Project acronym ID-CAB
Project Individual differences in Collective Animal Behaviour
Researcher (PI) David Sumpter
Host Institution (HI) UPPSALA UNIVERSITET
Country Sweden
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS8, ERC-2009-StG
Summary One of the key challenges in scientific research is to link together our understanding of different levels of biological organisation. This challenge is fundamental to the scientific endeavour: from understand how genes interact to drive the cell, to how cells interact to form organisms, up to how organisms interact to form groups and societies. My own and the research of others has addressed this question in the context of the collective behaviour of animals. Mathematical models of complex systems have been used to successfully predict experimental outcome. Most previous studies are however limited in one important aspect: individuals are treated as identical units. The aim of the proposed research proposed is to investigate features which produce differences within the units. The model systems of our study will be sticklebacks, homing pigeons and house sparrows. Individuals can differ from each other on a range of time scales, from information acquired within the last few minutes, through socially learnt information, to genetically inherited differences. Through a series of experiments on each of the study species, the development of mathematical models which incorporate between individual differences, and novel forms of data analysis, we will begin to understand the role played by individual differences within groups. We will look at the rules of motion for fish and birds; the role of personality in decision-making and how short term information differences improve decision-making accuracy. Achieving the project objectives will greatly enhance our understanding of the relationship between individual animals and the groups they live in, as well as impacting on our understanding of individual differences in other areas of biology.
Summary
One of the key challenges in scientific research is to link together our understanding of different levels of biological organisation. This challenge is fundamental to the scientific endeavour: from understand how genes interact to drive the cell, to how cells interact to form organisms, up to how organisms interact to form groups and societies. My own and the research of others has addressed this question in the context of the collective behaviour of animals. Mathematical models of complex systems have been used to successfully predict experimental outcome. Most previous studies are however limited in one important aspect: individuals are treated as identical units. The aim of the proposed research proposed is to investigate features which produce differences within the units. The model systems of our study will be sticklebacks, homing pigeons and house sparrows. Individuals can differ from each other on a range of time scales, from information acquired within the last few minutes, through socially learnt information, to genetically inherited differences. Through a series of experiments on each of the study species, the development of mathematical models which incorporate between individual differences, and novel forms of data analysis, we will begin to understand the role played by individual differences within groups. We will look at the rules of motion for fish and birds; the role of personality in decision-making and how short term information differences improve decision-making accuracy. Achieving the project objectives will greatly enhance our understanding of the relationship between individual animals and the groups they live in, as well as impacting on our understanding of individual differences in other areas of biology.
Max ERC Funding
977 768 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-02-01, End date: 2015-01-31
Project acronym IMMUNOSWITCH
Project Switch recombination: a model system for DNA editing and repair in human lymphocytes with relevance for primary immunodeficiency and cancer formation
Researcher (PI) Qiang Pan Hammarstroem
Host Institution (HI) KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET
Country Sweden
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS6, ERC-2009-StG
Summary The aim of this project is to try to understand the complex molecular mechanisms involved in DNA editing, repair and recombination during immunoglobulin class switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation (SHM). We have developed a series of PCR-based assays to study in vivo generated CSR junctions and the pattern of mutations introduced in the immunoglobulin variable region genes in human B cells, allowing us to characterize CSR and SHM in patients with immunodeficiency due to defect(s) in DNA repair/recombination. Novel in vitro CSR assays, based on GFP expression, allowing quantitative measurement of substrate recombination, are also being developed. In addition, we have initiated an evolutionary analysis of the function and structure of activation-induced deaminase, an essential molecule involved both in CSR and SHM, aiming to identify CSR specific-cofactor(s). Combining these approaches, we will be able to define the DNA repair pathways involved in CSR and SHM. The suggested project requires access to patients with various defects in the DNA repair pathways. Many of these diseases are exceedingly rare. However, through worldwide collaboration, we have obtained samples from a majority of the diagnosed patients. We are also refining the existing screening methods and developing novel methods, that will allow identification of additional patients both with recognized and new diseases caused by mutations in DNA repair pathways. Finally, we hope to be able to address the question whether illegitimate CSR events are associated with predisposition to lymphomagenesis in patients with immunodeficiency/DNA repair defect(s), by analyzing the CSR induced chromosomal breaks and translocations in these patients. A large-scale sequencing project is also planned to characterize the CSRnome in B-cell lymphoma samples.
Summary
The aim of this project is to try to understand the complex molecular mechanisms involved in DNA editing, repair and recombination during immunoglobulin class switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation (SHM). We have developed a series of PCR-based assays to study in vivo generated CSR junctions and the pattern of mutations introduced in the immunoglobulin variable region genes in human B cells, allowing us to characterize CSR and SHM in patients with immunodeficiency due to defect(s) in DNA repair/recombination. Novel in vitro CSR assays, based on GFP expression, allowing quantitative measurement of substrate recombination, are also being developed. In addition, we have initiated an evolutionary analysis of the function and structure of activation-induced deaminase, an essential molecule involved both in CSR and SHM, aiming to identify CSR specific-cofactor(s). Combining these approaches, we will be able to define the DNA repair pathways involved in CSR and SHM. The suggested project requires access to patients with various defects in the DNA repair pathways. Many of these diseases are exceedingly rare. However, through worldwide collaboration, we have obtained samples from a majority of the diagnosed patients. We are also refining the existing screening methods and developing novel methods, that will allow identification of additional patients both with recognized and new diseases caused by mutations in DNA repair pathways. Finally, we hope to be able to address the question whether illegitimate CSR events are associated with predisposition to lymphomagenesis in patients with immunodeficiency/DNA repair defect(s), by analyzing the CSR induced chromosomal breaks and translocations in these patients. A large-scale sequencing project is also planned to characterize the CSRnome in B-cell lymphoma samples.
Max ERC Funding
1 888 166 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-12-01, End date: 2014-11-30
Project acronym INTGEN
Project Intergenerational correlations of schooling, income and health: an investigation of the underlying mechanisms
Researcher (PI) Carl Mikael Lindahl
Host Institution (HI) UPPSALA UNIVERSITET
Country Sweden
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH1, ERC-2009-StG
Summary The objective of this project is to use rich Swedish registry data to learn about mechanisms behind intergenerational correlations. Typically, considerably effort has been spent on estimating correlations between outcome variables, such as education and income, for parents and children. However, the estimated correlations are driven by the causal effect of the parental variable of interest as well as unobservable factors such as other family background related variables and a part that is due to genetic transmission between parent and child. Disentangling these parts is very difficult and only recently has researchers made serious attempts to disentangling these different parts. However, findings vary widely across methods and this literature is still in its infancy. Among questions we ask are: How much of the association between outcome variables for the child and a parent is due to a causal effect from the parental variable, and how much is transmitted through unobservable family factors and genetic transmission? What are the intergenerational transmission and channels for life expectancy and health? What is the importance of genes-environmental interaction? Has the importance of genes, environment and its interactions for the intergenerational associations changed during the growth of the Scandinavian welfare state? How many generations does it take for ancestors placement in the income distribution to not longer matter for life success? These questions are directly relevant for policy, and relate to classical social science issues such as inequality of opportunity and level-of-living in general. The innovativeness of this project is based on using the uniqueness of Swedish registry data (ideal to answer these questions), with which one can match biological and adoptive parents, children and siblings, and hence can identify whether children are reared by their biological or adoptive parents, for the population of Swedes.
Summary
The objective of this project is to use rich Swedish registry data to learn about mechanisms behind intergenerational correlations. Typically, considerably effort has been spent on estimating correlations between outcome variables, such as education and income, for parents and children. However, the estimated correlations are driven by the causal effect of the parental variable of interest as well as unobservable factors such as other family background related variables and a part that is due to genetic transmission between parent and child. Disentangling these parts is very difficult and only recently has researchers made serious attempts to disentangling these different parts. However, findings vary widely across methods and this literature is still in its infancy. Among questions we ask are: How much of the association between outcome variables for the child and a parent is due to a causal effect from the parental variable, and how much is transmitted through unobservable family factors and genetic transmission? What are the intergenerational transmission and channels for life expectancy and health? What is the importance of genes-environmental interaction? Has the importance of genes, environment and its interactions for the intergenerational associations changed during the growth of the Scandinavian welfare state? How many generations does it take for ancestors placement in the income distribution to not longer matter for life success? These questions are directly relevant for policy, and relate to classical social science issues such as inequality of opportunity and level-of-living in general. The innovativeness of this project is based on using the uniqueness of Swedish registry data (ideal to answer these questions), with which one can match biological and adoptive parents, children and siblings, and hence can identify whether children are reared by their biological or adoptive parents, for the population of Swedes.
Max ERC Funding
631 600 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-09-01, End date: 2015-08-31
Project acronym LAST
Project Large Scale Privacy-Preserving Technology in the Digital World - Infrastructure and Applications
Researcher (PI) Yehuda Lindell
Host Institution (HI) BAR ILAN UNIVERSITY
Country Israel
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE6, ERC-2009-StG
Summary Data mining provides large benefits to the commercial, government and homeland security sectors, but the aggregation and storage of huge amounts of data about citizens inevitably leads to erosion of privacy. To achieve the benefits that data mining has to offer, while at the same time enhancing privacy, we need technological solutions that simultaneously enable data mining while preserving privacy. The current state of the art has focused on providing privacy-preserving solutions for very specific problems, and has thus taken a local perspective. Although this is an important first step in the development of privacy-preserving solutions, it is time for a global perspective on the problem that aims for providing full integrated solutions. Our goal in this research is to study privacy and develop comprehensive solutions for enhancing it in the digital era. Our proposed research project includes foundational research on privacy, an infrastructure level for achieving anonymity over the Internet, key cryptographic tools for constructing privacy-preserving protocols, and development of large-scale applications that are built on top of all of the above. The novelty of our research is in our focus on fundamental issues towards comprehensive solutions that are aimed for large-scale data sources. The project s outcome will allow migration from local solutions for specific problems that are suited for small to medium scale data sources to comprehensive privacy-preserving database and data mining solutions for large scale data warehouses. Achieving this great challenge carries immense scientific, technological and societal rewards.
Summary
Data mining provides large benefits to the commercial, government and homeland security sectors, but the aggregation and storage of huge amounts of data about citizens inevitably leads to erosion of privacy. To achieve the benefits that data mining has to offer, while at the same time enhancing privacy, we need technological solutions that simultaneously enable data mining while preserving privacy. The current state of the art has focused on providing privacy-preserving solutions for very specific problems, and has thus taken a local perspective. Although this is an important first step in the development of privacy-preserving solutions, it is time for a global perspective on the problem that aims for providing full integrated solutions. Our goal in this research is to study privacy and develop comprehensive solutions for enhancing it in the digital era. Our proposed research project includes foundational research on privacy, an infrastructure level for achieving anonymity over the Internet, key cryptographic tools for constructing privacy-preserving protocols, and development of large-scale applications that are built on top of all of the above. The novelty of our research is in our focus on fundamental issues towards comprehensive solutions that are aimed for large-scale data sources. The project s outcome will allow migration from local solutions for specific problems that are suited for small to medium scale data sources to comprehensive privacy-preserving database and data mining solutions for large scale data warehouses. Achieving this great challenge carries immense scientific, technological and societal rewards.
Max ERC Funding
1 921 316 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-10-01, End date: 2014-09-30
Project acronym MINT
Project Multiphoton Ionization Nano-Therapy
Researcher (PI) Dvir Yelin
Host Institution (HI) TECHNION - ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Country Israel
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE7, ERC-2009-StG
Summary The application of nanotechnology for addressing key problems in clinical diagnosis and therapy holds great promise in medicine and in cancer in particular. Recent works have shown significant progress in nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery and therapy. In these applications, however, the small dimensions of the nanoparticles have been used primarily for efficient delivery and specificity, while the effects mediated by the nanoparticles occur away from the particle itself, affecting the entire cell\tumour volume. We propose to study and develop, for the first time, a novel scheme for cancer therapy that treats cancer cells at nanoscale resolutions. Briefly, when noble-metal nanoparticles are illuminated with femtosecond laser pulses tuned to their plasmonic resonance, order-of-magnitude enhancements of the optical fields several nanometres away from their surfaces lead to local damage only to nearby molecules or cellular organelles. This process, which practically involves no toxic agents, is at the basis for this proposal; we will utilize techniques for targeting nanoparticles to cells, initiate and control cancer cell destruction using nanoparticles and femtosecond laser pulses, and develop technology for conducting image-guided minimally invasive cancer therapy in remote locations of the body. Preliminary results supporting the proposed scheme include nonlinear optical imaging and ablation of living cells, in vivo endoscopic imaging of cancerous tumour nodules, and computer simulations of light-nanoparticle interactions. Using state-of-the-art concepts in nanotechnology, biology, chemistry, and medicine, the proposed novel multidisciplinary research will attempt at offering a feasible and safe addition to existing forms of cancer therapy.
Summary
The application of nanotechnology for addressing key problems in clinical diagnosis and therapy holds great promise in medicine and in cancer in particular. Recent works have shown significant progress in nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery and therapy. In these applications, however, the small dimensions of the nanoparticles have been used primarily for efficient delivery and specificity, while the effects mediated by the nanoparticles occur away from the particle itself, affecting the entire cell\tumour volume. We propose to study and develop, for the first time, a novel scheme for cancer therapy that treats cancer cells at nanoscale resolutions. Briefly, when noble-metal nanoparticles are illuminated with femtosecond laser pulses tuned to their plasmonic resonance, order-of-magnitude enhancements of the optical fields several nanometres away from their surfaces lead to local damage only to nearby molecules or cellular organelles. This process, which practically involves no toxic agents, is at the basis for this proposal; we will utilize techniques for targeting nanoparticles to cells, initiate and control cancer cell destruction using nanoparticles and femtosecond laser pulses, and develop technology for conducting image-guided minimally invasive cancer therapy in remote locations of the body. Preliminary results supporting the proposed scheme include nonlinear optical imaging and ablation of living cells, in vivo endoscopic imaging of cancerous tumour nodules, and computer simulations of light-nanoparticle interactions. Using state-of-the-art concepts in nanotechnology, biology, chemistry, and medicine, the proposed novel multidisciplinary research will attempt at offering a feasible and safe addition to existing forms of cancer therapy.
Max ERC Funding
1 782 600 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-12-01, End date: 2014-11-30
Project acronym PAC
Project Proofs and Computation
Researcher (PI) Eliyahu Ben Sasson
Host Institution (HI) TECHNION - ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Country Israel
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE6, ERC-2009-StG
Summary The project described in this proposal studies formal proofs and their interaction with computation. The study of propositional proofs is connected to a spectrum of problems in our field, starting with the meta-mathematical quest to explain our failure to understand computation and make progress on the basic questions haunting our field (such as P vs. NP), and ending with the industry-driven quest for better algorithms for solving instances of the satisfiability problem. In a seemingly different direction, the recent introduction of magical probabilistically checkable proofs (PCPs) has opened new horizons in computer science, ranging from a deeper understanding of approximation algorithms and their limits to the construction of super-efficient protocols for the verification of proofs and computations. We suggest to study proofs and computation with three main objectives. First, to construct better SAT solvers via a better understanding of propositional proof systems. Second, to expand the range of applications of PCPs and transform them from the purely theoretical objects that they currently are to practical and accessible formats for use in all settings where proofs are encountered. Third, to expand our theoretical understanding of the intrinsic limits of proofs, with an eye towards explaining why we are unable to make significant progress on central questions in computational complexity. We believe this project can bridge across different regions of computer science such as SAT solving and proof complexity, theory and practice, propositional proofs and probabilistically checkable ones. And its expected impact will start on the theoretical mathematical level that forms the foundation of computer science and percolate to more practical areas of our field.
Summary
The project described in this proposal studies formal proofs and their interaction with computation. The study of propositional proofs is connected to a spectrum of problems in our field, starting with the meta-mathematical quest to explain our failure to understand computation and make progress on the basic questions haunting our field (such as P vs. NP), and ending with the industry-driven quest for better algorithms for solving instances of the satisfiability problem. In a seemingly different direction, the recent introduction of magical probabilistically checkable proofs (PCPs) has opened new horizons in computer science, ranging from a deeper understanding of approximation algorithms and their limits to the construction of super-efficient protocols for the verification of proofs and computations. We suggest to study proofs and computation with three main objectives. First, to construct better SAT solvers via a better understanding of propositional proof systems. Second, to expand the range of applications of PCPs and transform them from the purely theoretical objects that they currently are to practical and accessible formats for use in all settings where proofs are encountered. Third, to expand our theoretical understanding of the intrinsic limits of proofs, with an eye towards explaining why we are unable to make significant progress on central questions in computational complexity. We believe this project can bridge across different regions of computer science such as SAT solving and proof complexity, theory and practice, propositional proofs and probabilistically checkable ones. And its expected impact will start on the theoretical mathematical level that forms the foundation of computer science and percolate to more practical areas of our field.
Max ERC Funding
1 743 676 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-12-01, End date: 2015-09-30
Project acronym SINGLE-CELL GENOMICS
Project Single-cell Gene Regulation in Differentiation and Pluripotency
Researcher (PI) Thore Rickard Hakan Sandberg
Host Institution (HI) KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET
Country Sweden
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS2, ERC-2009-StG
Summary We aim to study transcriptomes with single-cell resolution, a long-standing goal in biology, to answer fundamental questions about gene regulation. The main objective concerns gene regulation during in vivo differentiation and in pluripotent cells by studying single-cells from murine preimplantation embryos, a model system with natural single-cell resolution, important biology and medical potential. This would also allow us to explore general regulatory principles of gene expression programs of individual cells. This research program will be accomplished by novel deep sequencing technology of mRNAs (mRNA-Seq) to obtain quantitative, unbiased and genome-wide gene and isoform expression measurements. We are therefore developing new experimental and computational methods for genome-wide analyses of transcriptomes at single-cell resolution. The biological significances of the proposed research are unique insights into early embryonic development. Deep sequencing of transcriptomes will also reveal post-transcriptional gene regulation important for pluripotent cells and identified pluripotency-specific gene and isoform expressions will be important for future stem cell based therapies. The inherit single-cell nature of the model system together with its important biology makes it a model systems exceptionally well suited for a systems biology approach aiming to characterize gene regulation at single-cell resolution. The novel methodology has tremendous potential to enable complete mRNA characterization of individual cells. The deep sequencing approach with state-of-the-art computational analyses is both more quantitative than previous methods and it will give readouts on alternative isoforms generated by alternative promoters, splicing and polyadenylation.
Summary
We aim to study transcriptomes with single-cell resolution, a long-standing goal in biology, to answer fundamental questions about gene regulation. The main objective concerns gene regulation during in vivo differentiation and in pluripotent cells by studying single-cells from murine preimplantation embryos, a model system with natural single-cell resolution, important biology and medical potential. This would also allow us to explore general regulatory principles of gene expression programs of individual cells. This research program will be accomplished by novel deep sequencing technology of mRNAs (mRNA-Seq) to obtain quantitative, unbiased and genome-wide gene and isoform expression measurements. We are therefore developing new experimental and computational methods for genome-wide analyses of transcriptomes at single-cell resolution. The biological significances of the proposed research are unique insights into early embryonic development. Deep sequencing of transcriptomes will also reveal post-transcriptional gene regulation important for pluripotent cells and identified pluripotency-specific gene and isoform expressions will be important for future stem cell based therapies. The inherit single-cell nature of the model system together with its important biology makes it a model systems exceptionally well suited for a systems biology approach aiming to characterize gene regulation at single-cell resolution. The novel methodology has tremendous potential to enable complete mRNA characterization of individual cells. The deep sequencing approach with state-of-the-art computational analyses is both more quantitative than previous methods and it will give readouts on alternative isoforms generated by alternative promoters, splicing and polyadenylation.
Max ERC Funding
1 654 384 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-02-01, End date: 2015-01-31
Project acronym STRONGPCP
Project Strong Probabilistically Checkable Proofs
Researcher (PI) Irit Dveer Dinur
Host Institution (HI) WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
Country Israel
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE6, ERC-2009-StG
Summary Probabilistically Checkable Proofs (PCPs) encapsulate the striking idea that verification of proofs becomes nearly trivial if one is willing to use randomness. The PCP theorem, proven in the early 90's, is a cornerstone of modern computational complexity theory. It completely revises our notion of a proof, leading to an amazingly robust behavior: A PCP proof is guaranteed to have an abundance of errors if attempting to prove a falsity. This stands in sharp contrast to our classical notion of a proof whose correctness can collapse due to one wrong step. An important drive in the development of PCP theory is the revolutionary effect it had on the field of approximation. Feige et. al. [JACM, 1996] discovered that the PCP theorem is *equivalent* to the inapproximability of several classical optimization problems. Thus, PCP theory has resulted in a leap in our understanding of approximability and opened the gate to a flood of results. To date, virtually all inapproximability results are based on the PCP theorem, and while there is an impressive body of work on hardness-of-approximation, much work still lies ahead. The central goal of this proposal is to obtain stronger PCPs than currently known, leading towards optimal inapproximability results and novel notions of robustness in computation and in proofs. This study will build upon (i) new directions opened up by my novel proof of the PCP theorem [JACM, 2007]; and on (ii) state-of-the-art PCP machinery involving techniques from algebra, functional and harmonic analysis, probability, combinatorics, and coding theory. The broader impact of this study spans a better understanding of limits for approximation algorithms saving time and resources for algorithm designers; and new understanding of robustness in a variety of mathematical contexts, arising from the many connections between PCPs and stability questions in combinatorics, functional analysis, metric embeddings, probability, and more.
Summary
Probabilistically Checkable Proofs (PCPs) encapsulate the striking idea that verification of proofs becomes nearly trivial if one is willing to use randomness. The PCP theorem, proven in the early 90's, is a cornerstone of modern computational complexity theory. It completely revises our notion of a proof, leading to an amazingly robust behavior: A PCP proof is guaranteed to have an abundance of errors if attempting to prove a falsity. This stands in sharp contrast to our classical notion of a proof whose correctness can collapse due to one wrong step. An important drive in the development of PCP theory is the revolutionary effect it had on the field of approximation. Feige et. al. [JACM, 1996] discovered that the PCP theorem is *equivalent* to the inapproximability of several classical optimization problems. Thus, PCP theory has resulted in a leap in our understanding of approximability and opened the gate to a flood of results. To date, virtually all inapproximability results are based on the PCP theorem, and while there is an impressive body of work on hardness-of-approximation, much work still lies ahead. The central goal of this proposal is to obtain stronger PCPs than currently known, leading towards optimal inapproximability results and novel notions of robustness in computation and in proofs. This study will build upon (i) new directions opened up by my novel proof of the PCP theorem [JACM, 2007]; and on (ii) state-of-the-art PCP machinery involving techniques from algebra, functional and harmonic analysis, probability, combinatorics, and coding theory. The broader impact of this study spans a better understanding of limits for approximation algorithms saving time and resources for algorithm designers; and new understanding of robustness in a variety of mathematical contexts, arising from the many connections between PCPs and stability questions in combinatorics, functional analysis, metric embeddings, probability, and more.
Max ERC Funding
1 639 584 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-09-01, End date: 2016-06-30
Project acronym TEPESS
Project Technologies and psychophysics of spatial sound
Researcher (PI) Ville Pulkki
Host Institution (HI) AALTO KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR
Country Finland
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE7, ERC-2009-StG
Summary Spatial audio is a field, which investigates technologies to capture and reproduce sound in a way that the spatial properties of it are either preserved or modified depending on application. For example, modern surround sound techniques try to reproduce the sound scene perceived by a human listener in the same way than in the original occasion. The principal investigator (PI) has been able to develop a number of technologies in spatial audio field and to transfer them to the industry. The project would have two work packages, one concentrating on development of technology (WP1) and the other on perceptual studies (WP2). The perceptual studies are assumed to help technology development, and new technologies are assumed to reveal new phenomena in perception. The main issue for WP1 is the development of generic audio format. In future all music records and movie audio tracks are targeted to be in this format, which would be suitable for listening with any loudspeaker setup and also with headphones, always with optimal spatial and timbral quality. The development of the format is based on a technique by the PI, which is extended in this work for enhanced playback over loudspeakers and over headphones. Also, new techniques are developed for sound input from different types of microphones and from existing audio formats. The perceptual issues studied in WP2 would be the functioning of spatial hearing with wide sources and complex sound scenarios, together with computational modeling of brain mechanisms devoted to binaural hearing. The crossmodal effects between vision and auditory systems would also be investigated in the anechoic chamber specially equipped for spatial sound research. As the final task, the perceptual quality of developed generic audio format in different listening scenarios would be evaluated with subjective and objective tests.
Summary
Spatial audio is a field, which investigates technologies to capture and reproduce sound in a way that the spatial properties of it are either preserved or modified depending on application. For example, modern surround sound techniques try to reproduce the sound scene perceived by a human listener in the same way than in the original occasion. The principal investigator (PI) has been able to develop a number of technologies in spatial audio field and to transfer them to the industry. The project would have two work packages, one concentrating on development of technology (WP1) and the other on perceptual studies (WP2). The perceptual studies are assumed to help technology development, and new technologies are assumed to reveal new phenomena in perception. The main issue for WP1 is the development of generic audio format. In future all music records and movie audio tracks are targeted to be in this format, which would be suitable for listening with any loudspeaker setup and also with headphones, always with optimal spatial and timbral quality. The development of the format is based on a technique by the PI, which is extended in this work for enhanced playback over loudspeakers and over headphones. Also, new techniques are developed for sound input from different types of microphones and from existing audio formats. The perceptual issues studied in WP2 would be the functioning of spatial hearing with wide sources and complex sound scenarios, together with computational modeling of brain mechanisms devoted to binaural hearing. The crossmodal effects between vision and auditory systems would also be investigated in the anechoic chamber specially equipped for spatial sound research. As the final task, the perceptual quality of developed generic audio format in different listening scenarios would be evaluated with subjective and objective tests.
Max ERC Funding
1 879 458 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-09-01, End date: 2014-08-31
Project acronym TLIM
Project Talent and Learning in Imperfect Markets
Researcher (PI) Marko Juhani Tervioe
Host Institution (HI) AALTO KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR
Country Finland
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH1, ERC-2009-StG
Summary The overall effectiveness at which the underlying talent resources in an economy are utilized is an important determinant of long-run economic growth and well-being. Recent work has shown that the processes through which talent is discovered and revealed in the economy are likely to suffer from market imperfections that are analogous to problems that have been for long been understood in the context of private provision of job training and education, resulting in not just reduced economic efficiency but also contributing to income inequality. The first basic question is what is the role of talent rents in explaining income inequality? In a static world where all information about talent is known, such talent rents would merely be compensation to a scarce factor of production. However, when the discovery of talent is subject to market imperfections then income differences that ostensibly look like talent rents are partly due to inefficient information rents. This raises the second and novel question, about whether and to what extent observed income differences are due to inefficient rents to information about talent that masquerade as talent rents. I also plan to investigate how technological change has impacted the distribution of talent rents via its effect on the discovery/revelation process of talent. The larger goal of the project is to help understand the economy-wide implications of institutions and policies that govern the discovery and allocation of talent in the economy. Better understanding could also point the way towards improved policy interventions.
Summary
The overall effectiveness at which the underlying talent resources in an economy are utilized is an important determinant of long-run economic growth and well-being. Recent work has shown that the processes through which talent is discovered and revealed in the economy are likely to suffer from market imperfections that are analogous to problems that have been for long been understood in the context of private provision of job training and education, resulting in not just reduced economic efficiency but also contributing to income inequality. The first basic question is what is the role of talent rents in explaining income inequality? In a static world where all information about talent is known, such talent rents would merely be compensation to a scarce factor of production. However, when the discovery of talent is subject to market imperfections then income differences that ostensibly look like talent rents are partly due to inefficient information rents. This raises the second and novel question, about whether and to what extent observed income differences are due to inefficient rents to information about talent that masquerade as talent rents. I also plan to investigate how technological change has impacted the distribution of talent rents via its effect on the discovery/revelation process of talent. The larger goal of the project is to help understand the economy-wide implications of institutions and policies that govern the discovery and allocation of talent in the economy. Better understanding could also point the way towards improved policy interventions.
Max ERC Funding
1 003 440 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-10-01, End date: 2015-03-31
Project acronym TREATPD
Project Cell and gene therapy based approaches for treatment of Parkinson's disease: from models to clinics
Researcher (PI) Deniz Kirik
Host Institution (HI) MAX IV Laboratory, Lund University
Country Sweden
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS5, ERC-2009-StG
Summary Parkinson s disease is one of the common causes of disability in the aging population, representing a major health problem for the affected individuals and a socioeconomic burden to the society. In the present proposal, the applicant puts forward an ambitious but feasible program to tackle a number of significant issues that remain unsolved in the field. He combines his strong track record in animal models of Parkinson s disease and novel cell and gene therapy-based therapeutic strategies with powerful bio-imaging techniques in order to make bold steps towards translation of new and better treatments to patients suffering from this illness. He does so in a manner that combines, on one hand, the strength of clearly-defined hypotheses and well-established tools for results towards clinical translation, with high-risk high-reward projects that hold the potential to yield ground-breaking discoveries in implementation of novel imaging techniques, on the other.
Summary
Parkinson s disease is one of the common causes of disability in the aging population, representing a major health problem for the affected individuals and a socioeconomic burden to the society. In the present proposal, the applicant puts forward an ambitious but feasible program to tackle a number of significant issues that remain unsolved in the field. He combines his strong track record in animal models of Parkinson s disease and novel cell and gene therapy-based therapeutic strategies with powerful bio-imaging techniques in order to make bold steps towards translation of new and better treatments to patients suffering from this illness. He does so in a manner that combines, on one hand, the strength of clearly-defined hypotheses and well-established tools for results towards clinical translation, with high-risk high-reward projects that hold the potential to yield ground-breaking discoveries in implementation of novel imaging techniques, on the other.
Max ERC Funding
1 508 940 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-11-01, End date: 2014-10-31
