Project acronym 4DRepLy
Project Closing the 4D Real World Reconstruction Loop
Researcher (PI) Christian THEOBALT
Host Institution (HI) MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV
Country Germany
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE6, ERC-2017-COG
Summary 4D reconstruction, the camera-based dense dynamic scene reconstruction, is a grand challenge in computer graphics and computer vision. Despite great progress, 4D capturing the complex, diverse real world outside a studio is still far from feasible. 4DRepLy builds a new generation of high-fidelity 4D reconstruction (4DRecon) methods. They will be the first to efficiently capture all types of deformable objects (humans and other types) in crowded real world scenes with a single color or depth camera. They capture space-time coherent deforming geometry, motion, high-frequency reflectance and illumination at unprecedented detail, and will be the first to handle difficult occlusions, topology changes and large groups of interacting objects. They automatically adapt to new scene types, yet deliver models with meaningful, interpretable parameters. This requires far reaching contributions: First, we develop groundbreaking new plasticity-enhanced model-based 4D reconstruction methods that automatically adapt to new scenes. Second, we develop radically new machine learning-based dense 4D reconstruction methods. Third, these model- and learning-based methods are combined in two revolutionary new classes of 4DRecon methods: 1) advanced fusion-based methods and 2) methods with deep architectural integration. Both, 1) and 2), are automatically designed in the 4D Real World Reconstruction Loop, a revolutionary new design paradigm in which 4DRecon methods refine and adapt themselves while continuously processing unlabeled real world input. This overcomes the previously unbreakable scalability barrier to real world scene diversity, complexity and generality. This paradigm shift opens up a new research direction in graphics and vision and has far reaching relevance across many scientific fields. It enables new applications of profound social pervasion and significant economic impact, e.g., for visual media and virtual/augmented reality, and for future autonomous and robotic systems.
Summary
4D reconstruction, the camera-based dense dynamic scene reconstruction, is a grand challenge in computer graphics and computer vision. Despite great progress, 4D capturing the complex, diverse real world outside a studio is still far from feasible. 4DRepLy builds a new generation of high-fidelity 4D reconstruction (4DRecon) methods. They will be the first to efficiently capture all types of deformable objects (humans and other types) in crowded real world scenes with a single color or depth camera. They capture space-time coherent deforming geometry, motion, high-frequency reflectance and illumination at unprecedented detail, and will be the first to handle difficult occlusions, topology changes and large groups of interacting objects. They automatically adapt to new scene types, yet deliver models with meaningful, interpretable parameters. This requires far reaching contributions: First, we develop groundbreaking new plasticity-enhanced model-based 4D reconstruction methods that automatically adapt to new scenes. Second, we develop radically new machine learning-based dense 4D reconstruction methods. Third, these model- and learning-based methods are combined in two revolutionary new classes of 4DRecon methods: 1) advanced fusion-based methods and 2) methods with deep architectural integration. Both, 1) and 2), are automatically designed in the 4D Real World Reconstruction Loop, a revolutionary new design paradigm in which 4DRecon methods refine and adapt themselves while continuously processing unlabeled real world input. This overcomes the previously unbreakable scalability barrier to real world scene diversity, complexity and generality. This paradigm shift opens up a new research direction in graphics and vision and has far reaching relevance across many scientific fields. It enables new applications of profound social pervasion and significant economic impact, e.g., for visual media and virtual/augmented reality, and for future autonomous and robotic systems.
Max ERC Funding
1 977 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31
Project acronym Acclimatize
Project Hypothalamic mechanisms of thermal homeostasis and adaptation
Researcher (PI) Jan SIEMENS
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITATSKLINIKUM HEIDELBERG
Country Germany
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS5, ERC-2017-COG
Summary Mammalian organisms possess the remarkable ability to maintain internal body temperature (Tcore) within a narrow range close to 37°C despite wide environmental temperature variations. The brain’s neural “thermostat” is made up by central circuits in the hypothalamic preoptic area (POA), which orchestrate peripheral thermoregulatory responses to maintain Tcore. Thermogenesis requires metabolic fuel, suggesting intricate connections between the thermoregulatory centre and hypothalamic circuits controlling energy balance. How the POA detects and integrates temperature and metabolic information to achieve thermal balance is largely unknown. A major question is whether this circuitry could be harnessed therapeutically to treat obesity.
We have recently identified the first known molecular temperature sensor in thermoregulatory neurons of the POA, transient receptor potential melastatin 2 (TRPM2), a thermo-sensitive ion channel. I aim to use TRPM2 as a molecular marker to gain access to and probe the function of thermoregulatory neurons in vivo. I propose a multidisciplinary approach, combining local, in vivo POA temperature stimulation with optogenetic circuit-mapping to uncover the molecular and cellular logic of the hypothalamic thermoregulatory centre and to assess its medical potential to counteract metabolic syndrome.
Acclimation is a beneficial adaptive process that fortifies thermal responses upon environmental temperature challenges. Thermoregulatory neuron plasticity is thought to mediate acclimation. Conversely, maladaptive thermoregulatory changes affect obesity. The cell-type-specific neuronal plasticity mechanisms underlying these changes within the POA, however, are unknown.
Using ex-vivo slice electrophysiology and in vivo imaging, I propose to characterize acclimation- and obesity-induced plasticity of thermoregulatory neurons. Ultimately, I aim to manipulate thermoregulatory neuron plasticity to test its potential counter-balancing effect on obesity.
Summary
Mammalian organisms possess the remarkable ability to maintain internal body temperature (Tcore) within a narrow range close to 37°C despite wide environmental temperature variations. The brain’s neural “thermostat” is made up by central circuits in the hypothalamic preoptic area (POA), which orchestrate peripheral thermoregulatory responses to maintain Tcore. Thermogenesis requires metabolic fuel, suggesting intricate connections between the thermoregulatory centre and hypothalamic circuits controlling energy balance. How the POA detects and integrates temperature and metabolic information to achieve thermal balance is largely unknown. A major question is whether this circuitry could be harnessed therapeutically to treat obesity.
We have recently identified the first known molecular temperature sensor in thermoregulatory neurons of the POA, transient receptor potential melastatin 2 (TRPM2), a thermo-sensitive ion channel. I aim to use TRPM2 as a molecular marker to gain access to and probe the function of thermoregulatory neurons in vivo. I propose a multidisciplinary approach, combining local, in vivo POA temperature stimulation with optogenetic circuit-mapping to uncover the molecular and cellular logic of the hypothalamic thermoregulatory centre and to assess its medical potential to counteract metabolic syndrome.
Acclimation is a beneficial adaptive process that fortifies thermal responses upon environmental temperature challenges. Thermoregulatory neuron plasticity is thought to mediate acclimation. Conversely, maladaptive thermoregulatory changes affect obesity. The cell-type-specific neuronal plasticity mechanisms underlying these changes within the POA, however, are unknown.
Using ex-vivo slice electrophysiology and in vivo imaging, I propose to characterize acclimation- and obesity-induced plasticity of thermoregulatory neurons. Ultimately, I aim to manipulate thermoregulatory neuron plasticity to test its potential counter-balancing effect on obesity.
Max ERC Funding
1 902 500 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31
Project acronym Active-DNA
Project Computationally Active DNA Nanostructures
Researcher (PI) Damien WOODS
Host Institution (HI) NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND MAYNOOTH
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE6, ERC-2017-COG
Summary During the 20th century computer technology evolved from bulky, slow, special purpose mechanical engines to the now ubiquitous silicon chips and software that are one of the pinnacles of human ingenuity. The goal of the field of molecular programming is to take the next leap and build a new generation of matter-based computers using DNA, RNA and proteins. This will be accomplished by computer scientists, physicists and chemists designing molecules to execute ``wet'' nanoscale programs in test tubes. The workflow includes proposing theoretical models, mathematically proving their computational properties, physical modelling and implementation in the wet-lab.
The past decade has seen remarkable progress at building static 2D and 3D DNA nanostructures. However, unlike biological macromolecules and complexes that are built via specified self-assembly pathways, that execute robotic-like movements, and that undergo evolution, the activity of human-engineered nanostructures is severely limited. We will need sophisticated algorithmic ideas to build structures that rival active living systems. Active-DNA, aims to address this challenge by achieving a number of objectives on computation, DNA-based self-assembly and molecular robotics. Active-DNA research work will range from defining models and proving theorems that characterise the computational and expressive capabilities of such active programmable materials to experimental work implementing active DNA nanostructures in the wet-lab.
Summary
During the 20th century computer technology evolved from bulky, slow, special purpose mechanical engines to the now ubiquitous silicon chips and software that are one of the pinnacles of human ingenuity. The goal of the field of molecular programming is to take the next leap and build a new generation of matter-based computers using DNA, RNA and proteins. This will be accomplished by computer scientists, physicists and chemists designing molecules to execute ``wet'' nanoscale programs in test tubes. The workflow includes proposing theoretical models, mathematically proving their computational properties, physical modelling and implementation in the wet-lab.
The past decade has seen remarkable progress at building static 2D and 3D DNA nanostructures. However, unlike biological macromolecules and complexes that are built via specified self-assembly pathways, that execute robotic-like movements, and that undergo evolution, the activity of human-engineered nanostructures is severely limited. We will need sophisticated algorithmic ideas to build structures that rival active living systems. Active-DNA, aims to address this challenge by achieving a number of objectives on computation, DNA-based self-assembly and molecular robotics. Active-DNA research work will range from defining models and proving theorems that characterise the computational and expressive capabilities of such active programmable materials to experimental work implementing active DNA nanostructures in the wet-lab.
Max ERC Funding
2 349 603 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-11-01, End date: 2023-10-31
Project acronym ANTILEAK
Project Development of antagonists of vascular leakage
Researcher (PI) Pipsa SAHARINEN
Host Institution (HI) HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
Country Finland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS4, ERC-2017-COG
Summary Dysregulation of capillary permeability is a severe problem in critically ill patients, but the mechanisms involved are poorly understood. Further, there are no targeted therapies to stabilize leaky vessels in various common, potentially fatal diseases, such as systemic inflammation and sepsis, which affect millions of people annually. Although a multitude of signals that stimulate opening of endothelial cell-cell junctions leading to permeability have been characterized using cellular and in vivo models, approaches to reverse the harmful process of capillary leakage in disease conditions are yet to be identified. I propose to explore a novel autocrine endothelial permeability regulatory system as a potentially universal mechanism that antagonizes vascular stabilizing ques and sustains vascular leakage in inflammation. My group has identified inflammation-induced mechanisms that switch vascular stabilizing factors into molecules that destabilize vascular barriers, and identified tools to prevent the barrier disruption. Building on these discoveries, my group will use mouse genetics, structural biology and innovative, systematic antibody development coupled with gene editing and gene silencing technology, in order to elucidate mechanisms of vascular barrier breakdown and repair in systemic inflammation. The expected outcomes include insights into endothelial cell signaling and permeability regulation, and preclinical proof-of-concept antibodies to control endothelial activation and vascular leakage in systemic inflammation and sepsis models. Ultimately, the new knowledge and preclinical tools developed in this project may facilitate future development of targeted approaches against vascular leakage.
Summary
Dysregulation of capillary permeability is a severe problem in critically ill patients, but the mechanisms involved are poorly understood. Further, there are no targeted therapies to stabilize leaky vessels in various common, potentially fatal diseases, such as systemic inflammation and sepsis, which affect millions of people annually. Although a multitude of signals that stimulate opening of endothelial cell-cell junctions leading to permeability have been characterized using cellular and in vivo models, approaches to reverse the harmful process of capillary leakage in disease conditions are yet to be identified. I propose to explore a novel autocrine endothelial permeability regulatory system as a potentially universal mechanism that antagonizes vascular stabilizing ques and sustains vascular leakage in inflammation. My group has identified inflammation-induced mechanisms that switch vascular stabilizing factors into molecules that destabilize vascular barriers, and identified tools to prevent the barrier disruption. Building on these discoveries, my group will use mouse genetics, structural biology and innovative, systematic antibody development coupled with gene editing and gene silencing technology, in order to elucidate mechanisms of vascular barrier breakdown and repair in systemic inflammation. The expected outcomes include insights into endothelial cell signaling and permeability regulation, and preclinical proof-of-concept antibodies to control endothelial activation and vascular leakage in systemic inflammation and sepsis models. Ultimately, the new knowledge and preclinical tools developed in this project may facilitate future development of targeted approaches against vascular leakage.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 770 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-05-01, End date: 2023-04-30
Project acronym ARTTOUCH
Project Generating artificial touch: from the contribution of single tactile afferents to the encoding of complex percepts, and their implications for clinical innovation
Researcher (PI) Rochelle ACKERLEY
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Country France
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS5, ERC-2017-COG
Summary Somatosensation encompass a wide range of processes, from feeling touch to temperature, as well as experiencing pleasure and pain. When afferent inputs are degraded or removed, such as in neuropathies or amputation, exploring the world becomes extremely difficult. Chronic pain is a major health issue that greatly diminishes quality of life and is one of the most disabling and costly conditions in Europe. The loss of a body part is common due to accidents, tumours, or peripheral diseases, and it has instantaneous effects on somatosensory functioning. Treating such disorders entails detailed knowledge about how somatosensory signals are encoded. Understanding these processes will enable the restoration of healthy function, such as providing real-time, naturalistic feedback in prostheses. To date, no prosthesis currently provides long-term sensory feedback, yet accomplishing this will lead to great quality of life improvements. The present proposal aims to uncover how basic tactile processes are encoded and represented centrally, as well as how more complex somatosensation is generated (e.g. wetness, pleasantness). Novel investigations will be conducted in humans to probe these mechanisms, including peripheral in vivo recording (microneurography) and neural stimulation, combined with advanced brain imaging and behavioural experiments. Preliminary work has shown the feasibility of the approach, where it is possible to visualise the activation of single mechanoreceptive afferents in the human brain. The multi-disciplinary approach unites detailed, high-resolution, functional investigations with actual sensations generated. The results will elucidate how basic and complex somatosensory processes are encoded, providing insights into the recovery of such signals. The knowledge gained aims to provide pain-free, efficient diagnostic capabilities for detecting and quantifying a range of somatosensory disorders, as well as identifying new potential therapeutic targets.
Summary
Somatosensation encompass a wide range of processes, from feeling touch to temperature, as well as experiencing pleasure and pain. When afferent inputs are degraded or removed, such as in neuropathies or amputation, exploring the world becomes extremely difficult. Chronic pain is a major health issue that greatly diminishes quality of life and is one of the most disabling and costly conditions in Europe. The loss of a body part is common due to accidents, tumours, or peripheral diseases, and it has instantaneous effects on somatosensory functioning. Treating such disorders entails detailed knowledge about how somatosensory signals are encoded. Understanding these processes will enable the restoration of healthy function, such as providing real-time, naturalistic feedback in prostheses. To date, no prosthesis currently provides long-term sensory feedback, yet accomplishing this will lead to great quality of life improvements. The present proposal aims to uncover how basic tactile processes are encoded and represented centrally, as well as how more complex somatosensation is generated (e.g. wetness, pleasantness). Novel investigations will be conducted in humans to probe these mechanisms, including peripheral in vivo recording (microneurography) and neural stimulation, combined with advanced brain imaging and behavioural experiments. Preliminary work has shown the feasibility of the approach, where it is possible to visualise the activation of single mechanoreceptive afferents in the human brain. The multi-disciplinary approach unites detailed, high-resolution, functional investigations with actual sensations generated. The results will elucidate how basic and complex somatosensory processes are encoded, providing insights into the recovery of such signals. The knowledge gained aims to provide pain-free, efficient diagnostic capabilities for detecting and quantifying a range of somatosensory disorders, as well as identifying new potential therapeutic targets.
Max ERC Funding
1 223 639 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-01-01, End date: 2023-12-31
Project acronym ASA
Project Understanding Statehood through Architecture: a comparative study of Africa's state buildings
Researcher (PI) Julia Catherine GALLAGHER
Host Institution (HI) SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES ROYAL CHARTER
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH2, ERC-2017-COG
Summary The project will develop a new ethnography of statehood through architecture. It goes beyond conventional approaches to statehood, which describe states as an objectively existing set of tools used to run a country, and critical approaches that understand them as discursive constructs. Instead, this research understands statehood as a result of the relationship between functions and symbols, and will read it through an innovative new methodology, namely a study of state architecture.
The study will focus on state buildings in Africa. African statehood, uncertain and often ambiguous, in many cases profoundly shaped by colonial heritages and post-colonial relationships, is reflected in classical-colonial, modernist-nationalist and post-modern or vernacular styles of architecture. African state buildings reveal the complex interplay of ideas, activities and relationships that together constitute an often uncomfortable statehood. They symbolise the state, embodying and projecting ideas of it through their aesthetics; they enable its concrete functions and processes; and they reveal what citizens think about the state in the ways they describe and negotiate them.
The study is comparative, multi-layered and interdisciplinary. It focuses on seven countries (South Africa, Tanzania, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea Bissau), exploring politics and statehood on domestic, regional and international levels, and drawing on theory and methods from political science, history, sociology, art and architecture theory. It employs innovative ethnographic methods, including the collection and display of photographs in interactive exhibitions staged in Africa to explore the ways citizens think about and use state buildings.
This project will provide an innovative reading of how African statehood is expressed and how it looks and feels to African citizens. In doing this, it will make a distinctive new contribution to understanding how statehood works everywhere.
Summary
The project will develop a new ethnography of statehood through architecture. It goes beyond conventional approaches to statehood, which describe states as an objectively existing set of tools used to run a country, and critical approaches that understand them as discursive constructs. Instead, this research understands statehood as a result of the relationship between functions and symbols, and will read it through an innovative new methodology, namely a study of state architecture.
The study will focus on state buildings in Africa. African statehood, uncertain and often ambiguous, in many cases profoundly shaped by colonial heritages and post-colonial relationships, is reflected in classical-colonial, modernist-nationalist and post-modern or vernacular styles of architecture. African state buildings reveal the complex interplay of ideas, activities and relationships that together constitute an often uncomfortable statehood. They symbolise the state, embodying and projecting ideas of it through their aesthetics; they enable its concrete functions and processes; and they reveal what citizens think about the state in the ways they describe and negotiate them.
The study is comparative, multi-layered and interdisciplinary. It focuses on seven countries (South Africa, Tanzania, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea Bissau), exploring politics and statehood on domestic, regional and international levels, and drawing on theory and methods from political science, history, sociology, art and architecture theory. It employs innovative ethnographic methods, including the collection and display of photographs in interactive exhibitions staged in Africa to explore the ways citizens think about and use state buildings.
This project will provide an innovative reading of how African statehood is expressed and how it looks and feels to African citizens. In doing this, it will make a distinctive new contribution to understanding how statehood works everywhere.
Max ERC Funding
1 870 665 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31
Project acronym ASIAPAST
Project From herds to empire: Biomolecular and zooarchaeological investigations of mobile pastoralism in the ancient Eurasian steppe
Researcher (PI) Cheryl Ann Makarewicz
Host Institution (HI) CHRISTIAN-ALBRECHTS-UNIVERSITAET ZU KIEL
Country Germany
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH6, ERC-2017-COG
Summary The emergence of mobile pastoralism in the Eurasian steppe five thousand years ago marked a unique transformation in human lifeways where, for the first time, people relied almost exclusively on herd animals of sheep, goat, cattle, and horses for sustenance and as symbols. Mobile pastoralism also generated altogether new forms of socio-political organization exceptional to the steppe that ultimately laid the foundation for nomadic states and empires. However, there remain striking gaps in our knowledge of how the pastoralist niche spread and evolved across Eurasia in the past and influenced cultural trajectories that frame the human-herd systems of today. Little is known about the scale of pastoralist movements connected with the initial translocation of domesticated animals, how mobility became embedded in pastoralist life, or how movement contributed to the formation of sophisticated political networks. There is a poor understanding of the character of herd animal husbandry strategies that were central to pastoralist subsistence and how these co-evolved alongside pastoralist dietary intake and ritual use of herd animals. We have a remarkably poor understanding of what pastoralists ate, especially the dietary contribution of dairy products - the quintessential dietary cornerstone food of pastoralist societies.
ASIAPAST addresses these gaps through a biomolecular approach that recovers the dietary and mobility histories of pastoralists and their animals recorded in bones, teeth, and pottery. This project pairs these methods to detailed analyses of the economic and symbolic use of herd animals preserved in zooarchaeological archives. These investigations draw from materials obtained from key sites that capture the transition to mobile pastoralism, its intensification, and emergence of trans-regional political structures located across the culturally connected regions of Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
Summary
The emergence of mobile pastoralism in the Eurasian steppe five thousand years ago marked a unique transformation in human lifeways where, for the first time, people relied almost exclusively on herd animals of sheep, goat, cattle, and horses for sustenance and as symbols. Mobile pastoralism also generated altogether new forms of socio-political organization exceptional to the steppe that ultimately laid the foundation for nomadic states and empires. However, there remain striking gaps in our knowledge of how the pastoralist niche spread and evolved across Eurasia in the past and influenced cultural trajectories that frame the human-herd systems of today. Little is known about the scale of pastoralist movements connected with the initial translocation of domesticated animals, how mobility became embedded in pastoralist life, or how movement contributed to the formation of sophisticated political networks. There is a poor understanding of the character of herd animal husbandry strategies that were central to pastoralist subsistence and how these co-evolved alongside pastoralist dietary intake and ritual use of herd animals. We have a remarkably poor understanding of what pastoralists ate, especially the dietary contribution of dairy products - the quintessential dietary cornerstone food of pastoralist societies.
ASIAPAST addresses these gaps through a biomolecular approach that recovers the dietary and mobility histories of pastoralists and their animals recorded in bones, teeth, and pottery. This project pairs these methods to detailed analyses of the economic and symbolic use of herd animals preserved in zooarchaeological archives. These investigations draw from materials obtained from key sites that capture the transition to mobile pastoralism, its intensification, and emergence of trans-regional political structures located across the culturally connected regions of Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 145 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-04-01, End date: 2023-03-31
Project acronym BabyRhythm
Project Tuned to the Rhythm: How Prenatally and Postnatally Heard Speech Prosody Lays the Foundations for Language Learning
Researcher (PI) Judit Gervain
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA
Country Italy
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH4, ERC-2017-COG
Summary The role of experience in language acquisition has been the focus of heated theoretical debates, between proponents of nativist views according to whom experience plays a minimal role and advocates of empiricist positions holding that experience, be it linguistic, social or other, is sufficient to account for language acquisition. Despite more than a half century of dedicated research efforts, the problem is not solved.
The present project brings a novel perspective to this debate, combining hitherto unconnected research in language acquisition with recent advances in the neurophysiology of hearing and speech processing. Specifically, it claims that prenatal experience with speech, which mainly consists of prosody due to the filtering effects of the womb, is what shapes the speech perception system, laying the foundations of subsequent language learning. Prosody is thus the cue that links genetically endowed predispositions present in the initial state with language experience. The proposal links the behavioral and neural levels, arguing that the hierarchy of the neural oscillations corresponds to a unique developmental chronology in human infants’ experience with speech and language.
The project uses state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques, EEG & NIRS, with monolingual full term newborns, as well as full-term bilingual, preterm and deaf newborns to investigate the link between prenatal experience and subsequent language acquisition. It proposes to follow the developmental trajectories of these four populations from birth to 6 and 9 months of age.
Summary
The role of experience in language acquisition has been the focus of heated theoretical debates, between proponents of nativist views according to whom experience plays a minimal role and advocates of empiricist positions holding that experience, be it linguistic, social or other, is sufficient to account for language acquisition. Despite more than a half century of dedicated research efforts, the problem is not solved.
The present project brings a novel perspective to this debate, combining hitherto unconnected research in language acquisition with recent advances in the neurophysiology of hearing and speech processing. Specifically, it claims that prenatal experience with speech, which mainly consists of prosody due to the filtering effects of the womb, is what shapes the speech perception system, laying the foundations of subsequent language learning. Prosody is thus the cue that links genetically endowed predispositions present in the initial state with language experience. The proposal links the behavioral and neural levels, arguing that the hierarchy of the neural oscillations corresponds to a unique developmental chronology in human infants’ experience with speech and language.
The project uses state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques, EEG & NIRS, with monolingual full term newborns, as well as full-term bilingual, preterm and deaf newborns to investigate the link between prenatal experience and subsequent language acquisition. It proposes to follow the developmental trajectories of these four populations from birth to 6 and 9 months of age.
Max ERC Funding
1 621 250 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-06-01, End date: 2023-05-31
Project acronym BITCRUMBS
Project Towards a Reliable and Automated Analysis of Compromised Systems
Researcher (PI) Davide BALZAROTTI
Host Institution (HI) EURECOM
Country France
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE6, ERC-2017-COG
Summary "The vast majority of research in computer security is dedicated to the design of detection, protection, and prevention solutions. While these techniques play a critical role to increase the security and privacy of our digital infrastructure, it is enough to look at the news to understand that it is not a matter of ""if"" a computer system will be compromised, but only a matter of ""when"". It is a well known fact that there is no 100% secure system, and that there is no practical way to prevent attackers with enough resources from breaking into sensitive targets. Therefore, it is extremely important to develop automated techniques to timely and precisely analyze computer security incidents and compromised systems. Unfortunately, the area of incident response received very little research attention, and it is still largely considered an art more than a science because of its lack of a proper theoretical and scientific background.
The objective of BITCRUMBS is to rethink the Incident Response (IR) field from its foundations by proposing a more scientific and comprehensive approach to the analysis of compromised systems. BITCRUMBS will achieve this goal in three steps: (1) by introducing a new systematic approach to precisely measure the effectiveness and accuracy of IR techniques and their resilience to evasion and forgery; (2) by designing and implementing new automated techniques to cope with advanced threats and the analysis of IoT devices; and (3) by proposing a novel forensics-by-design development methodology and a set of guidelines for the design of future systems and software.
To provide the right context for these new techniques and show the impact of the project in different fields and scenarios, BITCRUMBS plans to address its objectives using real case studies borrowed from two different
domains: traditional computer software, and embedded systems.
"
Summary
"The vast majority of research in computer security is dedicated to the design of detection, protection, and prevention solutions. While these techniques play a critical role to increase the security and privacy of our digital infrastructure, it is enough to look at the news to understand that it is not a matter of ""if"" a computer system will be compromised, but only a matter of ""when"". It is a well known fact that there is no 100% secure system, and that there is no practical way to prevent attackers with enough resources from breaking into sensitive targets. Therefore, it is extremely important to develop automated techniques to timely and precisely analyze computer security incidents and compromised systems. Unfortunately, the area of incident response received very little research attention, and it is still largely considered an art more than a science because of its lack of a proper theoretical and scientific background.
The objective of BITCRUMBS is to rethink the Incident Response (IR) field from its foundations by proposing a more scientific and comprehensive approach to the analysis of compromised systems. BITCRUMBS will achieve this goal in three steps: (1) by introducing a new systematic approach to precisely measure the effectiveness and accuracy of IR techniques and their resilience to evasion and forgery; (2) by designing and implementing new automated techniques to cope with advanced threats and the analysis of IoT devices; and (3) by proposing a novel forensics-by-design development methodology and a set of guidelines for the design of future systems and software.
To provide the right context for these new techniques and show the impact of the project in different fields and scenarios, BITCRUMBS plans to address its objectives using real case studies borrowed from two different
domains: traditional computer software, and embedded systems.
"
Max ERC Funding
1 991 504 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-04-01, End date: 2023-03-31
Project acronym BloodVariome
Project Genetic variation exposes regulators of blood cell formation in vivo in humans
Researcher (PI) Bjoern Erik Ake NILSSON
Host Institution (HI) LUNDS UNIVERSITET
Country Sweden
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS7, ERC-2017-COG
Summary The human hematopoietic system is a paradigmatic, stem cell-maintained organ with enormous cell turnover. Hundreds of billions of new blood cells are produced each day. The process is tightly regulated, and susceptible to perturbation due to genetic variation.
In this project, we will explore an innovative, population-genetic approach to find regulators of blood cell formation. Unlike traditional studies on hematopoiesis in vitro or in animal models, we will exploit natural genetic variation to identify DNA sequence variants and genes that influence blood cell formation in vivo in humans. Instead of inserting artificial mutations in mice, we will read out ripples from the experiments that nature has performed during evolution.
Building on our previous work, unique population-based materials, mathematical modeling, and the latest genomics and genome editing techniques, we will:
1. Develop high-resolution association data and analysis methods to find DNA sequence variants influencing human hematopoiesis, including stem- and progenitor stages.
2. Identify sequence variants and genes influencing specific stages of adult and fetal/perinatal hematopoiesis.
3. Define the function, and disease associations, of identified variants and genes.
Led by the applicant, the project will involve researchers at Lund University, Royal Institute of Technology and deCODE Genetics, and will be carried out in strong environments. It has been preceded by significant preparatory work. It will provide a first detailed analysis of how genetic variation influences human hematopoiesis, potentially increasing our understanding, and abilities to control, diseases marked by abnormal blood cell formation (e.g., leukemia).
Summary
The human hematopoietic system is a paradigmatic, stem cell-maintained organ with enormous cell turnover. Hundreds of billions of new blood cells are produced each day. The process is tightly regulated, and susceptible to perturbation due to genetic variation.
In this project, we will explore an innovative, population-genetic approach to find regulators of blood cell formation. Unlike traditional studies on hematopoiesis in vitro or in animal models, we will exploit natural genetic variation to identify DNA sequence variants and genes that influence blood cell formation in vivo in humans. Instead of inserting artificial mutations in mice, we will read out ripples from the experiments that nature has performed during evolution.
Building on our previous work, unique population-based materials, mathematical modeling, and the latest genomics and genome editing techniques, we will:
1. Develop high-resolution association data and analysis methods to find DNA sequence variants influencing human hematopoiesis, including stem- and progenitor stages.
2. Identify sequence variants and genes influencing specific stages of adult and fetal/perinatal hematopoiesis.
3. Define the function, and disease associations, of identified variants and genes.
Led by the applicant, the project will involve researchers at Lund University, Royal Institute of Technology and deCODE Genetics, and will be carried out in strong environments. It has been preceded by significant preparatory work. It will provide a first detailed analysis of how genetic variation influences human hematopoiesis, potentially increasing our understanding, and abilities to control, diseases marked by abnormal blood cell formation (e.g., leukemia).
Max ERC Funding
2 000 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-10-01, End date: 2023-09-30
