Project acronym 3D-E
Project 3D Engineered Environments for Regenerative Medicine
Researcher (PI) Ruth Elizabeth Cameron
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary "This proposal develops a unified, underpinning technology to create novel, complex and biomimetic 3D environments for the control of tissue growth. As director of Cambridge Centre for Medical Materials, I have recently been approached by medical colleagues to help to solve important problems in the separate therapeutic areas of breast cancer, cardiac disease and blood disorders. In each case, the solution lies in complex 3D engineered environments for cell culture. These colleagues make it clear that existing 3D scaffolds fail to provide the required complex orientational and spatial anisotropy, and are limited in their ability to impart appropriate biochemical and mechanical cues.
I have a strong track record in this area. A particular success has been the use of a freeze drying technology to make collagen based porous implants for the cartilage-bone interface in the knee, which has now been commercialised. The novelty of this proposal lies in the broadening of the established scientific base of this technology to enable biomacromolecular structures with:
(A) controlled and complex pore orientation to mimic many normal multi-oriented tissue structures
(B) compositional and positional control to match varying local biochemical environments,
(C) the attachment of novel peptides designed to control cell behaviour, and
(D) mechanical control at both a local and macroscopic level to provide mechanical cues for cells.
These will be complemented by the development of
(E) robust characterisation methodologies for the structures created.
These advances will then be employed in each of the medical areas above.
This approach is highly interdisciplinary. Existing working relationships with experts in each medical field will guarantee expertise and licensed facilities in the required biological disciplines. Funds for this proposal would therefore establish a rich hub of mutually beneficial research and opportunities for cross-disciplinary sharing of expertise."
Summary
"This proposal develops a unified, underpinning technology to create novel, complex and biomimetic 3D environments for the control of tissue growth. As director of Cambridge Centre for Medical Materials, I have recently been approached by medical colleagues to help to solve important problems in the separate therapeutic areas of breast cancer, cardiac disease and blood disorders. In each case, the solution lies in complex 3D engineered environments for cell culture. These colleagues make it clear that existing 3D scaffolds fail to provide the required complex orientational and spatial anisotropy, and are limited in their ability to impart appropriate biochemical and mechanical cues.
I have a strong track record in this area. A particular success has been the use of a freeze drying technology to make collagen based porous implants for the cartilage-bone interface in the knee, which has now been commercialised. The novelty of this proposal lies in the broadening of the established scientific base of this technology to enable biomacromolecular structures with:
(A) controlled and complex pore orientation to mimic many normal multi-oriented tissue structures
(B) compositional and positional control to match varying local biochemical environments,
(C) the attachment of novel peptides designed to control cell behaviour, and
(D) mechanical control at both a local and macroscopic level to provide mechanical cues for cells.
These will be complemented by the development of
(E) robust characterisation methodologies for the structures created.
These advances will then be employed in each of the medical areas above.
This approach is highly interdisciplinary. Existing working relationships with experts in each medical field will guarantee expertise and licensed facilities in the required biological disciplines. Funds for this proposal would therefore establish a rich hub of mutually beneficial research and opportunities for cross-disciplinary sharing of expertise."
Max ERC Funding
2 486 267 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-04-01, End date: 2018-03-31
Project acronym ACOULOMODE
Project Advanced coupling of low order combustor simulations with thermoacoustic modelling and controller design
Researcher (PI) Aimee Morgans
Host Institution (HI) IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary "Combustion is essential to the world’s energy generation and transport needs, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Mitigating its impact on the climate and human health, by reducing its associated emissions, is thus a priority. One significant challenge for gas-turbine combustion is combustion instability, which is currently inhibiting reductions in NOx emissions (these damage human health via a deterioration in air quality). Combustion instability is caused by a two-way coupling between unsteady combustion and acoustic waves - the large pressure oscillations that result can cause substantial mechanical damage. Currently, the lack of fast, accurate modelling tools for combustion instability, and the lack of reliable ways of suppressing it are severely hindering reductions in NOx emissions.
This proposal aims to make step improvements in both fast, accurate modelling of combustion instability, and in developing reliable active control strategies for its suppression. It will achieve this by coupling low order combustor models (these are fast, simplified models for simulating combustion instability) with advances in analytical modelling, CFD simulation, reduced order modelling and control theory tools. In particular:
* important advances in accurately incorporating the effect of entropy waves (temperature variations resulting from unsteady combustion) and non-linear flame models will be made;
* new active control strategies for achieving reliable suppression of combustion instability, including from within limit cycle oscillations, will be developed;
* an open-source low order combustor modelling tool will be developed and widely disseminated, opening access to researchers worldwide and improving communications between the fields of thermoacoustics and control theory.
Thus the proposal aims to use analytical and computational methods to contribute to achieving low NOx gas-turbine combustion, without the penalty of damaging combustion instability."
Summary
"Combustion is essential to the world’s energy generation and transport needs, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Mitigating its impact on the climate and human health, by reducing its associated emissions, is thus a priority. One significant challenge for gas-turbine combustion is combustion instability, which is currently inhibiting reductions in NOx emissions (these damage human health via a deterioration in air quality). Combustion instability is caused by a two-way coupling between unsteady combustion and acoustic waves - the large pressure oscillations that result can cause substantial mechanical damage. Currently, the lack of fast, accurate modelling tools for combustion instability, and the lack of reliable ways of suppressing it are severely hindering reductions in NOx emissions.
This proposal aims to make step improvements in both fast, accurate modelling of combustion instability, and in developing reliable active control strategies for its suppression. It will achieve this by coupling low order combustor models (these are fast, simplified models for simulating combustion instability) with advances in analytical modelling, CFD simulation, reduced order modelling and control theory tools. In particular:
* important advances in accurately incorporating the effect of entropy waves (temperature variations resulting from unsteady combustion) and non-linear flame models will be made;
* new active control strategies for achieving reliable suppression of combustion instability, including from within limit cycle oscillations, will be developed;
* an open-source low order combustor modelling tool will be developed and widely disseminated, opening access to researchers worldwide and improving communications between the fields of thermoacoustics and control theory.
Thus the proposal aims to use analytical and computational methods to contribute to achieving low NOx gas-turbine combustion, without the penalty of damaging combustion instability."
Max ERC Funding
1 489 309 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31
Project acronym ActiveWindFarms
Project Active Wind Farms: Optimization and Control of Atmospheric Energy Extraction in Gigawatt Wind Farms
Researcher (PI) Johan Meyers
Host Institution (HI) KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary With the recognition that wind energy will become an important contributor to the world’s energy portfolio, several wind farms with a capacity of over 1 gigawatt are in planning phase. In the past, engineering of wind farms focused on a bottom-up approach, in which atmospheric wind availability was considered to be fixed by climate and weather. However, farms of gigawatt size slow down the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) as a whole, reducing the availability of wind at turbine hub height. In Denmark’s large off-shore farms, this leads to underperformance of turbines which can reach levels of 40%–50% compared to the same turbine in a lone-standing case. For large wind farms, the vertical structure and turbulence physics of the flow in the ABL become crucial ingredients in their design and operation. This introduces a new set of scientific challenges related to the design and control of large wind farms. The major ambition of the present research proposal is to employ optimal control techniques to control the interaction between large wind farms and the ABL, and optimize overall farm-power extraction. Individual turbines are used as flow actuators by dynamically pitching their blades using time scales ranging between 10 to 500 seconds. The application of such control efforts on the atmospheric boundary layer has never been attempted before, and introduces flow control on a physical scale which is currently unprecedented. The PI possesses a unique combination of expertise and tools enabling these developments: efficient parallel large-eddy simulations of wind farms, multi-scale turbine modeling, and gradient-based optimization in large optimization-parameter spaces using adjoint formulations. To ensure a maximum impact on the wind-engineering field, the project aims at optimal control, experimental wind-tunnel validation, and at including multi-disciplinary aspects, related to structural mechanics, power quality, and controller design.
Summary
With the recognition that wind energy will become an important contributor to the world’s energy portfolio, several wind farms with a capacity of over 1 gigawatt are in planning phase. In the past, engineering of wind farms focused on a bottom-up approach, in which atmospheric wind availability was considered to be fixed by climate and weather. However, farms of gigawatt size slow down the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) as a whole, reducing the availability of wind at turbine hub height. In Denmark’s large off-shore farms, this leads to underperformance of turbines which can reach levels of 40%–50% compared to the same turbine in a lone-standing case. For large wind farms, the vertical structure and turbulence physics of the flow in the ABL become crucial ingredients in their design and operation. This introduces a new set of scientific challenges related to the design and control of large wind farms. The major ambition of the present research proposal is to employ optimal control techniques to control the interaction between large wind farms and the ABL, and optimize overall farm-power extraction. Individual turbines are used as flow actuators by dynamically pitching their blades using time scales ranging between 10 to 500 seconds. The application of such control efforts on the atmospheric boundary layer has never been attempted before, and introduces flow control on a physical scale which is currently unprecedented. The PI possesses a unique combination of expertise and tools enabling these developments: efficient parallel large-eddy simulations of wind farms, multi-scale turbine modeling, and gradient-based optimization in large optimization-parameter spaces using adjoint formulations. To ensure a maximum impact on the wind-engineering field, the project aims at optimal control, experimental wind-tunnel validation, and at including multi-disciplinary aspects, related to structural mechanics, power quality, and controller design.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 241 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-10-01, End date: 2017-09-30
Project acronym BACKTOBACK
Project Engineering Solutions for Back Pain: Simulation of Patient Variance
Researcher (PI) Ruth Wilcox
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Back pain affects eight out of ten adults during their lifetime. It a huge economic burden on society, estimated to cost as much as 1-2% of gross national product in several European countries. Treatments for back pain have lower levels of success and are not as technologically mature as those for other musculoskeletal disorders such as hip and knee replacement. This application proposes to tackle one of the major barriers to the development of better surgical treatments for back pain.
At present, new spinal devices are commonly assessed in isolation in the laboratory under standardised conditions that do not represent the variation across the patient population. Consequently many interventions have failed during clinical trials or have proved to have poor long term success rates.
Using a combination of computational and experimental models, a new testing methodology will be developed that will enable the variation between patients to be simulated for the first time. This will enable spinal implants and therapies to be more robustly evaluated across a virtual patient population prior to clinical trial. The tools developed will be used in collaboration with clinicians and basic scientists to develop and, crucially, optimise new treatments that reduce back pain whilst preserving the unique functions of the spine.
If successful, this approach could be translated to evaluate and optimise emerging minimally invasive treatments in other joints such as the hip and knee. Research in the spine could then, for the first time, lead rather than follow that undertaken in other branches of orthopaedics.
Summary
Back pain affects eight out of ten adults during their lifetime. It a huge economic burden on society, estimated to cost as much as 1-2% of gross national product in several European countries. Treatments for back pain have lower levels of success and are not as technologically mature as those for other musculoskeletal disorders such as hip and knee replacement. This application proposes to tackle one of the major barriers to the development of better surgical treatments for back pain.
At present, new spinal devices are commonly assessed in isolation in the laboratory under standardised conditions that do not represent the variation across the patient population. Consequently many interventions have failed during clinical trials or have proved to have poor long term success rates.
Using a combination of computational and experimental models, a new testing methodology will be developed that will enable the variation between patients to be simulated for the first time. This will enable spinal implants and therapies to be more robustly evaluated across a virtual patient population prior to clinical trial. The tools developed will be used in collaboration with clinicians and basic scientists to develop and, crucially, optimise new treatments that reduce back pain whilst preserving the unique functions of the spine.
If successful, this approach could be translated to evaluate and optimise emerging minimally invasive treatments in other joints such as the hip and knee. Research in the spine could then, for the first time, lead rather than follow that undertaken in other branches of orthopaedics.
Max ERC Funding
1 498 777 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-12-01, End date: 2018-11-30
Project acronym BI-DSC
Project Building Integrated Dye Sensitized Solar Cells
Researcher (PI) Adélio Miguel Magalhaes Mendes
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary In the last decade, solar and photovoltaic (PV) technologies have emerged as a potentially major technology for power generation in the world. So far the PV field has been dominated by silicon devices, even though this technology is still expensive.Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) are an important type of thin-film photovoltaics due to their potential for low-cost fabrication and versatile applications, and because their aesthetic appearance, semi-transparency and different color possibilities.This advantageous characteristic makes DSC the first choice for building integrated photovoltaics.Despite their great potential, DSCs for building applications are still not available at commercial level. However, to bring DSCs to a marketable product several developments are still needed and the present project targets to give relevant answers to three key limitations: encapsulation, glass substrate enhanced electrical conductivity and more efficient and low-cost raw-materials. Recently, the proponent successfully addressed the hermetic devices sealing by developing a laser-assisted glass sealing procedure.Thus, BI-DSC proposal envisages the development of DSC modules 30x30cm2, containing four individual cells, and their incorporation in a 1m2 double glass sheet arrangement for BIPV with an energy efficiency of at least 9% and a lifetime of 20 years. Additionally, aiming at enhanced efficiency of the final device and decreased total costs of DSCs manufacturing, new materials will be also pursued. The following inner-components were identified as critical: carbon-based counter-electrode; carbon quantum-dots and hierarchically TiO2 photoelectrode. It is then clear that this project is divided into two research though parallel directions: a fundamental research line, contributing to the development of the new generation DSC technology; while a more applied research line targets the development of a DSC functional module that can be used to pave the way for its industrialization.
Summary
In the last decade, solar and photovoltaic (PV) technologies have emerged as a potentially major technology for power generation in the world. So far the PV field has been dominated by silicon devices, even though this technology is still expensive.Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) are an important type of thin-film photovoltaics due to their potential for low-cost fabrication and versatile applications, and because their aesthetic appearance, semi-transparency and different color possibilities.This advantageous characteristic makes DSC the first choice for building integrated photovoltaics.Despite their great potential, DSCs for building applications are still not available at commercial level. However, to bring DSCs to a marketable product several developments are still needed and the present project targets to give relevant answers to three key limitations: encapsulation, glass substrate enhanced electrical conductivity and more efficient and low-cost raw-materials. Recently, the proponent successfully addressed the hermetic devices sealing by developing a laser-assisted glass sealing procedure.Thus, BI-DSC proposal envisages the development of DSC modules 30x30cm2, containing four individual cells, and their incorporation in a 1m2 double glass sheet arrangement for BIPV with an energy efficiency of at least 9% and a lifetime of 20 years. Additionally, aiming at enhanced efficiency of the final device and decreased total costs of DSCs manufacturing, new materials will be also pursued. The following inner-components were identified as critical: carbon-based counter-electrode; carbon quantum-dots and hierarchically TiO2 photoelectrode. It is then clear that this project is divided into two research though parallel directions: a fundamental research line, contributing to the development of the new generation DSC technology; while a more applied research line targets the development of a DSC functional module that can be used to pave the way for its industrialization.
Max ERC Funding
1 989 300 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2018-08-31
Project acronym COMP-DES-MAT
Project Advanced tools for computational design of engineering materials
Researcher (PI) Francisco Javier (Xavier) Oliver Olivella
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE INTERNACIONAL DE METODES NUMERICS EN ENGINYERIA
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary The overall goal of the project is to contribute to the consolidation of the nascent and revolutionary philosophy of “Materials by Design” by resorting to the enormous power provided by the nowadays-available computational techniques. Limitations of current procedures for developing material-based innovative technologies in engineering, are often made manifest; many times only a catalog, or a data basis, of materials is available and these new technologies have to adapt to them, in the same way that the users of ready-to-wear have to take from the shop the costume that fits them better, but not the one that fits them properly. This constitutes an enormous limitation for the intended goals and scope. Certainly, availability of materials specifically designed by goal-oriented methods could eradicate that limitation, but this purpose faces the bounds of experimental procedures of material design, commonly based on trial and error procedures.
Computational mechanics, with the emerging Computational Materials Design (CMD) research field, has much to offer in this respect. The increasing power of the new computer processors and, most importantly, development of new methods and strategies of computational simulation, opens new ways to face the problem. The project intends breaking through the barriers that presently hinder the development and application of computational materials design, by means of the synergic exploration and development of three supplementary families of methods: 1) computational multiscale material modeling (CMM) based on the bottom-up, one-way coupled, description of the material structure in different representative scales, 2) development of a new generation of high performance reduced-order-modeling techniques (HP-ROM), in order to bring down the associated computational costs to affordable levels, and 3) new computational strategies and methods for the optimal design of the material meso/micro structure arrangement and topology (MATO) .
Summary
The overall goal of the project is to contribute to the consolidation of the nascent and revolutionary philosophy of “Materials by Design” by resorting to the enormous power provided by the nowadays-available computational techniques. Limitations of current procedures for developing material-based innovative technologies in engineering, are often made manifest; many times only a catalog, or a data basis, of materials is available and these new technologies have to adapt to them, in the same way that the users of ready-to-wear have to take from the shop the costume that fits them better, but not the one that fits them properly. This constitutes an enormous limitation for the intended goals and scope. Certainly, availability of materials specifically designed by goal-oriented methods could eradicate that limitation, but this purpose faces the bounds of experimental procedures of material design, commonly based on trial and error procedures.
Computational mechanics, with the emerging Computational Materials Design (CMD) research field, has much to offer in this respect. The increasing power of the new computer processors and, most importantly, development of new methods and strategies of computational simulation, opens new ways to face the problem. The project intends breaking through the barriers that presently hinder the development and application of computational materials design, by means of the synergic exploration and development of three supplementary families of methods: 1) computational multiscale material modeling (CMM) based on the bottom-up, one-way coupled, description of the material structure in different representative scales, 2) development of a new generation of high performance reduced-order-modeling techniques (HP-ROM), in order to bring down the associated computational costs to affordable levels, and 3) new computational strategies and methods for the optimal design of the material meso/micro structure arrangement and topology (MATO) .
Max ERC Funding
2 372 973 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
Project acronym ComplexiTE
Project An integrated multidisciplinary tissue engineering approach combining novel high-throughput screening and advanced methodologies to create complex biomaterials-stem cells constructs
Researcher (PI) Rui Luis Gonçalves Dos Reis
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSIDADE DO MINHO
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary New developments on tissue engineering strategies should realize the complexity of tissue remodelling and the inter-dependency of many variables associated to stem cells and biomaterials interactions. ComplexiTE proposes an integrated approach to address such multiple factors in which different innovative methodologies are implemented, aiming at developing tissue-like substitutes with enhanced in vivo functionality. Several ground-breaking advances are expected to be achieved, including: i) improved methodologies for isolation and expansion of sub-populations of stem cells derived from not so explored sources such as adipose tissue and amniotic fluid; ii) radically new methods to monitor human stem cells behaviour in vivo; iii) new macromolecules isolated from renewable resources, especially from marine origin; iv) combinations of liquid volumes mingling biomaterials and distinct stem cells, generating hydrogel beads upon adequate cross-linking reactions; v) optimised culture of the produced beads in adequate 3D bioreactors and a novel selection method to sort the beads that show a (pre-defined) positive biological reading; vi) random 3D arrays validated by identifying the natural polymers and cells composing the positive beads; v) 2D arrays of selected hydrogel spots for brand new in vivo tests, in which each spot of the implanted chip may be evaluated within the living animal using adequate imaging methods; vi) new porous scaffolds of the best combinations formed by particles agglomeration or fiber-based rapid-prototyping. The ultimate goal of this proposal is to develop breakthrough research specifically focused on the above mentioned key issues and radically innovative approaches to produce and scale-up new tissue engineering strategies that are both industrially and clinically relevant, by mastering the inherent complexity associated to the correct selection among a great number of combinations of possible biomaterials, stem cells and culturing conditions.
Summary
New developments on tissue engineering strategies should realize the complexity of tissue remodelling and the inter-dependency of many variables associated to stem cells and biomaterials interactions. ComplexiTE proposes an integrated approach to address such multiple factors in which different innovative methodologies are implemented, aiming at developing tissue-like substitutes with enhanced in vivo functionality. Several ground-breaking advances are expected to be achieved, including: i) improved methodologies for isolation and expansion of sub-populations of stem cells derived from not so explored sources such as adipose tissue and amniotic fluid; ii) radically new methods to monitor human stem cells behaviour in vivo; iii) new macromolecules isolated from renewable resources, especially from marine origin; iv) combinations of liquid volumes mingling biomaterials and distinct stem cells, generating hydrogel beads upon adequate cross-linking reactions; v) optimised culture of the produced beads in adequate 3D bioreactors and a novel selection method to sort the beads that show a (pre-defined) positive biological reading; vi) random 3D arrays validated by identifying the natural polymers and cells composing the positive beads; v) 2D arrays of selected hydrogel spots for brand new in vivo tests, in which each spot of the implanted chip may be evaluated within the living animal using adequate imaging methods; vi) new porous scaffolds of the best combinations formed by particles agglomeration or fiber-based rapid-prototyping. The ultimate goal of this proposal is to develop breakthrough research specifically focused on the above mentioned key issues and radically innovative approaches to produce and scale-up new tissue engineering strategies that are both industrially and clinically relevant, by mastering the inherent complexity associated to the correct selection among a great number of combinations of possible biomaterials, stem cells and culturing conditions.
Max ERC Funding
2 320 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-05-01, End date: 2018-04-30
Project acronym COMUNEM
Project Computational Multiscale Neuron Mechanics
Researcher (PI) Antoine Guy Bernard Jerusalem
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary "The last few years have seen a growing interest for computational cell mechanics. This field encompasses different scales ranging from individual monomers, cytoskeleton constituents, up to the full cell. Its focus, fueled by the development of interdisciplinary collaborative efforts between engineering, computer science and biology, until recently relatively isolated, has allowed for important breakthroughs in biomedicine, bioengineering or even neurology. However, the natural “knowledge barrier” between fields often leads to the use of one numerical tool for one bioengineering application with a limited understanding of either the tool or the field of application itself. Few groups, to date, have the knowledge and expertise to properly avoid both pits. Within the computational mechanics realm, new methods aim at bridging scale and modeling techniques ranging from density functional theory up to continuum modeling on very large scale parallel supercomputers. To the best of the knowledge of the author, a thorough and comprehensive research campaign aiming at bridging scales from proteins to the cell level while including its interaction with its surrounding media/stimulus is yet to be done. Among all cells, neurons are at the heart of tremendous medical challenges (TBI, Alzheimer, etc.). In nearly all of these challenges, the intrinsic coupling between mechanical and chemical mechanisms in neuron is of drastic relevance. I thus propose here the development of a neuron model constituted of length-scale dedicated numerical techniques, adequately bridged together. As an illustration of its usability, the model will be used for two specific applications: neurite growth and electrical-chemical-mechanical coupling in neurons. This multiscale computational framework will ultimately be made available to the bio- medical community to enhance their knowledge on neuron deformation, growth, electrosignaling and thus, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer or TBI."
Summary
"The last few years have seen a growing interest for computational cell mechanics. This field encompasses different scales ranging from individual monomers, cytoskeleton constituents, up to the full cell. Its focus, fueled by the development of interdisciplinary collaborative efforts between engineering, computer science and biology, until recently relatively isolated, has allowed for important breakthroughs in biomedicine, bioengineering or even neurology. However, the natural “knowledge barrier” between fields often leads to the use of one numerical tool for one bioengineering application with a limited understanding of either the tool or the field of application itself. Few groups, to date, have the knowledge and expertise to properly avoid both pits. Within the computational mechanics realm, new methods aim at bridging scale and modeling techniques ranging from density functional theory up to continuum modeling on very large scale parallel supercomputers. To the best of the knowledge of the author, a thorough and comprehensive research campaign aiming at bridging scales from proteins to the cell level while including its interaction with its surrounding media/stimulus is yet to be done. Among all cells, neurons are at the heart of tremendous medical challenges (TBI, Alzheimer, etc.). In nearly all of these challenges, the intrinsic coupling between mechanical and chemical mechanisms in neuron is of drastic relevance. I thus propose here the development of a neuron model constituted of length-scale dedicated numerical techniques, adequately bridged together. As an illustration of its usability, the model will be used for two specific applications: neurite growth and electrical-chemical-mechanical coupling in neurons. This multiscale computational framework will ultimately be made available to the bio- medical community to enhance their knowledge on neuron deformation, growth, electrosignaling and thus, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer or TBI."
Max ERC Funding
1 128 960 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-05-01, End date: 2018-04-30
Project acronym DAMREG
Project Pushing the Frontier of Brittlness
Damage Resistant Glasses
Researcher (PI) Tanguy Gilles Michel Rouxel
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE RENNES I
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary "In order to improve the strength of a glass part (flat display, window, lens, fiber, etc.), most investigations so far were devoted to thermal and chemical surface treatments aimed at generating compressive stresses at the surface. The DAMREG project focuses on the incidence of the glass composition and atomic network structure on the mechanical properties, and specifically on the cracking and fracture behavior, and is based on the experience and expertise of the PI on the structure-property relationships in glass science. This project proposes to address the fundamental issue of glass brittleness in a new paradigm of thinking, questioning the usefulness of the standard fracture toughness parameter, with emphasis on the surface flaw generation process (multiscale approach), and aims at determining novel routes to improve the mechanical performance of glass further promoting innovative applications. DAMREG involves revisiting the fundamental fracture mechanics concepts, the preparation of novel glass compositions, and nanoscale physico-chemical and mechanical characterization. So far most glass fracture studies focused on the crack tip behavior, and were limited to vitreous silica. A crack acts as a lever arm for the stress so that the singular stress at the tip is proportional to the crack length and inversely proportional to the square-root of the tip radius (provided this has a meaning). Since a crack can hardly be cured or shielded at ambient, the presence of a sharp crack is already detrimental. On the contrary to this approach, DAMREG is aimed at understanding the crack initiation process, and the main objective is to define some roadmap to design glasses (composition, thermo-mechanical treatments etc.) with better damage (initiation) resistance."
Summary
"In order to improve the strength of a glass part (flat display, window, lens, fiber, etc.), most investigations so far were devoted to thermal and chemical surface treatments aimed at generating compressive stresses at the surface. The DAMREG project focuses on the incidence of the glass composition and atomic network structure on the mechanical properties, and specifically on the cracking and fracture behavior, and is based on the experience and expertise of the PI on the structure-property relationships in glass science. This project proposes to address the fundamental issue of glass brittleness in a new paradigm of thinking, questioning the usefulness of the standard fracture toughness parameter, with emphasis on the surface flaw generation process (multiscale approach), and aims at determining novel routes to improve the mechanical performance of glass further promoting innovative applications. DAMREG involves revisiting the fundamental fracture mechanics concepts, the preparation of novel glass compositions, and nanoscale physico-chemical and mechanical characterization. So far most glass fracture studies focused on the crack tip behavior, and were limited to vitreous silica. A crack acts as a lever arm for the stress so that the singular stress at the tip is proportional to the crack length and inversely proportional to the square-root of the tip radius (provided this has a meaning). Since a crack can hardly be cured or shielded at ambient, the presence of a sharp crack is already detrimental. On the contrary to this approach, DAMREG is aimed at understanding the crack initiation process, and the main objective is to define some roadmap to design glasses (composition, thermo-mechanical treatments etc.) with better damage (initiation) resistance."
Max ERC Funding
1 821 596 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-06-01, End date: 2018-05-31
Project acronym ELASTIC-TURBULENCE
Project Purely-elastic flow instabilities and transition to elastic turbulence in microscale flows of complex fluids
Researcher (PI) Manuel António Moreira Alves
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Flows of complex fluids, such as many biological fluids and most synthetic fluids, are common in our daily life and are very important from an industrial perspective. Because of their inherent nonlinearity, the flow of complex viscoelastic fluids often leads to counterintuitive and complex behaviour and, above critical conditions, can prompt flow instabilities even under low Reynolds number conditions which are entirely absent in the corresponding Newtonian fluid flows.
The primary goal of this project is to substantially expand the frontiers of our current knowledge regarding the mechanisms that lead to the development of such purely-elastic flow instabilities, and ultimately to understand the transition to so-called “elastic turbulence”, a turbulent-like phenomenon which can arise even under inertialess flow conditions. This is an extremely challenging problem, and to significantly advance our knowledge in such important flows these instabilities will be investigated in a combined manner encompassing experiments, theory and numerical simulations. Such a holistic approach will enable us to understand the underlying mechanisms of those instabilities and to develop accurate criteria for their prediction far in advance of what we could achieve with either approach separately. A deep understanding of the mechanisms generating elastic instabilities and subsequent transition to elastic turbulence is crucial from a fundamental point of view and for many important practical applications involving engineered complex fluids, such as the design of microfluidic mixers for efficient operation under inertialess flow conditions, or the development of highly efficient micron-sized energy management and mass transfer systems.
This research proposal will create a solid basis for the establishment of an internationally-leading research group led by the PI studying flow instabilities and elastic turbulence in complex fluid flows.
Summary
Flows of complex fluids, such as many biological fluids and most synthetic fluids, are common in our daily life and are very important from an industrial perspective. Because of their inherent nonlinearity, the flow of complex viscoelastic fluids often leads to counterintuitive and complex behaviour and, above critical conditions, can prompt flow instabilities even under low Reynolds number conditions which are entirely absent in the corresponding Newtonian fluid flows.
The primary goal of this project is to substantially expand the frontiers of our current knowledge regarding the mechanisms that lead to the development of such purely-elastic flow instabilities, and ultimately to understand the transition to so-called “elastic turbulence”, a turbulent-like phenomenon which can arise even under inertialess flow conditions. This is an extremely challenging problem, and to significantly advance our knowledge in such important flows these instabilities will be investigated in a combined manner encompassing experiments, theory and numerical simulations. Such a holistic approach will enable us to understand the underlying mechanisms of those instabilities and to develop accurate criteria for their prediction far in advance of what we could achieve with either approach separately. A deep understanding of the mechanisms generating elastic instabilities and subsequent transition to elastic turbulence is crucial from a fundamental point of view and for many important practical applications involving engineered complex fluids, such as the design of microfluidic mixers for efficient operation under inertialess flow conditions, or the development of highly efficient micron-sized energy management and mass transfer systems.
This research proposal will create a solid basis for the establishment of an internationally-leading research group led by the PI studying flow instabilities and elastic turbulence in complex fluid flows.
Max ERC Funding
994 110 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-10-01, End date: 2018-01-31
Project acronym GALATEA
Project Tailoring Material Properties Using Femtosecond Lasers: A New Paradigm for Highly Integrated Micro-/Nano- Scale Systems
Researcher (PI) Yves, Jérôme Bellouard
Host Institution (HI) ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Using recent progress in laser technology and in particular in the field of ultra-fast lasers, we are getting close to accomplish the alchemist dream of transforming materials. Compact lasers can generate pulses with ultra-high peak powers in the Tera-Watt or even Peta-Watt ranges. These high-power pulses lead to a radically different laser-matter interaction than the one obtained with conventional lasers. Non-linear multi-photons processes are observed; they open new and exciting opportunities to tailor the matter in its intimate structure with sub-wavelength spatial resolutions and in the three dimensions.
This project is aiming at exploring the use of these ultrafast lasers to locally tailor the physical properties of glass materials. More specifically, our objective is to create polymorphs embedded in bulk structures and to demonstrate their use as means to introduce new functionalities in the material.
The long-term objective is to develop the scientific understanding and technological know-how to create three-dimensional objects with nanoscale features where optics, fluidics and micromechanical elements as well as active functions are integrated in a single monolithic piece of glass and to do so using a single process.
This is a multidisciplinary research that pushes the frontier of our current knowledge of femtosecond laser interaction with glass to demonstrate a novel design platform for future micro-/nano- systems.
Summary
Using recent progress in laser technology and in particular in the field of ultra-fast lasers, we are getting close to accomplish the alchemist dream of transforming materials. Compact lasers can generate pulses with ultra-high peak powers in the Tera-Watt or even Peta-Watt ranges. These high-power pulses lead to a radically different laser-matter interaction than the one obtained with conventional lasers. Non-linear multi-photons processes are observed; they open new and exciting opportunities to tailor the matter in its intimate structure with sub-wavelength spatial resolutions and in the three dimensions.
This project is aiming at exploring the use of these ultrafast lasers to locally tailor the physical properties of glass materials. More specifically, our objective is to create polymorphs embedded in bulk structures and to demonstrate their use as means to introduce new functionalities in the material.
The long-term objective is to develop the scientific understanding and technological know-how to create three-dimensional objects with nanoscale features where optics, fluidics and micromechanical elements as well as active functions are integrated in a single monolithic piece of glass and to do so using a single process.
This is a multidisciplinary research that pushes the frontier of our current knowledge of femtosecond laser interaction with glass to demonstrate a novel design platform for future micro-/nano- systems.
Max ERC Funding
1 757 396 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-12-01, End date: 2017-11-30
Project acronym HERMES
Project HERMES – High Exponential Rise in Miniaturized cantilever-like Sensing
Researcher (PI) Anja Boisen
Host Institution (HI) DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary Miniaturized cantilever–like sensors have evolved rapidly. However, when it comes to major breakthroughs in both fundamental studies as well as commercial applications these sensors face severe challenges: i) reliability – often only one or two measurements are performed for the same conditions due to very slow data generation and the results are rarely confirmed by orthogonal sensing technologies, ii) sensitivity – in many applications the need is now for ultra-low sensitivities, iii) reproducibility – very few results have been reported on reproducibility of these sensors iv)throughput –extremely slow and tedious read-out technologies. In order to take a great leap forward in cantilever-like sensing I suggest a new generation of simplified and optimized cantilever-like sensing structures implemented in a DVD based platform which will specifically address these issues.
My overall hypothesis is that the true potential of these exciting sensors can only be released when using a simple and reliable read-out system that allows us to focus on the mechanical performance of the sensors. Thus we will keep the sensors as simple as possible. The DVD readout makes it possible to generate large amount of data and to focus on mechanics and the interplay between mechanics, optics and electrochemistry. It will be a technological challenge to realize a robust and reliable DVD platform, that facilitates optical read-out as well as actuation. The DVD platform will enable a fast and iterative development of hybrid cantilever-like systems which draw upon our more than 10 years experience in the field. These sensors will be realised using Si and polymer based cleanroom fabrication. Focus is on design, fabrication, characterization and applications of cantilever-like sensors and on DVD inspired system integration. By the end of HERMES we will have a unique platform which will be the onset of many new types of specific high –throughput applications and sensor development projects.
Summary
Miniaturized cantilever–like sensors have evolved rapidly. However, when it comes to major breakthroughs in both fundamental studies as well as commercial applications these sensors face severe challenges: i) reliability – often only one or two measurements are performed for the same conditions due to very slow data generation and the results are rarely confirmed by orthogonal sensing technologies, ii) sensitivity – in many applications the need is now for ultra-low sensitivities, iii) reproducibility – very few results have been reported on reproducibility of these sensors iv)throughput –extremely slow and tedious read-out technologies. In order to take a great leap forward in cantilever-like sensing I suggest a new generation of simplified and optimized cantilever-like sensing structures implemented in a DVD based platform which will specifically address these issues.
My overall hypothesis is that the true potential of these exciting sensors can only be released when using a simple and reliable read-out system that allows us to focus on the mechanical performance of the sensors. Thus we will keep the sensors as simple as possible. The DVD readout makes it possible to generate large amount of data and to focus on mechanics and the interplay between mechanics, optics and electrochemistry. It will be a technological challenge to realize a robust and reliable DVD platform, that facilitates optical read-out as well as actuation. The DVD platform will enable a fast and iterative development of hybrid cantilever-like systems which draw upon our more than 10 years experience in the field. These sensors will be realised using Si and polymer based cleanroom fabrication. Focus is on design, fabrication, characterization and applications of cantilever-like sensors and on DVD inspired system integration. By the end of HERMES we will have a unique platform which will be the onset of many new types of specific high –throughput applications and sensor development projects.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 466 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
Project acronym IMPUNEP
Project Innovative Materials Processing Using Non-Equilibrium Plasmas
Researcher (PI) Allan Matthews
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary Current bulk materials processing methods are nearing their limit in terms of ability to produce innovative materials with compositional and structural consistency.
The aim of this ambitious project is to remove barriers to materials development, by researching novel methods for the processing of engineering materials, using advanced non-equilibrium plasma systems, to achieve a paradigm shift in the field of materials synthesis. These new processes have the potential to overcome the constraints of existing methods and also be environmentally friendly and produce novel materials with enhanced properties (mechanical, chemical and physical).
The research will utilise plasmas in ways not used before (in bulk materials synthesis rather than thin film formation) and it will investigate different types of plasmas (vacuum, atmospheric and electrolytic), to ensure optimisation of the processing routes across the whole range of material types (including metals, ceramics and composites).
The materials synthesised will have benefits for products across key applications sectors, including energy, healthcare and aerospace. The processes will avoid harmful chemicals and will make optimum use of scarce material resources.
This interdisciplinary project (involving engineers, physicists, chemists and modellers) has fundamental “blue skies” and transformative aspects. It is also high-risk due to the aim to produce “bulk” materials at adequate rates and with consistent uniform structures, compositions and phases (and therefore properties) throughout the material. There are many challenges to overcome, relating to the study of the plasma systems and materials produced; these aspects will be pursued using empirical and modelling approaches. The research will pursue new lines of enquiry using an unconventional synthesis approach whilst operating at the interface with more established discipline areas of plasma physics, materials chemistry, process diagnostics, modelling and control.
Summary
Current bulk materials processing methods are nearing their limit in terms of ability to produce innovative materials with compositional and structural consistency.
The aim of this ambitious project is to remove barriers to materials development, by researching novel methods for the processing of engineering materials, using advanced non-equilibrium plasma systems, to achieve a paradigm shift in the field of materials synthesis. These new processes have the potential to overcome the constraints of existing methods and also be environmentally friendly and produce novel materials with enhanced properties (mechanical, chemical and physical).
The research will utilise plasmas in ways not used before (in bulk materials synthesis rather than thin film formation) and it will investigate different types of plasmas (vacuum, atmospheric and electrolytic), to ensure optimisation of the processing routes across the whole range of material types (including metals, ceramics and composites).
The materials synthesised will have benefits for products across key applications sectors, including energy, healthcare and aerospace. The processes will avoid harmful chemicals and will make optimum use of scarce material resources.
This interdisciplinary project (involving engineers, physicists, chemists and modellers) has fundamental “blue skies” and transformative aspects. It is also high-risk due to the aim to produce “bulk” materials at adequate rates and with consistent uniform structures, compositions and phases (and therefore properties) throughout the material. There are many challenges to overcome, relating to the study of the plasma systems and materials produced; these aspects will be pursued using empirical and modelling approaches. The research will pursue new lines of enquiry using an unconventional synthesis approach whilst operating at the interface with more established discipline areas of plasma physics, materials chemistry, process diagnostics, modelling and control.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 283 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-09-30
Project acronym INSILICO-CELL
Project Predictive modelling and simulation in mechano-chemo-biology: a computer multi-approach
Researcher (PI) Jose Manuel Garcia-Aznar
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSIDAD DE ZARAGOZA
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Living tissues are regulated by multi-cellular collectives mediated at cellular level through complex interactions between mechanical and biochemical factors. A further understanding of these mechanisms could provide new insights in the development of therapies and diagnosis techniques, reducing animal experiments. I propose a combined and complementary methodology to advance in the knowledge of how cells interact with each other and with the environment to produce the large-scale organization typical of tissues. I will couple in-silico and in-vitro models for investigating the micro-fabrication of tissues in-vitro using a 3D multicellular environment. By computational cell-based modelling of tissue development, I will use a multiscale and multiphysics approach to investigate various key factors: how environmental conditions (mechanical and biochemical) drive cell behaviour, how individual cell behaviour produces multicellular patterns, how cells respond to the multicellular environment, how cells are able to fabricate new tissues and how cell-matrix interactions affect these processes. In-vitro experiments will be developed to validate numerical models, determine their parameters, improve their hypotheses and help designing new experiments. The in-vitro experiments will be performed in a microfluidic platform capable of controlling biochemical and mechanical conditions in a 3D environment. This research will be applied in three applications, where the role of environment conditions is important and the main biological events are cell migration, cell-matrix and cell-cell interactions: bone regeneration, wound healing and angiogenesis.
Summary
Living tissues are regulated by multi-cellular collectives mediated at cellular level through complex interactions between mechanical and biochemical factors. A further understanding of these mechanisms could provide new insights in the development of therapies and diagnosis techniques, reducing animal experiments. I propose a combined and complementary methodology to advance in the knowledge of how cells interact with each other and with the environment to produce the large-scale organization typical of tissues. I will couple in-silico and in-vitro models for investigating the micro-fabrication of tissues in-vitro using a 3D multicellular environment. By computational cell-based modelling of tissue development, I will use a multiscale and multiphysics approach to investigate various key factors: how environmental conditions (mechanical and biochemical) drive cell behaviour, how individual cell behaviour produces multicellular patterns, how cells respond to the multicellular environment, how cells are able to fabricate new tissues and how cell-matrix interactions affect these processes. In-vitro experiments will be developed to validate numerical models, determine their parameters, improve their hypotheses and help designing new experiments. The in-vitro experiments will be performed in a microfluidic platform capable of controlling biochemical and mechanical conditions in a 3D environment. This research will be applied in three applications, where the role of environment conditions is important and the main biological events are cell migration, cell-matrix and cell-cell interactions: bone regeneration, wound healing and angiogenesis.
Max ERC Funding
1 299 083 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-11-01, End date: 2018-05-31
Project acronym INTECOCIS
Project Introducing Exascale Computing in combustion instabilities Simulations (INTECOCIS)
Researcher (PI) Thierry Poinsot
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary "INTECOCIS is a project on energy production by combustion built by IMFT (experiments, theory and instabilities) and CERFACS (numerical simulation). Combustion produces 90 percent of the earth energy and will remain our first energy source for a long time. Optimizing combustors is a key issue to burn fossil and renewable fuels more efficiently but also to replace wind or solar energy production on days without sun or wind. This optimization cannot take place without numerical simulation (‘virtual combustors’) that allows to test designs without building them. These virtual combustors cannot account for combustion instabilities (CI) which are a major risk in combustors where they induce vibration, loss of control and destruction. CIs cannot be predicted reliably today. INTECOCIS aims at introducing recent progress in High Performance Computing (HPC) into studies of CIs, to build simulation tools running on massively parallel computers that can predict CIs in future combustors and assess methods to control them. To achieve this goal, the simulations used today for CIs will be revolutionized to integrate recent HPC capacities and have the capabilities and brute power required to compute and control CI phenomena. A second objective of INTECOCIS is to distribute these HPC-based tools in Europe. These tools will integrate UQ (uncertainty quantification) methodologies to quantify the uncertainties associated with the simulations because CIs are sensitive to small changes in geometry, fuel composition or boundary conditions. Moreover, simulation tools also contain uncertain parameters (numerical methods, space and time discretization, impedances, physical sub models) that will have to be investigated as well. Most of the work will be theoretical and numerical but INTECOCIS will also include validation on laboratory burners (at IMFT and other laboratories in Europe) as well as applications on real combustors for European companies collaborating with IMFT and CERFACS."
Summary
"INTECOCIS is a project on energy production by combustion built by IMFT (experiments, theory and instabilities) and CERFACS (numerical simulation). Combustion produces 90 percent of the earth energy and will remain our first energy source for a long time. Optimizing combustors is a key issue to burn fossil and renewable fuels more efficiently but also to replace wind or solar energy production on days without sun or wind. This optimization cannot take place without numerical simulation (‘virtual combustors’) that allows to test designs without building them. These virtual combustors cannot account for combustion instabilities (CI) which are a major risk in combustors where they induce vibration, loss of control and destruction. CIs cannot be predicted reliably today. INTECOCIS aims at introducing recent progress in High Performance Computing (HPC) into studies of CIs, to build simulation tools running on massively parallel computers that can predict CIs in future combustors and assess methods to control them. To achieve this goal, the simulations used today for CIs will be revolutionized to integrate recent HPC capacities and have the capabilities and brute power required to compute and control CI phenomena. A second objective of INTECOCIS is to distribute these HPC-based tools in Europe. These tools will integrate UQ (uncertainty quantification) methodologies to quantify the uncertainties associated with the simulations because CIs are sensitive to small changes in geometry, fuel composition or boundary conditions. Moreover, simulation tools also contain uncertain parameters (numerical methods, space and time discretization, impedances, physical sub models) that will have to be investigated as well. Most of the work will be theoretical and numerical but INTECOCIS will also include validation on laboratory burners (at IMFT and other laboratories in Europe) as well as applications on real combustors for European companies collaborating with IMFT and CERFACS."
Max ERC Funding
2 488 656 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
Project acronym INTEG-CV-SIM
Project An Integrated Computer Modelling Framework for Subject-Specific Cardiovascular Simulation: Applications to Disease Research, Treatment Planning, and Medical Device Design
Researcher (PI) Carlos Alberto Figueroa Alvarez
Host Institution (HI) KING'S COLLEGE LONDON
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Advances in numerical methods and three-dimensional imaging techniques have enabled the quantification of cardiovascular mechanics in subject-specific anatomic and physiologic models. Research efforts have been focused mainly on three areas: pathogenesis of vascular disease, development of medical devices, and virtual surgical planning. However, despite great initial promise, the actual use of patient-specific computer modelling in the clinic has been very limited. Clinical diagnosis still relies entirely on traditional methods based on imaging and invasive measurements and sampling. The same invasive trial-and-error paradigm is often seen in vascular disease research, where animal models are used profusely to quantify simple metrics that could perhaps be evaluated via non-invasive computer modelling techniques. Lastly, medical device manufacturers rely mostly on in-vitro models to investigate the anatomic variations, arterial deformations, and biomechanical forces needed for the design of stents and stent-grafts. In this project, I aim to develop an integrated image-based computer modelling framework for subject-specific cardiovascular simulation with dynamically adapting boundary conditions capable of representing alterations in the physiologic state of the patient. This computer framework will be directly applied in clinical settings to complement and enhance current diagnostic practices, working towards the goal of personalized cardiovascular medicine.
Summary
Advances in numerical methods and three-dimensional imaging techniques have enabled the quantification of cardiovascular mechanics in subject-specific anatomic and physiologic models. Research efforts have been focused mainly on three areas: pathogenesis of vascular disease, development of medical devices, and virtual surgical planning. However, despite great initial promise, the actual use of patient-specific computer modelling in the clinic has been very limited. Clinical diagnosis still relies entirely on traditional methods based on imaging and invasive measurements and sampling. The same invasive trial-and-error paradigm is often seen in vascular disease research, where animal models are used profusely to quantify simple metrics that could perhaps be evaluated via non-invasive computer modelling techniques. Lastly, medical device manufacturers rely mostly on in-vitro models to investigate the anatomic variations, arterial deformations, and biomechanical forces needed for the design of stents and stent-grafts. In this project, I aim to develop an integrated image-based computer modelling framework for subject-specific cardiovascular simulation with dynamically adapting boundary conditions capable of representing alterations in the physiologic state of the patient. This computer framework will be directly applied in clinical settings to complement and enhance current diagnostic practices, working towards the goal of personalized cardiovascular medicine.
Max ERC Funding
1 491 593 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-12-01, End date: 2018-11-30
Project acronym LEAD
Project Lower Extremity Amputee Dynamics: Simulating the Motion of an Above-Knee Amputee’s Stump by Means of a Novel EMG-Integrated 3D Musculoskeletal Forward-Dynamics Modelling Approach
Researcher (PI) Oliver Röhrle
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAET STUTTGART
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary "Wearing sub-optimally fitted lower limb prosthesis cause disorders of the stump that strongly lessens the well-being and the performance of an amputee. As experimental measurements are currently not capable of providing enough insights in the dynamic behaviour of the stump, simulations need to be employed to achieve the necessary knowledge gain to significantly improve the socket design and, hence, to increase the amputee’s well-being and performance. The overall goal of this proposal is to provide the enabling technology in form of novel computational and experimental methodologies to assist the design process of next-generation prosthetic devices. The focus hereby is to gain a better understanding of the dynamics of the musculoskeletal system of a lower extremity amputee, here, the stump of an above-knee amputee. To achieve this, LEAD pursues two aims. The first and main aim focuses on substantially changing existing modelling philosophies and methodologies of forward dynamics approaches such that they are capable of representing muscles, bone, and skin as 3D continuum-mechanical objects. To counteract the increase of computational cost by switching from 1D lumped-parameter models to 3D models, novel, elegant, and efficient algorithms, e.g. nested iteration techniques tuned for efficiency through model-based coupling strategies and optimised solvers, need to be developed. The second aim is to experimentally measure physical quantities that provide the necessary input to drive the forward dynamics model, e.g. EMG, and to provide means of validation, e.g. with respect to pressure measurements, ultrasound recordings, and motion capture. Given the non-existing field of forward dynamics appealing to continuum-mechanical skeletal muscle models, LEAD creates a new field of research."
Summary
"Wearing sub-optimally fitted lower limb prosthesis cause disorders of the stump that strongly lessens the well-being and the performance of an amputee. As experimental measurements are currently not capable of providing enough insights in the dynamic behaviour of the stump, simulations need to be employed to achieve the necessary knowledge gain to significantly improve the socket design and, hence, to increase the amputee’s well-being and performance. The overall goal of this proposal is to provide the enabling technology in form of novel computational and experimental methodologies to assist the design process of next-generation prosthetic devices. The focus hereby is to gain a better understanding of the dynamics of the musculoskeletal system of a lower extremity amputee, here, the stump of an above-knee amputee. To achieve this, LEAD pursues two aims. The first and main aim focuses on substantially changing existing modelling philosophies and methodologies of forward dynamics approaches such that they are capable of representing muscles, bone, and skin as 3D continuum-mechanical objects. To counteract the increase of computational cost by switching from 1D lumped-parameter models to 3D models, novel, elegant, and efficient algorithms, e.g. nested iteration techniques tuned for efficiency through model-based coupling strategies and optimised solvers, need to be developed. The second aim is to experimentally measure physical quantities that provide the necessary input to drive the forward dynamics model, e.g. EMG, and to provide means of validation, e.g. with respect to pressure measurements, ultrasound recordings, and motion capture. Given the non-existing field of forward dynamics appealing to continuum-mechanical skeletal muscle models, LEAD creates a new field of research."
Max ERC Funding
1 676 760 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-11-01, End date: 2017-10-31
Project acronym LEBMEC
Project Laser-engineered Biomimetic Matrices with Embedded Cells
Researcher (PI) Aleksandr Ovsianikov
Host Institution (HI) TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Traditional 2D cell culture systems used in biology do not accurately reproduce the 3D structure, function, or physiology of living tissue. Resulting behaviour and responses of cells are substantially different from those observed within natural extracellular matrices (ECM). The early designs of 3D cell-culture matrices focused on their bulk properties, while disregarding individual cell environment. However, recent findings indicate that the role of the ECM extends beyond a simple structural support to regulation of cell and tissue function. So far the mechanisms of this regulation are not fully understood, due to technical limitations of available research tools, diversity of tissues and complexity of cell-matrix interactions.
The main goal of this project is to develop a versatile and straightforward method, enabling systematic studies of cell-matrix interactions. 3D CAD matrices will be produced by femtosecond laser-induced polymerization of hydrogels with cells in them. Cell embedment results in a tissue-like intimate cell-matrix contact and appropriate cell densities right from the start.
A unique advantage of the LeBMEC is its capability to alter on demand a multitude of individual properties of produced 3D matrices, including: geometry, stiffness, and cell adhesion properties. It allows us systematically reconstruct and identify the key biomimetic properties of the ECM in vitro. The particular focus of this project is on the role of local mechanical properties of produced hydrogel constructs. It is known that, stem cells on soft 2D substrates differentiate into neurons, stiffer substrates induce bone cells, and intermediate ones result in myoblasts. With LeBMEC, a controlled distribution of site-specific stiffness within the same hydrogel matrix can be achieved in 3D. This way, by rational design of cell-culture matrices initially embedding only stem cells, for realisation of precisely defined 3D multi-tissue constructs, is possible for the first time.
Summary
Traditional 2D cell culture systems used in biology do not accurately reproduce the 3D structure, function, or physiology of living tissue. Resulting behaviour and responses of cells are substantially different from those observed within natural extracellular matrices (ECM). The early designs of 3D cell-culture matrices focused on their bulk properties, while disregarding individual cell environment. However, recent findings indicate that the role of the ECM extends beyond a simple structural support to regulation of cell and tissue function. So far the mechanisms of this regulation are not fully understood, due to technical limitations of available research tools, diversity of tissues and complexity of cell-matrix interactions.
The main goal of this project is to develop a versatile and straightforward method, enabling systematic studies of cell-matrix interactions. 3D CAD matrices will be produced by femtosecond laser-induced polymerization of hydrogels with cells in them. Cell embedment results in a tissue-like intimate cell-matrix contact and appropriate cell densities right from the start.
A unique advantage of the LeBMEC is its capability to alter on demand a multitude of individual properties of produced 3D matrices, including: geometry, stiffness, and cell adhesion properties. It allows us systematically reconstruct and identify the key biomimetic properties of the ECM in vitro. The particular focus of this project is on the role of local mechanical properties of produced hydrogel constructs. It is known that, stem cells on soft 2D substrates differentiate into neurons, stiffer substrates induce bone cells, and intermediate ones result in myoblasts. With LeBMEC, a controlled distribution of site-specific stiffness within the same hydrogel matrix can be achieved in 3D. This way, by rational design of cell-culture matrices initially embedding only stem cells, for realisation of precisely defined 3D multi-tissue constructs, is possible for the first time.
Max ERC Funding
1 440 594 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2018-02-28
Project acronym MAtrix
Project In silico and in vitro Models of Angiogenesis: unravelling the role of the extracellular matrix
Researcher (PI) Hans Pol S Van Oosterwyck
Host Institution (HI) KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from the existing vasculature, is a process that is fundamental to normal tissue growth, wound repair and disease. The control of angiogenesis is of utmost importance for tissue regenerative therapies as well as cancer treatment, however this remains a challenge. The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a one of the key controlling factors of angiogenesis. The mechanisms through which the ECM exerts its influence are poorly understood. MAtrix will create unprecedented opportunities for unraveling the role of the ECM in angiogenesis. It will do so by creating a highly innovative, multiscale in silico model that provides quantitative, subcellular resolution on cell-matrix interaction, which is key to the understanding of cell migration. In this way, MAtrix goes substantially beyond the state of the art in terms of computational models of angiogenesis. It will integrate mechanisms of ECM-mediated cell migration and relate them to intracellular regulatory mechanisms of angiogenesis.
Apart from its innovation in terms of computational modelling, MAtrix’ impact is related to its interdisciplinarity, involving computer simulations and in vitro experiments. This will enable to investigate research hypotheses on the role of the ECM in angiogenesis that are generated by the in silico model. State of the art technologies (fluorescence microscopy, cell and ECM mechanics, biomaterials design) will be applied –in conjunction with the in silico model- to quantity cell-ECM mechanical interaction at a subcellular level and the dynamics of cell migration. In vitro experiments will be performed for a broad range of biomaterials and their characteristics. In this way, MAtrix will deliver a proof-of-concept that an in silico model can help in identifying and prioritising biomaterials characteristics, relevant for angiogenesis. MAtrix’ findings can have a major impact on the development of therapies that want to control the angiogenic response.
Summary
Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from the existing vasculature, is a process that is fundamental to normal tissue growth, wound repair and disease. The control of angiogenesis is of utmost importance for tissue regenerative therapies as well as cancer treatment, however this remains a challenge. The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a one of the key controlling factors of angiogenesis. The mechanisms through which the ECM exerts its influence are poorly understood. MAtrix will create unprecedented opportunities for unraveling the role of the ECM in angiogenesis. It will do so by creating a highly innovative, multiscale in silico model that provides quantitative, subcellular resolution on cell-matrix interaction, which is key to the understanding of cell migration. In this way, MAtrix goes substantially beyond the state of the art in terms of computational models of angiogenesis. It will integrate mechanisms of ECM-mediated cell migration and relate them to intracellular regulatory mechanisms of angiogenesis.
Apart from its innovation in terms of computational modelling, MAtrix’ impact is related to its interdisciplinarity, involving computer simulations and in vitro experiments. This will enable to investigate research hypotheses on the role of the ECM in angiogenesis that are generated by the in silico model. State of the art technologies (fluorescence microscopy, cell and ECM mechanics, biomaterials design) will be applied –in conjunction with the in silico model- to quantity cell-ECM mechanical interaction at a subcellular level and the dynamics of cell migration. In vitro experiments will be performed for a broad range of biomaterials and their characteristics. In this way, MAtrix will deliver a proof-of-concept that an in silico model can help in identifying and prioritising biomaterials characteristics, relevant for angiogenesis. MAtrix’ findings can have a major impact on the development of therapies that want to control the angiogenic response.
Max ERC Funding
1 497 400 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-04-01, End date: 2018-03-31
Project acronym MEMSforLife
Project Microfluidic systems for the study of living roundworms (Caenorhabditis elegans) and tissues
Researcher (PI) Martinus Adela Maria Gijs
Host Institution (HI) ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary This proposal situated at the interfaces of the microengineering, biological and medical fields aims to develop microfluidic chips for studying living roundworms (Caenorhabditis elegans), living cultured liver tissue slices obtained from mice, and formaldehyde/paraffin-fixed human breast cancer tissue slices and tumors. Each type of microfluidic chip will be the central component of a computer-controlled platform having syringe pumps for accurate dosing of reagents and allowing microscopic observation or other types of detection. From an application point-of-view the work is focused on five objectives: (i) Development of high-throughput worm chips. Our goal is to build worm tools that enable high-throughput lifespan and behavioral measurements at single-animal resolution with statistical relevance. (ii) Linking on-chip microparticles (beads) to the C. elegans cuticle. We will use beads with electrostatic surface charges and beads that have a magnetic core for quantification of locomotion and forces developed by the worms. Moreover high-refractive index microspheres will be used as in situ microlenses for optical nanoscopic worm imaging. (iii) Realization of a nanocalorimetric chip-based setup to determine the minute amount of heat produced by worms and comparison of the metabolic activity of wild-type worms and mutants. (iv) Study of precision-cut ex vivo liver tissue slices from mice, in particular to evaluate glucose synthesis. The slices will be perifused with nutrients and oxygen in a continuous way and glucose detection will be based on the electrochemical principle using microfabricated electrodes. (v) On-chip immunohistochemical processing and fluorescent imaging of fixed clinical tissue slices and tumorectomy samples. These systems aim the multiplexed detection of biomarkers on cancerous tissues for fast and accurate clinical diagnosis.
Summary
This proposal situated at the interfaces of the microengineering, biological and medical fields aims to develop microfluidic chips for studying living roundworms (Caenorhabditis elegans), living cultured liver tissue slices obtained from mice, and formaldehyde/paraffin-fixed human breast cancer tissue slices and tumors. Each type of microfluidic chip will be the central component of a computer-controlled platform having syringe pumps for accurate dosing of reagents and allowing microscopic observation or other types of detection. From an application point-of-view the work is focused on five objectives: (i) Development of high-throughput worm chips. Our goal is to build worm tools that enable high-throughput lifespan and behavioral measurements at single-animal resolution with statistical relevance. (ii) Linking on-chip microparticles (beads) to the C. elegans cuticle. We will use beads with electrostatic surface charges and beads that have a magnetic core for quantification of locomotion and forces developed by the worms. Moreover high-refractive index microspheres will be used as in situ microlenses for optical nanoscopic worm imaging. (iii) Realization of a nanocalorimetric chip-based setup to determine the minute amount of heat produced by worms and comparison of the metabolic activity of wild-type worms and mutants. (iv) Study of precision-cut ex vivo liver tissue slices from mice, in particular to evaluate glucose synthesis. The slices will be perifused with nutrients and oxygen in a continuous way and glucose detection will be based on the electrochemical principle using microfabricated electrodes. (v) On-chip immunohistochemical processing and fluorescent imaging of fixed clinical tissue slices and tumorectomy samples. These systems aim the multiplexed detection of biomarkers on cancerous tissues for fast and accurate clinical diagnosis.
Max ERC Funding
2 492 400 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-05-01, End date: 2018-04-30
Project acronym Multiturbulence
Project Fractal-generated fluid flows: new flow concepts, technological innovation and fundamentals
Researcher (PI) John Christos Vassilicos
Host Institution (HI) IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary The unprecedented requirements set by the
dramatically evolving energy, environmental and climatic constraints
mean that industry needs new turbulent and vortical flow concepts for
new flow-technology solutions. The full potential and economic impact
of radically new industrial flow concepts can only be realised with a
step change (i) in the ways we generate and condition turbulent and
vortical flows and (ii) in our understanding of turbulent flow
dynamics and the consequent new predictive approaches.
Fractal/multiscale-generated turbulent and vortical flows are a new
family of flow concepts which I have recently pioneered and which
hold the following double promise:
(1) as the basis for a raft of conceptually new technological flow
solutions which can widely set entirely new industrial standards: this
proposal focuses on energy-efficient yet effective mixing devices;
low-power highly-enhanced heat exchangers; high-performance wings for
UAVs, cars, wind turbines; and realistic wind-field design
technologies for wind tunnel tests of tall structures such as
supertall skyscrapers and wind turbines.
(2) As the key new family of turbulent flows which will allow
hitherto impossible breakthroughs in our theory and modelling of fluid
turbulence.
I propose to realise this double promise by a combined
experimental-computational approach which will use cutting edge High
Performance Computing (HPC) and high-fidelity simulations based on a
new code which combines academic accuracy with industrial versatility
and which is specifically designed to perform very efficient massively
parallel computations on HPC systems. I will run these simulations in
tandem with a complementary wide range of wind tunnel, water channel
and other laboratory measurements in a two-way interaction between
laboratory and computer experiments which will ensure validations and
breadth of results.
Summary
The unprecedented requirements set by the
dramatically evolving energy, environmental and climatic constraints
mean that industry needs new turbulent and vortical flow concepts for
new flow-technology solutions. The full potential and economic impact
of radically new industrial flow concepts can only be realised with a
step change (i) in the ways we generate and condition turbulent and
vortical flows and (ii) in our understanding of turbulent flow
dynamics and the consequent new predictive approaches.
Fractal/multiscale-generated turbulent and vortical flows are a new
family of flow concepts which I have recently pioneered and which
hold the following double promise:
(1) as the basis for a raft of conceptually new technological flow
solutions which can widely set entirely new industrial standards: this
proposal focuses on energy-efficient yet effective mixing devices;
low-power highly-enhanced heat exchangers; high-performance wings for
UAVs, cars, wind turbines; and realistic wind-field design
technologies for wind tunnel tests of tall structures such as
supertall skyscrapers and wind turbines.
(2) As the key new family of turbulent flows which will allow
hitherto impossible breakthroughs in our theory and modelling of fluid
turbulence.
I propose to realise this double promise by a combined
experimental-computational approach which will use cutting edge High
Performance Computing (HPC) and high-fidelity simulations based on a
new code which combines academic accuracy with industrial versatility
and which is specifically designed to perform very efficient massively
parallel computations on HPC systems. I will run these simulations in
tandem with a complementary wide range of wind tunnel, water channel
and other laboratory measurements in a two-way interaction between
laboratory and computer experiments which will ensure validations and
breadth of results.
Max ERC Funding
2 317 265 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-05-01, End date: 2018-04-30
Project acronym MUSIC
Project Modeling and Simulation of Cancer Growth
Researcher (PI) Hector Gómez Díaz
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSIDADE DA CORUNA
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Nowadays, the treatment of cancer is based on the so-called diagnostic paradigm. We feel that the shift from the traditional diagnostic paradigm to a predictive patient-specific one may lead to more effective therapies. Thus, the objective of this project is to introduce predictive models for cancer growth. These predictive models will take the form of mathematical models developed from first principles and the fundamental features of cancer biology. For these models to be useful in clinical practice, we will need to introduce new numerical algorithms that permit to obtain fast and accurate simulations based on patient-specific data.
We propose to develop mathematical models using the framework provided by the mixtures theory and the phase-field method. Our model will account for the growth of the tumor and the vasculature that develops around it, which is essential for the tumor to grow beyond a harmless limited size. We propose to develop new algorithms based on Isogeometric Analysis, which is a recent generalization of Finite Elements with several advantages. The use of Isogeometric Analysis will simplify the interface between medical images and the computational mesh, permitting to generate smooth basis functions necessary to approximate higher-order partial differential equations like those that govern cancer growth. Our modeling and simulation tools will be examined and validated by experimental and clinical observations. To accomplish this, we propose to use anonymized patient-specific data through several patient imaging modalities.
Arguably, the successful undertaking of this project, would have the potential to transform classical population/statistics-based treatments of cancer into patient-specific therapies. This would elevate mathematical modeling and simulation of cancer growth to a stage in which it can be used as a quantitatively accurate predictive tool with implications for clinical practice, clinical trial design, and outcome prediction.
Summary
Nowadays, the treatment of cancer is based on the so-called diagnostic paradigm. We feel that the shift from the traditional diagnostic paradigm to a predictive patient-specific one may lead to more effective therapies. Thus, the objective of this project is to introduce predictive models for cancer growth. These predictive models will take the form of mathematical models developed from first principles and the fundamental features of cancer biology. For these models to be useful in clinical practice, we will need to introduce new numerical algorithms that permit to obtain fast and accurate simulations based on patient-specific data.
We propose to develop mathematical models using the framework provided by the mixtures theory and the phase-field method. Our model will account for the growth of the tumor and the vasculature that develops around it, which is essential for the tumor to grow beyond a harmless limited size. We propose to develop new algorithms based on Isogeometric Analysis, which is a recent generalization of Finite Elements with several advantages. The use of Isogeometric Analysis will simplify the interface between medical images and the computational mesh, permitting to generate smooth basis functions necessary to approximate higher-order partial differential equations like those that govern cancer growth. Our modeling and simulation tools will be examined and validated by experimental and clinical observations. To accomplish this, we propose to use anonymized patient-specific data through several patient imaging modalities.
Arguably, the successful undertaking of this project, would have the potential to transform classical population/statistics-based treatments of cancer into patient-specific therapies. This would elevate mathematical modeling and simulation of cancer growth to a stage in which it can be used as a quantitatively accurate predictive tool with implications for clinical practice, clinical trial design, and outcome prediction.
Max ERC Funding
1 405 420 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-10-01, End date: 2017-09-30
Project acronym NanoTrigger
Project Triggerable nanomaterials to modulate cell activity
Researcher (PI) Lino Da Silva Ferreira
Host Institution (HI) CENTRO DE NEUROCIENCIAS E BIOLOGIACELULAR ASSOCIACAO
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary The advent of molecular reprogramming and the associated opportunities for personalised and therapeutic medicine requires the development of novel systems for on-demand delivery of reprogramming factors into cells in order to modulate their activity/identity. Such triggerable systems should allow precise control of the timing, duration, magnitude and spatial release of the reprogramming factors. Furthermore, the system should allow this control even in vivo, using non-invasive means. The present project aims at developing triggerable systems able to release efficiently reprogramming factors on demand. The potential of this technology will be tested in two settings: (i) in the reprogramming of somatic cells in vitro, and (ii) in the improvement of hematopoietic stem cell engraftment in vivo, at the bone marrow. The proposed research involves a team formed by engineers, chemists, biologists and is highly multidisciplinary in nature encompassing elements of engineering, chemistry, system biology, stem cell technology and nanomedicine.
Summary
The advent of molecular reprogramming and the associated opportunities for personalised and therapeutic medicine requires the development of novel systems for on-demand delivery of reprogramming factors into cells in order to modulate their activity/identity. Such triggerable systems should allow precise control of the timing, duration, magnitude and spatial release of the reprogramming factors. Furthermore, the system should allow this control even in vivo, using non-invasive means. The present project aims at developing triggerable systems able to release efficiently reprogramming factors on demand. The potential of this technology will be tested in two settings: (i) in the reprogramming of somatic cells in vitro, and (ii) in the improvement of hematopoietic stem cell engraftment in vivo, at the bone marrow. The proposed research involves a team formed by engineers, chemists, biologists and is highly multidisciplinary in nature encompassing elements of engineering, chemistry, system biology, stem cell technology and nanomedicine.
Max ERC Funding
1 699 320 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-11-01, End date: 2017-10-31
Project acronym NEMESIS
Project Novel Energy Materials: Engineering Science and Integrated Systems (NEMESIS)
Researcher (PI) Christopher Rhys Bowen
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF BATH
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary The aim of NEMESIS is to establish a world leading research center in ferroelectric and piezoelectric materials for energy harvesting and energy generation. I will deliver cutting edge multi-disciplinary research encompassing materials, physics, chemistry and electrical engineering and develop ground breaking materials and structures for energy creation. The internationally leading research center will be dedicated to developing new and innovative solutions to generating and harvesting energy using novel materials at the macro- to nano-scale.
Key challenges and novel technical approaches are:
1. To create energy harvesting nano-generators to convert vibrations into electrical energy in hostile environments (e.g. wireless sensors in near engine applications).
2. To enable broadband energy harvesting to generate electrical energy from ambient vibrations which generally exhibit multiple time-dependent frequencies.
3. To produce Curie-temperature tuned nano-structured pyroelectrics to optimise the electrical energy scavenged from temperature fluctuations. To further enhance the energy generation I aim to couple thermal expansion and pyroelectric effects to produce a new class of thermal energy harvesting materials and systems.
4. To create nano-structured ferroelectric and piezoelectric materials for novel water-splitting applications. Two approaches will be considered, the use of the internal electrical fields present in ferroelectrics to prevent recombination of photo-excited electron-hole pairs and the electric charge generated on mechanically stressed piezoelectric nano-rods which convert water to hydrogen and oxygen.
Summary
The aim of NEMESIS is to establish a world leading research center in ferroelectric and piezoelectric materials for energy harvesting and energy generation. I will deliver cutting edge multi-disciplinary research encompassing materials, physics, chemistry and electrical engineering and develop ground breaking materials and structures for energy creation. The internationally leading research center will be dedicated to developing new and innovative solutions to generating and harvesting energy using novel materials at the macro- to nano-scale.
Key challenges and novel technical approaches are:
1. To create energy harvesting nano-generators to convert vibrations into electrical energy in hostile environments (e.g. wireless sensors in near engine applications).
2. To enable broadband energy harvesting to generate electrical energy from ambient vibrations which generally exhibit multiple time-dependent frequencies.
3. To produce Curie-temperature tuned nano-structured pyroelectrics to optimise the electrical energy scavenged from temperature fluctuations. To further enhance the energy generation I aim to couple thermal expansion and pyroelectric effects to produce a new class of thermal energy harvesting materials and systems.
4. To create nano-structured ferroelectric and piezoelectric materials for novel water-splitting applications. Two approaches will be considered, the use of the internal electrical fields present in ferroelectrics to prevent recombination of photo-excited electron-hole pairs and the electric charge generated on mechanically stressed piezoelectric nano-rods which convert water to hydrogen and oxygen.
Max ERC Funding
2 266 020 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-12-31
Project acronym NetSat
Project Networked Pico-Satellite Distributed System Control
Researcher (PI) Klaus Schilling
Host Institution (HI) Zentrum fuer Telematik e.V.
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary A paradigm shift is emerging in spacecraft engineering from single, large, and multifunctional satellites towards cooperating groups of small satellites. This will enable innovative applications in areas like Earth observation or telecommunication. Related interdisciplinary research in the field of formation control and networked satellites are key challenges of this proposal.
Modern miniaturization techniques allow realization of satellites of continuously smaller masses, thus enabling cost-efficient implementation of distributed multi-satellite systems. In preparation my team has already realized two satellites at only 1 kg mass in the University Würzburg’s Ex¬perimental satellite (UWE) program, emphasizing crucial components for formation flying, like communication (UWE-1, launched 2005), attitude determination (UWE-2, launched 2009), and attitude control (UWE-3, launched 2013).
My vision for the proposed project is to demonstrate formation control of four pico-satellites in-orbit for the first time worldwide. To realize this objective, innovative multi-satellite networked orbit control based on relative position and attitude of each satellite is to be implemented in order to enable Earth observations based on multipoint measurements. Related sensor systems used in my laboratory in research for advanced characterization of teams of mobile robots will be transferred to the space environment. Breakthroughs are expected by combining optimal control strategies for coordination of relative motion with a robust flow of information in the network of satellites and ground stations, implemented via innovative use of ad-hoc networks in space. Based on my team’s expertise in implementing very small satellites, first time a system composed of four satellites will be launched to demonstrate autonomous distributed formation control in orbit. This research evaluation in space is expected to open up significant application potential for future distributed satellite system services in Earth observation.
Summary
A paradigm shift is emerging in spacecraft engineering from single, large, and multifunctional satellites towards cooperating groups of small satellites. This will enable innovative applications in areas like Earth observation or telecommunication. Related interdisciplinary research in the field of formation control and networked satellites are key challenges of this proposal.
Modern miniaturization techniques allow realization of satellites of continuously smaller masses, thus enabling cost-efficient implementation of distributed multi-satellite systems. In preparation my team has already realized two satellites at only 1 kg mass in the University Würzburg’s Ex¬perimental satellite (UWE) program, emphasizing crucial components for formation flying, like communication (UWE-1, launched 2005), attitude determination (UWE-2, launched 2009), and attitude control (UWE-3, launched 2013).
My vision for the proposed project is to demonstrate formation control of four pico-satellites in-orbit for the first time worldwide. To realize this objective, innovative multi-satellite networked orbit control based on relative position and attitude of each satellite is to be implemented in order to enable Earth observations based on multipoint measurements. Related sensor systems used in my laboratory in research for advanced characterization of teams of mobile robots will be transferred to the space environment. Breakthroughs are expected by combining optimal control strategies for coordination of relative motion with a robust flow of information in the network of satellites and ground stations, implemented via innovative use of ad-hoc networks in space. Based on my team’s expertise in implementing very small satellites, first time a system composed of four satellites will be launched to demonstrate autonomous distributed formation control in orbit. This research evaluation in space is expected to open up significant application potential for future distributed satellite system services in Earth observation.
Max ERC Funding
2 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-08-01, End date: 2019-07-31
Project acronym NONEQ.STEEL
Project Controlling Non-Equilibrium in Steels
Researcher (PI) Maria Jesus Santofimia Navarro
Host Institution (HI) TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Stronger and more ductile steels are increasingly demanded for advanced applications. Latest investigations show that nanostructured steels formed by non-equilibrium phases increasing strength, such as martensite and bainite, and enhancing strain hardening, such as austenite, fulfil these demands with outstanding performance.
In the last few years, I have observed that non-equilibrium phases strongly affect each other’s formation and stability, with effects on the kinetics of the microstructure development. Thus, I theoretically and experimentally proved that carbon enrichment of austenite, essential for its stability at room temperature, occurs at a high rate via diffusion from martensite. Moreover, I showed that martensite triggers bainite formation, which significantly increases bainite kinetics. I believe that these interactions between non-equilibrium phases constitute a revolutionary tool for the development of nanostructured steels in the future.
This project addresses a new concept to create novel nanostructured steels in which the microstructure development is controlled by interactions between non-equilibrium phases. This innovative idea opens an unprecedented approach for the design of metallic alloys. Since interactions between phases affect each other’s formation and stability, the project focus on the fundamental study of nucleation and growth of non-equilibrium phases as well as on the analysis of interactions. Investigations will combine the integrated application of advanced experimental techniques with atomic and micro scale analysis of structures by simulations. The project continues with the local analysis of the effect of non-equilibrium phases on the mechanical properties of the steels. The identification and explanations of mechanisms will allow the creation of new nanostructured steels based on non-equilibrium phases’ interactions.
Summary
Stronger and more ductile steels are increasingly demanded for advanced applications. Latest investigations show that nanostructured steels formed by non-equilibrium phases increasing strength, such as martensite and bainite, and enhancing strain hardening, such as austenite, fulfil these demands with outstanding performance.
In the last few years, I have observed that non-equilibrium phases strongly affect each other’s formation and stability, with effects on the kinetics of the microstructure development. Thus, I theoretically and experimentally proved that carbon enrichment of austenite, essential for its stability at room temperature, occurs at a high rate via diffusion from martensite. Moreover, I showed that martensite triggers bainite formation, which significantly increases bainite kinetics. I believe that these interactions between non-equilibrium phases constitute a revolutionary tool for the development of nanostructured steels in the future.
This project addresses a new concept to create novel nanostructured steels in which the microstructure development is controlled by interactions between non-equilibrium phases. This innovative idea opens an unprecedented approach for the design of metallic alloys. Since interactions between phases affect each other’s formation and stability, the project focus on the fundamental study of nucleation and growth of non-equilibrium phases as well as on the analysis of interactions. Investigations will combine the integrated application of advanced experimental techniques with atomic and micro scale analysis of structures by simulations. The project continues with the local analysis of the effect of non-equilibrium phases on the mechanical properties of the steels. The identification and explanations of mechanisms will allow the creation of new nanostructured steels based on non-equilibrium phases’ interactions.
Max ERC Funding
1 482 011 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-10-01, End date: 2018-03-31
Project acronym NOVIB
Project The Nonlinear Tuned Vibration Absorber
Researcher (PI) Gaetan Kerschen
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE LIEGE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary "Even after more than one century of flight, both civil and military aircraft are still plagued by major vibration problems. A well-known example is the external-store induced flutter of the F-16 fighter aircraft. Such dynamical phenomena, commonly known as aeroelastic instabilities, result from the transfer of energy from the free stream to the structure and can lead to limit cycle oscillations, a phenomenon with no linear counterpart. Since nonlinear dynamical systems theory is not yet mature, the inherently nonlinear nature of these oscillations renders their mitigation a particularly difficult problem. The only practical solution to date is to limit aircraft flight envelope to regions where these instabilities are not expected to occur, as verified by intensive and expensive flight campaigns. This limitation results in a severe decrease in both aircraft efficiency and performance.
At the heart of this project is a fundamental change in paradigm: although nonlinearity is usually seen as an enemy, I propose to control - and even suppress - aeroelastic instability through the intentional use of nonlinearity. This approach has the potential to bring about a major change in aircraft design and will be achieved thanks to the development of the nonlinear tuned vibration absorber, a new, rigorous nonlinear counterpart of the linear tuned vibration absorber. This work represents a number of significant challenges, because the novel functionalities brought by the intentional use of nonlinearity can be accompanied by adverse nonlinear dynamical effects. The successful mitigation of these unwanted nonlinear effects will be a major objective of our proposed research; it will require achieving both theoretical and technical advances to make it possible. A specific effort will be made to demonstrate experimentally the theoretical findings of this research with extensive wind tunnel testing and practical implementation of the nonlinear tuned vibration absorber.
Finally, nonlinear instabilities such as limit cycle oscillations can be found in a number of non-aircraft applications including in bridges, automotive disc brakes and machine tools. The nonlinear tuned vibration absorber could also find uses in resolving problems in these applications, thus ensuring the generic character of the project."
Summary
"Even after more than one century of flight, both civil and military aircraft are still plagued by major vibration problems. A well-known example is the external-store induced flutter of the F-16 fighter aircraft. Such dynamical phenomena, commonly known as aeroelastic instabilities, result from the transfer of energy from the free stream to the structure and can lead to limit cycle oscillations, a phenomenon with no linear counterpart. Since nonlinear dynamical systems theory is not yet mature, the inherently nonlinear nature of these oscillations renders their mitigation a particularly difficult problem. The only practical solution to date is to limit aircraft flight envelope to regions where these instabilities are not expected to occur, as verified by intensive and expensive flight campaigns. This limitation results in a severe decrease in both aircraft efficiency and performance.
At the heart of this project is a fundamental change in paradigm: although nonlinearity is usually seen as an enemy, I propose to control - and even suppress - aeroelastic instability through the intentional use of nonlinearity. This approach has the potential to bring about a major change in aircraft design and will be achieved thanks to the development of the nonlinear tuned vibration absorber, a new, rigorous nonlinear counterpart of the linear tuned vibration absorber. This work represents a number of significant challenges, because the novel functionalities brought by the intentional use of nonlinearity can be accompanied by adverse nonlinear dynamical effects. The successful mitigation of these unwanted nonlinear effects will be a major objective of our proposed research; it will require achieving both theoretical and technical advances to make it possible. A specific effort will be made to demonstrate experimentally the theoretical findings of this research with extensive wind tunnel testing and practical implementation of the nonlinear tuned vibration absorber.
Finally, nonlinear instabilities such as limit cycle oscillations can be found in a number of non-aircraft applications including in bridges, automotive disc brakes and machine tools. The nonlinear tuned vibration absorber could also find uses in resolving problems in these applications, thus ensuring the generic character of the project."
Max ERC Funding
1 316 440 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-09-01, End date: 2017-08-31
Project acronym REE-CYCLE
Project Rare Earth Element reCYCLing with Low harmful Emissions
Researcher (PI) Thomas Nicolas Zemb
Host Institution (HI) COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary "It is a matter of strategic independence for Europe to urgently find processes taking into account environmental and economic issues, when mining and recycling rare earths. Currently THERE ARE NO SUCH INDUSTRIAL PROCESS AVAILABLE and 0% WASTE RECYCLING of RARE EARTH ELEMENTS (REE). Plus, 97% of the mining operations are performed in China, hence representing a major Sword of Damoclès for the rest of the world’s economy.
We propose to develop a new, cost effective and environmentally friendly REE recycling process. We will achieve this: (i) by enabling, for the first time ever, the fast measurement of free energy of mass transfer between complex fluids; hence it will now be possible to explore an extensive number of process formulations and phase diagrams (such a study usually takes years but will then be performed in a matter of days); (ii) develop predictive models of ion separation including the effect of long-range interactions between metal cations and micelles; (iii) by using the experimental results and prediction tools developed, to design an advanced & environmentally friendly process formulations and pilot plant; (iv) by enhancing the extraction kinetics and selectivity, by implementing a new, innovative and selective triggering cation exchange process step (ca. the exchange kinetics of a cation will be greatly enhance when compared to another one). This will represent a major breakthrough in the field of transfer methods between complex fluids.
An expected direct consequence of REE-CYCLE will be that acids’ volumes and other harmful process wastes, will be reduced by one to two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, this new understanding of mechanisms involved in selective ion transfer should open new recycling possibilities and pave the way to economical recovery of metals from a very rapidly growing “mine”, i.e. the diverse metal containing “wastes” generated by used Li-ion batteries, super-capacitors, supported catalysts and fuel cells."
Summary
"It is a matter of strategic independence for Europe to urgently find processes taking into account environmental and economic issues, when mining and recycling rare earths. Currently THERE ARE NO SUCH INDUSTRIAL PROCESS AVAILABLE and 0% WASTE RECYCLING of RARE EARTH ELEMENTS (REE). Plus, 97% of the mining operations are performed in China, hence representing a major Sword of Damoclès for the rest of the world’s economy.
We propose to develop a new, cost effective and environmentally friendly REE recycling process. We will achieve this: (i) by enabling, for the first time ever, the fast measurement of free energy of mass transfer between complex fluids; hence it will now be possible to explore an extensive number of process formulations and phase diagrams (such a study usually takes years but will then be performed in a matter of days); (ii) develop predictive models of ion separation including the effect of long-range interactions between metal cations and micelles; (iii) by using the experimental results and prediction tools developed, to design an advanced & environmentally friendly process formulations and pilot plant; (iv) by enhancing the extraction kinetics and selectivity, by implementing a new, innovative and selective triggering cation exchange process step (ca. the exchange kinetics of a cation will be greatly enhance when compared to another one). This will represent a major breakthrough in the field of transfer methods between complex fluids.
An expected direct consequence of REE-CYCLE will be that acids’ volumes and other harmful process wastes, will be reduced by one to two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, this new understanding of mechanisms involved in selective ion transfer should open new recycling possibilities and pave the way to economical recovery of metals from a very rapidly growing “mine”, i.e. the diverse metal containing “wastes” generated by used Li-ion batteries, super-capacitors, supported catalysts and fuel cells."
Max ERC Funding
2 255 515 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-07-01, End date: 2018-06-30
Project acronym RETURN
Project RETURN – Rethinking Tunnelling in Urban Neighbourhoods
Researcher (PI) Debra Fern Laefer
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary This project addresses important challenges at the forefront of geotechnical engineering and building conservation by introducing an entirely new workflow and largely unexploited data source for the predic-tion of building damage from tunnel-induced subsidence. The project will also make fundamental and ground-breaking advances in the collection and processing of city-scale, aerial laser scanning by avoiding any reliance on existing data for building location identification, respective data affiliation, or building fea-ture recognition. This will create a set of techniques that are robust, scalable, and widely applicable to a broad range of communities with unreinforced masonry buildings. This will also lay the groundwork to rapidly generate and deploy city-scale, computational models for emergency management and disaster re-sponse, as well as for the growing field of environmental modelling.
Summary
This project addresses important challenges at the forefront of geotechnical engineering and building conservation by introducing an entirely new workflow and largely unexploited data source for the predic-tion of building damage from tunnel-induced subsidence. The project will also make fundamental and ground-breaking advances in the collection and processing of city-scale, aerial laser scanning by avoiding any reliance on existing data for building location identification, respective data affiliation, or building fea-ture recognition. This will create a set of techniques that are robust, scalable, and widely applicable to a broad range of communities with unreinforced masonry buildings. This will also lay the groundwork to rapidly generate and deploy city-scale, computational models for emergency management and disaster re-sponse, as well as for the growing field of environmental modelling.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2016-12-31
Project acronym SPEED
Project Single Pore Engineering for Membrane Development
Researcher (PI) Ian Metcalfe
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary Mankind needs to innovate to deliver more efficient, environmentally-friendly and increasingly intensified processes. The development of highly selective, high temperature, inorganic membranes is critical for the introduction of the novel membrane processes that will promote the transition to a low carbon economy and result in cleaner, more efficient and safer chemical conversions. However, high temperature membranes are difficult to study because of problems associated with sealing and determining the relatively low fluxes that are present in most laboratory systems (fluxes are conventionally determined by gas analysis of the permeate stream). Characterisation is difficult because of complex membrane microstructures.
I will avoid these problems by adopting an entirely new approach to membrane materials selection and kinetic testing through a pioneering study of permeation in single pores of model membranes. Firstly, model single pore systems will be designed and fabricated; appropriate micro-analytical techniques to follow permeation will be developed. Secondly, these model systems will be used to screen novel combinations of materials for hybrid membranes and to determine kinetics with a degree of control not previously available in this field. Thirdly, I will use our improved understanding of membrane kinetics to guide real membrane design and fabrication. Real membrane performance will be compared to model predictions and I will investigate how the new membranes can impact on process design.
If successful, an entirely new approach to membrane science will be developed and demonstrated. New membranes will be developed facilitating the adoption of new processes addressing timely challenges such as the production of high purity hydrogen from low-grade reducing gases, carbon dioxide capture and the removal of oxides of nitrogen from oxygen-containing exhaust streams.
Summary
Mankind needs to innovate to deliver more efficient, environmentally-friendly and increasingly intensified processes. The development of highly selective, high temperature, inorganic membranes is critical for the introduction of the novel membrane processes that will promote the transition to a low carbon economy and result in cleaner, more efficient and safer chemical conversions. However, high temperature membranes are difficult to study because of problems associated with sealing and determining the relatively low fluxes that are present in most laboratory systems (fluxes are conventionally determined by gas analysis of the permeate stream). Characterisation is difficult because of complex membrane microstructures.
I will avoid these problems by adopting an entirely new approach to membrane materials selection and kinetic testing through a pioneering study of permeation in single pores of model membranes. Firstly, model single pore systems will be designed and fabricated; appropriate micro-analytical techniques to follow permeation will be developed. Secondly, these model systems will be used to screen novel combinations of materials for hybrid membranes and to determine kinetics with a degree of control not previously available in this field. Thirdly, I will use our improved understanding of membrane kinetics to guide real membrane design and fabrication. Real membrane performance will be compared to model predictions and I will investigate how the new membranes can impact on process design.
If successful, an entirely new approach to membrane science will be developed and demonstrated. New membranes will be developed facilitating the adoption of new processes addressing timely challenges such as the production of high purity hydrogen from low-grade reducing gases, carbon dioxide capture and the removal of oxides of nitrogen from oxygen-containing exhaust streams.
Max ERC Funding
2 080 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
Project acronym SPINAM
Project Electrospinning: a method to elaborate membrane-electrode assemblies for fuel cells
Researcher (PI) Sara Cavaliere
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE MONTPELLIER
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary "This project leads to the development of novel MEAs comprising components elaborated by the electrospinning technique. Proton exchange membranes will be elaborated from electrospun ionomer fibres and characterised. In the first stages of the work, we will use commercial perfluorosulfonic acid polymers, but later we will extend the study to specific partially fluorinated ionomers developed within th project, as well as to sulfonated polyaromatic ionomers. Fuel cell electrodes will be prepared using conducting fibres prepared by electrospinning as supports. Initially we will focus on carbon nanofibres, and then on modified carbon support materials (heteroatom functionalisation, oriented carbons) and finally on metal oxides and carbides. The resultant nanofibres will serve as support for the deposition of metal catalyst particles (Pt, Pt/Co, Pt/Ru). Conventional impregnation routes and also a novel “one pot” method will be used.
Detailed (structural, morphological, electrical, electrochemical) characterisation of the electrodes will be carried out in collaboration between partners. The membranes and electrodes developed will be assembled into MEAs using CCM (catalyst coated membrane) and GDE (gas diffusion electrode) approaches and also an original ""membrane coated GDE"" method based on electrospinning. Finally the obtained MEAs will be characterised in situ in an operating fuel cell fed with hydrogen or methanol and the results compared with those of conventional MEAs."
Summary
"This project leads to the development of novel MEAs comprising components elaborated by the electrospinning technique. Proton exchange membranes will be elaborated from electrospun ionomer fibres and characterised. In the first stages of the work, we will use commercial perfluorosulfonic acid polymers, but later we will extend the study to specific partially fluorinated ionomers developed within th project, as well as to sulfonated polyaromatic ionomers. Fuel cell electrodes will be prepared using conducting fibres prepared by electrospinning as supports. Initially we will focus on carbon nanofibres, and then on modified carbon support materials (heteroatom functionalisation, oriented carbons) and finally on metal oxides and carbides. The resultant nanofibres will serve as support for the deposition of metal catalyst particles (Pt, Pt/Co, Pt/Ru). Conventional impregnation routes and also a novel “one pot” method will be used.
Detailed (structural, morphological, electrical, electrochemical) characterisation of the electrodes will be carried out in collaboration between partners. The membranes and electrodes developed will be assembled into MEAs using CCM (catalyst coated membrane) and GDE (gas diffusion electrode) approaches and also an original ""membrane coated GDE"" method based on electrospinning. Finally the obtained MEAs will be characterised in situ in an operating fuel cell fed with hydrogen or methanol and the results compared with those of conventional MEAs."
Max ERC Funding
1 352 774 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2018-06-30
Project acronym SUNFUELS
Project SOLAR THERMOCHEMICAL PRODUCTION OF FUELS
Researcher (PI) Aldo Ernesto Steinfeld
Host Institution (HI) EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary "The research is aimed at the efficient production of solar fuels from H2O and CO2. Solar thermochemical approaches using concentrating solar energy inherently operate at high temperatures and utilize the entire solar spectrum, and as such provide thermodynamic favorable paths to efficient solar fuel production. The targeted solar fuel is syngas: a mixture of mainly H2 and CO that can be further processed to liquid hydrocarbon fuels (e.g. diesel, kerosene), which offer high energy densities and are most convenient for the transportation sector without changes in the current global infrastructure. The strategy for the efficient production of solar syngas from H2O and CO2 involves research on a 2-step thermochemical redox cycle, encompassing: 1st step) the solar-driven endothermic reduction of a metal oxide; and 2nd step) the non-solar exothermic oxidation of the reduced metal oxide with H2O/CO2, yielding syngas together with the initial metal oxide. Two redox pairs have been identified as most promising: the volatile ZnO/Zn and non-volatile CeO2/CeO2-δ. Novel materials, structures, and solar reactor concepts will be developed for enhanced heat and mass transport, fast reaction rates, and high specific yields of fuel generation. Thermodynamic and kinetic analyses of the pertinent redox reactions will enable screening dopants. Solar reactor modeling will incorporate fundamental transport phenomena coupled to reaction kinetics by applying advanced numerical methods (e.g. Monte Carlo coupled to CFD at the pore scale). Solar reactor prototypes for 5 kW solar radiative power input will experimentally demonstrate the efficient production of solar syngas and their suitability for large-scale industrial implementation. The proposed research contributes to the development of technically viable and cost effective technologies for sustainable transportation fuels, and thus addresses one of the most pressing challenges that modern society is facing at the global level."
Summary
"The research is aimed at the efficient production of solar fuels from H2O and CO2. Solar thermochemical approaches using concentrating solar energy inherently operate at high temperatures and utilize the entire solar spectrum, and as such provide thermodynamic favorable paths to efficient solar fuel production. The targeted solar fuel is syngas: a mixture of mainly H2 and CO that can be further processed to liquid hydrocarbon fuels (e.g. diesel, kerosene), which offer high energy densities and are most convenient for the transportation sector without changes in the current global infrastructure. The strategy for the efficient production of solar syngas from H2O and CO2 involves research on a 2-step thermochemical redox cycle, encompassing: 1st step) the solar-driven endothermic reduction of a metal oxide; and 2nd step) the non-solar exothermic oxidation of the reduced metal oxide with H2O/CO2, yielding syngas together with the initial metal oxide. Two redox pairs have been identified as most promising: the volatile ZnO/Zn and non-volatile CeO2/CeO2-δ. Novel materials, structures, and solar reactor concepts will be developed for enhanced heat and mass transport, fast reaction rates, and high specific yields of fuel generation. Thermodynamic and kinetic analyses of the pertinent redox reactions will enable screening dopants. Solar reactor modeling will incorporate fundamental transport phenomena coupled to reaction kinetics by applying advanced numerical methods (e.g. Monte Carlo coupled to CFD at the pore scale). Solar reactor prototypes for 5 kW solar radiative power input will experimentally demonstrate the efficient production of solar syngas and their suitability for large-scale industrial implementation. The proposed research contributes to the development of technically viable and cost effective technologies for sustainable transportation fuels, and thus addresses one of the most pressing challenges that modern society is facing at the global level."
Max ERC Funding
2 187 650 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2018-02-28
Project acronym Tailor Graphene
Project Tailoring Graphene to Withstand Large Deformations
Researcher (PI) Constantine Galiotis
Host Institution (HI) FOUNDATION FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY HELLAS
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary This proposal aims via a comprehensive and interdisciplinary programme of research to determine the full response of monolayer (atomic thickness) graphene to extreme axial tensional deformation up to failure and to measure directly its tensile strength, stiffness, strain-to-failure and, most importantly, the effect of orthogonal buckling to its overall tensile properties. Already our recent results have shown that graphene buckling of any form can be suppressed by embedding the flakes into polymer matrices. We have indeed quantified this effect for any flake geometry and have produced master curves relating geometrical aspects to compression strain-to-failure. In the proposed work, we will make good use of this finding by altering the geometry of the flakes and thus design graphene strips (micro-ribbons) of specific dimensions which when embedded to polymer matrices can be stretched to large deformation and even failure without simultaneous buckling in the other direction. This is indeed the only route possible for the exploitation of the potential of graphene as an efficient reinforcement in composites. Since orthogonal buckling during stretching is expected to alter- among other things- the Dirac spectrum and consequently the electronic properties of graphene, we intend to use the technique of Raman spectroscopy to produce stress/ strain maps in two dimensions in order to quantify fully this effect from the mechanical standpoint. Finally, another option for ironing out the wrinkles is to apply a simultaneous thermal field during tensile loading. This will give rise to a biaxial stretching of graphene which presents another interesting field of study particularly for already envisaged applications of graphene in flexible displays and coatings.
Summary
This proposal aims via a comprehensive and interdisciplinary programme of research to determine the full response of monolayer (atomic thickness) graphene to extreme axial tensional deformation up to failure and to measure directly its tensile strength, stiffness, strain-to-failure and, most importantly, the effect of orthogonal buckling to its overall tensile properties. Already our recent results have shown that graphene buckling of any form can be suppressed by embedding the flakes into polymer matrices. We have indeed quantified this effect for any flake geometry and have produced master curves relating geometrical aspects to compression strain-to-failure. In the proposed work, we will make good use of this finding by altering the geometry of the flakes and thus design graphene strips (micro-ribbons) of specific dimensions which when embedded to polymer matrices can be stretched to large deformation and even failure without simultaneous buckling in the other direction. This is indeed the only route possible for the exploitation of the potential of graphene as an efficient reinforcement in composites. Since orthogonal buckling during stretching is expected to alter- among other things- the Dirac spectrum and consequently the electronic properties of graphene, we intend to use the technique of Raman spectroscopy to produce stress/ strain maps in two dimensions in order to quantify fully this effect from the mechanical standpoint. Finally, another option for ironing out the wrinkles is to apply a simultaneous thermal field during tensile loading. This will give rise to a biaxial stretching of graphene which presents another interesting field of study particularly for already envisaged applications of graphene in flexible displays and coatings.
Max ERC Funding
2 025 600 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-06-01, End date: 2018-05-31
Project acronym TRAM
Project Transport at the microscopic interface
Researcher (PI) Rob Gerhardus Hendrikus Lammertink
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT TWENTE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary The research objective is to study and model membrane separation processes at the microscopic scale. I propose to exploit microfluidic platforms that contain a certain membrane separation challenge to be studied; i.e. biofouling, overlimiting current, and concentration polarization. Each challenge will be the topic for an individual PhD student.
Summary
The research objective is to study and model membrane separation processes at the microscopic scale. I propose to exploit microfluidic platforms that contain a certain membrane separation challenge to be studied; i.e. biofouling, overlimiting current, and concentration polarization. Each challenge will be the topic for an individual PhD student.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-09-01, End date: 2017-08-31
Project acronym TRAMAN21
Project Traffic Management for the 21st Century
Researcher (PI) Markos Papageorgiou
Host Institution (HI) POLYTECHNEIO KRITIS
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary Traffic congestion on motorways is a serious threat for the economic and social life of modern societies and for the environment, which calls for drastic and radical solutions. Conventional traffic management faces limitations. During the last decade, there has been an enormous effort to develop a variety of Vehicle Automation and Communication Systems (VACS) that are expected to revolutionise the features and capabilities of individual vehicles. VACS are typically developed to benefit the individual vehicle, without a clear view for the implications, advantages and disadvantages they may have for the accordingly modified traffic characteristics. Thus, the introduction of VACS brings along the necessity and growing opportunities for adapted or utterly new traffic management.
It is the main objective of TRAMAN21 to develop the foundations and first steps that will pave the way towards a new era of motorway traffic management research and practice, which is indispensable for exploiting the evolving VACS deployment. TRAMAN21 assesses the relevance of VACS for improved traffic flow and develops specific options for a sensible upgrade of the traffic conditions, particularly at the network’s weak points, i.e. at bottlenecks and incident locations. The proposed work comprises the development of new traffic flow modelling and control approaches on the basis of appropriate methods from many-particle Physics, Automatic Control and Optimisation. A field trial is included, aiming at a preliminary testing and demonstration of the developed concepts.
TRAMAN21 risk stems from the uncertainty in the VACS evolution, which is a challenge for the required modelling and control developments. But, if successful, TRAMAN21 will contribute to a substantial reduction of the estimated annual European traffic congestion cost of 120 billion € and related environmental pollution and will trigger further innovative developments and a new era of traffic flow modelling and control research.
Summary
Traffic congestion on motorways is a serious threat for the economic and social life of modern societies and for the environment, which calls for drastic and radical solutions. Conventional traffic management faces limitations. During the last decade, there has been an enormous effort to develop a variety of Vehicle Automation and Communication Systems (VACS) that are expected to revolutionise the features and capabilities of individual vehicles. VACS are typically developed to benefit the individual vehicle, without a clear view for the implications, advantages and disadvantages they may have for the accordingly modified traffic characteristics. Thus, the introduction of VACS brings along the necessity and growing opportunities for adapted or utterly new traffic management.
It is the main objective of TRAMAN21 to develop the foundations and first steps that will pave the way towards a new era of motorway traffic management research and practice, which is indispensable for exploiting the evolving VACS deployment. TRAMAN21 assesses the relevance of VACS for improved traffic flow and develops specific options for a sensible upgrade of the traffic conditions, particularly at the network’s weak points, i.e. at bottlenecks and incident locations. The proposed work comprises the development of new traffic flow modelling and control approaches on the basis of appropriate methods from many-particle Physics, Automatic Control and Optimisation. A field trial is included, aiming at a preliminary testing and demonstration of the developed concepts.
TRAMAN21 risk stems from the uncertainty in the VACS evolution, which is a challenge for the required modelling and control developments. But, if successful, TRAMAN21 will contribute to a substantial reduction of the estimated annual European traffic congestion cost of 120 billion € and related environmental pollution and will trigger further innovative developments and a new era of traffic flow modelling and control research.
Max ERC Funding
1 496 880 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2018-02-28
Project acronym VASCULARGROWTH
Project Bioengineering prediction of three-dimensional vascular growth and remodeling in embryonic great-vessel development
Researcher (PI) Kerem Pekkan
Host Institution (HI) KOC UNIVERSITY
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Globally 1 in 100 children are born with significant congenital heart defects (CHD), representing either new genetic mutations or epigenetic insults that alter cardiac morphogenesis in utero. Embryonic CV systems dynamically regulate structure and function over very short time periods throughout morphogenesis and that biomechanical loading conditions within the heart and great-vessels alter morphogenesis and gene expression. This proposal has structured around a common goal of developing a comprehensive and predictive understanding of the biomechanics and regulation of great-vessel development and its plasticity in response to clinically relevant epigenetic changes in loading conditions. Biomechanical regulation of vascular morphogenesis, including potential aortic arch (AA) reversibility or plasticity after epigenetic events relevant to human CHD are investigated using multimodal experiments in the chick embryo that investigate normal AA growth and remodeling, microsurgical instrumentation that alter ventricular and vascular blood flow loading during critical periods in AA morphogenesis. WP 1 establishes our novel optimization framework, incorporates basic input/output in vivo data sets, and validates. In WP 2 and 3 the numerical models for perturbed biomechanical environment and incorporate new objective functions that have in vivo structural data inputs and predict changes in structure and function. WP 4 incorporates candidate genes and pathways during normal and experimentally altered AA morphogenesis. This proposal develops and validates the first in vivo morphomechanics-integrated three-dimensional mathematical models of AA growth and remodeling that can predict normal growth patterns and abnormal vascular adaptations common in CHD. Multidisciplinary application of bioengineering principles to CHD is likely to provide novel insights and paradigms towards our long-term goal of optimizing CHD interventions, outcomes, and the potential for preventive strategies.
Summary
Globally 1 in 100 children are born with significant congenital heart defects (CHD), representing either new genetic mutations or epigenetic insults that alter cardiac morphogenesis in utero. Embryonic CV systems dynamically regulate structure and function over very short time periods throughout morphogenesis and that biomechanical loading conditions within the heart and great-vessels alter morphogenesis and gene expression. This proposal has structured around a common goal of developing a comprehensive and predictive understanding of the biomechanics and regulation of great-vessel development and its plasticity in response to clinically relevant epigenetic changes in loading conditions. Biomechanical regulation of vascular morphogenesis, including potential aortic arch (AA) reversibility or plasticity after epigenetic events relevant to human CHD are investigated using multimodal experiments in the chick embryo that investigate normal AA growth and remodeling, microsurgical instrumentation that alter ventricular and vascular blood flow loading during critical periods in AA morphogenesis. WP 1 establishes our novel optimization framework, incorporates basic input/output in vivo data sets, and validates. In WP 2 and 3 the numerical models for perturbed biomechanical environment and incorporate new objective functions that have in vivo structural data inputs and predict changes in structure and function. WP 4 incorporates candidate genes and pathways during normal and experimentally altered AA morphogenesis. This proposal develops and validates the first in vivo morphomechanics-integrated three-dimensional mathematical models of AA growth and remodeling that can predict normal growth patterns and abnormal vascular adaptations common in CHD. Multidisciplinary application of bioengineering principles to CHD is likely to provide novel insights and paradigms towards our long-term goal of optimizing CHD interventions, outcomes, and the potential for preventive strategies.
Max ERC Funding
1 995 140 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2019-07-31
Project acronym XFLOW
Project Ultrafast X-Ray Tomography of Turbulent Bubble Flows
Researcher (PI) Markus Schubert
Host Institution (HI) HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM DRESDEN-ROSSENDORF EV
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Multiphase reactors are omnipresent in chemical engineering and dominate today's manufacturing of chemical products such that they are present in most of our daily products. That implies a huge economic and ecologic impact of the reactor performance. The basic idea of a multiphase reactor is to contact chemical precursors and catalysts in a sufficient time for the reaction to proceed, but reactor performance is crucially affected by the complex reactor hydrodynamics. A proper optimization would imply that multiphase flows are adequately understood.
Gas bubbled into a pool of liquid is the simplest example of a multiphase reactor. Bubble columns or distillation columns, however, house millions of bubbles emerging in swarms with interactions such as coalescence and breakage events that determine the whole process behaviour. The understanding of such disperse gas-liquid flows is still fragmentary and requires a ground-breaking update.
The aim of the project is to apply the worldwide fastest tomographic imaging method to study such turbulent gas-liquid dispersed flows in column reactors such as bubble columns and tray columns. The project intends to provide unique insights into the bubble swarm behaviour at operating conditions that have been hidden so far from the engineer's eyes.
The project is foreseen to enhance the fundamental understanding of hydrodynamic parameters, evolving flow patterns and coherent structures as well as coalescence and breakage mechanisms, regardless of if the systems are pressurized, filled with particle packings, operated with organic liquid, slurries or with internals.
The interdisciplinary team shall re-establish the process intensification route for multiphase reactors by a new understanding of small-scale phenomena, their mathematical description and extrapolation towards the reactor scale and therewith providing a tool for reactor optimization.
Summary
Multiphase reactors are omnipresent in chemical engineering and dominate today's manufacturing of chemical products such that they are present in most of our daily products. That implies a huge economic and ecologic impact of the reactor performance. The basic idea of a multiphase reactor is to contact chemical precursors and catalysts in a sufficient time for the reaction to proceed, but reactor performance is crucially affected by the complex reactor hydrodynamics. A proper optimization would imply that multiphase flows are adequately understood.
Gas bubbled into a pool of liquid is the simplest example of a multiphase reactor. Bubble columns or distillation columns, however, house millions of bubbles emerging in swarms with interactions such as coalescence and breakage events that determine the whole process behaviour. The understanding of such disperse gas-liquid flows is still fragmentary and requires a ground-breaking update.
The aim of the project is to apply the worldwide fastest tomographic imaging method to study such turbulent gas-liquid dispersed flows in column reactors such as bubble columns and tray columns. The project intends to provide unique insights into the bubble swarm behaviour at operating conditions that have been hidden so far from the engineer's eyes.
The project is foreseen to enhance the fundamental understanding of hydrodynamic parameters, evolving flow patterns and coherent structures as well as coalescence and breakage mechanisms, regardless of if the systems are pressurized, filled with particle packings, operated with organic liquid, slurries or with internals.
The interdisciplinary team shall re-establish the process intensification route for multiphase reactors by a new understanding of small-scale phenomena, their mathematical description and extrapolation towards the reactor scale and therewith providing a tool for reactor optimization.
Max ERC Funding
1 172 640 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2016-12-31
