ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

During the last decade, the principles of biomineralization have increasingly attracted multidisciplinary scientific attention, not only because they touch the interface between the organic/inorganic world but also because they offer fascinating bioinspired solutions to notorious problems in the fields of biotechnology and medicine. However, only one group of animals has the necessary genetic/enzymatic toolkit to control biomineralization: siliceous sponges (Porifera). Based on his pioneering discoveries in poriferan molecular biology and physiological chemistry, the PI has brought biosilicification into the focus of basic and applied research. Through multiple trendsetting approaches the molecular key components for the enzymatic synthesis of polymorphic siliceous skeletal elements in sponges have been elucidated and characterized. Subsequently, they have been employed to synthesize innovative composite materials in vitro. Nonetheless, knowledge of the functional mechanisms involved remains sketchy and harnessing biosilicification, beyond the in vitro synthesis of amorphous nanocomposites, is still impossible. Using a unique blend of cutting-edge techniques in molecular/structural biology, biochemistry, bioengineering, and material sciences, the PI approaches for the first time a comprehensive analysis of natural biomineralization, from gene to biomineral to hierarchically ordered structures of increasing complexity. The groundbreaking discoveries expected will be of extreme importance for understanding poriferan biosilicification. Concurrently, they will contribute to the development of innovative nano-biotechnological and -medical approaches that aim to elicit novel (biogenous) optical waveguide fibers and self-repairing inorganic-organic bone substitution materials.

2 183 600 €

Start date: 2011-06-01, End date: 2017-05-31

Agriculture depends on breeding. Breeders try to combining desirable and eliminating unfavourable traits of crop plants. Changes in genetic linkage are based on meiotic recombination. Although techniques for the transfer of single traits have been developed, resulting in genetically modified organisms (GMOs), hardly any effort has been undertaken to control the exchange between parental genomes as such. By applying new molecular tools to control recombination the current project aims to establish a new kind of ¿designed¿ plant breeding. Thus, not only transfer or elimination of specific traits should become possible in a programmable way, but also the access to the complete gene pool of natural species and its widening by crossing in closely related species should become feasible. Suppression of recombination should result in an apomixis-like propagation of elite cultivars. Mainly two different levels of control will be addressed in the project: the induction of recombination at predefined specific sites in the genome and the regulation of the level of genome-wide exchange. For the former approach we will apply specifically tailored sequence-specific zinc-finger and meganucleases. Global changes should be achieved by modulating the expression of factors involved in the resolution of recombination intermediates. As the strategy relies on the exploitation of the natural mechanism of recombination, biotechnologically improved plants without transgenes will be obtained after outcrossing. Thus, public concerns raised by GMOs brought out in the field should be avoided. As recent technical improvements make the elucidation of genomic sequences possible at moderate cost and time requirements, the setup of ¿designed¿ breeding should become especially useful in the near future.

2 493 000 €

Start date: 2011-09-01, End date: 2016-08-31

The objective of the proposed project is to pioneer a magnetometry-based experimental framework for the detection of time-varying signatures of the ‘dark sector’. This novel approach will enable systematic searches for particles contributing to the dark matter and for dark-energy components. The nature of dark matter and that of dark energy are among the central open problems in modern physics. There are only few experimental bounds and so far no conclusive observations of dark-sector particles or fields. Experiments enabling a direct coupling to the dark sector and thus a systematic search for and study of the contributing particles and fields would open up new vistas for areas ranging from particle physics to astrophysics and cosmology, and would in particular provide insights into the physics beyond the Standard Model. Here, we propose a framework for such experimental searches based on high-precision magnetometers, and networks thereof. Our approach is distinct from existing efforts in two ways. First, it will enable searches for so-far unexplored couplings to ultra-light bosonic particles present in the Universe that could be components of dark matter and/or dark energy, in particular axions and axion-like particles (ALPs). Second, we will develop and use devices and methods tailored to search for oscillating and transient, rather than time-independent, effects. Specifically, we will use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques for detecting spin precession caused by background axion and ALP dark matter, and geographically separated magnetometers for identify transient effects, such as crossing domain walls of ALP fields, which have been proposed as a possible dark-energy component. The devices and methods developed in the framework of this project will provide the essential components for unique searches for a broad class of dark-matter and dark-energy candidates and might enable the key experiments to understanding the dark sector.

2 474 875 €

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

Microbial biodegradation is a key factor influencing the quality of oil and, according to current concepts, takes place mostly at the continuous oil-water transition zone in oil reservoirs. I recently discovered microorganisms in minuscule water droplets (1-3 µl) entrapped in oil from a natural oil seep. In EcOILogy, I propose that biodegradation of oil resources takes place in such minuscule water droplets dispersed in the oil phase which is a shift of paradigm and a new conceptional view for environmental science, -life in oil-. EcOILogy aims to explore this new world investigating the generic principles of life in oil. I will study if such droplets are a common phenomenon in degraded oil resources and how significant the respective degradation activities are. To this end, I will develop reverse stable isotope labelling as a novel method for quantifying minute microbial activities (WP 1). The droplets provide a unique test system of micro-ecosystem, all experiencing identical boundary conditions in the oil with no dispersion of microorganisms between the isolated droplets. I will study how microbial communities for oil degradation assemble in the droplets allowing for unprecedented testing of ecological theory including a new bimodal hypothesis of community assembly. To tackle the big challenge of metabolic traits in systems ecology, I will make use of metagenomics, single cell sequencing, and high resolution metabolomics to assess the functions in single water droplets (WP 2). Finally, I will study how microorganisms adapt to this extreme environment under saturated hydrocarbon concentrations by isolation and comparative genome analysis of strains and study the role of different organisms in the droplets by Raman-CLSM (WP 3). Thus, EcOilogy opens new horizons for microbial degradation of our most important energy resources with far-reaching implications for fundamental, interdisciplinary understanding of ecological processes, bioremediation, and oil exploration

2 549 250 €

Start date: 2015-09-01, End date: 2020-08-31