Project acronym 3D-REPAIR
Project Spatial organization of DNA repair within the nucleus
Researcher (PI) Evanthia Soutoglou
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE EUROPEEN DE RECHERCHE EN BIOLOGIE ET MEDECINE
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS2, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary Faithful repair of double stranded DNA breaks (DSBs) is essential, as they are at the origin of genome instability, chromosomal translocations and cancer. Cells repair DSBs through different pathways, which can be faithful or mutagenic, and the balance between them at a given locus must be tightly regulated to preserve genome integrity. Although, much is known about DSB repair factors, how the choice between pathways is controlled within the nuclear environment is not understood. We have shown that nuclear architecture and non-random genome organization determine the frequency of chromosomal translocations and that pathway choice is dictated by the spatial organization of DNA in the nucleus. Nevertheless, what determines which pathway is activated in response to DSBs at specific genomic locations is not understood. Furthermore, the impact of 3D-genome folding on the kinetics and efficiency of DSB repair is completely unknown.
Here we aim to understand how nuclear compartmentalization, chromatin structure and genome organization impact on the efficiency of detection, signaling and repair of DSBs. We will unravel what determines the DNA repair specificity within distinct nuclear compartments using protein tethering, promiscuous biotinylation and quantitative proteomics. We will determine how DNA repair is orchestrated at different heterochromatin structures using a CRISPR/Cas9-based system that allows, for the first time robust induction of DSBs at specific heterochromatin compartments. Finally, we will investigate the role of 3D-genome folding in the kinetics of DNA repair and pathway choice using single nucleotide resolution DSB-mapping coupled to 3D-topological maps.
This proposal has significant implications for understanding the mechanisms controlling DNA repair within the nuclear environment and will reveal the regions of the genome that are susceptible to genomic instability and help us understand why certain mutations and translocations are recurrent in cancer
Summary
Faithful repair of double stranded DNA breaks (DSBs) is essential, as they are at the origin of genome instability, chromosomal translocations and cancer. Cells repair DSBs through different pathways, which can be faithful or mutagenic, and the balance between them at a given locus must be tightly regulated to preserve genome integrity. Although, much is known about DSB repair factors, how the choice between pathways is controlled within the nuclear environment is not understood. We have shown that nuclear architecture and non-random genome organization determine the frequency of chromosomal translocations and that pathway choice is dictated by the spatial organization of DNA in the nucleus. Nevertheless, what determines which pathway is activated in response to DSBs at specific genomic locations is not understood. Furthermore, the impact of 3D-genome folding on the kinetics and efficiency of DSB repair is completely unknown.
Here we aim to understand how nuclear compartmentalization, chromatin structure and genome organization impact on the efficiency of detection, signaling and repair of DSBs. We will unravel what determines the DNA repair specificity within distinct nuclear compartments using protein tethering, promiscuous biotinylation and quantitative proteomics. We will determine how DNA repair is orchestrated at different heterochromatin structures using a CRISPR/Cas9-based system that allows, for the first time robust induction of DSBs at specific heterochromatin compartments. Finally, we will investigate the role of 3D-genome folding in the kinetics of DNA repair and pathway choice using single nucleotide resolution DSB-mapping coupled to 3D-topological maps.
This proposal has significant implications for understanding the mechanisms controlling DNA repair within the nuclear environment and will reveal the regions of the genome that are susceptible to genomic instability and help us understand why certain mutations and translocations are recurrent in cancer
Max ERC Funding
1 999 750 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-03-01, End date: 2022-02-28
Project acronym Babylearn
Project Neural mechanisms of learning in the infant brain : from Statistics to Rules and Symbols
Researcher (PI) Ghislaine, Marie-Therese, Aline DEHAENE-LAMBERTZ
Host Institution (HI) COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH4, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary Infant is the most powerful learner: He learns in a few months to master language, complex social interactions, etc. Powerful statistical algorithms, simultaneously acting at the different levels of functional hierarchies have been proposed to explain learning. I propose here that two other elements are crucial. The first is the particular human cerebral architecture that constrains statistical computations. The second is the human’s ability to access a rich symbolic system. I have planned 6 work packages using the complementary information offered by non-invasive brain-imaging techniques (EEG, MRI and optical topography) to understand the neural bases of infant statistical computations and symbolic competence from 6 months of gestation up until the end of the first year of life.
WP1 studies from which preterm age, statistical inferences can be demonstrated using hierarchical auditory oddball paradigms.
WP2 investigates the consequences of a different pre-term environment (in-utero versus ex-utero) on the early statistical computations in the visual and auditory domains and their consequences on the ongoing brain activity along the first year of life.
WP3 explores the neural bases of how infants infer word meaning and word category, and in particular the role of the left perisylvian areas and of their particular connectivity.
WP4 questions infant symbolic competency. I propose several criteria (generalization, bidirectionality, use of algebraic rules and of logical operations) tested in successive experiments to clarify infant symbolic abilities during the first semester of life.
WP5-6 are transversal to WP1-4: WP5 uses MRI to obtain accurate functional localization and maturational markers correlated with functional results. In WP6, we develop new tools to combine and analyse multimodal brain images.
With this proposal, I hope to clarify the specificities of a neural functional architecture that are critical for human learning from the onset of cortical circuits.
Summary
Infant is the most powerful learner: He learns in a few months to master language, complex social interactions, etc. Powerful statistical algorithms, simultaneously acting at the different levels of functional hierarchies have been proposed to explain learning. I propose here that two other elements are crucial. The first is the particular human cerebral architecture that constrains statistical computations. The second is the human’s ability to access a rich symbolic system. I have planned 6 work packages using the complementary information offered by non-invasive brain-imaging techniques (EEG, MRI and optical topography) to understand the neural bases of infant statistical computations and symbolic competence from 6 months of gestation up until the end of the first year of life.
WP1 studies from which preterm age, statistical inferences can be demonstrated using hierarchical auditory oddball paradigms.
WP2 investigates the consequences of a different pre-term environment (in-utero versus ex-utero) on the early statistical computations in the visual and auditory domains and their consequences on the ongoing brain activity along the first year of life.
WP3 explores the neural bases of how infants infer word meaning and word category, and in particular the role of the left perisylvian areas and of their particular connectivity.
WP4 questions infant symbolic competency. I propose several criteria (generalization, bidirectionality, use of algebraic rules and of logical operations) tested in successive experiments to clarify infant symbolic abilities during the first semester of life.
WP5-6 are transversal to WP1-4: WP5 uses MRI to obtain accurate functional localization and maturational markers correlated with functional results. In WP6, we develop new tools to combine and analyse multimodal brain images.
With this proposal, I hope to clarify the specificities of a neural functional architecture that are critical for human learning from the onset of cortical circuits.
Max ERC Funding
2 554 924 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym BodyCapital
Project The healthy self as body capital: Individuals, market-based societies and body politics in visual twentieth century Europe.
Researcher (PI) Christian Bonah
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE STRASBOURG
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH6, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary From testicular grafting (1920s) to step counting watches (2014), the perceptions and practices of health seeking individuals have been marked by continuities and profound changes during a twentieth century largely shaped by the advent of a communication society. Visuals can be a source to understand transformations by postulating an interactive, performative power of mass media in societies. Which roles did visuals play in changes from public health and human capital collective understandings of the healthy self to new (sometimes debated) perceptions and practices of our bodies as forms of individual capital in an increasing market-economized world?
Pursuing these questions, the project focuses on four fields of investigation -food/nutrition; movement/exercise/sports; sexuality/reproduction/infants and dependency/addiction/overconsumption- in Germany, France and Great Britain studied with an entangled history framework.
Within this scope the project aims at understanding (1)how visuals shape our health related self-understandings and practices in a continuity/discontinuity from the bio-political to the bio-economic logic. (2) The project will explore and explain how and why understandings of body capital differ or overlap in European countries. (3) The project will analyse if and how visual media serve as a promotion-communication hyphen for twentieth century preventive-self understanding.
With a visual perspective on a long twentieth century, the project seeks to better understand changes and continuities in the history of health intertwined with the history of media. This will provide new insights into how the internalization of bodycapital has evolved throughout the past century, how transformations in the media world (from film to TV to internet) play out at the individual level and how health challenges and cultural differences in body perceptions and practices persist in producing social distinction in an age of global information and advanced health systems.
Summary
From testicular grafting (1920s) to step counting watches (2014), the perceptions and practices of health seeking individuals have been marked by continuities and profound changes during a twentieth century largely shaped by the advent of a communication society. Visuals can be a source to understand transformations by postulating an interactive, performative power of mass media in societies. Which roles did visuals play in changes from public health and human capital collective understandings of the healthy self to new (sometimes debated) perceptions and practices of our bodies as forms of individual capital in an increasing market-economized world?
Pursuing these questions, the project focuses on four fields of investigation -food/nutrition; movement/exercise/sports; sexuality/reproduction/infants and dependency/addiction/overconsumption- in Germany, France and Great Britain studied with an entangled history framework.
Within this scope the project aims at understanding (1)how visuals shape our health related self-understandings and practices in a continuity/discontinuity from the bio-political to the bio-economic logic. (2) The project will explore and explain how and why understandings of body capital differ or overlap in European countries. (3) The project will analyse if and how visual media serve as a promotion-communication hyphen for twentieth century preventive-self understanding.
With a visual perspective on a long twentieth century, the project seeks to better understand changes and continuities in the history of health intertwined with the history of media. This will provide new insights into how the internalization of bodycapital has evolved throughout the past century, how transformations in the media world (from film to TV to internet) play out at the individual level and how health challenges and cultural differences in body perceptions and practices persist in producing social distinction in an age of global information and advanced health systems.
Max ERC Funding
2 492 124 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym BoneImplant
Project Monitoring bone healing around endosseous implants: from multiscale modeling to the patient’s bed
Researcher (PI) Guillaume Loïc Haiat
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary Implants are often employed in orthopaedic and dental surgeries. However, risks of failure, which are difficult to anticipate, are still experienced and may have dramatic consequences. Failures are due to degraded bone remodeling at the bone-implant interface, a multiscale phenomenon of an interdisciplinary nature which remains poorly understood. The objective of BoneImplant is to provide a better understanding of the multiscale and multitime mechanisms at work at the bone-implant interface. To do so, BoneImplant aims at studying the evolution of the biomechanical properties of bone tissue around an implant during the remodeling process. A methodology involving combined in vivo, in vitro and in silico approaches is proposed.
New modeling approaches will be developed in close synergy with the experiments. Molecular dynamic computations will be used to understand fluid flow in nanoscopic cavities, a phenomenon determining bone healing process. Generalized continuum theories will be necessary to model bone tissue due to the important strain field around implants. Isogeometric mortar formulation will allow to simulate the bone-implant interface in a stable and efficient manner.
In vivo experiments realized under standardized conditions will be realized on the basis of feasibility studies. A multimodality and multi-physical experimental approach will be carried out to assess the biomechanical properties of newly formed bone tissue as a function of the implant environment. The experimental approach aims at estimating the effective adhesion energy and the potentiality of quantitative ultrasound imaging to assess different biomechanical properties of the interface.
Results will be used to design effective loading clinical procedures of implants and to optimize implant conception, leading to the development of therapeutic and diagnostic techniques. The development of quantitative ultrasonic techniques to monitor implant stability has a potential for industrial transfer.
Summary
Implants are often employed in orthopaedic and dental surgeries. However, risks of failure, which are difficult to anticipate, are still experienced and may have dramatic consequences. Failures are due to degraded bone remodeling at the bone-implant interface, a multiscale phenomenon of an interdisciplinary nature which remains poorly understood. The objective of BoneImplant is to provide a better understanding of the multiscale and multitime mechanisms at work at the bone-implant interface. To do so, BoneImplant aims at studying the evolution of the biomechanical properties of bone tissue around an implant during the remodeling process. A methodology involving combined in vivo, in vitro and in silico approaches is proposed.
New modeling approaches will be developed in close synergy with the experiments. Molecular dynamic computations will be used to understand fluid flow in nanoscopic cavities, a phenomenon determining bone healing process. Generalized continuum theories will be necessary to model bone tissue due to the important strain field around implants. Isogeometric mortar formulation will allow to simulate the bone-implant interface in a stable and efficient manner.
In vivo experiments realized under standardized conditions will be realized on the basis of feasibility studies. A multimodality and multi-physical experimental approach will be carried out to assess the biomechanical properties of newly formed bone tissue as a function of the implant environment. The experimental approach aims at estimating the effective adhesion energy and the potentiality of quantitative ultrasound imaging to assess different biomechanical properties of the interface.
Results will be used to design effective loading clinical procedures of implants and to optimize implant conception, leading to the development of therapeutic and diagnostic techniques. The development of quantitative ultrasonic techniques to monitor implant stability has a potential for industrial transfer.
Max ERC Funding
1 992 154 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-10-01, End date: 2021-09-30
Project acronym CHROMTOPOLOGY
Project Understanding and manipulating the dynamics of chromosome topologies in transcriptional control
Researcher (PI) Thomas, Ivor Sexton
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE EUROPEEN DE RECHERCHE EN BIOLOGIE ET MEDECINE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS2, ERC-2015-STG
Summary Transcriptional regulation of genes in eukaryotic cells requires a complex and highly regulated interplay of chromatin environment, epigenetic status of target sequences and several different transcription factors. Eukaryotic genomes are tightly packaged within nuclei, yet must be accessible for transcription, replication and repair. A striking correlation exists between chromatin topology and underlying gene activity. According to the textbook view, chromatin loops bring genes into direct contact with distal regulatory elements, such as enhancers. Moreover, we and others have shown that genomes are organized into discretely folded megabase-sized regions, denoted as topologically associated domains (TADs), which seem to correlate well with transcription activity and histone modifications. However, it is unknown whether chromosome folding is a cause or consequence of underlying gene function.
To better understand the role of genome organization in transcription regulation, I will address the following questions:
(i) How are chromatin configurations altered during transcriptional changes accompanying development?
(ii) What are the real-time kinetics and cell-to-cell variabilities of chromatin interactions and TAD architectures?
(iii) Can chromatin loops be engineered de novo, and do they influence gene expression?
(iv) What genetic elements and trans-acting factors are required to organize TADs?
To address these fundamental questions, I will use a combination of novel technologies and approaches, such as Hi-C, CRISPR knock-ins, ANCHOR tagging of DNA loci, high- and super-resolution single-cell imaging, genome-wide screens and optogenetics, in order to both study and engineer chromatin architectures.
These studies will give groundbreaking insight into if and how chromatin topology regulates transcription. Thus, I anticipate that the results of this project will have a major impact on the field and will lead to a new paradigm for metazoan transcription control.
Summary
Transcriptional regulation of genes in eukaryotic cells requires a complex and highly regulated interplay of chromatin environment, epigenetic status of target sequences and several different transcription factors. Eukaryotic genomes are tightly packaged within nuclei, yet must be accessible for transcription, replication and repair. A striking correlation exists between chromatin topology and underlying gene activity. According to the textbook view, chromatin loops bring genes into direct contact with distal regulatory elements, such as enhancers. Moreover, we and others have shown that genomes are organized into discretely folded megabase-sized regions, denoted as topologically associated domains (TADs), which seem to correlate well with transcription activity and histone modifications. However, it is unknown whether chromosome folding is a cause or consequence of underlying gene function.
To better understand the role of genome organization in transcription regulation, I will address the following questions:
(i) How are chromatin configurations altered during transcriptional changes accompanying development?
(ii) What are the real-time kinetics and cell-to-cell variabilities of chromatin interactions and TAD architectures?
(iii) Can chromatin loops be engineered de novo, and do they influence gene expression?
(iv) What genetic elements and trans-acting factors are required to organize TADs?
To address these fundamental questions, I will use a combination of novel technologies and approaches, such as Hi-C, CRISPR knock-ins, ANCHOR tagging of DNA loci, high- and super-resolution single-cell imaging, genome-wide screens and optogenetics, in order to both study and engineer chromatin architectures.
These studies will give groundbreaking insight into if and how chromatin topology regulates transcription. Thus, I anticipate that the results of this project will have a major impact on the field and will lead to a new paradigm for metazoan transcription control.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-06-01, End date: 2021-05-31
Project acronym DIPLOFACE
Project Diplomatic Face-Work - between confidential negotiations and public display
Researcher (PI) Rebecca Adler-Nissen
Host Institution (HI) KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2015-STG
Summary The rise of social media, coupled with intensifying demands for more transparency and democracy in world politics, brings new challenges to international diplomacy. State leaders and diplomats continue to react to traditional media, but now also attempt to present themselves proactively through tweets, public diplomacy and nation branding. These efforts often take place simultaneously and sometimes interfere directly with closed-door negotiations and its culture of restraint and secrecy. Yet the relationship between confidential diplomacy and public representation remains understudied.
DIPLOFACE will develop a sociologically and anthropologically informed approach to studying how state leaders and diplomats manage their nation’s ‘faces’ in the information age. The project will explore the relationship and tensions between confidential diplomatic negotiations and publicly displayed interventions in various media, applying the micro-sociological concept of ‘face-work’. DIPLOFACE will analyse the complex interactional dynamics that shape the diplomatic techniques and strategies used to convey a nation’s ‘face’ or ‘image of self’. Such face-work is increasingly important for national leaders and diplomats who perform simultaneously on the ‘back-stage’ and the ‘front-stage’ of international relations. DIPLOFACE will identify, theorize and analyse the repertoire of face-saving, face-honouring and face-threatening practices that are employed in confidential negotiations and in public.
DIPLOFACE advances our theoretical understanding of diplomacy in the 21st century significantly beyond existing International Relations and diplomatic theory. Combining participant observation, interviews and media analysis, DIPLOFACE will generate important new knowledge about the relationship between public and confidential multilateral negotiation, how state leaders and diplomats handle new media, and the role of face-saving and face-threatening strategies in international relations.
Summary
The rise of social media, coupled with intensifying demands for more transparency and democracy in world politics, brings new challenges to international diplomacy. State leaders and diplomats continue to react to traditional media, but now also attempt to present themselves proactively through tweets, public diplomacy and nation branding. These efforts often take place simultaneously and sometimes interfere directly with closed-door negotiations and its culture of restraint and secrecy. Yet the relationship between confidential diplomacy and public representation remains understudied.
DIPLOFACE will develop a sociologically and anthropologically informed approach to studying how state leaders and diplomats manage their nation’s ‘faces’ in the information age. The project will explore the relationship and tensions between confidential diplomatic negotiations and publicly displayed interventions in various media, applying the micro-sociological concept of ‘face-work’. DIPLOFACE will analyse the complex interactional dynamics that shape the diplomatic techniques and strategies used to convey a nation’s ‘face’ or ‘image of self’. Such face-work is increasingly important for national leaders and diplomats who perform simultaneously on the ‘back-stage’ and the ‘front-stage’ of international relations. DIPLOFACE will identify, theorize and analyse the repertoire of face-saving, face-honouring and face-threatening practices that are employed in confidential negotiations and in public.
DIPLOFACE advances our theoretical understanding of diplomacy in the 21st century significantly beyond existing International Relations and diplomatic theory. Combining participant observation, interviews and media analysis, DIPLOFACE will generate important new knowledge about the relationship between public and confidential multilateral negotiation, how state leaders and diplomats handle new media, and the role of face-saving and face-threatening strategies in international relations.
Max ERC Funding
1 493 062 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-04-01, End date: 2021-03-31
Project acronym Extinction Genomics
Project Exploring and exploiting the potential of extinct genome sequencing
Researcher (PI) Marcus Thomas Pius Gilbert
Host Institution (HI) KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS2, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary Palaeogenomics is the nascent discipline concerned with sequencing and analysis of genome-scale information from historic, ancient, and even extinct samples. While once inconceivable due to the challenges of DNA damage, contamination, and the technical limitations of PCR-based Sanger sequencing, following the dawn of the second-generation sequencing revolution, it has rapidly become a reality. Indeed, so much so, that popular perception has moved away from if extinct species’ genomes can be sequenced, to when it will happen - and even, when will the first extinct animals be regenerated. Unfortunately this view is naïve, and does not account for the financial and technical challenges that face such attempts. I propose an exploration of exactly what the limits on genome reconstruction from extinct or otherwise historic/ancient material are. This will be achieved through new laboratory and bioinformatic developments aimed at decreasing the cost, while concomitantly increasing the quality of genome reconstruction from poor quality materials. In doing so I aim to build a scientifically-grounded framework against which the possibilities and limitations of extinct genome reconstruction can be assessed. Subsequently genomic information will be generated from a range of extinct and near-extinct avian and mammalian species, in order to showcase the potential of reconstructed genomes across research questions spanning at least three different streams of research: De-extinction, Evolutionary Genomics, and Conservation Genomics. Ultimately, achievement of these goals requires formation of a dedicated, closely knit team, focusing on both the methodological challenges as well as their bigger picture application to high-risk high-gain ventures. With ERC funding this can become a reality, and enable palaeogenomics to be pushed to the limits possible under modern technology.
Summary
Palaeogenomics is the nascent discipline concerned with sequencing and analysis of genome-scale information from historic, ancient, and even extinct samples. While once inconceivable due to the challenges of DNA damage, contamination, and the technical limitations of PCR-based Sanger sequencing, following the dawn of the second-generation sequencing revolution, it has rapidly become a reality. Indeed, so much so, that popular perception has moved away from if extinct species’ genomes can be sequenced, to when it will happen - and even, when will the first extinct animals be regenerated. Unfortunately this view is naïve, and does not account for the financial and technical challenges that face such attempts. I propose an exploration of exactly what the limits on genome reconstruction from extinct or otherwise historic/ancient material are. This will be achieved through new laboratory and bioinformatic developments aimed at decreasing the cost, while concomitantly increasing the quality of genome reconstruction from poor quality materials. In doing so I aim to build a scientifically-grounded framework against which the possibilities and limitations of extinct genome reconstruction can be assessed. Subsequently genomic information will be generated from a range of extinct and near-extinct avian and mammalian species, in order to showcase the potential of reconstructed genomes across research questions spanning at least three different streams of research: De-extinction, Evolutionary Genomics, and Conservation Genomics. Ultimately, achievement of these goals requires formation of a dedicated, closely knit team, focusing on both the methodological challenges as well as their bigger picture application to high-risk high-gain ventures. With ERC funding this can become a reality, and enable palaeogenomics to be pushed to the limits possible under modern technology.
Max ERC Funding
2 000 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-04-01, End date: 2021-03-31
Project acronym MSG
Project Making Sense of Games: A Methodology for Humanistic Game Analysis
Researcher (PI) Espen Johannes AARSETH
Host Institution (HI) IT-UNIVERSITETET I KOBENHAVN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH5, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary Making Sense of Games (MSG) will build a methodology for the humanistic study of games, and develop a theory of how ludic meaning is produced.
Following the pervasive, global growth of video gaming culture and the games industry, the multi-disciplinary field of game studies has grown exponentially in the last 15 years, with numerous new journals, conferences, university programs and research departments.
However, still lacking at this ‘adolescent’ stage of the field’s development are game-specific methods and theoretical foundations necessary to train researchers and build curricula. In aesthetic games research there is not yet any widely accepted methodology for game analysis, and there has not yet been any large-scale, long-term attempt to produce a theoretical platform that can support and advance the field.
MSG aims to fill this gap by combining fundamental hermeneutic approaches (semiotics, reception theory, reader response, theories of representation, narrative theory) with recent theories of ludic structure (game ontology) into a hermeneutic theory of game meaning, which can be used as a set of tools and concepts for game analysis and criticism. MSG will be a triple first for aesthetic game research: a five-year research program, a hermeneutic theory of games, and a team-based effort to build an interdisciplinary methodology.
The results from MSG will speak to many of the current public concerns and debates about games, such as gamer culture, games’ cultural and artistic status, the representation of minorities, misogyny, violence and even addiction. MSG will demonstrate the strong usefulness of humanistic approaches not only to game studies itself, but also to the 21st century’s most vibrant new cultural sector. It will also provide other aesthetic fields (literary studies, film studies, art history) with theoretical models, critical insights, and a rich empirical material for comparative exploration.
Summary
Making Sense of Games (MSG) will build a methodology for the humanistic study of games, and develop a theory of how ludic meaning is produced.
Following the pervasive, global growth of video gaming culture and the games industry, the multi-disciplinary field of game studies has grown exponentially in the last 15 years, with numerous new journals, conferences, university programs and research departments.
However, still lacking at this ‘adolescent’ stage of the field’s development are game-specific methods and theoretical foundations necessary to train researchers and build curricula. In aesthetic games research there is not yet any widely accepted methodology for game analysis, and there has not yet been any large-scale, long-term attempt to produce a theoretical platform that can support and advance the field.
MSG aims to fill this gap by combining fundamental hermeneutic approaches (semiotics, reception theory, reader response, theories of representation, narrative theory) with recent theories of ludic structure (game ontology) into a hermeneutic theory of game meaning, which can be used as a set of tools and concepts for game analysis and criticism. MSG will be a triple first for aesthetic game research: a five-year research program, a hermeneutic theory of games, and a team-based effort to build an interdisciplinary methodology.
The results from MSG will speak to many of the current public concerns and debates about games, such as gamer culture, games’ cultural and artistic status, the representation of minorities, misogyny, violence and even addiction. MSG will demonstrate the strong usefulness of humanistic approaches not only to game studies itself, but also to the 21st century’s most vibrant new cultural sector. It will also provide other aesthetic fields (literary studies, film studies, art history) with theoretical models, critical insights, and a rich empirical material for comparative exploration.
Max ERC Funding
2 006 906 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-11-01, End date: 2021-10-31
Project acronym PaDyFlow
Project Particle dynamics in the flow of complex suspensions
Researcher (PI) Anke Lindner
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary Particle laden flows are ubiquitous in nature and industrial applications. Particle trajectories determine transport in porous media or biomedical conducts and effective suspension properties dictate flow behavior in food processing or biofluid flow. For a better control it is necessary to know how to predict these processes from the involved particle and flow properties. However, current theory is not able to capture the complexity of the applications and experiments have been carried out on too diverse systems for a unifying picture to emerge. A systematic experimental approach is now needed to improve the present understanding.
In this experimental project, we will use novel microfabrication and characterization methods to obtain a set of complex anisotropic microscopic particles (complemented by selected bioparticles) with tunable properties, covering size, shape, deformability and activity. The transport of these particles isolated or in small concentrations will be studied in chosen microfluidic model flows of simple fluids or polymer solutions. The many degrees of freedom of this problem will be addressed by systematically combining different relevant particle and flow properties. The macroscopic properties of dilute suspensions are particularly interesting from a fundamental point of view as they are a direct consequence of the individual particle flow interaction and will be measured using original microfluidic rheometers of outstanding resolution.
This project will lead to a comprehensive understanding of fluid structure interactions at small Reynolds number. Our findings will constitute the basis for novel numerical approaches based on experimentally validated hypotheses. Using our knowledge, local flow sensors, targeted delivery and novel microfluidic filtration or separation devices can be designed. Combining particles of chosen properties and selected suspending fluids allows the fabrication of suspensions with unprecedented tailored properties.
Summary
Particle laden flows are ubiquitous in nature and industrial applications. Particle trajectories determine transport in porous media or biomedical conducts and effective suspension properties dictate flow behavior in food processing or biofluid flow. For a better control it is necessary to know how to predict these processes from the involved particle and flow properties. However, current theory is not able to capture the complexity of the applications and experiments have been carried out on too diverse systems for a unifying picture to emerge. A systematic experimental approach is now needed to improve the present understanding.
In this experimental project, we will use novel microfabrication and characterization methods to obtain a set of complex anisotropic microscopic particles (complemented by selected bioparticles) with tunable properties, covering size, shape, deformability and activity. The transport of these particles isolated or in small concentrations will be studied in chosen microfluidic model flows of simple fluids or polymer solutions. The many degrees of freedom of this problem will be addressed by systematically combining different relevant particle and flow properties. The macroscopic properties of dilute suspensions are particularly interesting from a fundamental point of view as they are a direct consequence of the individual particle flow interaction and will be measured using original microfluidic rheometers of outstanding resolution.
This project will lead to a comprehensive understanding of fluid structure interactions at small Reynolds number. Our findings will constitute the basis for novel numerical approaches based on experimentally validated hypotheses. Using our knowledge, local flow sensors, targeted delivery and novel microfluidic filtration or separation devices can be designed. Combining particles of chosen properties and selected suspending fluids allows the fabrication of suspensions with unprecedented tailored properties.
Max ERC Funding
1 971 750 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym PEGASUS
Project The makeup of the modern horse: a history of the biological changes introduced by human management
Researcher (PI) Ludovic Antoine Alexandre Orlando
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH6, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary The horse provided us with rapid transportation, an almost unrivaled secondary product that tremendously impacted the politico-economical trajectory of our societies, revolutionizing the circulation of ideas, people, languages, religions and communication. Horse chariotry and cavalry also changed warfare and beyond the battlefield new equestrian technologies have stimulated agricultural productivity. However, the 5,500 year long history of horse domestication and management, which transformed the natural evolutionary trajectory of wild horses into the more than 625 domestic breeds living today, is difficult to reconstruct from archaeology, history and modern genetics alone. Yet, with archaeogenetics, one can access the genetic information from past individuals and track in great detail past population trajectories. In this project, I propose to build on the latest advances in the analysis of ancient DNA molecules to gather new genomic, epigenomic and metagenomic information from ancient horses. This will be integrated with archaeozoological, isotopic and historical data to enhance our understanding of the multiple processes underlying the transformation of the animal that perhaps most impacted our history. Starting from the characterization of pre-domestic populations of wild horses, I will evaluate the genomic and dietary impact of early domestication stages and will explore whether horses were independently domesticated in Iberia and the Pontic-Caspian steppe. I will follow how the emergence of chariotry and the development of heavy cavalry impacted the horse’s behavioural, physiological and biological makeup. I will reveal the horse characteristics that were preferred in various historical contexts and will investigate a diversity of management strategies and husbandry conditions to reveal their impact on horses, from classical and late antique periods until the recent creation of modern breeds by means of intensive selective breeding.
Summary
The horse provided us with rapid transportation, an almost unrivaled secondary product that tremendously impacted the politico-economical trajectory of our societies, revolutionizing the circulation of ideas, people, languages, religions and communication. Horse chariotry and cavalry also changed warfare and beyond the battlefield new equestrian technologies have stimulated agricultural productivity. However, the 5,500 year long history of horse domestication and management, which transformed the natural evolutionary trajectory of wild horses into the more than 625 domestic breeds living today, is difficult to reconstruct from archaeology, history and modern genetics alone. Yet, with archaeogenetics, one can access the genetic information from past individuals and track in great detail past population trajectories. In this project, I propose to build on the latest advances in the analysis of ancient DNA molecules to gather new genomic, epigenomic and metagenomic information from ancient horses. This will be integrated with archaeozoological, isotopic and historical data to enhance our understanding of the multiple processes underlying the transformation of the animal that perhaps most impacted our history. Starting from the characterization of pre-domestic populations of wild horses, I will evaluate the genomic and dietary impact of early domestication stages and will explore whether horses were independently domesticated in Iberia and the Pontic-Caspian steppe. I will follow how the emergence of chariotry and the development of heavy cavalry impacted the horse’s behavioural, physiological and biological makeup. I will reveal the horse characteristics that were preferred in various historical contexts and will investigate a diversity of management strategies and husbandry conditions to reveal their impact on horses, from classical and late antique periods until the recent creation of modern breeds by means of intensive selective breeding.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 555 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-12-01, End date: 2021-11-30
