Project acronym AZIDRUGS
Project Molecular tattooing: azidated compounds pave the path towards light-activated covalent inhibitors for drug development
Researcher (PI) András MÁLNÁSI-CSIZMADIA
Host Institution (HI) DRUGMOTIF KORLATOLT FELELOSSEGU TARSASAG
Call Details Proof of Concept (PoC), PC1, ERC-2013-PoC
Summary Until now the greatest limitation in the application of bioactive compounds has been the inability of confining them specifically to single cells or subcellular components within the organism. Our recently synthesized photoactive forms of bioactive compounds solve this problem. We have developed effective chemical synthesis methods to attach an azide group to small drug-like molecules, which makes them photoactive. As a result, light irradiation can induce the covalent attachment of these molecules to their target enzymes. By controlling the timing and position of light irradiation it is possible to confine the effect of these molecules in time and space. It is important to emphasize that azidation is the smallest possible modification (adding 3 nitrogen atoms) that makes a compound photoactive and based on our experience it does not alter biological activities of most of the original compounds.
Azidated inhibitors give unprecedented freedom to researchers because the covalent compound-target formations allow them to address questions which could not have been addressed before. Three major advantages are obtained by using azidated compounds 1: determination of small molecule interactome becomes highly effective, especially, the weak interactions can be determined, which was not possible before 2: it improves the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of biological compounds as the covalent attachment prolongs their effect. 3: Recently, we showed that photoactivation can be initiated by two-photon excitation, thereby confining the effect to femtoliter volumes and well-controlled spatial locations. This feature provides unprecedented spatial and temporal control in localizing the effect of biological compounds in cellular and subcelluler level in in vivo experiments. By realizing the need for photoactive compounds, the PI has established Drugmotif Ltd., a spin-off company, which provides the customers with special azidated chemicals for high-tech research.
Summary
Until now the greatest limitation in the application of bioactive compounds has been the inability of confining them specifically to single cells or subcellular components within the organism. Our recently synthesized photoactive forms of bioactive compounds solve this problem. We have developed effective chemical synthesis methods to attach an azide group to small drug-like molecules, which makes them photoactive. As a result, light irradiation can induce the covalent attachment of these molecules to their target enzymes. By controlling the timing and position of light irradiation it is possible to confine the effect of these molecules in time and space. It is important to emphasize that azidation is the smallest possible modification (adding 3 nitrogen atoms) that makes a compound photoactive and based on our experience it does not alter biological activities of most of the original compounds.
Azidated inhibitors give unprecedented freedom to researchers because the covalent compound-target formations allow them to address questions which could not have been addressed before. Three major advantages are obtained by using azidated compounds 1: determination of small molecule interactome becomes highly effective, especially, the weak interactions can be determined, which was not possible before 2: it improves the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of biological compounds as the covalent attachment prolongs their effect. 3: Recently, we showed that photoactivation can be initiated by two-photon excitation, thereby confining the effect to femtoliter volumes and well-controlled spatial locations. This feature provides unprecedented spatial and temporal control in localizing the effect of biological compounds in cellular and subcelluler level in in vivo experiments. By realizing the need for photoactive compounds, the PI has established Drugmotif Ltd., a spin-off company, which provides the customers with special azidated chemicals for high-tech research.
Max ERC Funding
150 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-12-01, End date: 2014-11-30
Project acronym CABUM
Project An investigation of the mechanisms at the interaction between cavitation bubbles and contaminants
Researcher (PI) Matevz DULAR
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2017-COG
Summary A sudden decrease in pressure triggers the formation of vapour and gas bubbles inside a liquid medium (also called cavitation). This leads to many (key) engineering problems: material loss, noise and vibration of hydraulic machinery. On the other hand, cavitation is a potentially a useful phenomenon: the extreme conditions are increasingly used for a wide variety of applications such as surface cleaning, enhanced chemistry, and waste water treatment (bacteria eradication and virus inactivation).
Despite this significant progress a large gap persists between the understanding of the mechanisms that contribute to the effects of cavitation and its application. Although engineers are already commercializing devices that employ cavitation, we are still not able to answer the fundamental question: What precisely are the mechanisms how bubbles can clean, disinfect, kill bacteria and enhance chemical activity? The overall objective of the project is to understand and determine the fundamental physics of the interaction of cavitation bubbles with different contaminants. To address this issue, the CABUM project will investigate the physical background of cavitation from physical, biological and engineering perspective on three complexity scales: i) on single bubble level, ii) on organised and iii) on random bubble clusters, producing a progressive multidisciplinary synergetic effect.
The proposed synergetic approach builds on the PI's preliminary research and employs novel experimental and numerical methodologies, some of which have been developed by the PI and his research group, to explore the physics of cavitation behaviour in interaction with bacteria and viruses.
Understanding the fundamental physical background of cavitation in interaction with contaminants will have a ground-breaking implications in various scientific fields (engineering, chemistry and biology) and will, in the future, enable the exploitation of cavitation in water and soil treatment processes.
Summary
A sudden decrease in pressure triggers the formation of vapour and gas bubbles inside a liquid medium (also called cavitation). This leads to many (key) engineering problems: material loss, noise and vibration of hydraulic machinery. On the other hand, cavitation is a potentially a useful phenomenon: the extreme conditions are increasingly used for a wide variety of applications such as surface cleaning, enhanced chemistry, and waste water treatment (bacteria eradication and virus inactivation).
Despite this significant progress a large gap persists between the understanding of the mechanisms that contribute to the effects of cavitation and its application. Although engineers are already commercializing devices that employ cavitation, we are still not able to answer the fundamental question: What precisely are the mechanisms how bubbles can clean, disinfect, kill bacteria and enhance chemical activity? The overall objective of the project is to understand and determine the fundamental physics of the interaction of cavitation bubbles with different contaminants. To address this issue, the CABUM project will investigate the physical background of cavitation from physical, biological and engineering perspective on three complexity scales: i) on single bubble level, ii) on organised and iii) on random bubble clusters, producing a progressive multidisciplinary synergetic effect.
The proposed synergetic approach builds on the PI's preliminary research and employs novel experimental and numerical methodologies, some of which have been developed by the PI and his research group, to explore the physics of cavitation behaviour in interaction with bacteria and viruses.
Understanding the fundamental physical background of cavitation in interaction with contaminants will have a ground-breaking implications in various scientific fields (engineering, chemistry and biology) and will, in the future, enable the exploitation of cavitation in water and soil treatment processes.
Max ERC Funding
1 904 565 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-07-01, End date: 2023-06-30
Project acronym CORNET
Project Provably Correct Networks
Researcher (PI) Costin RAICIU
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA DIN BUCURESTI
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE6, ERC-2017-STG
Summary Networks are the backbone of our society, but configuring them is error-prone and tedious: misconfigured networks result in headline grabbing network outages that affect many users and hurt company revenues while security breaches that endanger millions of customers. There are currently no guarantees that deployed networks correctly implement their operator’s policy.
Existing research has focused on two directions: a) low level analysis and instrumentation of real networking code prevents memory bugs in individual network elements, but does not capture network-wide properties desired by operators such as reachability or loop freedom; b) high-level analysis of network-wide properties to verify operator policies on abstract network models; unfortunately, there are no guarantees that the models are an accurate representation of the real network code, and often low-level errors invalidate the conclusions of the high-level analysis.
We propose to achieve provably correct networks by simultaneously targeting both low-level security concerns and network-wide policy compliance checking. Our key proposal is to rely on exhaustive network symbolic execution for verification and to automatically generate provably correct implementations from network models. Generating efficient code that is equivalent to the model poses great challenges that we will address with three key contributions:
a) We will develop a novel theoretical equivalence framework based on symbolic execution semantics, as well as equivalence-preserving model transformations to automatically optimize network models for runtime efficiency.
b) We will develop compilers that take network models and generate functionally equivalent and efficient executable code for different targets (e.g. P4 and C).
c) We will design algorithms that generate and insert runtime guards that ensure correctness of the network with respect to the desired policy even when legacy boxes are deployed in the network.
Summary
Networks are the backbone of our society, but configuring them is error-prone and tedious: misconfigured networks result in headline grabbing network outages that affect many users and hurt company revenues while security breaches that endanger millions of customers. There are currently no guarantees that deployed networks correctly implement their operator’s policy.
Existing research has focused on two directions: a) low level analysis and instrumentation of real networking code prevents memory bugs in individual network elements, but does not capture network-wide properties desired by operators such as reachability or loop freedom; b) high-level analysis of network-wide properties to verify operator policies on abstract network models; unfortunately, there are no guarantees that the models are an accurate representation of the real network code, and often low-level errors invalidate the conclusions of the high-level analysis.
We propose to achieve provably correct networks by simultaneously targeting both low-level security concerns and network-wide policy compliance checking. Our key proposal is to rely on exhaustive network symbolic execution for verification and to automatically generate provably correct implementations from network models. Generating efficient code that is equivalent to the model poses great challenges that we will address with three key contributions:
a) We will develop a novel theoretical equivalence framework based on symbolic execution semantics, as well as equivalence-preserving model transformations to automatically optimize network models for runtime efficiency.
b) We will develop compilers that take network models and generate functionally equivalent and efficient executable code for different targets (e.g. P4 and C).
c) We will design algorithms that generate and insert runtime guards that ensure correctness of the network with respect to the desired policy even when legacy boxes are deployed in the network.
Max ERC Funding
1 325 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2022-12-31
Project acronym COSMASS
Project Constraining Stellar Mass and Supermassive Black Hole Growth through Cosmic Times: Paving the way for the next generation sky surveys
Researcher (PI) Vernesa Smolcic
Host Institution (HI) FACULTY OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE9, ERC-2013-StG
Summary Understanding how galaxies form in the early universe and how they evolve through cosmic time is a major goal of modern astrophysics. Panchromatic look-back sky surveys significantly advanced the field in the past decade, and we are now entering a 'golden age' of radio astronomy given an order of magnitude improved facilities like JVLA, ATCA and ALMA. I am leading two unique, state-of-the-art (JVLA/ATCA) radio surveys that will push to the next frontiers. The proposed ERC project will focus on the growth of stellar and black-hole mass in galaxies across cosmic time by: 1-probing various types of extremely faint radio sources over cosmic time, revealing the debated abundance of faint radio sources, 2-exploring star formation conditions at early cosmic times, allowing to access for the first time the dust-unbiased cosmic star formation history since the epoch of reionization, 3-performing the first census of high-redshift starbursting galaxies (SMGs), and their role in galaxy formation and evolution, and 4-performing a full census of galaxies hosting supermassive black holes (AGN), with different black-hole accretion modes, and their roles in galaxy evolution.
The exploitation of these radio sky surveys is essential for the preparation and success of the future large facilities like ASKAP, and SKA as they will 1-provide best predictions of the to-date uncertain cosmic radio background seen with the SKA, and 2-optimize photometric redshift estimates, essential for the success of the first ASKAP sky survey (EMU, >2016).
My radio surveys, expected to yield >100 refereed publications, carry an immense legacy value. The proposed ERC funding is essential for the success of these timely surveys, which I will conduct from Croatia. The ERC grant will allow me to lead my own research group working on this novel data, and to even more firmly establish myself as a leading survey scientist, and lead my group to internationally competitive levels, and enhance EU competitiveness.
Summary
Understanding how galaxies form in the early universe and how they evolve through cosmic time is a major goal of modern astrophysics. Panchromatic look-back sky surveys significantly advanced the field in the past decade, and we are now entering a 'golden age' of radio astronomy given an order of magnitude improved facilities like JVLA, ATCA and ALMA. I am leading two unique, state-of-the-art (JVLA/ATCA) radio surveys that will push to the next frontiers. The proposed ERC project will focus on the growth of stellar and black-hole mass in galaxies across cosmic time by: 1-probing various types of extremely faint radio sources over cosmic time, revealing the debated abundance of faint radio sources, 2-exploring star formation conditions at early cosmic times, allowing to access for the first time the dust-unbiased cosmic star formation history since the epoch of reionization, 3-performing the first census of high-redshift starbursting galaxies (SMGs), and their role in galaxy formation and evolution, and 4-performing a full census of galaxies hosting supermassive black holes (AGN), with different black-hole accretion modes, and their roles in galaxy evolution.
The exploitation of these radio sky surveys is essential for the preparation and success of the future large facilities like ASKAP, and SKA as they will 1-provide best predictions of the to-date uncertain cosmic radio background seen with the SKA, and 2-optimize photometric redshift estimates, essential for the success of the first ASKAP sky survey (EMU, >2016).
My radio surveys, expected to yield >100 refereed publications, carry an immense legacy value. The proposed ERC funding is essential for the success of these timely surveys, which I will conduct from Croatia. The ERC grant will allow me to lead my own research group working on this novel data, and to even more firmly establish myself as a leading survey scientist, and lead my group to internationally competitive levels, and enhance EU competitiveness.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
Project acronym COSMOS
Project Computational Simulations of MOFs for Gas Separations
Researcher (PI) Seda Keskin Avci
Host Institution (HI) KOC UNIVERSITY
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2017-STG
Summary Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are recently considered as new fascinating nanoporous materials. MOFs have very large surface areas, high porosities, various pore sizes/shapes, chemical functionalities and good thermal/chemical stabilities. These properties make MOFs highly promising for gas separation applications. Thousands of MOFs have been synthesized in the last decade. The large number of available MOFs creates excellent opportunities to develop energy-efficient gas separation technologies. On the other hand, it is very challenging to identify the best materials for each gas separation of interest. Considering the continuous rapid increase in the number of synthesized materials, it is practically not possible to test each MOF using purely experimental manners. Highly accurate computational methods are required to identify the most promising MOFs to direct experimental efforts, time and resources to those materials. In this project, I will build a complete MOF library and use molecular simulations to assess adsorption and diffusion properties of gas mixtures in MOFs. Results of simulations will be used to predict adsorbent and membrane properties of MOFs for scientifically and technologically important gas separation processes such as CO2/CH4 (natural gas purification), CO2/N2 (flue gas separation), CO2/H2, CH4/H2 and N2/H2 (hydrogen recovery). I will obtain the fundamental, atomic-level insights into the common features of the top-performing MOFs and establish structure-performance relations. These relations will be used as guidelines to computationally design new MOFs with outstanding separation performances for CO2 capture and H2 recovery. These new MOFs will be finally synthesized in the lab scale and tested as adsorbents and membranes under practical operating conditions for each gas separation of interest. Combining a multi-stage computational approach with experiments, this project will lead to novel, efficient gas separation technologies based on MOFs.
Summary
Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are recently considered as new fascinating nanoporous materials. MOFs have very large surface areas, high porosities, various pore sizes/shapes, chemical functionalities and good thermal/chemical stabilities. These properties make MOFs highly promising for gas separation applications. Thousands of MOFs have been synthesized in the last decade. The large number of available MOFs creates excellent opportunities to develop energy-efficient gas separation technologies. On the other hand, it is very challenging to identify the best materials for each gas separation of interest. Considering the continuous rapid increase in the number of synthesized materials, it is practically not possible to test each MOF using purely experimental manners. Highly accurate computational methods are required to identify the most promising MOFs to direct experimental efforts, time and resources to those materials. In this project, I will build a complete MOF library and use molecular simulations to assess adsorption and diffusion properties of gas mixtures in MOFs. Results of simulations will be used to predict adsorbent and membrane properties of MOFs for scientifically and technologically important gas separation processes such as CO2/CH4 (natural gas purification), CO2/N2 (flue gas separation), CO2/H2, CH4/H2 and N2/H2 (hydrogen recovery). I will obtain the fundamental, atomic-level insights into the common features of the top-performing MOFs and establish structure-performance relations. These relations will be used as guidelines to computationally design new MOFs with outstanding separation performances for CO2 capture and H2 recovery. These new MOFs will be finally synthesized in the lab scale and tested as adsorbents and membranes under practical operating conditions for each gas separation of interest. Combining a multi-stage computational approach with experiments, this project will lead to novel, efficient gas separation technologies based on MOFs.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-10-01, End date: 2022-09-30
Project acronym DeCode
Project Dendrites and memory: role of dendritic spikes in information coding by hippocampal CA3 pyramidal neurons
Researcher (PI) Judit MAKARA
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUTE OF EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE - HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS5, ERC-2017-COG
Summary The hippocampus is essential for building episodic memories. Coding of locations, contexts or events in the hippocampus is based on the correlated activity of neuronal ensembles; however, the mechanisms promoting the recruitment of individual neurons into information-coding ensembles are poorly understood.
In particular, the recurrent synaptic network of pyramidal cells (PCs) in the hippocampal CA3 area, receiving external inputs from the entorhinal cortex and the dentate gyrus, is thought to be essential for associative memory. Current models of the associative functions of CA3 are mainly based on plasticity of these synaptic connections. Recent work by us and others however suggests that active, voltage-dependent properties of CA3PC dendrites may also promote ensemble functions. Dendritic voltage-dependent ion channels allow nonlinear amplification of spatiotemporally correlated synaptic inputs (such as those produced by ensemble activity) and can even generate local dendritic spikes, which may elicit specific action potential patterns and induce synaptic plasticity. Furthermore, dendritic processing may be modulated by activity-dependent regulation of dendritic ion channels. However, still little is known about the active properties of CA3PC dendrites and their functions during spatial coding or memory tasks.
The general aim of my research program is to understand the cellular mechanisms that underlie the formation of hippocampal memory-coding neuronal ensembles. Specifically, we will test the hypothesis that active input integration by dendrites of individual CA3PCs plays an important role in their recruitment into specific context-coding ensembles. By combining in vitro (patch-clamp electrophysiology and two-photon (2P) microscopy in slices) and in vivo (2P imaging and activity-dependent labelling in behaving rodents) approaches, we will provide an in-depth understanding of the dendritic components contributing to the generation of the CA3 ensemble code.
Summary
The hippocampus is essential for building episodic memories. Coding of locations, contexts or events in the hippocampus is based on the correlated activity of neuronal ensembles; however, the mechanisms promoting the recruitment of individual neurons into information-coding ensembles are poorly understood.
In particular, the recurrent synaptic network of pyramidal cells (PCs) in the hippocampal CA3 area, receiving external inputs from the entorhinal cortex and the dentate gyrus, is thought to be essential for associative memory. Current models of the associative functions of CA3 are mainly based on plasticity of these synaptic connections. Recent work by us and others however suggests that active, voltage-dependent properties of CA3PC dendrites may also promote ensemble functions. Dendritic voltage-dependent ion channels allow nonlinear amplification of spatiotemporally correlated synaptic inputs (such as those produced by ensemble activity) and can even generate local dendritic spikes, which may elicit specific action potential patterns and induce synaptic plasticity. Furthermore, dendritic processing may be modulated by activity-dependent regulation of dendritic ion channels. However, still little is known about the active properties of CA3PC dendrites and their functions during spatial coding or memory tasks.
The general aim of my research program is to understand the cellular mechanisms that underlie the formation of hippocampal memory-coding neuronal ensembles. Specifically, we will test the hypothesis that active input integration by dendrites of individual CA3PCs plays an important role in their recruitment into specific context-coding ensembles. By combining in vitro (patch-clamp electrophysiology and two-photon (2P) microscopy in slices) and in vivo (2P imaging and activity-dependent labelling in behaving rodents) approaches, we will provide an in-depth understanding of the dendritic components contributing to the generation of the CA3 ensemble code.
Max ERC Funding
1 990 314 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-06-01, End date: 2023-05-31
Project acronym FunctionalProteomics
Project Proteomic fingerprinting of functionally characterized single synapses
Researcher (PI) Zoltan NUSSER
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUTE OF EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE - HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS5, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary Our astonishing cognitive abilities are the consequence of complex connectivity within our neuronal networks and the large functional diversity of excitable nerve cells and their synapses. Investigations over the past half a century revealed dramatic diversity in shape, size and functional properties among synapses established by distinct cell types in different brain regions and demonstrated that the functional differences are partly due to different molecular mechanisms. However, synaptic diversity is also observed among synapses established by molecularly and morphologically uniform presynaptic cells on molecularly and morphologically uniform postsynaptic cells. Our hypothesis is that quantitative molecular differences underlie the functional diversity of such synapses. We will focus on hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cell (PC) to mGluR1α+ O-LM cell synapses, which show remarkable functional and molecular heterogeneity. In vitro multiple cell patch-clamp recordings followed by quantal analysis will be performed to quantify well-defined biophysical properties of these synapses. The molecular composition of the functionally characterized single synapses will be determined following the development of a novel postembedding immunolocalization method. Correlations between the molecular content and functional properties will be established and genetic up- and downregulation of individual synaptic proteins will be conducted to reveal causal relationships. Finally, correlations of the activity history and the functional properties of the synapses will be established by performing in vivo two-photon Ca2+ imaging in head-fixed behaving animals followed by in vitro functional characterization of their synapses. Our results will reveal quantitative molecular fingerprints of functional properties, allowing us to render dynamic behaviour to billions of synapses when the connectome of the hippocampal circuit is created using array tomography.
Summary
Our astonishing cognitive abilities are the consequence of complex connectivity within our neuronal networks and the large functional diversity of excitable nerve cells and their synapses. Investigations over the past half a century revealed dramatic diversity in shape, size and functional properties among synapses established by distinct cell types in different brain regions and demonstrated that the functional differences are partly due to different molecular mechanisms. However, synaptic diversity is also observed among synapses established by molecularly and morphologically uniform presynaptic cells on molecularly and morphologically uniform postsynaptic cells. Our hypothesis is that quantitative molecular differences underlie the functional diversity of such synapses. We will focus on hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cell (PC) to mGluR1α+ O-LM cell synapses, which show remarkable functional and molecular heterogeneity. In vitro multiple cell patch-clamp recordings followed by quantal analysis will be performed to quantify well-defined biophysical properties of these synapses. The molecular composition of the functionally characterized single synapses will be determined following the development of a novel postembedding immunolocalization method. Correlations between the molecular content and functional properties will be established and genetic up- and downregulation of individual synaptic proteins will be conducted to reveal causal relationships. Finally, correlations of the activity history and the functional properties of the synapses will be established by performing in vivo two-photon Ca2+ imaging in head-fixed behaving animals followed by in vitro functional characterization of their synapses. Our results will reveal quantitative molecular fingerprints of functional properties, allowing us to render dynamic behaviour to billions of synapses when the connectome of the hippocampal circuit is created using array tomography.
Max ERC Funding
2 498 750 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-10-01, End date: 2023-09-30
Project acronym ISLAM-OPHOB-ISM
Project Nativism, Islamophobism and Islamism in the Age of Populism: Culturalisation and Religionisation of what is Social, Economic and Political in Europe
Researcher (PI) Ayhan KAYA
Host Institution (HI) ISTANBUL BILGI UNIVERSITESI
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH3, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary The main research question of the study is: How and why do some European citizens generate a populist and Islamophobist discourse to express their discontent with the current social, economic and political state of their national and European contexts, while some members of migrant-origin communities with Muslim background generate an essentialist and radical form of Islamist discourse within the same societies? The main premise of this study is that various segments of the European public (radicalizing young members of both native populations and migrant-origin populations with Muslim background), who have been alienated and swept away by the flows of globalization such as deindustrialization, mobility, migration, tourism, social-economic inequalities, international trade, and robotic production, are more inclined to respectively adopt two mainstream political discourses: Islamophobism (for native populations) and Islamism (for Muslim-migrant-origin populations). Both discourses have become pivotal along with the rise of the civilizational rhetoric since the early 1990s. On the one hand, the neo-liberal age seems to be leading to the nativisation of radicalism among some groups of host populations while, on the other hand, it is leading to the islamization of radicalism among some segments of deprived migrant-origin populations. The common denominator of these groups is that they are both downwardly mobile and inclined towards radicalization. Hence, this project aims to scrutinize social, economic, political and psychological sources of the processes of radicalization among native European youth and Muslim-origin youth with migration background, who are both inclined to express their discontent through ethnicity, culture, religion, heritage, homogeneity, authenticity, past, gender and patriarchy. The field research will comprise four migrant receiving countries: Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and two migrant sending countries: Turkey and Morocco.
Summary
The main research question of the study is: How and why do some European citizens generate a populist and Islamophobist discourse to express their discontent with the current social, economic and political state of their national and European contexts, while some members of migrant-origin communities with Muslim background generate an essentialist and radical form of Islamist discourse within the same societies? The main premise of this study is that various segments of the European public (radicalizing young members of both native populations and migrant-origin populations with Muslim background), who have been alienated and swept away by the flows of globalization such as deindustrialization, mobility, migration, tourism, social-economic inequalities, international trade, and robotic production, are more inclined to respectively adopt two mainstream political discourses: Islamophobism (for native populations) and Islamism (for Muslim-migrant-origin populations). Both discourses have become pivotal along with the rise of the civilizational rhetoric since the early 1990s. On the one hand, the neo-liberal age seems to be leading to the nativisation of radicalism among some groups of host populations while, on the other hand, it is leading to the islamization of radicalism among some segments of deprived migrant-origin populations. The common denominator of these groups is that they are both downwardly mobile and inclined towards radicalization. Hence, this project aims to scrutinize social, economic, political and psychological sources of the processes of radicalization among native European youth and Muslim-origin youth with migration background, who are both inclined to express their discontent through ethnicity, culture, religion, heritage, homogeneity, authenticity, past, gender and patriarchy. The field research will comprise four migrant receiving countries: Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and two migrant sending countries: Turkey and Morocco.
Max ERC Funding
2 276 125 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-01-01, End date: 2023-12-31
Project acronym JAXPERTISE
Project Joint action expertise: Behavioral, cognitive, and neural mechanisms for joint action learning
Researcher (PI) Natalie Sebanz
Host Institution (HI) KOZEP-EUROPAI EGYETEM
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH4, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary Human life is full of joint action and our achievements are, to a large extent, joint achievements that require the coordination of two or more individuals. Piano duets and tangos, but also complex technical and medical operations rely on and exist because of coordinated actions. In recent years, research has begun to identify the basic mechanisms of joint action. This work focused on simple tasks that can be performed together without practice. However, a striking aspect of human joint action is the expertise interaction partners acquire together. How people acquire joint expertise is still poorly understood. JAXPERTISE will break new ground by identifying the behavioural, cognitive, and neural mechanisms underlying the learning of joint action. Participating in joint activities is also a motor for individual development. Although this has long been recognized, the mechanisms underlying individual learning through engagement in joint activities remain to be spelled out from a cognitive science perspective. JAXPERTISE will make this crucial step by investigating how joint action affects source memory, semantic memory, and individual skill learning. Carefully designed experiments will optimize the balance between capturing relevant interpersonal phenomena and maximizing experimental control. The proposed studies employ behavioural measures, electroencephalography, and physiological measures. Studies tracing learning processes in novices will be complemented by studies analyzing expert performance in music and dance. New approaches, such as training participants to regulate each other’s brain activity, will lead to methodological breakthroughs. JAXPERTISE will generate basic scientific knowledge that will be relevant to a large number of different disciplines in the social sciences, cognitive sciences, and humanities. The insights gained in this project will have impact on the design of robot helpers and the development of social training interventions.
Summary
Human life is full of joint action and our achievements are, to a large extent, joint achievements that require the coordination of two or more individuals. Piano duets and tangos, but also complex technical and medical operations rely on and exist because of coordinated actions. In recent years, research has begun to identify the basic mechanisms of joint action. This work focused on simple tasks that can be performed together without practice. However, a striking aspect of human joint action is the expertise interaction partners acquire together. How people acquire joint expertise is still poorly understood. JAXPERTISE will break new ground by identifying the behavioural, cognitive, and neural mechanisms underlying the learning of joint action. Participating in joint activities is also a motor for individual development. Although this has long been recognized, the mechanisms underlying individual learning through engagement in joint activities remain to be spelled out from a cognitive science perspective. JAXPERTISE will make this crucial step by investigating how joint action affects source memory, semantic memory, and individual skill learning. Carefully designed experiments will optimize the balance between capturing relevant interpersonal phenomena and maximizing experimental control. The proposed studies employ behavioural measures, electroencephalography, and physiological measures. Studies tracing learning processes in novices will be complemented by studies analyzing expert performance in music and dance. New approaches, such as training participants to regulate each other’s brain activity, will lead to methodological breakthroughs. JAXPERTISE will generate basic scientific knowledge that will be relevant to a large number of different disciplines in the social sciences, cognitive sciences, and humanities. The insights gained in this project will have impact on the design of robot helpers and the development of social training interventions.
Max ERC Funding
1 992 331 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-08-01, End date: 2019-07-31
Project acronym MaCChines
Project Molecular machines based on coiled-coil protein origami
Researcher (PI) Roman JERALA
Host Institution (HI) KEMIJSKI INSTITUT
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS9, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary Proteins are the most versatile and complex smart nanomaterials, forming molecular machines and performing numerous functions from structure building, recognition, catalysis to locomotion. Nature however explored only a tiny fraction of possible protein sequences and structures. Design of proteins with new, in nature unseen shapes and features, offers high rewards for medicine, technology and science. In 2013 my group pioneered the design of a new type of modular coiled-coil protein origami (CCPO) folds. This type of de novo designed proteins are defined by the sequence of coiled-coil (CC) dimer-forming modules that are concatenated by flexible linkers into a single polypeptide chain that self-assembles into a polyhedral cage based on pairwise CC interactions. This is in contrast to naturally evolved proteins where their fold is defined by a compact hydrophobic core. We recently demonstrated the robustness of this strategy by the largest de novo designed single chain protein, construction of tetrahedral, pyramid, trigonal prism and bipyramid cages that self-assemble in vivo.
This proposal builds on unique advantages of CCPOs and represents a new frontier of this branch of protein design science. I propose to introduce functional domains into selected positions of CCPO cages, implement new types of building modules that will enable regulated CCPO assembly and disassembly, test new strategies of caging and release of cargo molecules for targeted delivery, design knotted and crosslinked protein cages and introduce toehold displacement for the regulated structural rearrangement of CCPOs required for designed molecular machines, which will be demonstrated on protein nanotweezers. Technology for the positional combinatorial library-based single pot assembly of CCPO genes will provide high throughput of CCPO variants. Project will result in new methodology, understanding of potentials of CCPOs for designed molecular machines and in demonstration of different applications.
Summary
Proteins are the most versatile and complex smart nanomaterials, forming molecular machines and performing numerous functions from structure building, recognition, catalysis to locomotion. Nature however explored only a tiny fraction of possible protein sequences and structures. Design of proteins with new, in nature unseen shapes and features, offers high rewards for medicine, technology and science. In 2013 my group pioneered the design of a new type of modular coiled-coil protein origami (CCPO) folds. This type of de novo designed proteins are defined by the sequence of coiled-coil (CC) dimer-forming modules that are concatenated by flexible linkers into a single polypeptide chain that self-assembles into a polyhedral cage based on pairwise CC interactions. This is in contrast to naturally evolved proteins where their fold is defined by a compact hydrophobic core. We recently demonstrated the robustness of this strategy by the largest de novo designed single chain protein, construction of tetrahedral, pyramid, trigonal prism and bipyramid cages that self-assemble in vivo.
This proposal builds on unique advantages of CCPOs and represents a new frontier of this branch of protein design science. I propose to introduce functional domains into selected positions of CCPO cages, implement new types of building modules that will enable regulated CCPO assembly and disassembly, test new strategies of caging and release of cargo molecules for targeted delivery, design knotted and crosslinked protein cages and introduce toehold displacement for the regulated structural rearrangement of CCPOs required for designed molecular machines, which will be demonstrated on protein nanotweezers. Technology for the positional combinatorial library-based single pot assembly of CCPO genes will provide high throughput of CCPO variants. Project will result in new methodology, understanding of potentials of CCPOs for designed molecular machines and in demonstration of different applications.
Max ERC Funding
2 497 125 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31
