Project acronym CLIM
Project Computational Light fields IMaging
Researcher (PI) Christine GUILLEMOT
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE ENINFORMATIQUE ET AUTOMATIQUE
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE7, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary Light fields technology holds great promises in computational imaging. Light fields cameras capture light rays as they interact with physical objects in the scene. The recorded flow of rays (the light field) yields a rich description of the scene enabling advanced image creation capabilities from a single capture. This technology is expected to bring disruptive changes in computational imaging. However, the trajectory to a deployment of light fields remains cumbersome. Bottlenecks need to be alleviated before being able to fully exploit its potential. Barriers that CLIM addresses are the huge amount of high-dimensional (4D/5D) data produced by light fields, limitations of capturing devices, editing and image creation capabilities from compressed light fields. These barriers cannot be overcome by a simple application of methods which have made the success of digital imaging in past decades. The 4D/5D sampling of the geometric distribution of light rays striking the camera sensors imply radical changes in the signal processing chain compared to traditional imaging systems.
The ambition of CLIM is to lay new algorithmic foundations for the 4D/5D light fields processing chain, going from representation, compression to rendering. Data processing becomes tougher as dimensionality increases, which is the case of light fields compared to 2D images. This leads to the first challenge of CLIM that is the development of methods for low dimensional embedding and sparse representations of 4D/5D light fields. The second challenge is to develop a coding/decoding architecture for light fields which will exploit their geometrical models while preserving the structures that are critical for advanced image creation capabilities. CLIM targets ground-breaking solutions which should open new horizons for a number of consumer and professional markets (photography, augmented reality, light field microscopy, medical imaging, particle image velocimetry).
Summary
Light fields technology holds great promises in computational imaging. Light fields cameras capture light rays as they interact with physical objects in the scene. The recorded flow of rays (the light field) yields a rich description of the scene enabling advanced image creation capabilities from a single capture. This technology is expected to bring disruptive changes in computational imaging. However, the trajectory to a deployment of light fields remains cumbersome. Bottlenecks need to be alleviated before being able to fully exploit its potential. Barriers that CLIM addresses are the huge amount of high-dimensional (4D/5D) data produced by light fields, limitations of capturing devices, editing and image creation capabilities from compressed light fields. These barriers cannot be overcome by a simple application of methods which have made the success of digital imaging in past decades. The 4D/5D sampling of the geometric distribution of light rays striking the camera sensors imply radical changes in the signal processing chain compared to traditional imaging systems.
The ambition of CLIM is to lay new algorithmic foundations for the 4D/5D light fields processing chain, going from representation, compression to rendering. Data processing becomes tougher as dimensionality increases, which is the case of light fields compared to 2D images. This leads to the first challenge of CLIM that is the development of methods for low dimensional embedding and sparse representations of 4D/5D light fields. The second challenge is to develop a coding/decoding architecture for light fields which will exploit their geometrical models while preserving the structures that are critical for advanced image creation capabilities. CLIM targets ground-breaking solutions which should open new horizons for a number of consumer and professional markets (photography, augmented reality, light field microscopy, medical imaging, particle image velocimetry).
Max ERC Funding
2 461 086 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym COHERENCE
Project Exploiting light coherence in photoacoustic imaging
Researcher (PI) Emmanuel Bossy
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE GRENOBLE ALPES
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE7, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary Photoacoustic imaging is an emerging multi-wave imaging modality that couples light excitation to acoustic detection, via the photoacoustic effect (sound generation via light absorption). Photoacoustic imaging provides images of optical absorption (as opposed to optical scattering). In addition, as photoacoustic imaging relies on detecting ultrasound waves that are very weakly scattered in biological tissue, it provides acoustic-resolution images of optical absorption non-invasively at large depths (up to several cm), where purely optical techniques have a poor resolution because of multiple scattering. As for conventional purely optical approaches, optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy can also be performed non-invasively for shallow depth (< 1 mm), or invasively at depth by endoscopic approaches. However, photoacoustic imaging suffers several limitations. For imaging at greater depths, non-invasive photoacoustic imaging in the acoustic-resolution regime is limited by a depth-to-resolution ratio of about 100, because ultrasound attenuation increases with frequency. Optical-resolution photoacoustic endoscopy has very recently been introduced as a complementary approach, but is currently limited in terms of resolution (> 6 µm) and footprint (diameter > 2 mm).
The overall objective of COHERENCE is to break the above limitations and reach diffraction-limited optical-resolution photoacoustic imaging at depth in tissue in vivo. To do so, the core concept of COHERENCE is to use and manipulate coherent light in photoacoustic imaging. Specifically, COHERENCE will develop novel methods based on speckle illumination, wavefront shaping and super-resolution imaging. COHERENCE will result in two prototypes for tissue imaging, an optical-resolution photoacoustic endoscope for minimally-invasive any-depth tissue imaging, and a non-invasive photoacoustic microscope with enhanced depth-to-resolution ratio, up to optical resolution in the multiply-scattered light regime.
Summary
Photoacoustic imaging is an emerging multi-wave imaging modality that couples light excitation to acoustic detection, via the photoacoustic effect (sound generation via light absorption). Photoacoustic imaging provides images of optical absorption (as opposed to optical scattering). In addition, as photoacoustic imaging relies on detecting ultrasound waves that are very weakly scattered in biological tissue, it provides acoustic-resolution images of optical absorption non-invasively at large depths (up to several cm), where purely optical techniques have a poor resolution because of multiple scattering. As for conventional purely optical approaches, optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy can also be performed non-invasively for shallow depth (< 1 mm), or invasively at depth by endoscopic approaches. However, photoacoustic imaging suffers several limitations. For imaging at greater depths, non-invasive photoacoustic imaging in the acoustic-resolution regime is limited by a depth-to-resolution ratio of about 100, because ultrasound attenuation increases with frequency. Optical-resolution photoacoustic endoscopy has very recently been introduced as a complementary approach, but is currently limited in terms of resolution (> 6 µm) and footprint (diameter > 2 mm).
The overall objective of COHERENCE is to break the above limitations and reach diffraction-limited optical-resolution photoacoustic imaging at depth in tissue in vivo. To do so, the core concept of COHERENCE is to use and manipulate coherent light in photoacoustic imaging. Specifically, COHERENCE will develop novel methods based on speckle illumination, wavefront shaping and super-resolution imaging. COHERENCE will result in two prototypes for tissue imaging, an optical-resolution photoacoustic endoscope for minimally-invasive any-depth tissue imaging, and a non-invasive photoacoustic microscope with enhanced depth-to-resolution ratio, up to optical resolution in the multiply-scattered light regime.
Max ERC Funding
2 116 290 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-10-01, End date: 2021-09-30
Project acronym DEEPVISION
Project Information-age microscopy for deep vision imaging of biological tissue
Researcher (PI) Ivo Micha Vellekoop
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT TWENTE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE7, ERC-2015-STG
Summary Modern biology could not exist without the optical microscope. Hundreds of years of research have seemingly developed microscopes to perfection, with one essential limitation: in turbid biological tissue, not even the most advanced microscope can penetrate deeper than a fraction of a millimetre. At larger depths light scattering prevents the formation of an image. DEEP VISION takes a radically new approach to microscopy in order to lift this final limitation.
Microscopes are based on the idea that light propagates along a straight line. In biological tissue, however, this picture is naive: light is scattered by every structure in the specimen. Since the amount of ‘non-scattered’ light decreases exponentially with depth, a significant improvement of the imaging depth is fundamentally impossible, unless scattered light itself is used for imaging.
In 2007, Allard Mosk and I pioneered the field of wavefront shaping. The game-changing message of wavefront shaping is that scattering is not a fundamental limitation for imaging: using a spatial light modulator, light can be focused even inside the most turbid materials, if ‘only’ the correct wavefront is known.
DEEP VISION aims to initiate a fundamental change in how we think about microscopy: to use scattered light rather than straight rays for imaging. The microscope of the future is no longer based on Newtonian optics. Instead, it combines new insights in scattering physics, wavefront shaping, and compressed sensing to extract all useful information from a specimen.
Whereas existing microscopes are ignorant to the nature of the specimen, DEEP VISION is inspired by information theory; imaging revolves around a model that integrates observations with statistical a-priori information about the tissue. This model is used to calculate the wavefronts for focusing deeper into the specimen. Simulations indicate that my approach will penetrate at least four times deeper than existing microscopes, without loss of resolution.
Summary
Modern biology could not exist without the optical microscope. Hundreds of years of research have seemingly developed microscopes to perfection, with one essential limitation: in turbid biological tissue, not even the most advanced microscope can penetrate deeper than a fraction of a millimetre. At larger depths light scattering prevents the formation of an image. DEEP VISION takes a radically new approach to microscopy in order to lift this final limitation.
Microscopes are based on the idea that light propagates along a straight line. In biological tissue, however, this picture is naive: light is scattered by every structure in the specimen. Since the amount of ‘non-scattered’ light decreases exponentially with depth, a significant improvement of the imaging depth is fundamentally impossible, unless scattered light itself is used for imaging.
In 2007, Allard Mosk and I pioneered the field of wavefront shaping. The game-changing message of wavefront shaping is that scattering is not a fundamental limitation for imaging: using a spatial light modulator, light can be focused even inside the most turbid materials, if ‘only’ the correct wavefront is known.
DEEP VISION aims to initiate a fundamental change in how we think about microscopy: to use scattered light rather than straight rays for imaging. The microscope of the future is no longer based on Newtonian optics. Instead, it combines new insights in scattering physics, wavefront shaping, and compressed sensing to extract all useful information from a specimen.
Whereas existing microscopes are ignorant to the nature of the specimen, DEEP VISION is inspired by information theory; imaging revolves around a model that integrates observations with statistical a-priori information about the tissue. This model is used to calculate the wavefronts for focusing deeper into the specimen. Simulations indicate that my approach will penetrate at least four times deeper than existing microscopes, without loss of resolution.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-03-01, End date: 2021-02-28
Project acronym E3ARTHS
Project Exoplanets and Early Earth Atmospheric Research: THeories and Simulations
Researcher (PI) Franck Selsis
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE BORDEAUX
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE7, ERC-2007-StG
Summary This program is dedicated to the simulation and characterization of Extrasolar Terrestrial Planet (ETP) atmospheres. Thanks to new generation codes, the team E3ARTHS aims to provide a top expertise in a key domain of astrobiology: the origin, evolution and identification of habitable worlds, and the quest for biomarkers on Earth-like planets. The team will also revisit early Earth models for a better understanding of the context of the origins of life, in the light of recent works on Earth formation, impact history and Solar evolution. The observable signatures of an ETP and its ability to sustain life are determined by atmospheric properties: chemistry, radiative transfer, climate. Although these processes are usually treated separately, they evolve in a tightly coupled scheme under the influence of astrophysical, geophysical and, if present, biological mechanisms. Eventually, realistic planetary environments will thus have to be modeled with self-consistent 3D tools, involving a multidisciplinary and international approach. Although ambitious by today's standards, such enterprise is a necessary counterpart of the planned ETP searches, and is required to study the discovered planets. Observatories like Darwin/TPF and ELTs will provide direct information on ETPs within 10-15 years. Ongoing transit searches (CoRoT, and Kepler), and radial-velocity surveys, are on the verge of detecting ETPs. In this context, E3ARTHS can become one of the cores in European theoretical research on ETPs, in close interaction with observation programs. Since his PhD, F. Selsis has developed his own research on ETPs, which already had important implications for the design of instruments for TEP search and characterization. His plan is now to take this research at the next level by creating a dedicated team that will integrate new tools such as 3D climate, photochemical and radiative transfer codes, produce virtual observations of ETPs, and study their potential for life.
Summary
This program is dedicated to the simulation and characterization of Extrasolar Terrestrial Planet (ETP) atmospheres. Thanks to new generation codes, the team E3ARTHS aims to provide a top expertise in a key domain of astrobiology: the origin, evolution and identification of habitable worlds, and the quest for biomarkers on Earth-like planets. The team will also revisit early Earth models for a better understanding of the context of the origins of life, in the light of recent works on Earth formation, impact history and Solar evolution. The observable signatures of an ETP and its ability to sustain life are determined by atmospheric properties: chemistry, radiative transfer, climate. Although these processes are usually treated separately, they evolve in a tightly coupled scheme under the influence of astrophysical, geophysical and, if present, biological mechanisms. Eventually, realistic planetary environments will thus have to be modeled with self-consistent 3D tools, involving a multidisciplinary and international approach. Although ambitious by today's standards, such enterprise is a necessary counterpart of the planned ETP searches, and is required to study the discovered planets. Observatories like Darwin/TPF and ELTs will provide direct information on ETPs within 10-15 years. Ongoing transit searches (CoRoT, and Kepler), and radial-velocity surveys, are on the verge of detecting ETPs. In this context, E3ARTHS can become one of the cores in European theoretical research on ETPs, in close interaction with observation programs. Since his PhD, F. Selsis has developed his own research on ETPs, which already had important implications for the design of instruments for TEP search and characterization. His plan is now to take this research at the next level by creating a dedicated team that will integrate new tools such as 3D climate, photochemical and radiative transfer codes, produce virtual observations of ETPs, and study their potential for life.
Max ERC Funding
719 759 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-10-01, End date: 2013-09-30
Project acronym ELOXY
Project Eliminating Oxygen Requirements in Yeasts
Researcher (PI) Jacobus Thomas PRONK
Host Institution (HI) TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS9, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary Replacement of petrochemistry-based transport fuels and bulk chemicals by industrial biotechnology requires cost-efficient microbial processes, whose feedstock-to-product conversion efficiencies approach theoretical maxima. For many products, such high efficiencies require anaerobic processes and, consequently, industrial microorganisms capable of robust anaerobic growth. Yeasts are robust micro-organisms but, with the notable exception of Saccharomyces species, they share an important limitation with most other eukaryotes: they cannot grow anaerobically.
Even Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the yeast responsible for industrial fuel ethanol production in large-scale anaerobic processes, requires sterols and unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) for anaerobic growth. Depletion of these anaerobic growth factors deteriorates its fermentation performance. Several ethanol-producing, non-Saccharomyces species have highly attractive properties for industrial application, including a much higher thermotolerance and broader substrate range than S. cerevisiae. However, in addition to sterol and UFA synthesis, these yeasts have other, unidentified oxygen requirements. Unless the molecular basis for these oxygen requirements is elucidated, their huge potential for sustainable production of biofuels and chemicals cannot be accessed by industry.
This proposal addresses the fundamental scientific question why so many yeasts that can ferment sugars to ethanol are nevertheless unable to grow anaerobically. Moreover, by enabling anaerobic growth of non-Saccharomyces yeasts, it aims to build yeast platforms with unprecedented advantages for industrial biotechnology. The proposed innovative approach to these challenges integrates cutting-edge experimental techniques in quantitative physiology and comparative genomics of yeasts and anaerobic fungi, computational modelling, and synthetic-biology-assisted metabolic engineering of different yeast species.
Summary
Replacement of petrochemistry-based transport fuels and bulk chemicals by industrial biotechnology requires cost-efficient microbial processes, whose feedstock-to-product conversion efficiencies approach theoretical maxima. For many products, such high efficiencies require anaerobic processes and, consequently, industrial microorganisms capable of robust anaerobic growth. Yeasts are robust micro-organisms but, with the notable exception of Saccharomyces species, they share an important limitation with most other eukaryotes: they cannot grow anaerobically.
Even Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the yeast responsible for industrial fuel ethanol production in large-scale anaerobic processes, requires sterols and unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) for anaerobic growth. Depletion of these anaerobic growth factors deteriorates its fermentation performance. Several ethanol-producing, non-Saccharomyces species have highly attractive properties for industrial application, including a much higher thermotolerance and broader substrate range than S. cerevisiae. However, in addition to sterol and UFA synthesis, these yeasts have other, unidentified oxygen requirements. Unless the molecular basis for these oxygen requirements is elucidated, their huge potential for sustainable production of biofuels and chemicals cannot be accessed by industry.
This proposal addresses the fundamental scientific question why so many yeasts that can ferment sugars to ethanol are nevertheless unable to grow anaerobically. Moreover, by enabling anaerobic growth of non-Saccharomyces yeasts, it aims to build yeast platforms with unprecedented advantages for industrial biotechnology. The proposed innovative approach to these challenges integrates cutting-edge experimental techniques in quantitative physiology and comparative genomics of yeasts and anaerobic fungi, computational modelling, and synthetic-biology-assisted metabolic engineering of different yeast species.
Max ERC Funding
2 498 150 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym EXTREMEPHYSICS
Project The slowest accreting neutron stars and black holes: New ways to probe fundamental physics
Researcher (PI) Rudi Wijnands
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE7, ERC-2007-StG
Summary Very recently, a new class of sub-luminous accreting neutron stars and black holes has been identified. I propose to use these objects to probe the extreme physical processes which are associated with such compact stars. Just as with their better known brighter cousins, studying them when they are actively accreting and when they are in their quiescent states will give us clues about the behavior of ultra-dense matter in neutron stars and the way neutron-star magnetic fields decay due to the accretion of matter. However, given that these new systems behave differently, I expect to derive from their study a novel perspective which will gain in value even further when contrasted with our current knowledge. I further believe their study will allow me to significantly strengthen the observational proof for the presence of event horizons in black holes. The uncommon nature of these systems suggests that they are very unusual outcomes of binary evolution, and I expect this will also provide us with a different set of clues than we have had until now about the formation of binaries which harbor compact stars. These objects have only recently been discovered, both because we did not have the sensitivity to see them, and because we did not know how to optimize our searches to find them. Current instruments finally have reached the necessary sensitivity. I propose new approaches to find and study these sub-luminous systems using these X-ray and radio instruments in combination with multi-wavelength studies. I expect to find these systems in greater numbers than before, allowing systematic studies of their properties which in turn will provide the ingredients needed to investigate the fundamental physics associated with neutron stars and black holes and serve as input for my proposed theoretical study into binary evolution.
Summary
Very recently, a new class of sub-luminous accreting neutron stars and black holes has been identified. I propose to use these objects to probe the extreme physical processes which are associated with such compact stars. Just as with their better known brighter cousins, studying them when they are actively accreting and when they are in their quiescent states will give us clues about the behavior of ultra-dense matter in neutron stars and the way neutron-star magnetic fields decay due to the accretion of matter. However, given that these new systems behave differently, I expect to derive from their study a novel perspective which will gain in value even further when contrasted with our current knowledge. I further believe their study will allow me to significantly strengthen the observational proof for the presence of event horizons in black holes. The uncommon nature of these systems suggests that they are very unusual outcomes of binary evolution, and I expect this will also provide us with a different set of clues than we have had until now about the formation of binaries which harbor compact stars. These objects have only recently been discovered, both because we did not have the sensitivity to see them, and because we did not know how to optimize our searches to find them. Current instruments finally have reached the necessary sensitivity. I propose new approaches to find and study these sub-luminous systems using these X-ray and radio instruments in combination with multi-wavelength studies. I expect to find these systems in greater numbers than before, allowing systematic studies of their properties which in turn will provide the ingredients needed to investigate the fundamental physics associated with neutron stars and black holes and serve as input for my proposed theoretical study into binary evolution.
Max ERC Funding
500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-10-01, End date: 2013-09-30
Project acronym GAMMARAYBINARIES
Project Exploring the gamma-ray sky: binaries, microquasars and their impact on understanding particle acceleration, relativistic winds and accretion/ejection phenomena in cosmic sources
Researcher (PI) Guillaume Dubus
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE JOSEPH FOURIER GRENOBLE 1
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE7, ERC-2007-StG
Summary The most energetic photons in the universe are produced by poorly known processes, typically in the vicinity of neutron stars or black holes. The past couple of years have seen an increase in the number of known sources of very high energy gamma-ray radiation from a handful to almost 50, thanks to the European collaborations HESS and MAGIC. Many of those sources are pulsar wind nebulae, supernova remnants or active galactic nuclei. HESS and MAGIC have also discovered gamma-ray emission from binary systems, finding that some emit most of their radiation at the highest energies. Expectations are running high with the December launch of the GLAST space telescope which will provide daily all-sky information in high energy gamma-rays with a sensitivity comparable to that achieved in years by its predecessor. I propose to explore the exciting observational opportunities in high energy gamma-ray astronomy with an emphasis on non-thermal emission from compact binary sources. Binary systems are intriguing new laboratories to understand how particle acceleration works in cosmic sources. The physics of gamma-ray emitting binary systems is related to that in pulsar wind nebulae or in active galactic nuclei. High energy gamma-ray emission is the result of non-thermal, out-of-equilibrium processes that challenge our intuitions built upon everyday phenomena. The particles are billions of times more energetic than X-rays and can reach energies greater than those in particle accelerators. Binary systems offer a novel, constrained environment to study how the cosmic rays that pervade our Galaxy are accelerated and how non-thermal emission is related to the formation of relativistic jets from black holes (accretion/ejection). The study requires a combination of skills in multiwavelength observations, interdisciplinary experience with gamma-ray observational techniques originating from particle physics, and theoretical know-how in accretion and high energy phenomena.
Summary
The most energetic photons in the universe are produced by poorly known processes, typically in the vicinity of neutron stars or black holes. The past couple of years have seen an increase in the number of known sources of very high energy gamma-ray radiation from a handful to almost 50, thanks to the European collaborations HESS and MAGIC. Many of those sources are pulsar wind nebulae, supernova remnants or active galactic nuclei. HESS and MAGIC have also discovered gamma-ray emission from binary systems, finding that some emit most of their radiation at the highest energies. Expectations are running high with the December launch of the GLAST space telescope which will provide daily all-sky information in high energy gamma-rays with a sensitivity comparable to that achieved in years by its predecessor. I propose to explore the exciting observational opportunities in high energy gamma-ray astronomy with an emphasis on non-thermal emission from compact binary sources. Binary systems are intriguing new laboratories to understand how particle acceleration works in cosmic sources. The physics of gamma-ray emitting binary systems is related to that in pulsar wind nebulae or in active galactic nuclei. High energy gamma-ray emission is the result of non-thermal, out-of-equilibrium processes that challenge our intuitions built upon everyday phenomena. The particles are billions of times more energetic than X-rays and can reach energies greater than those in particle accelerators. Binary systems offer a novel, constrained environment to study how the cosmic rays that pervade our Galaxy are accelerated and how non-thermal emission is related to the formation of relativistic jets from black holes (accretion/ejection). The study requires a combination of skills in multiwavelength observations, interdisciplinary experience with gamma-ray observational techniques originating from particle physics, and theoretical know-how in accretion and high energy phenomena.
Max ERC Funding
794 752 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-07-01, End date: 2013-06-30
Project acronym REVOLINC
Project Revolutionizing Insect Control
Researcher (PI) Jérémy Bouyer
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE DE COOPERATION INTERNATIONALE EN RECHERCHE AGRONOMIQUE POUR LEDEVELOPPEMENT - C.I.R.A.D. EPIC
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS9, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary EFSA recently prohibited 75% of insecticides to account for their toxicity and ecotoxicity. Moreover, the spread of insecticide resistance and invasion of Europe by new tropical vectors and pests require the development of alternative biological techniques.
Recently, we hypothesized that shifting the vision of the sterile male from a sexual competitor only to a specific transporter of active biocides to the targeted female might boost the impact of the sterile insect technique (SIT). Here we want to demonstrate this concept using three biocides: Pyriproxifen, Bacillus thuringiensis and a Densovirus against the Tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). Pyriproxifen will also be tested against tsetse and fruit flies.
We will test the technology both in the laboratory and at an operational scale and model the relative impacts of SIT and boosted-SIT on the dynamics of the targeted population. Moreover, we will compare the evolutionary response of the target population to these different control pressures (multiple lethal mutations, multiple lethal mutations + biocides), for three different biocides and three demographic strategies. This will generate breakthrough knowledge on the transmission of biocides and pathogens in insects and the sustainability of genetic control, provide a new control technique for mosquitoes, and improve the cost-effectiveness of SIT in tsetse and fruit flies.
We will have to address technical issues associated to mass rearing, sterilization, sex separation and aerial release of mosquitoes as well as regulatory issues required for releasing sterile males coated with bioicides.
Summary
EFSA recently prohibited 75% of insecticides to account for their toxicity and ecotoxicity. Moreover, the spread of insecticide resistance and invasion of Europe by new tropical vectors and pests require the development of alternative biological techniques.
Recently, we hypothesized that shifting the vision of the sterile male from a sexual competitor only to a specific transporter of active biocides to the targeted female might boost the impact of the sterile insect technique (SIT). Here we want to demonstrate this concept using three biocides: Pyriproxifen, Bacillus thuringiensis and a Densovirus against the Tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). Pyriproxifen will also be tested against tsetse and fruit flies.
We will test the technology both in the laboratory and at an operational scale and model the relative impacts of SIT and boosted-SIT on the dynamics of the targeted population. Moreover, we will compare the evolutionary response of the target population to these different control pressures (multiple lethal mutations, multiple lethal mutations + biocides), for three different biocides and three demographic strategies. This will generate breakthrough knowledge on the transmission of biocides and pathogens in insects and the sustainability of genetic control, provide a new control technique for mosquitoes, and improve the cost-effectiveness of SIT in tsetse and fruit flies.
We will have to address technical issues associated to mass rearing, sterilization, sex separation and aerial release of mosquitoes as well as regulatory issues required for releasing sterile males coated with bioicides.
Max ERC Funding
1 993 281 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym Scale-FreeBack
Project Scale-Free Control for Complex Physical Network Systems
Researcher (PI) Carlos Canudas de Wit
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE7, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary Technology achievements were typically built upon fundamental theoretical findings, but nowadays technology seems to be evolving faster than our ability to develop new concepts and theories. Intelligent traffic systems benefit from many technical innovations, for example. Mobile phones, radars, cameras and magnetometers can be used to measure traffic evolution and provide large sets of valuable data. Vehicles can communicate with the network infrastructure, as well as each other. However, these huge technological advances have not been used to the full so far. Traffic lights are far from functioning optimally and traffic management systems do not always prevent the occurrence of congestions.
So what is missing? Such systems affect our daily life; why aren’t them on pace with technology advances? Possible because they have become far more complex than the analytical tools available for managing them. Systems have many components, communicate with each other, have self-decision-making mechanisms, share an enormous amount of information, and form networks. Research in control systems has challenged some of these features, but not in a very concerted way. There is a lack of “glue” relating the solutions to each other.
In the Scale-FreeBack project, it is proposed to approach this problem with a new holistic vision. Scale-FreeBack will first investigate appropriate scale-free dynamic modeling approaches breaking down system’s complexity, and then develop control and observation algorithms which are specifically tailored for such models. Scale-FreeBack will also investigate new resilient issues in control which are urgently required because of the increasing connectivity between systems and the external world. Road traffic networks will be used in proof-of-concept studies based on field tests performed at our Grenoble Traffic Lab (GTL) and in a large-scale microscopic simulator.
Summary
Technology achievements were typically built upon fundamental theoretical findings, but nowadays technology seems to be evolving faster than our ability to develop new concepts and theories. Intelligent traffic systems benefit from many technical innovations, for example. Mobile phones, radars, cameras and magnetometers can be used to measure traffic evolution and provide large sets of valuable data. Vehicles can communicate with the network infrastructure, as well as each other. However, these huge technological advances have not been used to the full so far. Traffic lights are far from functioning optimally and traffic management systems do not always prevent the occurrence of congestions.
So what is missing? Such systems affect our daily life; why aren’t them on pace with technology advances? Possible because they have become far more complex than the analytical tools available for managing them. Systems have many components, communicate with each other, have self-decision-making mechanisms, share an enormous amount of information, and form networks. Research in control systems has challenged some of these features, but not in a very concerted way. There is a lack of “glue” relating the solutions to each other.
In the Scale-FreeBack project, it is proposed to approach this problem with a new holistic vision. Scale-FreeBack will first investigate appropriate scale-free dynamic modeling approaches breaking down system’s complexity, and then develop control and observation algorithms which are specifically tailored for such models. Scale-FreeBack will also investigate new resilient issues in control which are urgently required because of the increasing connectivity between systems and the external world. Road traffic networks will be used in proof-of-concept studies based on field tests performed at our Grenoble Traffic Lab (GTL) and in a large-scale microscopic simulator.
Max ERC Funding
2 873 601 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym STARS2
Project Simulations of Turbulent, Active and Rotating Suns and Stars
Researcher (PI) Allan Sacha Brun
Host Institution (HI) COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE7, ERC-2007-StG
Summary The STARS2 project aims at modelling on massively parallel supercomputers in a self-consistent and three-dimensional way, the complex, time dependent and nonlinear dynamics operating in the Sun and stars. In particular we wish to understand how stars generate the wide variety of magnetic activity that is observed, with the Sun - given its proximity and its influence on our technical society - playing a central role in characterizing, studying, and constraining the dynamical processes acting in stellar convection and radiation zones. Studying the solar-stellar connection is crucial because it will allow us to understand why depending on the spectral type of the star considered, this activity can be cyclic, irregular, or simply modulated. The mechanism thought to be at the origin of the magnetism seen in late type stars is likely to be linked to dynamo action in the upper convective layers of such stars. The simultaneous existence in stars of convective turbulent motions, of rotation and its associated shear layers, favour the emergence of a small and/or large scale magnetic field through induction. For more massive stars, possessing a convective core, understanding the interaction between the dynamo generated magnetic field in the core and the magnetic field of their radiative envelope constitute major challenges in stellar fluid dynamics. To achieve these challenging scientific goals, the STARS2 project propose to federate a team of young bright scientists around the PI and to perform and to analyse sophisticated and more realistic high performance global MHD numerical simulations of the Sun and other stellar spectral types. These simulations are at the front-edge of current research in astrophysics, they require the use of the latest class of supercomputers available in Europe and will lead to real scientific breakthroughs. Understanding the interactions between convection, turbulence, shear, rotation and magnetic fields in stars IS the main goal of this project.
Summary
The STARS2 project aims at modelling on massively parallel supercomputers in a self-consistent and three-dimensional way, the complex, time dependent and nonlinear dynamics operating in the Sun and stars. In particular we wish to understand how stars generate the wide variety of magnetic activity that is observed, with the Sun - given its proximity and its influence on our technical society - playing a central role in characterizing, studying, and constraining the dynamical processes acting in stellar convection and radiation zones. Studying the solar-stellar connection is crucial because it will allow us to understand why depending on the spectral type of the star considered, this activity can be cyclic, irregular, or simply modulated. The mechanism thought to be at the origin of the magnetism seen in late type stars is likely to be linked to dynamo action in the upper convective layers of such stars. The simultaneous existence in stars of convective turbulent motions, of rotation and its associated shear layers, favour the emergence of a small and/or large scale magnetic field through induction. For more massive stars, possessing a convective core, understanding the interaction between the dynamo generated magnetic field in the core and the magnetic field of their radiative envelope constitute major challenges in stellar fluid dynamics. To achieve these challenging scientific goals, the STARS2 project propose to federate a team of young bright scientists around the PI and to perform and to analyse sophisticated and more realistic high performance global MHD numerical simulations of the Sun and other stellar spectral types. These simulations are at the front-edge of current research in astrophysics, they require the use of the latest class of supercomputers available in Europe and will lead to real scientific breakthroughs. Understanding the interactions between convection, turbulence, shear, rotation and magnetic fields in stars IS the main goal of this project.
Max ERC Funding
880 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-09-01, End date: 2013-08-31
