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constraints and opportunities for horizontal gene transfer in bacterial evolution
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horizontal gene transfer hgt the movement of genetic material between individuals is a significant force fueling bacterial evolution through hgt bacteria acquire new traits develop new metabolic capabilities and learn to withstand harsh environmental conditions however in some cases hgt brings genetic information that is not advantageous to its host despite its crucial relevance for bacterial ecology and evolution understanding the selective forces that drive the success or failure of hgt remains a major challenge previous studies addressing this challenge ignored the fact that not all hgt events are alike incoming dna can be integrated into the host genome eg transposons integrons or it can stand as a physically separated autonomous dna molecule eg plasmids this difference in genomic context poses several mechanistic constraints that are likely to alter the evolutionary outcome of hgt here i will present a conceptually novel approach that explicitly considers genomic context to uncover the selective drivers of hgt in bacterial populations first i will develop a new genetic technology to obtain highthroughput fitness measurements of thousands of hgt events then i will use these data to identify and quantify the constraints that determine the success of hgt both considering the intrinsic effects of the transferred dna and the role of genomic context on host fitness specifically i will measure the fitness effects of genetic transfers mediated by plasmids obj 1 or integrated into the chromosome and in the latter case in different regions of the chromosome obj 2 finally i will leverage the rules derived from these analyses to reconstruct the role of hgt in the evolution of a relevant human pathogen obj 3 this project will provide a quantitative and mechanistic understanding of the selective forces driving hgt expanding horizons in evolutionary microbiology
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wafer scale ultraclean van der waals heterostructures
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two dimensional materials 2dm and their van der waals vdw heterostructures have opened new opportunities to developatomically thin electronic and optoelectronic devices with a wide range of functionalities while thousands of research papersdemonstrate proofofconcept studies with improved and novel performance using smallscale exfoliated crystals a number ofchallenges still remains when these are attempted to be scaled up on waferscale with cvd grown 2dm one of the key challenges isthe transfer process of 2dm from their growth substrate to another 2dm or a target substrate for intended use currently this processis performed using organic polymers to support 2dm which introduces considerable amount of contamination and mechanicaldamage to the transferred layerswe propose to circumvent the existing issues of the transfer process by employing a new technique recently invented in ngi whichcompletely avoids use of organic compounds this approach enables production of heterostructures with perfect interfaces free frominterlayer contamination and correspondingly excellent optoelectronic behaviour in addition eliminating polymeric supportsallows new possibilities for vdw heterostructure fabrication assembly at temperatures up to 600c and in different environmentsincluding ultrahigh vacuum uhv liquid submersion and improved mechanical stabilitythis project will apply our novel approach for waferscale use considering requirements of industrial companies such as the choice of2dms and wafers quality standards throughput and reliability the improved inorganic transfer technology will be then licensed to aselected 2dm foundry in addition we will develop an instrument for waferscale 2dm transfer that employs our innovative approachwhich will be made available via spinout company successful completion of the project can bring life to a wide range of industrialexploitation of 2dm in industrial nanotechnology applications
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a micromotordriven triboelectric nanogenerator with different propulsion mechanisms
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the triboelectric effect is always considered a negative phenomenon in daily life and this perception was altered when the first triboelectric nanogenerator teng was proposed in 2012 as a new energy source to date the tengs are well developed by thousands of researchers across the world utilizing human activities water waves wind and rain drops however there is still a gap between triboelectricity and other energy sources for example chemical energy and light inspired from natural immunocytes artificial micromotors mms referred to microscale particles capable of converting different energy sources into kinetic energy were well developed since 2004 the objective of this project is to apply mms in teng design mmteng as an alternative strategy for electricity generation which is expected to build up a bridge between other energy sources and electric energy through triboelectricity the project will focus on i the fabrication of the dielectric mm and the motion analysis under required circumstances with different propulsion mechanism ii the assembly of a freestanding teng with metal electrodes and electrifiable polymer membrane iii the measurement of the triboelectricity converted from different energy sourcesthis interdisciplinary project will be supported by i a worldrenowned expert in micronanomachines and electrochemistry prof martin pumera as the host and the facilities at central european institute of technology ii colleagues specialized in electrochemistry and triboelectricity iii excellent trainings for both scientific skills and soft skills workshops and seminars together with the researchers own experiences in mmsin research aspect it is always of great importance to develop new energy sources in career aspect with the international working environment and the inspiring research topics in the interdisciplinary field this project will be a boost to the researchers future academic career
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provision of integrated computational approaches for addressing new markets goals for the introduction of safeandsustainablebydesign chemicals and materials
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safeandsustainablebydesign materials and chemicals admaschems are a central requirement for reaching the ambitious goal of making europe the first digitallyenabled circular climateneutral and sustainable economy pink will provide an open innovation platform supporting industry byinnovate new computational approaches for admaschems development and for assessing their safety and sustainability performances by a integrating data and predictive models and b complement them with new ai techniques for data searches integrate these into a computational ssbd framework by translating industrial requirements and new market demands into decision support as well as training and skill development needsprovide an integrated platform the pinkish platform providing decision support based on advanced data visualisation and generative ai technologies based on all generated datafairify the information exchange along the valuechain and life cycle of admaschems by developing an advanced interoperability framework sharing the corresponding approaches and fair tools with the communities and making data models workflows and software fair and whenever possible publicly availablevalidate the newly developed pink models and software as well as the pinkish platform on two developmental casestudiesboost the innovation capacity of industry in general and that of smes in particular by making all pink innovations accessible promoting the costeffective tools further demonstrate these in a number of industrial demonstrators and encouraging their sharing and use through dedicated training and skillsdevelopment this will be the starting point for implementing a business plan for commercialisation and longterm sustainability of the platformthe pink project will run for 48 months it is organised in 6 work packages wps representing the tasks above 1 wp for initiating community outreach refine and 3 coordination and dissemination wps
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character values and their relation with finite groups structure
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research will be conducted on character theory of finite groups specifically on characters values and fields of values two new ambitious problems will be investigated one is a globallocal problem concerning irreducible characters of a group and of his sylow normalizers and it will be investigated using machine learning methods the other consists in searching for a family of irreducible characters which behaves well in relation with elements of prime power order my research will have a considerable impact in the field of character theory and it will have possible applications in other fields of group theory the use of of machine learning methods in my research may have an impact extending beyond group theory as it could suggest a similar use in other fields of mathematicsresearch to be conducted in kaiserslautern under the supervision of prof malle eminent researcher in the field of character theory of finite groups of lie type training on machine learning to be conducted in the cs department of the hosting university further training will be conducted on character theory of nonabelian simple groups and possibly as a teaching assistant in group theory
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the synaptic active zone as a signaling hub for sleep homeostasis and resilience
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resilience designates the ability of the brain to cope with and adapt to stressful situations sleep homeostasis is tightly linked to resilience and the sleep deficits observed alongside neurodegeneration probably operate as direct drivers of neurodegeneration however the knowledge gaps still remain huge and causally bridging the molecularcellular with the behavioral and organismic level remains a challenge hampering progress equally for biomedical and basic researchour recent data suggest that a form of presynaptic active zone plasticity prescale widely triggered in sleepdeprived drosophila brains can enhance the brain resilience to cope with the adverse effects of sleep deprivation concretely genetically fostering prescale in sleepless mutants rescued them from their reduced lifetime stress sensitivity cognitive deficits and hyperexcitability due to too low levels of voltagegated potassium channelsin synprotect we seek to test our hypothesis that prescale constitutes a globallyoperating homeostatic plasticity mechanism remodeling presynaptic terminals comprehensively to tune resilience statesin order to test this idea we will elucidate the core molecular scenario executing and bidirectionally regulating prescale and consequently decipher how exactly the remodeling of the mere presynaptic active zones and local excitability tuning via potassium channels intersect at the presynaptic terminal in parallel we will test whether prescale is needed to enhance resilience in a brainwide fashion or if its modus operandi is more local genetic manipulation of prescale will allow us to define brain states of high andlow resilience which we will dissect combining superresolution and in vivo activity imaging and proteomic tools thus we will open the way towards a comprehensive insight into the activity signaling and metabolic profile of brain resilience
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sprayinduced gene silencing using bacterial extracellular vesicles for dsrna delivery to manage fungal diseases in agricultural and forest systems
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fungal plant diseases are responsible for yield and quality losses in agroecosystems and also threaten the sustainability of forest ecosystems worldwide the management of fungal diseases in agroecosystems often relies on the intensive use of chemical fungicides which have negative impacts on the environment and may lead to the emergence of resistant strains at the same time fungal diseases are rarely managed in forest systems due to the scarcity of viable options sprayinduced gene silencing sigs is a novel management approach based on the ability of certain organisms including plant pathogenic fungi to take up doublestranded rna dsrna from the environment which can induce gene silencing in the target organism thus essential or virulencerelated genes can be specifically targeted by dsrnas in sigs preventing or reducing disease development and providing a biobased alternative to chemical fungicides in agroecosystems and a promising option for forest systems however the easy degradation of dsrna under environmental conditions is a major hurdle in adapting this technology for widespread use here we propose to use bacterial extracellular vesicles bevs as dsrna delivery vehicles in sigs my previous research experience has shown that artificial vesicles can encapsulate and protect dsrnas that target fungal genes through spray applications inducing gene silencing in several plant pathogenic fungi in this proposal we plan to develop a technology based on dsrna encapsulation into bacterial extracellular vesicles bevs to target two fungal species in the genus fusarium one that infects highvalue horticultural crops and one that infects forest pine trees through a carefully designed plan based on my research background and the expertise of my host institution we aim to develop sigs technologies based on bevs that will contribute to the sustainable management of fungal diseases in agricultural and forest systems
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pancreatic cancer initial detection via liquid biopsy
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pancreatic cancer pdac is usually detected at late stages and most patients die within one year after diagnosis in pancaid we will therefore develop a blood test for early detection of pdac despite tremendous technological advances in liquid biopsy diagnostics lbx this goal is very ambitious because small tumors release only minute amounts of cells or cellular products eg dna rna protein metabolites into the circulation thus tests with a high sensitivity are required but increases in sensitivity are usually achieved on the expenses of reduced specificity which can lead to significant overdiagnosis leading to unnecessary stress for the individuals with a falsepositive blood test and high costs for the health system in pancaid we will therefore establish a blood test with high accuracy by analyzing large cohorts of patients with pdac and its precursor lesions individuals at risk to develop pdac and appropriate agematched control groups healthy and noncancer diseases frequent in the targeted population ambitious objectives of pancaid include 1 establishment of a unique resource of blood samples of early pdac and risk groups wp1 2 establishment of a breakthrough blood test for early diagnosis of pdac wp2 3 identification of the best composite biomarker panel by integrating multimodal features in an aiassisted computational analysis 4 analysis of the socioeconomic impact of early pdac diagnosis wp4 and 5 definition of the ethics parameters relevant to early pdac detection wp5 a robust multibiomarker panel will be determined during the training period year 13 and subsequently validated on biobanked blood samples year 45 depending on the outcome of this comprehensive analysis pancaid will provide the design of a future prospective study for validation of the developed composite blood test in an international multicenter setting required to introduce lbx into screening programs for highrisk individuals this action is part of the cancer mission cluster of projects on prevention including screening
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greenh2 production from water and bioalcohols by full solar spectrum in a flow reactor
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water splitting for h2 production driven by solar energy is quite attractive while the current efficiency is very moderate due to both the extremely sluggish water oxidation half reaction and limited light harvesting mostly uvvisible light in addition the separation of one product h2 from the other o2 during water splitting is very costly the project is designed to address these challenges by i utilizing the full solar spectrum 3002500nm instead of uvvisible light 300700nm ii coupling water splitting with biomassderivative oxidation to avoid water oxidation iii well combining solid zscheme uvvisible photocatalysis and infrareddriven thermal catalysis and iv using a flow double tube reactor other than batch reactors thus targeting to produce green h2 from both water and biomass with a high quantum yield of 60 furthermore the project will coproduce highvalue chemicals with a high selectivity of 90 in addition the integration of lowcost and efficient catalysts with novel flow reactors will assure a continuous and efficient production of h2 and highvalue chemicals the entire process does not use fossil fuels nor produce co2 thus a zero carbonemission technology finally the system can be readily scaled up by numbering up the reactor modules all these are built upon a multidisciplinary and international consortium with the global experts in photocatalysis thermal catalysis reactor engineering product separation simulation and social science therefore the scientific and technical challenges as well as the environmental societal and economic impacts will be fully addressed in the project the proposed technology will typically benefit the eu economy by an innovative green h2 production process from water and biomass heavily contributing to a low carbon society in addition the international team including members from asia will facilitate the technology exploitation out of the eu to further benefit the eu economy
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design and synthesis of novel inhibitors of the antiinfective target ispe
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due to the current antimicrobial resistance crisis addressing underexplored targets to afford antiinfective compounds with novel modes of action is urgently needed antimicrobial resistance not only poses a threat to public health but is a substantial cost burden on the healthcare system this proposal focuses on the design and synthesis of novel inhibitors of the target 4diphosphocytidyl2cmethylderythritol kinase ispe ispe catalyzes the fourth step in the 2cmethylderythritol 4phosphate mep pathway which is essential for medically relevant pathogens eg enterobacter coli klebsiella pneumoniae mycobacterium tuberculosis and pseudomonas aeruginosa but entirely absent in humans making this enzyme a promising drug target we will initially explore drug fragments through the screening of carefully constructed fragment libraries followed by hittolead optimization for promising compounds target confirmation will be performed using a biologically active smallmolecule photocrosslinking probe and a crystal structure of ispe obtained in complex with a promising inhibitor the investigation of potential for therapeutic intervention via inhibition of ispe will result in several potent inhibitors enhancing the knowledge of this underexplored enzyme target and opening up access for further exploration of potent inhibitors this research will greatly contribute to the discovery of novel antiinfective agents leading to decreased morbidity and mortality in patients economical benefits for the health care system in the european union as well as globally
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revealing the architecture of replicated human chromosomes by sisterchromatidsensitive fluorescence in situ hybridisation
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the extremely long dna molecules encoding complex genomes of higher eukaryotes must be organised inside the tiny volume of cells so that the genetic information can be read maintained and propagated across cell generations genomic dna is folded into loops such that contacts between distant dna elements can mediate transcriptional regulation or assembly of mechanically stiff mitotic chromosomes following dna replication each chromosome contains two dna molecules which interact with each other to support homologydirected repair during interphase and dna compaction during mitosisadvances in sequencing technology and superresolution microscopy have revealed the 3d structure of chromosomes with unprecedented resolution but conventional methods cannot distinguish between the identical sequence present in replicated sisterchromatids the gerlich lab has recently developed a new sequencingbased technique termed sisterchromatidsensitive scshic which allows the discrimination of intra from intermolecular contacts in replicated chromosomes however scshic can only inform on interaction probabilities and does not reveal the actual 3d structure in single cellstherefore the aim of my proposed project is to establish a sisterchromatidsensitive fluorescence in situ hybridisation scsfish method for the highly multiplexed and automated detection of the 3d architecture of replicated genomes within individual cells the ringshaped cohesin complex is a key regulator of chromosome structure by forming loops within dna molecules and by linking sisterchromatids by depleting cohesin core subunitsregulators i will use scsfish to understand how cohesin structures replicated chromosomes i will further investigate how sisterchromatid conformation influences the efficiency of homologydirected repair at doublestrand breaks my project will hence provide insights into the organisation of replicated genomes with important implications for genomic integrity
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galactic archaeology based on kband and optical spectroscopy
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the standard paradigm of the buildup of spiral galaxies recognises a twophase scenario that comprises a quasimonolithic formation of the bulge earlyon followed by the gradual assembly of the disk however recent observational evidence strongly suggests joint formation and perpetual coevolution of both structures elucidating this process in its full complexity is of key astrophysical relevance and only possible through accurate characterisation of the main stellar components bulge disk and bar these are primarily studied via photometric decomposition techniques conventionally by extrapolating the exponential profile of the disk up to the galactic centre though hardly ever questioned this is a strong assumption with broad and farreaching implications which could effectively be violated particularly if the disk evolves in tandem with the bulge our latest work breda et al 2020b provided for the first time indirect observational evidence for a central downbending of the disk reinforcing theoretical predictions this project galykos will pioneer an unprecedented exploration of the central region of spiral galaxies through the combination of two techniques ie spatially resolved spectral synthesis and kinematical schwarzschild orbital decomposition of optical and kband integral field spectroscopy data this innovative methodology will permit to quantitatively constrain the true structure of the disk within the galactic centre and explore its dependence on the physical properties of spirals revolutionizing photometric decomposition studies apart from opening new routes for the exploration of the assembly history of galaxies this action will prompt for conceptual changes in our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution finally it will rectify wellestablished galaxy scaling relations such as supermassive black hole vs bulge and yield crucial insight into the nature of bulgeless galaxies a remaining challenge for the cdm model
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institutional discrimination in explicit action how policies shape inequalities
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this research project explores the consequences of institutional discrimination ie discriminatory treatment of individuals based on their membership to a certain group perpetuated by organizations in particular the project explores two policies that created institutional discrimination and aims at causally estimating the impacts on the socioeconomic outcomes of affected individuals in order to causally estimate the effects of institutional discrimination i will make use of rich administrative data from the netherlands and exploit quasirandom variation in exposure to institutional discrimination induced by the dutch institutional context in the first work package i will use a combination of rich administrative data machine learning methods and a differenceindifferences research design to study the effects of the dutch childcare benefit scandal this scandal arose when the dutch tax authorities started to target fraud investigations and heavily punish even small administrative mistakes using an algorithm that was biased against individuals with a nondutch nationality in the second work package i will use rich dutch administrative records matched with unique data from the social housing corporation in rotterdam and a differenceindifferences research design to study the effects of the rotterdam act this dutch policy created institutional discrimination by prohibiting access to social housing to some groups of individuals in disadvantaged neighbourhoods both studies will investigate the effect of institution discrimination on a wide array of socioeconomic outcomes including labour market participation welfare receipt wealth health and criminal involvement the results of this project will be of interest to a wide audience as they will contribute to our understanding of how institutional discrimination might affect vulnerable groups in the population
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development and exploitation of new molecular tools to understand rhamnogalacturonanii metabolism in plants
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most plants cells have a wall protecting them from environmental stress and diseases caused by pathogens the cell wall is made up of a network of complex carbohydrates including rhamnogalacturonan ii rgii a major component of pectin rgii is the most complex carbohydrate in nature and has been shown to play a critical role in plant growth development and protection from environmental stresses mutations altering the structure and composition of rgii for example have been shown to lead to strong developmental phenotypes or lethality and decreased crop yields rgii components have been shown to be targeted by plant pathogens responsible for significant crop losses in agriculture and recently in the human diet by beneficial species of the human gut microbiota a key player in hostmicrobial interactions despite its importance and potential we know very little about how rgii is made and how it performs its functions due to its complex nature and lack of appropriate tools to study it i have recently developed a molecular tool box including a genetic approach using the gut microbe bacteroides thetaiotaomicron to generate diverse chemically defined rgiiderived oligosaccharides rgiidegrading enzymes and recently new rgii binding proteins and oligosaccharides i will expand this toolbox generate highthroughput technologies and later exploit them to enhance our understanding of rgii biosynthesis in plants this work will form the foundation to allow fine modulation of rgii structures for both plant and human health benefiti am a british national and i completed my phd at newcastle university uk through a uk commonwealth scholarship i have significant experience in glycobiology microbial genetics and enzymology at boku university i will have the opportunity to develop skills in synthetic chemistry glycan array development and exploitation and plant protein expression in various hosts including human embryonic kidney hek cells and purification
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hormonemicrobiome interactions as a keyplayer in female health
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incidence rates of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases are increasing dramatically and a clear sex bias exists in disease presentation and progression while the underlying reasons are largely unknown hormones are hypothesized to play a central role in these discrepancies and the microbiome is linked to disease pathology however a key understudied player is the interplay between hormones and the microbiome in human healthcrucially hormonemicrobiome interactions in the human body are poorly understood microbes produce hormonelike signals and play a role in hormone metabolism and regulation while hormones influence bacterial growth it is currently unknown how the menstrual cycle impacts the microbiome and how disruptions of this natural cycle impact female health i have identified unique fluctuations in microbial diversity in healthy women that are absent in men and altered in women on hormonal contraceptives there is a lack of medical research focusing on female physiology particularly investigating endocrinological changes and disruptions understanding the consequences of endocrinerelated disruptions and how hormonemicrobiome interactions contribute to them is a fundamental step towards precision medicine that will benefit both women and mentherefore i will systematically investigate hormonemicrobiome interactions in 1 healthy women on and off hormonal contraceptives 2 women at menopause and 3 infertile women receiving fertility treatment i will integrate clinical data with stateoftheart multiomics profiles using computational approaches and i will combine these with mechanistic validation using bacterial strains isolated from the female subjects at the end of my project we will know how exogenous and endogenous hormones interact with the microbiome and how they impact female health further we will identify biomarkers for optimal treatment of infertility and propose new microbiomebased therapeutic strategies for this disorder
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detection of the different phases of mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and prediction of the development of tuberculosis disease progression by application of novel interferon gamma release assay
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tuberculosis disease tb is the second leading infectious killer after covid19 above hivaids the main reason is due to high ability of the bacteria mycobacterium tuberculosis mtb to hide after infection and lack of the precise and sensitive tests able to detect different forms of tb and indicate disease progression therefore the aim of this project is to search and investigate new antigens that could be used not only for the detection of different phases of mycobacterium tuberculosis infection but also could be used for precise prognostic tool to achieve this goal the experience of the applicant in a ltbi diagnostics medical microbiology and molecular biology will be combined with hands on training in a field of bioinformatics and in silico approaches supported by artificial intelligence computational and experimental methods applied for structural analysis of proteins supporting strategic decisions in detection system development as part of the world health organizations who end tb strategy to reduce the mortality and incidence rates of tb by 90 and 80 respectively in 2025 and further reduction by 95 and 90 in 2035 reverse efforts to focus on tb infection management as one of the tb preventive care approaches for the longterm situation of tb prevention and treatment are highly needed the main goal of this proposal is to better understand molecular basic of the tb infection and progression aiming identification of the new antigens which later can provide a new avenue for designing of novel interferon gamma release assays igra test for detection of different phases of tb infection and predict active tb disease progression we hypothesise that using latency associated protein candidates and ifnproducing cd8 t cells specific mtb antigens we will be able to achieve these goals
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immunological mechanisms of respiratory coinfections
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despite the concept that infectious diseases are usually caused by a single pathogen in reality we are constantly challenged by multiple pathogens and growing evidence indicates that coinfections are a much more common event than clinically perceived the respiratory tract is the first point of contact with airborne pathogens and the most common site for infections hence human respiratory infections contribute to substantial morbidity and economic losses worldwide resulting in approximately 25 million deaths each year recent findings have shed light on a crucial factor in the severity of respiratory infections the role of coinfections considering the public health importance of respiratory infections and the scarcity of research on the impact of coinfections in the balance of immune defences this project proposes to study the in vitro and in vivo effects of diverse parasitic viral and bacterial coinfections on different types of immune cells in the lungs and comprehensively characterize tissue local microenvironment and hostpathogen interactions additionally we will investigate the immunomodulatory effects of protozoan infections on vaccines and chemotherapy treatments and their impact on the protection against targeted pathogens objectives include elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying immunological responses in the lungs and the susceptibility to coinfections investigate altered immune responses of vaccines and the changes in the response to coinfection after chemotherapy of the primary infection in the end this study will allow deeper understanding of respiratory coinfections that could pave the way for the development of improved diagnostic and prognostic techniques as well as the potential for proposing supportive treatments and vaccines notwithstanding the development of this project will open up new avenues for future coinfection research and propel the fellow towards establishment as a successful independent researcher
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innovative solutions for mediterranean ecosystem remediation via monitoring and decontamination from chemical pollution
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the mediterranean sea and its surrounding regions support a diverse variety of essential socioeconomic activities it is one of the highly exploited water ways and the influence of anthropogenic activities on its marine habitats and ecosystems has grown significantly since the industrial revolution because of this the mediterranean sea basin is very vulnerable to chemical contamination and buildup to safeguard the mediterranean sea basin from contaminants for emerging concerns coec imermaid will integrate coordinate and synergize innovative preventive monitoring and remediation solutions imermaid will build an evidencebased multidimensional framework that will guide policymaking and transform societal perceptions to reduce coec usage emissions and pollution furthermore next generation sensor and remediation solutions will be developed within imermaid to monitor and remove prioritized chemicals from its source while reducing upstream pollution imermaid builds an ideal interdisciplinary team by bringing together prominent smes researchers regulators and innovation professionals who have been essential in improving the knowledge and awareness of coec beyond stateoftheart techniques imermaid will strive to strengthen regulations against coec expand economic possibilities and competitiveness improve the standard of living for eu residents while preventing the accumulation of chemical pollution in the mediterranean sea basin imermaid will empower the efforts to create a zero pollution contaminant free waters by enabling the chemical strategys goals to become a practical reality
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hydrogen production by innovative solid oxide cell for flexible operation at intermediate temperature
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according to longterm goals of eu renewable hydrogen will become an energy vector for decarbonisation of the eu economy the technology of solid oxidebased electrolysers soel can become a key technological advantage for eu to become a world leader in hydrogen economy the hyspire project aims at further boosting the potential of soel by lowering the operating temperature below 700c and increasing its flexibility in order to fit with res generation profileswithin the project novel cells will be developed towards achieving strict kpis such as low degradation equal to or lower than 075 per 1000 h operation at high current densities ca 12 acm2 and ability to operate dynamically and fast ramping the goal will be reach by the means of developing and applying new materials advanced manufacturing techniques and optimized cell and stack designs the hyspire project will aim at developing oxygen ion and protonconducting cells osoe and psoe respectively on both ceramic and metallic supports therefore analysing broad range of technological possibilities the new cells and stacks will go beyond the soa technology in terms of designs performance and operation the consortium of the project brings together a recognized european stack manufacturer solydera top players in the development of materials for socs expertise in fabrication as well as unique testing capacities and knowhow in technology assessment technoeconomic analysis supported by the lca will be used for the evaluation of project novelties and the market potential the project will cover definition of barriers and research directions to achieve sria objectives such as reduction of hydrogen production cost to 3 kg by 2030 reduction of capex 520 kgkw and opex 45 kgkw moreover the technology of cells and stacks the effects of hyspire will be designed for largescale production and tailored for coupling with res and other industry sectors
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next generation zerowaste dynamic multivalorization route biorefinery for sustainable botanical ingredientsshowcasing a replicable and versatile model from extremadura to biobased industry in eu
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sustainext is led by natac and brings together 21 partners from europe and spain 7 of them from the extremadura region the project will start in june 2023 and will last four and a half years in summary the technological objective of the project is to implement on an industrial scale a digital dynamic versatile disruptive and multiproduct biorefinery with a processing capacity of 20000 tonnes per year and following a netzero carbon strategy this firstofitskind flagship will transform the plantbased ingredients sector while showcasing and deploying a firstof its kind model likely to be replicable by the whole european biobased industry sustainext aims to transform natacs current production plant located in hervs in the north of extremadura into the most modern digital innovative and sustainable plant extracts factory in the world placing the company and the region at the forefront of the sector at a global level the model is based in the integration of the whole supply chain from feedstock to end users applying a disruptive circular model based on a smart dynamic analytical biorefinery dyana a smart dynamic biorefining process for the cascade valorisation of feedstocks which is optimized batchwise according to the initial composition of the feedstock to deliver maximum value with minimum environmental impact and ensure resource efficiency dyana will allow to achieve the complete valorisation of the processed feedstock with a zerowaste and zeroemissions ambitionsustainext will be industrially deployed with six sustainably and locally sourced european feedstocks three medicinal and aromatic crops rosemary camomile and lemon verbena will be cultivated in extremadura in disused tobacco fields as an alternative towards healthier crops and also between solar panels agrivoltaics enhancing soil use three agroindustrial side streams olive artichokecardoon and pomegranate will showcase how biomass upcycling represents an opportunity to give a new life to certain underexploited biobased feedstockssustainext flagship will deliver 46 plantbased healthy extracts and functional ingredients out of which 13 are totally new on the market and 12 are newly produced in europe it will generate a revenue of 271 m will create more than 5000 new green jobs direct and indirect and will have a decisive socioeconomic impact in extremadura
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understanding the age pattern of mortality from gestation to age five years in india
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the prevention of stillbirths together with ending newborn and child deaths are firstorder human development priorities sustainable development goals sdg aim to end all preventable deaths before age 5 years by 2030 the research project aims to contribute to this goal by radically enhancing our understanding of human mortality at the beginning of life using novel data and methods suited to study mortality by detailed age before and after birth the innovation of this project lies in its ambitious goal to 1 identify the ages at which fetuses and children are the most vulnerable and 2 identify the underlying factors of such vulnerability the research project is focused on india the home of the highest number of stillbirths and neonatal deaths ie deaths before 28 days of age in the world respectively 340000 and 490000 in 2020 india is also the only large country where under5 mortality is higher for girls than for boys using public and nonpublic data i aim to identify for the first time and with focus on gender discrimination 1 the causes of excess neonatal mortality 2 potential excess fetal mortality and 3 the agespecific impact of climate change on under5 mortality the central hypothesis that i propose to test is the large impact of fetal growth restriction through maternal malnutrition on excess fetal and neonatal mortality the research project also calls attention to the vulnerability of older children above age 1 year to infectious and parasitic diseases that are increased by climate change by providing new scientific evidence and policy recommendations about the agespecific vulnerability of fetuses and children the project will be of significant value to researchers policymakers but also actors involved in field trials of health interventions in india the results of this project will also have policy relevance in a broader context including south asia and subsaharan africa
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a land of joiners a gender history of volunteer fire departments in a threeborderregion of east central europe in times of political transformation 19181989
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this project looks at east central european ece history by focusing on nonstate actors and particularly on voluntary associations challenging the received view that western europe we and the atlantic world are the authentic cradle of associations and of an appropriate and healthy civil society eg the usa often epitomised as the nation of joiners this project interprets voluntary associations in ece as variation of and not deviation from a uniquebutuniversalized we and atlantic model new studies on associational life in ece suggest that wellestablished theoretical dichotomies like statenonstate governmentalcivil publicprivate need to be overcome and argue that voluntary associations always actively interacted with the political context and contributed to shaping it giomipetrungaro 2019 this research seeks to revisit these theses by focusing on a particular voluntary association voluntary fire departments vfd which in ece exists almost uninterruptedly since the mid19th century under democratic authoritarian or dictatorial regimes alike focusing on social history from below and transnational connections this research will interrogate the question in what way did political ruptures from the end of the first world war until the end of the cold war in ece alter membership structure and gender policies of vfds as well as how did vfds interact and react with the political ruptures in regard to social inclusion and exclusion along the lines of gender the project covers the territories of todays austria hungary and slovenia but more specifically three regions burgenland vas and prekmurje where the concentration of vfd is the largest worldwide by seeking to counter the marginalisation of volunteering within the social histories of ece and of ece within the global histories of voluntary associations the project contributes to the current debates about gender equality and equal participation in the european union
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mechanisms of tissue size regulation in spinal cord development
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how the organs of a developing organism achieve their correct size and shape is a fundamental unresolved question in biology mammalian embryos possess a remarkable ability to regulate restore the correct size of their tissues and organs upon perturbations during early development yet how this is achieved is unknown addressing this question has so far been challenging because it requires a multiscale approach that integrates precise measurements with theoretical frameworks we are now in an excellent position to unravel the mechanisms by which the mouse spinal cord regulates its size and shape during development by building on our experience with quantitative studies in this system we previously obtained quantitative spatiotemporal data of growth pattern and morphogen signalling dynamics in the spinal cord we showed that there is a critical period during which morphogen signaling is interpreted to specify cell fates uncovered a mechanism that allows precise pattern formation and identified a link between the growth rate and tissue anisotropy our expertise now enables us to address the following new questions 1 how is size regulation in the spinal cord achieved at the tissue and cellular level 2 what is the molecular mechanism of size regulation in particular the role of morphogen signaling 3 how is the regulation of spinal cord size linked to the regulation of its shape to address these questions we will combine precisely controlled ex vivo assays in organoids and whole embryo culture and in vivo advanced mouse genetics and mosaic analysis we will obtain highly resolved dynamic data and interpret it in the context of rigorous theoretical frameworks the project will advance our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of tissue size control and the constraints they impose in regeneration and disease our results will have implications for in vitro tissue engineering and research on multiorgan coordination and robustness during development
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digitallyenabled flexible industries for reliable energy grids under high penetration of variable renewable energy sources vres
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flexindustries builds upon a holistic multidisciplinary device process and valuechain and multiscale operating tactical and strategic approach fostering its 6 multisector automotive biofuels polymers steel fertilizers pharmaceuticals energy intensive industries design and deploy the most suitable energy efficiency measures and process flexibility methods for their industrial environments along with a positive impact onto their interconnection with the electrical heating networks flexindustries develops and demonstrates a dynamic energy process management platform to monitor analyse and optimize the most energyintensive industrial processes by managing properly emerging demand response mechanisms and providing plant and process flexibility as well as offering grid services the unique premise of flexindustries is the optimal integration of i innovative energy generation storage and conversion assets eg bess and waste heat recovery solutions based on novel hps orc and heat exchangers systems ii smart and digital tools for optimised operation and control all supported by iii novel business models and market mechanisms for enhanced industrial flexibility overall flexindustries has the potential to save a 159 gwh y of primary energy in total b 60 my life cycle costs on demo scale and c 33111 co2eqy emissions at project level demonstration will take place in 6 industrial facilities in 5 reference countries turkey greece poland bulgaria and italy and will feature a energy efficiency and operational flexibility along with process redesignmodification b increased levels of electrification digitalisation and automation c enhanced user satisfaction and grid flexibility services and d decreased environmental footprint a highly competent team of 16 large enterprises 6 research institutes 8 smes 2 universities and 3 nonprofit organizations are assembled to ensure flexindustries success
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sustainable resilient dataenabled offshore wind farm and control codesign
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wind energy is crucial for realizing climate neutrality energy independence and energy security with the increased penetration of renewables in the electricity grid there is a strong need for control technology to determine the number of electrons to produce and their destination eg grid storage hydrogen for maximum value to the energy system whereas the technology available on the market exclusively maximizes the energy yield the future lies with optimization for cost of valued energy cove which considers energy security storage fluctuating electricity prices turbine component wear and turbine lifetime therefore sudoco will develop opensource technology for resilient and dataenabled offshore wind farm control and codesign we will use key aspects and insights in wind farm operation to develop the control room of the future that will allow operators to control wind farm output and loads by minimizing the cove sudoco will combine novel dynamic control algorithms hybrid physicsbased and datadriven models for the design of physical farms considering their governing control laws which are safeguarded against adversarial threats and thirdparty fraud our data driven integrated control tool chain will be trained validated and optimized using several highfidelity datasets these include data from fullscale dedicated wake steering control experiments performed at the 69 11mw turbines in the hollandse kust noord wind farm we will also perform unprecedented wind farm control experiments with scaled wind turbine models in the largest boundary layer wind tunnel in europesudoco will target a cove reduction of 10 and includes means to minimize environmental impact as well as address the variability of the wind resource sudoco will deliver the first intelligent integrated wind farm control and design solution for reliable safe and cost effective operation of large bottomfixed and floating offshore wind farms
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women entrepreneurs in renewable innovative and sustainable enterprises
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the european union leads globally in sustainable and climate technologies yet maintaining this leadership necessitates ensuring broad accessibility across all member states for greentech agritech and climatech innovators despite significant potential disparities persist in gender inclusivity and resource distribution risking the exclusion of certain regions and stakeholders without interventionthe werise project addresses these challenges by empowering underrepresented female entrepreneurs in greentech agritech and climatetech through a strategic blend of funding and tailored support the consortium aims to amplify the market presence of highpotential womenled startups particularly from emerging european economiesthe projects pillars include amplifying market presence through targeted funding and investor matchmaking integrating startups into the ecosystem through crossborder acceleration activities and providing a holistic growth program by prioritising inclusivity diversity and systemic change werise seeks to enhance the impact and visibility of greenwomenled startups contributing to the broader advancement of the european innovation ecosystem towards sustainability
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macroeconomic trends and the efficiency of financial markets
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financial markets constitute the backbone of modern economies intermediating resources from those who have them ie lenders to those who can put them to productive use ie borrowers a defining feature of these markets is that lenders give up goods today in exchange for a promise to receive goods in the future clearly these promises are only valuable if they are expected to be honoured we can think of promises as being backed by collateral which for the purpose of this proposal i use as a generic term to denote the stream of future income that borrowers can credibly pledge it is an economys stock of collateral that determines the amount and type of promises that can be traded and thus the ability of financial markets to intermediate resources efficiently in past research i have studied the key determinants and effects of an economys total stock of collateral but there is a crucial aspect of the problem that deserves further study in a world of heterogeneous agents what matters for the allocative efficiency of financial markets is not just the overall stock of collateral but also its distribution across firms sectors and countries moreover this distribution is largely endogenous as it is shaped by general equilibrium forces and is bound to change when the economy does in this proposal i focus on three major ongoing shifts in the global economy and their effects on the distribution of collateral and the efficiency of financial markets i declining interest rates ii rising market power and iii shifting distribution of power across countries
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de sitter space holography and quantum information
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new approaches to de sitter ds space holography open a promising avenue for quantum gravity in ds space simultaneously newly developed quantum information tools allow us to study those proposals and their properties it is the objective of this project to study holography in ds space using quantum information toolsi would like to use quantum information to find an alternative description of ds space in terms of an exact quantum mechanical model for this i will explore different recent approaches to ds space holography including the idea of defining a holographic theory on the stretched cosmological horizon and the use of holographic flow geometries i will use novel measures from the world of quantum information entanglement complexity out of time ordered correlation functions chaos and thermalization and compare their behavior to numerical results for possible candidates of a quantum mechanical dual theory this detailed study will allow me to identify a precise quantum mechanical dual for ds spacethe project will have a major impact on the way we understand quantum gravity in ds space bringing holography from the theoretical realm where gravity lives in a box to a realworld applicable scenario it is further expected that extending holographic quantum information beyond antide sitter ads space to a larger class of theories will draw new and important lessons for quantum information and quantum computationit is the perfect time to conduct this line of research while ds space holography has been a longtime endeavour in theoretical physics progress in lowdimensional holography and quantum information makes it now possible to address it from a novel and concrete point of view i have been a pioneer in applying quantum information tools in ads space and have worked on the new approaches to ds holography i therefore believe that i am the right person to carry out this promising line of research
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ethics and moral life in the 18th century a new take on early modern ethics
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early modern ethics has so far been investigated with regard to the debates on the foundations of morality moral knowledge and the status of moral principles despite their achievements the main limit of previous studies is that they have largely disregarded the distinctive purpose of ethics in that age that is to provide guidance about specific moral issues even the discussion on the abstract topics on which most studies have focused was in fact sustained by the purpose of providing the appropriate tools for leading a good life this applies especially to 18thcentury moral philosophers who devoted most of their efforts to an allencompassing examination of the most significant demands in all areas of morality presenting themselves as moral experts in sharp contrast to previous scholarship the present project centres on that underlying ambition the focus will be the raison detre of 18thcentury treatments of morality that is to provide practical guidance thereby the project intends to reorient the studies on the history of early modern ethics the proposed research will be highly innovative both 1 because of its topics and 2 because of its approach 1 the project gives prominence to neglected clusters of issues that defined the main concern of 18thcentury moral philosophers the duties to oneself and others the moral relevance of our conduct towards animals the extent of disagreement about moral questions2 unlike most current scholarship the investigation will have not a monographic but a thematic and comparative approach examining different takes on the same issueson both sides the project has in view an impact that goes well beyond the mere scope of the proposed research by suggesting a much broader perspective on a distinctive contribution of philosophy to european culture which offers insights on currently much discussed issues about the status and aims of ethics
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the representative disconnect diagnosis and strategies for rectification
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the focus of redirect is to study the current transformation of democratic polities in europe to realise whether and how their centres of gravity are shifting and to improve our understanding of the representative disconnect a multidimensional phenomenon of regression of the demoskratos linkage involving institutional behavioral and affective components redirect moves from the idea to study representative democracy in a comprehensive manner connecting several relevant dimensions of analysis in order to extract sustainable ideas and viable instruments to cope with the current problems of democracy in flux these in turn will allow a parsimonious formulation of remedies to be activated both at the institutional level ie assuring a future to crucial mediating bodies of representatives democracy like parties leaders parliamentary institutions and at the level of civil societyin parallel to a critical review of the theoretical reflection on representative democracy an interdisciplinary and multilevel approach to several empirical dimensions of the phenomenon of representative disconnect will be offered focusing on several topics the crisis of representation trust in institutions and political representatives political personalization political individualism masslite congruence social and media discontent the longterm outcomes expected from the project mark the passage from the diagnosis to the strategies for rectification indeed redirect aims at provides a number of pragmatical recommendations to rearrange the demoskratos relationship along a twoway street of intervention the topdown way of institutional reforms ie legislative and procedural innovation to ensure transparency and full information to citizens and the bottomup way of a stronger liaison between citizens and mediating bodies ie remobilizing citizens via digitalization diffusion of share values of social sustainability and civic education
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businessdriven systemic solutions for sustainable plastic packaging reuse schemes in mass market applications
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buddiepack is a circular economy project aiming at implementing a systemic approach for the largescale deployment of reusable plastic packaging rpp based on a multidisciplinary approach combining social technological and economic innovations the project will take advantage of behavioural innovation to promote consumers acceptance of rpp by analysing drivers and analyzing consumerspsychology of reuse sound synergies with technological innovations will be developed to manufacture packaging fulfilling the demanding requirements of rpp based on innovative designs and recyclable materials the project will focus on innovative cleaning solutions to guarantee the safety of consumers against the possible contamination and ageing of rpp during their repeated use and the durability of the functional properties up to 300 cycles viable economic models will ensure the sustainability of the proposed solutions thanks to the profitability of stakeholderss throughout the value chain including solutions based on social solidarity economy models the project outcomes will be demonstrated under the supervision of rpp manufacturers and users logisticians cleaning and recycling experts through 6 mass market business cases in real environment at trl8 an unprecedented cleaning pilot line dedicated to rpp and allowing scale economies will be set up policy recommendations and prestandardisation activities on rpp designs and cleaning protocols will prepare the markets for the mass deployment of rpp preventive measures will be put in place to eliminate any release of microplastics during rpp use the project will avoid each year the production of nearly 544m of singleuse packaging reduce the consumption of virgin plastics by 103ktons of water by 1b to 185b litres avoid 303 660ktons of co2 emissions 37ktons of microplastics leaking in eu seas
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predicting protein evolutionary trajectories toward resistance against antiretroviral treatments
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drug resistant mutations can appear when the selective pressure given by a pharmacological treatment causes the evolution ofpathogen proteins towards variants that become unaffected by the drug currently to select therapies against pathogens genotypicresistance analyses and tables of resistance mutations are employed to decide the best treatment for the patients however thesescreenings ignore evolutionary changes that can appear as pathogens adapt potentially leading to drug resistance to address thislimitation the prediction of which variants are more probable to occur in the pathogen population can be useful in selecting a prioritherapies active against those variants before their potential expansion toward reservoirs more inaccessible to drugs in this proposedwork i will apply molecular evolution and computational structural biology techniques to evaluate the evolutionary trajectories ofhiv1 drug targets proteins that lead to resistance against common antiretroviral treatments i will calculate protein fitness landscapesbased on protein folding stability and activity also considering binding to inhibitors next i will use evolutionary information fromprotein fitness landscapes to improve substitution models of evolution the evolutionary trajectories predicted by combiningsubstitution models and fitness landscapes will be validated through comparisons with real data from monitored hiv1 populationsevolved in vitro and in vivo finally i will focus on calculating the probability of evolutionary trajectories toward resistancevariants this research has the potential to improve the selection of therapies for pathogens by providing predictive tools thatconsider the evolutionary dynamics of these microorganisms furthermore the results of the project have the potential to be abreakthrough in the field of molecular evolution as this methodology could also be applied to predict the evolution of otherpathogens
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high performance language technologies
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high performance language technologies hplt is a space combining petabytes of natural language data with largescale model training with trillions of words of text the space will be the largest open text collection cleaning and privacy protecting services improve the quality and ethical properties of the text going beyond static repositories that require the user to individually analyze each data set the project will rate data sets by how much they improve endtoend language models and machine translation systems continuous integration of models and data will result in free downloadable highquality models for all official european union languages and beyond the models will be reproducible with information and evaluation metrics shown in a publicly available dashboard by focusing on training at scale the project complements the inferencefocused european language grid which in turn will be used for model deployment datasets models and information about them will be published in recognized fair data repositories aggregation catalogues and marketplaces for easy discovery access replication and exploitation
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radioactive decontamination in fukushima and the fabric of a collective memory
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during the years following the nuclear accident of fukushima daiichi in japan a decontamination work was undertaken by japanese authorities in the prefecture of fukushima on a scale unprecedented even compared with the decontamination following the chernobyl nuclear accident around 16 000 workers removed more than 20 million m3 of radioactive soil for a cost estimated at 24 bn my project radmemco aims to understand the genesis of this decontamination work focusing on the collective memory of disasters in their argumentation concerning the fukushima crisis the managers of the plant frequently use analogies with diverse earlier crises to explain and cope with this new type of disaster they have compared the ongoing decontamination process for example with the techniques used in the past by japanese peasants to remove the ashes of the soils after a volcanic eruption the radmemco project asks did a particular japanese way of dealing with disasters play a role in the choice of a largescale radioactive decontamination in the affected areas of fukushima conversely did this decontamination work influence the perception and collective memory of the nuclear accident of fukushima daiichi to answer these questions i will engage in an ethnographic study of actors of this decontamination work in the village of iitate situated about 40 km northwest of the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant the evacuation order was lifted in 2017 but few inhabitants decided to return among them two citizen groups are monitoring constantly the levels of radioactivity and seek to develop various ways of coping with the situation one group that i will follow in particular composed of local peasants and agronomists of the university of tokyo experiments with and designs new techniques to remove the radioactivity from the fields doing so they might remove the radionuclides not only from the soils but also from the collective memory of this disaster
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green organic and printed ultrahigh frequency identification tags
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greta will lay the foundation of the first green printed and flexible organic wireless identification tag operating at ultrahigh frequency uhf 300 mhz 1 ghz the longterm vision is to enable remote powering and readout of tags up to meters distance range as required in logistics and security without the need of a battery and with drastically reduced lifecycle impact and costing with respect to any available passive radiofrequency identification rfid technology to achieve such overarching goal greta aims at groundbreaking progress along two specific complementary actions action 1 removing present barriers preventing sustainability of printed organic electronics by tackling the most environmental and economically impactful aspects yet seldom addressed of organics synthesis and processing action 2 demonstrating unprecedented uhf operation of printed organic electronicsmeasurable objectives of greta are objective 1 green synthesis and development of sustainable and biodegradable materials action 1 objective 2 sustainable inks formulations for largearea printing tools action 1 objective 3 uhf electronics based on sustainable printed organic semiconductors action 2 objective 4 enable an ecodesigned printed uhf wireless tag with sustainable lifecycle objective 4 is dedicated to demonstrators of the entire effort greta uhf tag demonstrating rectification of a 400 mhz wave to enable a code generator and greta uhf logic demonstrating a sustainable printed integrated 4bit shift register greta perfectly matches the scope of the call as it serves emerging digitalization needs in logistics healthcare and security without adding ewaste independent from the silicon industry and from any critical raw material and delivering safe materials for the environment greta will quantify its drastically reduced environmental impact with a full lca along a cradletograve approach anticipating endoflife scenarios
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testimony of stones a new method in ancient traffic analysis
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stone architectural elements are perhaps the most ancient witnesses of an archaeological site among those thresholdpaving stones are elements that take place almost at the first stage during the construction of the place repetitive pedestrian or vehicle movement gradually leaves a mark this is most visible on thresholds or paving stones the usewear can be used to estimate which places and roads were used more archaeologists are almost always successful in identifying spaces of movement from micro to macro scales but only rarely can they understand the intensity frequency of past movement with experimental methods in the field of rock mechanics the abrasion caused by pedestrian traffic on rocks per unit time are calculated in a controlled setting on the other hand such data unless there is a written record are unavailable for the archaeologist and the only evidence available is an abraded stone the main aim of this research is to understand ancient traffic flow between spaces and to go beyond descriptive mappingbased strategies the methodology will examine the thresholdpaving stones that were already unearthed and abrasion resistance data will be determined by experimental methods rock mechanics experimental archaeology etc following the analysis phase the project will build an agentbased model to explore movement in and between spaces mainly to investigate emergent characteristics of urban traffic in this way it can be stated that the proposal of the research is innovative in this aspect as it will create a concrete and new line of research and interpretation of archaeological contexts and will allow the testing of existing models finally an other deliverable of the project is to investigate ways of reducing physical threat to cultural heritage by means of creating a new form of emergent risk assessment
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phage coinfection a missing link in deciphering phage coevolutionary dynamics
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phage genomes represent an impressive mosaicism with different genomic regions having distinct evolutionary histories resulting from horizontal gene transfer by initiating an estimated 1025 bacterial infections globally every second phages encounter and recombine with dna of the host or of prophage origin further adding to their genome mosaicism accumulating evidence including from my work suggest that the simultaneous infection of bacterial host by multiple phages coinfection could also be an important driver of phage genome evolution however methodological limitations have so far prevented rigorous testing of this hypothesis due to failure of studying phage coinfection in natural settings multiphage will overcome these limitations by developing a novel approach for precisely deciphering how phage coinfection governs the coevolutionary dynamics of phage genomes by pursuing three objectives first my team will quantify the prevalence of phage coinfection by constructing phagehost infection networks then we will decipher the coevolutionary relations of phage genes with no detectable sequence homology using the novel concept of clusters of orthologous structures coss and reconstructing structural phylogeny finally we will unearth phagephage interaction and coinfection strategies in high resolution by taking advantage of cultured model systems containing multiple phages coinfecting a single bacterial host population to achieve these objectives we will combine integrated omics methods metahic proximity ligation longread metagenomic sequencing and singlecell amplified genomics coss and structural phylogeny with highresolution experimental confirmation of coinfection strategies with its groundbreaking approach multiphage will transform our view of phagehost coevolution by uncovering how phage coinfection and broad host range modulate the complexity of the infection network clarifying its enigmatic coevolutionary dynamics
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deciphering the role of c2h2 zinc finger transcription factors during primate neocortex development and evolution
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the neocortex is a fascinating brain structure as it is the seat of mammalian and notably primate higher cognitive abilities in the primate lineage different neocortex morphology in form of size and folding differences has evolved the development of the neocortex and particularly of the different neocortex morphology depends primarily on the precise regulation of the activity and behavior of cortical neural stem and progenitor cells cnpcs a regulation that is primarily mediated by transcription factors one of the largest transcription factor families is the c2h2 zinc finger transcription factors c2h2zftfs which also significantly expanded during primate evolution previous studies suggest that these transcription factors could be important regulators of primate neocortex development and evolution here i propose that differential expression of these c2h2zftfs is one essential cause of the differences in neocortex morphology between different primate species to address this hypothesis i plan to first identify expression differences of c2h2zftfs in cnpcs of different primate species by transcriptome analysis of fetal human macaque and marmoset neocortex these differences will then be tested for a functional role in cnpcs using electroporation and stable genetic modification of brain organoids finally for c2h2zftfs with a functional role in cnpcs the downstream gene regulatory network will be uncovered by identification of the indirect and direct targets using rnaseq and chipexo of in vitro differentiated neural progenitor cells this will lead to a better understanding of the role of c2h2zftfs in the regulation of cnpcs while also identifying their contribution to primate neocortex development and evolution that has led to different primate neocortex morphology this is also likely to provide novel insights into the formation of cortical malformations eg microcephaly or lissencephaly
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sustainable circular economy transition from industrial symbiosis to hubs for circularity
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existing heavily industrialized areas are currently incapable of adopting largescale industrial symbioses in terms of shared technologyinfrastructure use waste integration energy and material utilization as well as expanding through surrounding ecosystems in an inclusive manner for the society despite many of the eus key strategic priorities in sustainable regional development within this context is2h4c proposes an ambitious and efficient innovation and action workplan to develop several solutions for the development of hubs for circularity h4c in diverse industrial areas of process industry surrounded by rural andor urban settings in the netherlands germany spain and turkey the workplan is shaped by development and deployment of most innovative sustainable technologies and infrastructure integration in four demo hubs and is supported by groundbreaking research on societal governmental and business innovation for h4c is2h4c scales up industrial areas to h4c via implementing systemic change and integrating the surrounding ecosystems to industrial areas the project implements a digital collaboration platform to manage the resource infrastructure and informationsharing within h4c via embedding of decisionsupport modules in the platform is2h4c has the ambition of reducing the energy use waste emissions and carbon emissions by at least 10 20 and 30 respectively is2h4c will contribute to pave the path towards the development of h4c based on the circularity and resilience requirements of existing and future industrial zones and their surrounding ecosystems by prioritizing resource efficiency maximizing use of renewable energy prevention of waste and promoting industrialurbanrural symbiosis via reuse and recycling of unavoidable solid liquid and gas waste streams all in all is2h4cs biggest ambition is to promote h4c as europes future sustainable regional development models
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how a pinch of salt makes all the difference for sustainable fuels and chemicals the role of promoters to catalyse the production of low carbon fuels
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our large noncircular use of fossil fuels is the main cause of rapid climate change and resource depletion co2 capture followed by conversion back into fuels would be attractive the feasibility of this route depends critically on new catalysts that allow quick co2 hydrogenation to desired products most manmade catalysts are supported metal nanoparticles the influence of the type of metal particle size and metalsupport interaction are increasingly well understood also due to major contributions from my group in contrast the influence of the addition of a few foreign atoms promoter has so far hardly been investigated for new reactions such as co2 conversion while it can have a far larger impact on catalyst activity selectivity and stability my aim is to explore and understand promoters and design new promoted catalysts several challenges must be overcome such as measuring the structure under working conditions and unravelling the complex interplay between promoters and other catalyst components i will combine 1 carbonbased model supports which allows isolating metalpromoter interaction from other effects 2 emerging atomic scale characterisation and 3 high throughput testing under relevant high pressure working conditions using these tools i will address fundamental questions such aswhat is the nature of reducible metal oxide promoters and their interaction with the active metal co2 and reaction intermediates under working conditionshow does the structure of alkali promoters explain their influence on the rate of co2 hydrogenationcan we tune the adsorption strength of reaction intermediates such as adsorbed co to obtain product distributions far from equilibriuma detailed understanding of the electronic and structural interaction between metal nanoparticles and promoters is crucial to rationally design catalysts to selectively effectively and in a stable manner convert co2 and h2 into valuable fuels
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lattice boltzmann for advanced simulations
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the intricate dynamics of fluid interfaces disordered liquidliquid emulsions and soft microfluidic droplet crystals collectively knownas soft glass materials sgm pose challenges to nonequilibrium thermodynamics and hold profound implications for engineeringapplications such as combustion materials design and food processing advances in sgm modeling within the erc copmat projectoffer opportunities for innovative mesoscale materials in fields like tissue engineering photonics and catalysisthe lightweight lattice boltzmann lb scheme which relies on hydrodynamic moments models sgm by preventing dropletcoalescence including nearcontact interactions nci due to surfactants integrated into lbcuda an opensource software optimizedfor gpus it efficiently simulates complex flows while saving electrical energy in line with the goals of the european green dealthe lbfast project aims to optimize lbcudas implementation for hpc clusters powered by gpus achieving processing rates ofseveral hundred glups while using only 50 of computational resources resulting in a 75 reduction in energy costs compared tostandard lb methods this enhancement enables accelerated production rates for industrial applications and aligns with the criteriaof the eurohpc joint undertaking benefiting users addressing energy and environmental challenges in the next exascale computinggeneration
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innovative photoactivated ruthenium chemotherapy to treat eye cancer
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uveal melanoma um is a rare tumor of the eye
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advanced manufacturing of biobased products for urban outdoor applications through innovative characterization digital technologies and circular approach
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by applying a circularitybydesign approach the ambiance project aims to develop new and advanced biobased products characterized by a high or total biobased material content and taking into account the different alternatives for recirculation such as the different types of reuses remanufacturing recycling biodegradation or energy recovery to enhance sustainable models such approach will be coupled to the optimization of the mechanical properties for particular applications eg durability for outdoors urban furniture or sports and leisure products taking into consideration the whole lifecyclespecial attention will be paid to the optimization of product manufacturing of biobased materials which will require tuning of material composition and processes extrusion largescale additive manufacturing compression moulding for different biobased materials besides the use of digital twin technologies will enhance the development of materials and products and the remanufacturing of such biobased goods and it will optimize manufacturing processes and enhance production quality of such novel applications by leveraging iot and artificial intelligence technologies ambiances impact will be twofold firstly we will showcase disruptively innovative biobased products in different sectors and manufacturing processes while we will demonstrate applicability in dailylife products starring green urban areas that will lead the transition to sustainability the setting proposed by ambiance will directly result in the creation of new jobs based on new technical competences that will require specific training and upskilling while the technical developments and findings will be used to contributing to the standardization of biobased products and materials which will guarantee an effective and wide adoption for making such products the new baseline of our lives
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bioinspired antimicrobial bone bioceramics deciphering contactbased biocidal mechanisms
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bacterial bone infections are one of the great challenges of orthopaedic and maxillofacial surgery aggravated by antibiotic resistance a serious health threat responsible for 700000 deaths per year the recent discovery of the bactericidal properties of some naturally occurring surface topographies has opened a new avenue of research however there is incomplete knowledge of the mechanisms of action and too many unanswered questions to translate these advances into clinical use bambbi aims to tackle this challenge by developing synthetic bone grafts featuring contactbased antimicrobial properties adding antimicrobial activity to their capacity to support bone regeneration using a novel bottomup approach inspired in biomineralization routes i intend to engineer the surface of calcium phosphates with an unprecedented and fine control of nanotopography by harnessing the power of ions and organic molecules eg amino acids calcium chelators and surfactants to drive crystal nucleation and growth moreover we will further enhance the antimicrobial effect by exploiting the synergy with chemical moieties to modulate bacterial affinity for the surface andor confer additional antimicrobial properties by immobilisation of antimicrobial peptides this will provide us with a platform to study the contactbased bactericidal mechanisms in depth and unravel the role of nanotopography and surface chemistry and their interplay with the intrinsic properties of bacteria only considering all these parameters will it be possible to unveil the causes of the substantial differences in bactericidal efficacy of a given substrate for different bacteria and design more efficient antibacterial surfaces in addition to being a major breakthrough in the field of bone regeneration the progress in new methods of finetuning the nanostructure of calcium phosphates will have an impact in very diverse fields such as catalysis water purification and protein separation
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the role of eef1a in synapse function maintenance and synucleinopathy
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synucleinopathies are neurodegenerative conditions characterized by an accumulation of the protein alphasynuclein including parkinsons disease and dementia with lewy bodies a long asymptomatic phase precedes the onset of invalidating symptoms early diagnostics and treatments are hampered by an incomplete understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms the host has recently identified the synaptic depletion of protein elongation factor 1a eef1a at early stage of the disease in easyfun the fellow proposes to combine state of the art genome editing with transgenic murine disease model and human induced pluripotent stem cell derived neurons to unravel eef1a function at synapses characterize in depth its alterations in synucleinopathy and question its pathophysiological role in the disease onset and progress in aim1 we shall provide a spatiotemporal map of eef1a in neurons and its depletion in pathology in aim2 we will explore knockdown and rescue of eef1a variants we will test whether eef1a depletion is necessary and sufficient to lead to all or some aspects of synucleinopathy in aim3 we will explore the functions of eef1a variants at synapse protein translation or degradation regulation of synaptic vesicle cycle spine structure and the binding partners of eef1a through proteomics we will provide insights into the alterations of synaptic functions in synucleinopathy and the role of eef1a the applicant will benefit from established protocols by the host and will bring new expertise to tackle eef1a function at synapses with unprecedented resolution and to provide new therapeutic avenues for synucleinopathy easyfun will benefit from an ongoing collaboration with pr jochen herms dzne munich germany the proposed work will expand the fellows core scientific expertise soft skills and professional network to match her plans towards an independent academic research career
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study of the use of the ess facility to accurately measure the neutrino crosssections for essnusb leptonic cp violation measurements and to perform sterile neutrino searches and astroparticle physics
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after the success of the h2020 esssb design study proving the feasibility of the upgrade of the european spallation source to become in addition to a neutron facility also a very competitive neutrino facility we propose here a study to reinforce and develop complementary features to this proposal in order to improve and widen the scientific and technological scopethe key objective of the h2020 esssb design study was to demonstrate the feasibility of using the european spallation source ess proton linac to produce the worlds most intense neutrino beam concurrently with the 5 mw proton beam to be used for the production of spallation neutrons after accomplishing all deliverables and the publication of the esssb cdr this is now fully demonstrated with the present design study it is proposed to take further steps towards its realization by introducing complementary studies and enlarging its scope by making studies on synergetic aspects of the projectthe esssb highlevel objectives are to study the civil engineering needed for the facility implementation at the ess site as well as those needed for the esssb far detector site study the feasibility and implementation of a special target station for pion production and extraction for injection to a low energy nustorm decay ring and to a low energy monitored neutrino beam decay tunnel for neutrino crosssection measurements study the low energy nustorm decay ring and the injection of the pions and muons from the special target station study the low energy enubetlike monitored neutrino beam decay tunnel and the injection of the pions and muons from the special target station study the capabilities of the proposed setup for sterile neutrino searches and astroparticle physics promote the esssb project proposal to its stakeholders including scientists politicians funders industrialists and the general public in order to pave the way to include this facility in the esfri list
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digital innovations and diagnostics for infectious diseases in africa
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the didida projects overall objective is to tackle povertyrelated infectious diseases in subsaharan africa and african islands by i strengthening the african research capacities ii enhancing technology development in diagnostics and digital technologies in africa and iii encouraging adoption of innovations by subsaharan health authorities clinicians businesses and patients for that the consortium includes leading partners from four subsaharan african countries kenya senegal tanzania and uganda one from african islands runion and the eu to reach our objectives we will implement a combination of complementary actions joint research projects on infectious diseases comorbidities humanlivestock interactions infectious diseases diagnostic technologies digital health solutions for africa and socioeconomic factors of innovation adoption by african people the codevelopment of an innovative lowcost diagnostic and digitalmhealth decision support technology and its integration into existing african digital health infrastructure clinical trials a phd fellowship for students in africa with joint phd awarding by eu counterparts research capacity building management grant writing publications etc staff exchanges training organisation of citizen and brokerage events targeting businesses and policy makers a comprehensive dissemination exploitation and communication action plan the impact of this project will be improved research technology development and manufacturing clinical trials capacities in subsaharan africa new knowledge gained on several topics related with povertyrelated infectious diseases increased international networks and reinforcement of the collaboration between africa and the eu a new lowcost diagnostics and decision support technology developed and its adoption fostered by dedicated studies and collaboration with health authorities better informed subsaharan populations about infectious diseases
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modelling interscale energetics in gastrointestinal electromechanics
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the migem proposal targets one of the remaining grand challenges in biomechanics the development of a comprehensive interscale thermodynamically and energetically coherent multiphysics model of gastrointestinal gi motility despite the importance of gastrointestinal disorders as a primary global health problem electromechanical modelling of gastrointestinal motility still presents significant theoretical and experimental limitations compared to more advanced fields such as cardiovascular bioengineering technical difficulties exist due to the intrinsic multiscale nature of gastrointestinal tissues the coupling of multiple cell types and roles and the combination of electrical and mechanical phenomena involving different energetic mechanisms migem has the potential to unlock new frontiers in gi research addressing several stateoftheart problems in gastrointestinal motility and opening unprecedented opportunities in novel subjectspecific therapies by adopting a rigorous theoreticalexperimental scientific approach migem will advance stateoftheart gastrointestinal theoretical modelling and experimental measurements unveiling fundamental energetic mechanisms that govern stomach and intestine motility in health and disease migem will enable the first calorimetric measurement of tissue sample from the gi tract and create a new path in biomechanical modelling by assimilating innovative data into multiscale thermodynamic models the project will create a new network of scientists with complementary experimental and modelling skills fostering crossfertilization providing seniortojunior methodological transfer and supporting gender balance the scientific experience of the pi the formal membership to the project of the abi university of auckland and the multiple scientific collaborations that the pi has engaged for many years will be the key elements to successfully carry out an ambitious and highrisk project
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designing manufacturing and operating quantification of uncertainties to increase aviation safety
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the main goal of demoquas is to develop an efficient framework of uncertainty quantification uq and provide holistic aircraftengine design tools ie multifidelity multidisciplinary digital threadstwins and model based system engineering mbse or model based definition mbd modalities with the capability to become uqenabled in this way it will contribute to achieving the highest level of aviation safety regarding novel propulsion technologies the project includes representation characterization and propagation of uncertainties through the life cycle phases of design manufacturing and operations applied in six industrially relevant test cases in this way it will contribute to advancing the current state of the art in uq methods by effectively improving their efficiency ie regarding curse of dimensionality for simulation time and accuracy the projects ambition is to provide comprehensive uq guidelines and enhance decision and policy making of unknown technologies development support virtual certification and ensure a high level of safety and improved risk managementto achieve its main goal the project will build on the following main objectivesperform detailed characterization of life cycle uncertainties for components and systems of components developed for a turboprop aircraft based on a hybridized liquidh2saf configurationemploy and further develop uq methods in a multilayered manner lifecycle design manufacturingmeasuring operations scalesfidelities subsystems systems systemsofsystemsdeliver an as open as possible framework that will allow integrated propulsion system design toolsplatforms to become uqenabled and increase safety and risk managementverify and validate the uq methodologies via testing campaigns up to trl5 including operational casespromote the projects benefits via targeted synergies in european national and international level
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iodine fed advanced cusp field thruster for midpower
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ifactmp iodine fed advanced cusp field thruster for midpower aims to develop an iodine fed thruster subsystem for the 35 kw range the activity will include work on all the critical building blocks required to enable the realisation of an iodine ep subsystem this encompasses the upscaling of the advanced cusp field thruster acft to that power range at airbus friedrichshafen and the development of the fluidic chain at airbus toulouse consisting of the heated iodine reservoir piping and flow control for the thruster as well as the neutraliser further the necessary verification and formalisation of the fluidic design and iodine handling procedures will be performed to enable the implementation and integration of iodine ep subsystems on platform level a major building block required to enable a completely iodine based ep chain is an iodine fed neutraliser for this purpose further improvements and modifications on c12a7 emitter ceramics will be performed by fraunhofer ikts in close collaboration with the iodine cathode development at airbus to validate the necessary control and operational schemes a breadboard ppu will be developed by airbus elancourt that includes all the required supplies telemetry and functionalities to enable autonomous control of the thruster subsystem to enable rapid and accurate characterisation of the developed thruster subsystems performance an optical iodine flow meter will be developed and integrated by university of pisa as currently no test facility exists to perform thruster testing at that power level a suitable iodine compatible vacuum chamber including a thrust balance and diagnostics will be developed at aerospazio this facility will enable full characterisation and 500 h endurance testing of the developed thruster subsystem to maximise the impact of the project easn will coordinate the public presence and communication dissemination and exploitation activities
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urban transitions mission of mission innovation mi utm
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the urban transitions mission utm mobilises decision makers across all levels of government to prioritise climateneutral and netzero pathways enabled by clean energy and systemic innovation across all sectors and in urban governanceby accelerating capacitybuilding and closing the gap between research development and deployment the mission empowers cities to adopt innovative solutions and help reach tipping points in the cost and scale of those solutions for urban transitionslaunched at cop26 the utm is one of the seven missions of mission innovation a global initiative catalysing a decade of action and investment in research development and demonstration to make clean energy affordable attractive and accessible for all the mission brokers solutions approaches and knowledge for netzero transitions at each step of a city climate action journey the work proposed aims to consolidate and capitalize on two years of achievements ensuring that the mission stays its course and remains both relevant and ambitious against the everevolving goals and challenges that sustainable urban development faces expand the utm cohort by recruiting up to 200 new cities working towards the missions goal to support 300 cities globally to be well on their way to reach netzero by 2030 strengthen capacity building knowledge sharing and technical support for new and existing cohort of cities helping cities apply the utm netzero transitions framework to futureproof their current strategies and climate plans and offering a platform to exchange robust crosssectoral and integrated solutions accelerate demonstration of innovative solutions in response to the most urgent needs and ri priorities for cities in collaboration with research academia a global alliance of partners including national governments financial institutions and private sector supporting cities to develop pilot and scale innovative solutions and approaches for urban transitions
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reunir resilience enlargement union neighbourhood international relations futureproofing eu security enlargement and eastern neighbourhood policies for a new age of international relations
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russias 2022 invasion of ukraine has ended the postcold war european security order creating new realities in countries neighbouring the eu and shattering illusions in several member states about the kremlins true intentions in wider europe by granting candidate status to ukraine and moldova and a european perspective to georgia the eu has rejected a russian sphere of influence and instead determined where its future borders should lie but this decision has not yet led to policies tailored to effectively respond to a geopolitical context which also sees china and other state actors competing for influence the eastern partnership still needs to be fitted with security and connectivity components in the accession process existing formats had already reached their limits with inter alia the obstructionism by certain member states that is linked to the divisive issue of eu internal reform this has cost the eu a lot of credibility in the western balkans and will take years to resolvereunir a project with 12 partners from across europe examines how the eu can strengthen its foreign and security toolboxes to bolster the resilience and transformation of potential candidate countries in a new age of international relations reunirs foresight approach takes the fundamental uncertainty and openness of alternative futures seriously adding the effects of protean power unleashed in unforeseen circumstances to a multidisciplinary approach to the research of the eus control power in relations with strategic rivals reunir empirically assesses foreign threats to the military socioeconomic and democratic resilience of 9 neighbouring countries determines capability shortfalls maps local perceptions of the eus support and political perspectives inside the eu on neighbourhood relations outlining scenarios up to 2035 reunir offers evidencebased policy recommendations to mitigate malign foreign interference and strengthen the eus external action
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antibiotic lead optimization
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the bacterial sliding clamp dnan is an innovative target for the development of novel antibiotics which are urgently needed to overcome the alarming antimicrobial resistance crisis in the previous erc starting grant novani we discovered a novel dnan inhibitor wamn17 with promising broadspectrum antibacterial activity including multidrugresistant mdr pathogens in this poc project we will optimize the antibacterial potency and spectrum and characterize the in vivo pharmacokinetic pk and pharmacodynamic pd properties of the wamn17 class so as to develop preclinical lead candidates for the treatment of bacterial infections especially those caused by mdr germs to achieve this goal we will pursue three main activities i design and synthesis of 2530 compounds in two rounds with modifications focusing on improving the antigramnegative activity as well as target identification through chemical probes to further validate dnan and identify other potential targets in bacteria ii evaluation of antibacterial activity target bindinginhibition and in vitro admet absorption distribution metabolism excretion toxicity characterization for all new compounds the frontrunners will be profiled for antibacterial activity against an extended panel of gramnegative and mdr clinical isolates and subjected to mode of action moa and targetidentification studies the most promising ten compounds will be submitted for in vivo pk studies and the best two lead candidates will be tested in a proofofconcept in vivo efficacy study using relevant infection mouse models iii ultimately we will file a patent to secure our intellectual property rights and continue to move this class of compounds forward into preclinical and then clinical studies in collaboration with a pharmaceutical industry partner the knowledge that will be gained from this poc project is essential to develop an urgently needed new antibiotic with an unprecedented mode of action
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improving mental health wellbeing and resilience of healthcare workers in changing environments
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the overall objective of the apollo2028 project is to provide health and care workers organisations and healthcare system funders and policy makers with researchbacked innovative solutions to help improve mental health wellbeing and capacity to be more resilient to changing environments especially daily pressures and extreme events at the workplace the originality of the project is to consider resilience in health care in a holistic approach to build individual team and organizational capabilities to face the next extreme events and daily pressures therefore we will study individual factors affecting resilience group factors organizational factors and develop a model involving all types of factors this model will serve as a basis for the production of guidelines to be disseminated to health and care workers their managers as well as policy makers and health systems funders we will also develop an aibased system to support in the identification of stress factors and recommend actions we will involve all the stakeholders in a codesign work to finalise our solutions we will also review the cost effectiveness of our solutions the main impact of our project will be a reduction of stress factors at the workplace and an improvement of resilience of all the health and care workers we will ensure our solutions are disseminated to all eu member states and adapted to the specifics of each of their health care systems
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realizing the promise of higherorder smt and superposition for interactive verification
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proof assistants also called interactive theorem provers have a long history of being very tedious to use the situation has improved markedly in the past decade with the integration of firstorder automatic theorem provers as backends and recently there have been exciting developments for more expressive logics with the emergence of automatic provers based on optimized higherorder calculi the nekoka projects aim is to make higherorder smt and superposition a perfect fit for logical problems emerging from the verification of software and mathematics we will start by extending higherorder smt and superposition and implementing them in automatic provers to provide pushbutton proof automation for lemmas expressed in higherorder logics to reach end users we will integrate the automatic provers in interactive tools both generalpurpose proof assistants and software verification platforms as case studies we will use our own provers and integrations to formalize quantum information theory and verify a big data framework in collaboration with domain experts beyond providing representative case studies this will help build a user community around our tools and technologies in terms of scientific impact the improved higherorder smt and superposition calculi will substantially advance the art of higherorder automation and help reorient research in automated reasoning towards the needs of end users whether computer scientists or mathematicians our tools will outlive the project serving end users and continuing to be useful for future research at the societal level the project will herald a future in which automatic provers and proof assistants are routinely deployed in tandem to verify critical computing infrastructure and to formalize research in computer science and mathematics thereby leading to more trustworthy software and science
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emergence in quantum physics
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emergence is central to our understanding of the world it addresses the question of how did a seemingly unlimited diversity emerge from a small number of simple constituents ultimately emergence in physics is related to an inaccessibility of knowledge about the microscopic world out of which new phenomena are formed at a larger scale in quantum physics the renormalization group is a prominent example relating microscopic physics to emerging new phenomenathe main thrust in the research proposed here is to experimentally study in full detail emergence in the quantum world all the way from the microscopic physics of elementary atomic constituents to a hierarchy of effective models at large scales a central objective will be to verify emerging models probe the limits of their validity when do they break down and investigate how big a system has to be to show emergent phenomenaultracold atoms allow to implement and study complex interacting quantum many body systems in detail and powerful manipulation techniques combined with the ability to measure each atom with close to unit efficiency offers an unprecedented way to probe the whole path of emergence from micro to macro physics we will investigate three examples i emergence of quantum field theories as illustrated by the sinegordon model ii emergence of universality as the system forgets its initial conditions in the course of nonequilibrium evolution iii emergence of a hydrodynamic description in the nonequilibrium evolution of correlated quantum systems we envision robust verified emergent models to have numerous applications as quantum simulators ranging from solid state physics to aspects of physical system that are inaccessible for direct experiments moreover emergence coming from inaccessibility of knowledge about the microscopic world may ultimately lead to a natural bridge between quantum and classical
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european space gan
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european space gan esgan aims to develop a 200v enhancement mode gan transistor normally off for use in power management circuits for space applications the advantages obtained from gallium nitride gan such as reduced mass increased efficiency and the potential of radiation hardness are well known and the project will aim to exploit these in the development of the technology devices will be designed produced tested for radiation effects thermal effects structural effects and reliability performance and will be demonstrated in an application to verify the desired performance the end goal will be to proceed with a space evaluation leading to a space qualification of the produced devicesanother of the principal objectives is to establish and exercise a fully capable committed european supply chain to remove dependency from other countries and geographical regions to achieve the goals of the project a strong consortium has been established in which the members cover each of the stages of the supply chain the consortium is composed of the following companies aixtron a company dedicated to the design and manufacture of equipment to grow advanced substrates for gan transistors semi zabala a company dedicated to the design test and packaging of gan transistors and integrated circuits xfab a semiconductor foundry company that has developed and offers processing services for gan transistors airbus defence space are one of europes leading companies dedicated to the design and manufacture of satellite equipment and systems the consortium covers an end to end supply chain from materials design processing packaging and test through to end users
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cocreating and upscaling sponge landscapes by working with natural water retention and sustainable management
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floods and droughts put increasing pressure on the european society with estimated annual damages from river flooding of 76 billion and droughtinduced losses over 9 billion fostering sponge measures as naturebased solutions to boost the natural retention function of landscapes is promising but implementation must be rapidly upscaled and innovative approaches to increase the integration involvement and cooperation of diverse actors from local to basin wide levels are urgently needed spongeworks aims to demonstrate practical effective economically feasible and inclusive approaches and solutions towards enhancing the sponge functioning of interconnected groundwater soil and surface water systems at regional scale it applies an integrative multiactor approach to demonstrate the effectiveness of multifunctional sponge measures for improved water and soil management for enhancing water retention in three large demonstrators in the pinios gr lze fr and vecht nlde river basins in each demonstrator spongeworks evaluates existing sponge measures draws lessonslearned and best practices and implements new sponge measures the effectiveness of largescale implementation is assessed to cocreate longterm sponge strategies with action plans and roadmaps at landscape scale broad dissemination of bestpractices promotion of exemplary demonstration areas as lighthouses and targeted replication in eight associated regions ensures longlasting impact of this work spongeworks contributes to transformative change of landscape management to ensure regions are more adapted and resilient to climate change impacts on soils waters habitats and biodiversity by combining scientific excellence and practical knowhow from established communities of practice as well as facilitating mutual learning and sharing of successful strategies spongeworks will catalyse a shift in the pace of implementation of sponge measures and strategies across europe and beyond
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the african unioneuropean union innovation platform
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the aeip builds a network of african and european stakeholders strengthening links between innovation ecosystems in an inclusive and collaborative manner ensuring equal benefits the aeip will stimulate collaboration among stakeholders and institutions implementing other programmes contributing to mutually beneficial partnerships the focus will lie on launching new activities linked to capacitybuilding mobility opportunities knowledge production and transfer investment readiness and access to finance based on an assessment of the needs of all target groups including researchers innovators entrepreneurs incubatorsaccelerators civil society women and youth these will be activated through a combination of virtual outreach and inperson stakeholder meetings as a forum for discussion sustainability will be built into the aeip from the start by making sure that new activities are linked up and designed in such a way that they can be carried forward by aeip members after the end of the action we aim to grow the aeip further into a network of networks acting as a hub for the implementation of the shortterm actions of the aueu innovation agenda reinforcing existing initiatives rather than duplicating them the action has been designed to maximise societal economic and scientific impact by centring the platform at the core as a forum where stakeholders convene for focussed and structured innovation cooperation with the networks leveraged by the consortium partners and multiplier effect our outcomes and impacts will be scalable the aeip will support the agendas objective to strengthen research and innovation cooperation between the african and european union maximising the impact of funding and reinforcing interconnected innovation ecosystems thus contributing to sustainable and inclusive development economic growth and job creation
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next generation glioma treatments using direct light therapy
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glioma is an extremely lethal cancer due largely to the inaccessible nature of the brain and diffusion of cells from the tumour site these diffuse cells are usually too deeply embedded in the brain to safely remove by current means targeted reactive oxygen species ros generation is a promising form of glioma treatment to selectively eliminate glioma including diffuse cells however the only current means of targeted ros generation is photodynamic therapy pdt which generates ros using expensive and potentially toxic photosensitisers ps which are ineffective against distant diffused cells and introduce many treatment limitations gliolight proposes a novel alternative form of targeted ros generation direct light therapy dlt dlt uses 1267nm light to generate 1o2 species in glioma cells without dependency on a ps the removal of ps will revolutionise glioma treatment enabling novel treatment modalities to vastly improve efficacy earlier intervention options all at reduced cost and complexity however whilst the principles of dlt have been demonstrated little is known about how dlt achieves its anticancer effects or the extent of its therapeutic benefits leveraging decades of accumulated pdt knowledge and technology development gliolight will study dlt technology both independently and compared to pdt the effect of dlt on glioma and the brain focusing on immunogenicity will be studied to determine dlts efficacy safety and mechanisms of action novel ultrashort pulse usp light sources will be developed to maximise optical penetration and minimise safety risk ensuring dlt is suited for clinical adoption lastly the development of the preclinical gliolight delivery and sensing system pcgliodss ready for the next steps of clinical translation will bring dlt a leap closer to vastly improving glioma treatment in europe and worldwide
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raise excellence in rsi in hei for widening countries
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the ability to conduct successful transnational ri projects in the eu varies between countries due to recognised gaps including lack of scientific infrastructure ability to maintain and retain talents or to overcome regional or national structural barriers concerted and directed efforts are required to support lesserperforming countries like portugal and poland to bridge these gaps and strengthen ri across europeall academic contributors to the unitewidening project is also a partner in the european university alliance unite university network for innovation technology and engineering a transnational alliance born in 2019 and contributing to the european universities initiativethe goal of unitewidening is to strengthen unite as an alliance enhancing the scientific technological and innovation capacity of the consortium of heis raising its excellence as a group and individually extending and expanding its activities and implementing erawidening policies with the support of relevant partners in the local innovation ecosystems it aims to accelerate the necessary reforms and conduct the required competence buildup to raise excellence in ri and improve the valorisation of science and research in widening countries the results of unitewidening include new policy recommendations for ri in widening countries identification of gaps and future actions the development of a handbook of hrs4r for widening countries gender inclusion and equity plans in research careers a university open science and strategic innovation roadmap guidelines to the creation of local science and innovation skills academy training programmes contents and guides development of the research transparency dashboard and policies strategies leading to reform and renewal of science innovation institutional approaches the outputs will be shared beyond the project life to guarantee their adoptionimplementation by relevant stakeholders in widening countries
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eye of europe the research and innovation foresight community
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eye of europe responds to the existing need of anticipating exploring and cocreating future paths in for and from research and innovation ri acknowledging the diverse and uneven capabilities and levels of institutionalization of ri foresight across europe our consortium builds on the experience of its 17 partners in order to coagulate existing energies and amplify them the projects goal is to nurture and mature an ri foresight community with expanding levels of inclusiveness from foresight experts to foresight beneficiaries to thematic experts and the broader audience of foresight enthusiasts including civil society and citizens and progressive levels of integration from mapping organizations and experts to sharing results to developing shared capabilities towards a collective intelligence to this end the project methodology is aimed at i consolidating the mutual learning and sharing of practices among foresight practitioners and ri policymakers ii harnessing the expertise of thematic experts for the benefit of the community iii mobilizing stakeholders in joint pilot activities and iv engaging an active broad audience in cocreating and deliberating future imaginaries operationally the project will establish and advance an online platform as the strategic home base of the community with its resources and capabilities engage relevant stakeholders in tailored facetoface interactions and promote futures thinking through educational and inspirational materials
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the adoption of hydrogen metallurgy in the climateneutral production of steel
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the helios doctoral network will train 10 motivated and talented doctoral candidates dcs in breakthrough technologies for the hydrogenbased production of green steel including both carbon steel and stainless steel these dcs will be equipped with the necessary science capital and diverse transferable skills to pursue their careers in europe and become the experts that our society needs to achieve the climateneutral production of steel by 2050 the intersectoral training programme is dedicated to the technical and economic challenges and innovative developments associated with the transition to hydrogenbased greensteel production the combination of stateoftheart doctoral research projects intersectoral secondments and supervision by leading companies tata steel ssab europe oy aperam stainless europe heraeus electronite international and luxmet universities ku leuven tu delft university of oulu mu leoben and competence centres k1met will be the foundations of helioss success helios targets in 3 interconnected scientific work packages to 1 engineer processes and develop models to leverage the hydrogenbased steel production route to the same stateoftheart level as the bfbof route for carbon steel 2 develop firstofakind hydrogenplasma smelting reduction processes for stainless steel production 3 design and evaluate innovative hydrogen andor hydrogen plasmabased processes to recover and separate metals from stainless steel residues and 4 develop measuring and analysis tools and models supporting the application of hydrogenbased processes for steel production
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dual stimuliresponsive nanoparticles to achieve brain multidrugs delivery improving the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders
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leading to disability and morbidity neurodegenerative disorders nds have a profound socioeconomic impact given the aging of the population they are raising remarkable concerns several active compounds for nds treatment showed promising results invitro but failed invivo due to unfavorable biodistribution and limited biocompatibility the nanocarriers nc proposed in the last decade have certainly improved brain delivery of active compounds however the limited bioavailability of the drug and biocompatibility issues make nds treatment still a hot topic in neuroscience with bravery i aim to achieve the spatiotemporal controlled drug release improving the bioavailability of neuroactive compounds in the brain without causing neurotoxicity to do so i propose to develop a novel biocompatible multidrug nc capable of efficiently targeting the brain and releasing the loaded drugs in a controlled manner in response to specific stimuli after intranasal administration the proposed nc has three fundamental features 1 it is mucoadhesive 2 it degrades in response to two specific stimuli that allow achieving a spatiotemporally controlled release of the carried drugs in the brain 3 both nc and products of its degradation are biocompatible thus limiting neurotoxicity the biocompatibility and biodistribution of the nc will be evaluated by invitro invivo and exvivo analysis as a proof of concept the carrier will be loaded with active compounds and the biological effect observed will be compared with the one achieved by the free drugs the project could have an immediate impact on nds treatment improving the biological efficacy of the antiprion protein drug used in this project as model drug such a versatile biocompatible multidrug nc will pave the way toward a new era of nds treatments with a remarkable impact on society and health care systems worldwide
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smart dust batteries integrated with nearzeropower surveillance
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the lack of an onchip power source providing uninterrupted energy impedes the progress of smart dust in moving from lablevel demonstrations to everyday applications tiny generators relying on external energy sources face spatial and temporal limitations batteries with adequate energy are not available in an area of less than 1 mm2 and the reasons for their absence are manifold mainstream battery architectures require either thick or tall electrodes created by etching into the wafer but it is very fiddly to deposit materials onto these electrodes without defects highcapacity materials such as lithium cobalt oxide sulfur and lithium metal are often excluded because onchip techniques to synthesize or stabilize such materials are missing moreover a lowpower monitor to provide precise information about the energy storage state and battery health is essential for real applications but unexplored so far these difficulties demand a paradigm shift in microbattery development to pursue novel approaches that offer energydense microbatteries integrable into microsystems therefore we propose a microorigami technology for onchip microbatteries using aqueous zinc battery chemistry together with embedded surveillance based on a nonvolatile redox transistor with nearzero power consumption smadbins is expected to bring advances in battery chemistry and materials and onchip energy production and management boosting research for microbattery and smart dust applications as was recently highlighted by the pi nature 2021 589 195 the pi has decisively contributed to the field of aqueous microbatteries and developed the smart dust battery concept together with his team in several publications however a smart dust battery has not been achieved yet therefore the main objective of this project is to develop the first smart dust battery embedded with a lowpower monitor which attains a footprint capacity of more than 10 mahcm2 within 1 mm2
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establishing a chair for the study of imagination and society at the instituto de cincias sociais ulisboa
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the era chair on imagination and society at the institute of social sciences of the university of lisbon icsulisboa aims to establish the first permanent chair in europe dedicated to interdisciplinary research on the social dimensions of imagination as new technologies defy established understandings of the world the chair will steer innovative research and explore the critical role of imagination in addressing societal issues under the direction of prof ramon sarr university of oxford imagine will drive organisational development and capacity building securing icsulisboa as a centre of excellence attracting and retaining international talents this proposal results from the collaboration with the designated chair holder in an endeavour to reimagine the institutes role for the years to come the project builds on a solid assessment of ics contribution to defining social science research in portugal and brings forward an ambitious coordination and support programme framed into 4 strategic objectivesthe era chair will 1 recruit and mentor an outstanding team including the future group leader three early career researchers two doctoral students and one technical staff 2 enhance strategic institutional reforms in line with the era priorities 3 develop an interdisciplinary research agenda on imagination and society feeding on icss mission 4 increase competitiveness in international ri fundingthe plan of activities sets out the strategies and intermediate steps to maximise impact and provide sustainability in the long termresearch carried out under the interdisciplinary era chair will embed gender as a core dimension adopt best open science practices and implement principles of fair data management and sharing imagine will engage with different publics and players to foster imagination literacy promote cultural events and debates and integrate critical imagination and creativity in education and training
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transforming road safety in africa
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the transsafe project will involve national regional and city level demonstrations to test different types of innovative and integrated safe system solutions complemented by a comprehensive toolbox capacity development policy support and replication activities to maximize impact the project brings together in a consortium highly committed cities road safety agencies and experts from both europe and africa building on numerous synergistic projects networks and a strong technical experience among partners the consortium will deliver an ambitious project through highly effective and innovative approaches to sustainable road safety development thereby ensuring that road safety systems and interventions from this project deliver on the recommendations of the road safety cluster of the africaneu transport task force adopted in 2020 the consortium members have experience and expertise in africarelated research as well as developmentrelated research in collaboration with local actors in various countries of africa at many levels ultimately the project will help deliver on the joint euafrica strategy jaes and advance countries progress towards the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the sustainable development goals sdgs
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srsio3based dental pulp capping cement
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despites dental pulp capping materials should meet the certain requirements the available materials have one or more shortcomingspoor biocompatibility and rheological properties fail to maintain pulp vitality and to simulate reparative dentine formation and expensive etc mineral trioxide aggregate mta is widely used material because of its beneficial properties however its composition bismuth oxide which is suspectable to toxicity has an impact on rheological properties this emphasizes the necessity of looking for inexpensive alternatives to materials that meet the specifications this projects goal and novelty are to investigate the potential processing of the dental pulp capping cement which is made of strontium silicate srsio3 strontium fluoride srf2 piezoelectric material pzm and tricalcium silicate ca3o5si and its rheological properties and hemocompatibility because srsio3 srf2 pzm and ca3o5si have the promising properties this projects work packages are split into four categories based on the interdisciplinary approach since it involves the synthesis and characterization of pzm the processing and characterization of cement the identification of rheological parameters utilizing iso standardizations and hemocompatibility and acquiring new transferrable skills additionally the interactions among the selected compounds will be determined the scientific impact of this project is comprehending the physical properties and the immune systems response to evaluate the cements suitability as a replacement for existing materials as well as resulting in further uses in dentistry and medicine the societal impact is providing millions of patients in europe with predictable and outstanding treatment outcomes each year to maintain pulp vitality and health eventually it will ease the financial load on millions of patients who need dental care will be avoiding inflated medical expenses and misuse of the patent economic impact
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targeting palmitic acid signaling machinery to inhibit metastatic cancer
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despite recent breakthroughs in immunotherapy and cancer research metastasis continues to be responsible for 90 of cancer related deaths while surgical resection and adjuvant therapy can cure localized tumors once tumor cells metastasize cancer remains largely incurable increasing evidence indicates that lipids play a crucial role in the metastatic process by providing energy and membrane components required for cell migration and outgrowth and also by triggering specific signaling cascades that prime cancer cells into a metastatic program martinperez et al cell metabolism 2022 importantly we have found that palmitic acid but not other fatty acids promotes metastasis in a large number of tumors and that metastatic initiating cells require a lipid metabolism reprogramming driven by an epigenetic remodeling pascual et al nature 2017 pascual et al nature 2021 we have solid evidence that fatty acids not only promote metastasis by providing energy to metastatic cells delauney et al nature 2022 but also by specifically modulating protein lipidation thus targeting this particular lipid signaling machinery may represent an unexplored solution to combat metastasis palmitomet aims to identify novel molecules capable of inhibiting specific protein lipidation to treat metastasis in preclinical models with the aim to bring them closer to the clinic inhibitors found during this project have the potential to become firstinclass drugs making this project a high risk but high gain project considering the very large and growing market we are addressing
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galileo authentication and gnssins platforms for secure and safe services in air navigation and mobility
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in recent years there has been a vibrating interest in urban air mobility uam with attention on advancements in batteries distributed electric propulsion and all technologies that are leading to the development of a new class of aircraft commonly referred to as electric vertical takeoff and landing evtol aircraft these are expected to be safer quieter greener and less expensive to operate and maintain than existing vertical takeoff and landing aircraft they promise to be much less complex than legacy helicopters of comparable size and carrying capability but the reduced complexity of the aeronautical structure does not imply simpler avionics for flight control navigation and vehicle management which will have to address an integration problem this touches diverse position navigation and time pnt technologies and the lowlevel data fusion between global navigation satellite systems gnss and inertial navigation systems ins is a solution especially if new features of gnss signals are exploited gaussian addresses the problem of safety and security of uam applications that rely on pnt modules powered by egnss specifically gaussian wants to demonstrate the value of the authenticated galileo e1 signals combined to integrated gnssins platforms to have i greater robustness against spoofing attempts and ii better continuity and availability of pnt data in constrained environments gaussian wants to mitigate some security risks and concerns which originate from real needs of flight operators leveraging advances in existing pnt technologies the project also includes the application of the precise point positioning ppprtk corrections provided by the galileo high accuracy service has to improve the pnt data accuracy gaussian starts from existing concepts prototypes and components developed by the proposing companies with a strong focus on the creation of new integrated and certified products for the upcoming air mobility market
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tools for protecting data and function privacy
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privacy is a fundamental right and ideally both users data and organizations intellectual property are protected privacy enhancing technologies pets can protect data and function privacy a mature pet to protect data is multiparty computation mpc further pets are private set intersection psi to compute functions on sets of elements and private function evaluation pfe to protect data and functions the main goal of privtools is to develop composable pets and corresponding opensource tools that make them accessible to developers who are nonexperts in cryptography so far mpc psi and pfe were studied mostly separately and their composition to more complex functions is open we will develop composable and efficient pets using various function representationswe achieve these objectives1 currently each mpc framework uses a dedicated highlevel language the objective for mpctool is to give developers unified access to multiple mpc frameworks and function representations from multiple programming languages this allows technology transfer across mpc frameworks compare their performance and protects against vendor lockin2 for set operations a developer must currently generate circuits for postprocessing elements in the intersection which is cumbersome to make psi more accessible psitool will be the first tool for psi that generates optimized psi variant protocols from programs using common abstractions for sets3 for private functions a developer must currently generate a circuit that is evaluated with a pfe protocol this is inefficient and often only parts of the function must be hidden pfetool will be a flexible tool for pfe that uses multiple function representations and automatically chooses efficient pfe protocols for subfunctionsthe tools built in privtools also work with each other eg pfetool can hide the set operations in psitool they will allow protecting data and functions in a large variety of applications
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highthroughput production of extracellular vesicles from organoids under rotating motion
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extracellular vesicles evs have emerged as pivotal regulators of both physiological homeostasis and pathological conditions including cancer and regenerative diseases and have recently been pinpointed as central effectors in the therapeutic capabilities of their parent cells nevertheless the therapeutic market of evs still has significant potential for further development specifically ev production methods that deliver robust scalable and highyield productions if possible with the minimum cell material are still unattainable besides existing technologies are not adequately versatile to accommodate different types of producer cells which is of particular relevance given that the biological makeup of the evs and in turn their therapeutic potential strongly depend on the state of the parental cells when stimulated here we aim to integrate tight control of produced cells configuration with highthroughput production of evs in a streamlined system
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orchestrating an interoperable sovereign federated multivector energy data space built on open standards and ready for gaiax
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orchestrating an interoperable sovereign federated multivector energy data space built on open standards and ready for gaiaxthe aim of omegax is to implement a data space based on european common standards including federated infrastructure data marketplace and service marketplace involving data sharing between different stakeholders and demonstrating its value for real and concrete energy use cases and needs while guaranteeing scalability and interoperability with other data space initiatives not just for energy but also crosssectorthe proposed concept and architecture heavily rely on the approaches adopted by idsa gaiax fiware bdvadairo and sgam as major eu references regarding data spaces it will pursue the gaiax label which ensures highest standards on protection security transparency openess and trust avoids vendor lockin and restricted to eu countriesfederated infrastructure for data ingestion there are a lot of independent platforms for data ingestionstorage open and private the goal is to define the minimum interoperability and federation requirements needed for these platforms to adhere to the energy data space and be able to share data in a trusted and secure waydata space marketplaces this is the common ground where data which is already harmonized semantically is indexed and referenced maintaining always the required standards of identity trust and sovereignty using the data space as baseline a marketplace is implemented for stakeholders to share use and monetize data and services dataservice providers will be able to advertise their dataservices and dataservice users will be able to discover multiple data sets and servicesadvanced energy use case demonstration using all aforementioned layers underneath 4 use cases families renewables lec electromobility and flexibiilty will showcased o prove the value of having a common data space for a particular problem identified by energy stakeholders
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aibased software for digital drug testing
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drug consumption is rising worldwide in europe alcohol and other narcotic drugs cause 30 of all road deaths 25 of all fatal workplace accidents and 54 of all escooter accidents we believe that most of these accidents could be prevented using the right tools to this aim we have developed eyescanner a revolutionary aibased software that detects the influence of alcohol and other drugs through image analysis of eye area eyescanner is a versatile digital tool that can use existing tech infrastructure smart phones integrated into cars hospital equipment etc our solution offers a drug test for environments where drug testing was not possible cars escooter apps and a better alternative to currently used methods law enforcement corporate healthcarewe now seek eic support to finalize eyescanner development and demonstrate its application on different scenarios we will partner with industry leaders to transform eyescanner into the digital drug testing global leader
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hybrid knowledge society
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hybrid knowledge society hybknow is a twoyear postdoctoral project situated at the intersection of philosophy history and cultural studies the projects overarching purpose is to overhaul the concept of the knowledge society in light of pressing contemporary concerns such as the existential risks associated with the anthropocene and the hybrid demands of the 21stcentury knowledge ecosystemthe knowledge society was supposed to have initiated a technologydriven sciencebased and expertgoverned way of life but recent developments indicate that massive technology corporations exert significant influence over the public sphere scientific institutions are challenged by resurgent extremisms and expert knowledge is devalued in favor of conspiracy discourse moreover researchers have shown that anthropogenic activity has a significantly negative impact on the earth system with potentially devastating consequences for longterm human survivalin these highly complex circumstances the development of effective solutions will largely depend on the integration of the diverse multiple elements that comprise the global knowledge ecosystem therefore by drawing on the methodology of politicalhistorical epistemology to design an innovative research framework that combines conceptual research with historical case studies i will construct the concept of the hybrid knowledge society geared to integrate a wide range of disciplines and actors while avoiding the twin risks of neopositivism and postmodern relativismthe hybknow project will open up new research avenues address multiple existing research gaps and generate changeoriented knowledge to facilitate inclusive knowledgemaking practices in addition hybknow will provide me with an opportunity to boost my research profile improve my scientific training and consolidate my integration in international academic networks
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labelfree singlemolecule detection of complex biomolecule interactions in free motion
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dysregulated interactions between biomolecules can lead to changes in cell signalling and gene expression both common drivers of human disease a detailed understanding of these interactions is vital for drug development often targeting such interactions for therapeutic effects in this project i aim to develop an optical microscopy tool to observe interactions of highly diverse biomolecules in terms of eg weight or size in realtime on a singlemolecule level without the use of labels or immobilization which limits many current established methods this will allow the study of dynamic interactions between complex biomolecules of varying sizes and with a wide range of properties the tool will be capable of researching various biological systems that are not easily accessible by established methods this could contribute to breakthroughs in the research of severe diseases such as diabetes mellitus alzheimers or parkinsons disease
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imagebased in silico modelling of fetoplacental vasculature
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the placenta nourishes the fetus and removes its waste products in pregnancy fundamental to its function is the healthy development of an extensively branched treelike structure known as the vascular tree in pathological pregnancies abnormalities have been found in placental structure and function impaired uteroplacental blood flow can lead to pregnancy disorders such as fetal growth restriction fgr a condition in which the fetus does not grow physiologically fgr has lifelong consequences for both fetus and mother affecting 810 of pregnancies and contributing to 30 of stillbirths the placenta is inaccessible to in vivo measurements due to technological and ethical constraints ultrasound is the most routinely used clinical imaging tool for screening the placenta however it is limited in spatial resolution placental function can be also assessed via magnetic resonance imaging mri which is safe during pregnancy however mri models cannot measure blood flow changes in the placental vascular tree complementary to imaging in silico models are increasingly used to probe complex cardiovascular problems attempts to model blood flow in the placental vasculature are based on oversimplified assumptions while being limited by the data they have been informed or validated against with here an integrated hemodynamic model of the placental vasculature will be developed using novel ex vivo computed tomography data and computational fluid dynamics this project will innovate by delivering a computerbased framework insilicoplacenta which will offer a comprehensive understanding of the structural and functional abnormalities with fgr we will combine medical imaging with in silico models to infer placental tissue properties of the entire placental vasculature the longterm impacts of the proposed framework are expected to change clinical diagnosis and management of highrisk pregnancies by reducing stillbirths and improving neonatal outcomes
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linked lives consequences of long commuting for the health of all family members
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passive commutingregularly recurring travel between home and work by a motorized vehicle or public transportationis an integral part of our lives commuting may take a toll on the health of commuters and their family members current research offers a limited understanding of whether commutings health impacts are socially patterned information about whether long commuting affects family members is scarce a comprehensive inquiry into this topic is needed to understand what commuting means for population healthcomfams main objectives are 1 to investigate the impact of long commutes on commuters physical health 2 to investigate whether long commutes have adverse effects on noncommuting partners health and wellbeing 3 to assess the effects of parental long commutes on childrens health and social outcomes 4 to examine whether changes in commuting during and after the covid19 pandemic have brought any changes to the health and wellbeing of the family members and 5 to examine whether the health effects of long commutes differ across population subgroups and whether these effects are short or longtermcomfam is ambitious and highly innovative it will use highquality nordic register data enabling us to examine comprehensive objective indicators of health investigate the heterogeneous health effects of long commuting and employ novel methods to address endogeneity and help establish a causal pattern we will also leverage rich survey data from the uk us and germany to investigate mechanisms that may underlie commutinghealth relationships and assess health declines not yet requiring medical treatmentcomfam is also important in addition to impacting population health the negative health effects of commuting may reduce employee performance induce premature exits from the labor force and set children on problematic trajectories thus the findings will have farreaching public health social and economic implications across nations
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neuroprosthetic modulation of largescale brain networks for treating memory disorders
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cognitive deficits caused by ageing neurodegenerative diseases or brain injury represent a major public health issue they are associated with a disruption of neural oscillations in largescale brain networks which cannot be restored using current treatments here i propose a new neuromodulation framework for manipulating neural oscillations across largescale brain networks to improve learning and memory specifically i will create a largescale neuroprosthesis of the hippocampusprefrontal cortex circuit which will simultaneously record and stimulate electrically key areas of the episodic memory network i hypothesize that spatially spectrally and temporally specific stimulation protocols within this network will enhance the functional interactions between hippocampus and prefrontal cortex and will improve learning and memory this conceptual approach will be evaluated in nonhuman primates trained on a visuospatial learning taskfirst i will combine an electrocorticographic grid over the prefrontal cortex with depth macroelectrodes in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex to create a novel largescale brain implant i will use this device to investigate the neural signatures of successful vs failed trials next i will optimize electrical stimulation protocols that replicate successful neural signatures and will test whether they improve memory in healthy animals third i will induce temporary cognitive deficits in the animals using a cholinergic antagonist and will assess the effects of stimulation in this pharmacological model of dementia finally i will evaluate the chronic feasibility of this approach by translating these concepts into a fully implantable and wireless platform suited for future clinical applications memoprosthetics will lead to the development of neuroprostheses that palliate memory deficits in preclinical models of ageing and dementia and will open new avenues for studying and treating a wide range of cognitive impairments
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the quest for magnetic fields in a and f type stars
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magnetic fields are ubiquitous and have a substantial impact on galactic stellar and planetary evolution and on life theoretical models imply that magnetic fields can affect stars from the deep interior to the outermost layers at each stage of evolution yet the origin geometry and evolution of magnetic fields often remain a mystery consequently standard stellar evolution models do not consider the interaction of magnetic fields with other physical processesextensive surveys show that only 10 of the intermediatemass aftype mainsequence stars have detectable magnetic fields however studies show that up to 60 of red giant stars that evolve from these stars have strong internal magnetic fields stellar evolution dictates that if the magnetic fields exist in these red giants they must also exist in younger stars this discrepancy raises many open questions have surface magnetic fields in af stars been below the detection threshold of modern instruments are their magnetic fields confined to stellar interiors and never penetrate the surface if so how may we detect them are there physical processes that prevent a and f stars from producing and maintaining stable magnetic fieldsmagnify aims at answering these questions by 1 investigating the existence of internal and surface magnetic fields in af stars using asteroseismology and 2 exploring the mechanisms producing magnetic fields by studying stellar spots with asteroseismology we can use stellar pulsations to probe deep into the stellar interior to detect the presence of hidden magnetic fields we will use data from the kepler tess and gaia space missions to study af type pulsators and use stellar evolution and pulsation models to disentangle the signatures of magnetic fields from other physical processes finally we will use measurements of stellar spots in a large number of af stars to broaden our understanding of magnetic field generation and how it varies with stellar mass and age
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balancing clean water and energy provision under changing climate and extremes
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providing clean water and energy simultaneously to a growing global population and under a changing climate is a major challenge the demand for the two and their systemic interdependencies are particularly strong during droughts and heatwaves despite the recent growth in waterenergy nexus studies there is little fundamental understanding of the cascading effects and feedbacks between water and energy systems during extreme weather events because existing global model approaches mainly focus on wholesystem optimisation and are based on coarse spatiotemporal water and energy system representations we lack understanding on how waterenergy system processes cascade in time and space under a changing climate and extremes yet such understanding is urgently needed so that we can balance clean water and energy provision in our changing world in which climate shocks are increasingin bwex i will develop spatially explicit pathways that reveal how the provision of clean water and energy can be balanced under various water management and energy transition developments including the feedbacks and cascading mechanisms under present to future droughts and heatwaves in regions worldwidewith my team i will build a novel global framework which will be the first to integrate high spatiotemporal resolution models of hydrology water quality water use and energy systems to estimate how water and energy system processes cascade in time and space together with key actors we will also develop quantitative water management and energy transition climate action pathways which we will then combine with our new framework enabling us to estimate tradeoffs between water and energy systems during present to future droughts and heatwaves the bwex project will greatly deepen our understanding of the cascading effects and feedbacks between clean water and energy systems development that occur under changing climate and extremes and including climate mitigation actions
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changing worldviews at the end of the european bronze age societal insights from technology and lifeways before and after the mycenaean palatial collapse in greece 13001000 bc
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established mycenaean palatial systems collapsed during generalised sociopolitical crises in the eastern mediterranean at the end of the bronze age fundamental questions about the social impact of these irreversible transformations remain with implications for fully understanding diachronic human responses to significant environmental and cultural stressors changing world aims to evaluate how social collapse interfered with cultural processes as expressed in metallurgy and lifeways i will examine 150 metal objects warrior equipment jewellery tools utensils microscopically elementally and isotopically from 5 key sites in greece elateia lefkandi pefkakia voudeni nichoria for investigating resource management strategies metalworking choices and supply networks during 13001000 bc i will then integrate the metallurgical results with bioarchaeological data adna stable isotopes on relatedness sex and diet from 300 individuals from elateia and voudeni to shed light on changing worldviews embodied in craft practices this transdisciplinary methodology will offer new theorised multiproxy insights that will directly inform ongoing academic debates about the nature of the mycenaean collapse and will open new pathways for future research on materials and humans and for the study of societies in crisis this project is now possible through combining my extensive analytical skills and access to highly representative newly available study materials prof stockhammers pi lmu recent and ongoing bioarchaeological research in greece and prof degryses secondment pi ku leuven expertise in metals provenancing my analytical mcicpms and theoretical training practice theory and critical understanding of adna data alongside additional training in teaching and student supervision will strengthen my profile for attaining a tenured position at a university and attracting future eu research funding as well as my competences outside academia
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extremeaspectratio nanosystems
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moores law has dominated the trajectory of nanotechnology for the last half century consistently pushing towards nanocomponents with decreasing size in x y and z dimensions it is widely predicted that moores law will eventually come to an end in 2025 when nanocomponents start to approach the size of individual atoms many wonder what kind of nanotechnology can we expect in the postmoore world rather than asking how much smaller we can go ears will ask how big can we make nanotechnology imagine we could manufacture extremeaspectratio metamaterials which are only hundreds of atoms thick in z but extend out to meter scales in x and y even further consider covering these metersized sheets in nanoscale patterning to give them exceptional material properties not found anywhere in nature or science remarkably these types of extremeaspectratio metamaterials are increasingly at the heart of many future breakthrough initiatives ranging in functionalities from ultrafast sails for spaceexploration to sensors that can detect the smallest fundamental forces of physics ears will combine my unique expertise in nanofabrication and highprecision optomechanics experiments to realize a cuttingedge platform that opens radical trajectories in unmanned space exploration my novel approach will allow me to manufacture the highest aspectratio metamaterials ever produced and to reliably interface their dynamics with some of the most precise optical controls to date ears will herald a new frontier of nanotechnology that has the potential to revolutionize several breakthrough fields of science through metamaterials innovation
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learning the origins of temperaturesensivity in nervous systems
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temperature influences living organisms at all the levels from the rates of biochemical reactions within their cells up to their overt behaviour being fundamental to the physiology animals evolved nervous systems capable of sensing temperature influencing in turn the behaviour eg shivering when it is too cold cnidarians like jellyfishes or corals represents the second phylum in the animal kingdom endowed with a nervous system despite the many advancements in the field of thermal neurobiology whether cnidarians possess neurons able to sense temperature is currently unknown acquiring this information and learning the modality of temperaturesensing would shed a light on the functions of the nervous system of the last common ancestor of cnidarians and bilaterians with thermosenso the researcher wants to address this question studying the temperature sensitivity in hydra magnipapillata and nematostella vectensis two related classes of cnidarians the transparency of their body the public availability of their genome and their phylogenetic position make the two species very attractive animal models for this task by associating behavioural testing with in vivo calciumimaging and electrophysiology during delivery of thermal stimuli the researcher wants to detect and characterise temperaturesensitive neurons and their role in these organisms one of the most powerful tools to understand biology is the comparison between species eg darwinian evolution theory by providing to the scientific community a means of comparison with investigations in bilaterians and probing such an unexplored ground thermosenso would give a very strong impulse to the field of thermal neurobiology and to the study of early nervous systems
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5g evolution to mutiorbital multiband networks
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5g mobile networks will be soon fully available handling all types of applications and providing services to massive number of users in this complex and dynamic network ecosystem an optimized endtoend satellite support is key to manage requirements imposed by multiple vertical industries requiring full global connectivity the european space sector acknowledged this as a key opportunity to expand its business towards the massive deployment of broadband services what resulted in standardization efforts to adapt 5g to satellite needs in this context the aim of trantor is to perform a significant step forward by paving the path for the 5g ntn evolution towards 6g to do so trantor targets the inorbit validation of a complete satellite value chain involving an automated management of satellite resources across multiple bands satellites and orbits and a converged radio access network specifically at the ground segment trantor targets the development of novel satellite network management solutions fully integrated in the 3gpp management framework which allow the significant scaling up of heterogeneous satellite traffic demands and capacities in a costeffective highly dynamic band and orbit agnostic manner ai governance will be a main pillar here enabling real time radio resource management across multiple satellite systems for efficiently and trustworthy addressing satellite client needs in parallel in the user segment trantor aims to radically increase the flexibility of access architecture by enabling pre6g nonterrestrial multiconnectivity it will be supported by the design of a multiorbit and multiband antenna for satellite ues as well as by the development of gnb and ue 5g ntn equipment able to attend the multiconnectivity needs finally trantor aims to introduce security mechanisms to provide resilience to all types of cyberthreads specially those emerging from the integrated management and multiconnectivity framework proposed
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organic farming innovations network europe
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ohfines is a 48month long project that aim to empower european farmers and smallholders through the definition enhancement and transfer of competitive and efficient organic farming knowledge and alternatives that address farmers capacities consumer needs and evolving food market changes to this end ohfine will create paneuropean organic farming learning community ofc structured in four main technological pillars 1 to develop a multidimensional framework on the organic farming knowledge and practices 2 to establish a multiagent approach organic farming learning system and validate the framework in 5 case of studies areas across europe 3 to collect distribute and disseminate to farmers and other stakeholders of easily accessible practiceoriented knowledge focusing on organic farming and covering cereals oilseeds protein crops and livestock and 4 to develop a decision support system ict tool for farmers
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boundaries of quantum chaos
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physical systems are both universal and special depending on the physical property under consideration and the corresponding scale such as the energy time or length scale from the perspective of quantum dynamics it has been recently established that the ability of isolated quantum systems to thermalize after being driven away from equilibrium is related to the emergence of universal properties that comply with random matrix theory specific indicators for the onset of ergodicity and quantum chaos are related to the statistical properties of energy spectrum hamiltonian eigenfunction properties and the expectation values of observables in these states at the same time however these indicators also carry fingerprints of nonuniversal properties of a given system remarkable examples of the latter include eg information on the nature of energy and charge transport and the scaling of characteristic relaxation times one of the main conjectures of this erc project is that these indicators despite complying with the universal predictions of the random matrix theory also carry information about proximity of phase transitions here we focus on ergodicity breaking phase transitions which represent a novel type of phase transitions at the boundaries of quantum chaos we then extend the scope of the project to the critical properties at the ergodicity breaking transitions we conjecture that they also exhibit certain universal properties yet likely different from those described by the conventional random matrix theory the outcome of the project is to establish a phenomenological theory of ergodicity breaking transitions that applies to a broad class of quantum systems and to clarify the impact of dimensionality symmetries the nature of interactions and other mechanisms on universal properties of ergodicity breaking transitions
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danube sediment restoration towards the deployment and upscaling of sustainable management of the sediments across the danube catchment basin
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danser represents a multidisciplinary holistic and scientific based approach focused on the danube river basin a vital yet sensitive ecosystem facing climate change and human impacts danser addresses pressing sediment management needs in the danube river ecosystem incorporating cuttingedge technologies and aligning with eu policies and directives especially attaining the core guidelines of the danube sediments management guidance danser delivers a pilot phase and envisages the deployment phase with a strong emphasis on demonstrating active and passive innovative solutions such as a spatiotemporal mapping of natural and anthropogenic fluvial processes b sediment transport modelling c sediment dating by radionuclide and radiometric methods d historical pollution analysis e geophysical survey and 3d historical reconstruction of the demonstration sites f rivergroundwater dynamics and pollution transport modelling g river processes forecast simulations based on historical and active processes h sediment budget analysis based on sedimentation measuring stations uav and bathymetry surveys i water levels and quality monitoring and analysis j riverside arm hydrotechnical connectivity interventions k stakeholderengaged sediment parametric evaluation and co management and l nature based solutions for biodiversity characterization monitoring and improvement on the soft measures side danser enforces proactively a transnational sediment task force from cooperating with all related instances and commits with local communities and citizens engagement including participatory toolsdanser seeks to restore sediment balance improve sediment flow and quality characterise pollution transport mechanisms and integrate such actions and knowledge with eu and worldwide counterparts while still sustaining local and regional economies danser will contribute significantly to the create a sustainable and harmonious humandanube relationships
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lowpower consumption heavymetalfree widespectrum image sensors for massmarket computer vision applications
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the imaging industry is experiencing a paradigm shift due to megatrends such as autonomous cars the metaverse and service robotics all applications powered by computer vision cv this subset of artificial intelligence al is expected to contribute more than 2 trillion to the global economy by 2030present imaging technologies were designed to fulfil the needs of humans for highquality photography but not for machines autonomous and intelligent systems will require reinventing image sensors to deliver reliability and resilience under lowvisibility conditions while increasing the amount of information they capture and analyse qurv a company operating in this space that brings together unique world expertise has identified power consumption and toxic materials as the common drawbacks of current solutions hindering massmarket uptake to address these challenges the project qstack will develop and validate a widespectrum image sensor technology and business case that delivers unprecedented cost performance to massmarket powersensitive computer vision applications this ambitious overarching aim will be achieved through the following objectivesi achieve the integration of highperformance widespectrum cmos tmdc heavymetalfree stack swir sensitive image sensors as demonstrated by imaging and electrical characterisation analysisii achieve a reduction of the total image sensors power consumption enabled by a 1000x decrease in the pixel engine power consumption iii increase the investment readiness of qstack as demonstrated by the number of early users interested in pilots and evaluation kits together with the creation of investment materialqstack envisions putting the european semiconductor industry in an advantageous position to seize the opportunity in massmarket computer vision applications that will have an enormous impact on consumer electronics personalised health and safe mobility
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spin textures and dynamics in 3d complex nanostructures
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nanoscience is revolutionizing the 21st century in a multitude of areas from nanomedicine to communication technologies and nanomagnetism is playing a key role in this revolution the recent move to three dimensional nanomagnetic systems brings with it not only the appearance of novel and unconventional magnetic states but also the realisation of unprecedented properties in particular the threedimensionality is predicted to have a significant influence on the dynamics of magnetic domain walls solitonlike textures that form the basis of many proposed spintronics devices in recent years despite these promising opportunities most of these exciting new properties remain predictions and have not yet been realised experimentally speedy aims to establish for the first time an experimental understanding of magnetic domain wall dynamics in systems with a complex 3d structure we will determine the influence of 3d geometry by the introduction of curvature and torsion on the domain wall motion through the study of carefully designed systems with increasing complexity the project will be conducted in the group of dr c donnelly at the max planck institute for chemical physics of solids including two secondments of three months in the group of dr o fruchart in spintec speedy also constitutes a career development project aimed at enhancing the creative and innovative potential of the applicant providing excellent working conditions in a highlevel highly collaborative research environment this opportunity will prepare the applicant to become a wellestablished independent scientist and will be key to building her successful scientific research career in europe
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mechanicstailored functional ceramics via dislocations
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advanced functional ceramics play an indispensable role in our modern society and they are typically engineered by point defects or interfaces the potential of dislocations onedimensional atomic distortions in functional ceramics has been greatly underestimated until most recently exciting proofsofconcept have been demonstrated for dislocationtuned functionality such as electrical conductivity superconductivity and ferroelectric properties revealing a new horizon of dislocation technology in ceramics for a wide range of nextgeneration applications from sensors actuators to energy convertershowever it is widely known that ceramics are hard difficult to deform and brittle easy to fracture making it a great challenge to tailor dislocations in ceramics this pressing bottleneck hinders the dislocationtuned functionality and the true realization of dislocation technology to break through this bottleneck mecerdis employs mechanicsguided design coupled with external fields thermal light illumination electric field to manipulate the 3 most fundamental factors of dislocation mechanics nucleation multiplication and motion these external fields greatly impact the charged dislocation cores in ceramics and open new routes for mechanical tuning with these novel approaches mecerdis aims to generate control and stabilize dislocations in large plastic volumes up to mmsize with high density up to 1015m2 to allow largescale preparation for functionality assessment another essential benefit is dislocations are an effective tool to combat the brittleness of ceramics by improving the damage tolerance and fracture toughnessmecerdis will not only fulfil the key prerequisite of dislocationtuned functionality but also secure the mechanical integrity and operational stability of future dislocationbased devices with its success mecerdis will define a new paradigm of engineering functional ceramics using mechanics and dislocations
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quantifying the resilience of vertebrates to changing climates worldwide
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climate change remains one of the most critical issues facing global biodiversity and has already had a widespread negative impact on substantial numbers of terrestrial species despite these negative impacts not all species are expected to respond equally to a changing climate identifying species that are vulnerable to climateinduced population declines is therefore vital for conservation efforts life history and demographic differences between taxa are a key candidate for explaining differences in these responses but we currently lack a clear empirical link between demography and climate vulnerability across species the novel framework of demographic resilience provides a promising tool to predict how a species will respond to environmental change however there is a desperate need to apply the populationresilience framework to recently developed datasets gathering demographic data and population changes for thousands of species in the current fellowship using demographic and abundance data from vertebrates across the worlds ecosystems i will develop quantitative tools to quantify which species are currently the most resilient to a changing climate to achieve this i will address the following three broad research topics 1 quantify speciesspecific population responses to the climate anomalies and speciesspecific demographic resilience across the terrestrial vertebrates 2 assess whether demographic resilience predicts populationlevel responses to climate change and 3 infer taxonomic groups that are most vulnerable to a changing climate and use this information to improve conservation assessments this fellowship will bridge the gap between population demography and environmental change improving our understanding of how humaninduced climate change is reshaping the natural world
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loam walls with algorithmically generated 3d natural reinforcement
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we aim to develop loam walls with algorithmically generated 3d natural fibre reinforcement algoloam as the first completely biodegradable made of exclusively natural materials selfsupporting reinforced light loam wall solution totally or partially prefabricated algoloam will be developed by an interdisciplinary team of architects material scientists textile technology experts biomimetics experts sustainability experts mechanical engineers loamclay product developers and programmers through collaborative iterative processes to create critical interactions between disciplines we will explore the applicability and limitations of using exclusively natural and sustainable co2 negative materials to create a wall solution with multiple applications in architecture and interior design with the potential to reduce relative and absolute contributions of greenhouse gas emissions embodied in new buildings the natural 3d reinforcement embedded in the wall elements will act as a biomimetic textile inspired skeleton making the wall solution a symbiotic mutually interdependent and enabling natural composite material system optimal usage of materials and improved mechanical properties and loadbearing capabilities of the loam volume will be ensured by applying topology optimisation and through algorithmic and parametric variation of the natural composite algoloam will be optimised for a co2 neutral production process as digital fabrication digitally enabled and optimised by the use of computational models we will modell and generate algorithmically digital twins of the wall elements to will include information about material choices implications and consequences such as heritage sourcing to end of life cycle cradle to cradle and life cycle assessment analysis through which we aim for a holistic approach to building design construction operation and decommissioning
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validating ai in classifying cancer in realtime surgery
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building on breakthrough research in the ai analysis of fluorescence and perfusion in cancer tissues this project clinically validates the use of aidriven imaging and decision support in realtime cancer surgery cancer and healthy tissue have radically different local blood perfusion patterns this perfusion can be captured using nearinfrared video after systemic fluorophore indocyanine green injection analysis of the video can digitally identify regions of cancer by tracking the perfusion over the initial seconds after dye administration by comparing the fluorescence signal in these areas with those in adjacent normal tissue within the same endolaparoscopic field of view application of ai methods including computer vision and machine learning techniques has enabled this differential classification to occur in real time so that better individualised surgical decisions can be taken during an operation in this project we build up our existing ai solution research prototype into an operating roomstandard surgical tool and validate its performance reliability usability and acceptance in five leading cancer surgery centres across europe 500 patients the validation studies address a generalisability across clinics b biopsy and tumour identification and c optimised resection of large 3cm rectal polyps a key area of current surgical practice where the biggest clinical challenge ensuring accurate patient selection for curative therapy training and education communication and dissemination will be delivered by ircad europes leading surgical education organisation legal regulatory and liability research coled by ucph cebil centre and psu and usability and acceptance research led by surgical professional organisation eaes will identify and address all obstacles to widespread use of this technology in particular and of realtime ai in the operatingroom in general draft clinical guidelines will be created for future eaes adoption
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healthier diets and sustainable food and feed systems through employing microbiomes for soya production and further use
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animalbased proteins constitute a significant ingredient in european food systems dependence on animalbased proteins comes with substantial environmental and health impacts hence the transition toward plant proteinbased food systems is now more critical than ever microbiomes4soy is an interdisciplinary and intersectoral project that employs a multiactor approach to ensure that food system actors needs and key components relevant to the food 2030 priorities are addressed microbiomes4soy aims to enable transition pathways by delivering a comprehensive understanding of the microbiomes along the food and feed chains exploiting the microbiomes full potential is essential to ensure sustainable and nutritious food and feed as they are important players throughout the food system ranging from primary production where microbes improve plant growth and health to food production based on microbial processes and ultimately linking to the interactions between animalhuman microbiomes and host health microbiomes4soy focuses on the soya bean model system an important proteinrich crop the project will develop secondgeneration microbiome applications that sustain crop productivity and improve soya bean seeds nutritional value and safety under different environmental conditions microbiomes4soy will test the effect of dietary intervention based on soya beanderived protein on the human gut microbiome and health and elaborate microbiomeinformed dietary recommendations the project will also employ microbiomebased solutions to develop novel aquafeeds and establish their effects on the fish gut microbiome and healthmicrobiomes4soy consortium comprises 18 partners from ten countries contributing complementary expertise on soil plant human and animal microbiomes bioinformatics modelling crop production aquaculture foodfeed production food systems mapping and scientific communication
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the first comprehensive atlas of the milky way
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the milky way is the cosmic environment in which the solar system the earth and life as we know it came into being it is also the veil through which we peer into the extragalactic universe its dust obscures our view of the formation of the cosmos its magnetic fields distort the observations of natures most powerful particle accelerators its structure and metabolism determine the great diversity of observed star and planetary systems including our own due to a lack of distance information currently most information about the structure of the milky way is twodimensional while threedimensional information is needed for a breakthrough in galactic cartography and the science it enables we will create the first comprehensive threedimensional atlas of all the physical components of the milky way our atlas will be selfconsistent between component maps quantify their remaining uncertainties and be the most detailed to date thanks to the dramatic progress in observations at all wavelengths and in algorithmic methods based on information field theory in recent years now is the right time to do this our teams combined expertise in galactic astrophysics algorithms observations milky way surveys and information field theory with its application to galactic tomography puts us in a unique position to generate the first comprehensive milky way atlas we will apply this atlas to a number of pressing questions in cosmology cosmic ray and interstellar medium research and transfer the used tomography technologies into other areas like medical imaging earth monitoring and industrial data analysis
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autonomous robotics and digital twin to improve water network performances
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our project aims to revolutionize the water industry through the development and commercialization of an innovative robotic inspection system our robotic inspection system offers a comprehensive set of functionalities that enable water utilities to gain deep insights into the condition of their water pipelines with the ability to autonomously navigate inside the pipeline our system conducts detailed assessments of the structural integrity identifies leaks and analyses the quality of the drinking water by developing the digital twin of the water networks our technology empowers water utilities to make informed decisions and take proactive measures to ensure the reliability efficiency and safety of their water networksat the core of our business model is robotics as a service raas which offers a flexible and costeffective solution for water utilities instead of incurring substantial upfront costs water utilities can access our cuttingedge technology on a subscription basis this model eliminates the financial barriers to entry and allows utilities to benefit from the latest advancements in robotic inspection without compromising their budgetary constraints with a strong focus on sustainability our robotic inspection system aligns with several sustainable development goals sdgs including sdg 6 clean water and sanitation and sdg 9 industry innovation and infrastructure during 20252029 our robotic inspection system will preserve 143 million cubic metres of drinking water these savings correspond to the annual consumption of 26 million eu citizens this greatly aligns with global efforts for sustainable water management and environmental preservation
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airbrayton cycle concentrated solar power future plants via redox oxidesbased structured thermochemical heat exchangersthermal boosters
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abraytcspfuture sets forth an innovative carbonneutral way for implementing into future airoperated csp plants the inherently much more efficient airbrayton gas turbine power generation cycles in order to achieve higher solartoelectricity efficiencies vital for competitiveness of csp and nonreachable by either pvs or molten salts and thermal oils significantly increasing in parallel the plants storage capability both these functionalities will be made possible by developing and demonstrating the integrated operation of a firstofitskind compact dualbed thermochemical reactorheat exchanger design comprised of nonmoving flowthrough porous ceramic structures honeycombs or foams based on earthabundant inexpensive nontoxic oxide materials capable of performing simultaneously the followingtransferring heat from a nonpressurized air stream to a pressurized one while operating simultaneously as a thermal booster raising the temperature of the pressurized stream to levels required for gas turbine airbrayton cyclesincreasing significantly the volumetric solar energy storage density of such airoperated csp plants by rendering their current sensibleonly regenerative storage systems to hybrid sensiblethermochemical storage ones within the same storage volumeboth these functionalities will be materialized by exploiting reversible reductionoxidation reactions of such oxides in direct contact with air accompanied by significant endothermicexothermic heat effects the first one in particular will be achieved by performing the reduction of these oxides with solarheated air streams under atmospheric pressure but their exothermic oxidation with pressurized air streams the proposed technology is set forth by an interdisciplinary partnership spanning the entire csp value chain comprised of leading research centers universities innovative smes and large enterprises including ancillary services providers and technology endusers
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efficacy and safety of a newly registered artemisininbased combination pyronaridineartesunate pyramax for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in african pregnant women extended
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pyrapregextended aims to complete pyrapreg project pactr 202011812241529 that determines efficacy and safety of pyronaridineartesunate pa pyramax a newly registered artemisininbased combination to treat uncomplicated malaria in african pregnant women and to provide the necessary information to include this treatment in guidelines for management of malaria during pregnancy the work includes a one year followup of children born to women included in the trial and pharmacokinetic pk substudy in addition this project comprises an extensive capacity building component including the training of phd students pyrapreg activities started 1 march 2019 and were expected to be completed 28 february 2024 intense site preparations were completed but just before start of recruitment covid19 pandemic started and significantly delayed trial implementation participant recruitment started early 2021 and was completed in 2023 with last delivery expected in q3 2023 final 1year visit of children born to women included in the trial will occur mid2024 furthermore sample analysis for qc data cleaning and statistical analysis takes another 6 months to completion allowing final report submission 2 months later feb 2025 pk component was delayed due to late initiation of recruitment for the pk cohorts of patients last patient recruitment in the pk cohort is ongoing and pk sampling will finish q3 2023 participants follow up continues until all women delivered and all babies have reached the age of 1 year pk bioanalysis is expected to be finished by february 2024 pk data cleaning and merging with clinical efficacy and toxicity data followed by population pk and pharmacodynamic modelling activities will then be initiated which will take around 9 months leading up to a pk report by february 2025 phds encountered delays students could not travel for training and data collection for their studies was delayed and will be completed in pyrypregextended
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exploring natural immunity in retinal neovascular disease
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agerelated macular degeneration amd is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world the number of people with amd has reached 196 million with 1 in 10 people over 55 years already showing early signs of the condition 70 of those who progress to latestage disease will develop neovascular nvamd due to uncontrolled growth of blood vessels behind the retina in fact aberrant growth of retinal or choroidal vasculature is a hallmark of diabetic retinopathy and nvamd collectively these are the most common causes of central vision loss globally identification of new biological processes that regulate neovascularization are urgently needed to open new therapeutic options for patients this is a challenge but with recent longitudinal studies showing unequivocally that current goldstandard care has a therapeutic ceiling it presents a critical unmet clinical need i have recently discovered that natural killer cells nks are found in neovascular lesions in human amd and our mouse model data suggests that these innate lymphoid cells ilcs play a role in inhibiting pathology using scrnasequencing i discovered a defined subset of nks in neovascular lesions in a model of resolving nvamd i now hypothesize that in contrast to expectations these ilcs play a critical role in remodelling neovascular lesions limiting pathology as opposed to exacerbating it nk cells are completely unstudied in the retina here i propose that manipulating nk cells may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for the prevention and treatment of neovascular eye disease objectives 1 examine nk cell function in models of retinal neovascular disease 2 profile nk cells in amd pathology in a human study 3 develop microfluidic neovascular retinaonachip model to examine nk cell mechanismofaction 4 determine if nk cell therapy can ameliorate neovascular eye disease goal to harness the power of nk cell activity to treat neovascular eye diseases
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