Project acronym 3DPROTEINPUZZLES
Project Shape-directed protein assembly design
Researcher (PI) Lars Ingemar ANDRe
Host Institution (HI) MAX IV Laboratory, Lund University
Country Sweden
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS9, ERC-2017-COG
Summary Large protein complexes carry out some of the most complex functions in biology. Such structures are often assembled spontaneously from individual components through the process of self-assembly. If self-assembled protein complexes could be engineered from first principle it would enable a wide range of applications in biomedicine, nanotechnology and materials science. Recently, approaches to rationally design proteins to self-assembly into predefined structures have emerged. The highlight of this work is the design of protein cages that may be engineered into protein containers. However, current approaches for self-assembly design does not result in the assemblies with the required structural complexity to encode many of the sophisticated functions found in nature. To move forward, we have to learn how to engineer protein subunits with more than one designed interface that can assemble into tightly interacting complexes. In this proposal we propose a new protein design paradigm, shape directed protein design, in order to address shortcomings of the current methodology. The proposed method combines geometric shape matching and computational protein design. Using this approach we will de novo design assemblies with a wide variety of structural states, including protein complexes with cyclic and dihedral symmetry as well as icosahedral protein capsids built from novel protein building blocks. To enable these two design challenges we also develop a high-throughput assay to measure assembly stability in vivo that builds on a three-color fluorescent assay. This method will not only facilitate the screening of orders of magnitude more design constructs, but also enable the application of directed evolution to experimentally improve stable and assembly properties of designed containers as well as other designed assemblies.
Summary
Large protein complexes carry out some of the most complex functions in biology. Such structures are often assembled spontaneously from individual components through the process of self-assembly. If self-assembled protein complexes could be engineered from first principle it would enable a wide range of applications in biomedicine, nanotechnology and materials science. Recently, approaches to rationally design proteins to self-assembly into predefined structures have emerged. The highlight of this work is the design of protein cages that may be engineered into protein containers. However, current approaches for self-assembly design does not result in the assemblies with the required structural complexity to encode many of the sophisticated functions found in nature. To move forward, we have to learn how to engineer protein subunits with more than one designed interface that can assemble into tightly interacting complexes. In this proposal we propose a new protein design paradigm, shape directed protein design, in order to address shortcomings of the current methodology. The proposed method combines geometric shape matching and computational protein design. Using this approach we will de novo design assemblies with a wide variety of structural states, including protein complexes with cyclic and dihedral symmetry as well as icosahedral protein capsids built from novel protein building blocks. To enable these two design challenges we also develop a high-throughput assay to measure assembly stability in vivo that builds on a three-color fluorescent assay. This method will not only facilitate the screening of orders of magnitude more design constructs, but also enable the application of directed evolution to experimentally improve stable and assembly properties of designed containers as well as other designed assemblies.
Max ERC Funding
2 325 292 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-06-01, End date: 2023-05-31
Project acronym AGILEFLIGHT
Project Low-latency Perception and Action for Agile Vision-based Flight
Researcher (PI) Davide SCARAMUZZA
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT ZURICH
Country Switzerland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE7, ERC-2019-COG
Summary Drones are disrupting industries, such as agriculture, package delivery, inspection, and search and rescue. However, they are still either controlled by a human pilot or heavily rely on GPS for navigating autonomously. The alternative to GPS are onboard sensors, such as cameras: from the raw data, a local 3D map of the environment is built, which is then used to plan a safe trajectory to the goal. While the underlying algorithms are well understood, we are still far from having autonomous drones that can navigate through complex environments as good as human pilots. State-of-the-art perception and control algorithms are mature but not robust: coping with unreliable state estimation, low-latency perception, real-time planning in dynamic environments, and tight coupling of perception and action under severe resource constraints are all still unsolved research problems. Another issue is that, because battery energy density is increasing at a very slow rate, drones need to navigate faster in order to accomplish more within their limited flight time. To obtain more agile robots, we need faster sensors and low-latency processing.
The goal of this project is to develop novel scientific methods that would allow me to demonstrate autonomous, vision-based, agile quadrotor navigation in unknown, GPS-denied, and cluttered environments with possibly moving obstacles, which can be as effective in terms of maneuverability and agility as those of professional drone pilots. The outcome would not only be beneficial for disaster response scenarios, but also for other scenarios, such as aerial delivery or inspection. To achieve this ambitious goal, I will first develop robust, low-latency, multimodal perception algorithms that combine the advantages of standard cameras with event cameras. Then, I will develop novel methods that unify perception and state estimation together with planning and control to enable agile maneuvers through cluttered, unknown, and dynamic environments.
Summary
Drones are disrupting industries, such as agriculture, package delivery, inspection, and search and rescue. However, they are still either controlled by a human pilot or heavily rely on GPS for navigating autonomously. The alternative to GPS are onboard sensors, such as cameras: from the raw data, a local 3D map of the environment is built, which is then used to plan a safe trajectory to the goal. While the underlying algorithms are well understood, we are still far from having autonomous drones that can navigate through complex environments as good as human pilots. State-of-the-art perception and control algorithms are mature but not robust: coping with unreliable state estimation, low-latency perception, real-time planning in dynamic environments, and tight coupling of perception and action under severe resource constraints are all still unsolved research problems. Another issue is that, because battery energy density is increasing at a very slow rate, drones need to navigate faster in order to accomplish more within their limited flight time. To obtain more agile robots, we need faster sensors and low-latency processing.
The goal of this project is to develop novel scientific methods that would allow me to demonstrate autonomous, vision-based, agile quadrotor navigation in unknown, GPS-denied, and cluttered environments with possibly moving obstacles, which can be as effective in terms of maneuverability and agility as those of professional drone pilots. The outcome would not only be beneficial for disaster response scenarios, but also for other scenarios, such as aerial delivery or inspection. To achieve this ambitious goal, I will first develop robust, low-latency, multimodal perception algorithms that combine the advantages of standard cameras with event cameras. Then, I will develop novel methods that unify perception and state estimation together with planning and control to enable agile maneuvers through cluttered, unknown, and dynamic environments.
Max ERC Funding
2 000 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-09-01, End date: 2025-08-31
Project acronym Allelic Regulation
Project Revealing Allele-level Regulation and Dynamics using Single-cell Gene Expression Analyses
Researcher (PI) Thore Rickard Hakan Sandberg
Host Institution (HI) KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET
Country Sweden
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS2, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary As diploid organisms inherit one gene copy from each parent, a gene can be expressed from both alleles (biallelic) or from only one allele (monoallelic). Although transcription from both alleles is detected for most genes in cell population experiments, little is known about allele-specific expression in single cells and its phenotypic consequences. To answer fundamental questions about allelic transcription heterogeneity in single cells, this research program will focus on single-cell transcriptome analyses with allelic-origin resolution. To this end, we will investigate both clonally stable and dynamic random monoallelic expression across a large number of cell types, including cells from embryonic and adult stages. This research program will be accomplished with the novel single-cell RNA-seq method developed within my lab to obtain quantitative, genome-wide gene expression measurement. To distinguish between mitotically stable and dynamic patterns of allelic expression, we will analyze large numbers a clonally related cells per cell type, from both primary cultures (in vitro) and using transgenic models to obtain clonally related cells in vivo.
The biological significance of the research program is first an understanding of allelic transcription, including the nature and extent of random monoallelic expression across in vivo tissues and cell types. These novel insights into allelic transcription will be important for an improved understanding of how variable phenotypes (e.g. incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity) can arise in genetically identical individuals. Additionally, the single-cell transcriptome analyses of clonally related cells in vivo will provide unique insights into the clonality of gene expression per se.
Summary
As diploid organisms inherit one gene copy from each parent, a gene can be expressed from both alleles (biallelic) or from only one allele (monoallelic). Although transcription from both alleles is detected for most genes in cell population experiments, little is known about allele-specific expression in single cells and its phenotypic consequences. To answer fundamental questions about allelic transcription heterogeneity in single cells, this research program will focus on single-cell transcriptome analyses with allelic-origin resolution. To this end, we will investigate both clonally stable and dynamic random monoallelic expression across a large number of cell types, including cells from embryonic and adult stages. This research program will be accomplished with the novel single-cell RNA-seq method developed within my lab to obtain quantitative, genome-wide gene expression measurement. To distinguish between mitotically stable and dynamic patterns of allelic expression, we will analyze large numbers a clonally related cells per cell type, from both primary cultures (in vitro) and using transgenic models to obtain clonally related cells in vivo.
The biological significance of the research program is first an understanding of allelic transcription, including the nature and extent of random monoallelic expression across in vivo tissues and cell types. These novel insights into allelic transcription will be important for an improved understanding of how variable phenotypes (e.g. incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity) can arise in genetically identical individuals. Additionally, the single-cell transcriptome analyses of clonally related cells in vivo will provide unique insights into the clonality of gene expression per se.
Max ERC Funding
1 923 060 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-07-01, End date: 2020-12-31
Project acronym AMADEUS
Project Advancing CO2 Capture Materials by Atomic Scale Design: the Quest for Understanding
Researcher (PI) Christoph Ruediger MueLLER
Host Institution (HI) EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH
Country Switzerland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2018-COG
Summary Carbon dioxide capture and storage is a technology to mitigate climate change by removing CO2 from flue gas streams or the atmosphere and storing it in geological formations. While CO2 removal from natural gas by amine scrubbing is implemented on the large scale, the cost of such process is currently prohibitively expensive. Inexpensive alkali earth metal oxides (MgO and CaO) feature high theoretical CO2 uptakes, but suffer from poor cyclic stability and slow kinetics. Yet, the key objective of recent research on alkali earth metal oxide based CO2 sorbents has been the processing of inexpensive, naturally occurring CO2 sorbents, notably limestone and dolomite, to stabilize their modest CO2 uptake and to establish re-activation methods through engineering approaches. While this research demonstrated a landmark Megawatt (MW) scale viability of the process, our fundamental understanding of the underlying CO2 capture, regeneration and deactivation pathways did not improve. The latter knowledge is, however, vital for the rational design of improved, yet practical CaO and MgO sorbents. Hence this proposal is concerned with obtaining an understanding of the underlying mechanisms that control the ability of an alkali metal oxide to capture a large quantity of CO2 with a high rate, to regenerate and to operate with high cyclic stability. Achieving these aims relies on the ability to fabricate model structures and to characterize in great detail their surface chemistry, morphology, chemical composition and changes therein under reactive conditions. This makes the development of operando and in situ characterization tools an essential prerequisite. Advances in these areas shall allow achieving the overall goal of this project, viz. to formulate a roadmap to fabricate improved CO2 sorbents through their precisely engineered structure, composition and morphology.
Summary
Carbon dioxide capture and storage is a technology to mitigate climate change by removing CO2 from flue gas streams or the atmosphere and storing it in geological formations. While CO2 removal from natural gas by amine scrubbing is implemented on the large scale, the cost of such process is currently prohibitively expensive. Inexpensive alkali earth metal oxides (MgO and CaO) feature high theoretical CO2 uptakes, but suffer from poor cyclic stability and slow kinetics. Yet, the key objective of recent research on alkali earth metal oxide based CO2 sorbents has been the processing of inexpensive, naturally occurring CO2 sorbents, notably limestone and dolomite, to stabilize their modest CO2 uptake and to establish re-activation methods through engineering approaches. While this research demonstrated a landmark Megawatt (MW) scale viability of the process, our fundamental understanding of the underlying CO2 capture, regeneration and deactivation pathways did not improve. The latter knowledge is, however, vital for the rational design of improved, yet practical CaO and MgO sorbents. Hence this proposal is concerned with obtaining an understanding of the underlying mechanisms that control the ability of an alkali metal oxide to capture a large quantity of CO2 with a high rate, to regenerate and to operate with high cyclic stability. Achieving these aims relies on the ability to fabricate model structures and to characterize in great detail their surface chemistry, morphology, chemical composition and changes therein under reactive conditions. This makes the development of operando and in situ characterization tools an essential prerequisite. Advances in these areas shall allow achieving the overall goal of this project, viz. to formulate a roadmap to fabricate improved CO2 sorbents through their precisely engineered structure, composition and morphology.
Max ERC Funding
1 994 900 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-06-01, End date: 2024-05-31
Project acronym ARTSILK
Project Novel approaches to the generation of artificial spider silk superfibers
Researcher (PI) Anna RISING
Host Institution (HI) KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET
Country Sweden
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS9, ERC-2018-COG
Summary Spider silk is Nature’s high performance material that has the potential to revolutionize the materials industry. However, production and spinning of artificial spider silk fibers are challenging, and current methods to produce silk fibers include denaturing conditions which prevent the silk proteins from assembling into fibers in the same complex way as native silk proteins do. In order to fulfill the potential of spider silk we need to increase our understanding of the silk formation process and decipher how protein folding and interactions relate to mechanical properties of the resulting silk fiber. Recent insights into the physiology and molecular mechanisms of the spinning process has made it possible to develop a biomimetic artificial spider silk spinning device (see our publications Andersson et al. Nat Chem Biol. 2017; Otikovs et al. Angew Chemie Int Engl Ed. 2017). We are, for the first time, able to spin artificial silk fibers in which the proteins adopt correct secondary, tertiary and quaternary structures.
The overall objective of ARTSILK is to build on these recent technical leaps and use state-of-the-art technologies to generate artificial silk fibers that are equal or superior to native spider silk in terms of toughness and tensile strength.
To reach the overall objective we will use the recently mapped spider genome, protein engineering and single cell RNA (ScRNA) sequencing to design novel silk proteins for fiber production. We will also study the relationship between protein secondary structure formation and fiber mechanical properties in order to decipher the ques that determine mechanical properties of the fiber. This knowledge will be important also for the basic understanding of how soluble proteins covert into b-sheet rich fibrils in, e.g., Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, we will use microfluidic chips to engineer the next generation spinning device and 3D-printing techniques to make reproducible three-dimensional structures of spider silk.
Summary
Spider silk is Nature’s high performance material that has the potential to revolutionize the materials industry. However, production and spinning of artificial spider silk fibers are challenging, and current methods to produce silk fibers include denaturing conditions which prevent the silk proteins from assembling into fibers in the same complex way as native silk proteins do. In order to fulfill the potential of spider silk we need to increase our understanding of the silk formation process and decipher how protein folding and interactions relate to mechanical properties of the resulting silk fiber. Recent insights into the physiology and molecular mechanisms of the spinning process has made it possible to develop a biomimetic artificial spider silk spinning device (see our publications Andersson et al. Nat Chem Biol. 2017; Otikovs et al. Angew Chemie Int Engl Ed. 2017). We are, for the first time, able to spin artificial silk fibers in which the proteins adopt correct secondary, tertiary and quaternary structures.
The overall objective of ARTSILK is to build on these recent technical leaps and use state-of-the-art technologies to generate artificial silk fibers that are equal or superior to native spider silk in terms of toughness and tensile strength.
To reach the overall objective we will use the recently mapped spider genome, protein engineering and single cell RNA (ScRNA) sequencing to design novel silk proteins for fiber production. We will also study the relationship between protein secondary structure formation and fiber mechanical properties in order to decipher the ques that determine mechanical properties of the fiber. This knowledge will be important also for the basic understanding of how soluble proteins covert into b-sheet rich fibrils in, e.g., Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, we will use microfluidic chips to engineer the next generation spinning device and 3D-printing techniques to make reproducible three-dimensional structures of spider silk.
Max ERC Funding
2 000 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-05-01, End date: 2024-04-30
Project acronym BORDER
Project Towards a decentred history of the Middle East: Transborder spaces, circulations, frontier effects and state formation, 1920-1946
Researcher (PI) Jordi TEJEL GORGAS
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE NEUCHATEL
Country Switzerland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH6, ERC-2016-COG
Summary While the crisis of the territorial nation-state in the Middle East has once again been brought to a head by the wars in Iraq and Syria, it cannot be simply understood as the logical consequence of an imported political construction. Based on two epistemological notions – borderlands as histoire-problème (history-as-problem) and the co-production of borders between state and society – this research project proposes to rethink the classical historical narrative about the emergence of the post-Ottoman Middle East. Taking its cue from trans-border phenomena and thus paying attention to the circulation of people, goods and ideas as well as to everyday encounters between local actors and state representatives, the project will be guided by four principle objectives to offer:
• A socio-historical analysis of state violence in the borderlands of the Middle East;
• An examination of the capacity of border populations to create the history of the borderlands, nation-states, and the region as a whole;
• A study of the frontier effects based around the notions of subjectivity, space and time, and involving various levels of observation (macro, meso and micro) in order to identify the ruptures and continuities evoked by the delineation of new borderlines; and
• A historical lens through which to make sense of current events in Syria and Iraq, and possibly orient conflict-resolution practitioners.
Through the exploitation of a wide range of sources (diplomatic, administrative and military records, missionary documents, newspapers) and by looking at the social construction of international frontiers at the borderlands located between Turkey, Iraq and Syria in the interwar era, the research project will provide a much more holistic yet finely-grained understanding of the formation of the territorial state in the region in the aftermath of the First World War as well as a historical perspective on the on-going armed conflicts.
Summary
While the crisis of the territorial nation-state in the Middle East has once again been brought to a head by the wars in Iraq and Syria, it cannot be simply understood as the logical consequence of an imported political construction. Based on two epistemological notions – borderlands as histoire-problème (history-as-problem) and the co-production of borders between state and society – this research project proposes to rethink the classical historical narrative about the emergence of the post-Ottoman Middle East. Taking its cue from trans-border phenomena and thus paying attention to the circulation of people, goods and ideas as well as to everyday encounters between local actors and state representatives, the project will be guided by four principle objectives to offer:
• A socio-historical analysis of state violence in the borderlands of the Middle East;
• An examination of the capacity of border populations to create the history of the borderlands, nation-states, and the region as a whole;
• A study of the frontier effects based around the notions of subjectivity, space and time, and involving various levels of observation (macro, meso and micro) in order to identify the ruptures and continuities evoked by the delineation of new borderlines; and
• A historical lens through which to make sense of current events in Syria and Iraq, and possibly orient conflict-resolution practitioners.
Through the exploitation of a wide range of sources (diplomatic, administrative and military records, missionary documents, newspapers) and by looking at the social construction of international frontiers at the borderlands located between Turkey, Iraq and Syria in the interwar era, the research project will provide a much more holistic yet finely-grained understanding of the formation of the territorial state in the region in the aftermath of the First World War as well as a historical perspective on the on-going armed conflicts.
Max ERC Funding
1 997 675 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31
Project acronym BUNGEE
Project Directed crop breeding using jumping genes
Researcher (PI) Etienne BUCHER
Host Institution (HI) EIDGENOESSISCHES DEPARTEMENT FUER WIRTSCHAFT, BILDUNG UND FORSCHUNG
Country Switzerland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS9, ERC-2016-COG
Summary The rapidly changing climate puts commonly used crop plants under strong pressure. It is therefore essential to develop novel breeding technologies to rapidly enhance crops to better withstand newly emerging stresses.
Interestingly, a clear link between transposable elements (TEs), crop improvement and varietal diversification exists. Furthermore, in recent years the importance of (TEs) in evolution and adaptation to stresses has been recognized. However the use of TEs in crop breeding is currently very limited because it is not possible to control TE mobility. My research group has identified a novel highly conserved epigenetic silencing mechanism that represses the activity of TEs in Arabidopsis. We also found drugs capable of inhibiting this mechanism. Because these drugs target highly conserved enzymes we were able to show that our drug treatment is also effective in rice. We are therefore able to produce TE bursts in a controlled manner in virtually any plant. We can thus, for the first time, generate and study TE bursts in crop plants in real time. More importantly, we found that the accumulation of novel insertions of a heat-stress inducible TE produced plants that, at a high frequency, were more resistant to heat stress. This suggests that the stress that was initially applied to activate a specific TE in the parent, lead to an improved tolerance to that specific stress in the progeny of that plant in a very straight-forward manner.
In this project I propose to accelerate plant breeding by testing and implementing a revolutionary TE-directed crop improvement technology. For that I plan to 1. Mobilize TEs in crop plants using selected stresses 2. Using these mobilized stress-responsive TEs breed novel crop plants resistant to those selected stresses and 3. Study the genetic and epigenetic impact of TE mobilization on host genomes. This project will have a broad impact on crop improvement and on the basic understanding of the evolutionary importance of TEs.
Summary
The rapidly changing climate puts commonly used crop plants under strong pressure. It is therefore essential to develop novel breeding technologies to rapidly enhance crops to better withstand newly emerging stresses.
Interestingly, a clear link between transposable elements (TEs), crop improvement and varietal diversification exists. Furthermore, in recent years the importance of (TEs) in evolution and adaptation to stresses has been recognized. However the use of TEs in crop breeding is currently very limited because it is not possible to control TE mobility. My research group has identified a novel highly conserved epigenetic silencing mechanism that represses the activity of TEs in Arabidopsis. We also found drugs capable of inhibiting this mechanism. Because these drugs target highly conserved enzymes we were able to show that our drug treatment is also effective in rice. We are therefore able to produce TE bursts in a controlled manner in virtually any plant. We can thus, for the first time, generate and study TE bursts in crop plants in real time. More importantly, we found that the accumulation of novel insertions of a heat-stress inducible TE produced plants that, at a high frequency, were more resistant to heat stress. This suggests that the stress that was initially applied to activate a specific TE in the parent, lead to an improved tolerance to that specific stress in the progeny of that plant in a very straight-forward manner.
In this project I propose to accelerate plant breeding by testing and implementing a revolutionary TE-directed crop improvement technology. For that I plan to 1. Mobilize TEs in crop plants using selected stresses 2. Using these mobilized stress-responsive TEs breed novel crop plants resistant to those selected stresses and 3. Study the genetic and epigenetic impact of TE mobilization on host genomes. This project will have a broad impact on crop improvement and on the basic understanding of the evolutionary importance of TEs.
Max ERC Funding
1 965 625 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-06-01, End date: 2022-05-31
Project acronym CapTherPV
Project Integration of Capacitor, Thermoelectric and PhotoVoltaic thin films for efficient energy conversion and storage
Researcher (PI) Isabel Maria Das Merces Ferreira
Host Institution (HI) NOVA ID FCT - ASSOCIACAO PARA A INOVACAO E DESENVOLVIMENTO DA FCT
Country Portugal
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary The possibility of having a unique device that converts thermal and photonics energy into electrical energy and simultaneously stores it, is something dreamed by the PI since the beginning of her research career. To achieve that goal, this project aims to gather, in a single substrate, solar cells with up-conversion nanoparticles, thermoelectrics and graphene super-capacitor, all made of thin films. These three main components will be developed separately and integrated sequentially. The innovation proposed is not limited to the integration of components, but rely in ground-breaking concepts: 1) thermoelectric elements based on thin film (TE-TF) oxides; 2) plasmonic nanoparticles for up conversion of near infrared radiation to visible emission in solar cells; 3) graphene super-capacitors; 4) integration and optimization of all components in a single CapTherPV device. This ambitious project will bring new insights at large area, low cost and flexible energy harvesting and comes from an old idea of combining energy conversion and storage that has been pursued by the PI. She started her career in amorphous silicon thin film solar cells, later she started the development of thin film batteries and more recently started a research line in thermoelectric films. If approved, this project will give financial support to consolidate the research being carried out and will give independence to the PI in terms of resources and creative think. More importantly, will facilitate the concretization of the dream that has been pursued with hard work.
Summary
The possibility of having a unique device that converts thermal and photonics energy into electrical energy and simultaneously stores it, is something dreamed by the PI since the beginning of her research career. To achieve that goal, this project aims to gather, in a single substrate, solar cells with up-conversion nanoparticles, thermoelectrics and graphene super-capacitor, all made of thin films. These three main components will be developed separately and integrated sequentially. The innovation proposed is not limited to the integration of components, but rely in ground-breaking concepts: 1) thermoelectric elements based on thin film (TE-TF) oxides; 2) plasmonic nanoparticles for up conversion of near infrared radiation to visible emission in solar cells; 3) graphene super-capacitors; 4) integration and optimization of all components in a single CapTherPV device. This ambitious project will bring new insights at large area, low cost and flexible energy harvesting and comes from an old idea of combining energy conversion and storage that has been pursued by the PI. She started her career in amorphous silicon thin film solar cells, later she started the development of thin film batteries and more recently started a research line in thermoelectric films. If approved, this project will give financial support to consolidate the research being carried out and will give independence to the PI in terms of resources and creative think. More importantly, will facilitate the concretization of the dream that has been pursued with hard work.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 375 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-07-01, End date: 2021-09-30
Project acronym CHIC
Project On CHip terahertz frequency Combs
Researcher (PI) Giacomo Scalari
Host Institution (HI) EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH
Country Switzerland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE7, ERC-2016-COG
Summary The terahertz (THz) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is the junction between optics and electronics. THz is a gate to sensing applications and spectroscopy as well as appealing for material inspection, non-invasive imaging for safety and medical applications and short-range high data rate wireless communication which are being extended to higher frequencies entering the THz range. Optical frequency combs have dominated the scene of laser physics in the last 10 years revolutionizing many fields of optics from metrology to high precision spectroscopy. Optical frequency combs act as rulers in the frequency domain and are characterized by their perfectly equally spaced and coherent modes. An extremely appealing application of optical frequency combs is the so-called dual-comb spectroscopy where multi-heterodyne detection is performed allowing Fourier transform spectroscopy with high resolution, high sensitivity and no moving parts.
The objective of this proposal is to create on-chip, self-referenced frequency combs operating in the spectral region from 1.5-5-5 THz. Two main approaches will be followed: direct generation with THz QC lasers (cryogenically cooled) and room temperature non-linear generation by means of Mid-IR QCL combs. Such devices will be groundbreaking since they will allow high resolution THz spectroscopy and they will pave the way to high-rate local data transmission and coherent communication. We recently demonstrated octave spanning lasing from a THz QCL: this will constitute the foundation of our efforts. The developed combs will be implemented in the extremely powerful dual-comb scheme with innovative on-chip self-stabilization and detection of the multi-heterodyne signals. The self-referencing and the independence from an external detector makes the proposed devices disruptive due to their extreme compactness, intrinsic stability and large bandwidth.
Summary
The terahertz (THz) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is the junction between optics and electronics. THz is a gate to sensing applications and spectroscopy as well as appealing for material inspection, non-invasive imaging for safety and medical applications and short-range high data rate wireless communication which are being extended to higher frequencies entering the THz range. Optical frequency combs have dominated the scene of laser physics in the last 10 years revolutionizing many fields of optics from metrology to high precision spectroscopy. Optical frequency combs act as rulers in the frequency domain and are characterized by their perfectly equally spaced and coherent modes. An extremely appealing application of optical frequency combs is the so-called dual-comb spectroscopy where multi-heterodyne detection is performed allowing Fourier transform spectroscopy with high resolution, high sensitivity and no moving parts.
The objective of this proposal is to create on-chip, self-referenced frequency combs operating in the spectral region from 1.5-5-5 THz. Two main approaches will be followed: direct generation with THz QC lasers (cryogenically cooled) and room temperature non-linear generation by means of Mid-IR QCL combs. Such devices will be groundbreaking since they will allow high resolution THz spectroscopy and they will pave the way to high-rate local data transmission and coherent communication. We recently demonstrated octave spanning lasing from a THz QCL: this will constitute the foundation of our efforts. The developed combs will be implemented in the extremely powerful dual-comb scheme with innovative on-chip self-stabilization and detection of the multi-heterodyne signals. The self-referencing and the independence from an external detector makes the proposed devices disruptive due to their extreme compactness, intrinsic stability and large bandwidth.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 055 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-03-01, End date: 2022-02-28
Project acronym ChromatinLEGO
Project Chromatin readout: Dissecting the protein-chromatin interaction code in living cells
Researcher (PI) Tuncay BAUBEC
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT ZURICH
Country Switzerland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS2, ERC-2019-COG
Summary Chromatin modifications are key regulators of genome function. They can be directly recognised by specialised protein reader domains, leading to coordinated recruitment of regulatory proteins to the genome in a dynamic, spatiotemporal manner. Despite many efforts to characterise chromatin-mediated protein recruitment, the underlying principles that determine specificity and how chromatin marks influence the proteome composition at genomic sites in living cells, remain unclear. Here I propose to uncover the underlying logic that mediates specificity between regulatory proteins and chromatin states by using a reductionistic approach that enables us to study these interactions in a controlled and comprehensive manner in living cells. Towards this we combine high-throughput stem cell engineering with functional genomics and computational methods to achieve the following aims: First, we aim to identify and characterise the genome-wide binding preferences of a comprehensive panel of chromatin reader domains (CRD) by using a novel strategy for comparative profiling of multiple protein-genome interactions in parallel. Second, we will systematically dissect the context-dependent determinants that mediate individual and combinatorial CRD binding to the genome. Finally, we will utilise the selectivity of CRDs to uncover the local proteome at defined chromatin states in ES and neuronal cells, revealing novel components involved in the regulation and organisation of the epigenome. The overarching goal of ChromatinLEGO is to elucidate in a systematic, quantitative and unified manner, how protein-genome interactions are guided by specific chromatin modifications. Through identifying the chromatin-dependent recruitment principles of regulatory factors, and by dissecting the underlying mechanisms that specify these interactions, this study will provide novel paradigms and important advances to our current understanding of chromatin function in vivo.
Summary
Chromatin modifications are key regulators of genome function. They can be directly recognised by specialised protein reader domains, leading to coordinated recruitment of regulatory proteins to the genome in a dynamic, spatiotemporal manner. Despite many efforts to characterise chromatin-mediated protein recruitment, the underlying principles that determine specificity and how chromatin marks influence the proteome composition at genomic sites in living cells, remain unclear. Here I propose to uncover the underlying logic that mediates specificity between regulatory proteins and chromatin states by using a reductionistic approach that enables us to study these interactions in a controlled and comprehensive manner in living cells. Towards this we combine high-throughput stem cell engineering with functional genomics and computational methods to achieve the following aims: First, we aim to identify and characterise the genome-wide binding preferences of a comprehensive panel of chromatin reader domains (CRD) by using a novel strategy for comparative profiling of multiple protein-genome interactions in parallel. Second, we will systematically dissect the context-dependent determinants that mediate individual and combinatorial CRD binding to the genome. Finally, we will utilise the selectivity of CRDs to uncover the local proteome at defined chromatin states in ES and neuronal cells, revealing novel components involved in the regulation and organisation of the epigenome. The overarching goal of ChromatinLEGO is to elucidate in a systematic, quantitative and unified manner, how protein-genome interactions are guided by specific chromatin modifications. Through identifying the chromatin-dependent recruitment principles of regulatory factors, and by dissecting the underlying mechanisms that specify these interactions, this study will provide novel paradigms and important advances to our current understanding of chromatin function in vivo.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 375 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-09-01, End date: 2025-08-31
