Project acronym 2DQP
Project Two-dimensional quantum photonics
Researcher (PI) Brian David GERARDOT
Host Institution (HI) HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE3, ERC-2016-COG
Summary Quantum optics, the study of how discrete packets of light (photons) and matter interact, has led to the development of remarkable new technologies which exploit the bizarre properties of quantum mechanics. These quantum technologies are primed to revolutionize the fields of communication, information processing, and metrology in the coming years. Similar to contemporary technologies, the future quantum machinery will likely consist of a semiconductor platform to create and process the quantum information. However, to date the demanding requirements on a quantum photonic platform have yet to be satisfied with conventional bulk (three-dimensional) semiconductors.
To surmount these well-known obstacles, a new paradigm in quantum photonics is required. Initiated by the recent discovery of single photon emitters in atomically flat (two-dimensional) semiconducting materials, 2DQP aims to be at the nucleus of a new approach by realizing quantum optics with ultra-stable (coherent) quantum states integrated into devices with electronic and photonic functionality. We will characterize, identify, engineer, and coherently manipulate localized quantum states in this two-dimensional quantum photonic platform. A vital component of 2DQP’s vision is to go beyond the fundamental science and achieve the ideal solid-state single photon device yielding perfect extraction - 100% efficiency - of on-demand indistinguishable single photons. Finally, we will exploit this ideal device to implement the critical building block for a photonic quantum computer.
Summary
Quantum optics, the study of how discrete packets of light (photons) and matter interact, has led to the development of remarkable new technologies which exploit the bizarre properties of quantum mechanics. These quantum technologies are primed to revolutionize the fields of communication, information processing, and metrology in the coming years. Similar to contemporary technologies, the future quantum machinery will likely consist of a semiconductor platform to create and process the quantum information. However, to date the demanding requirements on a quantum photonic platform have yet to be satisfied with conventional bulk (three-dimensional) semiconductors.
To surmount these well-known obstacles, a new paradigm in quantum photonics is required. Initiated by the recent discovery of single photon emitters in atomically flat (two-dimensional) semiconducting materials, 2DQP aims to be at the nucleus of a new approach by realizing quantum optics with ultra-stable (coherent) quantum states integrated into devices with electronic and photonic functionality. We will characterize, identify, engineer, and coherently manipulate localized quantum states in this two-dimensional quantum photonic platform. A vital component of 2DQP’s vision is to go beyond the fundamental science and achieve the ideal solid-state single photon device yielding perfect extraction - 100% efficiency - of on-demand indistinguishable single photons. Finally, we will exploit this ideal device to implement the critical building block for a photonic quantum computer.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 135 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2022-12-31
Project acronym ACrossWire
Project A Cross-Correlated Approach to Engineering Nitride Nanowires
Researcher (PI) Hannah Jane JOYCE
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE7, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Nanowires based on group III–nitride semiconductors exhibit outstanding potential for emerging applications in energy-efficient lighting, optoelectronics and solar energy harvesting. Nitride nanowires, tailored at the nanoscale, should overcome many of the challenges facing conventional planar nitride materials, and also add extraordinary new functionality to these materials. However, progress towards III–nitride nanowire devices has been hampered by the challenges in quantifying nanowire electrical properties using conventional contact-based measurements. Without reliable electrical transport data, it is extremely difficult to optimise nanowire growth and device design. This project aims to overcome this problem through an unconventional approach: advanced contact-free electrical measurements. Contact-free measurements, growth studies, and device studies will be cross-correlated to provide unprecedented insight into the growth mechanisms that govern nanowire electronic properties and ultimately dictate device performance. A key contact-free technique at the heart of this proposal is ultrafast terahertz conductivity spectroscopy: an advanced technique ideal for probing nanowire electrical properties. We will develop new methods to enable the full suite of contact-free (including terahertz, photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence measurements) and contact-based measurements to be performed with high spatial resolution on the same nanowires. This will provide accurate, comprehensive and cross-correlated feedback to guide growth studies and expedite the targeted development of nanowires with specified functionality. We will apply this powerful approach to tailor nanowires as photoelectrodes for solar photoelectrochemical water splitting. This is an application for which nitride nanowires have outstanding, yet unfulfilled, potential. This project will thus harness the true potential of nitride nanowires and bring them to the forefront of 21st century technology.
Summary
Nanowires based on group III–nitride semiconductors exhibit outstanding potential for emerging applications in energy-efficient lighting, optoelectronics and solar energy harvesting. Nitride nanowires, tailored at the nanoscale, should overcome many of the challenges facing conventional planar nitride materials, and also add extraordinary new functionality to these materials. However, progress towards III–nitride nanowire devices has been hampered by the challenges in quantifying nanowire electrical properties using conventional contact-based measurements. Without reliable electrical transport data, it is extremely difficult to optimise nanowire growth and device design. This project aims to overcome this problem through an unconventional approach: advanced contact-free electrical measurements. Contact-free measurements, growth studies, and device studies will be cross-correlated to provide unprecedented insight into the growth mechanisms that govern nanowire electronic properties and ultimately dictate device performance. A key contact-free technique at the heart of this proposal is ultrafast terahertz conductivity spectroscopy: an advanced technique ideal for probing nanowire electrical properties. We will develop new methods to enable the full suite of contact-free (including terahertz, photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence measurements) and contact-based measurements to be performed with high spatial resolution on the same nanowires. This will provide accurate, comprehensive and cross-correlated feedback to guide growth studies and expedite the targeted development of nanowires with specified functionality. We will apply this powerful approach to tailor nanowires as photoelectrodes for solar photoelectrochemical water splitting. This is an application for which nitride nanowires have outstanding, yet unfulfilled, potential. This project will thus harness the true potential of nitride nanowires and bring them to the forefront of 21st century technology.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 195 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-04-01, End date: 2022-03-31
Project acronym ADSNeSP
Project Active and Driven Systems: Nonequilibrium Statistical Physics
Researcher (PI) Michael Elmhirst CATES
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE3, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary Active Matter systems, such as self-propelled colloids, violate time-reversal symmetry by producing entropy locally, typically converting fuel into mechanical motion at the particle scale. Other driven systems instead produce entropy because of global forcing by external fields, or boundary conditions that impose macroscopic fluxes (such as the momentum flux across a fluid sheared between moving parallel walls).
Nonequilibrium statistical physics (NeSP) is the basic toolbox for both classes of system. In recent years, much progress in NeSP has stemmed from bottom-up work on driven systems. This has provided a number of exactly solved benchmark models, and extended approximation techniques to address driven non-ergodic systems, such as sheared glasses. Meanwhile, work on fluctuation theorems and stochastic thermodynamics have created profound, model-independent insights into dynamics far from equilibrium.
More recently, the field of Active Matter has moved forward rapidly, leaving in its wake a series of generic and profound NeSP questions that now need answers: When is time-reversal symmetry, broken at the microscale, restored by coarse-graining? If it is restored, is an effective thermodynamic description is possible? How different is an active system's behaviour from a globally forced one?
ADSNeSP aims to distil from recent Active Matter research such fundamental questions; answer them first in the context of specific models and second in more general terms; and then, using the tools and insights gained, shed new light on longstanding problems in the wider class of driven systems.
I believe these new tools and insights will be substantial, because local activity takes systems far from equilibrium in a conceptually distinct direction from most types of global driving. By focusing on general principles and on simple models of activity, I seek to create a new vantage point that can inform, and potentially transform, wider areas of statistical physics.
Summary
Active Matter systems, such as self-propelled colloids, violate time-reversal symmetry by producing entropy locally, typically converting fuel into mechanical motion at the particle scale. Other driven systems instead produce entropy because of global forcing by external fields, or boundary conditions that impose macroscopic fluxes (such as the momentum flux across a fluid sheared between moving parallel walls).
Nonequilibrium statistical physics (NeSP) is the basic toolbox for both classes of system. In recent years, much progress in NeSP has stemmed from bottom-up work on driven systems. This has provided a number of exactly solved benchmark models, and extended approximation techniques to address driven non-ergodic systems, such as sheared glasses. Meanwhile, work on fluctuation theorems and stochastic thermodynamics have created profound, model-independent insights into dynamics far from equilibrium.
More recently, the field of Active Matter has moved forward rapidly, leaving in its wake a series of generic and profound NeSP questions that now need answers: When is time-reversal symmetry, broken at the microscale, restored by coarse-graining? If it is restored, is an effective thermodynamic description is possible? How different is an active system's behaviour from a globally forced one?
ADSNeSP aims to distil from recent Active Matter research such fundamental questions; answer them first in the context of specific models and second in more general terms; and then, using the tools and insights gained, shed new light on longstanding problems in the wider class of driven systems.
I believe these new tools and insights will be substantial, because local activity takes systems far from equilibrium in a conceptually distinct direction from most types of global driving. By focusing on general principles and on simple models of activity, I seek to create a new vantage point that can inform, and potentially transform, wider areas of statistical physics.
Max ERC Funding
2 043 630 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-10-01, End date: 2022-09-30
Project acronym AlCat
Project Bond activation and catalysis with low-valent aluminium
Researcher (PI) Michael James COWLEY
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE5, ERC-2016-STG
Summary This project will develop the principles required to enable bond-modifying redox catalysis based on aluminium by preparing and studying new Al(I) compounds capable of reversible oxidative addition.
Catalytic processes are involved in the synthesis of 75 % of all industrially produced chemicals, but most catalysts involved are based on precious metals such as rhodium, palladium or platinum. These metals are expensive and their supply limited and unstable; there is a significant need to develop the chemistry of non-precious metals as alternatives. On toxicity and abundance alone, aluminium is an attractive candidate. Furthermore, recent work, including in our group, has demonstrated that Al(I) compounds can perform a key step in catalytic cycles - the oxidative addition of E-H bonds.
In order to realise the significant potential of Al(I) for transition-metal style catalysis we urgently need to:
- establish the principles governing oxidative addition and reductive elimination reactivity in aluminium systems.
- know how the reactivity of Al(I) compounds can be controlled by varying properties of ligand frameworks.
- understand the onward reactivity of oxidative addition products of Al(I) to enable applications in catalysis.
In this project we will:
- Study mechanisms of oxidative addition and reductive elimination of a range of synthetically relevant bonds at Al(I) centres, establishing the principles governing this fundamental reactivity.
- Develop new ligand frameworks to support of Al(I) centres and evaluate the effect of the ligand on oxidative addition/reductive elimination at Al centres.
- Investigate methods for Al-mediated functionalisation of organic compounds by exploring the reactivity of E-H oxidative addition products with unsaturated organic compounds.
Summary
This project will develop the principles required to enable bond-modifying redox catalysis based on aluminium by preparing and studying new Al(I) compounds capable of reversible oxidative addition.
Catalytic processes are involved in the synthesis of 75 % of all industrially produced chemicals, but most catalysts involved are based on precious metals such as rhodium, palladium or platinum. These metals are expensive and their supply limited and unstable; there is a significant need to develop the chemistry of non-precious metals as alternatives. On toxicity and abundance alone, aluminium is an attractive candidate. Furthermore, recent work, including in our group, has demonstrated that Al(I) compounds can perform a key step in catalytic cycles - the oxidative addition of E-H bonds.
In order to realise the significant potential of Al(I) for transition-metal style catalysis we urgently need to:
- establish the principles governing oxidative addition and reductive elimination reactivity in aluminium systems.
- know how the reactivity of Al(I) compounds can be controlled by varying properties of ligand frameworks.
- understand the onward reactivity of oxidative addition products of Al(I) to enable applications in catalysis.
In this project we will:
- Study mechanisms of oxidative addition and reductive elimination of a range of synthetically relevant bonds at Al(I) centres, establishing the principles governing this fundamental reactivity.
- Develop new ligand frameworks to support of Al(I) centres and evaluate the effect of the ligand on oxidative addition/reductive elimination at Al centres.
- Investigate methods for Al-mediated functionalisation of organic compounds by exploring the reactivity of E-H oxidative addition products with unsaturated organic compounds.
Max ERC Funding
1 493 679 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-03-01, End date: 2022-02-28
Project acronym ALEXANDRIA
Project Large-Scale Formal Proof for the Working Mathematician
Researcher (PI) Lawrence PAULSON
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE6, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary Mathematical proofs have always been prone to error. Today, proofs can be hundreds of pages long and combine results from many specialisms, making them almost impossible to check. One solution is to deploy modern verification technology. Interactive theorem provers have demonstrated their potential as vehicles for formalising mathematics through achievements such as the verification of the Kepler Conjecture. Proofs done using such tools reach a high standard of correctness.
However, existing theorem provers are unsuitable for mathematics. Their formal proofs are unreadable. They struggle to do simple tasks, such as evaluating limits. They lack much basic mathematics, and the material they do have is difficult to locate and apply.
ALEXANDRIA will create a proof development environment attractive to working mathematicians, utilising the best technology available across computer science. Its focus will be the management and use of large-scale mathematical knowledge, both theorems and algorithms. The project will employ mathematicians to investigate the formalisation of mathematics in practice. Our already substantial formalised libraries will serve as the starting point. They will be extended and annotated to support sophisticated searches. Techniques will be borrowed from machine learning, information retrieval and natural language processing. Algorithms will be treated similarly: ALEXANDRIA will help users find and invoke the proof methods and algorithms appropriate for the task.
ALEXANDRIA will provide (1) comprehensive formal mathematical libraries; (2) search within libraries, and the mining of libraries for proof patterns; (3) automated support for the construction of large formal proofs; (4) sound and practical computer algebra tools.
ALEXANDRIA will be based on legible structured proofs. Formal proofs should be not mere code, but a machine-checkable form of communication between mathematicians.
Summary
Mathematical proofs have always been prone to error. Today, proofs can be hundreds of pages long and combine results from many specialisms, making them almost impossible to check. One solution is to deploy modern verification technology. Interactive theorem provers have demonstrated their potential as vehicles for formalising mathematics through achievements such as the verification of the Kepler Conjecture. Proofs done using such tools reach a high standard of correctness.
However, existing theorem provers are unsuitable for mathematics. Their formal proofs are unreadable. They struggle to do simple tasks, such as evaluating limits. They lack much basic mathematics, and the material they do have is difficult to locate and apply.
ALEXANDRIA will create a proof development environment attractive to working mathematicians, utilising the best technology available across computer science. Its focus will be the management and use of large-scale mathematical knowledge, both theorems and algorithms. The project will employ mathematicians to investigate the formalisation of mathematics in practice. Our already substantial formalised libraries will serve as the starting point. They will be extended and annotated to support sophisticated searches. Techniques will be borrowed from machine learning, information retrieval and natural language processing. Algorithms will be treated similarly: ALEXANDRIA will help users find and invoke the proof methods and algorithms appropriate for the task.
ALEXANDRIA will provide (1) comprehensive formal mathematical libraries; (2) search within libraries, and the mining of libraries for proof patterns; (3) automated support for the construction of large formal proofs; (4) sound and practical computer algebra tools.
ALEXANDRIA will be based on legible structured proofs. Formal proofs should be not mere code, but a machine-checkable form of communication between mathematicians.
Max ERC Funding
2 430 140 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31
Project acronym ALUFIX
Project Friction stir processing based local damage mitigation and healing in aluminium alloys
Researcher (PI) Aude SIMAR
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2016-STG
Summary ALUFIX proposes an original strategy for the development of aluminium-based materials involving damage mitigation and extrinsic self-healing concepts exploiting the new opportunities of the solid-state friction stir process. Friction stir processing locally extrudes and drags material from the front to the back and around the tool pin. It involves short duration at moderate temperatures (typically 80% of the melting temperature), fast cooling rates and large plastic deformations leading to far out-of-equilibrium microstructures. The idea is that commercial aluminium alloys can be locally improved and healed in regions of stress concentration where damage is likely to occur. Self-healing in metal-based materials is still in its infancy and existing strategies can hardly be extended to applications. Friction stir processing can enhance the damage and fatigue resistance of aluminium alloys by microstructure homogenisation and refinement. In parallel, friction stir processing can be used to integrate secondary phases in an aluminium matrix. In the ALUFIX project, healing phases will thus be integrated in aluminium in addition to refining and homogenising the microstructure. The “local stress management strategy” favours crack closure and crack deviation at the sub-millimetre scale thanks to a controlled residual stress field. The “transient liquid healing agent” strategy involves the in-situ generation of an out-of-equilibrium compositionally graded microstructure at the aluminium/healing agent interface capable of liquid-phase healing after a thermal treatment. Along the road, a variety of new scientific questions concerning the damage mechanisms will have to be addressed.
Summary
ALUFIX proposes an original strategy for the development of aluminium-based materials involving damage mitigation and extrinsic self-healing concepts exploiting the new opportunities of the solid-state friction stir process. Friction stir processing locally extrudes and drags material from the front to the back and around the tool pin. It involves short duration at moderate temperatures (typically 80% of the melting temperature), fast cooling rates and large plastic deformations leading to far out-of-equilibrium microstructures. The idea is that commercial aluminium alloys can be locally improved and healed in regions of stress concentration where damage is likely to occur. Self-healing in metal-based materials is still in its infancy and existing strategies can hardly be extended to applications. Friction stir processing can enhance the damage and fatigue resistance of aluminium alloys by microstructure homogenisation and refinement. In parallel, friction stir processing can be used to integrate secondary phases in an aluminium matrix. In the ALUFIX project, healing phases will thus be integrated in aluminium in addition to refining and homogenising the microstructure. The “local stress management strategy” favours crack closure and crack deviation at the sub-millimetre scale thanks to a controlled residual stress field. The “transient liquid healing agent” strategy involves the in-situ generation of an out-of-equilibrium compositionally graded microstructure at the aluminium/healing agent interface capable of liquid-phase healing after a thermal treatment. Along the road, a variety of new scientific questions concerning the damage mechanisms will have to be addressed.
Max ERC Funding
1 497 447 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-01-01, End date: 2021-12-31
Project acronym AtoFun
Project Atomic Scale Defects: Structure and Function
Researcher (PI) Felix HOFMANN
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE5, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Atomic scale defects play a key role in determining the behaviour of all crystalline materials, profoundly modifying mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. Many current technological applications make do with phenomenological descriptions of these effects; yet myriad intriguing questions about the fundamental link between defect structure and material function remain.
Transmission electron microscopy revolutionised the study of atomic scale defects by enabling their direct imaging. The novel coherent X-ray diffraction techniques developed in this project promise a similar advancement, making it possible to probe the strain fields that govern defect interactions in 3D with high spatial resolution (<10 nm). They will allow us to clarify the effect of impurities and retained gas on dislocation strain fields, shedding light on opportunities to engineer dislocation properties. The exceptional strain sensitivity of coherent diffraction will enable us to explore the fundamental mechanisms governing the behaviour of ion-implantation-induced point defects that are invisible to TEM. While we concentrate on dislocations and point defects, the new techniques will apply to all crystalline materials where defects are important. Our characterisation of defect structure will be combined with laser transient grating measurements of thermal transport changes due to specific defect populations. This unique multifaceted perspective of defect behaviour will transform our ability to devise modelling approaches linking defect structure to material function.
Our proof-of-concept results highlight the feasibility of this ambitious research project. It opens up a vast range of exciting possibilities to gain a deep, fundamental understanding of atomic scale defects and their effect on material function. This is an essential prerequisite for exploiting and engineering defects to enhance material properties.
Summary
Atomic scale defects play a key role in determining the behaviour of all crystalline materials, profoundly modifying mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. Many current technological applications make do with phenomenological descriptions of these effects; yet myriad intriguing questions about the fundamental link between defect structure and material function remain.
Transmission electron microscopy revolutionised the study of atomic scale defects by enabling their direct imaging. The novel coherent X-ray diffraction techniques developed in this project promise a similar advancement, making it possible to probe the strain fields that govern defect interactions in 3D with high spatial resolution (<10 nm). They will allow us to clarify the effect of impurities and retained gas on dislocation strain fields, shedding light on opportunities to engineer dislocation properties. The exceptional strain sensitivity of coherent diffraction will enable us to explore the fundamental mechanisms governing the behaviour of ion-implantation-induced point defects that are invisible to TEM. While we concentrate on dislocations and point defects, the new techniques will apply to all crystalline materials where defects are important. Our characterisation of defect structure will be combined with laser transient grating measurements of thermal transport changes due to specific defect populations. This unique multifaceted perspective of defect behaviour will transform our ability to devise modelling approaches linking defect structure to material function.
Our proof-of-concept results highlight the feasibility of this ambitious research project. It opens up a vast range of exciting possibilities to gain a deep, fundamental understanding of atomic scale defects and their effect on material function. This is an essential prerequisite for exploiting and engineering defects to enhance material properties.
Max ERC Funding
1 610 231 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-03-01, End date: 2022-02-28
Project acronym BG-BB-AS
Project Birational Geometry, B-branes and Artin Stacks
Researcher (PI) Edward Paul Segal
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE1, ERC-2016-COG
Summary Derived categories of coherent sheaves on a variety are a fundamental tool in algebraic geometry. They also arise in String Theory, as the category of B-branes in a quantum field theory whose target space is the variety. This connection to physics has been extraordinarily fruitful, providing deep insights and conjectures.
An Artin stack is a sophisticated generalization of a variety, they encode the idea of equivariant geometry. A simple example is a vector space carrying a linear action of a Lie group. In String Theory this data defines a Gauged Linear Sigma Model, which is a basic tool in the subject. A GLSM should also give rise to a category of B-branes, but surprisingly it is not yet understood what this should be. An overarching goal of this project is to develop an understanding of this category (more accurately, system of categories), and to extend this understanding to more general Artin stacks.
The basic importance of this question is that in certain limits a GLSM reduces to a sigma model, whose target is a quotient of the vector space by the group. This quotient must be taken using Geometric Invariant Theory. Thus this project is intimately connected with the question of how derived categories change under variation-of-GIT, and birational maps in general.
For GLSMs with abelian groups this approach has already produced spectacular results, in the non-abelian case we understand only a few remarkable examples. We will develop these examples into a wide-ranging general theory.
Our key objectives are to:
- Provide powerful new tools for controlling the behaviour of derived categories under birational maps.
- Understand the category of B-branes on a large class of Artin stacks.
- Prove and apply a striking new duality between GLSMs.
- Construct completely new symmetries of derived categories.
Summary
Derived categories of coherent sheaves on a variety are a fundamental tool in algebraic geometry. They also arise in String Theory, as the category of B-branes in a quantum field theory whose target space is the variety. This connection to physics has been extraordinarily fruitful, providing deep insights and conjectures.
An Artin stack is a sophisticated generalization of a variety, they encode the idea of equivariant geometry. A simple example is a vector space carrying a linear action of a Lie group. In String Theory this data defines a Gauged Linear Sigma Model, which is a basic tool in the subject. A GLSM should also give rise to a category of B-branes, but surprisingly it is not yet understood what this should be. An overarching goal of this project is to develop an understanding of this category (more accurately, system of categories), and to extend this understanding to more general Artin stacks.
The basic importance of this question is that in certain limits a GLSM reduces to a sigma model, whose target is a quotient of the vector space by the group. This quotient must be taken using Geometric Invariant Theory. Thus this project is intimately connected with the question of how derived categories change under variation-of-GIT, and birational maps in general.
For GLSMs with abelian groups this approach has already produced spectacular results, in the non-abelian case we understand only a few remarkable examples. We will develop these examples into a wide-ranging general theory.
Our key objectives are to:
- Provide powerful new tools for controlling the behaviour of derived categories under birational maps.
- Understand the category of B-branes on a large class of Artin stacks.
- Prove and apply a striking new duality between GLSMs.
- Construct completely new symmetries of derived categories.
Max ERC Funding
1 358 925 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31
Project acronym BIO-H-BORROW
Project Biocatalytic Amine Synthesis via Hydrogen Borrowing
Researcher (PI) Nicholas TURNER
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE5, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary Amine containing compounds are ubiquitous in everyday life and find applications ranging from polymers to pharmaceuticals. The vast majority of amines are synthetic and manufactured on large scale which creates waste as well as requiring high temperatures and pressures. The increasing availability of biocatalysts, together with an understanding of how they can be used in organic synthesis (biocatalytic retrosynthesis), has stimulated chemists to consider new ways of making target molecules. In this context, the iterative construction of C-N bonds via biocatalytic hydrogen borrowing represents a powerful and unexplored way to synthesise a wide range of target amine molecules in an efficient manner. Hydrogen borrowing involves telescoping redox neutral reactions together using only catalytic amounts of hydrogen.
In this project we will engineer the three key target biocatalysts (reductive aminase, amine dehydrogenase, alcohol dehydrogenase) required for biocatalytic hydrogen borrowing such that they possess the required regio-, chemo- and stereo-selectivity for practical application. Recently discovered reductive aminases (RedAms) and amine dehydrogenases (AmDHs) will be engineered for enantioselective coupling of alcohols (1o, 2o) with ammonia/amines (1o, 2o, 3o) under redox neutral conditions. Alcohol dehydrogenases will be engineered for low enantioselectivity. Hydrogen borrowing requires mutually compatible cofactors shared by two enzymes and in some cases will require redesign of cofactor specificity. Thereafter we shall develop conditions for the combined use of these biocatalysts under hydrogen borrowing conditions (catalytic NADH, NADPH), to enable the conversion of simple and sustainable feedstocks (alcohols) into amines using ammonia as the nitrogen source.
The main deliverables of BIO-H-BORROW will be a set of novel engineered biocatalysts together with redox neutral cascades for the synthesis of amine products from inexpensive and renewable precursors.
Summary
Amine containing compounds are ubiquitous in everyday life and find applications ranging from polymers to pharmaceuticals. The vast majority of amines are synthetic and manufactured on large scale which creates waste as well as requiring high temperatures and pressures. The increasing availability of biocatalysts, together with an understanding of how they can be used in organic synthesis (biocatalytic retrosynthesis), has stimulated chemists to consider new ways of making target molecules. In this context, the iterative construction of C-N bonds via biocatalytic hydrogen borrowing represents a powerful and unexplored way to synthesise a wide range of target amine molecules in an efficient manner. Hydrogen borrowing involves telescoping redox neutral reactions together using only catalytic amounts of hydrogen.
In this project we will engineer the three key target biocatalysts (reductive aminase, amine dehydrogenase, alcohol dehydrogenase) required for biocatalytic hydrogen borrowing such that they possess the required regio-, chemo- and stereo-selectivity for practical application. Recently discovered reductive aminases (RedAms) and amine dehydrogenases (AmDHs) will be engineered for enantioselective coupling of alcohols (1o, 2o) with ammonia/amines (1o, 2o, 3o) under redox neutral conditions. Alcohol dehydrogenases will be engineered for low enantioselectivity. Hydrogen borrowing requires mutually compatible cofactors shared by two enzymes and in some cases will require redesign of cofactor specificity. Thereafter we shall develop conditions for the combined use of these biocatalysts under hydrogen borrowing conditions (catalytic NADH, NADPH), to enable the conversion of simple and sustainable feedstocks (alcohols) into amines using ammonia as the nitrogen source.
The main deliverables of BIO-H-BORROW will be a set of novel engineered biocatalysts together with redox neutral cascades for the synthesis of amine products from inexpensive and renewable precursors.
Max ERC Funding
2 337 548 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-06-01, End date: 2022-05-31
Project acronym BIOIONS
Project Biological ions in the gas-phase: New techniques for structural characterization of isolated biomolecular ions
Researcher (PI) Caroline Dessent
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF YORK
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE4, ERC-2007-StG
Summary Recent intensive research on the laser spectroscopy of neutral gas-phase biomolecules has yielded a detailed picture of their structures and conformational preferences away from the complications of the bulk environment. In contrast, work on ionic systems has been sparse despite the fact that many important molecular groups are charged under physiological conditions. To address this probelm, we have developed a custom-built laser spectrometer, which incorporates a distincitive electrospray ionisation (ESI) cluster ion source, dedicated to producing biological anions (ATP,oligonucleotides) and their microsolvated clusters for structural characterization. Many previous laser spectrometers with ESI sources have suffered from producing "hot" congested spectra as the ions were produced at ambient temperatures. This is a particularly serious limitation for spectroscopic studies of biomolecules, since these systems can possess high internal energies due tothe presence of numerous low frequency modes. Our spectrometer overcomes this problem by exploiting the newly developed physics technique of "buffer gas cooling" to produce cold ESI molecular ions. In this proposal, we now seek to exploit the new laser-spectrometer to perform detailed spectroscopic interrogations of ESI generated biomolecular anions and clusters. In addition to traditional ion-dissociation spectroscopies, we propose to develop two new laser spectroscopy techniques (Two-color tuneable IR spectroscopy and Dipole-bound excited state spectroscopy) to give the broadest possible structural characterizations of the systems of interest. Studies will focus on ATP/GTP-anions, olignonucleotides, and sulphated and carboxylated sugars. These methodologies will provide a general approach for performing temperature-controlled spectroscopic characterizations of isolated biological ions, with measurements on the corresponding micro-solvated clusters providing details of how the molecules are perturbed by solvent.
Summary
Recent intensive research on the laser spectroscopy of neutral gas-phase biomolecules has yielded a detailed picture of their structures and conformational preferences away from the complications of the bulk environment. In contrast, work on ionic systems has been sparse despite the fact that many important molecular groups are charged under physiological conditions. To address this probelm, we have developed a custom-built laser spectrometer, which incorporates a distincitive electrospray ionisation (ESI) cluster ion source, dedicated to producing biological anions (ATP,oligonucleotides) and their microsolvated clusters for structural characterization. Many previous laser spectrometers with ESI sources have suffered from producing "hot" congested spectra as the ions were produced at ambient temperatures. This is a particularly serious limitation for spectroscopic studies of biomolecules, since these systems can possess high internal energies due tothe presence of numerous low frequency modes. Our spectrometer overcomes this problem by exploiting the newly developed physics technique of "buffer gas cooling" to produce cold ESI molecular ions. In this proposal, we now seek to exploit the new laser-spectrometer to perform detailed spectroscopic interrogations of ESI generated biomolecular anions and clusters. In addition to traditional ion-dissociation spectroscopies, we propose to develop two new laser spectroscopy techniques (Two-color tuneable IR spectroscopy and Dipole-bound excited state spectroscopy) to give the broadest possible structural characterizations of the systems of interest. Studies will focus on ATP/GTP-anions, olignonucleotides, and sulphated and carboxylated sugars. These methodologies will provide a general approach for performing temperature-controlled spectroscopic characterizations of isolated biological ions, with measurements on the corresponding micro-solvated clusters providing details of how the molecules are perturbed by solvent.
Max ERC Funding
1 250 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-10-01, End date: 2015-06-30
