ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

"This proposal develops a unified, underpinning technology to create novel, complex and biomimetic 3D environments for the control of tissue growth. As director of Cambridge Centre for Medical Materials, I have recently been approached by medical colleagues to help to solve important problems in the separate therapeutic areas of breast cancer, cardiac disease and blood disorders. In each case, the solution lies in complex 3D engineered environments for cell culture. These colleagues make it clear that existing 3D scaffolds fail to provide the required complex orientational and spatial anisotropy, and are limited in their ability to impart appropriate biochemical and mechanical cues. I have a strong track record in this area. A particular success has been the use of a freeze drying technology to make collagen based porous implants for the cartilage-bone interface in the knee, which has now been commercialised. The novelty of this proposal lies in the broadening of the established scientific base of this technology to enable biomacromolecular structures with: (A) controlled and complex pore orientation to mimic many normal multi-oriented tissue structures (B) compositional and positional control to match varying local biochemical environments, (C) the attachment of novel peptides designed to control cell behaviour, and (D) mechanical control at both a local and macroscopic level to provide mechanical cues for cells. These will be complemented by the development of (E) robust characterisation methodologies for the structures created. These advances will then be employed in each of the medical areas above. This approach is highly interdisciplinary. Existing working relationships with experts in each medical field will guarantee expertise and licensed facilities in the required biological disciplines. Funds for this proposal would therefore establish a rich hub of mutually beneficial research and opportunities for cross-disciplinary sharing of expertise."

2 486 267 €

Start date: 2013-04-01, End date: 2018-03-31

The aim of the present proposal is to establish a research team developing and exploiting innovative techniques to study conformal field theories (CFT) analytically. Our approach does not rely on a Lagrangian description but on symmetries and consistency conditions. As such it applies to any CFT, offering a unified framework to study generic CFTs analytically. The initial implementation of this program has already led to striking new results and insights for both Lagrangian and non-Lagrangian CFTs. The overarching aims of my team will be: To develop an analytic bootstrap program for CFTs in general dimensions; to complement these techniques with more traditional methods and develop a systematic machinery to obtain analytic results for generic CFTs; and to use these results to gain new insights into the mathematical structure of the space of quantum field theories. The proposal will bring together researchers from different areas. The objectives in brief are: 1) Develop an alternative to Feynman diagram computations for Lagrangian CFTs. 2) Develop a machinery to compute loops for QFT on AdS, with and without gravity. 3) Develop an analytic approach to non-perturbative N=4 SYM and other CFTs. 4) Determine the space of all CFTs. 5) Gain new insights into the mathematical structure of the space of quantum field theories. The outputs of this proposal will include a new way of doing perturbative computations based on symmetries; a constructive derivation of the AdS/CFT duality; new analytic techniques to attack strongly coupled systems and invaluable new lessons about the space of CFTs and QFTs. Success in this research will lead to a completely new, unified way to view and solve CFTs, with a huge impact on several branches of physics and mathematics.

2 171 483 €

Start date: 2018-12-01, End date: 2023-11-30

One of the most exciting research questions within archaeology is that of the peopling of Australasia by at least c.50,000 years ago. This represents some of the earliest evidence of modern human colonization outside Africa, yet, even at the greatest sea-level lowstand, this migration would have involved seafaring. It is the maritime nature of this dispersal which makes it so important to questions of technological, cognitive and social human development. These issues have traditionally been the preserve of archaeologists, but with a multidisciplinary approach that embraces cutting-edge marine geophysical, hydrodynamic and archaeogenetic analyses, we now have the opportunity to examine the When, Where, Who and How of the earliest seafaring in world history. The voyage from Sunda (South East Asia) to Sahul (Australasia) provides evidence for the earliest ‘open water’ crossing in the world. A combination of the sparse number of early archaeological finds and the significant changes in the palaeolandscape and submergence of the broad north western Australian continental shelf, mean that little is known about the routes taken and what these crossings may have entailed. This project will combine research of the submerged palaeolandscape of the continental shelf to refine our knowledge of the onshore/offshore environment, identify potential submerged prehistoric sites and enhance our understanding of the palaeoshoreline and tidal regime. This will be combined with archaeogenetic research targeting mtDNA and Y-chromosome data to resolve questions of demography and dating. For the first time this project takes a truly multidisciplinary approach to address the colonization of Sahul, providing an unique opportunity to tackle some of the most important questions about human origins, the relationship between humans and the changing environment, population dynamics and migration, seafaring technology, social organisation and cognition.

1 134 928 €

Start date: 2018-02-01, End date: 2023-01-31

Microporous materials are an important class of solid; the two main members of this family are zeolites and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Zeolites are industrial solids whose applications range from catalysis, through ion exchange and adsorption technologies to medicine. MOFs are some of the most exciting new materials to have been developed over the last two decades, and they are just beginning to be applied commercially. Over recent years the applicant’s group has developed new synthetic strategies to prepare microporous materials, called the Assembly-Disassembly-Organisation-Reassembly (ADOR) process. In significant preliminary work the ADOR process has shown to be an extremely important new synthetic methodology that differs fundamentally from traditional solvothermal methods. In this project I will look to overturn the conventional thinking in materials science by developing methodologies that can target both zeolites and MOF materials that are difficult to prepare using traditional methods – the so-called ‘unfeasible’ materials. The importance of such a new methodology is that it will open up routes to materials that have different properties (both chemical and topological) to those we currently have. Since zeolites and MOFs have so many actual and potential uses, the preparation of materials with different properties has a high chance of leading to new technologies in the medium/long term. To complete the major objective I will look to complete four closely linked activities covering the development of design strategies for zeolites and MOFs (activities 1 & 2), mechanistic studies to understand the process at the molecular level using in situ characterisation techniques (activity 3) and an exploration of potential applied science for the prepared materials (activity 4).

2 489 220 €

Start date: 2018-10-01, End date: 2023-09-30