Project acronym WallWatchers
Project Plant cell wall communication and remodelling: the wall watchers.
Researcher (PI) Julia Santiago Cuellar
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE LAUSANNE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS2, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Plants, just like animals are highly developed multicellular organisms. In contrast to animal cells however, plant cells are surrounded by a rigid, carbohydrate-rich extracellular layer, the cell wall. This cell wall provides plants with mechanic support and a dynamic chemical signalling and metabolic environment. To allow for cell expansion, cell division, coordinated tissue growth and interactions with the environment, the cell wall status constantly needs to be sensed and modified. How plant cells perceive and signal their cell wall status is poorly understood. Here, I propose an integrated approach to uncover ligands for cell wall sensing receptors as well as their downstream signalling components. Specifically, my project aims to identify the ligands for two genetically validated cell wall receptor families, using a chemical biology approach. Next, we will analyse and validate the mode of ligand-receptor interaction by combining protein X-ray crystallography, quantitative biochemistry and reverse genetics in Arabidopsis. A detailed ligand-binding and receptor activation mechanism will allow us to specifically interfere with cell wall receptor function in vivo, and to assess their biological relevance for cell wall structure and its chemical properties. Using atomic force microscopy, we will then test if the receptors are distributed uniformly at the membrane or whether they are arranged in complex 'sensosomes'. Finally, we will characterize if plant cell wall receptors can directly act as mechanosensors. With defined receptor-ligand pairs and clear phenotypes at hand, we will try to uncover downstream signalling components for plant cell wall receptors and to validate our atomic models in planta. My ultimate goal would be to design and test cell wall receptor agonists and antagonists, which will represent powerful tools to alter cell wall homoeostasis in Arabidopsis, and potentially in crops.
Summary
Plants, just like animals are highly developed multicellular organisms. In contrast to animal cells however, plant cells are surrounded by a rigid, carbohydrate-rich extracellular layer, the cell wall. This cell wall provides plants with mechanic support and a dynamic chemical signalling and metabolic environment. To allow for cell expansion, cell division, coordinated tissue growth and interactions with the environment, the cell wall status constantly needs to be sensed and modified. How plant cells perceive and signal their cell wall status is poorly understood. Here, I propose an integrated approach to uncover ligands for cell wall sensing receptors as well as their downstream signalling components. Specifically, my project aims to identify the ligands for two genetically validated cell wall receptor families, using a chemical biology approach. Next, we will analyse and validate the mode of ligand-receptor interaction by combining protein X-ray crystallography, quantitative biochemistry and reverse genetics in Arabidopsis. A detailed ligand-binding and receptor activation mechanism will allow us to specifically interfere with cell wall receptor function in vivo, and to assess their biological relevance for cell wall structure and its chemical properties. Using atomic force microscopy, we will then test if the receptors are distributed uniformly at the membrane or whether they are arranged in complex 'sensosomes'. Finally, we will characterize if plant cell wall receptors can directly act as mechanosensors. With defined receptor-ligand pairs and clear phenotypes at hand, we will try to uncover downstream signalling components for plant cell wall receptors and to validate our atomic models in planta. My ultimate goal would be to design and test cell wall receptor agonists and antagonists, which will represent powerful tools to alter cell wall homoeostasis in Arabidopsis, and potentially in crops.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 966 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-07-01, End date: 2022-06-30
Project acronym WELFAREPRIORITIES
Project Welfare state politics under pressure: Identifying priorities, trade-offs and reform opportunities among citizens, political and economic elites
Researcher (PI) Silja Elisabeth HAEUSERMANN
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT ZURICH
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2016-STG
Summary In times of austerity, the politics of the welfare state involve tough choices and even trade-offs: whose risks should benefit from social solidarity in a context of shrinking resources? Should the welfare state prioritize the needs of the elderly or those of the young? Those of people in the workforce or outside of the workforce? Of natives or of immigrants?
How countries answer these key questions depends on the welfare state priorities of citizens, political elites and economic elites. However, we know still very little about these priorities and their determinants, and we know even less about the mechanisms that foster support for social solidarity – i.e. support for inclusive social security beyond self-interest. This project wants to make use of recent methodological advances to investigate precisely these priorities and mechanisms.
The project will have two phases: the goal of the first phase is to identify the most salient distributive conflicts and welfare trade-offs in eight European countries. It includes an original data collection on social policy priorities among citizens, politicians, employers and trade unions (based on conjoint survey and interviews), as well as content analysis of the actual welfare politics in these countries.
The second phase builds on the findings of the first phase, but its objective is to go beyond conflict towards coalitions. It will again combine conjoint surveys and content analysis to identify the factors that foster support for social policies among those actors who are unlikely to benefit directly from these policies. The project will investigate the relative importance of three factors: compensation, framing and mediation.
The project breaks new theoretical and methodological ground in comparative welfare state research. It conceptualizes and studies both the trade-offs and the potentials for coalitions, which will determine the fate of the European welfare state in the 21st century.
Summary
In times of austerity, the politics of the welfare state involve tough choices and even trade-offs: whose risks should benefit from social solidarity in a context of shrinking resources? Should the welfare state prioritize the needs of the elderly or those of the young? Those of people in the workforce or outside of the workforce? Of natives or of immigrants?
How countries answer these key questions depends on the welfare state priorities of citizens, political elites and economic elites. However, we know still very little about these priorities and their determinants, and we know even less about the mechanisms that foster support for social solidarity – i.e. support for inclusive social security beyond self-interest. This project wants to make use of recent methodological advances to investigate precisely these priorities and mechanisms.
The project will have two phases: the goal of the first phase is to identify the most salient distributive conflicts and welfare trade-offs in eight European countries. It includes an original data collection on social policy priorities among citizens, politicians, employers and trade unions (based on conjoint survey and interviews), as well as content analysis of the actual welfare politics in these countries.
The second phase builds on the findings of the first phase, but its objective is to go beyond conflict towards coalitions. It will again combine conjoint surveys and content analysis to identify the factors that foster support for social policies among those actors who are unlikely to benefit directly from these policies. The project will investigate the relative importance of three factors: compensation, framing and mediation.
The project breaks new theoretical and methodological ground in comparative welfare state research. It conceptualizes and studies both the trade-offs and the potentials for coalitions, which will determine the fate of the European welfare state in the 21st century.
Max ERC Funding
1 474 133 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31
Project acronym WINDMIL
Project Smart Monitoring, Inspection and Life-Cycle Assessment of Wind Turbines
Researcher (PI) Eleni Chatzi
Host Institution (HI) EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2015-STG
Summary The excessive energy consumption that Europe is faced with, calls for sustainable resource management and policy-making. Amongst renewable sources of the global energy pool, wind energy holds the lead. Nonetheless, wind turbine (WT) facilities are conjoined with a number of shortcomings relating to their short life-span and the lack of efficient management schemes. With a number of WTs currently reaching their design span, stakeholders and policy makers are convinced of the necessity for reliable life-cycle assessment methodologies. However, existing tools have not yet caught up with the maturity of the WT technology, leaving visual inspection and offline non-destructive evaluation methods as the norm.
This proposal aims to establish a smart framework for the monitoring, inspection and life-cycle assessment of WTs, able to guide WT operators in the management of these assets from cradle-to-grave. Our project is founded on a minimal intervention principle, coupling easily deployed and affordable sensor technology with state-of-the-art numerical modeling and data processing tools. An integrated approach is proposed comprising: (i) a new monitoring paradigm for WTs relying on fusion of structural response information, (ii) simulation of influential, yet little explored, factors affecting structural response, such as structure-foundation-soil interaction and fatigue (ii) a stochastic framework for detecting anomalies in both a short- (damage) and long-term (deterioration) scale.
Our end goal is to deliver a “protection-suit” for WTs comprising a hardware (sensor) solution and a modular readily implementable software package, titled ETH-WINDMIL. The suggested kit aims to completely redefine the status quo in current Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition systems. This pursuit is well founded on background work of the PI within the area of structural monitoring, with a focus in translating the value of information into quantifiable terms and engineering practice.
Summary
The excessive energy consumption that Europe is faced with, calls for sustainable resource management and policy-making. Amongst renewable sources of the global energy pool, wind energy holds the lead. Nonetheless, wind turbine (WT) facilities are conjoined with a number of shortcomings relating to their short life-span and the lack of efficient management schemes. With a number of WTs currently reaching their design span, stakeholders and policy makers are convinced of the necessity for reliable life-cycle assessment methodologies. However, existing tools have not yet caught up with the maturity of the WT technology, leaving visual inspection and offline non-destructive evaluation methods as the norm.
This proposal aims to establish a smart framework for the monitoring, inspection and life-cycle assessment of WTs, able to guide WT operators in the management of these assets from cradle-to-grave. Our project is founded on a minimal intervention principle, coupling easily deployed and affordable sensor technology with state-of-the-art numerical modeling and data processing tools. An integrated approach is proposed comprising: (i) a new monitoring paradigm for WTs relying on fusion of structural response information, (ii) simulation of influential, yet little explored, factors affecting structural response, such as structure-foundation-soil interaction and fatigue (ii) a stochastic framework for detecting anomalies in both a short- (damage) and long-term (deterioration) scale.
Our end goal is to deliver a “protection-suit” for WTs comprising a hardware (sensor) solution and a modular readily implementable software package, titled ETH-WINDMIL. The suggested kit aims to completely redefine the status quo in current Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition systems. This pursuit is well founded on background work of the PI within the area of structural monitoring, with a focus in translating the value of information into quantifiable terms and engineering practice.
Max ERC Funding
1 486 224 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-05-01, End date: 2021-04-30
