ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

Understanding molecular organization and dynamics which are governed by electrostatic and electrodynamics interactions on the nanoscale requires the measurement of dielectric polarization at the molecular level. Yet, this has remained a formidable challenge because standard dielectric spectroscopy is limited to the micrometer scale that is achieved by using microfabricated electrodes at low frequencies and optical approaches at high frequencies. At the same time, despite the advances in atomistic calculations, theorists struggle to predict dielectric polarization when the system approaches molecular sizes. During the last years I pioneered the development of scanning dielectric microscopy, measuring the dielectric constants of nano-objects as small as tens of nanometers in size - a resolution unparalleled world-wide. In the next five years, I will push the boundaries of the technique and probe the polarizability of liquids and biological macromolecules under two-dimensional (2D) confinement by implementing novel experimental and theoretical approaches. By engineering 2D liquid cells with controlled properties by van der Waals assembly, I will probe polarization and thermodynamic properties of nanoconfined molecular liquids for the first time on the molecular scale with fundamental implications for physical and life sciences. It will provide the experimental data to validate first-principles predictions and mean-field computational methods on which the study of condensed/soft matter and molecular biology is based. The proposal will exploit my current lead to access a key physical property of matter that has remained unknown so far, enabling a wealth of new science in a vast range of research fields, from physical sciences to chemistry and biology, and facilitating the design of devices with novel functionalities.

1 998 829 €

Start date: 2019-10-01, End date: 2024-09-30

From Victorian women cyclists, who suffered social stigma for daring to replace their skirts with bloomers a century ago, to the recent French burkini ban, where women were forcibly removed from beaches, specifically clothed bodies have long been sites of debate about gender, race, class and religion in public space. Clothing is directly connected to social life and the political world and as such is central to ideas around the politics of identity, participation and belonging. Yet, it is under explored in relation to citizenship studies. This five-year project undertakes for the first time a transnational sociological investigation of 200 years of clothing inventions. It focuses on clothing patents in Espacenet, the European Patent Office’s free online database. Inventors are the focus as they operate on the cutting edge of social and political change; building on the past to make claims on the present and imagine different futures. Central to this research is the idea that clothing inventors can be explored as citizen-makers and that clothing patents are rich untapped sources of data that render visible alternative citizenship possibilities, which may provoke new questions about things we take for granted. The research will be located in a Patent Lab using an inventive mixed-methods approach including quantitative and in-depth visual and document analysis, interviews with inventors and garment reconstruction.

1 802 154 €

Start date: 2019-03-01, End date: 2024-02-29

Those who question or do not conform to dominant local religious tradition(s) and/or religion as such have, of course, faced serious problems and difficulties in a number of different historical periods and locations. This project examines the forms in which individuals and communities raise, in the open or in more hidden transcripts, questions over the dominant religious norms in South Asia. This project is also interested in how such people are being targeted as distinct minorities by various religious and political groups. However, the effects of these encounters extend beyond this region: a significant number of community members now seek asylum in European countries. In consequence, these countries are now debating whether, or to what extent, varieties of religious non-conformism can be legitimate reasons for granting asylum. While much recent academic work has focused on religious revivalism and reformist movements, critical engagement and sceptical attitudes towards dominant religious norms in South Asia are so far under-researched. A key aim of this study is to correct this absence and thereby to transform our understanding of the kinds of positions, individuals and communities that flourish but also, and critically, face challenges and provoke social contentions in South Asia. It will provide three national ‘deep contextualisations’ of debates and criticism faced by secularists and religious sceptics in South Asia, asking: What are the specific circumstances in which criticism targeting these communities and positions evolve? This study also investigates the assumptions that inform European countries’ responses to cases in which asylum is sought on the basis of claimants’ religious nonconformism, and also those informing advocacy work performed by global secular networks on their behalf. Thus, while this project is ethnographically grounded in South Asia, it also extends beyond this region to examine global implications of critical debates and actions that are taking place there.

1 999 782 €

Start date: 2019-12-01, End date: 2024-11-30

The initiation of adaptive cellular immunity requires antigen-specific interactions between Dendritic cells (DC) and naive CD8 T cells in secondary lymphoid organs. We aim to understand how the dynamic migratory behavior of myeloid and lymphoid cells is coordinated to ensure that “the right cells” communicate at “the right time” in “the right place” to enable robust immune responses. Using intravital microscopy, we have recently identified a critical phase (“Step 2”) of T cell priming that follows the initial encounter of DC and CD8 T cells and is essential to develop protective immunity. The aim of this proposal is to identify the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating T cell differentiation during Step 2. We will employ a newly developed imaging method (“Net-Vis”) to investigate how key elements of Step 2 (XCR1 DC) receive antigenic and inflammatory “information” within a network of myeloid cells. Next, we will test a novel model of T cell priming in which stepwise relocalization to multicellular clusters within the LN orchestrates T cell differentiation. Combining deep-tissue intravital microscopy, “Niche-seq” and novel genetic approaches, we will identify the cellular players and molecules guiding these processes and test their mechanistic implications. Finally, we will investigate the identity and mechanisms of Foxp3+ T cells that co-regulate CD8 T cell activation and differentiation during Step 2. In summary, we will exploit an array of innovative imaging, spatiotemporal transcriptomics and genetic approaches to investigate novel fundamental aspects of CD8 T cell priming during a newly discovered distinct phase of T cell activation and differentiation. Investigating the mechanisms that guide these central steps in adaptive immunity is anticipated to reveal new avenues for the therapeutic manipulation of immune responses against infection and cancer.

1 874 425 €

Start date: 2019-09-01, End date: 2024-08-31