Project acronym B2C
Project Beasts to Craft: BioCodicology as a new approach to the study of parchment manuscripts
Researcher (PI) Matthew COLLINS
Host Institution (HI) KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Country Denmark
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH6, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary The intention of Beasts to Craft (B2C) is to document the biological and craft records in parchment in order to reveal the entangled histories of animal improvement and parchment production in Europe from 500-1900 AD.
B2C will lay the foundations for a new approach to the the study of parchment manuscripts —biocodicology— which draws evidence from the overlooked first stages in production, the raising of livestock and the preparation of the skins.
1. Parchment is an extraordinary but overlooked high resolution zooarchaeological record and a molecular archive. Livestock genetics is revealing breed diversity and markers of character traits such as fleece quality. B2C will exploit this new-found knowledge, using progressively older dated archival (sheep) parchments to study the history of improvement 1300 - 1900. Visual examination of the skins will search for direct evidence of disease and fleece quality.
2. Craft skills can be read from parchment and, when combined with chemical data and comparison with modern analogues, will produce the first European wide record of the craft from 500-1900. The size and scope of this the parchment archive means it is one of the largest and most highly resolved records of a specialist medieval craft. We will explore how these skills develop and when and where regional patterns appear and decline.
These two remarkable records requires a large interdisciplinary team. However biocodicology draws from and informs upon a wide and diverse spectrum of existing scholarship in conservation, the arts and sciences. A third strand of the project will (i) furnish manuscript scholars with some of the information available to the scribe at time of production (ii) inform and shape attitudes to parchment conservation (iii) provide high resolution biological data on animal management, movement and health and (iv) explore methods to link datasets and promote data reuse.
Summary
The intention of Beasts to Craft (B2C) is to document the biological and craft records in parchment in order to reveal the entangled histories of animal improvement and parchment production in Europe from 500-1900 AD.
B2C will lay the foundations for a new approach to the the study of parchment manuscripts —biocodicology— which draws evidence from the overlooked first stages in production, the raising of livestock and the preparation of the skins.
1. Parchment is an extraordinary but overlooked high resolution zooarchaeological record and a molecular archive. Livestock genetics is revealing breed diversity and markers of character traits such as fleece quality. B2C will exploit this new-found knowledge, using progressively older dated archival (sheep) parchments to study the history of improvement 1300 - 1900. Visual examination of the skins will search for direct evidence of disease and fleece quality.
2. Craft skills can be read from parchment and, when combined with chemical data and comparison with modern analogues, will produce the first European wide record of the craft from 500-1900. The size and scope of this the parchment archive means it is one of the largest and most highly resolved records of a specialist medieval craft. We will explore how these skills develop and when and where regional patterns appear and decline.
These two remarkable records requires a large interdisciplinary team. However biocodicology draws from and informs upon a wide and diverse spectrum of existing scholarship in conservation, the arts and sciences. A third strand of the project will (i) furnish manuscript scholars with some of the information available to the scribe at time of production (ii) inform and shape attitudes to parchment conservation (iii) provide high resolution biological data on animal management, movement and health and (iv) explore methods to link datasets and promote data reuse.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 462 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-12-01, End date: 2023-11-30
Project acronym eCAPE
Project New energy Consumer roles and smart technologies – Actors, Practices and Equality
Researcher (PI) Kirsten GRAM-HANSSEN
Host Institution (HI) AALBORG UNIVERSITET
Country Denmark
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary The transition to a low-carbon society is vital and requires major changes in everyday life for European households, including new prosumer roles linking renewable energy production and household consumption by use of smart technologies. This implies major alterations in the materiality as well as the social organisation of everyday life. To guide this low-carbon transition, new theory development on the role of technological systems in everyday life is needed. Practice theories represent a strong approach in this; however, they have developed in opposition to understanding actors and structures as mutually interlinked. This means that major drivers, as well as consequences, for sustainable transition are being overlooked. This project will contribute with important new theory development to understand and promote a low-carbon transition as well as to ensure that this transition does not indirectly become a driver of gender and social inequality.
Three theoretical lines within theories of practice will be developed:
1. The importance of gender and social structures when studying household practices, including how these social structures influence formation of practices and how, in turn, social structures are formed by the development of practices.
2. The role of the ethical consumer in developing new practices, including how learning processes, media discourses and institutionalised knowledge influence formation of practices.
3. The inclusion of non-humans as carriers and performers of practices, rather than seeing the material arrangements only as the context for practices, especially when dealing with automated and internet connected technologies.
Quantitative and qualitative empirical research guided by these theoretical approaches will contribute with work on how future low-carbon living can be achieved and the theoretical developments will form an essential foundation for policy development towards a mandatory low-carbon transition.
Summary
The transition to a low-carbon society is vital and requires major changes in everyday life for European households, including new prosumer roles linking renewable energy production and household consumption by use of smart technologies. This implies major alterations in the materiality as well as the social organisation of everyday life. To guide this low-carbon transition, new theory development on the role of technological systems in everyday life is needed. Practice theories represent a strong approach in this; however, they have developed in opposition to understanding actors and structures as mutually interlinked. This means that major drivers, as well as consequences, for sustainable transition are being overlooked. This project will contribute with important new theory development to understand and promote a low-carbon transition as well as to ensure that this transition does not indirectly become a driver of gender and social inequality.
Three theoretical lines within theories of practice will be developed:
1. The importance of gender and social structures when studying household practices, including how these social structures influence formation of practices and how, in turn, social structures are formed by the development of practices.
2. The role of the ethical consumer in developing new practices, including how learning processes, media discourses and institutionalised knowledge influence formation of practices.
3. The inclusion of non-humans as carriers and performers of practices, rather than seeing the material arrangements only as the context for practices, especially when dealing with automated and internet connected technologies.
Quantitative and qualitative empirical research guided by these theoretical approaches will contribute with work on how future low-carbon living can be achieved and the theoretical developments will form an essential foundation for policy development towards a mandatory low-carbon transition.
Max ERC Funding
2 116 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-11-01, End date: 2023-10-31
Project acronym EVOLNA
Project Evolution of LNA Aptamers
Researcher (PI) Jesper Thagaard Wengel
Host Institution (HI) SYDDANSK UNIVERSITET
Country Denmark
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS9, ERC-2010-AdG_20100317
Summary Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides which are able to target peptides, proteins, small molecules or live cells by virtue of their well-defined three-dimensional shapes. Aptamers are typically generated by evolution of specific sequences against a given target by in vitro evolution using the process known as SELEX. Progress of this field with respect to drug development has so far been hampered by the relative large size and poor biostability of evolved aptamers composed of unmodified nucleotides, necessitating tedious and extensive post-SELEX truncation and modification approaches. LNA (locked nucleic acid) is a prominent nucleotide modification which is in the process of revolutionizing gene silencing and RNA detection. LNA however has never been included in de novo aptamer evolution. EVOLNA is an ambitious but coherent research program with the objective of transforming the field of aptamer technology. The vision is to enable evolution of aptamers that per se possess most of the desired properties, thereby alleviating the need for extensive post-SELEX procedures. This will be realized by combining the unique properties of LNA with innovative methods for LNA aptamer evolution. LNA aptamer technology is envisioned to enable evolution of aptamers displaying maximum chemical diversity, minimum size and high biostability. The developed strategies will be applicable not only towards evolution of therapeutic aptamers, which will be the main subject of this program, but also towards evolution of aptamers for biosensing, diagnostic and imaging applications. The program is at the very frontier of biotechnology research and spans the areas of chemistry, molecular biology and drug research.
Summary
Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides which are able to target peptides, proteins, small molecules or live cells by virtue of their well-defined three-dimensional shapes. Aptamers are typically generated by evolution of specific sequences against a given target by in vitro evolution using the process known as SELEX. Progress of this field with respect to drug development has so far been hampered by the relative large size and poor biostability of evolved aptamers composed of unmodified nucleotides, necessitating tedious and extensive post-SELEX truncation and modification approaches. LNA (locked nucleic acid) is a prominent nucleotide modification which is in the process of revolutionizing gene silencing and RNA detection. LNA however has never been included in de novo aptamer evolution. EVOLNA is an ambitious but coherent research program with the objective of transforming the field of aptamer technology. The vision is to enable evolution of aptamers that per se possess most of the desired properties, thereby alleviating the need for extensive post-SELEX procedures. This will be realized by combining the unique properties of LNA with innovative methods for LNA aptamer evolution. LNA aptamer technology is envisioned to enable evolution of aptamers displaying maximum chemical diversity, minimum size and high biostability. The developed strategies will be applicable not only towards evolution of therapeutic aptamers, which will be the main subject of this program, but also towards evolution of aptamers for biosensing, diagnostic and imaging applications. The program is at the very frontier of biotechnology research and spans the areas of chemistry, molecular biology and drug research.
Max ERC Funding
2 497 720 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2016-03-31
