Project acronym ChaperoneRegulome
Project ChaperoneRegulome: Understanding cell-type-specificity of chaperone regulation
Researcher (PI) Ritwick SAWARKAR
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS3, ERC-2018-COG
Summary Protein misfolding causes devastating health conditions such as neurodegeneration. Although the disease-causing protein is widely expressed, its misfolding occurs only in certain cell-types such as neurons. What governs the susceptibility of some tissues to misfolding is a fundamental question with biomedical relevance.
Molecular chaperones help cellular proteins fold into their native conformation. Despite the generality of their function, chaperones are differentially expressed across various tissues. Moreover exposure to misfolding stress changes chaperone expression in a cell-type-dependent manner. Thus cell-type-specific regulation of chaperones is a major determinant of susceptibility to misfolding. The molecular mechanisms governing chaperone levels in different cell-types are not understood, forming the basis of this proposal. We will take a multidisciplinary approach to address two key questions: (1) How are chaperone levels co-ordinated with tissue-specific demands on protein folding? (2) How do different cell-types regulate chaperone genes when exposed to the same misfolding stress?
Cellular chaperone levels and their response to misfolding stress are both driven by transcriptional changes and influenced by chromatin. The proposed work will bring the conceptual, technological and computational advances of chromatin/ transcription field to understand chaperone biology and misfolding diseases. Using in vivo mouse model and in vitro differentiation model, we will investigate molecular mechanisms that control chaperone levels in relevant tissues. Our work will provide insights into functional specialization of chaperones driven by tissue-specific folding demands. We will develop a novel and ambitious approach to assess protein-folding capacity in single cells moving the chaperone field beyond state-of-the-art. Thus by implementing genetic, computational and biochemical approaches, we aim to understand cell-type-specificity of chaperone regulation.
Summary
Protein misfolding causes devastating health conditions such as neurodegeneration. Although the disease-causing protein is widely expressed, its misfolding occurs only in certain cell-types such as neurons. What governs the susceptibility of some tissues to misfolding is a fundamental question with biomedical relevance.
Molecular chaperones help cellular proteins fold into their native conformation. Despite the generality of their function, chaperones are differentially expressed across various tissues. Moreover exposure to misfolding stress changes chaperone expression in a cell-type-dependent manner. Thus cell-type-specific regulation of chaperones is a major determinant of susceptibility to misfolding. The molecular mechanisms governing chaperone levels in different cell-types are not understood, forming the basis of this proposal. We will take a multidisciplinary approach to address two key questions: (1) How are chaperone levels co-ordinated with tissue-specific demands on protein folding? (2) How do different cell-types regulate chaperone genes when exposed to the same misfolding stress?
Cellular chaperone levels and their response to misfolding stress are both driven by transcriptional changes and influenced by chromatin. The proposed work will bring the conceptual, technological and computational advances of chromatin/ transcription field to understand chaperone biology and misfolding diseases. Using in vivo mouse model and in vitro differentiation model, we will investigate molecular mechanisms that control chaperone levels in relevant tissues. Our work will provide insights into functional specialization of chaperones driven by tissue-specific folding demands. We will develop a novel and ambitious approach to assess protein-folding capacity in single cells moving the chaperone field beyond state-of-the-art. Thus by implementing genetic, computational and biochemical approaches, we aim to understand cell-type-specificity of chaperone regulation.
Max ERC Funding
1 992 500 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-01-01, End date: 2024-12-31
Project acronym DEVMEM
Project Learning to remember: the development of the neural mechanisms supporting memory processing.
Researcher (PI) Francesca CACUCCI
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS5, ERC-2018-COG
Summary The ability to form and store memories allows organisms to learn from the past and imagine the future: it is a crucial mechanism underlying flexible and adaptive behaviour. The aim of this proposal is to identify the circuit mechanisms underlying our ability to learn and remember, by tracking the ontogenesis of memory processing. Importantly, we are not born with a fully functioning memory system: generally, adults cannot recollect any events from before their third birthday (‘infantile amnesia’). There are several accounts as to the source of this mnemonic deficit, each placing emphasis on impairments of specific processes (encoding, consolidation, retrieval). However, a general weakness in the study of memory ontogeny is the lack of neural data describing the activity of memory-related circuits during development. To directly address this knowledge gap, we propose to study the ontogeny of brain-wide hippocampus-centred memory networks in the rat. We will study to which extent memory expression relies on spatial signalling, delineate the role of sleep in memory consolidation, determine how hippocampal planning-related neuronal activity influences memory processing, understand whether the rapid forgetting observed in development is due to interference, and explore interactions between the hippocampus, pre-frontal and striatal circuits in orchestrating memory emergence. We are best placed to deliver this ambitious experimental plan due to our extensive experience of in vivo recording in developing rats which we will couple with the application of recently emerged technologies (2-photon imaging, high density electrophysiology, chemogenetic manipulation of neural activity). As our studies of the development of hippocampal spatial representations have delivered powerful insights into their adult function, we expect the work outlined here to critically advance our understanding not only of development, but also of healthy memory processing in adulthood.
Summary
The ability to form and store memories allows organisms to learn from the past and imagine the future: it is a crucial mechanism underlying flexible and adaptive behaviour. The aim of this proposal is to identify the circuit mechanisms underlying our ability to learn and remember, by tracking the ontogenesis of memory processing. Importantly, we are not born with a fully functioning memory system: generally, adults cannot recollect any events from before their third birthday (‘infantile amnesia’). There are several accounts as to the source of this mnemonic deficit, each placing emphasis on impairments of specific processes (encoding, consolidation, retrieval). However, a general weakness in the study of memory ontogeny is the lack of neural data describing the activity of memory-related circuits during development. To directly address this knowledge gap, we propose to study the ontogeny of brain-wide hippocampus-centred memory networks in the rat. We will study to which extent memory expression relies on spatial signalling, delineate the role of sleep in memory consolidation, determine how hippocampal planning-related neuronal activity influences memory processing, understand whether the rapid forgetting observed in development is due to interference, and explore interactions between the hippocampus, pre-frontal and striatal circuits in orchestrating memory emergence. We are best placed to deliver this ambitious experimental plan due to our extensive experience of in vivo recording in developing rats which we will couple with the application of recently emerged technologies (2-photon imaging, high density electrophysiology, chemogenetic manipulation of neural activity). As our studies of the development of hippocampal spatial representations have delivered powerful insights into their adult function, we expect the work outlined here to critically advance our understanding not only of development, but also of healthy memory processing in adulthood.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 520 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-03-01, End date: 2025-12-31
Project acronym EVENTS
Project MAKING SENSE OF THE WORLD: COGNITIVE AND NEURAL PROCESSES UNDERPINNING HOW WE COMPREHEND, PREDICT AND REMEMBER EVENTS
Researcher (PI) Christopher Mark BIRD
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH4, ERC-2018-COG
Summary During our waking lives we are continuously exposed to a vast amount of information about the world around us. Yet somehow we make sense of this information and we consciously experience a coherent and ordered world, where life proceeds in a sequence of events with recognisable beginnings and ends. How the human mind manages to re-process continuous experience into these event-units is remarkably poorly understood. To date, the field has been held back by the significant methodological challenges to studying complex mental processes operating in naturalistic situations. The EVENTS project will address these challenges in an ambitious and interdisciplinary programme of research, involving behavioural studies (including immersive virtual reality), cutting-edge functional MRI and neuropsychology in specialised populations. Across a series of studies, EVENTS will establish how information processed in independent neural modules is combined within a mental “event model”, which is an overarching representation of the important features of any given situation . The project will discover how event models are updated and how they are instantiated in the brain. EVENTS will also define how event models shape our perception and memory of everyday situations and how they interact with stored knowledge. Finally, we will integrate these novel findings with previous disparate lines of evidence into a neurocognitive model of event processing. The knowledge generated by EVENTS will have far-reaching impact across the social, cognitive and neuro- sciences, shedding light on long-standing debates about how we internally represent the external world, how beliefs about the state of the world interact with how we perceive and remember events, and on how we perceive the passage of time. Moreover, the development of a detailed cognitive and neural model of event processing will represent a vital step towards a mechanistic account of conscious experience.
Summary
During our waking lives we are continuously exposed to a vast amount of information about the world around us. Yet somehow we make sense of this information and we consciously experience a coherent and ordered world, where life proceeds in a sequence of events with recognisable beginnings and ends. How the human mind manages to re-process continuous experience into these event-units is remarkably poorly understood. To date, the field has been held back by the significant methodological challenges to studying complex mental processes operating in naturalistic situations. The EVENTS project will address these challenges in an ambitious and interdisciplinary programme of research, involving behavioural studies (including immersive virtual reality), cutting-edge functional MRI and neuropsychology in specialised populations. Across a series of studies, EVENTS will establish how information processed in independent neural modules is combined within a mental “event model”, which is an overarching representation of the important features of any given situation . The project will discover how event models are updated and how they are instantiated in the brain. EVENTS will also define how event models shape our perception and memory of everyday situations and how they interact with stored knowledge. Finally, we will integrate these novel findings with previous disparate lines of evidence into a neurocognitive model of event processing. The knowledge generated by EVENTS will have far-reaching impact across the social, cognitive and neuro- sciences, shedding light on long-standing debates about how we internally represent the external world, how beliefs about the state of the world interact with how we perceive and remember events, and on how we perceive the passage of time. Moreover, the development of a detailed cognitive and neural model of event processing will represent a vital step towards a mechanistic account of conscious experience.
Max ERC Funding
1 947 983 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-10-01, End date: 2024-09-30
Project acronym FirmIneq
Project Wage inequality within and across firms: The role of market forces, government and firm policies
Researcher (PI) Uta SCHOENBERG
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH1, ERC-2018-COG
Summary Wage inequality in industrialised countries has increased sharply over the past decades, and much of this increase has occurred between rather than within firms. Furthermore, substantial inequality between men and women persists in all industrialised countries, and a large part of the gender gaps observed today is attributable to the arrival of children. In this proposal, we put firms at the centre of the analysis and ask the following questions: First, which market forces can (partly) explain the increasing wage inequality between firms? Second, how do government policies alter the wage structure? And third, how do firm policies and the firm environment impact on gender inequality? All projects draw on four decades of German social security records comprising the near universe of workers and establishments, which we augment with survey and administrative data on firms. In Project A, we investigate how two important market forces, increased product market competition and routine-biased technological change, contributed to the increasing wage inequality between firms, by changing which firms operate in the market (selection) and how employment is distributed across low and high productivity firms (reallocation), and by differentially affecting wage growth across firm types (differential wage growth). In Project B, we study how two prominent government policies, the introduction of a minimum wage and changes in business tax rates, affect wage dispersion between firms through selection, reallocation and differential growth effects. In Project C, we first analyse whether firm provided family-friendly policies, most notably flexible working times and child care facilities, can be effective at reducing gender inequality. We then investigate how the firm environment, specifically the presence of co-workers who are likely to have a working mother and hold more egalitarian gender attitudes, shapes mothers’ return-to-work decisions and earnings trajectories after childbirth.
Summary
Wage inequality in industrialised countries has increased sharply over the past decades, and much of this increase has occurred between rather than within firms. Furthermore, substantial inequality between men and women persists in all industrialised countries, and a large part of the gender gaps observed today is attributable to the arrival of children. In this proposal, we put firms at the centre of the analysis and ask the following questions: First, which market forces can (partly) explain the increasing wage inequality between firms? Second, how do government policies alter the wage structure? And third, how do firm policies and the firm environment impact on gender inequality? All projects draw on four decades of German social security records comprising the near universe of workers and establishments, which we augment with survey and administrative data on firms. In Project A, we investigate how two important market forces, increased product market competition and routine-biased technological change, contributed to the increasing wage inequality between firms, by changing which firms operate in the market (selection) and how employment is distributed across low and high productivity firms (reallocation), and by differentially affecting wage growth across firm types (differential wage growth). In Project B, we study how two prominent government policies, the introduction of a minimum wage and changes in business tax rates, affect wage dispersion between firms through selection, reallocation and differential growth effects. In Project C, we first analyse whether firm provided family-friendly policies, most notably flexible working times and child care facilities, can be effective at reducing gender inequality. We then investigate how the firm environment, specifically the presence of co-workers who are likely to have a working mother and hold more egalitarian gender attitudes, shapes mothers’ return-to-work decisions and earnings trajectories after childbirth.
Max ERC Funding
1 491 803 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-06-01, End date: 2024-05-31
Project acronym GMGalaxies
Project Understanding the diversity of galaxy morphology in the era of large spectroscopic surveys
Researcher (PI) Andrew PONTZEN
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE9, ERC-2018-COG
Summary Galaxies are the building blocks of structure in the Universe; this proposal seeks to understand how their shapes, colours and dynamics are determined. For example, what happened in the history of some galaxies to transform them into passive ellipticals while others, seemingly of the same mass and in the same environment, are star-forming spirals? Even such a basic question about the link between morphology and star formation has not yet been answered, revealing our theories of galaxy formation are inadequate. This is a major concern in an era where understanding the shapes of galaxies and how they relate to the underlying dark matter is essential for progress in precision cosmology.
This project will build the missing link between the history of a galaxy and its observational properties (i.e. between cause and effect) by using numerical simulations. Current research in this area rightly gives significant attention to the crucial problem of how feedback – energy input from supernovae, active galactic nuclei, and more – affect observable properties. But as well as investigating this avenue, GM Galaxies will uniquely make use of my new technique (“genetic modification”) to systematically investigate the role of the galaxy’s merging and accretion history at high resolution.
To distinguish the fingerprints of history from the effects of feedback, we will compare to rich new data from integral field unit surveys; these reveal, for example, galactic metallicity and velocity maps. My pilot study for this project shows that such measures of a galaxy disambiguate between alternative formation routes to galaxies which would appear similar by photometric measures alone. Similarly, we will make predictions for the observable properties of the gas reservoir surrounding galaxies and for integral field observations at high redshift. In this way we will make a predictive account of how galactic structure is determined by the interaction of the accretion history with feedback.
Summary
Galaxies are the building blocks of structure in the Universe; this proposal seeks to understand how their shapes, colours and dynamics are determined. For example, what happened in the history of some galaxies to transform them into passive ellipticals while others, seemingly of the same mass and in the same environment, are star-forming spirals? Even such a basic question about the link between morphology and star formation has not yet been answered, revealing our theories of galaxy formation are inadequate. This is a major concern in an era where understanding the shapes of galaxies and how they relate to the underlying dark matter is essential for progress in precision cosmology.
This project will build the missing link between the history of a galaxy and its observational properties (i.e. between cause and effect) by using numerical simulations. Current research in this area rightly gives significant attention to the crucial problem of how feedback – energy input from supernovae, active galactic nuclei, and more – affect observable properties. But as well as investigating this avenue, GM Galaxies will uniquely make use of my new technique (“genetic modification”) to systematically investigate the role of the galaxy’s merging and accretion history at high resolution.
To distinguish the fingerprints of history from the effects of feedback, we will compare to rich new data from integral field unit surveys; these reveal, for example, galactic metallicity and velocity maps. My pilot study for this project shows that such measures of a galaxy disambiguate between alternative formation routes to galaxies which would appear similar by photometric measures alone. Similarly, we will make predictions for the observable properties of the gas reservoir surrounding galaxies and for integral field observations at high redshift. In this way we will make a predictive account of how galactic structure is determined by the interaction of the accretion history with feedback.
Max ERC Funding
1 741 230 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-10-01, End date: 2024-09-30
Project acronym ICYBOB
Project Initial Conditions of YMCs, Birth of OB associations and long term evolution of stellar clusters
Researcher (PI) Clare Louise DOBBS
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE9, ERC-2018-COG
Summary The goal of this proposal is to establish a new era of stellar cluster evolution research by performing numerical simulations on different scales, and of different stages of a cluster’s life, from the formation of YMCs, the formation and evolution of OB associations, to the evolution of clusters and associations in galaxies. The PI is one of the pioneers of galactic simulations of GMC and star formation was one of the first numericists to perform galactic scale simulations of molecular cloud formation and evolution, and has produced some of the most realistic and sophisticated isolated simulations of galaxies in this field to date. The next challenge is to follow cluster evolution, something which has not yet been attempted numerically. And, with the GaiaAIA instrument set to transform stellar astronomy in our Galaxy, our work will provide a fundamental theoretical counterpart. Key questions we will address include i) how does gas disperse from new clusters and what happens to that gas, ii) how do YMCs form, iii) how do new clustersGiant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) evolve into OB associations, and ivii) how long can clusters survive for as they orbit a galaxy and what causes their destruction.
Summary
The goal of this proposal is to establish a new era of stellar cluster evolution research by performing numerical simulations on different scales, and of different stages of a cluster’s life, from the formation of YMCs, the formation and evolution of OB associations, to the evolution of clusters and associations in galaxies. The PI is one of the pioneers of galactic simulations of GMC and star formation was one of the first numericists to perform galactic scale simulations of molecular cloud formation and evolution, and has produced some of the most realistic and sophisticated isolated simulations of galaxies in this field to date. The next challenge is to follow cluster evolution, something which has not yet been attempted numerically. And, with the GaiaAIA instrument set to transform stellar astronomy in our Galaxy, our work will provide a fundamental theoretical counterpart. Key questions we will address include i) how does gas disperse from new clusters and what happens to that gas, ii) how do YMCs form, iii) how do new clustersGiant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) evolve into OB associations, and ivii) how long can clusters survive for as they orbit a galaxy and what causes their destruction.
Max ERC Funding
1 980 385 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-06-01, End date: 2024-05-31
Project acronym LArcHer
Project Breaking barriers between Science and Heritage approaches to Levantine Rock Art through Archaeology, Heritage Science and IT
Researcher (PI) Ines DOMINGO SANZ
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA
Country Spain
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH6, ERC-2018-COG
Summary LArcHer project aims at pioneering a new and more comprehensive way of understanding one of Europe’s most extraordinary bodies of prehistoric art, awarded Unesco World Heritage status in 1998: Levantine rock art (LRA). The ground-breaking nature of the project relies on combining a multidisciplinary (Archaeology, Heritage Science and IT) and multiscale approach (from microanalysis to landscape perspectives) to gain a holistic view of this art. It also aims at closing existing gaps between science and heritage mainstreams, to better understand the values and threats affecting this tradition and bring about a change in the way we understand, care, use and manage this millenary legacy. LArcHer aims are: a) Use cross-disciplinary knowledge and methods to redefine LRA (i.e. new dating techniques to refine chronology, new analytical methods to understand the creative process); b) Use LRA as a proxy to raise new questions of global interest on the evolution of creative thinking and human cognition (i.e. the timing and driving forces behind the birth of anthropocentrism and visual narratives in the history of prehistoric art); c) Develop new research agendas to set off complementary goals between science and heritage and define best practices for open air rock art conservation and management.
Spread across Mediterranean Iberia, LRA is the only European body of figurative art dominated by humans engaged in dynamic narratives of hunting, violence, warfare, dances and so forth. These scenes are unique to explore past social dynamics, human behaviour and cultural practices. As such, it is the only body of European rock art with potential to answer some of the new questions raised by LArcHer.
Key to LArcHer are the systematic recording and analysis of the art through 3D Digital technologies, management and data storage systems, GIS, physicochemical analysis of pigments and bedrock and comparative analysis with other major bodies of art with equivalent developments.
Summary
LArcHer project aims at pioneering a new and more comprehensive way of understanding one of Europe’s most extraordinary bodies of prehistoric art, awarded Unesco World Heritage status in 1998: Levantine rock art (LRA). The ground-breaking nature of the project relies on combining a multidisciplinary (Archaeology, Heritage Science and IT) and multiscale approach (from microanalysis to landscape perspectives) to gain a holistic view of this art. It also aims at closing existing gaps between science and heritage mainstreams, to better understand the values and threats affecting this tradition and bring about a change in the way we understand, care, use and manage this millenary legacy. LArcHer aims are: a) Use cross-disciplinary knowledge and methods to redefine LRA (i.e. new dating techniques to refine chronology, new analytical methods to understand the creative process); b) Use LRA as a proxy to raise new questions of global interest on the evolution of creative thinking and human cognition (i.e. the timing and driving forces behind the birth of anthropocentrism and visual narratives in the history of prehistoric art); c) Develop new research agendas to set off complementary goals between science and heritage and define best practices for open air rock art conservation and management.
Spread across Mediterranean Iberia, LRA is the only European body of figurative art dominated by humans engaged in dynamic narratives of hunting, violence, warfare, dances and so forth. These scenes are unique to explore past social dynamics, human behaviour and cultural practices. As such, it is the only body of European rock art with potential to answer some of the new questions raised by LArcHer.
Key to LArcHer are the systematic recording and analysis of the art through 3D Digital technologies, management and data storage systems, GIS, physicochemical analysis of pigments and bedrock and comparative analysis with other major bodies of art with equivalent developments.
Max ERC Funding
1 991 178 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-10-01, End date: 2024-09-30
Project acronym LeaRNN
Project Principles of Learning in a Recurrent Neural Network
Researcher (PI) Marta Zlatic
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS5, ERC-2018-COG
Summary Forming memories, generating predictions based on memories, and updating memories when predictions no longer match actual experience are fundamental brain functions. Dopaminergic neurons provide a so-called “teaching signal” that drives the formation and updates of associative memories across the animal kingdom. Many theoretical models propose how neural circuits could compute the teaching signals, but the actual implementation of this computation in real nervous systems is unknown.
This project will discover the basic principles by which neural circuits compute the teaching signals that drive memory formation and updates using a tractable insect model system, the Drosophila larva. We will generate, for the first time in any animal, the following essential datasets for a distributed, multilayered, recurrent learning circuit, the mushroom body-related circuitry in the larval brain. First, building on our preliminary work that provides the synaptic-resolution connectome of the circuit, including all feedforward and feedback pathways upstream of all dopaminergic neurons, we will generate a map of functional monosynaptic connections. Second, we will obtain cellular-resolution whole-nervous system activity maps in intact living animals, as they form, extinguish, or consolidate memories to discover the features represented in each layer of the circuit (e.g. predictions, actual reinforcement, and prediction errors), the learning algorithms, and the candidate circuit motifs that implement them. Finally, we will develop a model of the circuit constrained by these datasets and test the predictions about the necessity and sufficiency of uniquely identified circuit elements for implementing learning algorithms by selectively manipulating their activity.
Understanding the basic functional principles of an entire multilayered recurrent learning circuit in an animal has the potential to revolutionize, not only neuroscience and medicine, but also machine-learning and robotics.
Summary
Forming memories, generating predictions based on memories, and updating memories when predictions no longer match actual experience are fundamental brain functions. Dopaminergic neurons provide a so-called “teaching signal” that drives the formation and updates of associative memories across the animal kingdom. Many theoretical models propose how neural circuits could compute the teaching signals, but the actual implementation of this computation in real nervous systems is unknown.
This project will discover the basic principles by which neural circuits compute the teaching signals that drive memory formation and updates using a tractable insect model system, the Drosophila larva. We will generate, for the first time in any animal, the following essential datasets for a distributed, multilayered, recurrent learning circuit, the mushroom body-related circuitry in the larval brain. First, building on our preliminary work that provides the synaptic-resolution connectome of the circuit, including all feedforward and feedback pathways upstream of all dopaminergic neurons, we will generate a map of functional monosynaptic connections. Second, we will obtain cellular-resolution whole-nervous system activity maps in intact living animals, as they form, extinguish, or consolidate memories to discover the features represented in each layer of the circuit (e.g. predictions, actual reinforcement, and prediction errors), the learning algorithms, and the candidate circuit motifs that implement them. Finally, we will develop a model of the circuit constrained by these datasets and test the predictions about the necessity and sufficiency of uniquely identified circuit elements for implementing learning algorithms by selectively manipulating their activity.
Understanding the basic functional principles of an entire multilayered recurrent learning circuit in an animal has the potential to revolutionize, not only neuroscience and medicine, but also machine-learning and robotics.
Max ERC Funding
2 350 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-09-01, End date: 2024-08-31
Project acronym MarsFirstWater
Project The physicochemical nature of water on early Mars
Researcher (PI) Alberto Gonzalez Fairen
Host Institution (HI) AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DEINVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
Country Spain
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE9, ERC-2018-COG
Summary Concepts of large bodies of glacial ice and liquid standing water, a robust hydrological cycle, and a rich Martian history of climate change are part of the current consensus model for early Mars. However, questions still poorly constrained include: a precise understanding of the inventory of water during the first billion years of Mars history and its early evolution on both global and local scales; whether liquid or solid H2O dominated, for what duration of time and where the water resided; what were the host-rock weathering rates and patterns and the physicochemical parameters defining such interactions; what specific landforms and mineralogies were generated during those periods; and what implications all these processes had on the possible inception of life on Mars. These fundamental questions represent large uncertainties and knowledge gaps. Therefore, a quantitative understanding of the basic characteristics of water on early Mars is very much needed and is the focus of this proposal.
This application outlines a plan for my research in the next five years, and explains how I propose to fully characterize the aqueous environments of early Mars through a quantitative and truly interdisciplinary investigation. Spacecraft mission-derived datasets will be consistently used to test hypotheses through paleogeomorphological reconstructions, geochemical modeling, mineralogical studies, and astrobiological investigations. The derived results will produce hard constraints on the physical evolution, chemical alteration and habitability of surface and near-surface aqueous environments on early Mars. The planned investigations will benefit from the combination of working with first-hand data from ongoing Mars missions and with the state-of-the-art laboratory tools at the host institution. The final expected result will be a complete understanding of the physicochemical nature of water on early Mars, also opening new paths for the astrobiological exploration of the planet.
Summary
Concepts of large bodies of glacial ice and liquid standing water, a robust hydrological cycle, and a rich Martian history of climate change are part of the current consensus model for early Mars. However, questions still poorly constrained include: a precise understanding of the inventory of water during the first billion years of Mars history and its early evolution on both global and local scales; whether liquid or solid H2O dominated, for what duration of time and where the water resided; what were the host-rock weathering rates and patterns and the physicochemical parameters defining such interactions; what specific landforms and mineralogies were generated during those periods; and what implications all these processes had on the possible inception of life on Mars. These fundamental questions represent large uncertainties and knowledge gaps. Therefore, a quantitative understanding of the basic characteristics of water on early Mars is very much needed and is the focus of this proposal.
This application outlines a plan for my research in the next five years, and explains how I propose to fully characterize the aqueous environments of early Mars through a quantitative and truly interdisciplinary investigation. Spacecraft mission-derived datasets will be consistently used to test hypotheses through paleogeomorphological reconstructions, geochemical modeling, mineralogical studies, and astrobiological investigations. The derived results will produce hard constraints on the physical evolution, chemical alteration and habitability of surface and near-surface aqueous environments on early Mars. The planned investigations will benefit from the combination of working with first-hand data from ongoing Mars missions and with the state-of-the-art laboratory tools at the host institution. The final expected result will be a complete understanding of the physicochemical nature of water on early Mars, also opening new paths for the astrobiological exploration of the planet.
Max ERC Funding
1 998 368 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-06-01, End date: 2024-05-31
Project acronym METAPoF
Project Metaphor as the Purpose of the Firm
Researcher (PI) Donal Crilly
Host Institution (HI) LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH1, ERC-2018-COG
Summary In this research programme, I connect language to managers’ sense-making about the purpose of the firm in society. Specifically, how does language reflect and shape beliefs as to whether firms should tackle societal challenges, such as inequality, resource scarcity, and climate change, rather than merely create economic value for investors? In contrast to dominant macro-level explanations focused on the institutional drivers of purpose, I propose to investigate figurative language as a micro-foundation that influences why firms choose to tackle the societal challenges they do. Figurative language, such as metaphor, has a role in shaping how people think and act. It does so by helping actors make sense of complex phenomena in terms of objects and processes they more readily understand and experience more concretely. For instance, people often describe the future in terms of the physical realities of space and motion. Emerging research at the interface of language and cognitive science documents that even subtle differences in the form of metaphor—e.g., whether we describe ourselves as approaching the future, or whether we describe the future as approaching us—can prompt distinct ways of sense-making. I have designed three empirical studies that build on this emerging research to advance understanding of how metaphor informs sense-making about the future and about one’s capacity to solve societal problems. The studies explore 1) the relationship between metaphor and understandings of purpose, 2) the relationship between management teams’ use of metaphor and investor support for corporate social engagement, and 3) the relationship between firms’ working languages and understandings of purpose. Together, the studies promise to break new ground by showing the latent influence of language on how executives make sense of the purpose of the firm in society and on how communicating purpose in different ways can mould investor reactions.
Summary
In this research programme, I connect language to managers’ sense-making about the purpose of the firm in society. Specifically, how does language reflect and shape beliefs as to whether firms should tackle societal challenges, such as inequality, resource scarcity, and climate change, rather than merely create economic value for investors? In contrast to dominant macro-level explanations focused on the institutional drivers of purpose, I propose to investigate figurative language as a micro-foundation that influences why firms choose to tackle the societal challenges they do. Figurative language, such as metaphor, has a role in shaping how people think and act. It does so by helping actors make sense of complex phenomena in terms of objects and processes they more readily understand and experience more concretely. For instance, people often describe the future in terms of the physical realities of space and motion. Emerging research at the interface of language and cognitive science documents that even subtle differences in the form of metaphor—e.g., whether we describe ourselves as approaching the future, or whether we describe the future as approaching us—can prompt distinct ways of sense-making. I have designed three empirical studies that build on this emerging research to advance understanding of how metaphor informs sense-making about the future and about one’s capacity to solve societal problems. The studies explore 1) the relationship between metaphor and understandings of purpose, 2) the relationship between management teams’ use of metaphor and investor support for corporate social engagement, and 3) the relationship between firms’ working languages and understandings of purpose. Together, the studies promise to break new ground by showing the latent influence of language on how executives make sense of the purpose of the firm in society and on how communicating purpose in different ways can mould investor reactions.
Max ERC Funding
801 926 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-04-01, End date: 2022-09-30
