Project acronym CLUNATRA
Project Discovering new Catalysts in the Cluster-Nanoparticle Transition Regime
Researcher (PI) Ib CHORKENDORFF
Host Institution (HI) DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE4, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary The purpose of this proposal is to establish new fundamental insight of the reactivity and thereby the catalytic activity of oxides, nitrides, phosphides and sulfides (O-, N-, P-, S- ides) in the Cluster-Nanoparticle transition regime. We will use this insight to develop new catalysts through an interactive loop involving DFT simulations, synthesis, characterization and activity testing. The overarching objective is to make new catalysts that are efficient for production of solar fuels and chemicals to facilitate the implementation of sustainable energy, e.g. electrochemical hydrogen production and reduction of CO2 and N2 through both electrochemical and thermally activated processes.
Recent research has identified why there is a lack of significant progress in developing new more active catalysts. Chemical scaling-relations exist among the intermediates, making it difficult to find a reaction pathway, which provides a flat potential energy landscape - a necessity for making the reaction proceed without large losses. My hypothesis is that going away from the conventional size regime, > 2 nm, one may break such chemical scaling-relations. Non-scalable behavior means that adding an atom results in a completely different reactivity. This drastic change could be even further enhanced if the added atom is a different element than the recipient particle, providing new freedom to control the reaction pathway. The methodology will be based on setting up a specifically optimized instrument for synthesizing such mass-selected clusters/nanoparticles. Thus far, researchers have barely explored this size regime. Only a limited amount of studies has been devoted to inorganic entities of oxides and sulfides; nitrides and phosphides are completely unexplored. We will employ atomic level simulations, synthesis, characterization, and subsequently test for specific reactions. This interdisciplinary loop will result in new breakthroughs in the area of catalyst material discovery.
Summary
The purpose of this proposal is to establish new fundamental insight of the reactivity and thereby the catalytic activity of oxides, nitrides, phosphides and sulfides (O-, N-, P-, S- ides) in the Cluster-Nanoparticle transition regime. We will use this insight to develop new catalysts through an interactive loop involving DFT simulations, synthesis, characterization and activity testing. The overarching objective is to make new catalysts that are efficient for production of solar fuels and chemicals to facilitate the implementation of sustainable energy, e.g. electrochemical hydrogen production and reduction of CO2 and N2 through both electrochemical and thermally activated processes.
Recent research has identified why there is a lack of significant progress in developing new more active catalysts. Chemical scaling-relations exist among the intermediates, making it difficult to find a reaction pathway, which provides a flat potential energy landscape - a necessity for making the reaction proceed without large losses. My hypothesis is that going away from the conventional size regime, > 2 nm, one may break such chemical scaling-relations. Non-scalable behavior means that adding an atom results in a completely different reactivity. This drastic change could be even further enhanced if the added atom is a different element than the recipient particle, providing new freedom to control the reaction pathway. The methodology will be based on setting up a specifically optimized instrument for synthesizing such mass-selected clusters/nanoparticles. Thus far, researchers have barely explored this size regime. Only a limited amount of studies has been devoted to inorganic entities of oxides and sulfides; nitrides and phosphides are completely unexplored. We will employ atomic level simulations, synthesis, characterization, and subsequently test for specific reactions. This interdisciplinary loop will result in new breakthroughs in the area of catalyst material discovery.
Max ERC Funding
2 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31
Project acronym GlymphEye
Project The Ocular Glymphatic System
Researcher (PI) Maiken Nedergaard
Host Institution (HI) KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS5, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary The glymphatic system is a highly organized brain-wide mechanism by which fluid wastes are removed from the brain that was recently described by my team. The glymphatic system clears 65% of amyloid-beta from the normal adult brain. A rapidly evolving literature has shown that the major neurodegenerative diseases of the eye, macular degeneration and glaucoma, may also result from the toxicity of uncleared protein wastes, including amyloid-beta. Yet the eye, like the brain, has no traditional lymphatic vessels. In this application, I propose that two of the most significant causes of human visual loss, macular degeneration and glaucoma – previously thought of as both intractable and unrelated – are instead mechanistically allied disorders that not only share a common causal pathway, but may both be therapeutically modified by targeting dysregulation of the glymphatic pathway. As such, this proposal seeks to link the biology of a fundamentally new pathway for both metabolic substrate and waste transport in the adult brain, to diseases of the eye that have long been resistant to either understanding or treatment.
The objectives: WP1: Define the cellular mechanisms that drive ocular glymphatic transport of Amyloid-beta using an ex vivo preparation of the optic nerve. WP2: Use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to establish the existence of ocular glymphatic transport in live animals. WP3: Determine whether the ocular glymphatic system, like the brain lymphatic system, is critically regulated by the sleep-wake cycle. WP4: Test the hypothesis that age-dependent macular degeneration is caused by a suppression of ocular glymphatic transport, with secondary accumulation of toxic protein products in and subjacent to the retinal pigment epithelium? WP5: Define the impact of increased intraocular pressure on glymphatic export of amyloid-beta, and test the hypothesis that the decrease in ocular glymphatic transport contributes to degeneration of retinal ganglion cells in glaucoma.
Summary
The glymphatic system is a highly organized brain-wide mechanism by which fluid wastes are removed from the brain that was recently described by my team. The glymphatic system clears 65% of amyloid-beta from the normal adult brain. A rapidly evolving literature has shown that the major neurodegenerative diseases of the eye, macular degeneration and glaucoma, may also result from the toxicity of uncleared protein wastes, including amyloid-beta. Yet the eye, like the brain, has no traditional lymphatic vessels. In this application, I propose that two of the most significant causes of human visual loss, macular degeneration and glaucoma – previously thought of as both intractable and unrelated – are instead mechanistically allied disorders that not only share a common causal pathway, but may both be therapeutically modified by targeting dysregulation of the glymphatic pathway. As such, this proposal seeks to link the biology of a fundamentally new pathway for both metabolic substrate and waste transport in the adult brain, to diseases of the eye that have long been resistant to either understanding or treatment.
The objectives: WP1: Define the cellular mechanisms that drive ocular glymphatic transport of Amyloid-beta using an ex vivo preparation of the optic nerve. WP2: Use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to establish the existence of ocular glymphatic transport in live animals. WP3: Determine whether the ocular glymphatic system, like the brain lymphatic system, is critically regulated by the sleep-wake cycle. WP4: Test the hypothesis that age-dependent macular degeneration is caused by a suppression of ocular glymphatic transport, with secondary accumulation of toxic protein products in and subjacent to the retinal pigment epithelium? WP5: Define the impact of increased intraocular pressure on glymphatic export of amyloid-beta, and test the hypothesis that the decrease in ocular glymphatic transport contributes to degeneration of retinal ganglion cells in glaucoma.
Max ERC Funding
2 176 250 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31
