Project acronym INVISIBLE
Project Advanced Amorphous Multicomponent Oxides for Transparent Electronics
Researcher (PI) Elvira Fortunato
Host Institution (HI) FACULDADE DE CIENCIAS E TECNOLOGIADA UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA
Country Portugal
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary Imagine having a fully transparent and flexible, foldable, low cost, displays or at the glass window of your home/office, a transparent electronic circuit, do you believe on that? Maybe you are asking me if I am writing science fiction. No I am not. In fact this is a very ambitious objective but is tangible in the framework of this project due to the already acquired experience in the development of transparent thin film transistors using novel multifunctional and multicomponent oxides that can behave as active or passive semiconductor materials. This is an interdisciplinary research project aiming to develop a new class of transparent electronic components, based on multicomponent passive and active oxide semiconductors (n and p-types), to fabricate the novel generation of full transparent electronic devices and circuits, either using rigid or flexible substrates. The emphasis will be put on developing thin film transistors (n and p-TFTs) and integrated circuits for a broad range of applications (from inverters, C-MOS like devices, ring oscillators, CCDs backplanes for active matrices, biossensor arrays for DNA/RNA/proteins detection), boosting to its maximum their electronic performances for next generation of invisible circuits. By doing so, we are contributing for generating a free real state electronics that is able to add new electronic functionalities onto surfaces, which currently are not used in this manner and that silicon cannot contribute. The multicomponent metal oxide materials to be developed will exhibit (mainly) an amorphous or a nanocomposite structure and will be processed by PVD techniques like rf magnetron sputtering at room temperature, compatible with the use of low cost and flexible substrates (polymers, cellulose paper, among others). These will facilitate a migration away from tradition silicon like fab based batch processing to large area, roll to roll manufacturing technology which will offer significant advantages
Summary
Imagine having a fully transparent and flexible, foldable, low cost, displays or at the glass window of your home/office, a transparent electronic circuit, do you believe on that? Maybe you are asking me if I am writing science fiction. No I am not. In fact this is a very ambitious objective but is tangible in the framework of this project due to the already acquired experience in the development of transparent thin film transistors using novel multifunctional and multicomponent oxides that can behave as active or passive semiconductor materials. This is an interdisciplinary research project aiming to develop a new class of transparent electronic components, based on multicomponent passive and active oxide semiconductors (n and p-types), to fabricate the novel generation of full transparent electronic devices and circuits, either using rigid or flexible substrates. The emphasis will be put on developing thin film transistors (n and p-TFTs) and integrated circuits for a broad range of applications (from inverters, C-MOS like devices, ring oscillators, CCDs backplanes for active matrices, biossensor arrays for DNA/RNA/proteins detection), boosting to its maximum their electronic performances for next generation of invisible circuits. By doing so, we are contributing for generating a free real state electronics that is able to add new electronic functionalities onto surfaces, which currently are not used in this manner and that silicon cannot contribute. The multicomponent metal oxide materials to be developed will exhibit (mainly) an amorphous or a nanocomposite structure and will be processed by PVD techniques like rf magnetron sputtering at room temperature, compatible with the use of low cost and flexible substrates (polymers, cellulose paper, among others). These will facilitate a migration away from tradition silicon like fab based batch processing to large area, roll to roll manufacturing technology which will offer significant advantages
Max ERC Funding
2 250 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-01-01, End date: 2014-12-31
Project acronym TROJA
Project Targeting Receptors Of Jointly Assembled Ligand-Drug Constructs
Researcher (PI) Soren Kragh Moestrup
Host Institution (HI) AARHUS UNIVERSITET
Country Denmark
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS7, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary The TROJA proposal is an investigative bioengineering study of the exploitation of specific endocytic receptors for targeting small molecule drugs to specific cells in order to improve medical therapy. This is a new approach with scientific roots in the basic research on endocytic receptors and protein expression carried out in the laboratory of the applicant. The major line of the proposal concerns the construction of combinatory drugs for targeting the haptoglobin (Hp)-hemoglobin receptor CD163 (Kristiansen et al., Nature 409:198-201) expressed in the monocyte-macrophage system. The platform may apply to a broad spectrum of diseases such as inflammatory diseases, various infections and certain cancers which all have CD163-expressing macrophages or malignant derivatives as key cell type in the pathogenesis of the disease. Dependent of the above-mentioned diseases to be treated, the drugs are intended to have anti-inflammatory, microbiotic or cytostatic effects. Efficacy of the combinatory drug will be investigated in monocytes/macrophages, CD163-transfected cells and as well as in suitable animal models including transgenic animals. Another and minor line of the proposal concerns the construction of combinatory drugs for targeting a very recently discovered Hp-Hb receptor expressed in trypanosomes (Vanhollebeke et al., Science, in press) causing sleeping sickness. Both lines of this research proposal will take advantage of established recombinant protein expression methods and chemical coupling technology to construct jointly assembled ligand-drugs complexes. In terms of drug efficacy and toxicity, the aim is to design combinatory products that remain largely inactive in their receptor-binding form, but upon release in the cells or parasites the active small molecule components become active. The discovery of such a Trojan horse platform for cellular drug entry may have major implications for future drug development and for new applications of existent drugs.
Summary
The TROJA proposal is an investigative bioengineering study of the exploitation of specific endocytic receptors for targeting small molecule drugs to specific cells in order to improve medical therapy. This is a new approach with scientific roots in the basic research on endocytic receptors and protein expression carried out in the laboratory of the applicant. The major line of the proposal concerns the construction of combinatory drugs for targeting the haptoglobin (Hp)-hemoglobin receptor CD163 (Kristiansen et al., Nature 409:198-201) expressed in the monocyte-macrophage system. The platform may apply to a broad spectrum of diseases such as inflammatory diseases, various infections and certain cancers which all have CD163-expressing macrophages or malignant derivatives as key cell type in the pathogenesis of the disease. Dependent of the above-mentioned diseases to be treated, the drugs are intended to have anti-inflammatory, microbiotic or cytostatic effects. Efficacy of the combinatory drug will be investigated in monocytes/macrophages, CD163-transfected cells and as well as in suitable animal models including transgenic animals. Another and minor line of the proposal concerns the construction of combinatory drugs for targeting a very recently discovered Hp-Hb receptor expressed in trypanosomes (Vanhollebeke et al., Science, in press) causing sleeping sickness. Both lines of this research proposal will take advantage of established recombinant protein expression methods and chemical coupling technology to construct jointly assembled ligand-drugs complexes. In terms of drug efficacy and toxicity, the aim is to design combinatory products that remain largely inactive in their receptor-binding form, but upon release in the cells or parasites the active small molecule components become active. The discovery of such a Trojan horse platform for cellular drug entry may have major implications for future drug development and for new applications of existent drugs.
Max ERC Funding
2 400 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-04-01, End date: 2014-03-31
Project acronym VIN
Project Video-rate Scanning Probe Microscopy Imaging of Nanostructures on Surfaces
Researcher (PI) Flemming Besenbacher
Host Institution (HI) AARHUS UNIVERSITET
Country Denmark
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE4, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary The goal of this ERC proposal VIN is to develop the next generation of scanning probe microscopes (SPMs) The microscopes will set new standards in the field through their ability to acquire images at video-rate frequency, while retaining high (atomic) resolution capability. This new instrumental platform will be implemented both under ultra-high vacuum conditions, in a high-pressure gas cell, and under liquid-phase conditions. It will be utilized to create and explore novel research avenues for the study of physical, chemical, and biological surface processes at the single-atom/molecule level with the highest possible spatial and temporal resolution. In particular I will study dynamic phenomena in surface nanostructures, focusing on three mutually synergetic and interdisciplinary priority areas: i) Catalytic reactivity of nanostructures, ii) Self-organisation of organic molecules at surfaces, iii) Biomolecular structures, processes and interactions under physiological conditions. The adsorption, diffusion and interaction of molecules are the basic steps involved in reactions at surfaces. All of them are dynamic processes, where high temporal resolution can provide new groundbreaking insight into e.g. the mechanisms underlying catalysis. Video-rate SPMs will also facilitate investigations of the kinetic aspects of molecular self- organisation at surfaces such as diffusion, intra-molecular conformational dynamics, nucleation and growth of structures. The effort will build upon the world-leading expertise in design, construction and use of SPMs in my research group at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO) and the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Denmark. To achieve the ambitious research goals, I will bring together an interdisciplinary team of highly talented younger scientists.
Summary
The goal of this ERC proposal VIN is to develop the next generation of scanning probe microscopes (SPMs) The microscopes will set new standards in the field through their ability to acquire images at video-rate frequency, while retaining high (atomic) resolution capability. This new instrumental platform will be implemented both under ultra-high vacuum conditions, in a high-pressure gas cell, and under liquid-phase conditions. It will be utilized to create and explore novel research avenues for the study of physical, chemical, and biological surface processes at the single-atom/molecule level with the highest possible spatial and temporal resolution. In particular I will study dynamic phenomena in surface nanostructures, focusing on three mutually synergetic and interdisciplinary priority areas: i) Catalytic reactivity of nanostructures, ii) Self-organisation of organic molecules at surfaces, iii) Biomolecular structures, processes and interactions under physiological conditions. The adsorption, diffusion and interaction of molecules are the basic steps involved in reactions at surfaces. All of them are dynamic processes, where high temporal resolution can provide new groundbreaking insight into e.g. the mechanisms underlying catalysis. Video-rate SPMs will also facilitate investigations of the kinetic aspects of molecular self- organisation at surfaces such as diffusion, intra-molecular conformational dynamics, nucleation and growth of structures. The effort will build upon the world-leading expertise in design, construction and use of SPMs in my research group at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO) and the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Denmark. To achieve the ambitious research goals, I will bring together an interdisciplinary team of highly talented younger scientists.
Max ERC Funding
1 324 983 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-12-01, End date: 2013-11-30
