Project acronym 100 Archaic Genomes
Project Genome sequences from extinct hominins
Researcher (PI) Svante PaeaeBO
Host Institution (HI) MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV
Country Germany
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS2, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary Neandertals and Denisovans, an Asian group distantly related to Neandertals, are the closest evolutionary relatives of present-day humans. They are thus of direct relevance for understanding the origin of modern humans and how modern humans differ from their closest relatives. We will generate genome-wide data from a large number of Neandertal and Denisovan individuals from across their geographical and temporal range as well as from other extinct hominin groups which we may discover. This will be possible by automating highly sensitive approaches to ancient DNA extraction and DNA libraries construction that we have developed so that they can be applied to many specimens from many sites in order to identify those that contain retrievable DNA. Whenever possible we will sequence whole genomes and in other cases use DNA capture methods to generate high-quality data from representative parts of the genome. This will allow us to study the population history of Neandertals and Denisovans, elucidate how many times and where these extinct hominins contributed genes to present-day people, and the extent to which modern humans and archaic groups contributed genetically to Neandertals and Denisovans. By retrieving DNA from specimens that go back to the Middle Pleistocene we will furthermore shed light on the early history and origins of Neandertals and Denisovans.
Summary
Neandertals and Denisovans, an Asian group distantly related to Neandertals, are the closest evolutionary relatives of present-day humans. They are thus of direct relevance for understanding the origin of modern humans and how modern humans differ from their closest relatives. We will generate genome-wide data from a large number of Neandertal and Denisovan individuals from across their geographical and temporal range as well as from other extinct hominin groups which we may discover. This will be possible by automating highly sensitive approaches to ancient DNA extraction and DNA libraries construction that we have developed so that they can be applied to many specimens from many sites in order to identify those that contain retrievable DNA. Whenever possible we will sequence whole genomes and in other cases use DNA capture methods to generate high-quality data from representative parts of the genome. This will allow us to study the population history of Neandertals and Denisovans, elucidate how many times and where these extinct hominins contributed genes to present-day people, and the extent to which modern humans and archaic groups contributed genetically to Neandertals and Denisovans. By retrieving DNA from specimens that go back to the Middle Pleistocene we will furthermore shed light on the early history and origins of Neandertals and Denisovans.
Max ERC Funding
2 350 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-11-01, End date: 2021-10-31
Project acronym 15CBOOKTRADE
Project The 15th-century Book Trade: An Evidence-based Assessment and Visualization of the Distribution, Sale, and Reception of Books in the Renaissance
Researcher (PI) Cristina Dondi
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH6, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary The idea that underpins this project is to use the material evidence from thousands of surviving 15th-c. books, as well as unique documentary evidence — the unpublished ledger of a Venetian bookseller in the 1480s which records the sale of 25,000 printed books with their prices — to address four fundamental questions relating to the introduction of printing in the West which have so far eluded scholarship, partly because of lack of evidence, partly because of the lack of effective tools to deal with existing evidence. The book trade differs from other trades operating in the medieval and early modern periods in that the goods traded survive in considerable numbers. Not only do they survive, but many of them bear stratified evidence of their history in the form of marks of ownership, prices, manuscript annotations, binding and decoration styles. A British Academy pilot project conceived by the PI produced a now internationally-used database which gathers together this kind of evidence for thousands of surviving 15th-c. printed books. For the first time, this makes it possible to track the circulation of books, their trade routes and later collecting, across Europe and the USA, and throughout the centuries. The objectives of this project are to examine (1) the distribution and trade-routes, national and international, of 15th-c. printed books, along with the identity of the buyers and users (private, institutional, religious, lay, female, male, and by profession) and their reading practices; (2) the books' contemporary market value; (3) the transmission and dissemination of the texts they contain, their survival and their loss (rebalancing potentially skewed scholarship); and (4) the circulation and re-use of the illustrations they contain. Finally, the project will experiment with the application of scientific visualization techniques to represent, geographically and chronologically, the movement of 15th-c. printed books and of the texts they contain.
Summary
The idea that underpins this project is to use the material evidence from thousands of surviving 15th-c. books, as well as unique documentary evidence — the unpublished ledger of a Venetian bookseller in the 1480s which records the sale of 25,000 printed books with their prices — to address four fundamental questions relating to the introduction of printing in the West which have so far eluded scholarship, partly because of lack of evidence, partly because of the lack of effective tools to deal with existing evidence. The book trade differs from other trades operating in the medieval and early modern periods in that the goods traded survive in considerable numbers. Not only do they survive, but many of them bear stratified evidence of their history in the form of marks of ownership, prices, manuscript annotations, binding and decoration styles. A British Academy pilot project conceived by the PI produced a now internationally-used database which gathers together this kind of evidence for thousands of surviving 15th-c. printed books. For the first time, this makes it possible to track the circulation of books, their trade routes and later collecting, across Europe and the USA, and throughout the centuries. The objectives of this project are to examine (1) the distribution and trade-routes, national and international, of 15th-c. printed books, along with the identity of the buyers and users (private, institutional, religious, lay, female, male, and by profession) and their reading practices; (2) the books' contemporary market value; (3) the transmission and dissemination of the texts they contain, their survival and their loss (rebalancing potentially skewed scholarship); and (4) the circulation and re-use of the illustrations they contain. Finally, the project will experiment with the application of scientific visualization techniques to represent, geographically and chronologically, the movement of 15th-c. printed books and of the texts they contain.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 172 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-04-01, End date: 2019-03-31
Project acronym 3D-REPAIR
Project Spatial organization of DNA repair within the nucleus
Researcher (PI) Evanthia Soutoglou
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS2, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary Faithful repair of double stranded DNA breaks (DSBs) is essential, as they are at the origin of genome instability, chromosomal translocations and cancer. Cells repair DSBs through different pathways, which can be faithful or mutagenic, and the balance between them at a given locus must be tightly regulated to preserve genome integrity. Although, much is known about DSB repair factors, how the choice between pathways is controlled within the nuclear environment is not understood. We have shown that nuclear architecture and non-random genome organization determine the frequency of chromosomal translocations and that pathway choice is dictated by the spatial organization of DNA in the nucleus. Nevertheless, what determines which pathway is activated in response to DSBs at specific genomic locations is not understood. Furthermore, the impact of 3D-genome folding on the kinetics and efficiency of DSB repair is completely unknown.
Here we aim to understand how nuclear compartmentalization, chromatin structure and genome organization impact on the efficiency of detection, signaling and repair of DSBs. We will unravel what determines the DNA repair specificity within distinct nuclear compartments using protein tethering, promiscuous biotinylation and quantitative proteomics. We will determine how DNA repair is orchestrated at different heterochromatin structures using a CRISPR/Cas9-based system that allows, for the first time robust induction of DSBs at specific heterochromatin compartments. Finally, we will investigate the role of 3D-genome folding in the kinetics of DNA repair and pathway choice using single nucleotide resolution DSB-mapping coupled to 3D-topological maps.
This proposal has significant implications for understanding the mechanisms controlling DNA repair within the nuclear environment and will reveal the regions of the genome that are susceptible to genomic instability and help us understand why certain mutations and translocations are recurrent in cancer
Summary
Faithful repair of double stranded DNA breaks (DSBs) is essential, as they are at the origin of genome instability, chromosomal translocations and cancer. Cells repair DSBs through different pathways, which can be faithful or mutagenic, and the balance between them at a given locus must be tightly regulated to preserve genome integrity. Although, much is known about DSB repair factors, how the choice between pathways is controlled within the nuclear environment is not understood. We have shown that nuclear architecture and non-random genome organization determine the frequency of chromosomal translocations and that pathway choice is dictated by the spatial organization of DNA in the nucleus. Nevertheless, what determines which pathway is activated in response to DSBs at specific genomic locations is not understood. Furthermore, the impact of 3D-genome folding on the kinetics and efficiency of DSB repair is completely unknown.
Here we aim to understand how nuclear compartmentalization, chromatin structure and genome organization impact on the efficiency of detection, signaling and repair of DSBs. We will unravel what determines the DNA repair specificity within distinct nuclear compartments using protein tethering, promiscuous biotinylation and quantitative proteomics. We will determine how DNA repair is orchestrated at different heterochromatin structures using a CRISPR/Cas9-based system that allows, for the first time robust induction of DSBs at specific heterochromatin compartments. Finally, we will investigate the role of 3D-genome folding in the kinetics of DNA repair and pathway choice using single nucleotide resolution DSB-mapping coupled to 3D-topological maps.
This proposal has significant implications for understanding the mechanisms controlling DNA repair within the nuclear environment and will reveal the regions of the genome that are susceptible to genomic instability and help us understand why certain mutations and translocations are recurrent in cancer
Max ERC Funding
1 999 750 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-03-01, End date: 2022-02-28
Project acronym AAREA
Project The Archaeology of Agricultural Resilience in Eastern Africa
Researcher (PI) Daryl Stump
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF YORK
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2013-StG
Summary "The twin concepts of sustainability and conservation that are so pivotal within current debates regarding economic development and biodiversity protection both contain an inherent temporal dimension, since both refer to the need to balance short-term gains with long-term resource maintenance. Proponents of resilience theory and of development based on ‘indigenous knowledge’ have thus argued for the necessity of including archaeological, historical and palaeoenvironmental components within development project design. Indeed, some have argued that archaeology should lead these interdisciplinary projects on the grounds that it provides the necessary time depth and bridges the social and natural sciences. The project proposed here accepts this logic and endorses this renewed contemporary relevance of archaeological research. However, it also needs to be admitted that moving beyond critiques of the misuse of historical data presents significant hurdles. When presenting results outside the discipline, for example, archaeological projects tend to downplay the poor archaeological visibility of certain agricultural practices, and computer models designed to test sustainability struggle to adequately account for local cultural preferences. This field will therefore not progress unless there is a frank appraisal of archaeology’s strengths and weaknesses. This project will provide this assessment by employing a range of established and groundbreaking archaeological and modelling techniques to examine the development of two east Africa agricultural systems: one at the abandoned site of Engaruka in Tanzania, commonly seen as an example of resource mismanagement and ecological collapse; and another at the current agricultural landscape in Konso, Ethiopia, described by the UN FAO as one of a select few African “lessons from the past”. The project thus aims to assess the sustainability of these systems, but will also assess the role archaeology can play in such debates worldwide."
Summary
"The twin concepts of sustainability and conservation that are so pivotal within current debates regarding economic development and biodiversity protection both contain an inherent temporal dimension, since both refer to the need to balance short-term gains with long-term resource maintenance. Proponents of resilience theory and of development based on ‘indigenous knowledge’ have thus argued for the necessity of including archaeological, historical and palaeoenvironmental components within development project design. Indeed, some have argued that archaeology should lead these interdisciplinary projects on the grounds that it provides the necessary time depth and bridges the social and natural sciences. The project proposed here accepts this logic and endorses this renewed contemporary relevance of archaeological research. However, it also needs to be admitted that moving beyond critiques of the misuse of historical data presents significant hurdles. When presenting results outside the discipline, for example, archaeological projects tend to downplay the poor archaeological visibility of certain agricultural practices, and computer models designed to test sustainability struggle to adequately account for local cultural preferences. This field will therefore not progress unless there is a frank appraisal of archaeology’s strengths and weaknesses. This project will provide this assessment by employing a range of established and groundbreaking archaeological and modelling techniques to examine the development of two east Africa agricultural systems: one at the abandoned site of Engaruka in Tanzania, commonly seen as an example of resource mismanagement and ecological collapse; and another at the current agricultural landscape in Konso, Ethiopia, described by the UN FAO as one of a select few African “lessons from the past”. The project thus aims to assess the sustainability of these systems, but will also assess the role archaeology can play in such debates worldwide."
Max ERC Funding
1 196 701 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
Project acronym ACO
Project The Proceedings of the Ecumenical Councils from Oral Utterance to Manuscript Edition as Evidence for Late Antique Persuasion and Self-Representation Techniques
Researcher (PI) Peter Alfred Riedlberger
Host Institution (HI) OTTO-FRIEDRICH-UNIVERSITAET BAMBERG
Country Germany
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2015-STG
Summary The Acts of the Ecumenical Councils of Late Antiquity include (purportedly) verbatim minutes of the proceedings, a formal framework and copies of relevant documents which were either (allegedly) read out during the proceedings or which were later attached to the Acts proper. Despite this unusual wealth of documentary evidence, the daunting nature of the Acts demanding multidisciplinary competency, their complex structure with a matryoshka-like nesting of proceedings from different dates, and the stereotype that their contents bear only on Christological niceties have deterred generations of historians from studying them. Only in recent years have their fortunes begun to improve, but this recent research has not always been based on sound principles: the recorded proceedings of the sessions are still often accepted as verbatim minutes. Yet even a superficial reading quickly reveals widespread editorial interference. We must accept that in many cases the Acts will teach us less about the actual debates than about the editors who shaped their presentation. This does not depreciate the Acts’ evidence: on the contrary, they are first-rate material for the rhetoric of persuasion and self-representation. It is possible, in fact, to take the investigation to a deeper level and examine in what manner the oral proceedings were put into writing: several passages in the Acts comment upon the process of note-taking and the work of the shorthand writers. Thus, the main objective of the proposed research project could be described as an attempt to trace the destinies of the Acts’ texts, from the oral utterance to the manuscript texts we have today. This will include the fullest study on ancient transcript techniques to date; a structural analysis of the Acts’ texts with the aim of highlighting edited passages; and a careful comparison of the various editions of the Acts, which survive in Greek, Latin, Syriac and Coptic, in order to detect traces of editorial interference.
Summary
The Acts of the Ecumenical Councils of Late Antiquity include (purportedly) verbatim minutes of the proceedings, a formal framework and copies of relevant documents which were either (allegedly) read out during the proceedings or which were later attached to the Acts proper. Despite this unusual wealth of documentary evidence, the daunting nature of the Acts demanding multidisciplinary competency, their complex structure with a matryoshka-like nesting of proceedings from different dates, and the stereotype that their contents bear only on Christological niceties have deterred generations of historians from studying them. Only in recent years have their fortunes begun to improve, but this recent research has not always been based on sound principles: the recorded proceedings of the sessions are still often accepted as verbatim minutes. Yet even a superficial reading quickly reveals widespread editorial interference. We must accept that in many cases the Acts will teach us less about the actual debates than about the editors who shaped their presentation. This does not depreciate the Acts’ evidence: on the contrary, they are first-rate material for the rhetoric of persuasion and self-representation. It is possible, in fact, to take the investigation to a deeper level and examine in what manner the oral proceedings were put into writing: several passages in the Acts comment upon the process of note-taking and the work of the shorthand writers. Thus, the main objective of the proposed research project could be described as an attempt to trace the destinies of the Acts’ texts, from the oral utterance to the manuscript texts we have today. This will include the fullest study on ancient transcript techniques to date; a structural analysis of the Acts’ texts with the aim of highlighting edited passages; and a careful comparison of the various editions of the Acts, which survive in Greek, Latin, Syriac and Coptic, in order to detect traces of editorial interference.
Max ERC Funding
1 497 250 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-05-01, End date: 2021-04-30
Project acronym ACoolTouch
Project Neural mechanisms of multisensory perceptual binding
Researcher (PI) James Francis Alexander Poulet
Host Institution (HI) MAX DELBRUECK CENTRUM FUER MOLEKULARE MEDIZIN IN DER HELMHOLTZ-GEMEINSCHAFT (MDC)
Country Germany
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS5, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary Sensory perception involves the discrimination and binding of multiple modalities of sensory input. This is especially evident in the somatosensory system where different modalities of sensory input, including thermal and mechanosensory, are combined to generate a unified percept. The neural mechanisms of multisensory binding are unknown, in part because sensory perception is typically studied within a single modality in a single brain region. I propose a multi-level approach to investigate thermo-tactile processing in the mouse forepaw system from the primary sensory afferent neurons to thalamo-cortical circuits and behaviour.
The mouse forepaw system is the ideal system to investigate multisensory binding as the sensory afferent neurons are well investigated, cell type-specific lines are available, in vivo optogenetic manipulation is possible both in sensory afferent neurons and central circuits and we have developed high-resolution somatosensory perception behaviours. We have previously shown that mouse primary somatosensory forepaw cortical neurons respond to both tactile and thermal stimuli and are required for non-noxious cooling perception. With multimodal neurons how, then, is it possible to both discriminate and bind thermal and tactile stimuli?
I propose 3 objectives to address this question. We will first, perform functional mapping of the thermal and tactile pathways to cortex; second, investigate the neural mechanisms of thermo-tactile discrimination in behaving mice; and third, compare neural processing during two thermo-tactile binding tasks, the first using passively applied stimuli, and the second, active manipulation of thermal objects.
At each stage we will perform cell type-specific neural recordings and causal optogenetic manipulations in awake and behaving mice. Our multi-level approach will provide a comprehensive investigation into how the brain performs multisensory perceptual binding: a fundamental yet unsolved problem in neuroscience.
Summary
Sensory perception involves the discrimination and binding of multiple modalities of sensory input. This is especially evident in the somatosensory system where different modalities of sensory input, including thermal and mechanosensory, are combined to generate a unified percept. The neural mechanisms of multisensory binding are unknown, in part because sensory perception is typically studied within a single modality in a single brain region. I propose a multi-level approach to investigate thermo-tactile processing in the mouse forepaw system from the primary sensory afferent neurons to thalamo-cortical circuits and behaviour.
The mouse forepaw system is the ideal system to investigate multisensory binding as the sensory afferent neurons are well investigated, cell type-specific lines are available, in vivo optogenetic manipulation is possible both in sensory afferent neurons and central circuits and we have developed high-resolution somatosensory perception behaviours. We have previously shown that mouse primary somatosensory forepaw cortical neurons respond to both tactile and thermal stimuli and are required for non-noxious cooling perception. With multimodal neurons how, then, is it possible to both discriminate and bind thermal and tactile stimuli?
I propose 3 objectives to address this question. We will first, perform functional mapping of the thermal and tactile pathways to cortex; second, investigate the neural mechanisms of thermo-tactile discrimination in behaving mice; and third, compare neural processing during two thermo-tactile binding tasks, the first using passively applied stimuli, and the second, active manipulation of thermal objects.
At each stage we will perform cell type-specific neural recordings and causal optogenetic manipulations in awake and behaving mice. Our multi-level approach will provide a comprehensive investigation into how the brain performs multisensory perceptual binding: a fundamental yet unsolved problem in neuroscience.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 877 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym ACOPS
Project Advanced Coherent Ultrafast Laser Pulse Stacking
Researcher (PI) Jens Limpert
Host Institution (HI) FRIEDRICH-SCHILLER-UNIVERSITAT JENA
Country Germany
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE2, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary "An important driver of scientific progress has always been the envisioning of applications far beyond existing technological capabilities. Such thinking creates new challenges for physicists, driven by the groundbreaking nature of the anticipated application. In the case of laser physics, one of these applications is laser wake-field particle acceleration and possible future uses thereof, such as in collider experiments, or for medical applications such as cancer treatment. To accelerate electrons and positrons to TeV-energies, a laser architecture is required that allows for the combination of high efficiency, Petawatt peak powers, and Megawatt average powers. Developing such a laser system would be a challenging task that might take decades of aggressive research, development, and, most important, revolutionary approaches and innovative ideas.
The goal of the ACOPS project is to develop a compact, efficient, scalable, and cost-effective high-average and high-peak power ultra-short pulse laser concept.
The proposed approach to this goal relies on the spatially and temporally separated amplification of ultrashort laser pulses in waveguide structures, followed by coherent combination into a single train of pulses with increased average power and pulse energy. This combination can be realized through the coherent addition of the output beams of spatially separated amplifiers, combined with the pulse stacking of temporally separated pulses in passive enhancement cavities, employing a fast-switching element as cavity dumper.
Therefore, the three main tasks are the development of kW-class high-repetition-rate driving lasers, the investigation of non-steady state pulse enhancement in passive cavities, and the development of a suitable dumping element.
If successful, the proposed concept would undoubtedly provide a tool that would allow researchers to surpass the current limits in high-field physics and accelerator science."
Summary
"An important driver of scientific progress has always been the envisioning of applications far beyond existing technological capabilities. Such thinking creates new challenges for physicists, driven by the groundbreaking nature of the anticipated application. In the case of laser physics, one of these applications is laser wake-field particle acceleration and possible future uses thereof, such as in collider experiments, or for medical applications such as cancer treatment. To accelerate electrons and positrons to TeV-energies, a laser architecture is required that allows for the combination of high efficiency, Petawatt peak powers, and Megawatt average powers. Developing such a laser system would be a challenging task that might take decades of aggressive research, development, and, most important, revolutionary approaches and innovative ideas.
The goal of the ACOPS project is to develop a compact, efficient, scalable, and cost-effective high-average and high-peak power ultra-short pulse laser concept.
The proposed approach to this goal relies on the spatially and temporally separated amplification of ultrashort laser pulses in waveguide structures, followed by coherent combination into a single train of pulses with increased average power and pulse energy. This combination can be realized through the coherent addition of the output beams of spatially separated amplifiers, combined with the pulse stacking of temporally separated pulses in passive enhancement cavities, employing a fast-switching element as cavity dumper.
Therefore, the three main tasks are the development of kW-class high-repetition-rate driving lasers, the investigation of non-steady state pulse enhancement in passive cavities, and the development of a suitable dumping element.
If successful, the proposed concept would undoubtedly provide a tool that would allow researchers to surpass the current limits in high-field physics and accelerator science."
Max ERC Funding
1 881 040 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
Project acronym Actanthrope
Project Computational Foundations of Anthropomorphic Action
Researcher (PI) Jean Paul Laumond
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Country France
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE7, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary Actanthrope intends to promote a neuro-robotics perspective to explore original models of anthropomorphic action. The project targets contributions to humanoid robot autonomy (for rescue and service robotics), to advanced human body simulation (for applications in ergonomics), and to a new theory of embodied intelligence (by promoting a motion-based semiotics of the human action).
Actions take place in the physical space while they originate in the –robot or human– sensory-motor space. Geometry is the core abstraction that makes the link between these spaces. Considering that the structure of actions inherits from that of the body, the underlying intuition is that actions can be segmented within discrete sub-spaces lying in the entire continuous posture space. Such sub-spaces are viewed as symbols bridging deliberative reasoning and reactive control. Actanthrope argues that geometric approaches to motion segmentation and generation as promising and innovative routes to explore embodied intelligence:
- Motion segmentation: what are the sub-manifolds that define the structure of a given action?
- Motion generation: among all the solution paths within a given sub-manifold, what is the underlying law that makes the selection?
In Robotics these questions are related to the competition between abstract symbol manipulation and physical signal processing. In Computational Neuroscience the questions refer to the quest of motion invariants. The ambition of the project is to promote a dual perspective: exploring the computational foundations of human action to make better robots, while simultaneously doing better robotics to better understand human action.
A unique “Anthropomorphic Action Factory” supports the methodology. It aims at attracting to a single lab, researchers with complementary know-how and solid mathematical background. All of them will benefit from unique equipments, while being stimulated by four challenges dealing with locomotion and manipulation actions.
Summary
Actanthrope intends to promote a neuro-robotics perspective to explore original models of anthropomorphic action. The project targets contributions to humanoid robot autonomy (for rescue and service robotics), to advanced human body simulation (for applications in ergonomics), and to a new theory of embodied intelligence (by promoting a motion-based semiotics of the human action).
Actions take place in the physical space while they originate in the –robot or human– sensory-motor space. Geometry is the core abstraction that makes the link between these spaces. Considering that the structure of actions inherits from that of the body, the underlying intuition is that actions can be segmented within discrete sub-spaces lying in the entire continuous posture space. Such sub-spaces are viewed as symbols bridging deliberative reasoning and reactive control. Actanthrope argues that geometric approaches to motion segmentation and generation as promising and innovative routes to explore embodied intelligence:
- Motion segmentation: what are the sub-manifolds that define the structure of a given action?
- Motion generation: among all the solution paths within a given sub-manifold, what is the underlying law that makes the selection?
In Robotics these questions are related to the competition between abstract symbol manipulation and physical signal processing. In Computational Neuroscience the questions refer to the quest of motion invariants. The ambition of the project is to promote a dual perspective: exploring the computational foundations of human action to make better robots, while simultaneously doing better robotics to better understand human action.
A unique “Anthropomorphic Action Factory” supports the methodology. It aims at attracting to a single lab, researchers with complementary know-how and solid mathematical background. All of them will benefit from unique equipments, while being stimulated by four challenges dealing with locomotion and manipulation actions.
Max ERC Funding
2 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-01-01, End date: 2018-12-31
Project acronym ACTAR TPC
Project Active Target and Time Projection Chamber
Researcher (PI) Gwen Grinyer
Host Institution (HI) GRAND ACCELERATEUR NATIONAL D'IONS LOURDS
Country France
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2013-StG
Summary The active target and time projection chamber (ACTAR TPC) is a novel gas-filled detection system that will permit new studies into the structure and decays of the most exotic nuclei. The use of a gas volume that acts as a sensitive detection medium and as the reaction target itself (an “active target”) offers considerable advantages over traditional nuclear physics detectors and techniques. In high-energy physics, TPC detectors have found profitable applications but their use in nuclear physics has been limited. With the ACTAR TPC design, individual detection pad sizes of 2 mm are the smallest ever attempted in either discipline but is a requirement for high-efficiency and high-resolution nuclear spectroscopy. The corresponding large number of electronic channels (16000 from a surface of only 25×25 cm) requires new developments in high-density electronics and data-acquisition systems that are not yet available in the nuclear physics domain. New experiments in regions of the nuclear chart that cannot be presently contemplated will become feasible with ACTAR TPC.
Summary
The active target and time projection chamber (ACTAR TPC) is a novel gas-filled detection system that will permit new studies into the structure and decays of the most exotic nuclei. The use of a gas volume that acts as a sensitive detection medium and as the reaction target itself (an “active target”) offers considerable advantages over traditional nuclear physics detectors and techniques. In high-energy physics, TPC detectors have found profitable applications but their use in nuclear physics has been limited. With the ACTAR TPC design, individual detection pad sizes of 2 mm are the smallest ever attempted in either discipline but is a requirement for high-efficiency and high-resolution nuclear spectroscopy. The corresponding large number of electronic channels (16000 from a surface of only 25×25 cm) requires new developments in high-density electronics and data-acquisition systems that are not yet available in the nuclear physics domain. New experiments in regions of the nuclear chart that cannot be presently contemplated will become feasible with ACTAR TPC.
Max ERC Funding
1 290 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
Project acronym ADAPT
Project Life in a cold climate: the adaptation of cereals to new environments and the establishment of agriculture in Europe
Researcher (PI) Terence Austen Brown
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH6, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary "This project explores the concept of agricultural spread as analogous to enforced climate change and asks how cereals adapted to new environments when agriculture was introduced into Europe. Archaeologists have long recognized that the ecological pressures placed on crops would have had an impact on the spread and subsequent development of agriculture, but previously there has been no means of directly assessing the scale and nature of this impact. Recent work that I have directed has shown how such a study could be carried out, and the purpose of this project is to exploit these breakthroughs with the goal of assessing the influence of environmental adaptation on the spread of agriculture, its adoption as the primary subsistence strategy, and the subsequent establishment of farming in different parts of Europe. This will correct the current imbalance between our understanding of the human and environmental dimensions to the domestication of Europe. I will use methods from population genomics to identify loci within the barley and wheat genomes that have undergone selection since the beginning of cereal cultivation in Europe. I will then use ecological modelling to identify those loci whose patterns of selection are associated with ecogeographical variables and hence represent adaptations to local environmental conditions. I will assign dates to the periods when adaptations occurred by sequencing ancient DNA from archaeobotanical assemblages and by computer methods that enable the temporal order of adaptations to be deduced. I will then synthesise the information on environmental adaptations with dating evidence for the spread of agriculture in Europe, which reveals pauses that might be linked to environmental adaptation, with demographic data that indicate regions where Neolithic populations declined, possibly due to inadequate crop productivity, and with an archaeobotanical database showing changes in the prevalence of individual cereals in different regions."
Summary
"This project explores the concept of agricultural spread as analogous to enforced climate change and asks how cereals adapted to new environments when agriculture was introduced into Europe. Archaeologists have long recognized that the ecological pressures placed on crops would have had an impact on the spread and subsequent development of agriculture, but previously there has been no means of directly assessing the scale and nature of this impact. Recent work that I have directed has shown how such a study could be carried out, and the purpose of this project is to exploit these breakthroughs with the goal of assessing the influence of environmental adaptation on the spread of agriculture, its adoption as the primary subsistence strategy, and the subsequent establishment of farming in different parts of Europe. This will correct the current imbalance between our understanding of the human and environmental dimensions to the domestication of Europe. I will use methods from population genomics to identify loci within the barley and wheat genomes that have undergone selection since the beginning of cereal cultivation in Europe. I will then use ecological modelling to identify those loci whose patterns of selection are associated with ecogeographical variables and hence represent adaptations to local environmental conditions. I will assign dates to the periods when adaptations occurred by sequencing ancient DNA from archaeobotanical assemblages and by computer methods that enable the temporal order of adaptations to be deduced. I will then synthesise the information on environmental adaptations with dating evidence for the spread of agriculture in Europe, which reveals pauses that might be linked to environmental adaptation, with demographic data that indicate regions where Neolithic populations declined, possibly due to inadequate crop productivity, and with an archaeobotanical database showing changes in the prevalence of individual cereals in different regions."
Max ERC Funding
2 492 964 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
