Project acronym MemoSleep
Project Longing for a good night's sleep: A memory-based mechanism to improve sleep and cognitive functioning.
Researcher (PI) Björn Rasch
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE FRIBOURG
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2015-STG
Summary Sleep is critical for optimal cognitive functioning and health. Sleep disturbances are highly frequent in our society and strongly influenced by cognitive factors, e.g. rumination, expectations and thoughts. However, the mechanism of how cognition influences sleep architecture is not yet understood. To explain how cognition influences sleep, I propose the “Memories-of-Sleep” (MemoSleep)-Hypothesis. Based on the theory of embodied cognition and evidence that memories are reactivated during sleep, the MemoSleep-Hypothesis makes the following assumptions:
(1) Cognitions related to sleep/wake states are embodied. I will call them embodied sleep/wake memories. Embodied sleep/wake memories encompass not only their semantic meaning, but also their sensorimotor body representation. Thus, the mental representation of the word ‘wake’ is directly linked to our body sensation of wakefulness.
(2) If embodied sleep/wake memories are activated before sleep, they will have a higher probability of being reactivated during sleep.
(3) During sleep, increased reactivation of embodied sleep/wake memories activates associated body responses and thereby affects sleep architecture. Thus, increased reactivation of the mental representation of ‘wake’ will activate wake-related physiological responses and disrupt sleep.
Here I aim at empirically testing these assumptions using brain imaging (high-density EEG, EEG/fMRI) and cognitive testing in humans. I will show that activation of embodied sleep/wake memories before and during sleep influences sleep architecture and affects post-sleep cognitive performance. In addition, I will apply these findings to the elderly and patients with sleep disorders. The results will greatly enhance our theoretical understanding of how cognition influences sleep. Furthermore, they will provide a solid basis for the development of effective cognitive interventions for sleep disorders, with a high potential to improve sleep and cognition also in every-day life.
Summary
Sleep is critical for optimal cognitive functioning and health. Sleep disturbances are highly frequent in our society and strongly influenced by cognitive factors, e.g. rumination, expectations and thoughts. However, the mechanism of how cognition influences sleep architecture is not yet understood. To explain how cognition influences sleep, I propose the “Memories-of-Sleep” (MemoSleep)-Hypothesis. Based on the theory of embodied cognition and evidence that memories are reactivated during sleep, the MemoSleep-Hypothesis makes the following assumptions:
(1) Cognitions related to sleep/wake states are embodied. I will call them embodied sleep/wake memories. Embodied sleep/wake memories encompass not only their semantic meaning, but also their sensorimotor body representation. Thus, the mental representation of the word ‘wake’ is directly linked to our body sensation of wakefulness.
(2) If embodied sleep/wake memories are activated before sleep, they will have a higher probability of being reactivated during sleep.
(3) During sleep, increased reactivation of embodied sleep/wake memories activates associated body responses and thereby affects sleep architecture. Thus, increased reactivation of the mental representation of ‘wake’ will activate wake-related physiological responses and disrupt sleep.
Here I aim at empirically testing these assumptions using brain imaging (high-density EEG, EEG/fMRI) and cognitive testing in humans. I will show that activation of embodied sleep/wake memories before and during sleep influences sleep architecture and affects post-sleep cognitive performance. In addition, I will apply these findings to the elderly and patients with sleep disorders. The results will greatly enhance our theoretical understanding of how cognition influences sleep. Furthermore, they will provide a solid basis for the development of effective cognitive interventions for sleep disorders, with a high potential to improve sleep and cognition also in every-day life.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 565 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym MIMESIS
Project Development of biomaterials through mimesis of plant defensive interfaces to fight wound infections
Researcher (PI) Cristina Maria Da Costa Silva Pereira
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUTO DE TECNOLOGIA QUIMICA E BIOLOGICA - UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS9, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary Fighting microbial infection of wounds, especially in immunocompromised patients, is a major challenge in the 21st century. The skin barrier is the primary defence against microbial (opportunistic) pathogens. When this barrier is breached even non-pathogenic fungi may cause devastating infections, most of which provoked by crossover fungi able to infect both plant and humans. Hence, diabetic patients (ca. 6.4% of the world population), who are prone to develop chronic non-healing wounds, constitute a major risk group. My research is driven by the vision of mimicking the functionality of plant polyesters to develop wound dressing biomaterials that combine antimicrobial and skin regeneration properties.
Land plants have evolved through more than 400 million years, developing defence polyester barriers that limit pathogen adhesion and invasion. Biopolyesters are ubiquitous in plants and are the third most abundant plant polymer. The unique chemical composition of the plant polyester and its macromolecular assembly determines its physiological roles. This lipid-based polymer shows important similarities to the epidermal skin layer; hence it is an excellent candidate for a wound-dressing material. While evidences of their skin regeneration properties exist in cosmetics formulations and in traditional medicine, extracting polyesters from plants results in the loss of both native structure and inherent barrier properties hampering progress in this area.
We have developed a biocompatible extraction method that preserves the plant polyester film forming abilities and their inherent biological properties. The ex-situ reconstituted polyester films display the native barrier properties, including potentially broad antimicrobial and anti-biofouling effect. This, combined with our established record in fungal biochemistry/genetics, places us in a unique position to push the development of plant polyester materials to be applied in wounds, in particular diabetic chronic wounds.
Summary
Fighting microbial infection of wounds, especially in immunocompromised patients, is a major challenge in the 21st century. The skin barrier is the primary defence against microbial (opportunistic) pathogens. When this barrier is breached even non-pathogenic fungi may cause devastating infections, most of which provoked by crossover fungi able to infect both plant and humans. Hence, diabetic patients (ca. 6.4% of the world population), who are prone to develop chronic non-healing wounds, constitute a major risk group. My research is driven by the vision of mimicking the functionality of plant polyesters to develop wound dressing biomaterials that combine antimicrobial and skin regeneration properties.
Land plants have evolved through more than 400 million years, developing defence polyester barriers that limit pathogen adhesion and invasion. Biopolyesters are ubiquitous in plants and are the third most abundant plant polymer. The unique chemical composition of the plant polyester and its macromolecular assembly determines its physiological roles. This lipid-based polymer shows important similarities to the epidermal skin layer; hence it is an excellent candidate for a wound-dressing material. While evidences of their skin regeneration properties exist in cosmetics formulations and in traditional medicine, extracting polyesters from plants results in the loss of both native structure and inherent barrier properties hampering progress in this area.
We have developed a biocompatible extraction method that preserves the plant polyester film forming abilities and their inherent biological properties. The ex-situ reconstituted polyester films display the native barrier properties, including potentially broad antimicrobial and anti-biofouling effect. This, combined with our established record in fungal biochemistry/genetics, places us in a unique position to push the development of plant polyester materials to be applied in wounds, in particular diabetic chronic wounds.
Max ERC Funding
1 795 968 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-09-01, End date: 2020-08-31
Project acronym MODFLAT
Project "Moduli of flat connections, planar networks and associators"
Researcher (PI) Anton Alekseev
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE GENEVE
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary "The project lies at the crossroads between three different topics in Mathematics: moduli spaces of flat connections on surfaces in Differential Geometry and Topology, the Kashiwara-Vergne problem and Drinfeld associators in Lie theory, and combinatorics of planar networks in the theory of Total Positivity.
The time is ripe to establish deep connections between these three theories. The main factors are the recent progress in the Kashiwara-Vergne theory (including the proof of the Kashiwara-Vergne conjecture by Alekseev-Meinrenken), the discovery of a link between the Horn problem on eigenvalues of sums of Hermitian matrices and planar network combinatorics, and intimate links with the Topological Quantum Field Theory shared by the three topics.
The scientific objectives of the project include answering the following questions:
1) To find a universal non-commutative volume formula for moduli of flat connections which would contain the Witten’s volume formula, the Verlinde formula, and the Moore-Nekrasov-Shatashvili formula as particular cases.
2) To show that all solutions of the Kashiwara-Vergne problem come from Drinfeld associators. If the answer is indeed positive, it will have applications to the study of the Gothendieck-Teichmüller Lie algebra grt.
3) To find a Gelfand-Zeiltin type integrable system for the symplectic group Sp(2n). This question is open since 1983.
To achieve these goals, one needs to use a multitude of techniques. Here we single out the ones developed by the author:
- Quasi-symplectic and quasi-Poisson Geometry and the theory of group valued moment maps.
- The linearization method for Poisson-Lie groups relating the additive problem z=x+y and the multiplicative problem Z=XY.
- Free Lie algebra approach to the Kashiwara-Vergne theory, including the non-commutative divergence and Jacobian cocylces.
- Non-abelian topical calculus which establishes a link between the multiplicative problem and combinatorics of planar networks."
Summary
"The project lies at the crossroads between three different topics in Mathematics: moduli spaces of flat connections on surfaces in Differential Geometry and Topology, the Kashiwara-Vergne problem and Drinfeld associators in Lie theory, and combinatorics of planar networks in the theory of Total Positivity.
The time is ripe to establish deep connections between these three theories. The main factors are the recent progress in the Kashiwara-Vergne theory (including the proof of the Kashiwara-Vergne conjecture by Alekseev-Meinrenken), the discovery of a link between the Horn problem on eigenvalues of sums of Hermitian matrices and planar network combinatorics, and intimate links with the Topological Quantum Field Theory shared by the three topics.
The scientific objectives of the project include answering the following questions:
1) To find a universal non-commutative volume formula for moduli of flat connections which would contain the Witten’s volume formula, the Verlinde formula, and the Moore-Nekrasov-Shatashvili formula as particular cases.
2) To show that all solutions of the Kashiwara-Vergne problem come from Drinfeld associators. If the answer is indeed positive, it will have applications to the study of the Gothendieck-Teichmüller Lie algebra grt.
3) To find a Gelfand-Zeiltin type integrable system for the symplectic group Sp(2n). This question is open since 1983.
To achieve these goals, one needs to use a multitude of techniques. Here we single out the ones developed by the author:
- Quasi-symplectic and quasi-Poisson Geometry and the theory of group valued moment maps.
- The linearization method for Poisson-Lie groups relating the additive problem z=x+y and the multiplicative problem Z=XY.
- Free Lie algebra approach to the Kashiwara-Vergne theory, including the non-commutative divergence and Jacobian cocylces.
- Non-abelian topical calculus which establishes a link between the multiplicative problem and combinatorics of planar networks."
Max ERC Funding
2 148 211 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
Project acronym PDECP
Project Partial differential equations of Classical Physics
Researcher (PI) Demetrios Christodoulou
Host Institution (HI) EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2009-AdG
Summary I shall pursue two projects both of which belong to the fields of partial differential equations, geometric analysis and mathematical physics. The first project, ``the shock development problem", belongs also to the field of fluid dynamics and aims at a full understanding of how, in the real world of 3 spatial dimensions, hydrodynamic shocks evolve, my previous work having analyzed in detail how they form. The second project, ``the formation of electromagnetic shocks in nonlinear media" aims at establishing how electromagnetic shocks form by the focusing of incoming electromagnetic wave pulses in a nonlinear medium. The case of an isotropic nonlinear dielectric will be studied first, to be followed by the case of a general isotropic medium. The methods of geometric analysis introduced in my previous work shall be employed, in particular the ``short pulse method" introduced in my work on the formation of black holes by the focusing of incoming gravitational waves in general relativity. The application of these methods to the problem for a general isotropic medium will require the development of new geometric structures. My three Ph. D. students shall purse the following three projects, belonging also to the fields of partial differential equations, geometric analysis and mathematical physics. The first project is in nonlinear elasticity. It is the study of the equilibrium configurations, in free space, of a crystalline solid in which a continuous distribution of dislocations is present, and aims at analyzing the relationship between the dislocation distribution and the resulting internal stress field. The second is in general relativity and aims at a theoretical understanding of the phenomena discovered by M. Choptuik in his numerical study of the gravitational collapse of a self-gravitating scalar field in spherical symmetry. The third is the study of hydrodynamic shock interactions and focusing in spherical symmetry.
Summary
I shall pursue two projects both of which belong to the fields of partial differential equations, geometric analysis and mathematical physics. The first project, ``the shock development problem", belongs also to the field of fluid dynamics and aims at a full understanding of how, in the real world of 3 spatial dimensions, hydrodynamic shocks evolve, my previous work having analyzed in detail how they form. The second project, ``the formation of electromagnetic shocks in nonlinear media" aims at establishing how electromagnetic shocks form by the focusing of incoming electromagnetic wave pulses in a nonlinear medium. The case of an isotropic nonlinear dielectric will be studied first, to be followed by the case of a general isotropic medium. The methods of geometric analysis introduced in my previous work shall be employed, in particular the ``short pulse method" introduced in my work on the formation of black holes by the focusing of incoming gravitational waves in general relativity. The application of these methods to the problem for a general isotropic medium will require the development of new geometric structures. My three Ph. D. students shall purse the following three projects, belonging also to the fields of partial differential equations, geometric analysis and mathematical physics. The first project is in nonlinear elasticity. It is the study of the equilibrium configurations, in free space, of a crystalline solid in which a continuous distribution of dislocations is present, and aims at analyzing the relationship between the dislocation distribution and the resulting internal stress field. The second is in general relativity and aims at a theoretical understanding of the phenomena discovered by M. Choptuik in his numerical study of the gravitational collapse of a self-gravitating scalar field in spherical symmetry. The third is the study of hydrodynamic shock interactions and focusing in spherical symmetry.
Max ERC Funding
1 278 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-03-01, End date: 2015-02-28
Project acronym PERVOL
Project Perception of Plant Volatiles
Researcher (PI) Matthias Erb
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAET BERN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS9, ERC-2016-STG
Summary The capacity to produce and perceive organic chemicals is essential for most cellular organisms. Plant leaves that are attacked by insect herbivores for instance start releasing distinct blends of herbivore-induced plant volatiles, which in turn can be perceived by non-attacked tissues. These tissues then respond more rapidly and more strongly to herbivore attack. One major question that constrains the current understanding of plant volatile communication is how plants perceive herbivore induced volatiles. Can plants smell danger by detecting certain volatiles with specific receptors? Or are other mechanisms at play? Answering these questions would push the boundaries of plant signaling research, as it would allow for the creation of perception impaired mutants to perform detailed analyses of the biological functions and potential agricultural benefits of plant volatile perception.
My recent work identified indole as a key herbivore induced volatile priming signal in maize. As indole is produced by many different plant species and has been well studied as a bacterial volatile, it is an ideal candidate to study the mechanisms and biological functions of plant volatile perception. The key objectives of PERVOL are 1) to develop a new high-throughput plant volatile sampling system for genetic screens of indole perception, 2) to use the system to identify molecular mechanisms of indole perception and 3) to create indole perception mutants to uncover novel biological functions of volatile priming. If successful, PERVOL will set technological standards by providing the community with an innovative and powerful volatile sampling system. Furthermore, it will push the field of plant volatile research by elucidating mechanisms of herbivore induced volatile perception, generating new genetic resources for functional investigations of plant volatile signaling and testing new potential biological functions of the perception of herbivore induced volatiles.
Summary
The capacity to produce and perceive organic chemicals is essential for most cellular organisms. Plant leaves that are attacked by insect herbivores for instance start releasing distinct blends of herbivore-induced plant volatiles, which in turn can be perceived by non-attacked tissues. These tissues then respond more rapidly and more strongly to herbivore attack. One major question that constrains the current understanding of plant volatile communication is how plants perceive herbivore induced volatiles. Can plants smell danger by detecting certain volatiles with specific receptors? Or are other mechanisms at play? Answering these questions would push the boundaries of plant signaling research, as it would allow for the creation of perception impaired mutants to perform detailed analyses of the biological functions and potential agricultural benefits of plant volatile perception.
My recent work identified indole as a key herbivore induced volatile priming signal in maize. As indole is produced by many different plant species and has been well studied as a bacterial volatile, it is an ideal candidate to study the mechanisms and biological functions of plant volatile perception. The key objectives of PERVOL are 1) to develop a new high-throughput plant volatile sampling system for genetic screens of indole perception, 2) to use the system to identify molecular mechanisms of indole perception and 3) to create indole perception mutants to uncover novel biological functions of volatile priming. If successful, PERVOL will set technological standards by providing the community with an innovative and powerful volatile sampling system. Furthermore, it will push the field of plant volatile research by elucidating mechanisms of herbivore induced volatile perception, generating new genetic resources for functional investigations of plant volatile signaling and testing new potential biological functions of the perception of herbivore induced volatiles.
Max ERC Funding
1 989 938 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-03-01, End date: 2022-02-28
Project acronym PMSB
Project Principles of Musical Structure Building: Theory, Computation, and Cognition
Researcher (PI) Martin ROHRMEIER
Host Institution (HI) ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2017-STG
Summary Music is a central human trait across all cultures and historical periods, involving a great rich variety of parameters, cognitive processes, and forms of structure building. The proposed project aims at advancing the understanding of human cognition and, specifically, the capacity to represent and process complex auditory sequences and syntactic structures by exploring the rich potential of music perception.
Building on the PI’s previous work, this interdisciplinary research programme will be divided into three core strands:
(A) The theoretical strand will be devoted to the investigation of formal principles that govern musical syntax and structure building in Western and non-Western music. Many current approaches share the expressive power of (tree-based) context-free grammars and are mostly confined to harmonic syntax only. Therefore, they face difficulty in expressing certain crucial syntactic phenomena in music. To address this lacuna, the theoretical strand will develop a novel unified theory of musical syntax that exceeds context-free complexity and reconciles harmonic structure with the constraints of voice leading within a single coherent framework.
(B) Addressing the lack of machine-readable corpora in music research, a large corpus of digitized syntactic analyses will be compiled and published in the context of the project’s computational strand. Further, the unified syntax theory will be implemented based on a generalized parsing approach and graph grammars, and trained and evaluated using the analytical corpus.
(C) The formal framework developed in (A) entails specific predictions about mental representations of musical structure that will be empirically tested in the experimental strand of the project. Particular focus will be on aspects of nonlocal dependency relations, learnability, revision, and tension.
The outcomes of the project will make a significant contribution to both the field of music cognition and to the cognitive sciences in general.
Summary
Music is a central human trait across all cultures and historical periods, involving a great rich variety of parameters, cognitive processes, and forms of structure building. The proposed project aims at advancing the understanding of human cognition and, specifically, the capacity to represent and process complex auditory sequences and syntactic structures by exploring the rich potential of music perception.
Building on the PI’s previous work, this interdisciplinary research programme will be divided into three core strands:
(A) The theoretical strand will be devoted to the investigation of formal principles that govern musical syntax and structure building in Western and non-Western music. Many current approaches share the expressive power of (tree-based) context-free grammars and are mostly confined to harmonic syntax only. Therefore, they face difficulty in expressing certain crucial syntactic phenomena in music. To address this lacuna, the theoretical strand will develop a novel unified theory of musical syntax that exceeds context-free complexity and reconciles harmonic structure with the constraints of voice leading within a single coherent framework.
(B) Addressing the lack of machine-readable corpora in music research, a large corpus of digitized syntactic analyses will be compiled and published in the context of the project’s computational strand. Further, the unified syntax theory will be implemented based on a generalized parsing approach and graph grammars, and trained and evaluated using the analytical corpus.
(C) The formal framework developed in (A) entails specific predictions about mental representations of musical structure that will be empirically tested in the experimental strand of the project. Particular focus will be on aspects of nonlocal dependency relations, learnability, revision, and tension.
The outcomes of the project will make a significant contribution to both the field of music cognition and to the cognitive sciences in general.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-03-01, End date: 2023-02-28
Project acronym POLYTE
Project Polynomial term structure models
Researcher (PI) Damir Filipovic
Host Institution (HI) ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE1, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary "The term structure of interest rates plays a central role in the functioning of the interbank market. It also represents a key factor for the valuation and management of long term liabilities, such as pensions. The financial crisis has revealed the multivariate risk nature of the term structure, which includes inflation, credit and liquidity risk, resulting in multiple spread adjusted discount curves. This has generated a strong interest in tractable stochastic models for the movements of the term structure that can match all determining risk factors.
We propose a new class of term structure models based on polynomial factor processes which are defined as jump-diffusions whose generator leaves the space of polynomials of any fixed degree invariant. The moments of their transition distributions are polynomials in the initial state. The coefficients defining this relationship are given as solutions of a system of nested linear ordinary differential equations. As a consequence polynomial processes yield closed form polynomial-rational expressions for the term structure of interest rates. Polynomial processes include affine processes, whose transition functions admit an exponential-affine characteristic function. Affine processes are among the most widely used models in finance to date, but come along with some severe specification limitations. We propose to overcome these shortcomings by studying polynomial processes and polynomial expansion methods achieving a comparable efficiency as Fourier methods in the affine case.
In sum, the objectives of this project are threefold. First, we plan to develop a theory for polynomial processes and entirely explore their statistical properties. This fills a gap in the literature on affine processes in particular. Second, we aim to develop polynomial-rational term structure models addressing the new paradigm of multiple spread adjusted discount curves. Third, we plan to implement and estimate these models using real market data."
Summary
"The term structure of interest rates plays a central role in the functioning of the interbank market. It also represents a key factor for the valuation and management of long term liabilities, such as pensions. The financial crisis has revealed the multivariate risk nature of the term structure, which includes inflation, credit and liquidity risk, resulting in multiple spread adjusted discount curves. This has generated a strong interest in tractable stochastic models for the movements of the term structure that can match all determining risk factors.
We propose a new class of term structure models based on polynomial factor processes which are defined as jump-diffusions whose generator leaves the space of polynomials of any fixed degree invariant. The moments of their transition distributions are polynomials in the initial state. The coefficients defining this relationship are given as solutions of a system of nested linear ordinary differential equations. As a consequence polynomial processes yield closed form polynomial-rational expressions for the term structure of interest rates. Polynomial processes include affine processes, whose transition functions admit an exponential-affine characteristic function. Affine processes are among the most widely used models in finance to date, but come along with some severe specification limitations. We propose to overcome these shortcomings by studying polynomial processes and polynomial expansion methods achieving a comparable efficiency as Fourier methods in the affine case.
In sum, the objectives of this project are threefold. First, we plan to develop a theory for polynomial processes and entirely explore their statistical properties. This fills a gap in the literature on affine processes in particular. Second, we aim to develop polynomial-rational term structure models addressing the new paradigm of multiple spread adjusted discount curves. Third, we plan to implement and estimate these models using real market data."
Max ERC Funding
995 155 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-12-01, End date: 2017-11-30
Project acronym prilang
Project The primate roots of human language
Researcher (PI) Klaus Martin Zuberbühler
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE NEUCHATEL
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2011-StG_20101124
Summary In 1871 Darwin famously wrote that, in his opinion, there was no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties. In the past decades this claim has driven much empirical research and, by and large, the evidence supports Darwin’s hypothesis. One mental faculty, however, has been particularly difficult to study empirically, with little progress made until recently: the faculty of language. Non-human primates notoriously do not speak, and are unable to acquire speech even with substantial training efforts. Yet speech is only one manifestation of human language, a complex behaviour based on a number of fundamental processes: coding, inference, and assessments of common ground. This is a proposal to investigate the biological origins of these processes in the different modalities of non-human primate communication and the underlying social cognition. Although primates have little control over their articulators, they are able to encode information using discrete and graded signals, sometimes composed into more complex sequences. The first line of investigation concerns the flexibility of primate signal production, both at the unit and sequence level, in the visual and vocal domain. The second line deals with the question of semantic content, that is, what types of meaning receivers can extract from signals and sequences, and how they integrate signal structure and sequential composition with pragmatic context and signaller intention. The third line of enquiry is to study the biological origins of common ground, including audience awareness and cooperative motivation during acts of communication. Primate social cognition and communication are intimately intertwined, and the overall aim of this project is to empirically elucidate this crucial intersection to provide a deeper understanding of the primate origins of the human language faculty.
Summary
In 1871 Darwin famously wrote that, in his opinion, there was no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties. In the past decades this claim has driven much empirical research and, by and large, the evidence supports Darwin’s hypothesis. One mental faculty, however, has been particularly difficult to study empirically, with little progress made until recently: the faculty of language. Non-human primates notoriously do not speak, and are unable to acquire speech even with substantial training efforts. Yet speech is only one manifestation of human language, a complex behaviour based on a number of fundamental processes: coding, inference, and assessments of common ground. This is a proposal to investigate the biological origins of these processes in the different modalities of non-human primate communication and the underlying social cognition. Although primates have little control over their articulators, they are able to encode information using discrete and graded signals, sometimes composed into more complex sequences. The first line of investigation concerns the flexibility of primate signal production, both at the unit and sequence level, in the visual and vocal domain. The second line deals with the question of semantic content, that is, what types of meaning receivers can extract from signals and sequences, and how they integrate signal structure and sequential composition with pragmatic context and signaller intention. The third line of enquiry is to study the biological origins of common ground, including audience awareness and cooperative motivation during acts of communication. Primate social cognition and communication are intimately intertwined, and the overall aim of this project is to empirically elucidate this crucial intersection to provide a deeper understanding of the primate origins of the human language faculty.
Max ERC Funding
1 498 997 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-06-01, End date: 2017-05-31
Project acronym PROduCTS
Project Predicting environment-specific biotransformation of chemical contaminants
Researcher (PI) Kathrin Barbara Fenner
Host Institution (HI) EIDGENOESSISCHE ANSTALT FUER WASSERVERSORGUNG ABWASSERREINIGUNG UND GEWAESSERSCHUTZ
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS9, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary The ability to predict rates and products of microbial biotransformation for a broad variety of chemical contaminants accurately is essential not only for chemical risk management but also in the context of contaminated site remediation or the development of green chemical alternatives. Existing prediction methods, however, fall short of fulfilling these needs mostly because they base predictions on chemical structure only, disregarding the microbial communities responsible for degradation and their actual metabolic potential as shaped by environmental conditions. The long-term goals of the proposed research are to develop the scientific basis and appropriate modeling algorithms for considering the metabolic potential of environmental microbial communities (i.e., the available pools of catalytic enzymes) in biotransformation prediction. It is proposed that enzyme-catalyzed biotransformation reactions are established as the explicit core elements of biotransformation prediction. The reactions so defined will serve as mechanistic basis to (i) experimentally explore the linkage between microbial community gene expression profiles and their observed potential for contaminant biotransformation, and (ii) use chemometrics and pattern analysis in high-dimensional space to mine environment-specific chemical biotransformation data for probabilities of biotransformation reactions. The resulting novel algorithms for the environment-specific prediction of biotransformation rates and products will be implemented into an existing, publically-accessible biotransformation prediction system (http://www.umbbd.ethz.ch/predict). The proposed research is highly interdisciplinary and will profit from the most recent technological and scientific advances in the fields of analytical chemistry, molecular biology and chemo-/bioinformatics to develop a ground-breaking approach for profiling the capacity of microbial communities for contaminant biotransformation.
Summary
The ability to predict rates and products of microbial biotransformation for a broad variety of chemical contaminants accurately is essential not only for chemical risk management but also in the context of contaminated site remediation or the development of green chemical alternatives. Existing prediction methods, however, fall short of fulfilling these needs mostly because they base predictions on chemical structure only, disregarding the microbial communities responsible for degradation and their actual metabolic potential as shaped by environmental conditions. The long-term goals of the proposed research are to develop the scientific basis and appropriate modeling algorithms for considering the metabolic potential of environmental microbial communities (i.e., the available pools of catalytic enzymes) in biotransformation prediction. It is proposed that enzyme-catalyzed biotransformation reactions are established as the explicit core elements of biotransformation prediction. The reactions so defined will serve as mechanistic basis to (i) experimentally explore the linkage between microbial community gene expression profiles and their observed potential for contaminant biotransformation, and (ii) use chemometrics and pattern analysis in high-dimensional space to mine environment-specific chemical biotransformation data for probabilities of biotransformation reactions. The resulting novel algorithms for the environment-specific prediction of biotransformation rates and products will be implemented into an existing, publically-accessible biotransformation prediction system (http://www.umbbd.ethz.ch/predict). The proposed research is highly interdisciplinary and will profit from the most recent technological and scientific advances in the fields of analytical chemistry, molecular biology and chemo-/bioinformatics to develop a ground-breaking approach for profiling the capacity of microbial communities for contaminant biotransformation.
Max ERC Funding
1 996 352 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-06-01, End date: 2019-05-31
Project acronym ProNet
Project ProNet - Prosthetic Transgene Networks for the Treatment of Metabolic Disorders
Researcher (PI) Martin Anton Fussenegger
Host Institution (HI) EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS9, ERC-2012-ADG_20120314
Summary Since living memory, the basic treatment strategies for the therapy of human diseases has not much changed conceptually. Although the molecular understanding of metabolic disorders continues to progress significantly the therapeutic strategy is still based on specific, often heterologous compounds which interfere with critical disease targets, trigger a metabolic bypass reaction or complement a molecular deficiency. As systems biology is revealing gene-function correlations and metabolic network dynamics at great pace and synthetic biology enables bottom-up de-novo design of genetic devices with predictable behaviour, time has now come to develop novel treatment strategies. Prosthetic genetic networks are expected to play a central part of such future treatment strategies. Prosthetic networks are synthetic sensor/effector devices or molecular prostheses which, upon integration into cells and functional connection to their metabolism, monitor disease-relevant metabolites, process off-level concentrations and coordinate adjusted diagnostic, preventive or therapeutic responses in a seamless, automatic and self-sufficient manner. Using a synthetic biology approach and capitalizing on our pioneering prosthetic network designed to control urate homeostasis and treat the tumour lysis syndrome as well as gouty arthritis, ProNet is a highly integrated, multiparallel and interdisciplinary effort to provide a series of prosthetic sensor/effector circuits for precise trigger-control of therapeutic transgenes. ProNet will focus on providing novel treatment opportunities for diabetes and obesity, two core pathologies of the metabolic syndrome, which is on its way to become the top epidemic of the 21st century. ProNet may provide new opportunities for the treatment strategies of the future thereby making the classic therapy of taking pills and getting injections in specified amounts and at particular times likely to become a thing of the past.
Summary
Since living memory, the basic treatment strategies for the therapy of human diseases has not much changed conceptually. Although the molecular understanding of metabolic disorders continues to progress significantly the therapeutic strategy is still based on specific, often heterologous compounds which interfere with critical disease targets, trigger a metabolic bypass reaction or complement a molecular deficiency. As systems biology is revealing gene-function correlations and metabolic network dynamics at great pace and synthetic biology enables bottom-up de-novo design of genetic devices with predictable behaviour, time has now come to develop novel treatment strategies. Prosthetic genetic networks are expected to play a central part of such future treatment strategies. Prosthetic networks are synthetic sensor/effector devices or molecular prostheses which, upon integration into cells and functional connection to their metabolism, monitor disease-relevant metabolites, process off-level concentrations and coordinate adjusted diagnostic, preventive or therapeutic responses in a seamless, automatic and self-sufficient manner. Using a synthetic biology approach and capitalizing on our pioneering prosthetic network designed to control urate homeostasis and treat the tumour lysis syndrome as well as gouty arthritis, ProNet is a highly integrated, multiparallel and interdisciplinary effort to provide a series of prosthetic sensor/effector circuits for precise trigger-control of therapeutic transgenes. ProNet will focus on providing novel treatment opportunities for diabetes and obesity, two core pathologies of the metabolic syndrome, which is on its way to become the top epidemic of the 21st century. ProNet may provide new opportunities for the treatment strategies of the future thereby making the classic therapy of taking pills and getting injections in specified amounts and at particular times likely to become a thing of the past.
Max ERC Funding
2 498 800 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-05-01, End date: 2018-04-30
