Project acronym 1stProposal
Project An alternative development of analytic number theory and applications
Researcher (PI) ANDREW Granville
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2014-ADG
Summary The traditional (Riemann) approach to analytic number theory uses the zeros of zeta functions. This requires the associated multiplicative function, say f(n), to have special enough properties that the associated Dirichlet series may be analytically continued. In this proposal we continue to develop an approach which requires less of the multiplicative function, linking the original question with the mean value of f. Such techniques have been around for a long time but have generally been regarded as “ad hoc”. In this project we aim to show that one can develop a coherent approach to the whole subject, not only reproving all of the old results, but also many new ones that appear inaccessible to traditional methods.
Our first goal is to complete a monograph yielding a reworking of all the classical theory using these new methods and then to push forward in new directions. The most important is to extend these techniques to GL(n) L-functions, which we hope will now be feasible having found the correct framework in which to proceed. Since we rarely know how to analytically continue such L-functions this could be of great benefit to the subject.
We are developing the large sieve so that it can be used for individual moduli, and will determine a strong form of that. Also a new method to give asymptotics for mean values, when they are not too small.
We wish to incorporate techniques of analytic number theory into our theory, for example recent advances on mean values of Dirichlet polynomials. Also the recent breakthroughs on the sieve suggest strong links that need further exploration.
Additive combinatorics yields important results in many areas. There are strong analogies between its results, and those for multiplicative functions, especially in large value spectrum theory, and its applications. We hope to develop these further.
Much of this is joint work with K Soundararajan of Stanford University.
Summary
The traditional (Riemann) approach to analytic number theory uses the zeros of zeta functions. This requires the associated multiplicative function, say f(n), to have special enough properties that the associated Dirichlet series may be analytically continued. In this proposal we continue to develop an approach which requires less of the multiplicative function, linking the original question with the mean value of f. Such techniques have been around for a long time but have generally been regarded as “ad hoc”. In this project we aim to show that one can develop a coherent approach to the whole subject, not only reproving all of the old results, but also many new ones that appear inaccessible to traditional methods.
Our first goal is to complete a monograph yielding a reworking of all the classical theory using these new methods and then to push forward in new directions. The most important is to extend these techniques to GL(n) L-functions, which we hope will now be feasible having found the correct framework in which to proceed. Since we rarely know how to analytically continue such L-functions this could be of great benefit to the subject.
We are developing the large sieve so that it can be used for individual moduli, and will determine a strong form of that. Also a new method to give asymptotics for mean values, when they are not too small.
We wish to incorporate techniques of analytic number theory into our theory, for example recent advances on mean values of Dirichlet polynomials. Also the recent breakthroughs on the sieve suggest strong links that need further exploration.
Additive combinatorics yields important results in many areas. There are strong analogies between its results, and those for multiplicative functions, especially in large value spectrum theory, and its applications. We hope to develop these further.
Much of this is joint work with K Soundararajan of Stanford University.
Max ERC Funding
2 011 742 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-08-01, End date: 2020-07-31
Project acronym AAMOT
Project Arithmetic of automorphic motives
Researcher (PI) Michael Harris
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUT DES HAUTES ETUDES SCIENTIFIQUES
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2011-ADG_20110209
Summary The primary purpose of this project is to build on recent spectacular progress in the Langlands program to study the arithmetic properties of automorphic motives constructed in the cohomology of Shimura varieties. Because automorphic methods are available to study the L-functions of these motives, which include elliptic curves and certain families of Calabi-Yau varieties over totally real fields (possibly after base change), they represent the most accessible class of varieties for which one can hope to verify fundamental conjectures on special values of L-functions, including Deligne's conjecture and the Main Conjecture of Iwasawa theory. Immediate goals include the proof of irreducibility of automorphic Galois representations; the establishment of period relations for automorphic and potentially automorphic realizations of motives in the cohomology of distinct Shimura varieties; the construction of p-adic L-functions for these and related motives, notably adjoint and tensor product L-functions in p-adic families; and the geometrization of the p-adic and mod p Langlands program. All four goals, as well as the others mentioned in the body of the proposal, are interconnected; the final goal provides a bridge to related work in geometric representation theory, algebraic geometry, and mathematical physics.
Summary
The primary purpose of this project is to build on recent spectacular progress in the Langlands program to study the arithmetic properties of automorphic motives constructed in the cohomology of Shimura varieties. Because automorphic methods are available to study the L-functions of these motives, which include elliptic curves and certain families of Calabi-Yau varieties over totally real fields (possibly after base change), they represent the most accessible class of varieties for which one can hope to verify fundamental conjectures on special values of L-functions, including Deligne's conjecture and the Main Conjecture of Iwasawa theory. Immediate goals include the proof of irreducibility of automorphic Galois representations; the establishment of period relations for automorphic and potentially automorphic realizations of motives in the cohomology of distinct Shimura varieties; the construction of p-adic L-functions for these and related motives, notably adjoint and tensor product L-functions in p-adic families; and the geometrization of the p-adic and mod p Langlands program. All four goals, as well as the others mentioned in the body of the proposal, are interconnected; the final goal provides a bridge to related work in geometric representation theory, algebraic geometry, and mathematical physics.
Max ERC Funding
1 491 348 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-06-01, End date: 2018-05-31
Project acronym ABEL
Project "Alpha-helical Barrels: Exploring, Understanding and Exploiting a New Class of Protein Structure"
Researcher (PI) Derek Neil Woolfson
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS9, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary "Recently through de novo peptide design, we have discovered and presented a new protein structure. This is an all-parallel, 6-helix bundle with a continuous central channel of 0.5 – 0.6 nm diameter. We posit that this is one of a broader class of protein structures that we call the alpha-helical barrels. Here, in three Work Packages, we propose to explore these structures and to develop protein functions within them. First, through a combination of computer-aided design, peptide synthesis and thorough biophysical characterization, we will examine the extents and limits of the alpha-helical-barrel structures. Whilst this is curiosity driven research, it also has practical consequences for the studies that will follow; that is, alpha-helical barrels made from increasing numbers of helices have channels or pores that increase in a predictable way. Second, we will use rational and empirical design approaches to engineer a range of functions within these cavities, including binding capabilities and enzyme-like activities. Finally, and taking the programme into another ambitious area, we will use the alpha-helical barrels to template other folds that are otherwise difficult to design and engineer, notably beta-barrels that insert into membranes to render ion-channel and sensor functions."
Summary
"Recently through de novo peptide design, we have discovered and presented a new protein structure. This is an all-parallel, 6-helix bundle with a continuous central channel of 0.5 – 0.6 nm diameter. We posit that this is one of a broader class of protein structures that we call the alpha-helical barrels. Here, in three Work Packages, we propose to explore these structures and to develop protein functions within them. First, through a combination of computer-aided design, peptide synthesis and thorough biophysical characterization, we will examine the extents and limits of the alpha-helical-barrel structures. Whilst this is curiosity driven research, it also has practical consequences for the studies that will follow; that is, alpha-helical barrels made from increasing numbers of helices have channels or pores that increase in a predictable way. Second, we will use rational and empirical design approaches to engineer a range of functions within these cavities, including binding capabilities and enzyme-like activities. Finally, and taking the programme into another ambitious area, we will use the alpha-helical barrels to template other folds that are otherwise difficult to design and engineer, notably beta-barrels that insert into membranes to render ion-channel and sensor functions."
Max ERC Funding
2 467 844 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
Project acronym ACCOPT
Project ACelerated COnvex OPTimization
Researcher (PI) Yurii NESTEROV
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary The amazing rate of progress in the computer technologies and telecommunications presents many new challenges for Optimization Theory. New problems are usually very big in size, very special in structure and possibly have a distributed data support. This makes them unsolvable by the standard optimization methods. In these situations, old theoretical models, based on the hidden Black-Box information, cannot work. New theoretical and algorithmic solutions are urgently needed. In this project we will concentrate on development of fast optimization methods for problems of big and very big size. All the new methods will be endowed with provable efficiency guarantees for large classes of optimization problems, arising in practical applications. Our main tool is the acceleration technique developed for the standard Black-Box methods as applied to smooth convex functions. However, we will have to adapt it to deal with different situations.
The first line of development will be based on the smoothing technique as applied to a non-smooth functions. We propose to substantially extend this approach to generate approximate solutions in relative scale. The second line of research will be related to applying acceleration techniques to the second-order methods minimizing functions with sparse Hessians. Finally, we aim to develop fast gradient methods for huge-scale problems. The size of these problems is so big that even the usual vector operations are extremely expensive. Thus, we propose to develop new methods with sublinear iteration costs. In our approach, the main source for achieving improvements will be the proper use of problem structure.
Our overall aim is to be able to solve in a routine way many important problems, which currently look unsolvable. Moreover, the theoretical development of Convex Optimization will reach the state, when there is no gap between theory and practice: the theoretically most efficient methods will definitely outperform any homebred heuristics.
Summary
The amazing rate of progress in the computer technologies and telecommunications presents many new challenges for Optimization Theory. New problems are usually very big in size, very special in structure and possibly have a distributed data support. This makes them unsolvable by the standard optimization methods. In these situations, old theoretical models, based on the hidden Black-Box information, cannot work. New theoretical and algorithmic solutions are urgently needed. In this project we will concentrate on development of fast optimization methods for problems of big and very big size. All the new methods will be endowed with provable efficiency guarantees for large classes of optimization problems, arising in practical applications. Our main tool is the acceleration technique developed for the standard Black-Box methods as applied to smooth convex functions. However, we will have to adapt it to deal with different situations.
The first line of development will be based on the smoothing technique as applied to a non-smooth functions. We propose to substantially extend this approach to generate approximate solutions in relative scale. The second line of research will be related to applying acceleration techniques to the second-order methods minimizing functions with sparse Hessians. Finally, we aim to develop fast gradient methods for huge-scale problems. The size of these problems is so big that even the usual vector operations are extremely expensive. Thus, we propose to develop new methods with sublinear iteration costs. In our approach, the main source for achieving improvements will be the proper use of problem structure.
Our overall aim is to be able to solve in a routine way many important problems, which currently look unsolvable. Moreover, the theoretical development of Convex Optimization will reach the state, when there is no gap between theory and practice: the theoretically most efficient methods will definitely outperform any homebred heuristics.
Max ERC Funding
2 090 038 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31
Project acronym ACETOGENS
Project Acetogenic bacteria: from basic physiology via gene regulation to application in industrial biotechnology
Researcher (PI) Volker MÜLLER
Host Institution (HI) JOHANN WOLFGANG GOETHE-UNIVERSITATFRANKFURT AM MAIN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS9, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary Demand for biofuels and other biologically derived commodities is growing worldwide as efforts increase to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and to limit climate change. Most commercial approaches rely on fermentations of organic matter with its inherent problems in producing CO2 and being in conflict with the food supply of humans. These problems are avoided if CO2 can be used as feedstock. Autotrophic organisms can fix CO2 by producing chemicals that are used as building blocks for the synthesis of cellular components (Biomass). Acetate-forming bacteria (acetogens) do neither require light nor oxygen for this and they can be used in bioreactors to reduce CO2 with hydrogen gas, carbon monoxide or an organic substrate. Gas fermentation using these bacteria has already been realized on an industrial level in two pre-commercial 100,000 gal/yr demonstration facilities to produce fuel ethanol from abundant waste gas resources (by LanzaTech). Acetogens can metabolise a wide variety of substrates that could be used for the production of biocommodities. However, their broad use to produce biofuels and platform chemicals from substrates other than gases or together with gases is hampered by our very limited knowledge about their metabolism and ability to use different substrates simultaneously. Nearly nothing is known about regulatory processes involved in substrate utilization or product formation but this is an absolute requirement for metabolic engineering approaches. The aim of this project is to provide this basic knowledge about metabolic routes in the acetogenic model strain Acetobacterium woodii and their regulation. We will unravel the function of “organelles” found in this bacterium and explore their potential as bio-nanoreactors for the production of biocommodities and pave the road for the industrial use of A. woodii in energy (hydrogen) storage. Thus, this project creates cutting-edge opportunities for the development of biosustainable technologies in Europe.
Summary
Demand for biofuels and other biologically derived commodities is growing worldwide as efforts increase to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and to limit climate change. Most commercial approaches rely on fermentations of organic matter with its inherent problems in producing CO2 and being in conflict with the food supply of humans. These problems are avoided if CO2 can be used as feedstock. Autotrophic organisms can fix CO2 by producing chemicals that are used as building blocks for the synthesis of cellular components (Biomass). Acetate-forming bacteria (acetogens) do neither require light nor oxygen for this and they can be used in bioreactors to reduce CO2 with hydrogen gas, carbon monoxide or an organic substrate. Gas fermentation using these bacteria has already been realized on an industrial level in two pre-commercial 100,000 gal/yr demonstration facilities to produce fuel ethanol from abundant waste gas resources (by LanzaTech). Acetogens can metabolise a wide variety of substrates that could be used for the production of biocommodities. However, their broad use to produce biofuels and platform chemicals from substrates other than gases or together with gases is hampered by our very limited knowledge about their metabolism and ability to use different substrates simultaneously. Nearly nothing is known about regulatory processes involved in substrate utilization or product formation but this is an absolute requirement for metabolic engineering approaches. The aim of this project is to provide this basic knowledge about metabolic routes in the acetogenic model strain Acetobacterium woodii and their regulation. We will unravel the function of “organelles” found in this bacterium and explore their potential as bio-nanoreactors for the production of biocommodities and pave the road for the industrial use of A. woodii in energy (hydrogen) storage. Thus, this project creates cutting-edge opportunities for the development of biosustainable technologies in Europe.
Max ERC Funding
2 497 140 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-10-01, End date: 2022-09-30
Project acronym ADDECCO
Project Adaptive Schemes for Deterministic and Stochastic Flow Problems
Researcher (PI) Remi Abgrall
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE ENINFORMATIQUE ET AUTOMATIQUE
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary The numerical simulation of complex compressible flow problem is still a challenge nowaday even for simple models. In our opinion, the most important hard points that need currently to be tackled and solved is how to obtain stable, scalable, very accurate, easy to code and to maintain schemes on complex geometries. The method should easily handle mesh refinement, even near the boundary where the most interesting engineering quantities have to be evaluated. Unsteady uncertainties in the model, for example in the geometry or the boundary conditions should represented efficiently.This proposal goal is to design, develop and evaluate solutions to each of the above problems. Our work program will lead to significant breakthroughs for flow simulations. More specifically, we propose to work on 3 connected problems: 1-A class of very high order numerical schemes able to easily deal with the geometry of boundaries and still can solve steep problems. The geometry is generally defined by CAD tools. The output is used to generate a mesh which is then used by the scheme. Hence, any mesh refinement process is disconnected from the CAD, a situation that prevents the spread of mesh adaptation techniques in industry! 2-A class of very high order numerical schemes which can utilize possibly solution dependant basis functions in order to lower the number of degrees of freedom, for example to compute accurately boundary layers with low resolutions. 3-A general non intrusive technique for handling uncertainties in order to deal with irregular probability density functions (pdf) and also to handle pdf that may evolve in time, for example thanks to an optimisation loop. The curse of dimensionality will be dealt thanks Harten's multiresolution method combined with sparse grid methods. Currently, and up to our knowledge, no scheme has each of these properties. This research program will have an impact on numerical schemes and industrial applications.
Summary
The numerical simulation of complex compressible flow problem is still a challenge nowaday even for simple models. In our opinion, the most important hard points that need currently to be tackled and solved is how to obtain stable, scalable, very accurate, easy to code and to maintain schemes on complex geometries. The method should easily handle mesh refinement, even near the boundary where the most interesting engineering quantities have to be evaluated. Unsteady uncertainties in the model, for example in the geometry or the boundary conditions should represented efficiently.This proposal goal is to design, develop and evaluate solutions to each of the above problems. Our work program will lead to significant breakthroughs for flow simulations. More specifically, we propose to work on 3 connected problems: 1-A class of very high order numerical schemes able to easily deal with the geometry of boundaries and still can solve steep problems. The geometry is generally defined by CAD tools. The output is used to generate a mesh which is then used by the scheme. Hence, any mesh refinement process is disconnected from the CAD, a situation that prevents the spread of mesh adaptation techniques in industry! 2-A class of very high order numerical schemes which can utilize possibly solution dependant basis functions in order to lower the number of degrees of freedom, for example to compute accurately boundary layers with low resolutions. 3-A general non intrusive technique for handling uncertainties in order to deal with irregular probability density functions (pdf) and also to handle pdf that may evolve in time, for example thanks to an optimisation loop. The curse of dimensionality will be dealt thanks Harten's multiresolution method combined with sparse grid methods. Currently, and up to our knowledge, no scheme has each of these properties. This research program will have an impact on numerical schemes and industrial applications.
Max ERC Funding
1 432 769 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-12-01, End date: 2013-11-30
Project acronym ADORA
Project Asymptotic approach to spatial and dynamical organizations
Researcher (PI) Benoit PERTHAME
Host Institution (HI) SORBONNE UNIVERSITE
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary The understanding of spatial, social and dynamical organization of large numbers of agents is presently a fundamental issue in modern science. ADORA focuses on problems motivated by biology because, more than anywhere else, access to precise and many data has opened the route to novel and complex biomathematical models. The problems we address are written in terms of nonlinear partial differential equations. The flux-limited Keller-Segel system, the integrate-and-fire Fokker-Planck equation, kinetic equations with internal state, nonlocal parabolic equations and constrained Hamilton-Jacobi equations are among examples of the equations under investigation.
The role of mathematics is not only to understand the analytical structure of these new problems, but it is also to explain the qualitative behavior of solutions and to quantify their properties. The challenge arises here because these goals should be achieved through a hierarchy of scales. Indeed, the problems under consideration share the common feature that the large scale behavior cannot be understood precisely without access to a hierarchy of finer scales, down to the individual behavior and sometimes its molecular determinants.
Major difficulties arise because the numerous scales present in these equations have to be discovered and singularities appear in the asymptotic process which yields deep compactness obstructions. Our vision is that the complexity inherent to models of biology can be enlightened by mathematical analysis and a classification of the possible asymptotic regimes.
However an enormous effort is needed to uncover the equations intimate mathematical structures, and bring them at the level of conceptual understanding they deserve being given the applications motivating these questions which range from medical science or neuroscience to cell biology.
Summary
The understanding of spatial, social and dynamical organization of large numbers of agents is presently a fundamental issue in modern science. ADORA focuses on problems motivated by biology because, more than anywhere else, access to precise and many data has opened the route to novel and complex biomathematical models. The problems we address are written in terms of nonlinear partial differential equations. The flux-limited Keller-Segel system, the integrate-and-fire Fokker-Planck equation, kinetic equations with internal state, nonlocal parabolic equations and constrained Hamilton-Jacobi equations are among examples of the equations under investigation.
The role of mathematics is not only to understand the analytical structure of these new problems, but it is also to explain the qualitative behavior of solutions and to quantify their properties. The challenge arises here because these goals should be achieved through a hierarchy of scales. Indeed, the problems under consideration share the common feature that the large scale behavior cannot be understood precisely without access to a hierarchy of finer scales, down to the individual behavior and sometimes its molecular determinants.
Major difficulties arise because the numerous scales present in these equations have to be discovered and singularities appear in the asymptotic process which yields deep compactness obstructions. Our vision is that the complexity inherent to models of biology can be enlightened by mathematical analysis and a classification of the possible asymptotic regimes.
However an enormous effort is needed to uncover the equations intimate mathematical structures, and bring them at the level of conceptual understanding they deserve being given the applications motivating these questions which range from medical science or neuroscience to cell biology.
Max ERC Funding
2 192 500 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31
Project acronym ADREEM
Project Adding Another Dimension – Arrays of 3D Bio-Responsive Materials
Researcher (PI) Mark Bradley
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS9, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary This proposal is focused in the areas of chemical medicine and chemical biology with the key drivers being the discovery and development of new materials that have practical functionality and application. The project will enable the fabrication of thousands of three-dimensional “smart-polymers” that will allow: (i). The precise and controlled release of drugs upon the addition of either a small molecule trigger or in response to disease, (ii). The discovery of materials that control and manipulate cells with the identification of scaffolds that provide the necessary biochemical cues for directing cell fate and drive tissue regeneration and (iii). The development of new classes of “smart-polymers” able, in real-time, to sense and report bacterial contamination. The newly discovered materials will find multiple biomedical applications in regenerative medicine and biotechnology ranging from 3D cell culture, bone repair and niche stabilisation to bacterial sensing/removal, while offering a new paradigm in drug delivery with biomarker triggered drug release.
Summary
This proposal is focused in the areas of chemical medicine and chemical biology with the key drivers being the discovery and development of new materials that have practical functionality and application. The project will enable the fabrication of thousands of three-dimensional “smart-polymers” that will allow: (i). The precise and controlled release of drugs upon the addition of either a small molecule trigger or in response to disease, (ii). The discovery of materials that control and manipulate cells with the identification of scaffolds that provide the necessary biochemical cues for directing cell fate and drive tissue regeneration and (iii). The development of new classes of “smart-polymers” able, in real-time, to sense and report bacterial contamination. The newly discovered materials will find multiple biomedical applications in regenerative medicine and biotechnology ranging from 3D cell culture, bone repair and niche stabilisation to bacterial sensing/removal, while offering a new paradigm in drug delivery with biomarker triggered drug release.
Max ERC Funding
2 310 884 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-11-01, End date: 2019-10-31
Project acronym AGRISCENTS
Project Scents and sensibility in agriculture: exploiting specificity in herbivore- and pathogen-induced plant volatiles for real-time crop monitoring
Researcher (PI) Theodoor Turlings
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE NEUCHATEL
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS9, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary Plants typically release large quantities of volatiles in response to attack by herbivores or pathogens. I may claim to have contributed to various breakthroughs in this research field, including the discovery that the volatile blends induced by different attackers are astonishingly specific, resulting in characteristic, readily distinguishable odour blends. Using maize as our model plant, I wish to take several leaps forward in our understanding of this signal specificity and use this knowledge to develop sensors for the real-time detection of crop pests and diseases. For this, three interconnected work-packages will aim to:
• Develop chemical analytical techniques and statistical models to decipher the odorous vocabulary of plants, and to create a complete inventory of “odour-prints” for a wide range of herbivore-plant and pathogen-plant combinations, including simultaneous infestations.
• Develop and optimize nano-mechanical sensors for the detection of specific plant volatile mixtures. For this, we will initially adapt a prototype sensor that has been successfully developed for the detection of cancer-related volatiles in human breath.
• Genetically manipulate maize plants to release a unique blend of root-produced volatiles upon herbivory. For this, we will engineer gene cassettes that combine recently identified P450 (CYP) genes from poplar with inducible, root-specific promoters from maize. This will result in maize plants that, in response to pest attack, release easy-to-detect aldoximes and nitriles from their roots.
In short, by investigating and manipulating the specificity of inducible odour blends we will generate the necessary knowhow to develop a novel odour-detection device. The envisioned sensor technology will permit real-time monitoring of the pests and enable farmers to apply crop protection treatments at the right time and in the right place.
Summary
Plants typically release large quantities of volatiles in response to attack by herbivores or pathogens. I may claim to have contributed to various breakthroughs in this research field, including the discovery that the volatile blends induced by different attackers are astonishingly specific, resulting in characteristic, readily distinguishable odour blends. Using maize as our model plant, I wish to take several leaps forward in our understanding of this signal specificity and use this knowledge to develop sensors for the real-time detection of crop pests and diseases. For this, three interconnected work-packages will aim to:
• Develop chemical analytical techniques and statistical models to decipher the odorous vocabulary of plants, and to create a complete inventory of “odour-prints” for a wide range of herbivore-plant and pathogen-plant combinations, including simultaneous infestations.
• Develop and optimize nano-mechanical sensors for the detection of specific plant volatile mixtures. For this, we will initially adapt a prototype sensor that has been successfully developed for the detection of cancer-related volatiles in human breath.
• Genetically manipulate maize plants to release a unique blend of root-produced volatiles upon herbivory. For this, we will engineer gene cassettes that combine recently identified P450 (CYP) genes from poplar with inducible, root-specific promoters from maize. This will result in maize plants that, in response to pest attack, release easy-to-detect aldoximes and nitriles from their roots.
In short, by investigating and manipulating the specificity of inducible odour blends we will generate the necessary knowhow to develop a novel odour-detection device. The envisioned sensor technology will permit real-time monitoring of the pests and enable farmers to apply crop protection treatments at the right time and in the right place.
Max ERC Funding
2 498 086 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31
Project acronym ALKAGE
Project Algebraic and Kähler geometry
Researcher (PI) Jean-Pierre, Raymond, Philippe Demailly
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE GRENOBLE ALPES
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2014-ADG
Summary The purpose of this project is to study basic questions in algebraic and Kähler geometry. It is well known that the structure of projective or Kähler manifolds is governed by positivity or negativity properties of the curvature tensor. However, many fundamental problems are still wide open. Since the mid 1980's, I have developed a large number of key concepts and results that have led to important progress in transcendental algebraic geometry. Let me mention the discovery of holomorphic Morse inequalities, systematic applications of L² estimates with singular hermitian metrics, and a much improved understanding of Monge-Ampère equations and of singularities of plurisuharmonic functions. My first goal will be to investigate the Green-Griffiths-Lang conjecture asserting that an entire curve drawn in a variety of general type is algebraically degenerate. The subject is intimately related to important questions concerning Diophantine equations, especially higher dimensional generalizations of Faltings' theorem - the so-called Vojta program. One can rely here on a breakthrough I made in 2010, showing that all such entire curves must satisfy algebraic differential equations. A second closely related area of research of this project is the analysis of the structure of projective or compact Kähler manifolds. It can be seen as a generalization of the classification theory of surfaces by Kodaira, and of the more recent results for dimension 3 (Kawamata, Kollár, Mori, Shokurov, ...) to other dimensions. My plan is to combine powerful recent results obtained on the duality of positive cohomology cones with an analysis of the instability of the tangent bundle, i.e. of the Harder-Narasimhan filtration. On these ground-breaking questions, I intend to go much further and to enhance my national and international collaborations. These subjects already attract many young researchers and postdocs throughout the world, and the grant could be used to create even stronger interactions.
Summary
The purpose of this project is to study basic questions in algebraic and Kähler geometry. It is well known that the structure of projective or Kähler manifolds is governed by positivity or negativity properties of the curvature tensor. However, many fundamental problems are still wide open. Since the mid 1980's, I have developed a large number of key concepts and results that have led to important progress in transcendental algebraic geometry. Let me mention the discovery of holomorphic Morse inequalities, systematic applications of L² estimates with singular hermitian metrics, and a much improved understanding of Monge-Ampère equations and of singularities of plurisuharmonic functions. My first goal will be to investigate the Green-Griffiths-Lang conjecture asserting that an entire curve drawn in a variety of general type is algebraically degenerate. The subject is intimately related to important questions concerning Diophantine equations, especially higher dimensional generalizations of Faltings' theorem - the so-called Vojta program. One can rely here on a breakthrough I made in 2010, showing that all such entire curves must satisfy algebraic differential equations. A second closely related area of research of this project is the analysis of the structure of projective or compact Kähler manifolds. It can be seen as a generalization of the classification theory of surfaces by Kodaira, and of the more recent results for dimension 3 (Kawamata, Kollár, Mori, Shokurov, ...) to other dimensions. My plan is to combine powerful recent results obtained on the duality of positive cohomology cones with an analysis of the instability of the tangent bundle, i.e. of the Harder-Narasimhan filtration. On these ground-breaking questions, I intend to go much further and to enhance my national and international collaborations. These subjects already attract many young researchers and postdocs throughout the world, and the grant could be used to create even stronger interactions.
Max ERC Funding
1 809 345 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-09-01, End date: 2020-08-31
