Project acronym AgeConsolidate
Project The Missing Link of Episodic Memory Decline in Aging: The Role of Inefficient Systems Consolidation
Researcher (PI) Anders Martin FJELL
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH4, ERC-2016-COG
Summary Which brain mechanisms are responsible for the faith of the memories we make with age, whether they wither or stay, and in what form? Episodic memory function does decline with age. While this decline can have multiple causes, research has focused almost entirely on encoding and retrieval processes, largely ignoring a third critical process– consolidation. The objective of AgeConsolidate is to provide this missing link, by combining novel experimental cognitive paradigms with neuroimaging in a longitudinal large-scale attempt to directly test how age-related changes in consolidation processes in the brain impact episodic memory decline. The ambitious aims of the present proposal are two-fold:
(1) Use recent advances in memory consolidation theory to achieve an elaborate model of episodic memory deficits in aging
(2) Use aging as a model to uncover how structural and functional brain changes affect episodic memory consolidation in general
The novelty of the project lies in the synthesis of recent methodological advances and theoretical models for episodic memory consolidation to explain age-related decline, by employing a unique combination of a range of different techniques and approaches. This is ground-breaking, in that it aims at taking our understanding of the brain processes underlying episodic memory decline in aging to a new level, while at the same time advancing our theoretical understanding of how episodic memories are consolidated in the human brain. To obtain this outcome, I will test the main hypothesis of the project: Brain processes of episodic memory consolidation are less effective in older adults, and this can account for a significant portion of the episodic memory decline in aging. This will be answered by six secondary hypotheses, with 1-3 experiments or tasks designated to address each hypothesis, focusing on functional and structural MRI, positron emission tomography data and sleep experiments to target consolidation from different angles.
Summary
Which brain mechanisms are responsible for the faith of the memories we make with age, whether they wither or stay, and in what form? Episodic memory function does decline with age. While this decline can have multiple causes, research has focused almost entirely on encoding and retrieval processes, largely ignoring a third critical process– consolidation. The objective of AgeConsolidate is to provide this missing link, by combining novel experimental cognitive paradigms with neuroimaging in a longitudinal large-scale attempt to directly test how age-related changes in consolidation processes in the brain impact episodic memory decline. The ambitious aims of the present proposal are two-fold:
(1) Use recent advances in memory consolidation theory to achieve an elaborate model of episodic memory deficits in aging
(2) Use aging as a model to uncover how structural and functional brain changes affect episodic memory consolidation in general
The novelty of the project lies in the synthesis of recent methodological advances and theoretical models for episodic memory consolidation to explain age-related decline, by employing a unique combination of a range of different techniques and approaches. This is ground-breaking, in that it aims at taking our understanding of the brain processes underlying episodic memory decline in aging to a new level, while at the same time advancing our theoretical understanding of how episodic memories are consolidated in the human brain. To obtain this outcome, I will test the main hypothesis of the project: Brain processes of episodic memory consolidation are less effective in older adults, and this can account for a significant portion of the episodic memory decline in aging. This will be answered by six secondary hypotheses, with 1-3 experiments or tasks designated to address each hypothesis, focusing on functional and structural MRI, positron emission tomography data and sleep experiments to target consolidation from different angles.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 482 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-05-01, End date: 2022-04-30
Project acronym ALGOA
Project Novel algorithm for treatment planning of patients with osteoarthritis
Researcher (PI) Rami Kristian KORHONEN
Host Institution (HI) ITA-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Proof of Concept (PoC), PC1, ERC-2016-PoC
Summary Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common joint disease affecting over 40 million Europeans. Most common consequences of OA are pain, disability and social isolation. What is alarming, the number of patients will increase 50% in developed countries during the next 20 years. Moreover, the economic costs of OA are considerable since 1) direct healthcare (hospital admissions, medical examinations, drug therapy, etc.) and 2) productivity costs due to reduced performance while at work and absence from work have been estimated to be between 1% and 2.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in Western countries.
We have developed an algorithm that is able to predict the progression of OA for overweight subjects while healthy subjects do not develop OA. When employed in clinical use, preventive and personalised treatments can be started before clinically significant symptoms are observed. This marks a major breakthrough in improving the life quality of OA patients and patients prone to OA. Our discovery will directly lead to longer working careers and lesser absence from work, and will result subsequently increased productivity. Moreover, the patients are expected to live longer due to reduced disability and social isolation.
Moreover, the discovery provides economic long-term relief for the health care system, which is burdened by increasing geriatric population and stringent economic environment. With our tool, as an example, by eliminating 25% of medical examinations annually due to overweight or obesity in Finland (150.000 patients), we estimate to decrease annual direct costs by 140M€ and indirect costs by 185M€.
In the PoC project we will carry out technical proof-of-concept and perform pre-commercialisation actions to shorten the time to market. The ultimate goal after the project is to develop our innovation towards a software product, aiding the OA diagnostics in hospitals and having commercialisation potential amongst medical device companies.
Summary
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common joint disease affecting over 40 million Europeans. Most common consequences of OA are pain, disability and social isolation. What is alarming, the number of patients will increase 50% in developed countries during the next 20 years. Moreover, the economic costs of OA are considerable since 1) direct healthcare (hospital admissions, medical examinations, drug therapy, etc.) and 2) productivity costs due to reduced performance while at work and absence from work have been estimated to be between 1% and 2.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in Western countries.
We have developed an algorithm that is able to predict the progression of OA for overweight subjects while healthy subjects do not develop OA. When employed in clinical use, preventive and personalised treatments can be started before clinically significant symptoms are observed. This marks a major breakthrough in improving the life quality of OA patients and patients prone to OA. Our discovery will directly lead to longer working careers and lesser absence from work, and will result subsequently increased productivity. Moreover, the patients are expected to live longer due to reduced disability and social isolation.
Moreover, the discovery provides economic long-term relief for the health care system, which is burdened by increasing geriatric population and stringent economic environment. With our tool, as an example, by eliminating 25% of medical examinations annually due to overweight or obesity in Finland (150.000 patients), we estimate to decrease annual direct costs by 140M€ and indirect costs by 185M€.
In the PoC project we will carry out technical proof-of-concept and perform pre-commercialisation actions to shorten the time to market. The ultimate goal after the project is to develop our innovation towards a software product, aiding the OA diagnostics in hospitals and having commercialisation potential amongst medical device companies.
Max ERC Funding
150 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2019-06-30
Project acronym AlgoFinance
Project Algorithmic Finance: Inquiring into the Reshaping of Financial Markets
Researcher (PI) Christian BORCH
Host Institution (HI) COPENHAGEN BUSINESS SCHOOL
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH3, ERC-2016-COG
Summary 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.
Summary
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.
Max ERC Funding
1 590 036 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-05-01, End date: 2021-04-30
Project acronym ATM-GTP
Project Atmospheric Gas-to-Particle conversion
Researcher (PI) Markku KULMALA
Host Institution (HI) HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE10, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary Atmospheric Gas-to-Particle conversion (ATM-GTP) is a 5-year project focusing on one of the most critical atmospheric processes relevant to global climate and air quality: the first steps of atmospheric aerosol particle formation and growth. The project will concentrate on the currently lacking environmentally-specific knowledge about the interacting, non-linear, physical and chemical atmospheric processes associated with nano-scale gas-to-particle conversion (GTP). The main scientific objective of ATM-GTP is to create a deep understanding on atmospheric GTP taking place at the sub-5 nm size range, particularly in heavily-polluted Chinese mega cities like Beijing and in pristine environments like Siberia and Nordic high-latitude regions. We also aim to find out how nano-GTM is associated with air quality-climate interactions and feedbacks. We are interested in quantifying the effect of nano-GTP on the COBACC (Continental Biosphere-Aerosol-Cloud-Climate) feedback loop that is important in Arctic and boreal regions. Our approach enables to point out the effective reduction mechanisms of the secondary air pollution by a factor of 5-10 and to make reliable estimates of the global and regional aerosol loads, including anthropogenic and biogenic contributions to these loads. We can estimate the future role of Northern Hemispheric biosphere in reducing the global radiative forcing via the quantified feedbacks. The project is carried out by the world-leading scientist in atmospheric aerosol science, being also one of the founders of terrestrial ecosystem meteorology, together with his research team. The project uses novel infrastructures including SMEAR (Stations Measuring Ecosystem Atmospheric Relations) stations, related modelling platforms and regional data from Russia and China. The work will be carried out in synergy with several national, Nordic and EU research-innovation projects: Finnish Center of Excellence-ATM, Nordic CoE-CRAICC and EU-FP7-BACCHUS.
Summary
Atmospheric Gas-to-Particle conversion (ATM-GTP) is a 5-year project focusing on one of the most critical atmospheric processes relevant to global climate and air quality: the first steps of atmospheric aerosol particle formation and growth. The project will concentrate on the currently lacking environmentally-specific knowledge about the interacting, non-linear, physical and chemical atmospheric processes associated with nano-scale gas-to-particle conversion (GTP). The main scientific objective of ATM-GTP is to create a deep understanding on atmospheric GTP taking place at the sub-5 nm size range, particularly in heavily-polluted Chinese mega cities like Beijing and in pristine environments like Siberia and Nordic high-latitude regions. We also aim to find out how nano-GTM is associated with air quality-climate interactions and feedbacks. We are interested in quantifying the effect of nano-GTP on the COBACC (Continental Biosphere-Aerosol-Cloud-Climate) feedback loop that is important in Arctic and boreal regions. Our approach enables to point out the effective reduction mechanisms of the secondary air pollution by a factor of 5-10 and to make reliable estimates of the global and regional aerosol loads, including anthropogenic and biogenic contributions to these loads. We can estimate the future role of Northern Hemispheric biosphere in reducing the global radiative forcing via the quantified feedbacks. The project is carried out by the world-leading scientist in atmospheric aerosol science, being also one of the founders of terrestrial ecosystem meteorology, together with his research team. The project uses novel infrastructures including SMEAR (Stations Measuring Ecosystem Atmospheric Relations) stations, related modelling platforms and regional data from Russia and China. The work will be carried out in synergy with several national, Nordic and EU research-innovation projects: Finnish Center of Excellence-ATM, Nordic CoE-CRAICC and EU-FP7-BACCHUS.
Max ERC Funding
2 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-06-01, End date: 2022-05-31
Project acronym BrainDrain
Project Translational implications of the discovery of brain-draining lymphatics
Researcher (PI) Kari ALITALO
Host Institution (HI) HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS7, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary In 2010, 800 billion Euros was spent on brain diseases in Europe and the cost is expected to increase due to the aging population. – Here I propose to exploit our new discovery for research to alleviate this disease burden. In work selected by Nature Medicine among the top 10 ”Notable Advances” and by Science as one of the 10 ”Breakthroughs of the year” 2015, we discovered a meningeal lymphatic vascular system that serves brain homeostasis. We want to reassess current concepts about cerebrovascular dynamics, fluid drainage and cellular trafficking in physiological conditions, in Alzheimer’s disease mouse models and in human postmortem tissues. First, we will study the development and properties of meningeal lymphatics and how they are sustained during aging. We then want to analyse the clearance of macromolecules and protein aggregates in Alzheimer’s disease in mice that lack the newly discovered meningeal lymphatic drainage system. We will study if growth factor-mediated expansion of lymphatic vessels alleviates the parenchymal accumulation of neurotoxic amyloid beta and pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and brain damage after traumatic brain injury. We will further analyse the role of lymphangiogenic growth factors and lymphatic vessels in brain solute clearance, immune cell trafficking and in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. The meningeal lymphatics could be involved in a number of neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases of considerable human and socioeconomic burden. Several of our previous concepts have already been translated to clinical development and we aim to develop proof-of-principle therapeutic concepts in this project. I feel that we are just now in a unique position to advance frontline European translational biomedical research in this suddenly emerging field, which has received great attention worldwide.
Summary
In 2010, 800 billion Euros was spent on brain diseases in Europe and the cost is expected to increase due to the aging population. – Here I propose to exploit our new discovery for research to alleviate this disease burden. In work selected by Nature Medicine among the top 10 ”Notable Advances” and by Science as one of the 10 ”Breakthroughs of the year” 2015, we discovered a meningeal lymphatic vascular system that serves brain homeostasis. We want to reassess current concepts about cerebrovascular dynamics, fluid drainage and cellular trafficking in physiological conditions, in Alzheimer’s disease mouse models and in human postmortem tissues. First, we will study the development and properties of meningeal lymphatics and how they are sustained during aging. We then want to analyse the clearance of macromolecules and protein aggregates in Alzheimer’s disease in mice that lack the newly discovered meningeal lymphatic drainage system. We will study if growth factor-mediated expansion of lymphatic vessels alleviates the parenchymal accumulation of neurotoxic amyloid beta and pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and brain damage after traumatic brain injury. We will further analyse the role of lymphangiogenic growth factors and lymphatic vessels in brain solute clearance, immune cell trafficking and in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. The meningeal lymphatics could be involved in a number of neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases of considerable human and socioeconomic burden. Several of our previous concepts have already been translated to clinical development and we aim to develop proof-of-principle therapeutic concepts in this project. I feel that we are just now in a unique position to advance frontline European translational biomedical research in this suddenly emerging field, which has received great attention worldwide.
Max ERC Funding
2 420 429 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-08-01, End date: 2022-07-31
Project acronym ChemEpigen
Project The chemical understanding of biomolecular recognition in epigenetics
Researcher (PI) Jasmin MECINOVIC
Host Institution (HI) SYDDANSK UNIVERSITET
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE5, ERC-2016-STG
Summary The ultimate aim of this ERC project is to provide a comprehensive and complete understanding, at the atomic-level of sophistication, of genuinely important biomolecular recognition processes in epigenetics that play key roles in human health and disease. At the biochemical level, epigenetics refers to mechanisms, such as enzymatic modifications of DNA and posttranslational modifications of the associated histone proteins, that regulate the activity of human genes. The proposed work aims to address epigenetics using the physical-organic chemistry approach that enables the elucidation of the elemental processes with unprecedented molecular/atomic detail. The project will experimentally and computationally examine non-covalent interactions between three essential constituents of the epigenetic biomolecular system, namely epigenetic proteins, histones and water, at the level of short histone peptides, intact histone proteins, the nucleosome assembly and nucleosome arrays. Our programme, built on synergistic thermodynamic, structural and computational studies, aims to unravel i) the underlying chemical origin of methyllysine-containing histones in epigenetics, ii) the chemical basis for the recognition of methylarginine-containing histones in epigenetic processes, and iii) the role of unstructured histone tails in biomolecular recognition, which together form the three main structural elements found in the epigenetic framework. Results from this work will be important from both a fundamental molecular perspective as well as from the biomedical perspective, because proteins involved in epigenetic regulation processes are currently regarded as important targets for numerous therapeutic interventions, most notably for cancer treatment.
Summary
The ultimate aim of this ERC project is to provide a comprehensive and complete understanding, at the atomic-level of sophistication, of genuinely important biomolecular recognition processes in epigenetics that play key roles in human health and disease. At the biochemical level, epigenetics refers to mechanisms, such as enzymatic modifications of DNA and posttranslational modifications of the associated histone proteins, that regulate the activity of human genes. The proposed work aims to address epigenetics using the physical-organic chemistry approach that enables the elucidation of the elemental processes with unprecedented molecular/atomic detail. The project will experimentally and computationally examine non-covalent interactions between three essential constituents of the epigenetic biomolecular system, namely epigenetic proteins, histones and water, at the level of short histone peptides, intact histone proteins, the nucleosome assembly and nucleosome arrays. Our programme, built on synergistic thermodynamic, structural and computational studies, aims to unravel i) the underlying chemical origin of methyllysine-containing histones in epigenetics, ii) the chemical basis for the recognition of methylarginine-containing histones in epigenetic processes, and iii) the role of unstructured histone tails in biomolecular recognition, which together form the three main structural elements found in the epigenetic framework. Results from this work will be important from both a fundamental molecular perspective as well as from the biomedical perspective, because proteins involved in epigenetic regulation processes are currently regarded as important targets for numerous therapeutic interventions, most notably for cancer treatment.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-04-01, End date: 2022-03-31
Project acronym CIO
Project Common Interactive Objects
Researcher (PI) Susanne Bødker
Host Institution (HI) AARHUS UNIVERSITET
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE6, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary In CIO, common interactive objects are developed and explored to extend human control over the technological environment by human beings, both individually and together. CIO leads to a coherent framework of user interfaces to be applied in interaction design. Common interactive objects will provide a useful frame for furthering human computer interaction (HCI) theory, development of interaction design methods and the underlying technical platforms. Common interactive objects will empower users to better understand and develop the technologies they use.
When carried through, the project offers new ways for people to construct and configure human physical and virtual environments, together, over time and within communities.
The main objectives of CIO are to
1. develop the conception of common interactive objects in order to offer a new understanding of human-computer interaction, focusing on human control.
2. develop support for building user interfaces in a coherent and unified framework.
3. make common interactive objects that will empower users to better understand and develop the technologies they use.
4. carry out ground-breaking research regarding the technological basis of common interactive objects with focus on malleability, control and shareability over time.
CIO is methodologically rooted in HCI. CIO’s research methods combine empirical, analytical, theoretical, and design approaches, all with focus on the relationship between common interactive objects and their human users.
CIO presents the idea that common interactive objects may radically innovate our understanding of use and building user interfaces. The gains of CIO will be a coherent new, high-impact way of understanding and building HCI across physical and virtual structures, bringing control back to the users. The risks are in delivering this alternative in a manner that is able to confront the current strong commercial interests in the Internet-of-Things and the 'new' Artificial Intelligence
Summary
In CIO, common interactive objects are developed and explored to extend human control over the technological environment by human beings, both individually and together. CIO leads to a coherent framework of user interfaces to be applied in interaction design. Common interactive objects will provide a useful frame for furthering human computer interaction (HCI) theory, development of interaction design methods and the underlying technical platforms. Common interactive objects will empower users to better understand and develop the technologies they use.
When carried through, the project offers new ways for people to construct and configure human physical and virtual environments, together, over time and within communities.
The main objectives of CIO are to
1. develop the conception of common interactive objects in order to offer a new understanding of human-computer interaction, focusing on human control.
2. develop support for building user interfaces in a coherent and unified framework.
3. make common interactive objects that will empower users to better understand and develop the technologies they use.
4. carry out ground-breaking research regarding the technological basis of common interactive objects with focus on malleability, control and shareability over time.
CIO is methodologically rooted in HCI. CIO’s research methods combine empirical, analytical, theoretical, and design approaches, all with focus on the relationship between common interactive objects and their human users.
CIO presents the idea that common interactive objects may radically innovate our understanding of use and building user interfaces. The gains of CIO will be a coherent new, high-impact way of understanding and building HCI across physical and virtual structures, bringing control back to the users. The risks are in delivering this alternative in a manner that is able to confront the current strong commercial interests in the Internet-of-Things and the 'new' Artificial Intelligence
Max ERC Funding
2 398 993 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-12-01, End date: 2022-11-30
Project acronym CLUNATRA
Project Discovering new Catalysts in the Cluster-Nanoparticle Transition Regime
Researcher (PI) Ib CHORKENDORFF
Host Institution (HI) DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE4, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary The purpose of this proposal is to establish new fundamental insight of the reactivity and thereby the catalytic activity of oxides, nitrides, phosphides and sulfides (O-, N-, P-, S- ides) in the Cluster-Nanoparticle transition regime. We will use this insight to develop new catalysts through an interactive loop involving DFT simulations, synthesis, characterization and activity testing. The overarching objective is to make new catalysts that are efficient for production of solar fuels and chemicals to facilitate the implementation of sustainable energy, e.g. electrochemical hydrogen production and reduction of CO2 and N2 through both electrochemical and thermally activated processes.
Recent research has identified why there is a lack of significant progress in developing new more active catalysts. Chemical scaling-relations exist among the intermediates, making it difficult to find a reaction pathway, which provides a flat potential energy landscape - a necessity for making the reaction proceed without large losses. My hypothesis is that going away from the conventional size regime, > 2 nm, one may break such chemical scaling-relations. Non-scalable behavior means that adding an atom results in a completely different reactivity. This drastic change could be even further enhanced if the added atom is a different element than the recipient particle, providing new freedom to control the reaction pathway. The methodology will be based on setting up a specifically optimized instrument for synthesizing such mass-selected clusters/nanoparticles. Thus far, researchers have barely explored this size regime. Only a limited amount of studies has been devoted to inorganic entities of oxides and sulfides; nitrides and phosphides are completely unexplored. We will employ atomic level simulations, synthesis, characterization, and subsequently test for specific reactions. This interdisciplinary loop will result in new breakthroughs in the area of catalyst material discovery.
Summary
The purpose of this proposal is to establish new fundamental insight of the reactivity and thereby the catalytic activity of oxides, nitrides, phosphides and sulfides (O-, N-, P-, S- ides) in the Cluster-Nanoparticle transition regime. We will use this insight to develop new catalysts through an interactive loop involving DFT simulations, synthesis, characterization and activity testing. The overarching objective is to make new catalysts that are efficient for production of solar fuels and chemicals to facilitate the implementation of sustainable energy, e.g. electrochemical hydrogen production and reduction of CO2 and N2 through both electrochemical and thermally activated processes.
Recent research has identified why there is a lack of significant progress in developing new more active catalysts. Chemical scaling-relations exist among the intermediates, making it difficult to find a reaction pathway, which provides a flat potential energy landscape - a necessity for making the reaction proceed without large losses. My hypothesis is that going away from the conventional size regime, > 2 nm, one may break such chemical scaling-relations. Non-scalable behavior means that adding an atom results in a completely different reactivity. This drastic change could be even further enhanced if the added atom is a different element than the recipient particle, providing new freedom to control the reaction pathway. The methodology will be based on setting up a specifically optimized instrument for synthesizing such mass-selected clusters/nanoparticles. Thus far, researchers have barely explored this size regime. Only a limited amount of studies has been devoted to inorganic entities of oxides and sulfides; nitrides and phosphides are completely unexplored. We will employ atomic level simulations, synthesis, characterization, and subsequently test for specific reactions. This interdisciplinary loop will result in new breakthroughs in the area of catalyst material discovery.
Max ERC Funding
2 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31
Project acronym CoSI
Project Functional connectomics of the amygdala in social interactions of different valence
Researcher (PI) Ewelina KNAPSKA
Host Institution (HI) INSTYTUT BIOLOGII DOSWIADCZALNEJ IM. M. NENCKIEGO POLSKIEJ AKADEMII NAUK
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS5, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Understanding how brain controls social interactions is one of the central goals of neuroscience. Whereas social interactions and their effects on the emotional state of an individual are relatively well described at the behavioral level, much less is known about neural mechanisms involved in these very complex phenomena, especially in the amygdala, a key structure processing emotions in the brain.
Recent investigations, mainly on fear learning and extinction, have shown that there are highly specialized neuronal circuits within the amygdala that control specific behaviors. However, a high density of interconnections, both among amygdalar nuclei and between amygdalar nuclei and other brain regions, and the lack of a predictable distribution of functional cell types make defining behavioral functions of the amygdalar neuronal circuits challenging. Therefore, to understand how different neuronal circuits in the amygdala produce different behaviors tracing anatomical connections between activated neurons, i.e., the functional anatomy is needed.
Published data and our preliminary results suggest that within the amygdala there exist different neuronal circuits mediating social interactions of different valence (positive or negative affective significance) and that circuits controlling social and non-social emotions differ. Combining our recently developed behavioral models of adult, non-aggressive, same-sex social interactions with the methods of tracing anatomical connections between activated neurons, we plan to identify neural circuitry underlying social interactions of different emotional valence. This goal will be achieved by: (1) Characterizing functional anatomy of neuronal circuits in the amygdala underlying socially transferred emotions; (2) Examining role of the identified neuronal subpopulations in control of social behaviors; (3) Verifying role of matrix metalloproteinase-9-dependent neuronal subpopulations within the amygdala in social motivation.
Summary
Understanding how brain controls social interactions is one of the central goals of neuroscience. Whereas social interactions and their effects on the emotional state of an individual are relatively well described at the behavioral level, much less is known about neural mechanisms involved in these very complex phenomena, especially in the amygdala, a key structure processing emotions in the brain.
Recent investigations, mainly on fear learning and extinction, have shown that there are highly specialized neuronal circuits within the amygdala that control specific behaviors. However, a high density of interconnections, both among amygdalar nuclei and between amygdalar nuclei and other brain regions, and the lack of a predictable distribution of functional cell types make defining behavioral functions of the amygdalar neuronal circuits challenging. Therefore, to understand how different neuronal circuits in the amygdala produce different behaviors tracing anatomical connections between activated neurons, i.e., the functional anatomy is needed.
Published data and our preliminary results suggest that within the amygdala there exist different neuronal circuits mediating social interactions of different valence (positive or negative affective significance) and that circuits controlling social and non-social emotions differ. Combining our recently developed behavioral models of adult, non-aggressive, same-sex social interactions with the methods of tracing anatomical connections between activated neurons, we plan to identify neural circuitry underlying social interactions of different emotional valence. This goal will be achieved by: (1) Characterizing functional anatomy of neuronal circuits in the amygdala underlying socially transferred emotions; (2) Examining role of the identified neuronal subpopulations in control of social behaviors; (3) Verifying role of matrix metalloproteinase-9-dependent neuronal subpopulations within the amygdala in social motivation.
Max ERC Funding
1 312 500 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-12-01, End date: 2021-11-30
Project acronym CRIMTANG
Project Criminal Entanglements.A new ethnographic approach to transnational organised crime.
Researcher (PI) Henrik VIGH
Host Institution (HI) KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH3, ERC-2016-COG
Summary 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.
Summary
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.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 909 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-02-01, End date: 2023-01-31
