Project acronym ChloroMito
Project Chloroplast and Mitochondria interactions for microalgal acclimation
Researcher (PI) Giovanni Finazzi
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Country France
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS8, ERC-2018-ADG
Summary Photosynthesis emerged as an energy-harvesting process at least 3.5 billion years ago, first in anoxygenic bacteria and then in oxygen-producing organisms, which led to the evolution of complex life forms with oxygen-based metabolisms (e.g. humans). Oxygenic photosynthesis produces ATP and NADPH, and the correct balance between these energy-rich molecules allows assimilation of CO2 into organic matter. Although the mechanisms of ATP/NADPH synthesis are well understood, less is known about how CO2 assimilation was optimised. This process was essential to the successful phototrophic colonisation of land (by Plantae) and the oceans (by phytoplankton). Plants optimised CO2 assimilation using chloroplast-localised ATP-generating processes to control the ATP/NADPH ratio, but the strategies developed by phytoplankton are poorly understood. However, diatoms—ecologically successful ocean organisms—are known to control this ratio by exchanging energy between plastids and mitochondria. Is this mechanism a paradigm for optimisation of photosynthesis in the ocean? The ChloroMito project aims to first decipher the mechanism(s) behind plastid-mitochondria interactions. Thanks to a novel combination of whole-cell approaches, including (opto)genetics, cellular tomography and single-cell spectroscopy, we will identify the nature of the exchanges occurring in diatoms and assess their contribution to dynamic responses to environmental stimuli (light, temperature, nutrients). We will then assess conservation of this mechanism in ecologically relevant phytoplankton taxa, test its role in supporting different lifestyles (autotrophy, mixotrophy, photosymbiosis) encountered in the ocean, and track transitions between these different lifestyles as part of an unprecedented effort to visualise ocean dynamics. Overall, the ChloroMito project will alter our understanding of ocean photosynthesis, challenging textbook concepts which are often inferred from plant-based concepts
Summary
Photosynthesis emerged as an energy-harvesting process at least 3.5 billion years ago, first in anoxygenic bacteria and then in oxygen-producing organisms, which led to the evolution of complex life forms with oxygen-based metabolisms (e.g. humans). Oxygenic photosynthesis produces ATP and NADPH, and the correct balance between these energy-rich molecules allows assimilation of CO2 into organic matter. Although the mechanisms of ATP/NADPH synthesis are well understood, less is known about how CO2 assimilation was optimised. This process was essential to the successful phototrophic colonisation of land (by Plantae) and the oceans (by phytoplankton). Plants optimised CO2 assimilation using chloroplast-localised ATP-generating processes to control the ATP/NADPH ratio, but the strategies developed by phytoplankton are poorly understood. However, diatoms—ecologically successful ocean organisms—are known to control this ratio by exchanging energy between plastids and mitochondria. Is this mechanism a paradigm for optimisation of photosynthesis in the ocean? The ChloroMito project aims to first decipher the mechanism(s) behind plastid-mitochondria interactions. Thanks to a novel combination of whole-cell approaches, including (opto)genetics, cellular tomography and single-cell spectroscopy, we will identify the nature of the exchanges occurring in diatoms and assess their contribution to dynamic responses to environmental stimuli (light, temperature, nutrients). We will then assess conservation of this mechanism in ecologically relevant phytoplankton taxa, test its role in supporting different lifestyles (autotrophy, mixotrophy, photosymbiosis) encountered in the ocean, and track transitions between these different lifestyles as part of an unprecedented effort to visualise ocean dynamics. Overall, the ChloroMito project will alter our understanding of ocean photosynthesis, challenging textbook concepts which are often inferred from plant-based concepts
Max ERC Funding
2 498 207 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-01-01, End date: 2024-12-31
Project acronym COOLER
Project Climatic Controls on Erosion Rates and Relief of Mountain Belts
Researcher (PI) Pieter VAN DER BEEK
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAET POTSDAM
Country Germany
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE10, ERC-2018-ADG
Summary Quantifying the feedbacks between tectonic processes in the lithosphere and climatic processes in the atmosphere is an overarching goal in Earth-Systems research, as it underpins our ability to differentiate natural from anthropogenic climate forcing. Long-term cooling during the Cenozoic has been linked to the growth of mountain belts, which enhanced erosion, chemical weathering, organic-carbon burial and drawdown of atmospheric CO2. Conversely, it has been proposed that the cooler and more variable climate of the late Cenozoic led to increased topographic relief and erosion. This latter coupling, however, has not been decisively demonstrated and remains highly controversial. Advancing our understanding of these couplings requires the development of tools that record erosion rates and relief changes with higher spatial and temporal resolution than the current state-of-the-art, and integrating the newly obtained data into next-generation numerical models that link observed erosion-rate and relief histories to potential driving mechanisms. The project COOLER shoulders this task. We will: (1) develop new high-resolution thermochronology by setting up a world-leading 4He/3He laboratory; (2) develop numerical modelling tools that incorporate the latest insights in kinetics of thermochronological systems and make sample-specific predictions; (3) couple these tools to glacial landscape-evolution models, enabling modelling of real landscapes with real thermochronology data as constraints; and (4) study potential feedbacks between glacial erosion and tectonic deformation in carefully selected field areas. The new high-resolution data will be integrated and extrapolated to quantitatively assess the impact of late Cenozoic climate change on erosion rates. Integration and analysis of the data will lead to novel insights into the two-way coupling of glacial erosion and tectonics, as well as latitudinal trends in glacial erosion patterns.
Summary
Quantifying the feedbacks between tectonic processes in the lithosphere and climatic processes in the atmosphere is an overarching goal in Earth-Systems research, as it underpins our ability to differentiate natural from anthropogenic climate forcing. Long-term cooling during the Cenozoic has been linked to the growth of mountain belts, which enhanced erosion, chemical weathering, organic-carbon burial and drawdown of atmospheric CO2. Conversely, it has been proposed that the cooler and more variable climate of the late Cenozoic led to increased topographic relief and erosion. This latter coupling, however, has not been decisively demonstrated and remains highly controversial. Advancing our understanding of these couplings requires the development of tools that record erosion rates and relief changes with higher spatial and temporal resolution than the current state-of-the-art, and integrating the newly obtained data into next-generation numerical models that link observed erosion-rate and relief histories to potential driving mechanisms. The project COOLER shoulders this task. We will: (1) develop new high-resolution thermochronology by setting up a world-leading 4He/3He laboratory; (2) develop numerical modelling tools that incorporate the latest insights in kinetics of thermochronological systems and make sample-specific predictions; (3) couple these tools to glacial landscape-evolution models, enabling modelling of real landscapes with real thermochronology data as constraints; and (4) study potential feedbacks between glacial erosion and tectonic deformation in carefully selected field areas. The new high-resolution data will be integrated and extrapolated to quantitatively assess the impact of late Cenozoic climate change on erosion rates. Integration and analysis of the data will lead to novel insights into the two-way coupling of glacial erosion and tectonics, as well as latitudinal trends in glacial erosion patterns.
Max ERC Funding
2 730 184 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-06-01, End date: 2025-05-31
Project acronym DIATOMIC
Project Untangling eco-evolutionary impacts on diatom genomes over timescales relevant to current climate change
Researcher (PI) Christopher Paul BOWLER
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Country France
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS8, ERC-2018-ADG
Summary Diatoms are major contributors of primary production in the ocean and participate in carbon sequestration over geologically relevant timescales. As key components of the Earth’s carbon cycle and marine food webs we need to understand the eco-evolutionary underpinnings of their ecological success to forecast their fate in a future ocean impacted by anthropogenic change. Genomes and epigenomes from model diatoms, as well as hundreds of transcriptomes from multiple species, have revealed genetic and epigenetic processes regulating gene expression in response to changing environments. The Tara Oceans survey has in parallel generated resources to explore diatom abundance, diversity and gene expression in the world’s ocean in widely contrasting conditions. DIATOMIC will build on these resources to understand how evolutionary and ecological processes combine to influence diatom adaptations to their environment at unprecedented spatiotemporal scales. To examine these processes over timescales relevant to current climate change, DIATOMIC includes the pioneering exploration of ancient diatom DNA from the sub-seafloor to reveal the genetic and epigenetic bases of speciation and adaptation that have impacted their ecological success during the last 100,000 years, when Earth experienced major climatological events and an increase in anthropogenic impacts. As a model for exploring eco-evolutionary processes in the past and contemporary ocean we will focus primarily on Chaetoceros because this diatom genus is ancient, ubiquitous, abundant and contributes significantly to carbon export. Key findings will be additionally supported by lab-based studies using the diatom Phaeodactylum for which exemplar molecular tools exist. Specifically, the project will address:
1. What molecular features characterize genome evolution in diatoms?
2. Which processes determine diatom metapopulation structure?
3. What can ancient DNA tell us about diatom adaptations to environmental change in the past?
Summary
Diatoms are major contributors of primary production in the ocean and participate in carbon sequestration over geologically relevant timescales. As key components of the Earth’s carbon cycle and marine food webs we need to understand the eco-evolutionary underpinnings of their ecological success to forecast their fate in a future ocean impacted by anthropogenic change. Genomes and epigenomes from model diatoms, as well as hundreds of transcriptomes from multiple species, have revealed genetic and epigenetic processes regulating gene expression in response to changing environments. The Tara Oceans survey has in parallel generated resources to explore diatom abundance, diversity and gene expression in the world’s ocean in widely contrasting conditions. DIATOMIC will build on these resources to understand how evolutionary and ecological processes combine to influence diatom adaptations to their environment at unprecedented spatiotemporal scales. To examine these processes over timescales relevant to current climate change, DIATOMIC includes the pioneering exploration of ancient diatom DNA from the sub-seafloor to reveal the genetic and epigenetic bases of speciation and adaptation that have impacted their ecological success during the last 100,000 years, when Earth experienced major climatological events and an increase in anthropogenic impacts. As a model for exploring eco-evolutionary processes in the past and contemporary ocean we will focus primarily on Chaetoceros because this diatom genus is ancient, ubiquitous, abundant and contributes significantly to carbon export. Key findings will be additionally supported by lab-based studies using the diatom Phaeodactylum for which exemplar molecular tools exist. Specifically, the project will address:
1. What molecular features characterize genome evolution in diatoms?
2. Which processes determine diatom metapopulation structure?
3. What can ancient DNA tell us about diatom adaptations to environmental change in the past?
Max ERC Funding
2 495 753 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-11-01, End date: 2024-10-31
Project acronym EAVESDROP
Project Experimental access to volcanic eruptions: Driving Observational Potential
Researcher (PI) Donald DINGWELL
Host Institution (HI) LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN
Country Germany
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE10, ERC-2018-ADG
Summary The Earth System is impacted continually by dozens of volcanic eruptions per year. Predicting their collective effects is hampered by our incomplete mechanistic understanding of eruptive and post-eruptive processes. The activity of explosive volcanic systems especially, is a key to the evolution of our world, not only for the eruptive catastrophes themselves but also for the massive injection of volcanic materials into the critical zone of the Earth System. (e.g. Ayris and Delmelle, 2012; Baldini et al., 2015; Dingwell, 1996; Dingwell et al., 2012; Martin et al., 2009; Robock, 2000). For this reason - as well as the many pragmatic issues of living with active volcanism – a mechanistic understanding explosive volcanism and the interaction of its products in the Earth System is a grand challenge of modern Earth Sciences.
Fortunately, three recent experimental breakthroughs bring the challenge of mechanistic understanding within our grasp: these are the development of in situ high temperature 1) synchrotron-based real-time imaging techniques for deforming systems (Baker et al., 2012; Wadsworth et al., 2016). 2) acoustic monitoring of failure and fragmentation processes in exploding magma (Arciniega et al., 2015) and 3) dynamic ash-gas environmental reaction chambers (Ayris et al., 2015).
Accompanying these experimental advances, have been fundamental advances in our mechanistic view of magma ascent and eruption (Tuffen et al., 2003; Gonnermann and Manga, 2003; Lavallée et al., 2008; Castro and Dingwell, 2009), volcano seismicity (Arciniega et al., 2015; Vasseur et al., 2017) , and the fate of volcanic ash (Delmelle et al., 2018; Renggli et al., 2018). Vast experimental expertise, together with the global impact of our work to date, place me uniquely to exploit these recent advances and to bring the impact of an experimental approach to volcanology to its fullest potential, with Europe at its forefront.
Summary
The Earth System is impacted continually by dozens of volcanic eruptions per year. Predicting their collective effects is hampered by our incomplete mechanistic understanding of eruptive and post-eruptive processes. The activity of explosive volcanic systems especially, is a key to the evolution of our world, not only for the eruptive catastrophes themselves but also for the massive injection of volcanic materials into the critical zone of the Earth System. (e.g. Ayris and Delmelle, 2012; Baldini et al., 2015; Dingwell, 1996; Dingwell et al., 2012; Martin et al., 2009; Robock, 2000). For this reason - as well as the many pragmatic issues of living with active volcanism – a mechanistic understanding explosive volcanism and the interaction of its products in the Earth System is a grand challenge of modern Earth Sciences.
Fortunately, three recent experimental breakthroughs bring the challenge of mechanistic understanding within our grasp: these are the development of in situ high temperature 1) synchrotron-based real-time imaging techniques for deforming systems (Baker et al., 2012; Wadsworth et al., 2016). 2) acoustic monitoring of failure and fragmentation processes in exploding magma (Arciniega et al., 2015) and 3) dynamic ash-gas environmental reaction chambers (Ayris et al., 2015).
Accompanying these experimental advances, have been fundamental advances in our mechanistic view of magma ascent and eruption (Tuffen et al., 2003; Gonnermann and Manga, 2003; Lavallée et al., 2008; Castro and Dingwell, 2009), volcano seismicity (Arciniega et al., 2015; Vasseur et al., 2017) , and the fate of volcanic ash (Delmelle et al., 2018; Renggli et al., 2018). Vast experimental expertise, together with the global impact of our work to date, place me uniquely to exploit these recent advances and to bring the impact of an experimental approach to volcanology to its fullest potential, with Europe at its forefront.
Max ERC Funding
3 439 510 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-09-01, End date: 2024-08-31
Project acronym EMERGE
Project Reconstructing the emergence of the Milky Way’s stellar population with Gaia, SDSS-V and JWST
Researcher (PI) Dan Maoz
Host Institution (HI) TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
Country Israel
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE9, ERC-2018-ADG
Summary Understanding how the Milky Way arrived at its present state requires a large volume of precision measurements of our Galaxy’s current makeup, as well as an empirically based understanding of the main processes involved in the Galaxy’s evolution. Such data are now about to arrive in the flood of quality information from Gaia and SDSS-V. The demography of the stars and of the compact stellar remnants in our Galaxy, in terms of phase-space location, mass, age, metallicity, and multiplicity are data products that will come directly from these surveys. I propose to integrate this information into a comprehensive picture of the Milky Way’s present state. In parallel, I will build a Galactic chemical evolution model, with input parameters that are as empirically based as possible, that will reproduce and explain the observations. To get those input parameters, I will measure the rates of supernovae (SNe) in nearby galaxies (using data from past and ongoing surveys) and in high-redshift proto-clusters (by conducting a SN search with JWST), to bring into sharp focus the element yields of SNe and the distribution of delay times (the DTD) between star formation and SN explosion. These empirically determined SN metal-production parameters will be used to find the observationally based reconstruction of the Galaxy’s stellar formation history and chemical evolution that reproduces the observed present-day Milky Way stellar population. The population census of stellar multiplicity with Gaia+SDSS-V, and particularly of short-orbit compact-object binaries, will hark back to the rates and the element yields of the various types of SNe, revealing the connections between various progenitor systems, their explosions, and their rates. The plan, while ambitious, is feasible, thanks to the data from these truly game-changing observational projects. My team will perform all steps of the analysis and will combine the results to obtain the clearest picture of how our Galaxy came to be.
Summary
Understanding how the Milky Way arrived at its present state requires a large volume of precision measurements of our Galaxy’s current makeup, as well as an empirically based understanding of the main processes involved in the Galaxy’s evolution. Such data are now about to arrive in the flood of quality information from Gaia and SDSS-V. The demography of the stars and of the compact stellar remnants in our Galaxy, in terms of phase-space location, mass, age, metallicity, and multiplicity are data products that will come directly from these surveys. I propose to integrate this information into a comprehensive picture of the Milky Way’s present state. In parallel, I will build a Galactic chemical evolution model, with input parameters that are as empirically based as possible, that will reproduce and explain the observations. To get those input parameters, I will measure the rates of supernovae (SNe) in nearby galaxies (using data from past and ongoing surveys) and in high-redshift proto-clusters (by conducting a SN search with JWST), to bring into sharp focus the element yields of SNe and the distribution of delay times (the DTD) between star formation and SN explosion. These empirically determined SN metal-production parameters will be used to find the observationally based reconstruction of the Galaxy’s stellar formation history and chemical evolution that reproduces the observed present-day Milky Way stellar population. The population census of stellar multiplicity with Gaia+SDSS-V, and particularly of short-orbit compact-object binaries, will hark back to the rates and the element yields of the various types of SNe, revealing the connections between various progenitor systems, their explosions, and their rates. The plan, while ambitious, is feasible, thanks to the data from these truly game-changing observational projects. My team will perform all steps of the analysis and will combine the results to obtain the clearest picture of how our Galaxy came to be.
Max ERC Funding
1 859 375 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-10-01, End date: 2024-09-30
Project acronym Mars through time
Project Modeling the past climates of planet Mars to understand its geology, its habitability and its evolution
Researcher (PI) Francois FORGET
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Country France
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE9, ERC-2018-ADG
Summary Over the past decades, the robotic exploration of the planet Mars has produced a wealth of geological observations. They show that Mars has not always been the desert planet of today. It has seen eras conducive to rivers and lakes, ice ages, and even periods with a collapsed atmosphere. These different epochs are the reason why Mars remains the objective of space agencies, as they evoke the possibility of past habitability and spectacular climate changes.
Yet, in spite of all the data, the climatic processes that have shaped Mars’ surface through time remain largely unknown. What happened on Mars? Was the Red Planet suitable for life? What explains its evolution?
The objective of this project is to develop numerical models to simulate the past environments of Mars.A completely new “Mars Evolution Model” will be created by asynchronously coupling hydrology, glacial flows and ground ice models with a new generation 3D Global Climate Model (GCM). This GCM will be derived from the one that we have previously designed to simulate present day Mars. We will radically update it using new technologies to represent the details of the surface as well as all the processes that affected Mars when its environment evolved because of the oscillations of its orbit and obliquity, during changes in the atmospheric composition, or through events like meteoritic impacts or volcanic eruptions. Notably, we will highlight the last ten millions years that have been recorded in the polar layered deposits, whose formation will be simulated for the first time realistically.
These new tools will address numerous enigmas found in Mars sciences. They will also offer a new platform to study specific processes such as the atmospheric escape through time or the chemical alteration of the soil. Furthermore, the project will test our capacity to model planetary environments and climate changes, as well as provide lessons on the evolution of terrestrial planets and the possibility of life elsewhere.
Summary
Over the past decades, the robotic exploration of the planet Mars has produced a wealth of geological observations. They show that Mars has not always been the desert planet of today. It has seen eras conducive to rivers and lakes, ice ages, and even periods with a collapsed atmosphere. These different epochs are the reason why Mars remains the objective of space agencies, as they evoke the possibility of past habitability and spectacular climate changes.
Yet, in spite of all the data, the climatic processes that have shaped Mars’ surface through time remain largely unknown. What happened on Mars? Was the Red Planet suitable for life? What explains its evolution?
The objective of this project is to develop numerical models to simulate the past environments of Mars.A completely new “Mars Evolution Model” will be created by asynchronously coupling hydrology, glacial flows and ground ice models with a new generation 3D Global Climate Model (GCM). This GCM will be derived from the one that we have previously designed to simulate present day Mars. We will radically update it using new technologies to represent the details of the surface as well as all the processes that affected Mars when its environment evolved because of the oscillations of its orbit and obliquity, during changes in the atmospheric composition, or through events like meteoritic impacts or volcanic eruptions. Notably, we will highlight the last ten millions years that have been recorded in the polar layered deposits, whose formation will be simulated for the first time realistically.
These new tools will address numerous enigmas found in Mars sciences. They will also offer a new platform to study specific processes such as the atmospheric escape through time or the chemical alteration of the soil. Furthermore, the project will test our capacity to model planetary environments and climate changes, as well as provide lessons on the evolution of terrestrial planets and the possibility of life elsewhere.
Max ERC Funding
2 493 836 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-10-01, End date: 2024-09-30
Project acronym Origins
Project From Planet-Forming Disks to Giant Planets
Researcher (PI) Thomas HENNING
Host Institution (HI) MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV
Country Germany
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE9, ERC-2018-ADG
Summary Planet-forming disks around young stars display a large variety of spatial structures indicating pattern formation by gas-dust dynamics and planet-disk interactions. The diversity of planetary properties point to different physical and chemical conditions in their parental disks and a range of formation pathways. Currently, there is no unifying approach which connects disk physics and chemistry with exoplanet properties. The development of such a link remains a considerable challenge as long as fundamental disk properties are uncertain. The objective of this project is to close the gap between the conditions in planet-forming disks and the properties of giant planets and their atmospheres.
We will constrain fundamental disk properties - mass, turbulent state, and molecular content - by dedicated infrared and (sub)millimetre observations combined with comprehensive modeling efforts and experimental studies of ice-grain surface chemistry. The second very demanding project goal is to discover young giant planets in their birth environments and to characterize their properties, applying innovative techniques to analyze the results of approved imaging surveys with AO instruments at the VLT/LBT. These data will be supplemented by ALMA observations tracing gas kinematic signatures induced by embedded planets. The results of these studies will lead to major progress in understanding the timescale for planet formation and will reveal the nature of planet-disk interactions. The most challenging objective of the project is to build a connection between disk properties and the atmospheres of giant planets. Planet formation and evolution models will be coupled with a description of the chemical and accretion history to predict planetary elemental abundances, setting the scene for the thermal and chemical structure of giant planet atmospheres. Synthetic spectra will be provided using state-of-the art atmospheric codes and will be compared to observed planet spectra.
Summary
Planet-forming disks around young stars display a large variety of spatial structures indicating pattern formation by gas-dust dynamics and planet-disk interactions. The diversity of planetary properties point to different physical and chemical conditions in their parental disks and a range of formation pathways. Currently, there is no unifying approach which connects disk physics and chemistry with exoplanet properties. The development of such a link remains a considerable challenge as long as fundamental disk properties are uncertain. The objective of this project is to close the gap between the conditions in planet-forming disks and the properties of giant planets and their atmospheres.
We will constrain fundamental disk properties - mass, turbulent state, and molecular content - by dedicated infrared and (sub)millimetre observations combined with comprehensive modeling efforts and experimental studies of ice-grain surface chemistry. The second very demanding project goal is to discover young giant planets in their birth environments and to characterize their properties, applying innovative techniques to analyze the results of approved imaging surveys with AO instruments at the VLT/LBT. These data will be supplemented by ALMA observations tracing gas kinematic signatures induced by embedded planets. The results of these studies will lead to major progress in understanding the timescale for planet formation and will reveal the nature of planet-disk interactions. The most challenging objective of the project is to build a connection between disk properties and the atmospheres of giant planets. Planet formation and evolution models will be coupled with a description of the chemical and accretion history to predict planetary elemental abundances, setting the scene for the thermal and chemical structure of giant planet atmospheres. Synthetic spectra will be provided using state-of-the art atmospheric codes and will be compared to observed planet spectra.
Max ERC Funding
2 474 252 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-10-01, End date: 2024-09-30
Project acronym REFINE
Project Robots Explore plankton-driven Fluxes in the marine twIlight zoNE
Researcher (PI) herve CLAUSTRE
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Country France
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE10, ERC-2018-ADG
Summary The scientific objective of REFINE is to understand and quantify the physical, biological and biogeochemical processes controlling the biological carbon pump, a key component of the oceanic CO2 sequestration. The oceanic twilight zone (TZ), which is located between the depths of 100 and 1000 m and represents 20% of the ocean's volume, is where these processes occur. Yet the TZ is not properly sampled during most ship-based oceanographic cruises and, because of its depths, it escapes satellite remote sensing. Hence the TZ is one of the least known environments on Earth. The functioning of the TZ is highly dependent on the flux of matter and energy coming from the overlying well-lit euphotic zone (EZ). I have developed the REFINE ground-breaking, robotic-based approach to address the physical, biological and biogeochemical linkages between the EZ and the TZ, with special emphasis on the roles of phyto and zooplankton communities. I will implement REFINE through the following four main coordinated actions:
• Development of a new generation of multidisciplinary vertically profiling floats, uniquely able to robotically address phyto and zooplankton community composition.
• Achievement of ~3 years robotic-based process studies in five oceanic zones, representative of the diversity of biogeochemical conditions and responses to climate change in the global ocean, over a continuum of temporal scales ranging from diel to interannual.
• In-depth analysis of the unique REFINE dataset to perform carbon flux budgets within the TZ, and understand the physical and plankton-driven mechanisms involved in the EZ-TZ linkage and their impacts on the resulting fate of organic carbon and fluxes to ocean depths.
• Upscaling of regional processes to the global ocean through the use of artificial intelligence methods, in particular by taking advantage of multisource observations from REFINE robots and earth observation satellites.
Summary
The scientific objective of REFINE is to understand and quantify the physical, biological and biogeochemical processes controlling the biological carbon pump, a key component of the oceanic CO2 sequestration. The oceanic twilight zone (TZ), which is located between the depths of 100 and 1000 m and represents 20% of the ocean's volume, is where these processes occur. Yet the TZ is not properly sampled during most ship-based oceanographic cruises and, because of its depths, it escapes satellite remote sensing. Hence the TZ is one of the least known environments on Earth. The functioning of the TZ is highly dependent on the flux of matter and energy coming from the overlying well-lit euphotic zone (EZ). I have developed the REFINE ground-breaking, robotic-based approach to address the physical, biological and biogeochemical linkages between the EZ and the TZ, with special emphasis on the roles of phyto and zooplankton communities. I will implement REFINE through the following four main coordinated actions:
• Development of a new generation of multidisciplinary vertically profiling floats, uniquely able to robotically address phyto and zooplankton community composition.
• Achievement of ~3 years robotic-based process studies in five oceanic zones, representative of the diversity of biogeochemical conditions and responses to climate change in the global ocean, over a continuum of temporal scales ranging from diel to interannual.
• In-depth analysis of the unique REFINE dataset to perform carbon flux budgets within the TZ, and understand the physical and plankton-driven mechanisms involved in the EZ-TZ linkage and their impacts on the resulting fate of organic carbon and fluxes to ocean depths.
• Upscaling of regional processes to the global ocean through the use of artificial intelligence methods, in particular by taking advantage of multisource observations from REFINE robots and earth observation satellites.
Max ERC Funding
3 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-10-01, End date: 2024-09-30
Project acronym RegRNA
Project Mechanistic principles of regulation by small RNAs
Researcher (PI) Hanah Margalit
Host Institution (HI) THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
Country Israel
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS2, ERC-2018-ADG
Summary Small RNAs (sRNAs) are major regulators of gene expression in bacteria, exerting their regulation in trans by base pairing with target RNAs. Traditionally, sRNAs were considered post-transcriptional regulators, mainly regulating translation by blocking or exposing the ribosome binding site. However, accumulating evidence suggest that sRNAs can exploit the base pairing to manipulate their targets in different ways, assisting or interfering with various molecular processes involving the target RNA. Currently there are a few examples of these alternative regulation modes, but their extent and implications in the cellular circuitry have not been assessed. Here we propose to take advantage of the power of RNA-seq-based technologies to develop innovative approaches to address these challenges transcriptome-wide. These approaches will enable us to map the regulatory mechanism a sRNA employs per target through its effect on a certain molecular process. For feasibility we propose studying three processes: RNA cleavage by RNase E, pre-mature Rho-dependent transcription termination, and transcription elongation pausing. Finding targets regulated by sRNA manipulation of the two latter processes would be especially intriguing, as it would suggest that sRNAs can function as gene-specific transcription regulators (alluded to by our preliminary results). As a basis of our research we will use the network of ~2400 sRNA-target pairs in Escherichia coli, deciphered by RIL-seq (a method we recently developed for global in vivo detection of sRNA targets). Revealing the regulatory mechanism(s) employed per target will shed light on the principles underlying the integration of distinct sRNA regulation modes in specific regulatory circuits and cellular contexts, with direct implications to synthetic biology and pathogenic bacteria. Our study may change the way sRNAs are perceived, from post-transcriptional to versatile regulators that apply different regulation modes to different targets.
Summary
Small RNAs (sRNAs) are major regulators of gene expression in bacteria, exerting their regulation in trans by base pairing with target RNAs. Traditionally, sRNAs were considered post-transcriptional regulators, mainly regulating translation by blocking or exposing the ribosome binding site. However, accumulating evidence suggest that sRNAs can exploit the base pairing to manipulate their targets in different ways, assisting or interfering with various molecular processes involving the target RNA. Currently there are a few examples of these alternative regulation modes, but their extent and implications in the cellular circuitry have not been assessed. Here we propose to take advantage of the power of RNA-seq-based technologies to develop innovative approaches to address these challenges transcriptome-wide. These approaches will enable us to map the regulatory mechanism a sRNA employs per target through its effect on a certain molecular process. For feasibility we propose studying three processes: RNA cleavage by RNase E, pre-mature Rho-dependent transcription termination, and transcription elongation pausing. Finding targets regulated by sRNA manipulation of the two latter processes would be especially intriguing, as it would suggest that sRNAs can function as gene-specific transcription regulators (alluded to by our preliminary results). As a basis of our research we will use the network of ~2400 sRNA-target pairs in Escherichia coli, deciphered by RIL-seq (a method we recently developed for global in vivo detection of sRNA targets). Revealing the regulatory mechanism(s) employed per target will shed light on the principles underlying the integration of distinct sRNA regulation modes in specific regulatory circuits and cellular contexts, with direct implications to synthetic biology and pathogenic bacteria. Our study may change the way sRNAs are perceived, from post-transcriptional to versatile regulators that apply different regulation modes to different targets.
Max ERC Funding
2 278 125 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-09-01, End date: 2024-08-31
Project acronym SPIAKID
Project SpectroPhotometric Imaging in Astronomy with Kinetic Inductance Detectors
Researcher (PI) Piercarlo BONIFACIO
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Country France
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE9, ERC-2018-ADG
Summary The SPIAKID project will build a camera using Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs) to equip an 8 m class telescope to derive ages and metallicities for stars in Ultra Faint Dwarf galaxies (UFDs) in the Local Group. UFDs are the key to understand early galaxy formation processes, including the properties of the first stars, and the role of environment and internal feedback in shaping the evolution of dwarf galaxies. A full exploitation of UFDs to understand these processes requires knowledge of their precise stellar ages and metallicities. This is difficult, in many cases impossible, to obtain with existing instruments because of the faintness of UFDs. SPIAKID will allow unprecedented efficiency in acquiring wide-band spectrophotometry, making this possible. The KID provides a low resolution spectrum (goal: λ/Δλ~15) over a wide spectral range (goal: 0.45 μm to 1.60 μm), a single exposure instead of many single-band exposures. The instrument throughput is increased as the design is simplified since filtering is unnecessary and the visible and infra-red optical paths are combined. The KIDs are read continuously with zero read-out noise so the integration is driven in real time by monitoring the signal-to-noise ratio. Finally, their response is faster (~ 30 μs) than the coherence time of atmospheric turbulence (a few ms) so diffraction-limited resolution is achieved with existing image reconstruction techniques. The reconstructed images will be sharper and deeper than can be achieved by traditional seeing-limited imagers. The SPIAKID instrument will tackle other science cases, e.g. transiting exoplanets and their atmospheres or the electromagnetic emission from gravitational wave sources, and the instrument will be offered to the community to foster other uses. Our technological developments for the KIDs will place European scientists in a position to design and build innovative instruments, in astronomy but also, for example, in fast imaging for fluorescence microscopy.
Summary
The SPIAKID project will build a camera using Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs) to equip an 8 m class telescope to derive ages and metallicities for stars in Ultra Faint Dwarf galaxies (UFDs) in the Local Group. UFDs are the key to understand early galaxy formation processes, including the properties of the first stars, and the role of environment and internal feedback in shaping the evolution of dwarf galaxies. A full exploitation of UFDs to understand these processes requires knowledge of their precise stellar ages and metallicities. This is difficult, in many cases impossible, to obtain with existing instruments because of the faintness of UFDs. SPIAKID will allow unprecedented efficiency in acquiring wide-band spectrophotometry, making this possible. The KID provides a low resolution spectrum (goal: λ/Δλ~15) over a wide spectral range (goal: 0.45 μm to 1.60 μm), a single exposure instead of many single-band exposures. The instrument throughput is increased as the design is simplified since filtering is unnecessary and the visible and infra-red optical paths are combined. The KIDs are read continuously with zero read-out noise so the integration is driven in real time by monitoring the signal-to-noise ratio. Finally, their response is faster (~ 30 μs) than the coherence time of atmospheric turbulence (a few ms) so diffraction-limited resolution is achieved with existing image reconstruction techniques. The reconstructed images will be sharper and deeper than can be achieved by traditional seeing-limited imagers. The SPIAKID instrument will tackle other science cases, e.g. transiting exoplanets and their atmospheres or the electromagnetic emission from gravitational wave sources, and the instrument will be offered to the community to foster other uses. Our technological developments for the KIDs will place European scientists in a position to design and build innovative instruments, in astronomy but also, for example, in fast imaging for fluorescence microscopy.
Max ERC Funding
3 109 215 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-01-01, End date: 2024-12-31