Project acronym 3D2DPrint
Project 3D Printing of Novel 2D Nanomaterials: Adding Advanced 2D Functionalities to Revolutionary Tailored 3D Manufacturing
Researcher (PI) Valeria Nicolosi
Host Institution (HI) THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary My vision is to establish, within the framework of an ERC CoG, a multidisciplinary group which will work in concert towards pioneering the integration of novel 2-Dimensional nanomaterials with novel additive fabrication techniques to develop a unique class of energy storage devices.
Batteries and supercapacitors are two very complementary types of energy storage devices. Batteries store much higher energy densities; supercapacitors, on the other hand, hold one tenth of the electricity per unit of volume or weight as compared to batteries but can achieve much higher power densities. Technology is currently striving to improve the power density of batteries and the energy density of supercapacitors. To do so it is imperative to develop new materials, chemistries and manufacturing strategies.
3D2DPrint aims to develop micro-energy devices (both supercapacitors and batteries), technologies particularly relevant in the context of the emergent industry of micro-electro-mechanical systems and constantly downsized electronics. We plan to use novel two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials obtained by liquid-phase exfoliation. This method offers a new, economic and easy way to prepare ink of a variety of 2D systems, allowing to produce wide device performance window through elegant and simple constituent control at the point of fabrication. 3D2DPrint will use our expertise and know-how to allow development of advanced AM methods to integrate dissimilar nanomaterial blends and/or “hybrids” into fully embedded 3D printed energy storage devices, with the ultimate objective to realise a range of products that contain the above described nanomaterials subcomponent devices, electrical connections and traditional micro-fabricated subcomponents (if needed) ideally using a single tool.
Summary
My vision is to establish, within the framework of an ERC CoG, a multidisciplinary group which will work in concert towards pioneering the integration of novel 2-Dimensional nanomaterials with novel additive fabrication techniques to develop a unique class of energy storage devices.
Batteries and supercapacitors are two very complementary types of energy storage devices. Batteries store much higher energy densities; supercapacitors, on the other hand, hold one tenth of the electricity per unit of volume or weight as compared to batteries but can achieve much higher power densities. Technology is currently striving to improve the power density of batteries and the energy density of supercapacitors. To do so it is imperative to develop new materials, chemistries and manufacturing strategies.
3D2DPrint aims to develop micro-energy devices (both supercapacitors and batteries), technologies particularly relevant in the context of the emergent industry of micro-electro-mechanical systems and constantly downsized electronics. We plan to use novel two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials obtained by liquid-phase exfoliation. This method offers a new, economic and easy way to prepare ink of a variety of 2D systems, allowing to produce wide device performance window through elegant and simple constituent control at the point of fabrication. 3D2DPrint will use our expertise and know-how to allow development of advanced AM methods to integrate dissimilar nanomaterial blends and/or “hybrids” into fully embedded 3D printed energy storage devices, with the ultimate objective to realise a range of products that contain the above described nanomaterials subcomponent devices, electrical connections and traditional micro-fabricated subcomponents (if needed) ideally using a single tool.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 942 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-10-01, End date: 2021-09-30
Project acronym A-DIET
Project Metabolomics based biomarkers of dietary intake- new tools for nutrition research
Researcher (PI) Lorraine Brennan
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS7, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary In todays advanced technological world, we can track the exact movement of individuals, analyse their genetic makeup and predict predisposition to certain diseases. However, we are unable to accurately assess an individual’s dietary intake. This is without a doubt one of the main stumbling blocks in assessing the link between diet and disease/health. The present proposal (A-DIET) will address this issue with the overarching objective to develop novel strategies for assessment of dietary intake.
Using approaches to (1) identify biomarkers of specific foods (2) classify people into dietary patterns (nutritypes) and (3) develop a tool for integration of dietary and biomarker data, A-DIET has the potential to dramatically enhance our ability to accurately assess dietary intake. The ultimate output from A-DIET will be a dietary assessment tool which can be used to obtain an accurate assessment of dietary intake by combining dietary and biomarker data which in turn will allow investigations into relationships between diet, health and disease. New biomarkers of specific foods will be identified and validated using intervention studies and metabolomic analyses. Methods will be developed to classify individuals into dietary patterns based on biomarker/metabolomic profiles thus demonstrating the novel concept of nutritypes. Strategies for integration of dietary and biomarker data will be developed and translated into a tool that will be made available to the wider scientific community.
Advances made in A-DIET will enable nutrition epidemiologist’s to properly examine the relationship between diet and disease and develop clear public health messages with regard to diet and health. Additionally results from A-DIET will allow researchers to accurately assess people’s diet and implement health promotion strategies and enable dieticians in a clinical environment to assess compliance to therapeutic diets such as adherence to a high fibre diet or a gluten free diet.
Summary
In todays advanced technological world, we can track the exact movement of individuals, analyse their genetic makeup and predict predisposition to certain diseases. However, we are unable to accurately assess an individual’s dietary intake. This is without a doubt one of the main stumbling blocks in assessing the link between diet and disease/health. The present proposal (A-DIET) will address this issue with the overarching objective to develop novel strategies for assessment of dietary intake.
Using approaches to (1) identify biomarkers of specific foods (2) classify people into dietary patterns (nutritypes) and (3) develop a tool for integration of dietary and biomarker data, A-DIET has the potential to dramatically enhance our ability to accurately assess dietary intake. The ultimate output from A-DIET will be a dietary assessment tool which can be used to obtain an accurate assessment of dietary intake by combining dietary and biomarker data which in turn will allow investigations into relationships between diet, health and disease. New biomarkers of specific foods will be identified and validated using intervention studies and metabolomic analyses. Methods will be developed to classify individuals into dietary patterns based on biomarker/metabolomic profiles thus demonstrating the novel concept of nutritypes. Strategies for integration of dietary and biomarker data will be developed and translated into a tool that will be made available to the wider scientific community.
Advances made in A-DIET will enable nutrition epidemiologist’s to properly examine the relationship between diet and disease and develop clear public health messages with regard to diet and health. Additionally results from A-DIET will allow researchers to accurately assess people’s diet and implement health promotion strategies and enable dieticians in a clinical environment to assess compliance to therapeutic diets such as adherence to a high fibre diet or a gluten free diet.
Max ERC Funding
1 995 548 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-08-01, End date: 2020-07-31
Project acronym ACHIEVE
Project Advanced Cellular Hierarchical Tissue-Imitations based on Excluded Volume Effect
Researcher (PI) Dimitrios ZEVGOLIS
Host Institution (HI) NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2019-COG
Summary ACHIEVE focuses on the application of Excluded Volume Effect in cell culture systems in order to enhance Extracellular Matrix (ECM) deposition. It represents a new horizon in in vitro cell culture which will address major challenges in medical advancement and food security. ACHIEVE will elucidate extracellular processes which occur during tissue generation, identifying favourable conditions for optimum tissue cultivation in vitro. These results will be applied in the diverse fields of regenerative medicine, drug discovery and cellular agriculture which all require advancements in in vitro tissue engineering to overcome current bottlenecks. Effective in vitro tissue culture is currently limited by lengthy culture periods. An inability to maintain physiologic (in vivo) conditions during this lengthy in vitro culture leads to cellular phenotype drift, ultimately resulting in generation of an undesired tissue. Enhanced tissue generation in vitro will greatly reduce culture times and costs, effecting improved in vitro tissue substitutes which remain true to their original phenotype. The research will be addressed under four work-packages. WP1 will investigate biochemical, biophysical and biological responses to varying culture conditions; WP 2, 3 and 4 will apply results in the fields of Tissue Engineering, Drug Discovery and Cellular Agriculture respectively. Research will involve extensive characterisation of derived- and stem-cell cultures in varying conditions of expansion and relevant health and safety and preclinical testing. The five year programme will be undertaken at the National University of Ireland, Galway, a centre of excellence in tissue engineering research, at a cost of € 2,439,270.
Summary
ACHIEVE focuses on the application of Excluded Volume Effect in cell culture systems in order to enhance Extracellular Matrix (ECM) deposition. It represents a new horizon in in vitro cell culture which will address major challenges in medical advancement and food security. ACHIEVE will elucidate extracellular processes which occur during tissue generation, identifying favourable conditions for optimum tissue cultivation in vitro. These results will be applied in the diverse fields of regenerative medicine, drug discovery and cellular agriculture which all require advancements in in vitro tissue engineering to overcome current bottlenecks. Effective in vitro tissue culture is currently limited by lengthy culture periods. An inability to maintain physiologic (in vivo) conditions during this lengthy in vitro culture leads to cellular phenotype drift, ultimately resulting in generation of an undesired tissue. Enhanced tissue generation in vitro will greatly reduce culture times and costs, effecting improved in vitro tissue substitutes which remain true to their original phenotype. The research will be addressed under four work-packages. WP1 will investigate biochemical, biophysical and biological responses to varying culture conditions; WP 2, 3 and 4 will apply results in the fields of Tissue Engineering, Drug Discovery and Cellular Agriculture respectively. Research will involve extensive characterisation of derived- and stem-cell cultures in varying conditions of expansion and relevant health and safety and preclinical testing. The five year programme will be undertaken at the National University of Ireland, Galway, a centre of excellence in tissue engineering research, at a cost of € 2,439,270.
Max ERC Funding
2 076 770 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-09-01, End date: 2025-08-31
Project acronym Active-DNA
Project Computationally Active DNA Nanostructures
Researcher (PI) Damien WOODS
Host Institution (HI) NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND MAYNOOTH
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE6, ERC-2017-COG
Summary During the 20th century computer technology evolved from bulky, slow, special purpose mechanical engines to the now ubiquitous silicon chips and software that are one of the pinnacles of human ingenuity. The goal of the field of molecular programming is to take the next leap and build a new generation of matter-based computers using DNA, RNA and proteins. This will be accomplished by computer scientists, physicists and chemists designing molecules to execute ``wet'' nanoscale programs in test tubes. The workflow includes proposing theoretical models, mathematically proving their computational properties, physical modelling and implementation in the wet-lab.
The past decade has seen remarkable progress at building static 2D and 3D DNA nanostructures. However, unlike biological macromolecules and complexes that are built via specified self-assembly pathways, that execute robotic-like movements, and that undergo evolution, the activity of human-engineered nanostructures is severely limited. We will need sophisticated algorithmic ideas to build structures that rival active living systems. Active-DNA, aims to address this challenge by achieving a number of objectives on computation, DNA-based self-assembly and molecular robotics. Active-DNA research work will range from defining models and proving theorems that characterise the computational and expressive capabilities of such active programmable materials to experimental work implementing active DNA nanostructures in the wet-lab.
Summary
During the 20th century computer technology evolved from bulky, slow, special purpose mechanical engines to the now ubiquitous silicon chips and software that are one of the pinnacles of human ingenuity. The goal of the field of molecular programming is to take the next leap and build a new generation of matter-based computers using DNA, RNA and proteins. This will be accomplished by computer scientists, physicists and chemists designing molecules to execute ``wet'' nanoscale programs in test tubes. The workflow includes proposing theoretical models, mathematically proving their computational properties, physical modelling and implementation in the wet-lab.
The past decade has seen remarkable progress at building static 2D and 3D DNA nanostructures. However, unlike biological macromolecules and complexes that are built via specified self-assembly pathways, that execute robotic-like movements, and that undergo evolution, the activity of human-engineered nanostructures is severely limited. We will need sophisticated algorithmic ideas to build structures that rival active living systems. Active-DNA, aims to address this challenge by achieving a number of objectives on computation, DNA-based self-assembly and molecular robotics. Active-DNA research work will range from defining models and proving theorems that characterise the computational and expressive capabilities of such active programmable materials to experimental work implementing active DNA nanostructures in the wet-lab.
Max ERC Funding
2 349 603 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-11-01, End date: 2023-10-31
Project acronym ASTROFLOW
Project The influence of stellar outflows on exoplanetary mass loss
Researcher (PI) Aline VIDOTTO
Host Institution (HI) THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE9, ERC-2018-COG
Summary ASTROFLOW aims to make ground-breaking progress in our physical understanding of exoplanetary mass loss, by quantifying the influence of stellar outflows on atmospheric escape of close-in exoplanets. Escape plays a key role in planetary evolution, population, and potential to develop life. Stellar irradiation and outflows affect planetary mass loss: irradiation heats planetary atmospheres, which inflate and more likely escape; outflows cause pressure confinement around otherwise freely escaping atmospheres. This external pressure can increase, reduce or even suppress escape rates; its effects on exoplanetary mass loss remain largely unexplored due to the complexity of such interactions. I will fill this knowledge gap by developing a novel modelling framework of atmospheric escape that will, for the first time, consider the effects of realistic stellar outflows on exoplanetary mass loss. My expertise in stellar wind theory and 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations is crucial for producing the next-generation models of planetary escape. My framework will consist of state-of-the-art, time-dependent, 3D simulations of stellar outflows (Method 1), which will be coupled to novel 3D simulations of atmospheric escape (Method 2). My models will account for the major underlying physical processes of mass loss. With this, I will determine the response of planetary mass loss to realistic stellar particle, magnetic and radiation environments and will characterise the physical conditions of the escaping material. I will compute how its extinction varies during transit and compare synthetic line profiles to atmospheric escape observations from, eg, Hubble and our NASA cubesat CUTE. Strong synergy with upcoming observations (JWST, TESS, SPIRou, CARMENES) also exists. Determining the lifetime of planetary atmospheres is essential to understanding populations of exoplanets. ASTROFLOW’s work will be the foundation for future research of how exoplanets evolve under mass-loss processes.
Summary
ASTROFLOW aims to make ground-breaking progress in our physical understanding of exoplanetary mass loss, by quantifying the influence of stellar outflows on atmospheric escape of close-in exoplanets. Escape plays a key role in planetary evolution, population, and potential to develop life. Stellar irradiation and outflows affect planetary mass loss: irradiation heats planetary atmospheres, which inflate and more likely escape; outflows cause pressure confinement around otherwise freely escaping atmospheres. This external pressure can increase, reduce or even suppress escape rates; its effects on exoplanetary mass loss remain largely unexplored due to the complexity of such interactions. I will fill this knowledge gap by developing a novel modelling framework of atmospheric escape that will, for the first time, consider the effects of realistic stellar outflows on exoplanetary mass loss. My expertise in stellar wind theory and 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations is crucial for producing the next-generation models of planetary escape. My framework will consist of state-of-the-art, time-dependent, 3D simulations of stellar outflows (Method 1), which will be coupled to novel 3D simulations of atmospheric escape (Method 2). My models will account for the major underlying physical processes of mass loss. With this, I will determine the response of planetary mass loss to realistic stellar particle, magnetic and radiation environments and will characterise the physical conditions of the escaping material. I will compute how its extinction varies during transit and compare synthetic line profiles to atmospheric escape observations from, eg, Hubble and our NASA cubesat CUTE. Strong synergy with upcoming observations (JWST, TESS, SPIRou, CARMENES) also exists. Determining the lifetime of planetary atmospheres is essential to understanding populations of exoplanets. ASTROFLOW’s work will be the foundation for future research of how exoplanets evolve under mass-loss processes.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 956 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-09-01, End date: 2024-08-31
Project acronym ChronHib
Project Chronologicon Hibernicum – A Probabilistic Chronological Framework for Dating Early Irish Language Developments and Literature
Researcher (PI) David Stifter
Host Institution (HI) NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND MAYNOOTH
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH4, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary Early Medieval Irish literature (7th–10th centuries) is vast in extent and rich in genres, but owing to its mostly anonymous transmission, for most texts the precise time and circumstances of composition are unknown. Unless where texts contain historical references, the only clues for a rough chronological positioning of the texts are to be found in their linguistic peculiarities. Phonology, morphology, syntax and the lexicon of the Irish language changed considerably from Early Old Irish (7th c.) into Middle Irish (c. 10th–12th centuries). However, only the relative sequence of changes is well understood; for most sound changes very few narrow dates have been proposed so far.
It is the aim of Chronologicon Hibernicum to find a common solution for both problems: through the linguistic profiling of externally dated texts (esp. annalistic writing and sources with a clear historical anchorage) and through serialising the emerging linguistic and chronological data, progress will be made in assigning dates to the linguistic changes. Groundbreakingly, this will be done by using statistical methods for the seriation of the data, and for estimating dates using Bayesian inference.
The resultant information will then be used to find new dates for hitherto undated texts. On this basis, a much tighter chronological framework for the developments of the Early Medieval Irish language will be created. In a further step it will be possible to arrive at a better chronological description of medieval Irish literature as a whole, which will have repercussions on the study of the history and cultural and intellectual environment of medieval Ireland and on its connections with the wider world.
The data collected and analysed in this project will form the database Chronologicon Hibernicum which will serve as the authoritative guideline and reference point for the linguistic dating of Irish texts. In the future, the methodology will be transferable to other languages.
Summary
Early Medieval Irish literature (7th–10th centuries) is vast in extent and rich in genres, but owing to its mostly anonymous transmission, for most texts the precise time and circumstances of composition are unknown. Unless where texts contain historical references, the only clues for a rough chronological positioning of the texts are to be found in their linguistic peculiarities. Phonology, morphology, syntax and the lexicon of the Irish language changed considerably from Early Old Irish (7th c.) into Middle Irish (c. 10th–12th centuries). However, only the relative sequence of changes is well understood; for most sound changes very few narrow dates have been proposed so far.
It is the aim of Chronologicon Hibernicum to find a common solution for both problems: through the linguistic profiling of externally dated texts (esp. annalistic writing and sources with a clear historical anchorage) and through serialising the emerging linguistic and chronological data, progress will be made in assigning dates to the linguistic changes. Groundbreakingly, this will be done by using statistical methods for the seriation of the data, and for estimating dates using Bayesian inference.
The resultant information will then be used to find new dates for hitherto undated texts. On this basis, a much tighter chronological framework for the developments of the Early Medieval Irish language will be created. In a further step it will be possible to arrive at a better chronological description of medieval Irish literature as a whole, which will have repercussions on the study of the history and cultural and intellectual environment of medieval Ireland and on its connections with the wider world.
The data collected and analysed in this project will form the database Chronologicon Hibernicum which will serve as the authoritative guideline and reference point for the linguistic dating of Irish texts. In the future, the methodology will be transferable to other languages.
Max ERC Funding
1 804 230 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-09-01, End date: 2021-04-30
Project acronym CIPHER
Project CIPHER: Hip Hop Interpellation (Le Conseil International pour Hip Hop et Recherche / The International Council for Hip Hop Studies)
Researcher (PI) J. Griffith ROLLEFSON
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK - NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, CORK
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH5, ERC-2018-COG
Summary CIPHER will launch the global research initiative, Hip Hop Interpellation, pilot a new semantic digital/ethnographic web methodology, and codify the emergent discipline of global hip hop studies. It addresses the central question: why has this highly localized and authenticizing African American music translated so easily to far-flung communities and contexts around the globe? Through this specific question the project attempts to understand the foundational and broadly transferable question: how are globalization and localization related? To answer these questions CIPHER posits the Hip Hop Interpellation thesis, that hip hop spreads not as a copy of an African American original, but, through its performance of knowledge, emerges as an always already constituent part of local knowledge and practice. The theorization thus moves beyond the “hailing practices” described by Althusser’s theory of interpellation—the discursive webs that coerce ideological incorporation—to describing an interpolation that locates other histories within and through hip hop’s performed knowledges.
CIPHER’s semantic web methodology tests this thesis, tracking how hip hop memes—slogans, anthems, and icons—are simultaneously produced by people and produce people. This research clears the conceptual impasse of structural “cultural imperialism” vs. agentic “cultural appropriation” debates and instrumentalizes the methodological distance between ethnographic specificity and big data generality. It does so by creating a feedback loop between digital humanities methods (crowd sourcing, semantic tagging, computational stylometry) and ethnographic fieldwork techniques (interviews, musical analysis, participant observation). The result will be an iterative map of Hip Hop Interpellation/Interpolation created by stakeholders that is transformational of our understanding of culture and/as cultural production and transferable to pressing questions about globalization and l’exception culturelle.
Summary
CIPHER will launch the global research initiative, Hip Hop Interpellation, pilot a new semantic digital/ethnographic web methodology, and codify the emergent discipline of global hip hop studies. It addresses the central question: why has this highly localized and authenticizing African American music translated so easily to far-flung communities and contexts around the globe? Through this specific question the project attempts to understand the foundational and broadly transferable question: how are globalization and localization related? To answer these questions CIPHER posits the Hip Hop Interpellation thesis, that hip hop spreads not as a copy of an African American original, but, through its performance of knowledge, emerges as an always already constituent part of local knowledge and practice. The theorization thus moves beyond the “hailing practices” described by Althusser’s theory of interpellation—the discursive webs that coerce ideological incorporation—to describing an interpolation that locates other histories within and through hip hop’s performed knowledges.
CIPHER’s semantic web methodology tests this thesis, tracking how hip hop memes—slogans, anthems, and icons—are simultaneously produced by people and produce people. This research clears the conceptual impasse of structural “cultural imperialism” vs. agentic “cultural appropriation” debates and instrumentalizes the methodological distance between ethnographic specificity and big data generality. It does so by creating a feedback loop between digital humanities methods (crowd sourcing, semantic tagging, computational stylometry) and ethnographic fieldwork techniques (interviews, musical analysis, participant observation). The result will be an iterative map of Hip Hop Interpellation/Interpolation created by stakeholders that is transformational of our understanding of culture and/as cultural production and transferable to pressing questions about globalization and l’exception culturelle.
Max ERC Funding
1 990 526 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-08-01, End date: 2024-07-31
Project acronym CutLoops
Project Loop amplitudes in quantum field theory
Researcher (PI) Ruth Britto
Host Institution (HI) THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE2, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary 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.
Summary
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.
Max ERC Funding
1 954 065 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-10-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym DBSModel
Project Multiscale Modelling of the Neuromuscular System for Closed Loop Deep Brain Stimulation
Researcher (PI) Madeleine Mary Lowery
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE7, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary 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. Closed-loop 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.
Summary
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. Closed-loop 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.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 474 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-08-01, End date: 2021-07-31
Project acronym DC_Nutrient
Project Investigating nutrients as key determinants of DC-induced CD8 T cell responses
Researcher (PI) David FINLAY
Host Institution (HI) THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS6, ERC-2017-COG
Summary A new immunoregulatory axis has emerged in recent years demonstrating that cellular metabolism is crucial in controlling immune responses. This regulatory axis is acutely sensitive to nutrients that fuel metabolic pathways and support nutrient sensitive signalling pathways. My recent research demonstrates that nutrients are dynamically controlled and are not equally available to all immune cells. The data shows that activated T cells, clustered around a dendritic cell (DC), can consume the available nutrients, leaving the DC nutrient deprived in vitro. This local regulation of the DC nutrient microenvironment by neighbouring cells has profound effects on DC function and T cell responses. Nutrient deprived DC have altered signalling (decreased mTORC1 activity), increased pro-inflammatory functions (IL12 and costimulatory molecule expression) and induce enhanced T cell responses (proliferation, IFNγ production). However, proving this, particularly in vivo, is a major challenge as the tools to investigate nutrient dynamics within complex microenvironments have not yet been developed. This research programme will generate innovative new technologies to measure the local distribution of glucose, glutamine and leucine (all of which control mTORC1 signalling) to be visualised and quantified. These technologies will pioneer a new era of in vivo nutrient analysis. Nutrient deprivation of antigen presenting DC will then be investigated (using our new technologies) in response to various stimuli within the inflammatory lymph node and correlated to CD8 T cell responses. We will generate state-of-the-art transgenic mice to specifically knock-down nutrient transporters for glucose, glutamine, or leucine in DC to definitively prove that the availability of these nutrients to antigen presenting DC is a key mechanism for controlling CD8 T cells responses. This would be a paradigm shifting discovery that would open new horizons for the study of nutrient-regulated immune responses.
Summary
A new immunoregulatory axis has emerged in recent years demonstrating that cellular metabolism is crucial in controlling immune responses. This regulatory axis is acutely sensitive to nutrients that fuel metabolic pathways and support nutrient sensitive signalling pathways. My recent research demonstrates that nutrients are dynamically controlled and are not equally available to all immune cells. The data shows that activated T cells, clustered around a dendritic cell (DC), can consume the available nutrients, leaving the DC nutrient deprived in vitro. This local regulation of the DC nutrient microenvironment by neighbouring cells has profound effects on DC function and T cell responses. Nutrient deprived DC have altered signalling (decreased mTORC1 activity), increased pro-inflammatory functions (IL12 and costimulatory molecule expression) and induce enhanced T cell responses (proliferation, IFNγ production). However, proving this, particularly in vivo, is a major challenge as the tools to investigate nutrient dynamics within complex microenvironments have not yet been developed. This research programme will generate innovative new technologies to measure the local distribution of glucose, glutamine and leucine (all of which control mTORC1 signalling) to be visualised and quantified. These technologies will pioneer a new era of in vivo nutrient analysis. Nutrient deprivation of antigen presenting DC will then be investigated (using our new technologies) in response to various stimuli within the inflammatory lymph node and correlated to CD8 T cell responses. We will generate state-of-the-art transgenic mice to specifically knock-down nutrient transporters for glucose, glutamine, or leucine in DC to definitively prove that the availability of these nutrients to antigen presenting DC is a key mechanism for controlling CD8 T cells responses. This would be a paradigm shifting discovery that would open new horizons for the study of nutrient-regulated immune responses.
Max ERC Funding
1 995 861 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-05-01, End date: 2023-04-30
