Project acronym ARCHGLASS
Project Archaeometry and Archaeology of Ancient Glass Production as a Source for Ancient Technology and Trade of Raw Materials
Researcher (PI) Patrick Degryse
Host Institution (HI) KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2009-StG
Summary In this project, innovative techniques to reconstruct ancient economies are developed and new insights in the trade and processing of mineral raw materials are gained based on interdisciplinary archaeological and archaeometrical research. An innovative methodology for and a practical provenance database of the primary origin of natron glass from the Hellenistic-Roman world will be established. The project investigates both production and consumer sites of glass raw materials using both typo-chronological and archaeometrical (isotope geochemical) study of finished glass artefacts at consumer sites as well as mineralogical and chemical characterisation of raw glass and mineral resources at primary production sites. Suitable sand resources in the locations described by ancient authors will be identified through geological prospecting on the basis of literature review and field work. Sand and flux (natron) deposits will be mineralogically and geochemically characterised and compared to the results of the archaeological and geochemical investigations of the glass. Through integrated typo-chronological and archaeometrical analysis, the possible occurrence of primary production centres of raw glass outside the known locations in Syro-Palestine and Egypt, particularly in North-Africa, Italy, Spain and Gaul will be critically studied. In this way, historical, archaeological and archaeometrical data are combined, developing new interdisciplinary techniques for innovative archaeological interpretation of glass trade in the Hellenistic-Roman world.
Summary
In this project, innovative techniques to reconstruct ancient economies are developed and new insights in the trade and processing of mineral raw materials are gained based on interdisciplinary archaeological and archaeometrical research. An innovative methodology for and a practical provenance database of the primary origin of natron glass from the Hellenistic-Roman world will be established. The project investigates both production and consumer sites of glass raw materials using both typo-chronological and archaeometrical (isotope geochemical) study of finished glass artefacts at consumer sites as well as mineralogical and chemical characterisation of raw glass and mineral resources at primary production sites. Suitable sand resources in the locations described by ancient authors will be identified through geological prospecting on the basis of literature review and field work. Sand and flux (natron) deposits will be mineralogically and geochemically characterised and compared to the results of the archaeological and geochemical investigations of the glass. Through integrated typo-chronological and archaeometrical analysis, the possible occurrence of primary production centres of raw glass outside the known locations in Syro-Palestine and Egypt, particularly in North-Africa, Italy, Spain and Gaul will be critically studied. In this way, historical, archaeological and archaeometrical data are combined, developing new interdisciplinary techniques for innovative archaeological interpretation of glass trade in the Hellenistic-Roman world.
Max ERC Funding
954 960 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-11-01, End date: 2014-10-31
Project acronym JAPANGREATDEPRESSION
Project 'Dead End': An Economic and Cultural History of Japan in the Age of the Great Depression, 1927-1937
Researcher (PI) Michael Schiltz
Host Institution (HI) KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2009-StG
Summary The project presents an economic history and socio-cultural reconstruction of Japan in the age of the great depression; it is an attempt to demonstrate the depression's 'total' or multicontextual implications by outlining different but complimentary views of what was defined as the depression's core problems (and their possible solutions) within different social classes and within different strands of thought. Seen in historical perspective, it covers the period from the 'ShMwa financial crisis' (1927) until the outbreak of the second Sino-Japanese War (1937). The project consists out of three components: First, it addresses the macro-economic ideas in vogue at the time. It specifically concentrates on the personalities and roles of finance ministers Inoue Junnosuke K© and especially Takahashi Korekiyo ØK/ ('Japan's Keynes'), who has widely been credited for smoothening the role of the global depression on the Japanese economy. The second part of the project rests with the origins of depression in Japan's official and semi-official colonies in 1927 and the role the latter played in fueling the later crisis on the Japanese mainland. The project investigates the role of speculation, and inquires to which degree the effects of depression were 'imported' from the subsidiary economies of Taiwan, the Korean peninsula, and Manchuria. Third, as this project has a strong focus on the role economic realities were identified ('semantics'), it also develops a cultural history of the age of depression. The project identifies the rise of a new vocabulary and discourse in an era obsessed with the idea of an economic and moral dead end (ikizumari).
Summary
The project presents an economic history and socio-cultural reconstruction of Japan in the age of the great depression; it is an attempt to demonstrate the depression's 'total' or multicontextual implications by outlining different but complimentary views of what was defined as the depression's core problems (and their possible solutions) within different social classes and within different strands of thought. Seen in historical perspective, it covers the period from the 'ShMwa financial crisis' (1927) until the outbreak of the second Sino-Japanese War (1937). The project consists out of three components: First, it addresses the macro-economic ideas in vogue at the time. It specifically concentrates on the personalities and roles of finance ministers Inoue Junnosuke K© and especially Takahashi Korekiyo ØK/ ('Japan's Keynes'), who has widely been credited for smoothening the role of the global depression on the Japanese economy. The second part of the project rests with the origins of depression in Japan's official and semi-official colonies in 1927 and the role the latter played in fueling the later crisis on the Japanese mainland. The project investigates the role of speculation, and inquires to which degree the effects of depression were 'imported' from the subsidiary economies of Taiwan, the Korean peninsula, and Manchuria. Third, as this project has a strong focus on the role economic realities were identified ('semantics'), it also develops a cultural history of the age of depression. The project identifies the rise of a new vocabulary and discourse in an era obsessed with the idea of an economic and moral dead end (ikizumari).
Max ERC Funding
549 442 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-10-01, End date: 2014-09-30
Project acronym MMS
Project The Mamlukisation of the Mamluk Sultanate. Political Traditions and State Formation in 15th century Egypt and Syria
Researcher (PI) Jo Van Steenbergen
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT GENT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2009-StG
Summary I aim to radically reconsider standard views of late medieval Islamic history. Positing that prosopographical research will allow for a welcome reconstruction of the political traditions that dominated the Syro-Egyptian Mamluk sultanate in the 15th century, I endeavour to show how new traditions emerged that were constructed around the criterion of military slavery, and how this actually reflects a process of state formation, which puts this regime on a par with emerging European states.
Mamluk history (1250-1517) tends to be approached through a decline prism, as almost all studies presuppose that a static mamluk/military slavery system was the backbone of the political economy that came under increasing pressures from the 14th century onwards. In my research, I have demonstrated how this view of the 14th century, in particular, is totally incorrect, suggesting that it was only in the 15th century that crucial political transformations took place in the region.
My proposed research now aims to qualify the latter hypothesis and to reconstruct the dynamics of these transformations, via a thorough examination of the interplay between individuals, institutions, and social interactions in the course of 15th-century political events, as detailed in the massive corpus of contemporary source material. Results will be generated in three stages: via prosopographical study; through separate, but inter-related studies on the main research constituents (individuals, institutions, interaction); and in a book-length synthesis on political traditions.
In the longer term, validation of this hypothesis will enable me to address fundamental new questions in pre-modern (Islamic) history, as part of trans-cultural processes common to all Euro-Mediterranean core regions.
Summary
I aim to radically reconsider standard views of late medieval Islamic history. Positing that prosopographical research will allow for a welcome reconstruction of the political traditions that dominated the Syro-Egyptian Mamluk sultanate in the 15th century, I endeavour to show how new traditions emerged that were constructed around the criterion of military slavery, and how this actually reflects a process of state formation, which puts this regime on a par with emerging European states.
Mamluk history (1250-1517) tends to be approached through a decline prism, as almost all studies presuppose that a static mamluk/military slavery system was the backbone of the political economy that came under increasing pressures from the 14th century onwards. In my research, I have demonstrated how this view of the 14th century, in particular, is totally incorrect, suggesting that it was only in the 15th century that crucial political transformations took place in the region.
My proposed research now aims to qualify the latter hypothesis and to reconstruct the dynamics of these transformations, via a thorough examination of the interplay between individuals, institutions, and social interactions in the course of 15th-century political events, as detailed in the massive corpus of contemporary source material. Results will be generated in three stages: via prosopographical study; through separate, but inter-related studies on the main research constituents (individuals, institutions, interaction); and in a book-length synthesis on political traditions.
In the longer term, validation of this hypothesis will enable me to address fundamental new questions in pre-modern (Islamic) history, as part of trans-cultural processes common to all Euro-Mediterranean core regions.
Max ERC Funding
1 200 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-10-01, End date: 2014-09-30
Project acronym REPEATSASMUTATORS
Project The biological role of tandem repeats as hypervariable modules in genomes
Researcher (PI) Kevin Joan Verstrepen
Host Institution (HI) VIB
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS2, ERC-2009-StG
Summary Living organisms change and evolve because of mutations in their DNA. Recent findings suggest that some DNA sequences are hypervariable and evolvable , while others are extremely robust and remain constant over evolutionary timescales. The long-term goal of our research is to combine theory and experiments to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying genetic robustness and evolvability. Apart from the fundamental aspects, we also plan to explore practical facets, including swift evolution of pathogens and construction of hypervariable modules for synthetic biology. In this proposal we focus on one specific topic, namely the role of tandem repeats as hypervariable modules in genomes. Tandem repeats are short DNA sequences that are repeated head-to-tail. Such repeats have traditionally been considered as non-functional junk DNA and they are therefore mostly ignored. However, our ongoing research shows that tandem repeats often occur in coding and regulatory sequences. The repeats show mutation rates that are 10 to 10.000 fold higher than mutation rates in the rest of the genome. These frequent mutations alter the function and/or expression of genes, allowing organisms to swiftly adapt to novel environments. Hence, repeats may be a common mechanism for organisms to generate potentially beneficial variability in certain regions of the genome, while keeping other regions stable and robust (Rando and Verstrepen, Cell 128: 655; Verstrepen et al., Nature Genetics 37: 986; Verstrepen et al., Nature Microbiol. 2: 15). We propose a multidisciplinary systems approach to unravel the biological role of repeats. First, we will use bioinformatics to screen various model genomes and identify, categorize and analyze all tandem repeat loci in the model eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using this data, we will select a subset of repeats and apply experimental techniques to investigate the functional consequences of mutations in these repeats.
Summary
Living organisms change and evolve because of mutations in their DNA. Recent findings suggest that some DNA sequences are hypervariable and evolvable , while others are extremely robust and remain constant over evolutionary timescales. The long-term goal of our research is to combine theory and experiments to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying genetic robustness and evolvability. Apart from the fundamental aspects, we also plan to explore practical facets, including swift evolution of pathogens and construction of hypervariable modules for synthetic biology. In this proposal we focus on one specific topic, namely the role of tandem repeats as hypervariable modules in genomes. Tandem repeats are short DNA sequences that are repeated head-to-tail. Such repeats have traditionally been considered as non-functional junk DNA and they are therefore mostly ignored. However, our ongoing research shows that tandem repeats often occur in coding and regulatory sequences. The repeats show mutation rates that are 10 to 10.000 fold higher than mutation rates in the rest of the genome. These frequent mutations alter the function and/or expression of genes, allowing organisms to swiftly adapt to novel environments. Hence, repeats may be a common mechanism for organisms to generate potentially beneficial variability in certain regions of the genome, while keeping other regions stable and robust (Rando and Verstrepen, Cell 128: 655; Verstrepen et al., Nature Genetics 37: 986; Verstrepen et al., Nature Microbiol. 2: 15). We propose a multidisciplinary systems approach to unravel the biological role of repeats. First, we will use bioinformatics to screen various model genomes and identify, categorize and analyze all tandem repeat loci in the model eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using this data, we will select a subset of repeats and apply experimental techniques to investigate the functional consequences of mutations in these repeats.
Max ERC Funding
1 753 527 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-12-01, End date: 2014-11-30
Project acronym TUMETABO
Project Glycolytic contribution to cancer growth and metastasis
Researcher (PI) Pierre Sonveaux
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS4, ERC-2009-StG
Summary Cancer lethality is most often associated to occurrence of distant metastases. To grow and become aggressive, cancers may undergo 2 critical adaptations: the glycolytic switch, corresponding to uncoupling glycolysis from the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and the angiogenic switch, promoting neovascularization. In this high risk/high gain research program, we propose that the glycolytic switch precedes and promotes angiogenesis and metastatic dissemination in most types of cancer. We further envision that lactate, the end product of glycolysis, interfaces glycolysis and the latter processes through activation of hypoxia-inducible factor HIF-1. A thorough characterization of the molecular pathway(s) initiated by lactate (using transcriptomic, gene silencing, enzymatic and pharmacological interventions) has the potential to unravel new therapeutic targets that would simultaneously inhibit the consequences of the glycolytic switch on cancer aggressiveness. We anticipate the plasma membrane lactate transporters of the (sodium) monocarboxylate transporter (S)MCT family to be key determinants of autocrine and paracrine lactate signaling in cancer. Modulation of their activity or expression (notably by the generation of (S)MCT knock out mice) could thus profoundly affect tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. Since hypoxia is a hallmark of cancer and glycolysis its direct consequence in cancer cells surviving to hypoxia, the findings could have important consequences for the treatment of virtually all types of cancers. It could also impact our understanding of other pathologies, such as wound healing and heart infarction, in which the interplay between glycolysis, HIF-1 activation and angiogenesis could play a critical role.
Summary
Cancer lethality is most often associated to occurrence of distant metastases. To grow and become aggressive, cancers may undergo 2 critical adaptations: the glycolytic switch, corresponding to uncoupling glycolysis from the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and the angiogenic switch, promoting neovascularization. In this high risk/high gain research program, we propose that the glycolytic switch precedes and promotes angiogenesis and metastatic dissemination in most types of cancer. We further envision that lactate, the end product of glycolysis, interfaces glycolysis and the latter processes through activation of hypoxia-inducible factor HIF-1. A thorough characterization of the molecular pathway(s) initiated by lactate (using transcriptomic, gene silencing, enzymatic and pharmacological interventions) has the potential to unravel new therapeutic targets that would simultaneously inhibit the consequences of the glycolytic switch on cancer aggressiveness. We anticipate the plasma membrane lactate transporters of the (sodium) monocarboxylate transporter (S)MCT family to be key determinants of autocrine and paracrine lactate signaling in cancer. Modulation of their activity or expression (notably by the generation of (S)MCT knock out mice) could thus profoundly affect tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. Since hypoxia is a hallmark of cancer and glycolysis its direct consequence in cancer cells surviving to hypoxia, the findings could have important consequences for the treatment of virtually all types of cancers. It could also impact our understanding of other pathologies, such as wound healing and heart infarction, in which the interplay between glycolysis, HIF-1 activation and angiogenesis could play a critical role.
Max ERC Funding
1 493 320 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-12-01, End date: 2014-11-30
