Panel:
SYG6 - Synergy
Arctic Sea Ice and Greenland Ice Sheet Sensitivity
The cryosphere is in fast transition. The possibility that the ongoing rapid demise of Arctic sea ice may
instigate abrupt changes on the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) is not tackled by current research. Ice cores
from the GIS show clear evidence of past abrupt warm events,up to 15 degrees warming in less than a
decade, possibly caused by disappearing se ice in the Nordic Seas..Arctic sea ice extent was in 2012 half
of the 1979-2000 average. Satellite data document an increasing loss of GIS ice mass since 1990 and
temperatures have risen markedly at the GIS summit. Strong transient changes in both Arctic
cryospheric entities prompts the question: Is the dramatic decline in Arctic Sea Ice heralding a new
phase of abrupt change, similar to those recorded in ocean sediments and ice cores? Such changes
would have major consequences for the GIS mass balance and global climate and sea level. Ice2Ice will
approach this complex problem by integrating 4 PI teams from three Nordic world class research
centres comprising empiricists and dynamicists specialized in Arctic and Greenland atmospheric,
oceanic and cryospheric sciences. With an innovative combination of synchronized records of GIS
parameters, records of sea ice change and models ranging from global climate models to regional and
process models, Ice2Ice will be the first concerted effort to tackle the question of the cause and future
implications of past abrupt climate change in Greenland, the main hypothesis being that Arctic and
sub-Arctic sea ice cover is key to understand past and future Greenland temperature and ice sheet
variations. In Ice2Ice this will be done by:a)describing the nature, timing and extent of abrupt events
across climate archives,b)resolving mechanisms behind the sudden demise of sea ice
cover,c)identifying the risk that the ongoing rapid diminution of Arctic sea ice cover could give abrupt
GIS changes in the future, d)determining the impacts of such changes for the GIS, Arctic and global
climate.
End Date:
31/7/2019
Project ID:
610115
Host Institution:
Acronym:
Evaluation Panel:
SC2
SYG6 - Synergy
Prof. Henning Sirringhaus
hs220@cam.ac.uk
www.cam.ac.uk
Spin-charge conversion and spin caloritronics at hybrid organic-inorganic interfaces
Organic semiconductors are enabling flexible, large-area optoelectronic devices, such as organic lightemitting diodes, transistors, and solar cells. Due to their exceptionally long spin lifetimes, these carbonbased materials could also have an important impact on spintronics, where carrier spins, rather than
charges, play a key role in transmitting, processing and storing information. However, to exploit this
potential, a method for direct conversion of spin information into an electric signal is indispensable.
Spin-charge conversion in inorganic semiconductors and metals has mainly relied on the spin-orbit
interaction, a fundamental relativistic effect which couples the motion of electrons to their spins. The
spin-orbit interaction causes a flow of spins, a spin current, to induce an electric field perpendicular to
both the spin polarization and the flow direction of the spin current. This is called the inverse spin Hall
effect (ISHE). We have very recently been able to observe for the first time the inverse spin-Hall effect
in an organic conductor. This breakthrough raises important questions for our understanding of spincharge conversion in materials with intrinsically weak spin-orbit coupling. It also expands dramatically
the range of materials and structures available to address some currently not well understood scientific
questions in spintronics and opens opportunities for realising novel spintronic devices for spin-based
information processing and spin caloritronic energy harvesting that make use of unique properties of
hybrid, organic-inorganic structures. The main objective of the proposed research is to take spintronics
to a level that inorganic spintronics cannot reach on its own. The project is based on new theoretical
and experimental methodologies arising at the interface between two currently disjoint scientific
communities, organic semiconductors and inorganic spintronics, and aims to exploit synergies
between chemistry, physics and theory.
End Date:
31/7/2020

2015-11 List of ERC NRF SA - National Research Foundation

Transcription

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