ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

The realization of high-performance micro-supercapacitors is currently a big challenge but the ineluctable applications requiring such miniaturized energy storage devices are continuously emerging, from wearable electronic gadgets to wireless sensor networks. Although they store less energy than micro-batteries, micro-supercapacitors can be charged and discharged very rapidly and exhibit a quasi-unlimited lifetime. The global scientific research is consequently largely focused on the improvement of their capacitance and energetic performances. However, to date, they are still far from being able to power sensors or electronic components. Here I propose a 3D paradigm shift of micro-supercapacitor design to ensure increased energy storage capacities. Hydrous ruthenium dioxide (RuO2) is a pseudocapacitive material for supercapacitor electrode well-known for its high capacitance. A thin-film of ruthenium will be deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD), followed by an electrochemical oxidation process, onto a high-surface-area 3D current collector prepared via an ingenious dynamic template built with hydrogen bubbles. The structural features of these 3D architectures will be controllably tailored by the processing methodologies. These electrodes will be combined with an innovative electrolyte in solid form (a protic ionogel) able to operate over an extended cell voltage. In a parallel investigation, we will develop a fundamental understanding of electrochemical reactions occurring at the nanoscale with a FIB-patterned (Focused Ion Beam) RuO2 nano-supercapacitor. The resulting 3D micro-supercapacitors should display extremely high power, long lifetime and – for the first time – energy densities competing or even exceeding that of micro-batteries. As a key achievement, prototypes will be designed using a new concept based on a self-adaptative micro-supercapacitors matrix, which arranges itself according to the global amount of energy stored.

1 673 438 €

Start date: 2018-04-01, End date: 2023-03-31

Present-day financial markets are turning algorithmic, as market orders are increasingly being executed by fully automated computer algorithms, without any direct human intervention. Although algorithmic finance seems to fundamentally reshape the central dynamics in financial markets, and even though it prompts core sociological questions, it has not yet received any systematic attention. In a pioneering contribution to economic sociology and social studies of finance, ALGOFINANCE aims to understand how and with what consequences the turn to algorithms is changing financial markets. The overall concept and central contributions of ALGOFINANCE are the following: (1) on an intra-firm level, the project examines how the shift to algorithmic finance reshapes the ways in which trading firms operate, and does so by systematically and empirically investigating the reconfiguration of organizational structures and employee subjectivity; (2) on an inter-algorithmic level, it offers a ground-breaking methodology (agent-based modelling informed by qualitative data) to grasp how trading algorithms interact with one another in a fully digital space; and (3) on the level of market sociality, it proposes a novel theorization of how intra-firm and inter-algorithmic dynamics can be conceived of as introducing a particular form of sociality that is characteristic to algorithmic finance: a form of sociality-as-association heuristically analyzed as imitation. None of these three levels have received systematic attention in the state-of-the-art literature. Addressing them will significantly advance the understanding of present-day algorithmic finance in economic sociology. By contributing novel empirical, methodological, and theoretical understandings of the functioning and consequences of algorithms, ALGOFINANCE will pave the way for other research into digital sociology and the broader algorithmization of society.

1 590 036 €

Start date: 2017-05-01, End date: 2021-04-30

Wireless power transfer (WPT), pioneered by Tesla, is an idea at least as old as radio communications. However, on the one hand, due to health concerns and the large antenna dimensions required for transmission of high energy levels, until recently WPT has been limited mostly to very short distance applications. On the other hand, recent advances in silicon technology have significantly reduced the energy needs of electronic systems, making WPT over radio waves a potential source of energy for low power devices. Although WPT through radio waves has already found various short-range applications (such as the radio-frequency identification technology, healthcare monitoring etc.), its integration as a building block in the operation of wireless communications systems is still unexploited. On the other hand, conventional radio wave based information and energy transmissions have largely been designed separately. However, many applications can benefit from simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT). The overall objective of the APOLLO project is to study the integration of WPT/SWIPT technology into future wireless communication systems. Compared to past and current research efforts in this area, our technical approach is deeply interdisciplinary and more comprehensive, combining the expertise of wireless communications, control theory, information theory, optimization, and electronics/microwave engineering. The key outcomes of the project include: 1) a rigorous and complete mathematical theory for WPT/SWIPT via information/communication/control theoretic studies; 2) new physical and cross-layer mechanisms that will enable the integration of WPT/SWIPT into future communication systems; 3) new network architectures that will fully exploit potential benefits of WPT/SWIPT; and 4) development of a proof-of-concept by implementing highly-efficient and multi-band metamaterial energy harvesting sensors for SWIPT.

1 930 625 €

Start date: 2019-07-01, End date: 2024-06-30

"The origin of life is not well understood, and is one of the great remaining questions in science. Autocatalytic chemical reactions have been extensively studied with the aim of providing insight into the principles underlying living systems. In biology, organisms can be thought of as imperfect self-replicators, which produce closely related species, allowing for selection and evolution. Autocatalysis is also an important part of many other biological processes. This project aims to develop new autocatalytic reactions where two simple chemical building blocks come together to give a more complex product, and then the product aggregates to give primitive cell-like structures or "protocells" such as micelles or vesicles. The protocells allow the starting materials to mix more efficiently, speeding up the reaction in time and giving rise to complex behaviour of the protocells. These reactions will serve as models that I hope will contribute to understanding how cell-like systems can emerge from simpler chemicals and be relevant to how life started on earth. This project will give the opportunity to study chemical systems that may be able to evolve in time, allow development of useful chemical models of important biological processes, and provide ‘bottom-up’ approaches to synthetic biology. This research will potential allow the study evolution in a new ways, develop technology useful to a number of scientific fields, and potentially shed light on the processes that allowed chemistry to become biology on the primitive Earth."

2 278 073 €

Start date: 2016-05-01, End date: 2021-04-30

The aggregation of proteins into amyloid fibrils is involved in various diseases which place a high burden on patients, families, caregivers, and healthcare systems, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and type 2 diabetes. While the therapeutic potential of the inhibition of amyloid formation and spreading has been recognized, there is a lack of effective strategies targeting the early steps of the aggregation reaction. In BETACONTROL, I want to establish a structure-guided approach to the control of amyloid formation and spreading. I will develop small molecule and polypeptide-based ligands that interfere with the initial phases of amyloid formation and thereby suppress any toxic oligomeric or fibrillar assemblies. The ligands will target beta-hairpin molecular recognition features, which I found to be readily accessible in disease-related amyloidogenic proteins. Targeting beta-hairpins enables retardation of protein aggregation by substoichiometric amounts of the ligand, affording inhibition of amyloid formation at low compound concentrations. As the strategy addresses the common propensity of amyloidogenic proteins to adopt beta-structure, it will be applicable to a wide range of proteins associated with various diseases. BETACONTROL will yield molecular-level insight into the mechanistic basis of amyloid formation and spreading. Furthermore, it will elucidate the significance of beta-hairpins as molecular recognition features in intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and highlight the applicability of these features as targets for interference with protein-protein interactions of IDPs. Ultimately, BETACONTROL will provide a novel therapeutic approach to a range of devastating diseases.

1 920 697 €

Start date: 2017-06-01, End date: 2022-05-31

Digital signal processing (DSP) is a revolutionary paradigm shift enabling processing of physical data in the digital domain where design and implementation are considerably simplified. However, state-of-the-art analog-to-digital convertors (ADCs) preclude high-rate wideband sampling and processing with low cost and energy consumption, presenting a major bottleneck. This is mostly due to a traditional assumption that sampling must be performed at the Nyquist rate, that is, twice the signal bandwidth. Modern applications including communications, medical imaging, radar and more use signals with high bandwidth, resulting in prohibitively large Nyquist rates. Our ambitious goal is to introduce a paradigm shift in ADC design that will enable systems capable of low-rate, wideband sensing and low-rate DSP. While DSP has a rich history in exploiting structure to reduce dimensionality and perform efficient parameter extraction, current ADCs do not exploit such knowledge. We challenge current practice that separates the sampling stage from the processing stage and exploit structure in analog signals already in the ADC, to drastically reduce the sampling and processing rates. Our preliminary data shows that this allows substantial savings in sampling and processing rates --- we show rate reduction of 1/28 in ultrasound imaging, and 1/30 in radar detection. To achieve our overreaching goal we focus on three interconnected objectives -- developing the 1) theory 2) hardware and 3) applications of sub-Nyquist sampling. Our methodology ties together two areas on the frontier of signal processing: compressed sensing (CS), focused on finite length vectors, and analog sampling. Our research plan also inherently relies on advances in several other important areas within signal processing and combines multi-disciplinary research at the intersection of signal processing, information theory, optimization, estimation theory and hardware design.

2 400 000 €

Start date: 2015-08-01, End date: 2020-07-31

Existing fluorescent molecular probes, due to limited brightness, do not allow imaging individual biomolecules directly in living cells, whereas bright fluorescent nanoparticles are unable to respond to single molecular stimuli and their inorganic core is not biodegradable. The aim of BrightSens is to develop ultrabright fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) capable to convert single molecular stimuli into collective turn-on response of >100 encapsulated dyes, and to apply them in amplified molecular sensing of specific targets at the cell surface (receptors) and in the cytosol (mRNA). The project is composed of three work packages. (1) Synthesis of FONs: Dye-doped polymer and micellar FONs will be obtained by self-assembly. Molecular design of dyes and the use of bulky hydrophobic counterions will enable precise control of dyes organization inside FONs, which will resolve the fundamental problems of self-quenching and cooperative on/off switching in dye ensembles. (2) Synthesis of nanoprobes: Using cooperative Forster Resonance Energy Transfer from FONs to originally designed acceptor-sensor unit, we propose synthesis of the first nanoprobes that (a) undergo complete turn-on or colour switch in response to single molecular targets and (b) harvest light energy into photochemical disruption of cell membrane barriers. (3) Cellular applications: The obtained nanoprobes will be applied in 2D and 3D cultures of cancer cells for background-free single-molecule detection of membrane receptors and intracellular mRNA, which are important markers of cancer and apoptosis. An original concept of amplified photochemical internalization is proposed to trigger by light entry of nanoprobes into the cytosol. This high-risk/high-gain multidisciplinary project will result in new organic nanomaterials with unique photophysical properties that will enable visualization of biomolecules at work in living cells with expected impact on cancer research.

1 999 750 €

Start date: 2015-06-01, End date: 2020-05-31

Hydrogels cross-linked through supramolecular interactions are highly dependant on the dynamic charac- teristics of the physical cross-links. Few fundamental studies have been undertaken to quantitatively de- scribe structure-property relationships for these types of systems. Hydrogels formed from CB[8]-mediated supramolecular physical cross-linking mechanisms have gained significant interest on account of their excel- lent physical and mechanical properties such as self-healing and shear-thinning. This supramolecular motif has been further exploited to introduce and compatibilise a wide variety of different materials into hydrogel networks without phase separation, forming hybrid composite hydrogels attributed with unique and emergent properties. This proposal aims to pioneer the combination of several state-of-the-art characterisation tech- niques into an unique experimental setup (CAM-RIG), which will combine super-resolution and confocal microscopy imaging modalities with simultaneous strain-controlled rheological measurements to investigate fundamental structure-property relationships of these systems. For the first time it will be possible to decon- volute the molecular-level dynamics of the supramolecular physical cross-links from chain entanglement of the polymeric networks and understand their relative contributions on the resultant properties of the hydrogels. Using the fundamental insight gained, a set of key parameters will be determined to maximise the potential of supramolecular biocompatible hydrogels, driving paradigm shifts in sustainable science and biomaterial applications through the precise tuning of physical properties.

2 038 120 €

Start date: 2017-05-01, End date: 2022-04-30

"Considerable investments have been made in Europe and worldwide in research data infrastructures. Instead of a general lack of data about data, it has become apparent that the pivotal factor that drastically constrains the use of data is the absence of contextual knowledge about how data was created and how it has been used. This applies especially to many branches of SSH research where data is highly heterogeneous, both by its kind (e.g. being qualitative, quantitative, naturalistic, purposefully created) and origins (e.g. being historical/contemporary, from different contexts and geographical places). The problem is that there may be enough metadata (data about data) but there is too little paradata (data on the processes of its creation and use). In contrast to the rather straightforward problem of describing the data, the high-risk/high-gain problem no-one has managed to solve, is the lack of comprehensive understanding of what information about the creation and use of research data is needed and how to capture enough of that information to make the data reusable and to avoid the risk that currently collected vast amounts of research data become useless in the future. The wickedness of the problem lies in the practical impossibility to document and keep everything and the difficulty to determine optimal procedures for capturing just enough. With an empirical focus on archaeological and cultural heritage data, which stands out by its extreme heterogeneity and rapid accumulation due to the scale of ongoing development-led archaeological fieldwork, CAPTURE develops an in-depth understanding of how paradata is #1 created and #2 used at the moment, #3 elicits methods for capturing paradata on the basis of the findings of #1-2, #4 tests the new methods in field trials, and #5 synthesises the findings in a reference model to inform the capturing of paradata and enabling data-intensive research using heterogeneous research data stemming from diverse origins. "

1 944 162 €

Start date: 2019-05-01, End date: 2024-04-30

Shape-persistent organic cage compounds consisting only of covalent bonds are fascinating synthetically targets, because they are studied as hosts for the selective recognition of guest molecules, such as artificial lectins, for catalysis in confined space or for the construction of a new type of porous material. For the latter, the shape-persistency and rigidity of the cage cavity is of utmost importance. There are in principle two existing strategies for the synthesis of shape-persistent organic cage compounds. Strategy I: A stepwise approach by irreversible reactions. Here, the advantage is the chemical stability of the target compound due to the intrinsic stabilities of the formed bonds. The disadvantage of this approach is in general the low overall yield, because the system does not allow any ‘self-correction’ of once formed bonds. This is different for the other approach used in Strategy II: By using dynamic covalent bond formation as synthetic tool, shape-persistent organic cages can be constructed from rather simple molecular building blocks in one step. Here, the yields are usually very high or even quantitatively, because the reversibility of the reaction allows the system to self-correct. Unfortunately, the resulting compounds are more prone to chemical cleavage of the cages than those synthesized by the irreversible approach. Within this project, we will combine the advantages of both strategies to synthesize chemically and thermally stable nano-sized discrete organic cage compounds in a two-step approach in high yields. To demonstrate the versatility and synthetic power of this approach, pure hydrocarbon cages will be synthesized in a few steps in high yields. Finally, this strategy will make for the first time open and closed-shell fullerenes and heterofullerenes that are isomerically pure, accessible.

1 996 000 €

Start date: 2017-04-01, End date: 2022-03-31

I propose here a research program aimed to the design a completely new platform for drug delivery. I will combine our existing repertoire of molecular engineering tools based around our established approach to design responsive nanoparticles known as Polymersomes to integrate new features using clinically safe and biodegradable components that will make them super-selective and chemotactic toward glucose gradients so to deliver large therapeutic payload into the central nervous systems and the brain in particular targeting cancer cells harbouring within the healthy. We will do so by engineering components using supramolecular interaction inspired by biological complexity equipping carriers with the ability to self-propelled as a function of glucose gradient. I will complement our proposed design with advanced biological characterisation associating functional information arising form the physiological barrier to structural parameters integrated into the final carrier design.

2 081 747 €

Start date: 2018-05-01, End date: 2023-04-30

This research examines the multiple and contradictory constructions of whiteness in China as a result of the rapid diversification of white migrants in the country and the shifting power balances between China and the West. Existing literature on white westerners in Asia mainly focuses on transnational elites. The rising number of middle- and lower-stratum of white migrants in China deserves special attention due to substantial tensions and discrepancies in their experiences of racial privilege, economic insecurity, and legal vulnerability. Multi-sited and multi-scalar ethnographic research will be conducted on daily life encounters between various groups of white migrants and Chinese in five domains: (1) state policy regarding international migrants in China; (2) the ESL industry (teaching English as a second language); (3) the media, fashion, and entertainment industries; (4) transnational business and entrepreneurship; and (5) interracial romance. Three major research questions frame this project. 1. What are the symbolic and material advantages and disadvantages of being white in China’s thriving market economy and consumer culture? 2. How is whiteness racialized in relation to blackness and other immigrant minority identities in multiple social domains and at different geographical scales? 3. How are multiple versions of whiteness produced, interpreted, negotiated, and performed through daily life interactions between white migrants and Chinese in various social and personal settings? This project contributes to a new line of research on white racial formation in East Asia by creatively integrating theories in whiteness studies and migration studies. It also expands the geographical scope of research on white expatriates from global cities in coastal areas to second-tier cities in inland China.

2 000 000 €

Start date: 2019-06-01, End date: 2024-05-31

Financial and business services (FABS), including law, accounting, and business consulting, have been one of the most dynamic sectors of the world economy, with a fivefold rise in real value added since 1980. Although FABS are central to the processes of globalisation, financialisation, urbanisation and development, our understanding of the sector in the context of tumultuous changes of the early 21st century is partial. How have the FABS firms and centres been affected by the global financial crisis and the Eurozone crisis? How are they changing in response to new financial regulation, the expected shift of economic activity to the Asia-Pacific region, and the digital revolution? What are the impacts of FABS on urban, regional, and global development? We urgently need groundbreaking frontier research to better understand the nature and dynamics of FABS, and their implications. This project is designed to address this challenge by focusing on three objectives: mapping the FABS sector and its transactional networks worldwide; analysing strategies of FABS firms, as well as policies towards FABS and their institutional environments in cities; explaining the impacts of FABS, their strategies, and place-specific factors on growth, stability, and inequality at urban, regional, national and global level. In doing so, we will develop a new theoretical framework, called the Global Financial Networks, which positions FABS and their networks in the broader economy. Using a mixed-methods approach, we will document the development of FABS and their consequences, cutting through the hype of financial centre indices, and through the fog of ideologically charged debates on the virtues and vices of the financial sector. One of the outcomes of the project will be the world’s first ever atlas of finance. The project will provide a robust evidence base crucial in shaping future rounds of investment by and in FABS, and policies towards FABS by governments and other organisations.

1 929 306 €

Start date: 2016-08-01, End date: 2021-07-31

Synthetic biology is the bottom-up engineering of new molecular functionality inside a biological cell. Although it aims at a quantitative and compositional approach, most of today’s implementations of synthetic circuits are based on inefficient trial-and-error runs. This approach to circuit design does not scale well with circuit complexity and is against the basic paradigm of synthetic biology. This unsatisfactory state of affairs is partly due to the lack of the right computational methodology that can support the quantitative characterization of circuits and their significant context dependency, i.e., their change in behavior upon interactions with the host machinery and with other circuit elements. CONSYN will contribute computational methodology to overcome the trial-and-error approach and to ultimately turn synthetic circuit design into a rational bottom-up process that heavily relies on computational analysis before any actual biomolecular implementation is considered. In order to achieve this goal, we will work on the following agenda: (i) develop biophysical and statistical models of biomolecular contexts into which the synthetic circuit or synthetic part can be embedded in silico; (ii) devise new statistical inference methods that can deliver accurate characterization of circuits and their context dependency by making use of cutting-edge single-cell experimental data; (iii) derive new context-insensitive circuit designs through in silico sensitivity analysis and application of filtering theory; (iv) optimize protocols and measurement infrastructure using model-based experimental design yielding a better circuit and context characterization; (v) experimentally build synthetic circuits in vivo and in cell-free systems in order to validate and bring to life the above theoretical investigations. We are in the unique position to also address (v) in-house due to the experimental wetlab facilities in our group.

1 996 579 €

Start date: 2018-04-01, End date: 2023-03-31

Large-scale technological, biological, economic, and social complex systems act as complex networks of interacting autonomous agents. Large numbers of interacting agents making self-interested decisions can result in highly complex, sometimes surprising, and often suboptimal, collective behaviors. Empowered by recent breakthroughs in data-driven cognitive learning technologies, networked agents collectively give rise to evolutionary dynamics that cannot be easily modeled, analysed and/or controlled using current systems and control theory. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop new theoretical foundations to tackle the emerging challenging control problems associated with evolutionary dynamics for networked autonomous agents. The aim of this project is to develop a rigorous theory for the control of evolutionary dynamics so that interacting autonomous agents can be guided to solve group tasks through the pursuit of individual goals in an evolutionary dynamical process. The theory will then be tested, validated and improved against experimental results using robotic fish. To achieve the aim, I will: (1) develop a general formulation for stochastic evolutionary dynamics with control inputs, enabling the study on controllability and stabilizability for evolutionary processes; (2) introduce stochastic control Lyapunov functions to design control laws; (3) construct new classes of conditional strategies that may propagate controlled actions effectively from focal agents in multiple time scales; and (4) validate experimentally on tasks with unknown difficulties that require a group of robotic fish to evolve and adapt. The project will result in a major advance from the conventional usage of evolutionary game theory with the systematic design to actively control evolutionary outcomes. The combination of theory with experimentation and the multi-disciplinary nature of the approach will lead to new applications of autonomous robotic systems.

1 998 933 €

Start date: 2018-05-01, End date: 2023-04-30

Linked to terrorism, moral breakdown, and societal decay, Transnational Organised Crime (TOC) has come to embody current global anxieties as a figure of fear and cause of disquiet. Yet despite its central position on the social and political radar, our knowledge of it remains limited and fragmentary. Quantitative analyses may have identified the scale of the problem, but its underlying socio-cultural logic and practices remain under-researched and largely obscure. TOC is on the rise, and we need better insights into how it develops and expands, who engages in it and why, and how it is linked to and embedded in social networks that straddle countries and contexts. CRIMTANG proposes a unique approach to the study of the social infrastructure of contemporary TOC. It develops a research strategy that is ethnographic and transnational in design and so attuned to the human flows and formations of TOC. The project comprises a trans-disciplinary research team of anthropologists, criminologists and political scientists, and builds on their prior experience of the people, regions and languages under study. It explores the illegal and overlapping flows of migrants and drugs from North-West Africa into Europe, following a key trafficking trajectory stretching from Tangiers to Barcelona, Paris and beyond. In so doing, CRIMTANG sheds new light on the actual empirical processes in operation at different points along this trafficking route, whilst simultaneously developing new theoretical and methodological apparatuses for apprehending TOC that can be exported and applied in other regions and contexts. It reimagines the idea of social entanglement and proposes new transnational and collective fieldwork strategies. Finally, it will advance and consolidate the European research environment on TOC by creating a research hub for transnational ethnographic criminology at the University of Copenhagen.

1 999 909 €

Start date: 2018-02-01, End date: 2023-01-31

We intend to set up a new globalized perspective to tackle water and food security in the 21st century. This issue is intrinsically global as the international trade of massive amounts of food makes societies less reliant on locally available water, and entails large-scale transfers of virtual water (defined as the water needed to produce a given amount of a food commodity). The network of virtual water trade connects a large portion of the global population, with 2800 km3 of virtual water moved around the globe in a year. We provide here definitive indications on the effects of the globalization of (virtual) water on the vulnerability to a water crisis of the global water system. More specifically, we formulate the following research hypotheses: 1) The globalization of (virtual) water resources is a short-term solution to malnourishment, famine, and conflicts, but it also has relevant negative implications for human societies. 2) The virtual water dynamics provide the suitable framework in order to quantitatively relate water-crises occurrence to environmental and socio-economic factors. 3) The risk of catastrophic, global-scale, water crises will increase in the next decades. To test these hypotheses, we will capitalize on the tremendous amount of information embedded in nearly 50 years of available food and virtual water trade data. We will adopt an innovative research approach based on the use of: advanced statistical tools for data verification and uncertainty modeling; methods borrowed from the complex network theory, aimed at analyzing the propagation of failures through the network; multivariate nonlinear analyses, to reproduce the dependence of virtual water on time and on external drivers; multi-state stochastic modeling, to study the effect on the global water system of random fluctuations of the external drivers; and scenario analysis, to predict the future probability of occurrence of water crises.

1 222 500 €

Start date: 2015-07-01, End date: 2020-06-30

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective therapy for treating the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Despite its success, the mechanisms of DBS are not understood and there is a need to improve DBS to improve long-term stimulation in a wider patient population, limit side-effects, and extend battery life. Currently DBS operates in ‘open-loop’, with stimulus parameters empirically set. Closed-loop DBS, which adjusts parameters based on the state of the system, has the potential to overcome current limitations to increase therapeutic efficacy while reducing side-effects, costs and energy. Several key questions need to be addressed before closed loop DBS can be implemented clinically. This research will develop a new multiscale model of the neuromuscular system for closed-loop DBS. The model will simulate neural sensing and stimulation on a scale not previously considered, encompassing the electric field around the electrode, the effect on individual neurons and neural networks, and generation of muscle force. This will involve integration across multiple temporal and spatial scales, in a complex system with incomplete knowledge of system variables. Experiments will be conducted to validate the model, and identify new biomarkers of neural activity that can used with signals from the brain to enable continuous symptom monitoring. The model will be used to design a new control strategy for closed-loop DBS that can accommodate the nonlinear nature of the system, and short- and long-term changes in system behavior. Though challenging, this research will provide new insights into the changes that take place in PD and the mechanisms by which DBS exerts its therapeutic influence. This knowledge will be used to design a new strategy for closed-loop DBS, ready for testing in patients, with the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes in PD and fundamentally change the way in which implanted devices utilise electrical stimulation to modulate neural activity.

1 999 474 €

Start date: 2015-08-01, End date: 2020-07-31

"Coordination Chemistry and Molecular Magnetism are in an ideal position for the rational design of Single-Molecule Magnets which can be used as molecular spin qubits, the irreducible components of any quantum technology. Indeed, a major advantage of molecular spin qubits over other candidates stems from the power of Chemistry for a tailored and inexpensive synthesis of systems for their experimental study. In particular, the so-called Lanthanoid-based Single-Ion Magnets, which are currently the hottest topic in Molecular Magnetism, have the potential to be chemically designed, tuning both their single-molecule properties and their crystalline environment. This will allow the independent study of the different quantum processes that cause the loss of quantum information, collectively known as decoherence. The study of quantum decoherence processes in the solid state is necessary both to lay the foundations for next-generation quantum technologies and to answer some fundamental questions. The goals of this project are: #1 To unravel the mechanistic details of decoherence in molecular spin qubits based on mononuclear lanthanoid complexes. This study will stablish criteria for the rational design of single spin qubits. #2 To extend this study to the coupling between two or more spin qubits. This will allow us to explore the use of polynuclear lanthanoid complexes to achieve quantum gates or simple algorithms. #3 To extrapolate to infinite systems formed by the complex organization of spin qubits. This exploratory goal will permit us to move beyond zero-dimensional systems, thus facilitating the advance towards complex quantum functions. "

1 827 375 €

Start date: 2015-08-01, End date: 2020-07-31

Every time we grab an object to look at its geometrical details or to feel if it is hard or soft, we are ineluctably confronted with the limits of our senses. Behind its appearances, the object may still hide information that, encrypted in its microscopic features, remains undetected to our macroscopic assessment. In life sciences, those limits are more than just frustrating: they are an obstacle to study and detect life threatening conditions. Many different instruments may overcome those limits, but the vast majority of them rely either on “sight” (optics) or “touch” (mechanics) separately. On the contrary, I believe that it is from the combination of those two “senses” that we have more chances to tackle the future challenges of cell biology, tissue engineering, and medical diagnosis. Inspired by this tantalizing perspective, and supported by a technology that I have brought from blackboard to market, I have now designed a scientific program to breach into the microscopic scale via an unbeaten path. The program develops along three projects addressing the three most relevant scales in life sciences: cells, tissues, and organs. In the first project, I will design and test a new optomechanical probe to investigate how a prolonged mechanical load on a brain cell of a living animal may trigger alterations in its Central Nervous System. With the second project, I will develop an optomechanical tactile instrument that can assess how subsurface tissues deform in response to a mechanical stroke – a study that may change the way physicians look at tissue classification. For the third project, I will deliver an acousto-optical gas trace sensors so compact that can penetrate inside the lungs of an adult patient, where it could be used for early detection of pulmonary life threatening diseases. Each project represents an opportunity to open an entire new field, where optics and micromechanics are combined to extend our senses well beyond their natural limits.

1 999 221 €

Start date: 2014-06-01, End date: 2019-05-31

DISCRETION aims to unlock the black box of discretionary decision-making in child protection cases by a comparative-empirical study of how discretionary decisions are made and justified in the best interests of the child. There are huge research gaps in this important area of the welfare state, with a great deal of uncertainty concerning how, when and why discretionary decisions about the child´s best interests are different between decision-makers within and between child protection systems. The main objectives for this project are to reveal the mechanisms for exercising discretion, and improve the understanding of the principle of the child´s best interests. These objectives will be reached by systematically examining the role of institutional, organisational and individual factors including regulations of best interest principles; professions involved; type of courts; type of child protection system; demographic factors and individual values; and the populations’ view on children and paternalism. DISCRETION employs an innovative methodological approach, with multilevel and cross-country studies. DISCRETION will, by conducting the largest cross-national study on decision-making in child protection to date, lift our understanding of international differences in child protection to a new level. By conducting randomized survey experiments with both decision-makers in the system and the general population, DISCRETION generates unique data on the causal mechanisms explaining differences in discretionary decisions. The outcomes of DISCRETION are important because societies are at a crossroad when it comes to how children are treated and how their rights are respected, which creates tensions in the traditional relationship between the family and the state. DISCRETION will move beyond the field of child protection and provide important insights into the exercise of discretion in all areas where the public interest as well as national interest must be interpreted.

1 997 918 €

Start date: 2017-06-01, End date: 2022-05-31

We propose to develop the theoretical foundations of transforming memory into data rates, and to explore their practical ramifications in wireless communication networks. Motivated by the long-lasting open challenge to invent a communication technology that scales with the network size, we have recently discovered early indications of how preemptive use of distributed data-storage at the receiving communication nodes (well before transmission), can offer unprecedented throughput gains by surprisingly bypassing the dreaded bottleneck of real-time channel-feedback. For an exploratory downlink configuration, we unearthed a hidden duality between feedback and preemptive use of memory, which managed to doubly-exponentially reduce the needed memory size, and consequently offered unbounded throughput gains compared to all existing solutions with the same resources. This was surprising because feedback and memory were thought to be mostly disconnected; one is used on the wireless PHY layer, the other on the wired MAC. This development prompts our key scientific challenge which is to pursue the mathematical convergence between feedback-information-theory and preemptive distributed data-storage, and to then design ultra-fast memory-aided communication algorithms that pass real-life testing. This is a structurally new approach, which promises to reveal deep links between feedback information theory and memory, for a variety of envisioned wireless-network architectures of exceptional promise. In doing so, our new proposed theory stands to identify the basic principles of how a splash of memory can surgically alter the informational-structure of these networks, rendering them faster, simpler and more efficient. In the end, this study has the potential to directly translate the continuously increasing data-storage capabilities, into gains of wireless network capacity, and to ultimately avert the looming network-overload caused by these same indefinite increases of data volumes.

1 978 778 €

Start date: 2017-04-01, End date: 2022-03-31

Graphene nanoribbons (NR) are quasi-1D nanostructures with discrete band gaps, ballistic conduction, and one-atom thickness. Such properties make them ideal candidates to develop low-dimensional semiconductors, which are essential components in nanoelectronics. Atomically-precise control over the structure of NR (width, length, edge, doping) is crucial to fully exploit their potential. However, current approaches for the synthesis of NR suffer from several drawbacks that do not allow attaining such level of precision, therefore alternative methods need to be sought. e-Sequence will develop an unprecedented approach that assembles stepwise small molecular building blocks into NR to specifically target the most important challenges in NR synthesis. Such approach will enable the preparation of an unlimited number of NR with atomically-precise control over their structure and with almost no synthetic and purification effort, exceeding the limits of existing methods. The impact of e-Sequence will not be limited to NR synthesis but it will also extend to other disciplines, since NR are promising candidates to develop new technologies with applications in electronics, sensing, photonics, energy storage and conversion, spintronics, etc. e-Sequence ambitious research programme will be orchestrated by an independent scientist with an excellent track record of achievements in low-dimensional carbon nanostructures, and who has already established a fledgling and internationally competitive research group. Building on this and on his recent permanent appointment as Research Professor, the award of this ERC project will enable him to consolidate his group, build a portfolio of excellent research, and produce results that compete on the world stage.

2 000 000 €

Start date: 2017-11-01, End date: 2022-10-31

This high-impact, challenging CoG Proposal integrates multiple novel ideas in boron and zinc chemistry into an overarching project to open up new horizons across synthesis and catalysis. The Applicant’s successful ERC StG has opened up new avenues of pioneering research in main group element mediated transformations that were not conceivable before the work was done. Components of this proposal extend out from the StG into new, exciting research areas that are completely different. Developing low toxicity earth abundant catalysts for important transformations is vital to the EU with the focus herein being on; (i) the Suzuki-Miyaura (S-M) cross coupling reaction which is ubiquitous in industry and academia, and (ii) the formation of organoboranes that are essential synthetic intermediates. Both of these are currently dominated by toxic, expensive and low abundance precious metal catalysts (e.g. Pd, Ir). This project will deliver innovation through utilising combinations of main group Lewis acids and nucleophilic anions that do not react with each other, i.e. are frustrated pairs. This “frustration” enables the two species to concertedly transform substrates to achieve: (i) Precious metal-free S-M cross coupling reactions of sp3C electrophiles catalysed by zinc and boron compounds, including stereospecific couplings and one pot two step cross electrophile couplings. (ii) Trans-elementoboration of alkynes, including the unprecedented fluoroboration of alkynes. Other new approaches will be developed to access novel (hetero)arylboronic acid derivatives using only simple boranes and without requiring noble metal catalysts, specifically: (i) boron directed C-H borylation and (ii) directed ortho borylation to enable subsequent meta selective SEAr C-H functionalisation. This CoG will afford the freedom and impetus via consolidated funding to undertake fundamental research to deliver high impact results, including developing a new area of cross coupling catalysis research.

2 070 093 €

Start date: 2018-05-01, End date: 2023-04-30