Project acronym DROSOPIRNAS
Project The piRNA pathway in the Drosophila germline a small RNA based genome immune system
Researcher (PI) Julius Brennecke
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUT FUER MOLEKULARE BIOTECHNOLOGIE GMBH
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS3, ERC-2010-StG_20091118
Summary The discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) has revolutionized biology. As a technology it opened up new experimental and therapeutic avenues. As a biological phenomenon it changed our view on a diverse array of cellular processes. Among those are the control of gene expression, the suppression of viral replication, the formation of heterochromatin and the protection of the genome against selfish genetic elements such as transposons.
I propose to study the molecular mechanism and the biological impact of a recently discovered RNAi pathway, the Piwi interacting RNA pathway (piRNA pathway).
The piRNA pathway is an evolutionarily conserved small RNA pathway acting in the animal germline. It is the key genome surveillance system that suppresses the activity of transposons. Recent work has provided a conceptual framework for this pathway: According to this, the genome stores transposon sequences in heterochromatic loci called piRNA clusters. These provide the RNA substrates for the biogenesis of 23-29 nt long piRNAs. An amplification cycle steers piRNA production predominantly to those cluster regions that are complementary to transposons being active at a given time. Finally, piRNAs guide a protein complex centered on Piwi-proteins to complementary transposon RNAs in the cell, leading to their silencing.
In contrast to other RNAi pathways, the mechanistic framework of the piRNA pathway is largely unknown. Moreover, the spectrum of biological processes impacted by it is only poorly understood. piRNAs are for example not only derived from transposon sequences but also from various other genomic repeats that are enriched at telomeres and in heterochromatin.
We will systematically dissect the piRNA pathway regarding its molecular architecture as well as its biological functions in Drosophila. Our studies will be a combination of fly genetics, proteomics and genomics approaches. Throughout we aim at linking our results back to the underlying biology of germline development.
Summary
The discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) has revolutionized biology. As a technology it opened up new experimental and therapeutic avenues. As a biological phenomenon it changed our view on a diverse array of cellular processes. Among those are the control of gene expression, the suppression of viral replication, the formation of heterochromatin and the protection of the genome against selfish genetic elements such as transposons.
I propose to study the molecular mechanism and the biological impact of a recently discovered RNAi pathway, the Piwi interacting RNA pathway (piRNA pathway).
The piRNA pathway is an evolutionarily conserved small RNA pathway acting in the animal germline. It is the key genome surveillance system that suppresses the activity of transposons. Recent work has provided a conceptual framework for this pathway: According to this, the genome stores transposon sequences in heterochromatic loci called piRNA clusters. These provide the RNA substrates for the biogenesis of 23-29 nt long piRNAs. An amplification cycle steers piRNA production predominantly to those cluster regions that are complementary to transposons being active at a given time. Finally, piRNAs guide a protein complex centered on Piwi-proteins to complementary transposon RNAs in the cell, leading to their silencing.
In contrast to other RNAi pathways, the mechanistic framework of the piRNA pathway is largely unknown. Moreover, the spectrum of biological processes impacted by it is only poorly understood. piRNAs are for example not only derived from transposon sequences but also from various other genomic repeats that are enriched at telomeres and in heterochromatin.
We will systematically dissect the piRNA pathway regarding its molecular architecture as well as its biological functions in Drosophila. Our studies will be a combination of fly genetics, proteomics and genomics approaches. Throughout we aim at linking our results back to the underlying biology of germline development.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-09-01, End date: 2015-08-31
Project acronym ENSENA
Project Entanglement from Semiconductor Nanostructures
Researcher (PI) Gregor Weihs
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAET INNSBRUCK
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary At the interface between quantum optics and semiconductors we find a rich field of investigation with huge potential for quantum information processing communication technologies. Entanglement is one of the most fascinating concepts in quantum physics research as well as an important resource for quantum information processing.
This project will develop novel sources of entangled photon pairs with semiconductor nanostructures. In particular, we will use the scattering of microcavity exciton-polaritons as an extremely strong optical nonlinearity for the generation of entanglement with properties that are difficult to achieve with the traditional methods. Further we will work with individual semiconductor quantum dots to create controlled single entangled pairs and explore the interfacing of quantum dots to flying qubits.
The long term vision of this research is to create integrated sources of entanglement that can be combined with laser sources, passive optical elements, and even detectors in order to realize the quantum optics lab on a chip.
Summary
At the interface between quantum optics and semiconductors we find a rich field of investigation with huge potential for quantum information processing communication technologies. Entanglement is one of the most fascinating concepts in quantum physics research as well as an important resource for quantum information processing.
This project will develop novel sources of entangled photon pairs with semiconductor nanostructures. In particular, we will use the scattering of microcavity exciton-polaritons as an extremely strong optical nonlinearity for the generation of entanglement with properties that are difficult to achieve with the traditional methods. Further we will work with individual semiconductor quantum dots to create controlled single entangled pairs and explore the interfacing of quantum dots to flying qubits.
The long term vision of this research is to create integrated sources of entanglement that can be combined with laser sources, passive optical elements, and even detectors in order to realize the quantum optics lab on a chip.
Max ERC Funding
1 259 726 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-01-01, End date: 2015-12-31
Project acronym ERBIUM
Project Ultracold Erbium: Exploring Exotic Quantum Gases
Researcher (PI) Francesca Ferlaino
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAET INNSBRUCK
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary Ultracold quantum gases have exceptional properties and offer an ideal test-bed to elucidate intriguing phenomena of modern quantum physics. My project proposes to use a new exotic element to study strong dipolar effects in quantum gases. For its appealing properties, we choose erbium (Er), a rare-earth metal that has hardly been explored until now. This species is strongly magnetic and comparatively heavy. Due to these characteristics, we expect the quantum system to be of extreme dipolar character and to exhibit a large number of magnetic Feshbach resonances, necessary to manipulate the low-energy scattering properties. Moreover, this element has a very rich energy level spectrum, which could open up the way to establish novel laser cooling schemes, and it has numerous isotopes, one of them having a fermionic character. Remarkably, none of the species so far used in ultracold quantum gas experiments offers such a unique combination of properties! By using Erbium, we will be in an optimal position to produce a strongly dipolar atomic gases of bosons and fermions with tunable contact interaction. First important goals of the ERBIUM project include: Extensive study of Er scattering properties, realization of the first Bose-Einstein condensates and degenerate Fermi gases of erbium atoms, study of dipolar effects in atomic system, production of strongly polar weakly-bound Er molecules and study their properties in a two-dimensional trapping environment. We also have a long-term vision for the ERBIUM project: we will mix heavy erbium atoms with much lighter lithium atoms to produce atomic mixtures with extreme mass imbalance.
Summary
Ultracold quantum gases have exceptional properties and offer an ideal test-bed to elucidate intriguing phenomena of modern quantum physics. My project proposes to use a new exotic element to study strong dipolar effects in quantum gases. For its appealing properties, we choose erbium (Er), a rare-earth metal that has hardly been explored until now. This species is strongly magnetic and comparatively heavy. Due to these characteristics, we expect the quantum system to be of extreme dipolar character and to exhibit a large number of magnetic Feshbach resonances, necessary to manipulate the low-energy scattering properties. Moreover, this element has a very rich energy level spectrum, which could open up the way to establish novel laser cooling schemes, and it has numerous isotopes, one of them having a fermionic character. Remarkably, none of the species so far used in ultracold quantum gas experiments offers such a unique combination of properties! By using Erbium, we will be in an optimal position to produce a strongly dipolar atomic gases of bosons and fermions with tunable contact interaction. First important goals of the ERBIUM project include: Extensive study of Er scattering properties, realization of the first Bose-Einstein condensates and degenerate Fermi gases of erbium atoms, study of dipolar effects in atomic system, production of strongly polar weakly-bound Er molecules and study their properties in a two-dimensional trapping environment. We also have a long-term vision for the ERBIUM project: we will mix heavy erbium atoms with much lighter lithium atoms to produce atomic mixtures with extreme mass imbalance.
Max ERC Funding
1 076 442 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-01-01, End date: 2015-12-31
Project acronym MICROBONE
Project Multiscale poro-micromechanics of bone materials, with links to biology and medicine
Researcher (PI) Christian Hellmich
Host Institution (HI) TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary "Modern computational engineering science allows for reliable design of the most breathtaking high-rise buildings, but it has hardly entered the fracture risk assessment of biological structures like bones. Is it only an engineering scientist's dream to decipher mathematically the origins and the evolution of the astonishingly varying mechanical properties of hierarchical biological materials? Not quite: By means of micromechanical theories, we could recently show in a quantitative fashion how ""universal"" elementary building blocks (being independent of tissue type, species, age, or anatomical location) govern the elastic properties of bone materials across the entire vertebrate kingdom, from the super-molecular to the centimetre scale. Now is the time to drive forward these developments beyond elasticity, striving for scientific breakthroughs in multiscale bone strength. Through novel, experimentally validated micromechanical theories, we will aim at predicting tissue-specific inelastic
properties of bone materials, from the ""universal"" mechanical properties of the nanoscaled elementary components (hydroxyapatite, collagen, water), their tissue-specific dosages, and the ""universal"" organizational patterns they build up. Moreover, we will extend cell population models of contemporary systems biology, towards biomineralization kinetics,in
order to quantify evolutions of bone mass and composition in living organisms. When using these evolutions as input for the aforementioned micromechanics models, the latter will predict the mechanical implications of biological processes. This will open unprecedented avenues in bone disease therapies, including patient-specific bone fracture risk assessment relying on micromechanics-based Finite Element analyses."
Summary
"Modern computational engineering science allows for reliable design of the most breathtaking high-rise buildings, but it has hardly entered the fracture risk assessment of biological structures like bones. Is it only an engineering scientist's dream to decipher mathematically the origins and the evolution of the astonishingly varying mechanical properties of hierarchical biological materials? Not quite: By means of micromechanical theories, we could recently show in a quantitative fashion how ""universal"" elementary building blocks (being independent of tissue type, species, age, or anatomical location) govern the elastic properties of bone materials across the entire vertebrate kingdom, from the super-molecular to the centimetre scale. Now is the time to drive forward these developments beyond elasticity, striving for scientific breakthroughs in multiscale bone strength. Through novel, experimentally validated micromechanical theories, we will aim at predicting tissue-specific inelastic
properties of bone materials, from the ""universal"" mechanical properties of the nanoscaled elementary components (hydroxyapatite, collagen, water), their tissue-specific dosages, and the ""universal"" organizational patterns they build up. Moreover, we will extend cell population models of contemporary systems biology, towards biomineralization kinetics,in
order to quantify evolutions of bone mass and composition in living organisms. When using these evolutions as input for the aforementioned micromechanics models, the latter will predict the mechanical implications of biological processes. This will open unprecedented avenues in bone disease therapies, including patient-specific bone fracture risk assessment relying on micromechanics-based Finite Element analyses."
Max ERC Funding
1 493 399 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-11-01, End date: 2015-10-31
Project acronym MMAF
Project Molecular mechanisms of autophagosome formation
Researcher (PI) Sascha Martens
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS3, ERC-2010-StG_20091118
Summary During autophagy initially small double membrane-bound structures expand and adopt cup-like shapes. These cup-shaped structures fuse at their rims to give rise to autophagosomes within which cytoplasmic material is enclosed. Subsequently autophagosomes fuse with endosomes and lysosomes and the content and the inner membrane are degraded. Autophagy serves to recycle essential building blocks during starvation, to degrade damaged organelles, to clear cells of protein aggregates and to kill intracellular microorganisms. Little is known about the mechanisms by which cells bend and remodel membranes into autophagosomes.
The action of a complex containing type III PI3K activity is essential for the initiation of autophagosome formation. During expansion of the initial double membrane bound structure the Atg8 and Atg12 conjugation systems play important roles. A further protein that is essential for autophagosome formation is the transmembrane protein Atg9.
We will investigate the impact of individual PI3K complex subunits, the Atg8 and Atg12 conjugation systems and Atg9 on membrane morphology in vitro. We will analyse membrane shape changes and micro-domain formation using artificial small and giant liposomes by electron and light microscopy. We will introduce targeted mutations that are designed to interfere with membrane shape changes or micro-domain formation. Furthermore, where necessary, we will solve the structure of individual subunits or complexes by x-ray crystallography. We will further verify our in vitro findings in cell culture systems.
Our results will give important insights into autophagy and organelle formation in general.
Summary
During autophagy initially small double membrane-bound structures expand and adopt cup-like shapes. These cup-shaped structures fuse at their rims to give rise to autophagosomes within which cytoplasmic material is enclosed. Subsequently autophagosomes fuse with endosomes and lysosomes and the content and the inner membrane are degraded. Autophagy serves to recycle essential building blocks during starvation, to degrade damaged organelles, to clear cells of protein aggregates and to kill intracellular microorganisms. Little is known about the mechanisms by which cells bend and remodel membranes into autophagosomes.
The action of a complex containing type III PI3K activity is essential for the initiation of autophagosome formation. During expansion of the initial double membrane bound structure the Atg8 and Atg12 conjugation systems play important roles. A further protein that is essential for autophagosome formation is the transmembrane protein Atg9.
We will investigate the impact of individual PI3K complex subunits, the Atg8 and Atg12 conjugation systems and Atg9 on membrane morphology in vitro. We will analyse membrane shape changes and micro-domain formation using artificial small and giant liposomes by electron and light microscopy. We will introduce targeted mutations that are designed to interfere with membrane shape changes or micro-domain formation. Furthermore, where necessary, we will solve the structure of individual subunits or complexes by x-ray crystallography. We will further verify our in vitro findings in cell culture systems.
Our results will give important insights into autophagy and organelle formation in general.
Max ERC Funding
1 163 832 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-03-01, End date: 2016-02-29
Project acronym NAC
Project Nuclear Atomic Clock
Researcher (PI) Thorsten Schumm
Host Institution (HI) TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary "Atoms, as building blocks of nature, consist of an atomic nucleus and the electron shell. Both systems are governed by similar laws and forces. However, the required energies to create changes in the nucleus or the electron shell differ by many orders of magnitudes. This reflects in largely different tools and methods used for their investigation: atomic physics probes the electron shell mainly by means of lasers. Nuclear physicists create excitations at high energies using particle accelerators such as CERN.
The radio isotope 229Thorium is the only atom with the potential to bridge the gap between atomic and nuclear physics. It provides an unnaturally low-energy nuclear excited state, accessible to atomic physics tools, most notably laser excitation. It is the aim of the proposed research project to identify the optical nuclear transition and make it usable for fundamental investigations and applications.
Currently, our second is defined as 9.192.631.770 oscillations of a light wave that leads to a specific excitation in the electron shell of the Cesium atom. Using the nuclear excited state of 229Thorium instead would increase the time standard accuracy by many orders of magnitudes, at the same time reducing the experimental complexity considerably. Building such a nuclear clock is the main goal of the research proposal. This will directly lead to improved accuracy in satellite based navigation (GPS) and enhanced bandwidth in communication networks. Furthermore, vomparing a nuclear atomic clock to standard time standards will hence allow addressing one of the most fundamental questions in physics: ""are nature s constants really constant?""."
Summary
"Atoms, as building blocks of nature, consist of an atomic nucleus and the electron shell. Both systems are governed by similar laws and forces. However, the required energies to create changes in the nucleus or the electron shell differ by many orders of magnitudes. This reflects in largely different tools and methods used for their investigation: atomic physics probes the electron shell mainly by means of lasers. Nuclear physicists create excitations at high energies using particle accelerators such as CERN.
The radio isotope 229Thorium is the only atom with the potential to bridge the gap between atomic and nuclear physics. It provides an unnaturally low-energy nuclear excited state, accessible to atomic physics tools, most notably laser excitation. It is the aim of the proposed research project to identify the optical nuclear transition and make it usable for fundamental investigations and applications.
Currently, our second is defined as 9.192.631.770 oscillations of a light wave that leads to a specific excitation in the electron shell of the Cesium atom. Using the nuclear excited state of 229Thorium instead would increase the time standard accuracy by many orders of magnitudes, at the same time reducing the experimental complexity considerably. Building such a nuclear clock is the main goal of the research proposal. This will directly lead to improved accuracy in satellite based navigation (GPS) and enhanced bandwidth in communication networks. Furthermore, vomparing a nuclear atomic clock to standard time standards will hence allow addressing one of the most fundamental questions in physics: ""are nature s constants really constant?""."
Max ERC Funding
1 245 884 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-12-01, End date: 2015-11-30
