ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

The introduction of minimally invasive surgery in the 1980’s created a paradigm shift in surgical procedures. Health care is now in a position to make a more dramatic leap by integrating newly developed wireless microrobotic technologies with nanomedicine to perform precisely targeted, localized endoluminal techniques. Devices capable of entering the human body through natural orifices or small incisions to deliver drugs, perform diagnostic procedures, and excise and repair tissue will be used. These new procedures will result in less trauma to the patient and faster recovery times, and will enable new therapies that have not yet been conceived. In order to realize this, many new technologies must be developed and synergistically integrated, and medical therapies for which the technology will prove successful must be aggressively pursued. This proposed project will result in the realization of animal trials in which wireless microrobotic devices will be used to investigate a variety of extremely delicate ophthalmic therapies. The therapies to be pursued include the delivery of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) to blocked retinal veins, the peeling of epiretinal membranes from the retina, and the development of diagnostic procedures based on mapping oxygen concentration at the vitreous-retina interface. With successful animal trials, a path to human trials and commercialization will follow. Clearly, many systems in the body have the potential to benefit from the endoluminal technologies that this project considers, including the digestive system, the circulatory system, the urinary system, the central nervous system, the respiratory system, the female reproductive system and even the fetus. Microrobotic retinal therapies will greatly illuminate the potential that the integration of microrobotics and nanomedicine holds for society, and greatly accelerate this trend in Europe.

2 498 044 €

Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2016-03-31

Modern cryptography has deeply rooted connections with computational complexity theory and other areas of computer science. This proposal suggests to explore several {\em new connections} between questions in cryptography and questions from other domains, including computational complexity, coding theory, and even the natural sciences. The project is expected to broaden the impact of ideas from cryptography on other domains, and on the other hand to benefit cryptography by applying tools from other domains towards better solutions for central problems in cryptography.

1 459 703 €

Start date: 2010-12-01, End date: 2015-11-30

Energy and sustainability are among the biggest challenges humanity faces this century. Catalysis is an indispensable component for many potential solutions, and fundamental research in catalysis is as urgent as ever. Here, we propose to build up an interdisciplinary research program in molecular catalysis to address the challenges of energy and sustainability. There are two specific aims: (I) bio-inspired sulfur-rich metal complexes as efficient and practical electrocatalysts for hydrogen production and CO2 reduction; (II) well-defined Fe complexes of chelating pincer ligands for chemo- and stereoselective organic synthesis. An important feature of the proposed catalysts is that they are made of earth-abundant and readily available elements such as Fe, Co, Ni, S, N, etc. Design and synthesis of catalysts are the starting point and a key aspect of this project. A major inspiration comes from nature, where metallo-enzymes use readily available metals for fuel production and challenging reactions. Our accumulated knowledge and experience in spectroscopy, electrochemistry, reaction chemistry, mechanism, and catalysis will enable us to thoroughly study the synthetic catalysts and their applications towards the research targets. Furthermore, we will explore research territories such as electrode modification and fabrication, catalyst immobilization and attachment, and asymmetric catalysis. The proposed research should not only result in new insights and knowledge in catalysis that are relevant to energy and sustainability, but also produce functional, scalable, and economically feasible catalysts for fuel production and organic synthesis. The program can contribute to excellence in European research.

1 475 712 €

Start date: 2011-01-01, End date: 2015-12-31

Networks have been studied in depth for several decades, but one aspect has received little attention: Interference. Most networks use clever algorithms to avoid interference, and this strategy has proved effective for traditional supply-chain or wired communication networks. However, the emergence of wireless networks revealed that simply avoiding interference leads to significant performance loss. A wealth of cooperative communication strategies have recently been developed to address this issue. Two fundamental roadblocks are emerging: First, it is ultimately unclear how to integrate cooperative techniques into the larger fabric of networks (short of case-by-case redesigns); and second, the lack of source/channel separation in networks (i.e., more bits do not imply better end-to-end signal quality) calls for ever more specialized cooperative techniques. This proposal advocates a new understanding of interference as computation: Interference garbles together inputs to produce an output. This can be thought of as a certain computation, perhaps subject to noise or other stochastic effects. The proposed work will develop strategies that permit to exploit this computational potential. Building on these ``computation codes,'' an enhanced physical layer is proposed: Rather than only forwarding bits, the revised physical layer can also forward functions from several transmitting nodes to a receiver, much more efficiently than the full information. Near-seamless integration into the fabric of existing network architectures is thus possible, providing a solution for the first roadblock. In response to the second roadblock, computation codes suggest new computational primitives as fundamental currencies of information.

1 776 473 €

Start date: 2011-05-01, End date: 2016-04-30

The ComplexData project aims at advancing our understanding of the statistical treatment of varied types of complex data by generating new theory and methods, and to obtain progress in concrete current biophysical problems through the implementation of the new tools developed. Complex Data constitute data where the basic object of observation cannot be described in the standard Euclidean context of statistics, but rather needs to be thought of as an element of an abstract mathematical space with special properties. Scientific progress has, in recent years, begun to generate an increasing number of new and complex types of data that require statistical understanding and analysis. Four such types of data that are arising in the context of current scientific research and that the project will be focusing on are: random integral transforms, random unlabelled shapes, random flows of functions, and random tensor fields. In these unconventional contexts for statistics, the strategy of the project will be to carefully exploit the special aspects involved due to geometry, dimension and randomness in order to be able to either adapt and synthesize existing statistical methods, or to generate new statistical ideas altogether. However, the project will not restrict itself to merely studying the theoretical aspects of complex data, but will be truly interdisciplinary. The connecting thread among all the above data types is that their study is motivated by, and will be applied to concrete practical problems arising in the study of biological structure, dynamics, and function: biophysics. For this reason, the programme will be in interaction with local and international contacts from this field. In particular, the theoretical/methodological output of the four programme research foci will be applied to gain insights in the following corresponding four application areas: electron microscopy, protein homology, DNA molecular dynamics, brain imaging.

681 146 €

Start date: 2011-06-01, End date: 2016-05-31

The analysis and synthesis of complex 3D geometric data sets is of crucial importance in many scientific disciplines (e.g. bio-medicine, material science, mechanical engineering, physics) and industrial applications (e.g. drug design, entertainment, architecture). We are currently witnessing a tremendous increase in the size and complexity of geometric data, largely fueled by significant advances in 3D acquisition and digital production technology. However, existing computational tools are often not suited to handle this complexity. The goal of this project is to explore a fundamentally different way of processing 3D geometry. We will investigate a new generalized model of geometric symmetry as a unifying concept for studying spatial organization in geometric data. This model allows exposing the inherent redundancies in digital 3D data and will enable truly scalable algorithms for analysis, processing, and design of large-scale geometric data sets. The proposed research will address a number of fundamental questions: What is the information content of 3D geometric models? How can we represent, store, and transmit geometric data most efficiently? Can we we use symmetry to repair deficiencies and reduce noise in acquired data? What is the role of symmetry in the design process and how can it be used to reduce complexity? I will investigate these questions with an integrated approach that combines thorough theoretical studies with practical solutions for real-world applications. The proposed research has a strong interdisciplinary component and will consider the same fundamental questions from different perspectives, closely interacting with scientists of various disciplines, as well artists, architects, and designers.

1 160 302 €

Start date: 2011-02-01, End date: 2016-01-31

Concurrent and parallel programming are becoming indispensable for exploiting modern hardware. Because possible speed increases of single processors have reached their limit, increasing transistor count will yield more, but not necessarily faster cores, and this for the foreseeable future. This means that, from now on, parallelism in software will have to double every 18 months to keep up with hardware. This problem has been identified as the ``Popular Parallel Programming'' grand challenge by the computer architecture community. The proposed project will research new ways to solve this challenge. We start with a set of domain-specific languages which naturally admit a high degree of parallelism. The domain specific languages are integrated in a common host language using polymorphic language embeddings. Such embeddings provide a high degree of abstraction, which gives considerable freedom in their actual representation and implementation. The new direction taken by this proposal is to combine polymorphic embeddings with optimizing rewritings in a staged compilation process. This can lead to highly parallel and efficient implementations on a variety of heterogeneous hardware.

2 392 400 €

Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2016-03-31

Future electronic systems will be soft and elastic. I propose to explore the materials, technology and integration of stretchable electronic systems, which will transform at will, evenly coat a spherical lens, or smoothly interface with a delicate biological organ. Electronics will be anywhere as well as everywhere. The proposed programme has the potential to emulate yet another revolution in the microelectronics industry and trigger transformations in the biomedical sector. The ESKIN programme is an ambitious and highly interdisciplinary endeavour requiring expertise at the frontier of engineering, material sciences, biotechnology and neuroscience. Stretchability in an electronic system is its ability to negotiate mechanical deformations without letting them interfere with its electrical functionality. This is a novel and challenging demand on electronic device technology, which has, to date, mainly pushed for smaller scale fabrication and increased performance. Furthermore the natural compliance of biological tissues and cells calls for softer electronic biomedical interfaces. Overcoming the hard to soft mechanical mismatch will, without doubt, open up new horizons in biomedical research and its related industries. The manufacture of stretchable electronic skins will then require working out the underlying science and technology for active device materials on soft, elastic substrates. This capability will further be implemented to demonstrate various soft and elastic electronic systems ranging from stretchable displays to long-term neural implants. My philosophy is to exploit as much as possible current micro/nanofabrication techniques available for hard surfaces but to tailor them to soft surfaces , optimizing and improving them where needed, in order to ensure rapid transition to worldwide distributed consumer and healthcare products.

1 499 738 €

Start date: 2011-03-01, End date: 2016-02-29

FractFrict is a comprehensive study of the space-time dynamics that lead to the failure of both bulk materials and frictionally bound interfaces. In these systems, failure is precipitated by rapidly moving singular fields at the tips of propagating cracks or crack-like fronts that cause material damage at microscopic scales. These generate damage that is macroscopically reflected as characteristic large-scale, modes of material failure. Thus, the structure of the fields that microscopically drive failure is critically important for an overall understanding of how macroscopic failure occurs. The innovative real-time measurements proposed here will provide fundamental understanding of the form of the singular fields, their modes of regularization and their relation to the resultant macroscopic modes of failure. Encompassing different classes of bulk materials and material interfaces. We aim to: [1] To establish a fundamental understanding of the dynamics of the near-tip singular fields, their regularization modes and how they couple to the macroscopic dynamics in both frictional motion and fracture. [2] To determine the types of singular failure processes in different classes of materials and interfaces (e.g. the brittle to ductile transition in amorphous materials, the role of fast fracture processes in frictional motion). [3] To establish local (microscopic) laws of friction/failure and how they evolve into their macroscopic counterparts [4]. To identify the existence and origins of crack instabilities in bulk and interface failure The insights obtained in this research will enable us to manipulate and/or predict material failure modes. The results of this study will shed considerable new light on fundamental open questions in fields as diverse as material design, tribology and geophysics.

2 265 399 €

Start date: 2010-12-01, End date: 2016-11-30

"In recent years, the research focus in signal processing has shifted away from the classical linear paradigm, which is intimately linked with the theory of stationary Gaussian processes. Instead of considering Fourier transforms and performing quadratic optimization, researchers are presently favoring wavelet-like representations and have adopted ”sparsity” as design paradigm. Our ambition is to develop a unifying operator-based framework for signal processing that would provide the ``sparse"" counterpart of the classical theory, which is currently missing. To that end, we shall specify and investigate sparse stochastic processes that are continuously-defined and ruled by differential equations, and construct corresponding wavelet-like sparsifying transforms. Our hope is to be able to rigorously connect non-quadratic regularization and sparsity-constrained optimization to well-defined continuous-domain statistical models. We also want to develop a novel Lie-group formalism for the design of steerable, signal-adapted wavelet transforms with improved invariance and sparsifying properties, both in 2-D and 3-D. We shall use these tools to define new reversible image representations in terms of singular points (contours and keypoints) and to develop novel algorithms for 3-D biomedical image analysis. In close collaboration with imaging scientists, we shall apply our framework to the development of new 3-D reconstruction algorithms for emerging bioimaging modalities such as fluorescence deconvolution microscopy, digital holography microscopy, X-ray phase-contrast microscopy, and advanced MRI."

2 106 994 €

Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2016-03-31

We consider the dynamics of actions on homogeneous spaces of algebraic groups, We propose to tackle the central open problems in the area, including understanding actions of diagonal groups on homogeneous spaces without an entropy assumption, a related conjecture of Furstenberg about measures on R / Z invariant under multiplication by 2 and 3, and obtaining a quantitative understanding of equidistribution properties of unipotent flows and groups generated by unipotents. This has applications in arithmetic, Diophantine approximations, the spectral theory of homogeneous spaces, mathematical physics, and other fields. Connections to arithmetic combinatorics will be pursued.

1 229 714 €

Start date: 2011-01-01, End date: 2016-12-31

The focus of our proposal is on arithmetic circuit complexity. Arithmetic circuits are the most common model for computing polynomials, over arbitrary fields. This model was studied by many researchers in the past 40 years but still not much is known on many of the basic problems concerning this model. In this research we propose to study some of the most exciting fundamental open problems in theoretical computer science: Proving lower bounds on the size of arithmetic circuits and finding efficient deterministic algorithms for checking identity of arithmetic circuits. Proving a strong lower bound or finding efficient deterministic algorithms to the polynomial identity testing problem are the most important problems in algebraic complexity and solving either of them will be a dramatic breakthrough in theoretical computer science. The two problems that we intend to study are closely related to each other - there are several known results showing that a solution to one of the problems may lead to a solution to the other. Thus, we propose to study strongly related problems that lie in the frontier of algebraic complexity. Any advance will be a significant contributions to the field of theoretical computer science.

1 427 485 €

Start date: 2011-03-01, End date: 2017-02-28

Data exchange and data publishing is an inherent component of our interconnected world. Industrial companies outsource datasets to marketing and mining firms in order to support business intelligence; medical institutions exchange collected clinical experiments; academic institutions create repositories and share datasets for promoting research collaboration. A common denominator in any data exchange is the 'transformation' of the original data, which usually results in 'distortion' of data. While accurate and useful information can be potentially distilled from the original data, operations such as anonymization, rights protection and compression result in modified datasets that very seldom retain the mining capacity of its original source. This proposal seeks to address questions such as the following: - How can we lossy compress datasets and still guarantee that mining operations are not distorted? - Is it possible to right protect datasets and provide assurances that this task shall not impair our ability to distill useful knowledge? - To what extent can we resolve data anonymization issues and yet retain the mining capacity of the original dataset? We will examine a fundamental and hard problem in the area of knowledge discovery, which is the delicate balance between data transformation and data utility under mining operations. The problem lies at the confluence of many areas, such as machine and statistical learning, information theory, data representation and optimization. We will focus on studying data transformation methods (compression, anonymization, right protection) that guarantee the preservation of the salient dataset characteristics, such that data mining operations on original and transformed dataset are retained as well as possible. We will investigate how graph-centric approaches, clustering, classification and visualization algorithms can be ported to work under the proposed mining-preservation paradigm. Additional research challenges i

1 499 999 €

Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2016-03-31

Very recent findings by our group and others reveal that ferroelectric interfaces can show strongly enhanced properties and remarkable new effects with potential for exploitation in devices. In particular, new phases at broadened domain walls [DWs], conductivity and possibility for ferromagnetism in ferroelectric DWs and giant response in materials possessing high density ferroelectric DWs were shown DWs form spontaneously in ferroelectrics. Their functionality, widely recognized is neither quantified nor controlled. Distinctly from other interfaces, ferroelectric DWs are mobile, can be modified dynamically by external forces (electrical, stress, temperature variation) and can, moreover, be annihilated and recreated What are the mechanisms to functionalize DWs? How to gain control over the structure and dynamics of these DWs, and what are the potential breakthroughs that such control may lead to? What additional properties of DWs await discovery? We will address these questions through several interrelated objectives designed to cover both fundamental aspects, as well as limits of applicability Considering a single DW as a device that can be created, displaced and eliminated reversibly in-situ is unique to this project. Working with ordered arrays of DWs is another central theme. To create controlled patterns of DWs we will use top-down and bottom-up approaches. Characterization of DWs will range from investigation of the internal structure by Spherical Aberration Corrected HRTEM through cryogenic Piezo Force Microscopy study of DW phase-transition, to macroscopic characterization over a broad frequency and driving stimulus range. Theory will guide the investigation. Device concepts will be demonstrated, such as DW-enhanced ultrasonic transducer, DW transistor and ferroelectric string memory We believe that attainment of these objectives should lead to conceptual breakthroughs both in our understanding of ferroelectric interfaces and in their applications.

2 475 600 €

Start date: 2011-06-01, End date: 2016-08-31

We propose to seamlessly integrate advanced microelectronics and living neuronal cells in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to significantly advance the understanding of neuronal behaviour. The project includes (a) the development of a novel multifunctional microelectronics chip platform in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, which serves to enable (b) key neurobiological and neuromedical research on network dynamics and plasticity of rodent neuronal networks and visual encoding in retinae, and (c) the necessary concurrent development of algorithms and models to efficiently process and maximally harness the unprecedented quality of the obtained data. Neuronal or retinal preparations, such as acute and organotypic brain slices (retinae) or primary cultured, dissociated cells, will be directly placed or grown atop dedicated CMOS microelectronics chips. The chips will feature multiple functions, since neurons carry and pass signals to each other using electro-chemical mechanisms: electrophysiological recording & stimulation, in closed loop & real time, as well as highly spatially resolved impedance measurements and detection of neuroactive chemical compounds. The chips will be capable of delivering any of these functions to arbitrarily selectable individual cells or even subcellular units, and, at the same time, of interacting with a multitude of cells or complete neuronal networks. Along with imaging (light, fluorescence), pharmacological, and/or genetic methods, the developed chip platform will be used to study neuronal network dynamics, synaptic and axonal plasticity, relevant for many brain diseases, as well as visual encoding in the retina. Efficient data handling and spike sorting algorithms will be developed to facilitate these investigations. The multidimensional data will then be used to establish detailed models of neurons and neuronal networks.

2 498 000 €

Start date: 2011-06-01, End date: 2016-05-31

Deformable and non-rigid objects, both natural and artificial, surround us at all scales from nano to macro, and play an important role in many applications ranging from medical image analysis to robotics and gaming. Such applications require the ability to acquire, reconstruct, analyze, and synthesize non-rigid three-dimensional shapes. These procedures pose challenging problems both theoretically and practically due to the vast number of degrees of freedom involved in non-rigid deformations. While modelling and analysis of non-rigid shapes has greatly advanced in the past decade, existing solutions are largely based on parametric models restricting the objects of interest to a narrow class of similar shapes. Broadly speaking, reconstruction, analysis, and synthesis of arbitrary deformable shapes remain unsolved problems, a practical solution of which would be a major milestone in computer vision and related fields. This proposal aims at answering these fundamental questions by adopting tools from modern metric geometry, a field of theoretical mathematics which in the past few decades has undergone a series of revolutions that remained largely unnoticed and unused in applied sciences. We believe that metric geometry tools could systematically answer these questions, and, coupled with modern numerical optimization techniques and novel hardware architectures, pave the computational way to the next generation in deformable shape analysis. We plan to develop such numerical tools while demonstrating their efficiency on several challenging real-life applications such as surgery prediction and planning, biometry, and computer-aided diagnosis.

2 121 295 €

Start date: 2011-01-01, End date: 2016-12-31

In this proposal we aim to address several complex biophysical problems at single molecule level that remained elusive due to the lack of appropriate experimental approach where one could manipulate independently both interacting biomolecules and in the same time measure the strength of their interaction and correlate it with their electronic signature. In particular we are interested in finding out how biopolymer finds, enters and translocates nanopore. Equally intriguing is still unresolved mechanism of phage DNA ejection. We will also investigate how exactly proteins recognize the target binding places on DNA and if the protein DNA recognition is based on the complementarity of their charge patterns. To allow addressing those biophysical problems we will develop novel experimental framework by integrating electrodes to the nanopore based force spectroscopy. The proposed strategy will enable two directions of the research: single molecule manipulation and single molecule detection /sensing equally suitable for investigating complex biophysical problems and molecular recognition assays. By exploiting superior sensing and detection capabilities of our devices, we will investigate following practical applications improved nucleotide detection, selective protein detection and protein charge profiling via nanopore unfolding. Unique combination of optical manipulation and nanofluidics could lead to new methods of bioanalysis, mechanical characterization and discrimination between specific and non-specific DNA protein interactions. This research proposal combines nanofabrication, optics, nano/microfluidics, electronics, computer programming, and biochemistry

1 439 840 €

Start date: 2010-10-01, End date: 2015-09-30

Quantum design, the ability to control the microscopic properties of a quantum system, has proven to be an invaluable tool in experimental physics. Carbon nanotubes are an ideal system to implement quantum design in the solid-state; their strongly interacting electrons, unusual spin properties, and unique mechanical qualities make them an excellent platform for studying quantum phenomena in low dimensions. However, for many years this potential has been hindered by the dominance of strong electronic disorder in this system. Fortunately, a series of recent breakthroughs in making nanotubes free of disorder has dramatically changed this situation, opening up a wide range of opportunities for high-precision experiments in these systems. In this work I propose to develop a new technology that will enable quantum design experiments in carbon nanotubes. This technology, which builds on my recent development of ultra-clean electronic devices in nanotubes, will allow us to create nanotube device-architectures that go far beyond those currently available. Specifically, we will be able to control the properties of individual electrons with microscopic precision (~100nm), manipulate their quantum states, and image their individual wavefunctions. This new toolset will be used to study previously unexplored realms in condensed matter physics, ranging from the correlated states-of-matter formed by electrons in one-dimension, to quantum information experiments with multiple electronic spins, and finally to mechanical studies of nanotube resonators in the quantum limit. These studies will address some of the most fundamental aspects pertaining to the physics of electrons, spins and phonons in low dimensions.

1 499 940 €

Start date: 2011-01-01, End date: 2015-12-31

"The goal of this proposal is to design and fabricate ""smart"" inorganic fluorophores, which could replace to replace currently used organic dyes for far-field sub-diffraction limited microscopy applications. Delicate band-gap engineering of the structure and composition of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals is suggested as a path to achieving the required nonlinear all-optical control over their luminescent properties. In conjunction with the inherent photostability, tunability and ease of excitation of these nanocrystals, this can pave the way towards greatly simplified instrumentation and techniques, implying dramatically reduced costs and significantly broader accessibility to sub-diffraction limited imaging. The proposed research is a concerted effort both on colloidal synthesis of complex multicomponent semiconductor nanocrystals and on time and frequency resolved photophysical studies down to the single nanocrystal level. Several schemes for photoactivation and reversible photobleaching of designed nanocrystals, where the localization regime of excited carriers differs between the electrons and the holes, will be explored. These include effective ionization of the emitting nanocrystal core and optical pumping of two-color emitting QDs to a single emitting state. Fulfilling the optical and material requirements from this type of system, including photostability, control of intra-nanocrystal charge- and energy-transfer processes, and a large quantum yield, will inevitably reveal some of the fundamental properties of the unique system of strongly coupled quantum dots in a single nanocrystal."

1 496 600 €

Start date: 2010-11-01, End date: 2015-10-31

The visible matter in the Universe is well described by the Standard Model, but this leaves open major questions in both particle physics and cosmology that may be answered by new physics at the Tera-electron-Volt range: the Terascale. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will soon open a new stage in humanity’s direct exploration of the fundamental physical laws at Terascale energies, which governed the evolution of the Universe a fraction of a second after the Big Bang, and are essential for understanding high-energy astrophysics. In addition to unraveling the intimate structure of matter at the Terascale, e.g., by discovering the source of particle masses and exploring matter-antimatter asymmetry, the LHC will address key cosmological issues such as how dark and conventional matter originated, which may well have been at the Terascale, and the nature of the primordial plasma that filled the Universe. This proposal will lead the understanding whatever new physics the LHC may reveal, incorporating insights from cosmology, high-energy astrophysics and speculative ideas such as string theory. This interdisciplinary approach will also facilitate the application of knowledge acquired from the LHC to fundamental cosmological and astrophysical problems, as well as illuminate future collider priorities, e.g., for LHC upgrades and/or a linear collider. This proposal will bring together particle theorists, experimentalists, astroparticle physicists and experts on field and string theory in the framework of a new ‘London Centre for Terauniverse Studies’. This will provide new opportunities for students and other young researchers to get directly involved in making LHC discoveries and exploring their implications for the Universe, and provide a mechanism for transferring to them interdisciplinary skills.

1 928 700 €

Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2016-03-31