Project acronym BRASILIAE
Project Indigenous Knowledge in the Making of Science: Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (1648)
Researcher (PI) Mariana DE CAMPOS FRANCOZO
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN
Country Netherlands
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2016-STG
Summary This project is an interdisciplinary study of the role of indigenous knowledge in the making of science. Situated at the intersection of history and anthropology, its main research objective is to understand the transformation of information and practices of South American indigenous peoples into a body of knowledge that became part of the Western scholarly canon. It aims to explore, by means of a distinctive case-study, how European science is constructed in intercultural settings.
This project takes the book Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (HNB), published in 1648 by Piso and Marcgraf, as its central focus. The HNB is the first product of the encounter between early modern European scholarship and South American indigenous knowledge. In an encyclopedic format, it brings together information about the natural world, linguistics, and geography of South America as understood and experienced by indigenous peoples as well as enslaved Africans. Its method of construction embodies the intercultural connections that shaped practices of knowledge production in colonial settings across the globe, and is the earliest example of such in South America. With my research team, I will investigate how indigenous knowledge was appropriated and transformed into European science by focusing on ethnobotanics, ethnozoology, and indigenous material culture.
Since the HNB and its associated materials are kept in European museums and archives, this project is timely and relevant in light of the growing concern for the democratization of heritage. The current debate about the societal role of publicly-funded cultural institutions across Europe argues for the importance of multi-vocality in cultural and political processes. This project proposes a more inclusive interpretation and use of the materials in these institutions and thereby sets an example of how European heritage institutions can use their historical collections to reconnect the past with present-day societal concerns.
Summary
This project is an interdisciplinary study of the role of indigenous knowledge in the making of science. Situated at the intersection of history and anthropology, its main research objective is to understand the transformation of information and practices of South American indigenous peoples into a body of knowledge that became part of the Western scholarly canon. It aims to explore, by means of a distinctive case-study, how European science is constructed in intercultural settings.
This project takes the book Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (HNB), published in 1648 by Piso and Marcgraf, as its central focus. The HNB is the first product of the encounter between early modern European scholarship and South American indigenous knowledge. In an encyclopedic format, it brings together information about the natural world, linguistics, and geography of South America as understood and experienced by indigenous peoples as well as enslaved Africans. Its method of construction embodies the intercultural connections that shaped practices of knowledge production in colonial settings across the globe, and is the earliest example of such in South America. With my research team, I will investigate how indigenous knowledge was appropriated and transformed into European science by focusing on ethnobotanics, ethnozoology, and indigenous material culture.
Since the HNB and its associated materials are kept in European museums and archives, this project is timely and relevant in light of the growing concern for the democratization of heritage. The current debate about the societal role of publicly-funded cultural institutions across Europe argues for the importance of multi-vocality in cultural and political processes. This project proposes a more inclusive interpretation and use of the materials in these institutions and thereby sets an example of how European heritage institutions can use their historical collections to reconnect the past with present-day societal concerns.
Max ERC Funding
1 475 565 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2023-06-30
Project acronym CAVEHEART
Project Heart regeneration in the Mexican cavefish: The difference between healing and scarring
Researcher (PI) Mathilda MOMMERSTEEG
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS4, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Whereas the human heart cannot regenerate cardiac muscle after myocardial infarction, certain fish efficiently repair their hearts. Astyanax mexicanus, a close relative of the zebrafish, is a single fish species comprising cave-dwelling and surface river populations. Remarkably, while surface fish regenerate their heart after injury, cavefish cannot and form a permanent fibrotic scar, similar to the human heart. Using transcriptomics analysis and immunohistochemistry, we have identified key differences in the scarring and inflammatory response between the surface and cavefish heart after injury. These differences include extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, growth factors and macrophage populations present in one, but not the other population, suggesting properties unique to the surface fish scar that promote heart regeneration. The objective of the proposed project is to characterise and utilise these findings to identify therapeutic targets to heal the human heart after myocardial infarction. First, we will analyse the identified differences in scarring and immune response between the fish in detail, before testing the role of the most interesting proteins and macrophage populations during regeneration using CRISPR mutagenesis and clodronate liposomes. Next, we will link the key scarring and inflammatory differences directly to both the genome and the ability for heart regeneration using new and prior Quantitative Trait Loci analyses. This will allow to find the most fundamental molecular mechanisms directing the wound healing process towards regeneration versus scarring. Together with an in vitro and in vivo small molecule screen directed specifically at influencing scarring towards a more ‘fish-like’ regenerative phenotype in the cavefish and mouse heart after injury, this will provide targets for therapeutic strategies to maximise the endogenous regenerative potential of the mammalian heart, with the aim to find a cure for myocardial infarction.
Summary
Whereas the human heart cannot regenerate cardiac muscle after myocardial infarction, certain fish efficiently repair their hearts. Astyanax mexicanus, a close relative of the zebrafish, is a single fish species comprising cave-dwelling and surface river populations. Remarkably, while surface fish regenerate their heart after injury, cavefish cannot and form a permanent fibrotic scar, similar to the human heart. Using transcriptomics analysis and immunohistochemistry, we have identified key differences in the scarring and inflammatory response between the surface and cavefish heart after injury. These differences include extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, growth factors and macrophage populations present in one, but not the other population, suggesting properties unique to the surface fish scar that promote heart regeneration. The objective of the proposed project is to characterise and utilise these findings to identify therapeutic targets to heal the human heart after myocardial infarction. First, we will analyse the identified differences in scarring and immune response between the fish in detail, before testing the role of the most interesting proteins and macrophage populations during regeneration using CRISPR mutagenesis and clodronate liposomes. Next, we will link the key scarring and inflammatory differences directly to both the genome and the ability for heart regeneration using new and prior Quantitative Trait Loci analyses. This will allow to find the most fundamental molecular mechanisms directing the wound healing process towards regeneration versus scarring. Together with an in vitro and in vivo small molecule screen directed specifically at influencing scarring towards a more ‘fish-like’ regenerative phenotype in the cavefish and mouse heart after injury, this will provide targets for therapeutic strategies to maximise the endogenous regenerative potential of the mammalian heart, with the aim to find a cure for myocardial infarction.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 429 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-03-01, End date: 2022-02-28
Project acronym COLGENES
Project Defining novel mechanisms critical for colorectal tumourigenesis
Researcher (PI) Kevin Brian MYANT
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS4, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Cancer genome sequencing has led to a paradigm shift in our understanding of oncogenesis. It has identified thousands of genetic alterations that segregate into two groups, a small number of frequently mutated genes and a much larger number of infrequently mutated genes. The causative role of frequently mutated genes is often clear and are the focus of concerted therapeutic development efforts. The role of those infrequently mutated is often unclear and can be difficult to separate from ‘mutational noise’. Determining the relevance of low frequency mutations is important for providing a full understanding of processes driving tumourigenesis and if functionally relevant may have broader implications on the applicability of targeted therapies.
This project aims to begin addressing this by defining the function of all genes mutated in colorectal cancer (CRC) in the earliest stages of tumour formation. I have performed a whole genome screen in a 3D organoid CRC initiation model identifying several potentially important mediators of this process. Crucially, some of these genes are mutated in CRC at low frequency but not described as cancer driver genes. Thus, I hypothesize that rather than ‘mutational noise’ infrequently mutated genes contribute to CRC initiation. I will test this by addressing two aims:
1) Determine the role of genes mutated in CRC during tumour initiation
2) Validate and determine the function of a subset of identified genes potentially defining novel cancer mechanisms
I will use a combination of CRISPR genetic disruption in state-of-the-art 3D mouse and human organoid cultures and advanced mouse models to address these aims. This comprehensive approach will provide a foundation for understanding the importance of the entire spectrum of mutations in CRC and open new avenues of research into the function of these genes. More broadly, it has the potential to make a profound impact on how we think about tumourigenic mechanisms and cancer therapeutics.
Summary
Cancer genome sequencing has led to a paradigm shift in our understanding of oncogenesis. It has identified thousands of genetic alterations that segregate into two groups, a small number of frequently mutated genes and a much larger number of infrequently mutated genes. The causative role of frequently mutated genes is often clear and are the focus of concerted therapeutic development efforts. The role of those infrequently mutated is often unclear and can be difficult to separate from ‘mutational noise’. Determining the relevance of low frequency mutations is important for providing a full understanding of processes driving tumourigenesis and if functionally relevant may have broader implications on the applicability of targeted therapies.
This project aims to begin addressing this by defining the function of all genes mutated in colorectal cancer (CRC) in the earliest stages of tumour formation. I have performed a whole genome screen in a 3D organoid CRC initiation model identifying several potentially important mediators of this process. Crucially, some of these genes are mutated in CRC at low frequency but not described as cancer driver genes. Thus, I hypothesize that rather than ‘mutational noise’ infrequently mutated genes contribute to CRC initiation. I will test this by addressing two aims:
1) Determine the role of genes mutated in CRC during tumour initiation
2) Validate and determine the function of a subset of identified genes potentially defining novel cancer mechanisms
I will use a combination of CRISPR genetic disruption in state-of-the-art 3D mouse and human organoid cultures and advanced mouse models to address these aims. This comprehensive approach will provide a foundation for understanding the importance of the entire spectrum of mutations in CRC and open new avenues of research into the function of these genes. More broadly, it has the potential to make a profound impact on how we think about tumourigenic mechanisms and cancer therapeutics.
Max ERC Funding
1 498 618 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-08-01, End date: 2022-07-31
Project acronym COMPLEX
Project The Degradation of Complex Modern Polymeric Objects in Heritage Collections: A System Dynamics Approach
Researcher (PI) Katherine CURRAN
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2016-STG
Summary By viewing a scientific problem through the lens of heritage, COMPLEX will create an entirely new cross-disciplinary vision for understanding and modelling polymer degradation and build a world leading research team studying the degradation of modern polymeric objects in collections. Rather than focussing on specific chemical or physical processes, as has been done in the past, COMPLEX will consider polymeric objects as almost akin to living organisms, and by using a system dynamics approach will model objects in their environments in a way that reflects their real complexity, with multiple, inter-connecting interactions between material properties and environmental parameters.
As a polymer chemist, this project has been inspired by my 4 years of experience in the field of heritage, in particular by experiencing the problems raised by the conservation of modern polymeric objects such as plastics. The development of modern polymers during the 19th and 20th centuries has changed history and society and they are a part of our material heritage that it is essential to conserve for future generations. However, these objects are at risk due to their instability and a lack of knowledge within the museum sector as to their degradation behaviour.
System dynamics models will be developed incorporating multiple chemical and physical interactions between the components of polymeric objects and environmental parameters such as relative humidity or light. These will be used to predict the degradation behaviour of objects over time, to identify key parameters that are correlated to object change and provide practical solutions for heritage professionals. Above all, COMPLEX will provide a new way of looking at polymer degradation, that can be applied across a wide range of fields, including medicine, waste management and industry.
Summary
By viewing a scientific problem through the lens of heritage, COMPLEX will create an entirely new cross-disciplinary vision for understanding and modelling polymer degradation and build a world leading research team studying the degradation of modern polymeric objects in collections. Rather than focussing on specific chemical or physical processes, as has been done in the past, COMPLEX will consider polymeric objects as almost akin to living organisms, and by using a system dynamics approach will model objects in their environments in a way that reflects their real complexity, with multiple, inter-connecting interactions between material properties and environmental parameters.
As a polymer chemist, this project has been inspired by my 4 years of experience in the field of heritage, in particular by experiencing the problems raised by the conservation of modern polymeric objects such as plastics. The development of modern polymers during the 19th and 20th centuries has changed history and society and they are a part of our material heritage that it is essential to conserve for future generations. However, these objects are at risk due to their instability and a lack of knowledge within the museum sector as to their degradation behaviour.
System dynamics models will be developed incorporating multiple chemical and physical interactions between the components of polymeric objects and environmental parameters such as relative humidity or light. These will be used to predict the degradation behaviour of objects over time, to identify key parameters that are correlated to object change and provide practical solutions for heritage professionals. Above all, COMPLEX will provide a new way of looking at polymer degradation, that can be applied across a wide range of fields, including medicine, waste management and industry.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 394 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-04-01, End date: 2022-03-31
Project acronym DIMO6FIT
Project DIMO6FIT: Extending the Standard Model -- Global Fits of Optimal Variables in Diboson Production
Researcher (PI) Kristin LOHWASSER
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2016-STG
Summary The status quo of particle physics after the first data taking at the Large Hadron Collider is: a light Higgs particle has been discovered that is perfectly compatible with the electroweak Standard Model (SM). While this is undoubtedly a historic step in particle physics, it is not entirely satisfactory, as in its current state the SM leaves many questions unanswered.
If the Standard Model of today is just the low energy theory of more complex phenomena, then these phenomena will become manifest in modifications of the cross sections and differential distributions of known processes. These modifications can be described by higher dimensional operators, which are general extensions of the SM and can be tested using precision measurements of diboson production processes.
The DIMO6Fit project will focus on measuring those production processes most sensitive to the new physics effects, using innovative analysis techniques aimed at significantly reducing the debilitating limitations in current measurements. I will set up a novel combined global fit for determining the higher dimensional operators coherently based on the LHC measurements.
The full determination of the higher dimensional operators will be the first global precision test of general extensions to the SM. The ERC Starting Grant will make it possible to bring together a team that will conduct more efficient measurements then today at the ATLAS experiment, that will establish the framework for new precision tests, and will generate results of yet unforeseeable potential. With DIMO6FIT I will establish an exciting programme aiming at determining the higher dimensional operators, which will help uncover new physics and elucidate its nature. These novel studies will form a unique and significant contribution to the understanding of the fundamental interactions of known and possibly yet unknown particles.
Summary
The status quo of particle physics after the first data taking at the Large Hadron Collider is: a light Higgs particle has been discovered that is perfectly compatible with the electroweak Standard Model (SM). While this is undoubtedly a historic step in particle physics, it is not entirely satisfactory, as in its current state the SM leaves many questions unanswered.
If the Standard Model of today is just the low energy theory of more complex phenomena, then these phenomena will become manifest in modifications of the cross sections and differential distributions of known processes. These modifications can be described by higher dimensional operators, which are general extensions of the SM and can be tested using precision measurements of diboson production processes.
The DIMO6Fit project will focus on measuring those production processes most sensitive to the new physics effects, using innovative analysis techniques aimed at significantly reducing the debilitating limitations in current measurements. I will set up a novel combined global fit for determining the higher dimensional operators coherently based on the LHC measurements.
The full determination of the higher dimensional operators will be the first global precision test of general extensions to the SM. The ERC Starting Grant will make it possible to bring together a team that will conduct more efficient measurements then today at the ATLAS experiment, that will establish the framework for new precision tests, and will generate results of yet unforeseeable potential. With DIMO6FIT I will establish an exciting programme aiming at determining the higher dimensional operators, which will help uncover new physics and elucidate its nature. These novel studies will form a unique and significant contribution to the understanding of the fundamental interactions of known and possibly yet unknown particles.
Max ERC Funding
1 497 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-02-01, End date: 2022-07-31
Project acronym EnteroBariatric
Project Investigating Host-Microbial Interactions after Bariatric Surgery
Researcher (PI) Jia LI
Host Institution (HI) IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS4, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Obesity and related co-morbidities give rise to severe health and socioeconomic problems. Surgical treatment for obesity (bariatric surgery) is remarkably effective in the control of morbid obesity and rapid resolution of Type 2 Diabetes, and the number of such procedures is increasing rapidly in many obesity-prevalent countries. We, and others, have demonstrated that surgical interventions such as Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) modulates gut hormone levels, induces systemic metabolic changes and results in the shift of the microbiome from Firmicutes to the Proteobacteria phylum. Although the gut microbiota have been implicated in the reduction of adiposity post-surgery, the long-term effect of altered gut microbiota on patients who have undergone RYGB, remains to be studied. Our recent data suggested that microbial activities are highly associated with inflammation and cancer. My research programme aims to investigate the RYGB-specific gut microbiota impacts on host physiology and colon cancer risk. To achieve this goal, I will employ a multidisciplinary approach that combines systems biology techniques with a bottom-up approach. This work will deliver phenotypic and mechanistic characterisation of the interplay between the host and the gut microbiota. The research findings will significantly contribute towards the understanding of fundamental molecular and cellular processes that are key in host and gut microbiota interactions. This will provide knowledge-based evidence of the gut microbial impact on human physiology, and has the potential to unravel novel prevention targets and promote a more thorough healthcare strategy for bariatric patients.
Summary
Obesity and related co-morbidities give rise to severe health and socioeconomic problems. Surgical treatment for obesity (bariatric surgery) is remarkably effective in the control of morbid obesity and rapid resolution of Type 2 Diabetes, and the number of such procedures is increasing rapidly in many obesity-prevalent countries. We, and others, have demonstrated that surgical interventions such as Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) modulates gut hormone levels, induces systemic metabolic changes and results in the shift of the microbiome from Firmicutes to the Proteobacteria phylum. Although the gut microbiota have been implicated in the reduction of adiposity post-surgery, the long-term effect of altered gut microbiota on patients who have undergone RYGB, remains to be studied. Our recent data suggested that microbial activities are highly associated with inflammation and cancer. My research programme aims to investigate the RYGB-specific gut microbiota impacts on host physiology and colon cancer risk. To achieve this goal, I will employ a multidisciplinary approach that combines systems biology techniques with a bottom-up approach. This work will deliver phenotypic and mechanistic characterisation of the interplay between the host and the gut microbiota. The research findings will significantly contribute towards the understanding of fundamental molecular and cellular processes that are key in host and gut microbiota interactions. This will provide knowledge-based evidence of the gut microbial impact on human physiology, and has the potential to unravel novel prevention targets and promote a more thorough healthcare strategy for bariatric patients.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 091 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-08-01, End date: 2022-07-31
Project acronym EPP
Project Econometrics for Public Policy: Sampling, Estimation, Decision, and Applications
Researcher (PI) Toru KITAGAWA
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH1, ERC-2016-STG
Summary One of the ultimate goals of economics is to inform a policy that improves welfare. Despite that the vast amount of empirical works in economics aims to achieve this goal, the current state of the art in econometrics is silent about concrete recommendation for how to estimate the welfare maximizing policy. This project addresses statistically optimal and practically useful ways to learn the welfare-maximizing policy from data by developing novel econometric frameworks, sampling design, and estimation approaches that can be applied to a wide range of policy design problems in reality.
Development of econometric methods for optimal empirical policy design proceeds by answering the following open questions. First, given a sampling process, how do we define optimal estimation for the welfare-maximizing policy? Second, what estimation method achieves this statistical optimality? Third, how do we solve policy decision problem when the sampling process only set-identifies the social welfare criterion? Fourth, how can we integrate the sampling step and estimation step to develop a package of optimal sampling and optimal estimation procedures?
I divide the project into the following four parts. Each part is motivated by important empirical applications and has methodological challenges related to these four questions.
1) Estimation of treatment assignment policy
2) Estimation of optimal policy in other public policy applications
3) Policy design with set-identified social welfare
4) Sampling design for empirical policy design
Summary
One of the ultimate goals of economics is to inform a policy that improves welfare. Despite that the vast amount of empirical works in economics aims to achieve this goal, the current state of the art in econometrics is silent about concrete recommendation for how to estimate the welfare maximizing policy. This project addresses statistically optimal and practically useful ways to learn the welfare-maximizing policy from data by developing novel econometric frameworks, sampling design, and estimation approaches that can be applied to a wide range of policy design problems in reality.
Development of econometric methods for optimal empirical policy design proceeds by answering the following open questions. First, given a sampling process, how do we define optimal estimation for the welfare-maximizing policy? Second, what estimation method achieves this statistical optimality? Third, how do we solve policy decision problem when the sampling process only set-identifies the social welfare criterion? Fourth, how can we integrate the sampling step and estimation step to develop a package of optimal sampling and optimal estimation procedures?
I divide the project into the following four parts. Each part is motivated by important empirical applications and has methodological challenges related to these four questions.
1) Estimation of treatment assignment policy
2) Estimation of optimal policy in other public policy applications
3) Policy design with set-identified social welfare
4) Sampling design for empirical policy design
Max ERC Funding
1 291 064 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-02-01, End date: 2022-01-31
Project acronym EUROLITHIC
Project The Linguistic Roots of Europe's Agricultural Transition
Researcher (PI) Guus KROONEN
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN
Country Netherlands
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Today, Europe’s linguistic landscape is shaped almost entirely by a single language family: Indo-European. Even by the dawn of history, a patchwork of Indo-European subgroups, Germanic, Celtic, Italic, Baltic, Slavic and Greek, was covering the continent, and over the centuries, these subgroups evolved into the modern European languages, among which Russian, Italian, German, Lithuanian and Swedish, as well as the global lingua francas French, Spanish, and English.
The Indo-Europeanization of Europe was probably one of the most profound linguistic shifts ever to have taken place in the prehistory of Europe. The origin of the European languages, unsurprisingly, is therefore a matter of intense academic debate. There are currently only two prehistoric events that in the present academic debate are considered as likely driving factors behind the spread of Indo-European speech.
One the one hand, there are those historical linguists who by meticulous comparison of the different Indo-European languages have reconstructed a language and culture that is typical of the early Bronze Age. Terminology for horse-riding and wagon technology provides a possible link to the expansion of the Yamnaya culture on the Pontic-Caspian steppes, which was fueled by the invention of the wheel and the domestication of the horse. Others have suggested that the Indo-European languages diffused from Anatolia together with another major prehistoric event, the spread of agriculture to Europe between the 8th and 5th millennium.
The debate has remained unresolved for over two decades, but a new approach produces potentially decisive results. By studying prehistoric loanwords absorbed by the speakers of Indo-European when they entered Europe, and test the resulting cultural implications against the available archaeological record, new light can be shed on the language of Europe’s first farmers, and whether or not they spoke a form of Indo-European.
Summary
Today, Europe’s linguistic landscape is shaped almost entirely by a single language family: Indo-European. Even by the dawn of history, a patchwork of Indo-European subgroups, Germanic, Celtic, Italic, Baltic, Slavic and Greek, was covering the continent, and over the centuries, these subgroups evolved into the modern European languages, among which Russian, Italian, German, Lithuanian and Swedish, as well as the global lingua francas French, Spanish, and English.
The Indo-Europeanization of Europe was probably one of the most profound linguistic shifts ever to have taken place in the prehistory of Europe. The origin of the European languages, unsurprisingly, is therefore a matter of intense academic debate. There are currently only two prehistoric events that in the present academic debate are considered as likely driving factors behind the spread of Indo-European speech.
One the one hand, there are those historical linguists who by meticulous comparison of the different Indo-European languages have reconstructed a language and culture that is typical of the early Bronze Age. Terminology for horse-riding and wagon technology provides a possible link to the expansion of the Yamnaya culture on the Pontic-Caspian steppes, which was fueled by the invention of the wheel and the domestication of the horse. Others have suggested that the Indo-European languages diffused from Anatolia together with another major prehistoric event, the spread of agriculture to Europe between the 8th and 5th millennium.
The debate has remained unresolved for over two decades, but a new approach produces potentially decisive results. By studying prehistoric loanwords absorbed by the speakers of Indo-European when they entered Europe, and test the resulting cultural implications against the available archaeological record, new light can be shed on the language of Europe’s first farmers, and whether or not they spoke a form of Indo-European.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 578 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-07-01, End date: 2022-06-30
Project acronym IniReg
Project Mechanisms of Regeneration Initiation
Researcher (PI) Kerstin BARTSCHERER
Host Institution (HI) KONINKLIJKE NEDERLANDSE AKADEMIE VAN WETENSCHAPPEN - KNAW
Country Netherlands
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS3, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Injury poses a key threat to all multicellular organisms. However, while some animals can fully restore lost body parts, others can only prevent further damage by mere wound healing. Which molecular mechanisms determine whether regeneration is induced or not is an unsettled fundamental question. I will use whole body regeneration, one of the most fascinating biological processes, as an experimental paradigm to identify the mechanisms of regeneration initiation. As a model organism I will employ planarians, flatworms with extraordinary plasticity that regenerate every piece of their body within a few days. I will mechanistically dissect how these animals rapidly induce an efficient regeneration program in response to tissue loss and define the key switches that determine whether a wound regenerates. Combining the astonishing regenerative abilities of planarians with new technologies I will first comprehensively describe the molecular changes occurring during the amputation response. Second, with a powerful novel assay developed in my lab - dormant fragments - that allows for the first time the separation of wounding from tissue loss in a single planarian, I will analyze the dynamics of the earliest regenerative events. Third, I will functionally characterize the regeneration-initiating signals and their target pathways combining in vivo RNAi and phenotypic assays. Fourth, with a regeneration-deficient planarian species, I will test whether the identified key regulators act as network nodes that can be utilized to rescue regeneration. Importantly, using vertebrate paradigms, such as the regenerating zebrafish fin, I will investigate conserved roles of these network nodes and validate general principles of regeneration initiation. This project will not only uncover conserved mechanisms of regeneration initiation but will also identify the switches that must be levered to induce regeneration in non-regenerating animals.
Summary
Injury poses a key threat to all multicellular organisms. However, while some animals can fully restore lost body parts, others can only prevent further damage by mere wound healing. Which molecular mechanisms determine whether regeneration is induced or not is an unsettled fundamental question. I will use whole body regeneration, one of the most fascinating biological processes, as an experimental paradigm to identify the mechanisms of regeneration initiation. As a model organism I will employ planarians, flatworms with extraordinary plasticity that regenerate every piece of their body within a few days. I will mechanistically dissect how these animals rapidly induce an efficient regeneration program in response to tissue loss and define the key switches that determine whether a wound regenerates. Combining the astonishing regenerative abilities of planarians with new technologies I will first comprehensively describe the molecular changes occurring during the amputation response. Second, with a powerful novel assay developed in my lab - dormant fragments - that allows for the first time the separation of wounding from tissue loss in a single planarian, I will analyze the dynamics of the earliest regenerative events. Third, I will functionally characterize the regeneration-initiating signals and their target pathways combining in vivo RNAi and phenotypic assays. Fourth, with a regeneration-deficient planarian species, I will test whether the identified key regulators act as network nodes that can be utilized to rescue regeneration. Importantly, using vertebrate paradigms, such as the regenerating zebrafish fin, I will investigate conserved roles of these network nodes and validate general principles of regeneration initiation. This project will not only uncover conserved mechanisms of regeneration initiation but will also identify the switches that must be levered to induce regeneration in non-regenerating animals.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-04-01, End date: 2022-03-31
Project acronym JUSTAM
Project Justice, Morality, and the State in Amazonia
Researcher (PI) Harry Laird WALKER
Host Institution (HI) LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2016-STG
Summary The project will investigate the social, cultural and cognitive bases of justice, or the morally correct assignment of goods and evils, with a focus on the indigenous peoples of Western Amazonia. It will develop an analysis of issues ranging from emotions, fairness, entitlement and equality in contexts of resource distribution, to punishment, vengeance, and attributions of responsibility. This will enlarge our understanding of how and why patterns of moral judgement vary across cultures, with particular attention paid to the role played by cultural constructions of personhood. The current situation of rapid social change in Amazonia, driven largely by the increased presence of the state in everyday life, provides a unique opportunity for assessing how morality and ethics are shaped by social conditions such as the size of networks of cooperation, processes for generating consensus, and the management of conflicts and disputes. This will be used to address longstanding questions concerning the evolution of morality, including how fairness is linked to cooperation within ever larger groups. The innovative methodology, combining ethnography with experiments and games adapted from psychology, economics, and experimental philosophy, will allow for a vastly more comprehensive set of data on justice in action than has previously been achieved. This will permit the elaboration of a sophisticated and distinctively Amazonian theory of justice, grounded in emotional responsiveness to others and respect for personal autonomy, that is capable of entering into critical dialogue with mainstream Western theories and understandings, while also challenging a number of dominant stereotypes of small-scale, non-state societies. The results will further be used to formulate a general framework for development projects and policy interventions with indigenous peoples, which could drastically improve their success rate and potentially be adapted for use in a range of global contexts.
Summary
The project will investigate the social, cultural and cognitive bases of justice, or the morally correct assignment of goods and evils, with a focus on the indigenous peoples of Western Amazonia. It will develop an analysis of issues ranging from emotions, fairness, entitlement and equality in contexts of resource distribution, to punishment, vengeance, and attributions of responsibility. This will enlarge our understanding of how and why patterns of moral judgement vary across cultures, with particular attention paid to the role played by cultural constructions of personhood. The current situation of rapid social change in Amazonia, driven largely by the increased presence of the state in everyday life, provides a unique opportunity for assessing how morality and ethics are shaped by social conditions such as the size of networks of cooperation, processes for generating consensus, and the management of conflicts and disputes. This will be used to address longstanding questions concerning the evolution of morality, including how fairness is linked to cooperation within ever larger groups. The innovative methodology, combining ethnography with experiments and games adapted from psychology, economics, and experimental philosophy, will allow for a vastly more comprehensive set of data on justice in action than has previously been achieved. This will permit the elaboration of a sophisticated and distinctively Amazonian theory of justice, grounded in emotional responsiveness to others and respect for personal autonomy, that is capable of entering into critical dialogue with mainstream Western theories and understandings, while also challenging a number of dominant stereotypes of small-scale, non-state societies. The results will further be used to formulate a general framework for development projects and policy interventions with indigenous peoples, which could drastically improve their success rate and potentially be adapted for use in a range of global contexts.
Max ERC Funding
1 483 992 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-04-01, End date: 2022-03-31
