Project acronym BIOUNCERTAINTY
Project Deep uncertainties in bioethics: genetic research, preventive medicine, reproductive decisions
Researcher (PI) Tomasz ZURADZKI
Host Institution (HI) UNIWERSYTET JAGIELLONSKI
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2018-STG
Summary Uncertainty is everywhere, as the saying goes, but rarely considered in ethical reflections. This project aims to reinterpret ethical discussions on current advances in biomedicine: instead of understanding bioethical positions as extensions of classical normative views in ethics (consequentialism, deontologism, contractualism etc.), my project interprets them more accurately as involving various normative approaches to decision making under uncertainty. The following hard cases in bioethics provide the motivation for research:
1) Regulating scientific research under uncertainty about the ontological/moral status (e.g. parthenogenetic stem cells derived from human parthenotes) in the context of meta-reasoning under normative uncertainty.
2) The value of preventive medicine in healthcare (e.g. vaccinations) in the context of decision-making under metaphysical indeterminacy.
3) Population or reproductive decisions (e.g. preimplantation genetic diagnosis) in the context of valuing mere existence.
The main drive behind this project is the rapid progress in biomedical research combined with new kinds of uncertainties. These new and “deep” uncertainties trigger specific forms of emotions and cognitions that influence normative judgments and decisions. The main research questions that will be addressed by conceptual analysis, new psychological experiments, and case studies are the following: how do the heuristics and biases (H&B) documented by behavioral scientists influence the formation of normative judgments in bioethical contexts; how to demarcate between distorted and undistorted value judgments; to what extent is it permissible for individuals or policy makers to yield to H&B. The hypothesis is that many existing bioethical rules, regulations, practices seem to have emerged from unreliable reactions, rather than by means of deliberation on the possible justifications for alternative ways to decide about them under several layers and types of uncertainty.
Summary
Uncertainty is everywhere, as the saying goes, but rarely considered in ethical reflections. This project aims to reinterpret ethical discussions on current advances in biomedicine: instead of understanding bioethical positions as extensions of classical normative views in ethics (consequentialism, deontologism, contractualism etc.), my project interprets them more accurately as involving various normative approaches to decision making under uncertainty. The following hard cases in bioethics provide the motivation for research:
1) Regulating scientific research under uncertainty about the ontological/moral status (e.g. parthenogenetic stem cells derived from human parthenotes) in the context of meta-reasoning under normative uncertainty.
2) The value of preventive medicine in healthcare (e.g. vaccinations) in the context of decision-making under metaphysical indeterminacy.
3) Population or reproductive decisions (e.g. preimplantation genetic diagnosis) in the context of valuing mere existence.
The main drive behind this project is the rapid progress in biomedical research combined with new kinds of uncertainties. These new and “deep” uncertainties trigger specific forms of emotions and cognitions that influence normative judgments and decisions. The main research questions that will be addressed by conceptual analysis, new psychological experiments, and case studies are the following: how do the heuristics and biases (H&B) documented by behavioral scientists influence the formation of normative judgments in bioethical contexts; how to demarcate between distorted and undistorted value judgments; to what extent is it permissible for individuals or policy makers to yield to H&B. The hypothesis is that many existing bioethical rules, regulations, practices seem to have emerged from unreliable reactions, rather than by means of deliberation on the possible justifications for alternative ways to decide about them under several layers and types of uncertainty.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 625 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-02-01, End date: 2024-01-31
Project acronym CoSI
Project Functional connectomics of the amygdala in social interactions of different valence
Researcher (PI) Ewelina KNAPSKA
Host Institution (HI) INSTYTUT BIOLOGII DOSWIADCZALNEJ IM. M. NENCKIEGO POLSKIEJ AKADEMII NAUK
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS5, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Understanding how brain controls social interactions is one of the central goals of neuroscience. Whereas social interactions and their effects on the emotional state of an individual are relatively well described at the behavioral level, much less is known about neural mechanisms involved in these very complex phenomena, especially in the amygdala, a key structure processing emotions in the brain.
Recent investigations, mainly on fear learning and extinction, have shown that there are highly specialized neuronal circuits within the amygdala that control specific behaviors. However, a high density of interconnections, both among amygdalar nuclei and between amygdalar nuclei and other brain regions, and the lack of a predictable distribution of functional cell types make defining behavioral functions of the amygdalar neuronal circuits challenging. Therefore, to understand how different neuronal circuits in the amygdala produce different behaviors tracing anatomical connections between activated neurons, i.e., the functional anatomy is needed.
Published data and our preliminary results suggest that within the amygdala there exist different neuronal circuits mediating social interactions of different valence (positive or negative affective significance) and that circuits controlling social and non-social emotions differ. Combining our recently developed behavioral models of adult, non-aggressive, same-sex social interactions with the methods of tracing anatomical connections between activated neurons, we plan to identify neural circuitry underlying social interactions of different emotional valence. This goal will be achieved by: (1) Characterizing functional anatomy of neuronal circuits in the amygdala underlying socially transferred emotions; (2) Examining role of the identified neuronal subpopulations in control of social behaviors; (3) Verifying role of matrix metalloproteinase-9-dependent neuronal subpopulations within the amygdala in social motivation.
Summary
Understanding how brain controls social interactions is one of the central goals of neuroscience. Whereas social interactions and their effects on the emotional state of an individual are relatively well described at the behavioral level, much less is known about neural mechanisms involved in these very complex phenomena, especially in the amygdala, a key structure processing emotions in the brain.
Recent investigations, mainly on fear learning and extinction, have shown that there are highly specialized neuronal circuits within the amygdala that control specific behaviors. However, a high density of interconnections, both among amygdalar nuclei and between amygdalar nuclei and other brain regions, and the lack of a predictable distribution of functional cell types make defining behavioral functions of the amygdalar neuronal circuits challenging. Therefore, to understand how different neuronal circuits in the amygdala produce different behaviors tracing anatomical connections between activated neurons, i.e., the functional anatomy is needed.
Published data and our preliminary results suggest that within the amygdala there exist different neuronal circuits mediating social interactions of different valence (positive or negative affective significance) and that circuits controlling social and non-social emotions differ. Combining our recently developed behavioral models of adult, non-aggressive, same-sex social interactions with the methods of tracing anatomical connections between activated neurons, we plan to identify neural circuitry underlying social interactions of different emotional valence. This goal will be achieved by: (1) Characterizing functional anatomy of neuronal circuits in the amygdala underlying socially transferred emotions; (2) Examining role of the identified neuronal subpopulations in control of social behaviors; (3) Verifying role of matrix metalloproteinase-9-dependent neuronal subpopulations within the amygdala in social motivation.
Max ERC Funding
1 312 500 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-12-01, End date: 2021-11-30
Project acronym FIELDS-KNOTS
Project Quantum fields and knot homologies
Researcher (PI) Piotr Sulkowski
Host Institution (HI) UNIWERSYTET WARSZAWSKI
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2013-StG
Summary 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-A-polynomial. 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.
Summary
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-A-polynomial. 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.
Max ERC Funding
1 345 080 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-12-01, End date: 2018-11-30
Project acronym INDEX
Project Rigidity of groups and higher index theory
Researcher (PI) Piotr Wojciech Nowak
Host Institution (HI) INSTYTUT MATEMATYCZNY POLSKIEJ AKADEMII NAUK
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE1, ERC-2015-STG
Summary The Atiyah-Singer index theorem was one of the most spectacular achievements of mathematics in the XXth century, connecting the analytic and topological properties of manifolds. The Baum-Connes conjecture is a hugely successful approach to generalizing the index theorem to a much broader setting. It has remarkable applications in topology and analysis. For instance, it implies the Novikov conjecture on the homotopy invariance of higher signatures of a closed manifold and the Kaplansky-Kadison conjecture on the existence of non-trivial idempotents in the reduced group C*-algebra of a torsion-free group. At present, the Baum-Connes conjecture is known to hold for a large class of groups, including groups admitting metrically proper isometric actions on Hilbert spaces and Gromov hyperbolic groups.
The Baum-Connes conjecture with certain coefficients is known to fail for a class of groups, whose Cayley graphs contain coarsely embedded expander graphs. Nevertheless, the conjecture in full generality remains open and there is a growing need for new examples of groups and group actions, that would be counterexamples to the Baum-Connes conjecture. The main objective of this project is to exhibit such examples.
Our approach relies on strengthening Kazhdan’s property (T), a prominent cohomological rigidity property, from its original setting of Hilbert spaces to much larger classes of Banach spaces. Such properties are an emerging direction in the study of cohomological rigidity and are not yet well-understood. They lie at the intersection of geometric group theory, non-commutative geometry and index theory. In their study we will implement novel approaches, combining geometric and analytic techniques with variety of new cohomological constructions.
Summary
The Atiyah-Singer index theorem was one of the most spectacular achievements of mathematics in the XXth century, connecting the analytic and topological properties of manifolds. The Baum-Connes conjecture is a hugely successful approach to generalizing the index theorem to a much broader setting. It has remarkable applications in topology and analysis. For instance, it implies the Novikov conjecture on the homotopy invariance of higher signatures of a closed manifold and the Kaplansky-Kadison conjecture on the existence of non-trivial idempotents in the reduced group C*-algebra of a torsion-free group. At present, the Baum-Connes conjecture is known to hold for a large class of groups, including groups admitting metrically proper isometric actions on Hilbert spaces and Gromov hyperbolic groups.
The Baum-Connes conjecture with certain coefficients is known to fail for a class of groups, whose Cayley graphs contain coarsely embedded expander graphs. Nevertheless, the conjecture in full generality remains open and there is a growing need for new examples of groups and group actions, that would be counterexamples to the Baum-Connes conjecture. The main objective of this project is to exhibit such examples.
Our approach relies on strengthening Kazhdan’s property (T), a prominent cohomological rigidity property, from its original setting of Hilbert spaces to much larger classes of Banach spaces. Such properties are an emerging direction in the study of cohomological rigidity and are not yet well-understood. They lie at the intersection of geometric group theory, non-commutative geometry and index theory. In their study we will implement novel approaches, combining geometric and analytic techniques with variety of new cohomological constructions.
Max ERC Funding
880 625 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-08-01, End date: 2021-07-31
Project acronym KAPIBARA
Project Homotopy Theory of Algebraic Varieties and Wild Ramification
Researcher (PI) Piotr ACHINGER
Host Institution (HI) INSTYTUT MATEMATYCZNY POLSKIEJ AKADEMII NAUK
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE1, ERC-2018-STG
Summary The aim of the proposed research is to study the homotopy theory of algebraic varieties and other algebraically defined geometric objects, especially over fields other than the complex numbers. A noticeable emphasis will be put on fundamental groups and on K(pi, 1) spaces, which serve as building blocks for more complicated objects. The most important source of both motivation and methodology is my recent discovery of the K(pi, 1) property of affine schemes in positive characteristic and its relation to wild ramification phenomena.
The central goal is the study of etale homotopy types in positive characteristic, where we hope to use the aforementioned discovery to yield new results beyond the affine case and a better understanding of the fundamental group of affine schemes. The latter goal is closely tied to Grothendieck's anabelian geometry program, which we would like to extend beyond its usual scope of hyperbolic curves.
There are two bridges going out of this central point. The first is the analogy between wild ramification and irregular singularities of algebraic integrable connections, which prompts us to translate our results to the latter setting, and to define a wild homotopy type whose fundamental group encodes the category of connections.
The second bridge is the theory of perfectoid spaces, allowing one to pass between characteristic p and p-adic geometry, which we plan to use to shed some new light on the homotopy theory of adic spaces. At the same time, we address the related question: when is the universal cover of a p-adic variety a perfectoid space? We expect a connection between this question and the Shafarevich conjecture and varieties with large fundamental group.
The last part of the project deals with varieties over the field of formal Laurent series over C, where we want to construct a Betti homotopy realization using logarithmic geometry. The need for such a construction is motivated by certain questions in mirror symmetry.
Summary
The aim of the proposed research is to study the homotopy theory of algebraic varieties and other algebraically defined geometric objects, especially over fields other than the complex numbers. A noticeable emphasis will be put on fundamental groups and on K(pi, 1) spaces, which serve as building blocks for more complicated objects. The most important source of both motivation and methodology is my recent discovery of the K(pi, 1) property of affine schemes in positive characteristic and its relation to wild ramification phenomena.
The central goal is the study of etale homotopy types in positive characteristic, where we hope to use the aforementioned discovery to yield new results beyond the affine case and a better understanding of the fundamental group of affine schemes. The latter goal is closely tied to Grothendieck's anabelian geometry program, which we would like to extend beyond its usual scope of hyperbolic curves.
There are two bridges going out of this central point. The first is the analogy between wild ramification and irregular singularities of algebraic integrable connections, which prompts us to translate our results to the latter setting, and to define a wild homotopy type whose fundamental group encodes the category of connections.
The second bridge is the theory of perfectoid spaces, allowing one to pass between characteristic p and p-adic geometry, which we plan to use to shed some new light on the homotopy theory of adic spaces. At the same time, we address the related question: when is the universal cover of a p-adic variety a perfectoid space? We expect a connection between this question and the Shafarevich conjecture and varieties with large fundamental group.
The last part of the project deals with varieties over the field of formal Laurent series over C, where we want to construct a Betti homotopy realization using logarithmic geometry. The need for such a construction is motivated by certain questions in mirror symmetry.
Max ERC Funding
1 007 500 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-06-01, End date: 2024-05-31
Project acronym KaraimBible
Project (Re)constructing a Bible. A new approach to unedited Biblical manuscripts as sources for the early history of the Karaim language
Researcher (PI) Michal NÉMETH
Host Institution (HI) UNIWERSYTET JAGIELLONSKI
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2018-STG
Summary Eastern European Karaims are the sole representatives of Karaite Judaism in Europe. Their native tongue is a severely endangered Turkic vernacular listed on the UNESCO Atlas of the Worlds’ Languages in Danger. Due to many historical events, including World War II and the Soviet era, the cultural heritage of this intriguing ethnic minority suffered great losses. At the same time, since its investigation requires a rare combination of unique linguistic and palaeographic skills merely a fraction of its surviving written heritage has entered scholarly circulation. In particular, no comprehensive edition of the Karaim Hebrew Bible exists, even though nearly 100 Karaim Biblical texts have been discovered to date.
The project will construct a digital edition of the entire Karaim Bible, almost exclusively based on unedited texts in Hebrew script (15th–20th cc). It will be used as a tool to deliver the first linguistic and palaeographic descriptions of the oldest, still unedited records of Karaim as well as reconstruct the way in which the Karaim Bible was created. Combining traditional and computer-aided research methods will provide essential data on the early history of the Karaim language and ethnicity. The edition will be a highly complex instrument interconnected with a dictionary, which is an absolute novelty in the field.
The edition will contain the first ever comprehensive Karaim translation intelligible to present-day native-speakers. The texts will be treated according to the principles of textual criticism and translated into English. If permitted, facsimiles will be provided. One exciting aspect of the enterprise is that it will offer a virtual unification of the Karaim translations of one of the most important and influential works in world literature. Such a task is of fundamental importance and is crucial to sustaining an endangered culture, given that an awareness of the oldest Bible translations is an important component of European national identities.
Summary
Eastern European Karaims are the sole representatives of Karaite Judaism in Europe. Their native tongue is a severely endangered Turkic vernacular listed on the UNESCO Atlas of the Worlds’ Languages in Danger. Due to many historical events, including World War II and the Soviet era, the cultural heritage of this intriguing ethnic minority suffered great losses. At the same time, since its investigation requires a rare combination of unique linguistic and palaeographic skills merely a fraction of its surviving written heritage has entered scholarly circulation. In particular, no comprehensive edition of the Karaim Hebrew Bible exists, even though nearly 100 Karaim Biblical texts have been discovered to date.
The project will construct a digital edition of the entire Karaim Bible, almost exclusively based on unedited texts in Hebrew script (15th–20th cc). It will be used as a tool to deliver the first linguistic and palaeographic descriptions of the oldest, still unedited records of Karaim as well as reconstruct the way in which the Karaim Bible was created. Combining traditional and computer-aided research methods will provide essential data on the early history of the Karaim language and ethnicity. The edition will be a highly complex instrument interconnected with a dictionary, which is an absolute novelty in the field.
The edition will contain the first ever comprehensive Karaim translation intelligible to present-day native-speakers. The texts will be treated according to the principles of textual criticism and translated into English. If permitted, facsimiles will be provided. One exciting aspect of the enterprise is that it will offer a virtual unification of the Karaim translations of one of the most important and influential works in world literature. Such a task is of fundamental importance and is crucial to sustaining an endangered culture, given that an awareness of the oldest Bible translations is an important component of European national identities.
Max ERC Funding
1 484 075 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-02-01, End date: 2024-01-31
Project acronym McHAP
Project Entrapment of Hypoxic Cancer by Macrophages Loaded with HAP
Researcher (PI) Magdalena KROL
Host Institution (HI) SZKOLA GLOWNA GOSPODARSTWA WIEJSKIEGO
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS9, ERC-2016-STG
Summary The proposed project seeks to open a new research front within the field of drug delivery to the solid tumours. Unsatisfactory response of tumours to chemotherapy is mainly related to impaired diffusion of the anticancer drug because of decreased drug uptake due to poor vasculature. Moreover, the drug is not able to penetrate the most hypoxic sites. Cells from these ‘untreated’ sites are responsible for relapse and metastasis. However, these avascular regions attract macrophages that migrate even to areas far away from blood vessels. Therefore, they might constitute a unique delivery system of drug containing particles to these parts of the tumour mass. A promising example of such particles that could be used are ferritins, whose caged architecture allows for efficient drug encapsulation and whose uptake from macrophage cells has been well demonstrated. My recent ground breaking finding was that macrophages are also able to specifically and actively transfer these taken up ferritins (loaded with the compound of choice) to cancer cells. Thus, these preliminary results indicate the possibility to use macrophages to deliver ferritin encapsulated compounds directly to the tumour cells even in its hypoxic areas. Then, the use of hypoxia-activated prodrugs (HAP) which are selectively activated only in hypoxic regions will be exploited in order to make cancer therapy safer. However, the molecular mechanism of ferritin uptake by macrophages, their storage, and transport to the cancer cells represent key issues to be investigated and pave the way to the experimental design of the present project.
In the present project, we will develop and characterize a completely new and modern approach to anticancer therapy and drug delivery. As such we expect to be able to precisely administer drugs to the tumour site (even to the hypoxic regions) where it is activated by tumour-specific conditions, avoiding side effects of anticancer therapy.
Summary
The proposed project seeks to open a new research front within the field of drug delivery to the solid tumours. Unsatisfactory response of tumours to chemotherapy is mainly related to impaired diffusion of the anticancer drug because of decreased drug uptake due to poor vasculature. Moreover, the drug is not able to penetrate the most hypoxic sites. Cells from these ‘untreated’ sites are responsible for relapse and metastasis. However, these avascular regions attract macrophages that migrate even to areas far away from blood vessels. Therefore, they might constitute a unique delivery system of drug containing particles to these parts of the tumour mass. A promising example of such particles that could be used are ferritins, whose caged architecture allows for efficient drug encapsulation and whose uptake from macrophage cells has been well demonstrated. My recent ground breaking finding was that macrophages are also able to specifically and actively transfer these taken up ferritins (loaded with the compound of choice) to cancer cells. Thus, these preliminary results indicate the possibility to use macrophages to deliver ferritin encapsulated compounds directly to the tumour cells even in its hypoxic areas. Then, the use of hypoxia-activated prodrugs (HAP) which are selectively activated only in hypoxic regions will be exploited in order to make cancer therapy safer. However, the molecular mechanism of ferritin uptake by macrophages, their storage, and transport to the cancer cells represent key issues to be investigated and pave the way to the experimental design of the present project.
In the present project, we will develop and characterize a completely new and modern approach to anticancer therapy and drug delivery. As such we expect to be able to precisely administer drugs to the tumour site (even to the hypoxic regions) where it is activated by tumour-specific conditions, avoiding side effects of anticancer therapy.
Max ERC Funding
1 413 750 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-01-01, End date: 2021-12-31
Project acronym NAMO
Project Narrative Modes of Historical Discourse in Asia
Researcher (PI) Ulrich Timme Kragh
Host Institution (HI) UNIWERSYTET IM. ADAMA MICKIEWICZA W POZNANIU
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH5, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary 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.
Summary
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.
Max ERC Funding
1 995 162 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-12-01, End date: 2019-11-30
Project acronym NEGOTIATINGMODERNITY
Project “Negotiating Modernity”: History of Modern Political Thought in East-Central Europe
Researcher (PI) Balázs Trencsényi
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE FOR ADVANCED STUDY SOFIA
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2007-StG
Summary The principal aim of the Project is an unprecedented synthetic volume on the history of modern political thought in East Central Europe. It is not meant to be compartmentalized according to national sub-chapters but based on a diachronic analysis especially sensitive to transnational discursive phenomena (e.g. the ideological traditions transcending national borders such as liberalism, socialism, conservatism, federalism), and being equally open to supra-national and sub-national (regional) frameworks, where different national projects were interacting. The project entails the task of “redescription” and conceptual transfer, i.e. finding a regional and trans-culturally acceptable set of analytical categories, as well as new knowledge-production – answering questions about the basic components of European political thought, formulated on the basis of a regional and trans-regional comparative analysis. It also necessitates the “trading” of concepts: both in the direction of inserting specific historical experiences and analytical categories into European circulation, and also testing the value of the interpretative models linked to such notions as “populism”. The project thus aims neither at a compendium of case-studies nor at a deductive Area Studies-type of approach that tends to eliminate differences to forge a general narrative. What it seeks to produce instead is a cross-cultural “synthesis”– the work of a compact team of multi-national composition, skilled in comparative research and drawing on the recent upsurge of transnational historiography. By shifting the reference point of historical thinking from the “West” to the cross-European experience with a special emphasis on East-Central Europe, in other words, the project seeks to rethink the history of the “negotiation of political modernity,” moving from “moral ethnocentrism” and oversimplification towards a more encompassing notion of what constitutes the European intellectual heritage.
Summary
The principal aim of the Project is an unprecedented synthetic volume on the history of modern political thought in East Central Europe. It is not meant to be compartmentalized according to national sub-chapters but based on a diachronic analysis especially sensitive to transnational discursive phenomena (e.g. the ideological traditions transcending national borders such as liberalism, socialism, conservatism, federalism), and being equally open to supra-national and sub-national (regional) frameworks, where different national projects were interacting. The project entails the task of “redescription” and conceptual transfer, i.e. finding a regional and trans-culturally acceptable set of analytical categories, as well as new knowledge-production – answering questions about the basic components of European political thought, formulated on the basis of a regional and trans-regional comparative analysis. It also necessitates the “trading” of concepts: both in the direction of inserting specific historical experiences and analytical categories into European circulation, and also testing the value of the interpretative models linked to such notions as “populism”. The project thus aims neither at a compendium of case-studies nor at a deductive Area Studies-type of approach that tends to eliminate differences to forge a general narrative. What it seeks to produce instead is a cross-cultural “synthesis”– the work of a compact team of multi-national composition, skilled in comparative research and drawing on the recent upsurge of transnational historiography. By shifting the reference point of historical thinking from the “West” to the cross-European experience with a special emphasis on East-Central Europe, in other words, the project seeks to rethink the history of the “negotiation of political modernity,” moving from “moral ethnocentrism” and oversimplification towards a more encompassing notion of what constitutes the European intellectual heritage.
Max ERC Funding
689 579 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-04-01, End date: 2013-04-30
Project acronym NERCOMP
Project Structural studies of Nucleotide Excision Repair complexes
Researcher (PI) Marcin Nowotny
Host Institution (HI) INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MOLECULAR AND CELL BIOLOGY
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS1, ERC-2011-StG_20101109
Summary "DNA damage caused by chemical and physical factors can lead to detrimental effects to the cell and must be corrected. One of the primary pathways to achieve this repair is nucleotide excision repair (NER). In NER, the DNA damage is first located, a stretch of bases harboring the lesion is removed, and the gap is filled by a DNA polymerase. The unique feature of NER is its ability to correct a wide spectrum of DNA modifications of different sizes and chemical structures.
The aim of the project is to structurally and biochemically characterize protein complexes involved in NER pathways in bacteria and eukaryotes.
In bacterial NER, a complex of UvrA and UvrB proteins locates the damage and verifies its presence. In the first part of the project we plan to determine the crystal and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) structures of a UvrA-UvrB-DNA complex to elucidate the details of the mechanism of the first steps of bacterial NER.
In eukaryotic NER, the 3′ incision is executed by XPG/Rad2 protein. Currently, no structural information is available for this protein. In the second part of the project, we plan to solve the crystal structures of XPG/Rad2 nuclease in apo form and in complex with the DNA substrate to elucidate the mechanism of the 3′ cut. We also plan to determine the structure of XPG/Rad2 in complex with the XPG/Rad2-binding domain from the p62 component of TFIIH, which will be an important building block for the determination of the architecture of the eukaryotic NER pre-incision complex.
The third part of the project will elucidate the structure and mechanism of the Rad16-Rad7 yeast NER complex. It is implicated in numerous stages of NER, from damage detection to ubiquitination of other NER components. We plan to solve the crystal structures of the Rad16-Rad7 alone and in complexes with DNA or partner protein Abf1 to elucidate the mechanisms of various activities of Rad16-Rad7 and help design experiments that could test the in vivo function of this complex."
Summary
"DNA damage caused by chemical and physical factors can lead to detrimental effects to the cell and must be corrected. One of the primary pathways to achieve this repair is nucleotide excision repair (NER). In NER, the DNA damage is first located, a stretch of bases harboring the lesion is removed, and the gap is filled by a DNA polymerase. The unique feature of NER is its ability to correct a wide spectrum of DNA modifications of different sizes and chemical structures.
The aim of the project is to structurally and biochemically characterize protein complexes involved in NER pathways in bacteria and eukaryotes.
In bacterial NER, a complex of UvrA and UvrB proteins locates the damage and verifies its presence. In the first part of the project we plan to determine the crystal and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) structures of a UvrA-UvrB-DNA complex to elucidate the details of the mechanism of the first steps of bacterial NER.
In eukaryotic NER, the 3′ incision is executed by XPG/Rad2 protein. Currently, no structural information is available for this protein. In the second part of the project, we plan to solve the crystal structures of XPG/Rad2 nuclease in apo form and in complex with the DNA substrate to elucidate the mechanism of the 3′ cut. We also plan to determine the structure of XPG/Rad2 in complex with the XPG/Rad2-binding domain from the p62 component of TFIIH, which will be an important building block for the determination of the architecture of the eukaryotic NER pre-incision complex.
The third part of the project will elucidate the structure and mechanism of the Rad16-Rad7 yeast NER complex. It is implicated in numerous stages of NER, from damage detection to ubiquitination of other NER components. We plan to solve the crystal structures of the Rad16-Rad7 alone and in complexes with DNA or partner protein Abf1 to elucidate the mechanisms of various activities of Rad16-Rad7 and help design experiments that could test the in vivo function of this complex."
Max ERC Funding
1 498 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31
