Project acronym 4DPHOTON
Project Beyond Light Imaging: High-Rate Single-Photon Detection in Four Dimensions
Researcher (PI) Massimiliano FIORINI
Host Institution (HI) ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI FISICA NUCLEARE
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE2, ERC-2018-COG
Summary Goal of the 4DPHOTON project is the development and construction of a photon imaging detector with unprecedented performance. The proposed device will be capable of detecting fluxes of single-photons up to one billion photons per second, over areas of several square centimetres, and will measure - for each photon - position and time simultaneously with resolutions better than ten microns and few tens of picoseconds, respectively. These figures of merit will open many important applications allowing significant advances in particle physics, life sciences or other emerging fields where excellent timing and position resolutions are simultaneously required.
Our goal will be achieved thanks to the use of an application-specific integrated circuit in 65 nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, that will deliver a timing resolution of few tens of picoseconds at the pixel level, over few hundred thousand individually-active pixel channels, allowing very high rates of photons to be detected, and the corresponding information digitized and transferred to a processing unit.
As a result of the 4DPHOTON project we will remove the constraints that many light imaging applications have due to the lack of precise single-photon information on four dimensions (4D): the three spatial coordinates and time simultaneously. In particular, we will prove the performance of this detector in the field of particle physics, performing the reconstruction of Cherenkov photon rings with a timing resolution of ten picoseconds. With its excellent granularity, timing resolution, rate capability and compactness, this detector will represent a new paradigm for the realisation of future Ring Imaging Cherenkov detectors, capable of achieving high efficiency particle identification in environments with very high particle multiplicities, exploiting time-association of the photon hits.
Summary
Goal of the 4DPHOTON project is the development and construction of a photon imaging detector with unprecedented performance. The proposed device will be capable of detecting fluxes of single-photons up to one billion photons per second, over areas of several square centimetres, and will measure - for each photon - position and time simultaneously with resolutions better than ten microns and few tens of picoseconds, respectively. These figures of merit will open many important applications allowing significant advances in particle physics, life sciences or other emerging fields where excellent timing and position resolutions are simultaneously required.
Our goal will be achieved thanks to the use of an application-specific integrated circuit in 65 nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, that will deliver a timing resolution of few tens of picoseconds at the pixel level, over few hundred thousand individually-active pixel channels, allowing very high rates of photons to be detected, and the corresponding information digitized and transferred to a processing unit.
As a result of the 4DPHOTON project we will remove the constraints that many light imaging applications have due to the lack of precise single-photon information on four dimensions (4D): the three spatial coordinates and time simultaneously. In particular, we will prove the performance of this detector in the field of particle physics, performing the reconstruction of Cherenkov photon rings with a timing resolution of ten picoseconds. With its excellent granularity, timing resolution, rate capability and compactness, this detector will represent a new paradigm for the realisation of future Ring Imaging Cherenkov detectors, capable of achieving high efficiency particle identification in environments with very high particle multiplicities, exploiting time-association of the photon hits.
Max ERC Funding
1 975 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-12-01, End date: 2024-11-30
Project acronym A-FRO
Project Actively Frozen - contextual modulation of freezing and its neuronal basis
Researcher (PI) Marta de Aragão Pacheco Moita
Host Institution (HI) FUNDACAO D. ANNA SOMMER CHAMPALIMAUD E DR. CARLOS MONTEZ CHAMPALIMAUD
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS5, ERC-2018-COG
Summary When faced with a threat, an animal must decide whether to freeze, reducing its chances of being noticed, or to flee to the safety of a refuge. Animals from fish to primates choose between these two alternatives when confronted by an attacking predator, a choice that largely depends on the context in which the threat occurs. Recent work has made strides identifying the pre-motor circuits, and their inputs, which control freezing behavior in rodents, but how contextual information is integrated to guide this choice is still far from understood. We recently found that fruit flies in response to visual looming stimuli, simulating a large object on collision course, make rapid freeze/flee choices that depend on the social and spatial environment, and the fly’s internal state. Further, identification of looming detector neurons was recently reported and we identified the descending command neurons, DNp09, responsible for freezing in the fly. Knowing the sensory input and descending output for looming-evoked freezing, two environmental factors that modulate its expression, and using a genetically tractable system affording the use of large sample sizes, places us in an unique position to understand how a information about a threat is integrated with cues from the environment to guide the choice of whether to freeze (our goal). To assess how social information impinges on the circuit for freezing, we will examine the sensory inputs and neuromodulators that mediate this process, mapping their connections to DNp09 neurons (Aim 1). We ask whether learning is required for the spatial modulation of freezing, which cues flies are using to discriminate different places and which brain circuits mediate this process (Aim 2). Finally, we will study how activity of DNp09 neurons drives freezing (Aim 3). This project will provide a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism of freezing and its modulation by the environment, from single neurons to behaviour.
Summary
When faced with a threat, an animal must decide whether to freeze, reducing its chances of being noticed, or to flee to the safety of a refuge. Animals from fish to primates choose between these two alternatives when confronted by an attacking predator, a choice that largely depends on the context in which the threat occurs. Recent work has made strides identifying the pre-motor circuits, and their inputs, which control freezing behavior in rodents, but how contextual information is integrated to guide this choice is still far from understood. We recently found that fruit flies in response to visual looming stimuli, simulating a large object on collision course, make rapid freeze/flee choices that depend on the social and spatial environment, and the fly’s internal state. Further, identification of looming detector neurons was recently reported and we identified the descending command neurons, DNp09, responsible for freezing in the fly. Knowing the sensory input and descending output for looming-evoked freezing, two environmental factors that modulate its expression, and using a genetically tractable system affording the use of large sample sizes, places us in an unique position to understand how a information about a threat is integrated with cues from the environment to guide the choice of whether to freeze (our goal). To assess how social information impinges on the circuit for freezing, we will examine the sensory inputs and neuromodulators that mediate this process, mapping their connections to DNp09 neurons (Aim 1). We ask whether learning is required for the spatial modulation of freezing, which cues flies are using to discriminate different places and which brain circuits mediate this process (Aim 2). Finally, we will study how activity of DNp09 neurons drives freezing (Aim 3). This project will provide a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism of freezing and its modulation by the environment, from single neurons to behaviour.
Max ERC Funding
1 969 750 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-02-01, End date: 2024-01-31
Project acronym AFDMATS
Project Anton Francesco Doni – Multimedia Archive Texts and Sources
Researcher (PI) Giovanna Rizzarelli
Host Institution (HI) SCUOLA NORMALE SUPERIORE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2007-StG
Summary This project aims at creating a multimedia archive of the printed works of Anton Francesco Doni, who was not only an author but also a typographer, a publisher and a member of the Giolito and Marcolini’s editorial staff. The analysis of Doni’s work may be a good way to investigate appropriation, text rewriting and image reusing practices which are typical of several authors of the 16th Century, as clearly shown by the critics in the last decades. This project intends to bring to light the wide range of impulses from which Doni’s texts are generated, with a great emphasis on the figurative aspect. The encoding of these texts will be carried out using the TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) guidelines, which will enable any single text to interact with a range of intertextual references both at a local level (inside the same text) and at a macrostructural level (references to other texts by Doni or to other authors). The elements that will emerge from the textual encoding concern: A) The use of images Real images: the complex relation between Doni’s writing and the xylographies available in Marcolini’s printing-house or belonging to other collections. Mental images: the remarkable presence of verbal images, as descriptions, ekphràseis, figurative visions, dreams and iconographic allusions not accompanied by illustrations, but related to a recognizable visual repertoire or to real images that will be reproduced. B) The use of sources A parallel archive of the texts most used by Doni will be created. Digital anastatic reproductions of the 16th-Century editions known by Doni will be provided whenever available. The various forms of intertextuality will be divided into the following typologies: allusions; citations; rewritings; plagiarisms; self-quotations. Finally, the different forms of narrative (tales, short stories, anecdotes, lyrics) and the different idiomatic expressions (proverbial forms and wellerisms) will also be encoded.
Summary
This project aims at creating a multimedia archive of the printed works of Anton Francesco Doni, who was not only an author but also a typographer, a publisher and a member of the Giolito and Marcolini’s editorial staff. The analysis of Doni’s work may be a good way to investigate appropriation, text rewriting and image reusing practices which are typical of several authors of the 16th Century, as clearly shown by the critics in the last decades. This project intends to bring to light the wide range of impulses from which Doni’s texts are generated, with a great emphasis on the figurative aspect. The encoding of these texts will be carried out using the TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) guidelines, which will enable any single text to interact with a range of intertextual references both at a local level (inside the same text) and at a macrostructural level (references to other texts by Doni or to other authors). The elements that will emerge from the textual encoding concern: A) The use of images Real images: the complex relation between Doni’s writing and the xylographies available in Marcolini’s printing-house or belonging to other collections. Mental images: the remarkable presence of verbal images, as descriptions, ekphràseis, figurative visions, dreams and iconographic allusions not accompanied by illustrations, but related to a recognizable visual repertoire or to real images that will be reproduced. B) The use of sources A parallel archive of the texts most used by Doni will be created. Digital anastatic reproductions of the 16th-Century editions known by Doni will be provided whenever available. The various forms of intertextuality will be divided into the following typologies: allusions; citations; rewritings; plagiarisms; self-quotations. Finally, the different forms of narrative (tales, short stories, anecdotes, lyrics) and the different idiomatic expressions (proverbial forms and wellerisms) will also be encoded.
Max ERC Funding
559 200 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-08-01, End date: 2012-07-31
Project acronym AIDA
Project Architectural design In Dialogue with dis-Ability Theoretical and methodological exploration of a multi-sensorial design approach in architecture
Researcher (PI) Ann Heylighen
Host Institution (HI) KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2007-StG
Summary This research project is based on the notion that, because of their specific interaction with space, people with particular dis-abilities are able to appreciate spatial qualities or detect misfits in the environment that most architects—or other designers—are not even aware of. This notion holds for sensory dis-abilities such as blindness or visual impairment, but also for mental dis-abilities like autism or Alzheimer’s dementia. The experiences and subsequent insights of these dis-abled people, so it is argued, represent a considerable knowledge resource that would complement and enrich the professional expertise of architects and designers in general. This argument forms the basis for a methodological and theoretical exploration of a multi-sensorial design approach in architecture. On the one hand, a series of retrospective case studies will be conducted to identify and describe the motives and elements that trigger or stimulate architects’ attention for the multi-sensorial spatial experiences of people with dis-abilities when designing spaces. On the other hand, the research project will investigate experimentally in real time to what extent design processes and products in architecture can be enriched by establishing a dialogue between the multi-sensorial ‘knowing-in-action’ of people with dis-abilities and the expertise of professional architects/designers. In this way, the research project aims to develop a more profound understanding of how the concept of Design for All can be realised in architectural practice. At least as important, however, is its contribution to innovation in architecture tout court. The research results are expected to give a powerful impulse to quality improvement of the built environment by stimulating and supporting the development of innovative design concepts.
Summary
This research project is based on the notion that, because of their specific interaction with space, people with particular dis-abilities are able to appreciate spatial qualities or detect misfits in the environment that most architects—or other designers—are not even aware of. This notion holds for sensory dis-abilities such as blindness or visual impairment, but also for mental dis-abilities like autism or Alzheimer’s dementia. The experiences and subsequent insights of these dis-abled people, so it is argued, represent a considerable knowledge resource that would complement and enrich the professional expertise of architects and designers in general. This argument forms the basis for a methodological and theoretical exploration of a multi-sensorial design approach in architecture. On the one hand, a series of retrospective case studies will be conducted to identify and describe the motives and elements that trigger or stimulate architects’ attention for the multi-sensorial spatial experiences of people with dis-abilities when designing spaces. On the other hand, the research project will investigate experimentally in real time to what extent design processes and products in architecture can be enriched by establishing a dialogue between the multi-sensorial ‘knowing-in-action’ of people with dis-abilities and the expertise of professional architects/designers. In this way, the research project aims to develop a more profound understanding of how the concept of Design for All can be realised in architectural practice. At least as important, however, is its contribution to innovation in architecture tout court. The research results are expected to give a powerful impulse to quality improvement of the built environment by stimulating and supporting the development of innovative design concepts.
Max ERC Funding
1 195 385 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-05-01, End date: 2013-10-31
Project acronym AN-ICON
Project An-Iconology: History, Theory, and Practices of Environmental Images
Researcher (PI) Andrea PINOTTI
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH5, ERC-2018-ADG
Summary "Recent developments in image-making techniques have resulted in a drastic blurring of the threshold between the world of the image and the real world. Immersive and interactive virtual environments have enabled the production of pictures that elicit in the perceiver a strong feeling of being incorporated in a quasi-real world. In doing so such pictures conceal their mediateness (their being based on a material support), their referentiality (their pointing to an extra-iconic dimension), and their separateness (normally assured by framing devices), paradoxically challenging their status as images, as icons: they are veritable “an-icons”.
This kind of pictures undermines the mainstream paradigm of Western image theories, shared by major models such as the doctrine of mimesis, the phenomenological account of image-consciousness, the analytic theories of depiction, the semiotic and iconological methods. These approaches miss the key counter-properties regarding an-icons as ""environmental"" images: their immediateness, unframedness, and presentness. Subjects relating to an-icons are no longer visual observers of images; they are experiencers living in a quasi-real environment that allows multisensory affordances and embodied agencies.
AN-ICON aims to develop “an-iconology” as a new methodological approach able to address this challenging iconoscape. Such an approach needs to be articulated in a transdisciplinary and transmedial way: 1) HISTORY – a media-archaeological reconstruction will provide a taxonomy of the manifold an-iconic strategies (e.g. illusionistic painting, pre-cinematic dispositifs, 3D films, video games, head mounted displays); 2) THEORY – an experiential account (drawing on phenomenology, visual culture and media studies) will identify the an-iconic key concepts; 3) PRACTICES – a socio-cultural section will explore the multifaceted impact of an-iconic images, environments and technologies on contemporary professional domains as well as on everyday life.
"
Summary
"Recent developments in image-making techniques have resulted in a drastic blurring of the threshold between the world of the image and the real world. Immersive and interactive virtual environments have enabled the production of pictures that elicit in the perceiver a strong feeling of being incorporated in a quasi-real world. In doing so such pictures conceal their mediateness (their being based on a material support), their referentiality (their pointing to an extra-iconic dimension), and their separateness (normally assured by framing devices), paradoxically challenging their status as images, as icons: they are veritable “an-icons”.
This kind of pictures undermines the mainstream paradigm of Western image theories, shared by major models such as the doctrine of mimesis, the phenomenological account of image-consciousness, the analytic theories of depiction, the semiotic and iconological methods. These approaches miss the key counter-properties regarding an-icons as ""environmental"" images: their immediateness, unframedness, and presentness. Subjects relating to an-icons are no longer visual observers of images; they are experiencers living in a quasi-real environment that allows multisensory affordances and embodied agencies.
AN-ICON aims to develop “an-iconology” as a new methodological approach able to address this challenging iconoscape. Such an approach needs to be articulated in a transdisciplinary and transmedial way: 1) HISTORY – a media-archaeological reconstruction will provide a taxonomy of the manifold an-iconic strategies (e.g. illusionistic painting, pre-cinematic dispositifs, 3D films, video games, head mounted displays); 2) THEORY – an experiential account (drawing on phenomenology, visual culture and media studies) will identify the an-iconic key concepts; 3) PRACTICES – a socio-cultural section will explore the multifaceted impact of an-iconic images, environments and technologies on contemporary professional domains as well as on everyday life.
"
Max ERC Funding
2 328 736 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-09-01, End date: 2024-08-31
Project acronym ANGIOPLACE
Project Expression and Methylation Status of Genes Regulating Placental Angiogenesis in Normal, Cloned, IVF and Monoparental Sheep Foetuses
Researcher (PI) Grazyna Ewa Ptak
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TERAMO
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS7, ERC-2007-StG
Summary Normal placental angiogenesis is critical for embryonic survival and development. Epigenetic modifications, such as methylation of CpG islands, regulate the expression and imprinting of genes. Epigenetic abnormalities have been observed in embryos from assisted reproductive technologies (ART), which could explain the poor placental vascularisation, embryonic/fetal death, and altered fetal growth in these pregnancies. Both cloned (somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SNCT) and monoparental (parthogenotes, only maternal genes; androgenotes, only paternal genes) embryos provide important models for studying defects in expression and methylation status/imprinting of genes regulating placental function. Our hypothesis is that placental vascular development is compromised during early pregnancy in embryos from ART, in part due to altered expression or imprinting/methylation status of specific genes regulating placental angiogenesis. We will evaluate fetal growth, placental vascular growth, and expression and epigenetic status of genes regulating placental angiogenesis during early pregnancy in 3 Specific Aims: (1) after natural mating; (2) after transfer of biparental embryos from in vitro fertilization, and SCNT; and (3) after transfer of parthenogenetic or androgenetic embryos. These studies will therefore contribute substantially to our understanding of the regulation of placental development and vascularisation during early pregnancy, and could pinpoint the mechanism contributing to embryonic loss and developmental abnormalities in foetuses from ART. Any or all of these observations will contribute to our understanding of and also our ability to successfully employ ART, which are becoming very wide spread and important in human medicine as well as in animal production.
Summary
Normal placental angiogenesis is critical for embryonic survival and development. Epigenetic modifications, such as methylation of CpG islands, regulate the expression and imprinting of genes. Epigenetic abnormalities have been observed in embryos from assisted reproductive technologies (ART), which could explain the poor placental vascularisation, embryonic/fetal death, and altered fetal growth in these pregnancies. Both cloned (somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SNCT) and monoparental (parthogenotes, only maternal genes; androgenotes, only paternal genes) embryos provide important models for studying defects in expression and methylation status/imprinting of genes regulating placental function. Our hypothesis is that placental vascular development is compromised during early pregnancy in embryos from ART, in part due to altered expression or imprinting/methylation status of specific genes regulating placental angiogenesis. We will evaluate fetal growth, placental vascular growth, and expression and epigenetic status of genes regulating placental angiogenesis during early pregnancy in 3 Specific Aims: (1) after natural mating; (2) after transfer of biparental embryos from in vitro fertilization, and SCNT; and (3) after transfer of parthenogenetic or androgenetic embryos. These studies will therefore contribute substantially to our understanding of the regulation of placental development and vascularisation during early pregnancy, and could pinpoint the mechanism contributing to embryonic loss and developmental abnormalities in foetuses from ART. Any or all of these observations will contribute to our understanding of and also our ability to successfully employ ART, which are becoming very wide spread and important in human medicine as well as in animal production.
Max ERC Funding
363 600 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-10-01, End date: 2012-06-30
Project acronym ANXIETY & COGNITION
Project How anxiety transforms human cognition: an Affective Neuroscience perspective
Researcher (PI) Gilles Roger Charles Pourtois
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT GENT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH3, ERC-2007-StG
Summary Anxiety, a state of apprehension or fear, may provoke cognitive or behavioural disorders and eventually lead to serious medical illnesses. The high prevalence of anxiety disorders in our society sharply contrasts with the lack of clear factual knowledge about the corresponding brain mechanisms at the origin of this profound change in the appraisal of the environment. Little is known about how the psychopathological state of anxiety ultimately turns to a medical condition. The core of this proposal is to gain insight in the neural underpinnings of anxiety and disorders related to anxiety using modern human brain-imaging such as scalp EEG and fMRI. I propose to enlighten how anxiety transforms and shapes human cognition and what the neural correlates and time-course of this modulatory effect are. The primary innovation of this project is the systematic use scalp EEG and fMRI in human participants to better understand the neural mechanisms by which anxiety profoundly influences specific cognitive functions, in particular selective attention and decision-making. The goal of this proposal is to precisely determine the exact timing (using scalp EEG), location, size and extent (using fMRI) of anxiety-related modulations on selective attention and decision-making in the human brain. Here I propose to focus on these two specific processes, because they are likely to reveal selective effects of anxiety on human cognition and can thus serve as powerful models to better figure out how anxiety operates in the human brain. Another important aspect of this project is the fact I envision to help bridge the gap in Health Psychology between fundamental research and clinical practice by proposing alternative revalidation strategies for human adult subjects affected by anxiety-related disorders, which could directly exploit the neuro-scientific discoveries generated in this scientific project.
Summary
Anxiety, a state of apprehension or fear, may provoke cognitive or behavioural disorders and eventually lead to serious medical illnesses. The high prevalence of anxiety disorders in our society sharply contrasts with the lack of clear factual knowledge about the corresponding brain mechanisms at the origin of this profound change in the appraisal of the environment. Little is known about how the psychopathological state of anxiety ultimately turns to a medical condition. The core of this proposal is to gain insight in the neural underpinnings of anxiety and disorders related to anxiety using modern human brain-imaging such as scalp EEG and fMRI. I propose to enlighten how anxiety transforms and shapes human cognition and what the neural correlates and time-course of this modulatory effect are. The primary innovation of this project is the systematic use scalp EEG and fMRI in human participants to better understand the neural mechanisms by which anxiety profoundly influences specific cognitive functions, in particular selective attention and decision-making. The goal of this proposal is to precisely determine the exact timing (using scalp EEG), location, size and extent (using fMRI) of anxiety-related modulations on selective attention and decision-making in the human brain. Here I propose to focus on these two specific processes, because they are likely to reveal selective effects of anxiety on human cognition and can thus serve as powerful models to better figure out how anxiety operates in the human brain. Another important aspect of this project is the fact I envision to help bridge the gap in Health Psychology between fundamental research and clinical practice by proposing alternative revalidation strategies for human adult subjects affected by anxiety-related disorders, which could directly exploit the neuro-scientific discoveries generated in this scientific project.
Max ERC Funding
812 986 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-11-01, End date: 2013-10-31
Project acronym ARCHAIC ADAPT
Project Admixture accelerated adaptation: signals from modern, ancient and archaic DNA.
Researcher (PI) Emilia HUERTA-SANCHEZ
Host Institution (HI) THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS8, ERC-2018-STG
Summary With the advent of new sequencing technologies, population geneticists now have access to more data than ever before. We have access to thousands of human genomes from a diverse set of populations around the globe, and, thanks to advances in DNA extraction and library preparation, we now are beginning to have access to ancient DNA sequence data. These data have greatly improved our knowledge of human history, human adaptation to different environments and human disease. Genome-wide studies have highlighted many genes or genomic loci that may play a role in adaptive or disease related phenotypes of biological importance.
With these collections of modern and ancient sequence data we want to answer a key evolutionary question: how do human adaptations arise? We strongly believe that the state-of-the-art methodologies for uncovering signatures of adaptation are blind to potential modes of adaptation because they are lacking two critical components – more complete integration of multiple population haplotype data (including archaic, ancient and modern samples), and an account of population interactions that facilitate adaptation.
Therefore I plan to develop new methods to detect shared selective events across populations by creating novel statistical summaries, and to detect admixture-facilitated adaptation which we believe is likely a common mode of natural selection. We will apply these tools to new datasets to characterize the interplay of natural selection, archaic and modern admixture in populations in the Americas and make a comparative analysis of modern and ancient European samples to understand the origin and changing profile of adaptive archaic alleles. As a result our work will reveal evolutionary processes that have played an important role in human evolution and disease.
Summary
With the advent of new sequencing technologies, population geneticists now have access to more data than ever before. We have access to thousands of human genomes from a diverse set of populations around the globe, and, thanks to advances in DNA extraction and library preparation, we now are beginning to have access to ancient DNA sequence data. These data have greatly improved our knowledge of human history, human adaptation to different environments and human disease. Genome-wide studies have highlighted many genes or genomic loci that may play a role in adaptive or disease related phenotypes of biological importance.
With these collections of modern and ancient sequence data we want to answer a key evolutionary question: how do human adaptations arise? We strongly believe that the state-of-the-art methodologies for uncovering signatures of adaptation are blind to potential modes of adaptation because they are lacking two critical components – more complete integration of multiple population haplotype data (including archaic, ancient and modern samples), and an account of population interactions that facilitate adaptation.
Therefore I plan to develop new methods to detect shared selective events across populations by creating novel statistical summaries, and to detect admixture-facilitated adaptation which we believe is likely a common mode of natural selection. We will apply these tools to new datasets to characterize the interplay of natural selection, archaic and modern admixture in populations in the Americas and make a comparative analysis of modern and ancient European samples to understand the origin and changing profile of adaptive archaic alleles. As a result our work will reveal evolutionary processes that have played an important role in human evolution and disease.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-01-01, End date: 2024-12-31
Project acronym AST
Project Automatic System Testing
Researcher (PI) Leonardo MARIANI
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO-BICOCCA
Call Details Proof of Concept (PoC), ERC-2018-PoC
Summary Verifying the correctness of software systems requires extensive and expensive testing sessions. While there are tools and methodologies to efficiently address unit and integration testing, system testing is still largely the result of manual effort.
Testing software applications at the system level requires executing the applications through their interfaces to verify the correctness of their functionalities and stimulate all their layers and components. Automating just part of this process can dramatically improve the effectiveness of verification activities and significantly reduce development costs, relevantly alleviating developers from their verification effort.
This project addresses the development of a pre-commercial tool that has the unique capability of efficiently and automatically generating semantically-relevant system test cases equipped with functional oracles. This capability derives from the AUGUSTO technique, which is an outcome of the Learn ERC project. The idea behind Augusto is to exploit the common-sense knowledge, that is, the background knowledge that every computer user has and that normally lets her/him use software applications without the need of accessing any documentation or manual. Once this knowledge is represented abstractly and then embedded in AUGUSTO, the technique can automatically adapt its definition to the software under test every time a program is tested.
This development work will be performed jointly with A company that produces and markets testing tools.
Summary
Verifying the correctness of software systems requires extensive and expensive testing sessions. While there are tools and methodologies to efficiently address unit and integration testing, system testing is still largely the result of manual effort.
Testing software applications at the system level requires executing the applications through their interfaces to verify the correctness of their functionalities and stimulate all their layers and components. Automating just part of this process can dramatically improve the effectiveness of verification activities and significantly reduce development costs, relevantly alleviating developers from their verification effort.
This project addresses the development of a pre-commercial tool that has the unique capability of efficiently and automatically generating semantically-relevant system test cases equipped with functional oracles. This capability derives from the AUGUSTO technique, which is an outcome of the Learn ERC project. The idea behind Augusto is to exploit the common-sense knowledge, that is, the background knowledge that every computer user has and that normally lets her/him use software applications without the need of accessing any documentation or manual. Once this knowledge is represented abstractly and then embedded in AUGUSTO, the technique can automatically adapt its definition to the software under test every time a program is tested.
This development work will be performed jointly with A company that produces and markets testing tools.
Max ERC Funding
150 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-01-01, End date: 2020-06-30
Project acronym ASTAOMEGA
Project IMPLEMENTATION OF A SUSTAINABLE AND COMPETITIVE SYSTEM TO SIMULTANEOUSLY PRODUCE ASTAXANTHIN AND OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS IN MICROALGAE FOR ACQUACULTURE AND HUMAN NUTRITION
Researcher (PI) Matteo BALLOTTARI
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI VERONA
Call Details Proof of Concept (PoC), ERC-2018-PoC
Summary This project aims at developing an innovative and commercially competitive production platform for high value products as Astaxanthin and Omega-3, to be used for human nutrition or aquaculture.
Astaxanthin is a pigment primary produced by microalgae: this carotenoid has a strong antioxidant power and it is used in different fields as healthcare, food/feed supplementation and as pigmenting agent in aquaculture. However, cultivation of the main microalgae species producing Astaxanthin is costly due to low biomass productivity or low Astaxanthin content, causing an extremely high price of this molecule on the market.
Marine microalgae are also the primary producers of Omega-3, very long chain fatty acids, essential components of high quality diets for humans, being related to cardiovascular wellness, and proper visual and cognitive development. However, due to the high cost of microalgae cultivation, the market of Omega-3 is mostly based on fish or krill oils, with high costs and environment impacts associated.
New sources of Astaxanthin and Omega-3 must thus be implemented: based on the results obtained in ERC-Stg-SOLENALGAE, an innovative, low cost and high productive strategy can be proposed for simultaneous Astaxanthin and Omega-3 production in the robust and fast growing marine microalgae species Nannochloropsis gaditana.
The main objectives of the ASTAOMEGA project will be:
1. To validate to a demonstration stage the ASTAOMEGA system
2. The assessment of the market size and market requirements, through extensive market analysis
3. The identification of the best suitable commercial route to be undertaken to take the ASTAOMEGA system to the market, as inception of a spin-off company and/or the licensing agreements on the IPR exploitation with the interested end-users (see LOIs).
The ASTAOMEGA team is confident that the outcomes of this project are poised to exert a beneficial impact on the European microalgae industry and nutraceuticals market
Summary
This project aims at developing an innovative and commercially competitive production platform for high value products as Astaxanthin and Omega-3, to be used for human nutrition or aquaculture.
Astaxanthin is a pigment primary produced by microalgae: this carotenoid has a strong antioxidant power and it is used in different fields as healthcare, food/feed supplementation and as pigmenting agent in aquaculture. However, cultivation of the main microalgae species producing Astaxanthin is costly due to low biomass productivity or low Astaxanthin content, causing an extremely high price of this molecule on the market.
Marine microalgae are also the primary producers of Omega-3, very long chain fatty acids, essential components of high quality diets for humans, being related to cardiovascular wellness, and proper visual and cognitive development. However, due to the high cost of microalgae cultivation, the market of Omega-3 is mostly based on fish or krill oils, with high costs and environment impacts associated.
New sources of Astaxanthin and Omega-3 must thus be implemented: based on the results obtained in ERC-Stg-SOLENALGAE, an innovative, low cost and high productive strategy can be proposed for simultaneous Astaxanthin and Omega-3 production in the robust and fast growing marine microalgae species Nannochloropsis gaditana.
The main objectives of the ASTAOMEGA project will be:
1. To validate to a demonstration stage the ASTAOMEGA system
2. The assessment of the market size and market requirements, through extensive market analysis
3. The identification of the best suitable commercial route to be undertaken to take the ASTAOMEGA system to the market, as inception of a spin-off company and/or the licensing agreements on the IPR exploitation with the interested end-users (see LOIs).
The ASTAOMEGA team is confident that the outcomes of this project are poised to exert a beneficial impact on the European microalgae industry and nutraceuticals market
Max ERC Funding
149 955 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2020-02-29
