European Research Council (ERC)

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Sarah Auster
Institut für Mikroökonomie
Adenauerallee 24 - 42
53113 Bon

Abstract

Many pivotal decisions hinge on navigating fundamental uncertainty, where a comprehensive description of the relevant contingencies and exact odds remains elusive. This project explores how such uncertainty influences learning, innovation, and strategic information sharing. While previous research has made significant strides in exploring information incentives, it predominantly revolves around scenarios with well-defined risks, neglecting the intricate real-world challenges of rapidly evolving, complex environments. My approach leverages decision-theoretic advances to construct novel theoretical frameworks of active learning and strategic disclosure, shedding light on the implications of fundamental uncertainty on the decision-makers’ desire for
robustness, demand for commitment, and strategic incentives.

The project entails the study of active experimentation, modeled as a canonical multi-arm bandit problem, in situations where the experimenter’s knowledge about the underlying distribution of payoffs is limited. I propose a new theoretical approach centered on regret minimization and continual re-optimization. This work will generate new insights into the experimenter’s dynamic tradeoff between exploitation and exploration in the face of shifting worst-case scenarios, as well as the feasibility of ex-ante optimal experimentation rules.

Shifting the focus to strategic interactions, I will investigate how uncertainty over the underlying process of information endowments impacts information-sharing incentives. My work will center on a canonical senderreceiver structure with verifiable information. I will examine the role of the receiver’s sophistication in the predictions of such models, in particular, the inevitability of information unraveling. This will challenge some widely accepted insights of this literature.

Duration

01.01.2025 - 31.12.2029

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Florian Bernard
Institut für Informatik II – Visual Computing
Friedrich-Hirzebruch-Allee 8
53115Bonn

Abstract

Visual data association aims to find task-specific mappings involving visual data. Two significant
examples are the mapping of physics models to complex scenes for planning overtaking manoeuvrers in autonomous driving, or matching collections of 3D shapes for medical analysis. Despite the high relevance of visual data association, its progress has not kept pace with the revolutionary developments fuelled by recent deep learning advances: existing data association machinery lacks theoretical guarantees (e.g. global optimality, or structure such as geometric consistency in 3D shape matching) that are critical for high-stakes settings, or suffers from poor scalability. Moreover, current procedures fall short of understanding complex interconnections across different observable entities (collections of e.g. objects or scenes). The vision of Harmony is to tackle these shortcomings by harmonising the complex interconnections between observable
entities and underlying fundamental principles (e.g. geometry, or physics). This research direction is challenging, largely unexplored and will require to break substantially new ground at conceptual, algorithmic and practical levels simultaneously. My broad and unique expertise in visual data  association, own recent proof-of-concept studies, and my genuine determination qualify me to solve these pressing issues. Harmony is organised into four complementary challenges:

Challenge A addresses global optimality and scalability for 3D shape matching;
Challenge B addresses structure and dynamics inference from static images;
Challenge C addresses non-linear synchronisation in data collections defined over graphs;
Challenge D will exploit synergies and cross-fertilise insights across Harmony.

Overall, Harmony will benefit both researchers and practitioners by providing solutions to more
complex tasks in practically relevant settings (e.g. geometrically consistent medical shape analysis, or physics-based scene understanding).

Duration

01.01.2025 - 31.12.2029

Principal Investigator

Dr. Melanie Braun
Institut für Nutzpflanzenwissenschaft und Ressourcenschutz (INRES)
Nußallee 13
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Plastic pollution has been identified as a key to soil health. Yet, information on inputs and concentrations in agricultural soil is limited to microplastics (> 1 μm-5 mm) or larger particles, but nothing is known about submicron plastics, including colloidal plastics (CPs; 1-1000 nm) and nanoplastics (NPs; 1-100 nm), due to a lack of analytical methods. This is critical because mainly submicron plastics harm soil biota, are taken up by plants, and thus pose a risk to human health via the food chain. As plastic pollution is rising, we urgently need to quantify submicron plastics in agricultural soils and the resulting plant uptake and contamination of our food to safeguard our food production. Hence, the NanoSoil project is designed to test the following hypotheses: i) submicron plastics can be routinely detected using Field Flow Fractionation (FFF) with adaptions
from environmental colloid tracing, ii) agricultural practices (compost and sludge application, wastewater irrigation, plastic mulching) are main pathways for submicron plastics into soil, as well as iii) the use of so-called biodegradable foils in agriculture. I further hypothesize that iv) uptake and accumulation of NPs and CPs in crops are polymerand plant-specific, temperature- and humidity-dependent, with mainly NPs reaching edible parts. To quantify submicron plastics, I will i) optimize a recently developed method using FFF and pyrolysis gas chromatography. This method will then ii+iii) be used on soil samples from agricultural fields with known plastic input pathways for conventional and biodegradable plastics, including a Europe-wide survey and existing controlled field trials. Finally, iv) plant uptake will be assessed for representative crops. With my combined expertise in nanoparticle and plastic analysis in soil, NanoSoil will for the first time generate data that will form the basis for all future environmental fate and ecotoxicology studies of plastics and a robust risk assessment.

Duration

01.03.2025 - 28.02.2030

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Markus Hausmann
Mathematisches Institut

Abstract

Bordism theory connects many central areas of mathematics: Defined via smooth manifolds, it has proved to have deep connections to formal groups from algebraic geometry and stable homotopy theory from algebraic topology. In particular, complex bordism serves as an effective organizational tool for studying the stable homotopy category, splitting up the homotopy groups of spheres into components of different wavelengths.

The goal of BorSym is to develop a similarly powerful correspondence that classifies the symmetry of spaces through novel connections to equivariant algebraic geometry and smooth actions. While such a relationship for symmetries has long been conjectured, it was only recently that foundational results have been established for the actions of abelian groups, such as the tensor-triangular classification of actions on finite complexes and my proof of the equivariant Quillen theorem. At the same time, bordism of symmetries has become a central object of interest also in the seemingly unrelated field of symplectic topology, where groundbreaking work of Abouzaid and collaborators has identified derived orbifold bordism as the universal target for Floer homology, thereby solving long-standing open problems in the field.

In view of these events a new picture is emerging which paints a universal role of equivariant bordism, going substantially beyond even its classical role described above. The goal of BorSym is to unravel the full potential of this emerging picture: to thoroughly develop a chromatic homotopy theory of group actions; to employ the newly established set of tools to tackle major open problems in transformation groups and obtain new information about the derived orbifold bordism ring; and to extend the connections between formal groups, thick subcategories and bordism rings beyond the abelian case.

Duration

01.01.2025 - 31.12.2029

Principal Investigator

Dr. Tomáš Jagelka
Institut für Angewandte Mikroökonomik
Adenauerallee 24–42
53113 Bonn

Abstract

FELICITAS revolutionizes the way we think about preferences, skills, and other latent personal attributes (PSAs), estimates their heterogeneity along with its determinants, and provides policy implications.

PSAs are key drivers of a myriad of decisions which combine to create an individual’s life story. Differences in PSAs, together with constraints and luck, underlie inequalities in outcomes. Knowledge of PSAs is essential for policymakers to design effective public policy. Self-knowledge of PSAs is crucial for individuals to sort into occupations, activities, and relationships which enable them to flourish.

However, unobserved PSAs are only noisily revealed by observed behavior. I develop a decision model which separately identifies noise due to imperfect self-knowledge and endogenous effort. It quantifies their respective roles in different choice settings, de-biases estimates of PSAs, and assesses their importance in essential life outcomes.

I use these insights, along with an innovative discrete choice framework in which respondents choose between pairs of realistic life stories, to provide causal estimates of distributions in preferences (valuations) for policy-relevant life outcomes (longevity, health, family structure) in the United States and in Europe. I link the estimated heterogeneity to culture, demographics, and other PSAs.

Finally, I examine a new latent personal attribute - an individual’s propensity to perceive time in a
distorted manner. In a twist to received wisdom that time flows faster when one is engaged in a more enjoyable activity, I propose that utility obtained from an activity can be inferred using differences between “felt” and elapsed time. I conjecture that the perceived duration of a task may both be the relevant decision variable, which reflects an individual’s exerted effort on a task, and a determinant of required hourly wages. If empirically validated, we obtain a cardinal measure of utility which will transform its measurement.

Duration

2025 - 2029

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Andrina Nicola
Argelander Institut für Astronomie
Auf dem Hügel 71
53121 Bonn

Abstract

Despite the observational successes of the Lambda Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model, a number of its key ingredients remain unknown. Imminent surveys promise to yield unprecedented constraints on these components, thus making precision tests of ΛCDM a firsttime reality.

In PiCo, my team and I will focus on two fundamental questions in modern physics that can only be answered through cosmological observations: What mechanism gave rise to the primordial fluctuations seeding all the structures seen in the Universe today? What is the cause for the Universe’s late-time accelerated expansion? 

We will address these by developing novel analysis techniques built on the complementarity of cosmological probes and advanced statistical methods. These are designed to harness the rich information contained in non-Gaussian, small-scale features of cosmic fields, while enabling precise constraints on ΛCDM, robust to systematic uncertainties dominating high-precision data. Focusing on two of the most powerful probes of the next decade, galaxy clustering and galaxy clusters, we will constrain the mechanisms driving the accelerated expansion through the first joint simulation-based inference analysis of galaxy clusters selected through the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and weak lensing. In addition, we will derive constraints  on primordial fluctuations in a combined analysis of galaxy clustering and CMB lensing angular twoand three-point statistics.

Capitalizing on my past work, we will develop these methods using simulations and current data, before applying them to galaxy data from the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time and CMB data from the Simons Observatory, two upcoming high-precision experiments I am deeply involved in. PiCo will deliver tight constraints on the key ingredients of ΛCDM and will thus contribute to understanding if this model provides a complete description of our Universe, or if it is time for a paradigm shift in cosmology.

Duration

01.01.2025 - 31.12.2029

Principal Investigator

Dr. Stefan Partelow
Center for Life Ethics
Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 7
53113 Bonn

Abstract

The ocean economy has exponentially expanded since the early 2000s, revealing how business-as-usual governance in the form of privatization and fragmented state strategies are insufficient for ensuring social justice and sustainability. Common property rights models – or commons - offer promising and transformative solutions for radically reforming ocean governance around shared rights, responsibilities and benefits to align stewardship and use. However, what remains unknown, is the viability, desirability and feasibility of commons as a scalable strategy. Answering these questions is urgent at all levels. Globally, the United Nations High Seas Treaty (adopted March 2023) mandates governing the high seas as a global commons, but with no clear governance pathways. Regionally, over 191 fragmented governance arrangements address transboundary issues but lack coordination and integration. Nationally, Blue Economy agendas are boosting growth without clear frameworks to deal with trade-offs, justice or sustainability. Locally, capacities are lacking for collective action, risk sharing and adaptation to climate and market changes.

SharedSeas examines the viability, desirability and feasibility of using common property rights as a sustainable and scalable ocean governance model. It builds the conceptual and theoretical foundations of how a commons-based Blue Economy can realistically function and scale (WP1). Empirical social-ecological analysis will extract lessons, challenges and best practices across multi-level cases (WP2). Transdisciplinary participatory methods with diverse stakeholders will be developed to co-create future scenarios and pathways to address trade-offs (WP3). To scale impact, SharedSeas has the ambitious goal to theoretically develop and empirically test eight pathways from amplification theory (stabilizing, speeding up, growing, spreading, transferring, replicating, scaling up, scaling deep) as avenues to mainstream commons in the Blue Economy (WP4).

Duration

2025 - 2029

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Hilde Kühne
Institut für Informatik II, Visual Computing
Friedrich-Hirzebruch-Allee 8
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Duration

2024 - 2029

Principal Investigator

Dr. Adolfo Arroyo Rabasa
Institute für Angewandte Mathematik
Endenicher Allee 60
53115 Bonn

Abstract

The interaction between microscopic and macroscopic quantities lies at the heart of fascinating problems in the modern theory of nonlinear PDEs. This phenomenon, modeled by weak forms of convergence, entails the formation of oscillations, concentrations, and fine patterns ubiquitous in geometric, physical, and materials science models. ConFine will investigate the nature of concentrations and fine geometries arising from longstanding conjectures and novel questions of the calculus of variations. The goals comprise two themes. Theme I examines the qualitative and quantitative nature of PDE-constrained
concentrations. Building upon results recently pioneered by the PI, the purpose of Theme I is to prove a novel interpretation of Bouchitte’s Vanishing mass conjecture and a novel compensated integrability result, with profound implications for the compensated compactness theory. Theme II investigates the fine properties of PDE-constrained measures from three different perspectives. Via potential and measure theory methods, it will attempt to produce substantial advances towards solving the sigma-finiteness conjecture in BD spaces. It will also investigate the structure of integral varifolds with bounded firstvariation.
The goal is to prove that these measure-theoretic generalizations of surfaces possess an underlying BV-like structure. Lastly, Theme II conjectures a complementary result to the ground-breaking De Philippis–Rindler theorem, which asserts that the regular part of an A-free measure is essentially unconstrained. This set of problems comprises significant theoretical obstacles at the forefront of the calculus of variations and geometric measure theory. In this regard, the proposed methodology gathers novel ideas oriented to overcome such paramount challenges. Consequently, far-reaching implications beyond the proposed objectives are expected, in the development of new methods and applications, in diverse fields of Analysis.

Duration

01.03.2024 - 28.02.2029
 
 

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Tobias Ackels
Institute of Experimental Epilepsy and Cognition Research (IEECR)
Venusberg-Campus 1
53127 Bonn

Abstract

A fundamental challenge for the brain is to extract relevant information from an ever changing external world. Natural odours are in a constant state of flux. Turbulent airflow shapes odours into spatiotemporally complex plumes that carry information about the olfactory scenery and provide vital clues about the location of, for example, food sources or predators. How the mammalian olfactory system extracts information about space from temporal odour dynamics, however, is still not well understood. Recent methodological advances in presenting dynamic odour stimuli, neural activity recordings and machine-vision algorithms now offer the exciting opportunity to address this fundamental question. Using a multidisciplinary approach, this project will uncover how temporally complex odour information is processed across the olfactory system and how odour dynamics give rise to behaviour. We will first investigate how temporally complex odour information is represented across key structures of the mammalian olfactory system using in vivo physiology. This will provide important groundwork for the next step, elucidating the cellular and circuit mechanisms underlying the encoding of dynamic odours in the early olfactory system. Finally, we will study which features of temporally complex odours are used for navigation behaviour by simultaneously recording and correlating the animal’s respiration sampling strategy, the dynamic odour profile encountered by the animal and neural activity from early and higher order olfactory areas in freely moving mice. By combining cellular and systems neuroscience with behavioural investigations, we aim to directly assess how mammals use olfaction to extract information about space from time. I strongly believe that this innovative research programme will generate novel and highly generalizable insights into how naturalistic sensory information is processed and that it will uncover neural mechanisms that give rise to our perception of the world.

Duration

01.08.2023 - 31.07.2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Yongguo Li
Institut für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie
Venusberg-Campus 1
53127 Bonn

Abstract

Free-ranging animals are continuously exposed to fluctuating ambient temperature, therefore rapid fine-tuning of thermogenesis to maintain core temperature homeostasis is critical for survival. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) evolves as a thermogenic organ, the rapid switching on and off is essential for thermal regulation. Of note, thermogenesis inevitably comes at high energetic cost and BAT ultimately is an energy-wasting organ. A constrained strategy that minimizes BAT activity unless obligate will have been favored during natural selection to safeguard metabolic thriftiness. However, this tenet and the molecular basis that constrain BAT activity remain unappreciated, unexplored and unexploited. Filling this fundamental knowledge gap will unlock endogenous constraints and allow efficiently and fully harness the energy-consuming potential of BAT for therapeutic interventions.
To this end, I identify that a phase separation-aided molecular event, a lipolysis-stimulated feedforward regulatory circuit with negative feedback loop, and a purinergic nucleotides flux-based inhibitory mechanism, are synergistically involved in rapidly terminating heat production. BATOFF aims to study: 1) how these previously unappreciated mechanisms allow mammals to effectively orchestrate dynamics of BAT activity; 2) whether these constraining brake systems are malfunction under pathophysiological conditions; and 3) the translational potential of targeting these brakes. I will address these questions using state-of-the-art gain and loss-of-function in vitro and in vivo studies, newly-generated mouse models, high-resolution cellular respirometry, live cell imaging, and cutting-edge 'omics'. Results of BATOFF will not only provide a transformative molecular understanding of the cellular processes enabling physiological adaptation to thermogenic demand, but also with translational potential for prevention and treatment of obesity and diabetes by harnessing the calorie-burning potential of BAT.

Duration

01.01.2024 - 31.12.2028

Principal Investigator

JProf. Dr. Daqing Wang
Institut für Angewandte Physik
Wegelerstr. 8
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Duration

01.10.2023 - 30.09.2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Giles Gardam
Mathematisches Institut
Endenicher Allee 60
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Group rings are key objects in many fields of mathematics including algebra, topology, operator algebras and representation theory. Fundamental questions about them remain unanswered, in particular several conjectures attributed to Kaplansky. For torsion-free groups and field coefficients, the zero divisor conjecture predicts the absence of zero divisors and the idempotent conjecture predicts that 0 and 1 are the only idempotents in the group ring. The direct finiteness conjecture says that left-invertible elements are invertible in group rings of arbitrary groups over fields. These conjectures have a history spanning more than 80 years. Although special cases are known, resolving any of the conjectures in full generality seemed intractable until the recent disproof of the closely related unit conjecture. The goal of this project is to construct counterexamples to the zero divisor and direct finiteness conjectures. The latter will give the first example of a non-sofic group. We also seek to resolve the unit conjecture in characteristic zero. Key to our approach is the application of modern solvers for Boolean satisfiability. This paradigm shift, which was successful against the unit conjecture, shows that these problems are substantially more vulnerable to computational techniques than previously thought. Constructing our counterexamples will require both developing our understanding of candidate groups and their properties and building a toolkit for the effective application of existing computational machinery. The unique product property obstructs the existence of counterexamples to these conjectures and is thus of great interest. We will answer fundamental questions about this property. Although we focus on the positive characteristic case, this project will lay serious groundwork towards the construction of counterexamples in characteristic zero to the zero divisor and idempotent conjectures and thus to the Atiyah, Baum-Connes and Farrell-Jones conjectures.

Duration

01.10.2023 - 30.09.2028

Principal Investigator

Dr. Guglielmo Lockhart
Physikalisches Institut
Nußallee 12
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Quantum field theory (QFT) is the formalism that underlies modern particle and condensed matter
physics. Standard perturbative methods in QFT have been extraordinarily successful in explaining
physical phenomena involving weakly-interacting quantum fields. On the other hand many fundamental phenomena, including phase transitions and nuclear interactions, are described by strongly coupled QFTs for which perturbative techniques are insufficient and a rigorous, predictive theoretical formulation is lacking. Heuristic arguments indicate that a full non-perturbative formulation of QFT must include extended degrees of freedom (a prototypical example being the flux tubes that bind quarks inside the nucleus). My proposal describes a novel approach for studying extended objects in a wide range of QFTs, based on two recent conceptual breakthroughs: first, my research on a special class of theories (the six-dimensional SCFTs) has brought to light a rich algebraic structure that captures the properties of its stringlike excitations; and second, new developments in mathematics and physics point to the existence of a vast generalization of this structure, which is perfectly suited to describe the extended objects of a much wider range of QFTs. This program is organized along three directions: analyze the families of QFTs that can be studied by string-theoretic and geometric methods, and gradually uncover the algebraic structures that describe their extended degrees of freedom; exploit these algebraic structures to obtain novel principles that govern the dynamics of stronglyinteracting QFTs; and determine the new mathematical structures that arise from the combination of the geometric and algebraic description of the extended objects. An ERC starting grant will allow me to undertake this ambitious project whose pursuit will lead to a much deeper understanding of extended degrees of freedom, or their role in QFT, and of the mathematical structures that describe them.

Duration

0.09.2023 - 31.08.2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. David Wüpper
Institut für Lebensmittel- und Ressourcenökonomik
Nußallee 21
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Land degradation is one of the major sustainability challenges of our time. It is a driver of climate change, biodiversity loss, and water pollution, and reduces global agricultural productivity. This requires effective and economically efficient policies.
Here, I outline a project that combines the global measurement and modelling of land degradation trends with econometric research designs to estimate policy effectiveness, their benefit cost ratios, and how design features and contextual factors explain policy performance. This research builds on the unique expertise I have developed over the last few years.
The project consists of four work packages. In the first WP, global datasets will be build, including a new database of public policies relevant to land conditions, maps of different land degradation indicators, such as soil productivity trends, vegetation and agricultural yield changes, soil erosion and pollution, and land cover changes, such as cropland expansion and forest loss.
In the second WP, econometric research designs (such as difference-in-differences, difference-in discontinuities, and synthetic control) will be used to estimate the causal effect(s) of public policies on land conditions. The comprehensiveness and global scope of the analysis means that for the first time, we will have the “full picture”, largely free of selection and publication biases, and methodologically unified.
In the third WP, all the policies’ costs and benefits will be compared to each other and we will quantify how much benefit each policy has been generating per its costs.
In the fourth WP, we will use both conventional econometric techniques and novel machine learning approaches to systematically explain when and why some public policies perform better than others.
This research will generate new insights on how to improve public policies to mitigate and reverse land degradation. I expect it will generate high interest among academics, policy makers, and the public.

Laufzeit

01.06.2023 - 31.05.2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Matthias Braun
Chair for Systematic Theology / Ethics
Am Hof 1
53113 Bonn

Abstract

Digitisation has an impact on even the most fundamental concepts in medicine and public health, including our ideas of health and illness, embodiment, vulnerability and controllability. Among the emerging technologies driving this paradigm shift is that of Digital Twins (DT), which presents exceptional challenges to healthcare governance, raising ethical and societal issues of which our understanding is still rudimentary. DT may be empowering but could also exacerbate the vulnerability of both individual patients and the population at large. There are substantial gaps in our understanding of whether these new forms of artificial intelligence-driven health simulations provide new ways of engaging with experiences of human vulnerability, or whether they in fact introduce new forms of harm.

In this context, SIMTWIN will be the first project systematically identifying and examining the ethical and societal implications of the use of DT in healthcare. In doing so, SIMTWIN will promote our understanding of and practical approaches to new forms of simulation and prediction of health trajectories.

SIMTWIN’s central objective is to provide a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the normative challenges implied in order to develop an integrated theory of health simulations. In proposing an empirically-based and normatively robust framework for an ethical and societal assessment of this technology, SIMTWIN will enable the design of practical modes of controllability for the use of DT in health.

At a moment in history in which our societies find themselves facing crucial decisions on how to approach the complex issues raised by the dual, simultaneously transformative and disruptive character of health simulations, SIMTWIN promises ground-breaking insights into the associated normative and societal challenges and key orientations for a robust and innovative governance framework.

Duration

01.06.2023 - 31.05.2028

Principal Investigator

Dr. Niels Martens
Institut für Philosophie
Am Hof 1
53113 Bonn

Abstract

Our most basic, fundamental assumptions are often the ones that get scrutinised the least. This very much holds true for the primary ontological and conceptual distinction that underlies much of physics, philosophy of physics and metaphysics: the idea that all entities and structures in our universe are to be categorised and conceptualized as either space (or, in modern physics, spacetime) or matter, never both, never neither. Everything must be either the “container” or the “contained”. Although this strict conceptual dichotomy did make a lot of sense in the context of our pre-20th-century worldview, the COSMO-MASTER project contends that it is no longer tenable, and even a hindrance to further progress. More precisely, each of the main ingredients—dark matter, inflation, dark energy, black holes and general relativity—of our highly-successful and well-established standard model of cosmology that was developed over the course of the 20th century puts pressure on the outdated Newtonian idea that the space(time) and matter concepts can and should be strictly distinguished. A systematic interdisciplinary analysis of the extent to which this dichotomy breaks down will have profound consequences for various debates in the philosophy of physics and metaphysics (e.g., undermining the substantivalismꟷrelationalism debate about the metaphysics of spacetime, and providing novel opportunities to reassess and advance debates regarding conventionalism, scientific realism and scientific guiding principles) as well as for theory development and community interaction in cosmology, and physics more broadly. Far from being an unwelcome babel, a conceptual undoing, giving up the spacetimeꟷmatter distinction will provide guidance as to which traditional debates become moot and which novel avenues open up.

Duration

2023 - 2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Thiemo Fetzer
Institut für Angewandte Mikroökonometrie
Adenauerallee 24-42
53113 Bonn

Abstract

Research in political economy has documented a vast number of different “media effects” suggesting that the media can have a profound impact on a range of economically & politically relevant outcomes. Yet, the existing empirical work is significantly skewed towards a few countries, raising concerns about the generalizability & broader cross context relevance of the empirical findings. Further, given the predominant focus on individual countries and its politics, this implies limited attention is devoted to the frictions between national media, national politics and transnational policy making in the myriad of areas that require collective and coordinated global action. To what extent the primarily national media has concrete effects undermining
global policy making across a broad range of areas – or on the specific issue of climate change – is an important empirical question that requires both suitable data and suitable research designs. MEGEO will deliver on both dimensions and in the process may catalyse research across multiple disciplines. 

The overarching objectives of MEGEO are:
1) To develop & make available a comprehensive and consistent novel data resource measuring what national media reports on and how and to what extent other countries are represented in each other’s media 

2) To characterize the extent to which national media may affect policy making in domains with clear transnational relevance that has previously been mostly ignored

3) To quantify the extent to which skewed reporting on foreign countries may have tangible economic & political impacts.

The work is organized across three work packages that will provide a systematic "Topology of Media Focus" across countries; answer the question of "What, where and why does news spread to?; study "How) Does National Media Shape Transnational Politics?"; and explore "(How) Does National Media Affect Cross Border Economic Activity?" using a range of novel applications and leveraging proprietary secondary data.

Duration

01.06.2023 - 31.05.2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Georg Oberdieck
Mathematisches Institut
Endenicher Allee 60
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Enumerative geometry is concerned with counting geometric objects on spaces defined by polynomial equations. The subject, which has roots going back to the ancient Greeks, was revolutionized by string theory in the 90s and has since become a fundamental link between algebraic geometry, representation theory, number theory and physics. With K3Mod I propose to establish a wide range of new correspondences in enumerative geometry. These link together different enumerative theories and open new perspectives to attack long-standing problems concerning the quantum cohomology of the Hilbert scheme of points on surfaces, modular properties of invariants
of K3 surfaces, string partition functions of Calabi-Yau threefolds with links to Conway Moonshine, and a major case of the Crepant Resolution Conjecture.

The geometry of the Hilbert scheme of points on a surface will play a central role. I aim to prove a correspondence between its Gromov-Witten theory, and the Donaldson-Thomas theory of certain threefold families. Correspondences for moduli spaces of Higgs bundles and the orbifold theory of the symmetric product of surfaces will be considered as well. This provides methods to prove that Gromov-Witten invariants of Hilbert schemes of points on K3 surfaces are Fourier coefficients of quasi-Jacobi forms, possibly leading to a complete solution of their enumerative geometry. After elliptic curves, K3 surfaces form the simplest Calabi-Yau geometry for which a complete understanding of the Gromov-Witten theory is in reach. For elliptic threefolds, I will study the relationship of their Donaldson-Thomas invariants with quasi-Jacobi forms, using both degeneration techniques and wallcrossing formulae.

The research goals of this proposal will lead to exciting new connections between geometry, modular forms, and representation theory. The results will provide a clear understanding of the interplay between Hilbert schemes, K3 surfaces, and modularity in enumerative geometry.

Duration

01.02.2023 - 31.01.2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Eveliina Peltola
Institut für Angewandte Mathematik
Endenicher Allee 60
53115 Bonn

Abstract

My overall goal is to provide novel conceptual understanding of persistent challenges in mathematical physics, in light of recent discoveries of myself and others. The emphasis is especially in finding connections between different areas, making use of my expertise at their crossroads.

The first two concrete aims concern statistical mechanics (SM) and mathematical formulations
of (logarithmic) conformal field theory (CFT), on the one hand algebraically and on the other hand
probabilistically. The last two aims focus on connections and interplay of structures arising in SM,
such as Schramm-Loewner evolutions (SLE), with algebro-geometric formulations of CFT. Gaining
conceptual understanding is fundamental for progress towards deep results.

Specifically, in Aim 1, I focus on CFT correlation functions and plan to reveal non-semisimple and
logarithmic behavior, poorly understood even in the physics literature. For this, e.g. hidden symmetries from my earlier work will be exploited. Aim 2 combines this with probability theory: investigations of non-local quantities in critical SM models, relating to specific CFT correlation functions and to SLE. In Aim 3, I investigate the interplay of SLE, CFT, and Teichmuller theory in terms of generalizations of so-called Loewner energy of curves. The main objective is to shed light on the hidden geometric interpretation of Loewner energy from the point of view of formulations of CFT in terms of Riemann surfaces, and eventually also to find its role within geometric quantization. To elaborate the latter goal, Aim 4 combines these ideas with related structures in the theory of isomonodromic deformations. My starting point is the observation that Loewner energy minima and semiclassical limits of certain CFT correlations are both described by isomonodromic systems. I plan to make these connections explicit and implement them in order to discover intrinsic features of the interplay of the aforementioned structures.

Duration

01.01.2023 - 31.12.2027

Principal Investigator

Dr. Petr. Sulc

Abstract

PRONANO will develop both theoretical and experimental methods to design autonomous
nanoscale units that are able to carry out logic operations in order to self-assemble into distinct
structures determined by an external stimuli. The nanounits will be programmed to assemble
via a controlled self-assembly kinetic pathway, ultimately enabling programmable nanomatter.
We will develop new algorithmic framework that will find the optimal set of interactions and
logic gate controls required for the coordinated function of nanoparticles. We will use multiscale
coarse-grained modeling to design and simulate interactions of nanostructures with the capabilities to carry out computation and communication with other nanoparticles in order to act as a programmable swarm. We will realize these nanostructures experimentally using DNA nanotechnology, creating a system that can dynamically react to an externally introduced stimulus
that induces them to self-assemble into target finite-sized structures. This work will create new
methods for nanotechnology that combine optimization theory, molecular simulations and experiments to study the kinetics and thermodynamics of hierarchical multicomponent assembly. As part of this effort, we will develop universal design rules to obtain a set of DNA nanostructures
that can carry out computation and communication in order to achieve specific nanostructures
as instructed by a biomolecule (DNA, RNA, or protein) that will act as external stimulus. Thus
we will create a system which is both computationally tractable and can be realized and iterated
experimentally, opening new venues for nanorobotics and self-organized systems. It will
enable nanoscale construction of complex three-dimensional structures as a response to external
conditions, with applications in molecular manufacturing, therapeutics, diagnostics and smart
material construction.

Duration:

01.01.2023 - 31.12.2027

Principal Investigator

Dr. Julian Schmitt
Institut für Angewandte Physik
Wegelerstr. 8
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Topology is a powerful paradigm for the classification of phases of matter. One of its direct manifestations in the widely studied Hermitian systems, which are isolated from the environment, are robust states that emerge at the interfaces between matter with distinct topological order. Real systems, however, are never truly isolated from their surroundings and the influence of the environment on the topologically protected states remains to a large extent unknown. Even more importantly, understanding and controlling the openness of non-Hermitian
systems can provide fundamentally new ways to create novel topological states of matter.

TopoGrand will realise a new experimental platform to synthesise non-Hermitian topological materials. It will employ a room-temperature photonic platform combining nanostructured optical microcavities with a molecular medium, to achieve non-Hermitian topological lattices of photon condensates. The system will feature tuneable openness that is unique among other presently available experimental platforms: a controlled flux of excitations via spatially selective pumping and loss, energy dissipation at variable rates, and coherence
modified by grand canonical reservoirs.

New physics will be accessed in the course of this work: TopoGrand will demonstrate genuine non-Hermitian topological phases and edge states without a Hermitian counterpart. Specifically, we will test the emergence of interface states at a topological phase boundary and their robustness against lattice disorder, as well as reservoir-induced fluctuations.

The project presents a completely new approach to topology, which will allow us to create reconfigurable photonic materials with topological protection simply by controlling the environment. With the novel toolbox, I will explore the emerging links between photonics, condensed matter systems and quantum computing, and emulate finite-temperature topological systems, which are at the forefront of research in quantum physics.

Duration

01.01.2023 - 31.12.2028

Principal Investigator

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Ala Bunescu
Kekulé-Institut für Organische Chemie und Biochemie
Gerhard-Domagk-Str. 1
53121 Bonn

Abstract

Transition metal-catalyzed C-H functionalization replaces an inert carbon-hydrogen bond with a
functional group, expediently altering the properties of the parent molecule to access new classes of compounds. Although the C-H functionalization represents a green chemistry approach as it precludes the need for pre-functionalized starting materials, there are still two main sustainability shortcomings with most current methodologies. The first challenge is achieving functionalization of specific C–H bonds without affecting other C-H sites in the molecule. A widely employed strategy to control the selectivity of metal-catalyzed C-H bond functionalization reactions has relied upon the covalent attachment of directing groups (i.e., pyridine, oxime, diazo) to the parent molecule. The requisite installation and removal of directing groups make the overall transformation less appealing from an atom- and step-economy perspective. The second challenge is to substitute commonly used precious transition metals with more benign earth-abundant alternatives. The proposed research program will address these shortcomings by developing an innovative and more efficient way for selective metal-catalyzed functionalization of aromatic and aliphatic C-H bonds without pre-attaching a directing group. The proposed strategies will rely on the design of multifunctional ligands capable of simultaneous binding to the substrate and the transition metal catalyst. The proposed approach will takeadvantage of the ability of Cr(0) to form an π-arene complex and activate the aromatic and benzylic C-H bonds. Addressing these challenges associated with C-H activation technology would have the power to unlock many
industrial applications, such as valorizing fine chemicals and modifying complex natural products, drug leads, or polymers.

Duration:

01.08.2022 - 31.07.2027

Principal Investigator

Dr. Michael Wenzel
Department of Epileptology
Venusberg-Campus 1
53127 Bonn

Abstract

As photo-activatable drugs (PDs) can be precisely controlled in space and time, caged and switchable photoactivatable drugs (CPDs, SPDs) are rapidly emerging as potential therapeutics for varied forms of cancer, vision loss, diabetes, or pain disorders. Despite their potential, PDs have not been exploited for epilepsy, a common, often debilitating neurological disorder. As 30% of epilepsies are medically intractable, and antiepileptic drugs often cause multi-organ side effects, PDs could break new therapeutic ground. PDs can be applied on demand, and locally activated/inactivated in single or multiple epileptic brain areas in a targeted fashion. This
minimizes systemic side effects, and allows the application of potent drugs from other fields yet unthinkable in routine epileptology (e.g. general anesthetics). Importantly, being small molecules, different PDs can be combined or easily exchanged, and do not require protein expression. Using current and new PDs, we aim to control epileptic networks in vivo in a realistic epilepsy mouse model, and resected human brain tissue from patients with intractable epilepsy. Aim 1 will quantify antiepileptic potency of a range of PDs in human tissue using field potential and patch-clamp recordings, and cellular scale 2-photon imaging. In aim 2, PDs will be evaluated in vivo using wireless video-EEG, imaging and light-fiber-targeted drug photoactivation in chronically epileptic mice. Further, by use of caged immunomodulators, we will explore disease-modifying capacity of targeted PD photoactivation in epileptogenesis and chronic epilepsy. PhotoTherEpi will establish targeted photopharmacology as a versatile, and powerful new approach to control focal epilepsy, which could jumpstart a new branch of translational epilepsy research. The approach could obviate the need for resective surgery in many cases, and be used in multi-focal epilepsy. Importantly, it may be clinically tested in the foreseeable future.

Duration:

01.09.2022 - 31.08.2027

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Jessica Fintzen
Mathematisches Institut
Endenicher Allee 60
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Representation theory studies abstract algebraic structures by representing their elements as linear transformations of vector spaces and investigates how they act on vector spaces. A fundamental problem of this theory is the construction of all representation types (irreducible, smooth, complex) of certain matrix groups, called p-adic groups. Despite much progress in the field over the last 40 years, surprisingly little is known about these representations in the general setting. The p-adic number systems play a fundamental role in number theory and in other parts of mathematics, offering a wide number range of settings to explore questions about rational numbers. The EU-funded GReatLaP project aims to construct all representations in full generality. The project will then extend the representation theory of p-adic groups to the study of the global and relative Langlands programme.

Duration

01.10.2022 - 30.09.2027

Principal  Investigator

Prof. Dr. Tatjana Tchumatchenko
Institute for Experimental Epileptology and Cognition Research
Venusberg-Campus 1
53127 Bonn

Abstract

Proteins are the building blocks of life and neurons constantly need proteins to remain functional. This is a formidable challenge because neurons must regulate dendritic protein numbers across hundreds of micrometers, and need to redistribute proteins quickly in response to any synaptic changes. For example, long-term plasticity requires new proteins. Yet, it is still a puzzle how the available pool of proteins is redistributed via diffusion or active trafficking and how synaptic protein numbers are modified by increased translation of local mRNAs. Similarly, it is now an open question how the dysregulation of mRNA transport translates into plasticity impairments, how these modify circuit functions and ultimately lead to cognitive impairments. To answer these questions and connect the molecular dynamics to circuit function, we will develop a data-driven theory describing the dendritic mRNA and protein distributions in space and time and will use it to study the emergent synaptic plasticity dynamics in dendrites and its impact on memory storage. We will use data from leading experimental labs to identify how the unique combination of dendritic mRNAs, dendritic morphology, and synaptic activity gives rise to the synaptic protein dynamics that shapes circuit function. Our theory framework will generate and test hypotheses about how individual components such as mRNA motion, translation or degradation shape the protein exchange between synapses and clarify how they translate into multi-synapse synaptic plasticity rules that give rise to memory formation, memory generalization and separation. The unique combination of theory and experimental data will improve our understanding of long-term memory mechanisms and numerous neurological diseases that are associated with neuronal trafficking pathologies or protein synthesis dysfunction.

Duration

01.10.2021 - 30.09.2026

Principal Investigator

Prof. Teodora Boneva
Institut für Angewandte Mikroökonomik
Adenauerallee 24-42
53113 Bonn

Abstract

There are large differences in earnings between men and women. Recent work highlights the importance of parenthood for the existence of gender inequality in the labour market. Estimates of the long-run ‘child penalty’, i.e. the impact of having children on women’s relative to men’s earnings, are large and vary substantially across countries. Neither the existence of child penalties nor the striking cross-country variation in child penalties is well understood. BELIEFS will collect a representative dataset of 80,000 individuals in the 28 EU Member States to study the role of several factors in explaining the cross-country differences in child penalties. It will examine the role of (i) beliefs about the benefits/costs to fertility and labour supply decisions, (ii) preferences for having children and for work/leisure, (iii) constraints, and (iv) social norms. BELIEFS will explore different dimensions of heterogeneity and study the individual-level (gender, age etc.) and country-level (labour regulations, family policies etc.) determinants of these factors. It will study whether there are misperceptions of norms and identify whether informing individuals of prevalent social norms shifts their beliefs about the benefits/costs to men/women working and their support for public policies. BELIEFS examines educational, fertility and labour supply decisions in a dynamic life-cycle framework and explores the role of beliefs, preferences, constraints and norms in those decisions. The dynamic framework will also be used to study the role of perceived child penalties in explaining fertility and educational choices. The project is highly ambitious in its scope and it is highly innovative in its combination of research methods. Ultimately, this research agenda will shed light on what drives gender gaps in labour market outcomes as well as which policies may be effective in narrowing these gaps.

Duration

01.01.2021 - 31.12.2025

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Joachim Freyberger
Institut für Finanzmarktökonomie & Statistik
Adenauerallee 24-42
53113 Bonn

Abstract

Structural models are key tools of economists to evaluate and design policies. These models specify economic environments, estimate mechanisms that determine outcomes, and can be used for counterfactual predictions. One important class of models deals with skill and human capital formation, which is an important driver of economic growth and inequality. These models study the determinants of skill formation and the timing of optimal investments in children. Since structural models require simplifying assumptions, they are also prone to misspecification.
The proposed research shows that existing skill formation models rely on seemingly innocuous normalizations, which can severely impact counterfactual predictions. For example, simply changing the units of measurements of observed variables can yield ineffective investment strategies and misleading policy recommendations. I plan to tackle these problems by providing a new comprehensive identification analysis and by focusing on a novel set of important policy-relevant parameters that yield robust conclusions. These issues and solutions might extend to many other structural models with latent variables. In addition, I will provide a new flexible estimator for the policy-relevant features and analyze various data sets to reevaluate policy recommendations with potentially large impacts on costs and benefits of large public investments in children, economic growth, and inequality.
Estimation will rely on other objectives of this proposal, which aim to develop new econometric tools. These tools are important contributions on their own rights and are applicable in a wide range of settings. They allow researchers to obtain more precise nonparametric estimators and more reliable conclusions by using shape restrictions implied by economic theory and data-driven dimension reduction techniques. By also providing guidance on which estimation method to use in practice, these results can have a large impact on empirical research.

Duration

01.12.2020 - 30.11.2025

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Florian Zimmermann
Institute on Behaviour & Inequality (briq)
Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 5-9
53113 Bonn

Abstract

Beliefs and expectations play a major role in economic analysis. In the proposed research, I seek to advance our empirical understanding of belief and expectation formation processes by incorporating memory patterns. Intuitively, memory plays a crucial role in the process of belief formation and the evolution of belief distortions, as large parts of the information used when forming beliefs is retrieved from memory. While recent theoretical work has begun to recognize the important role of memory for belief formation, empirical research is virtually non-existent. Accordingly, this research sets out to study the role of memory for belief formation in a set of key domains of behavioral economics. In parts 1a and 1b, I propose to study the role of associative recall in expectation formation. The principle of associative recall posits that current cues trigger the recall of past news that are mentally associated with the cue. Two central predictions that emerge from this principle are: (i) context-cued associative recall can lead to overreaction; (ii) context-cued associative recall can create belief spillovers. I plan to test both predictions in tailored lab experiments. In part 2a, I seek to study the implications of memory for reference-dependent behavior. Reference-dependent preferences are at the heart of many behavioral theories. Yet, the nature and determinants of reference points remains an open issue. I plan to experimentally study how memory shapes reference points. Memory patterns can endogenize the reference point and will deliver precise conditions as to when reference points can be expected to be determined by rational expectations, and when they are more likely to be backward-looking. In the final part of this proposal, I plan to study a key puzzle in behavioral economics. Why are so many people naïve about their present bias? In this project, I propose to experimentally study the role (imperfect) memory plays in generating and maintaining naïveté.

Duration

01.12.2020 - 30.11.2025

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Elvira Mass
Life & Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES)
Carl-Troll-Str. 31
53115 Bonn

Abstract

An omnipresent but understudied environmental risk for our immune system is pollution by nano-sized plastics. Plastic particles have been detected in a wide variety of ecosystems and are speculated to enter and spread in the food web all the way to humans. Ingested nanoplastics can translocate from the gut to the lymph and circulatory systems and have the capacity to cross the blood-brain barrier in mammals. It has been recently shown that nanoplastics cause behavioural disorders in fish, and thus may also represent a risk for human health, in particular for brain function. However, the long-term bioavailability and toxicity of nanoplastics in the brain are unknown. Microglia, as the main neuroimmune cells, have not only a defence function required during inflammatory conditions, but they constantly sense and response to environmental changes as part of their housekeeping functions that are essential for neuronal homeostasis. This places microglia at the interface between normal and abnormal brain development and function. In line with this, we have recently discovered that chronic microglial activation causes neurodegeneration. As highly phagocytic cells, microglia internalize nanoplastics reaching the brain. This process might in turn lead to their acute or chronic activation, thereby triggering neurological disorders. In NanoGlia, we will use rodent animal models to investigate behavioural as well as cellular and molecular changes in the brain that occur upon ingestion of nanoplastics. We will further determine nanoplastics-induced developmental reprogramming events in fetal microglia that may influence brain organogenesis and function. Understanding how nanoplastics triggers microglial activation during embryogenesis and postnatal stages and whether this immune activation leads to permanent changes in brain development and function will reveal ground-breaking mechanistic insights into the environmentally triggered pathogenesis of neurological disorders.

Duration

01.04.2020 - 31.03.2025

Principial Investigator

Prof. Dr. Martin Fuhrmann
Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen (DZNE)
Venusberg-Campus 1/99
53127  Bonn

Abstract

Microglia represent the mediator of synapse formation or link between pre- and post-synapse, sensing neurotransmitter release at highly active pre-synaptic sites and actively orchestrating the formation of new spines from the dendrite. This is the main hypothesis of the EU-funded MicroSynCom project. It will investigate and reveal the underlying mechanisms of this process. The project will use two-photon stimulated emission depletion microscopy, novel viral and genetically encoded sensors for neurotransmitters, and optogenetic and chemogenetic manipulation tools. It will also combine these methods with the behaviour test in freely moving but also head-fixed mice to visualise microglia-mediated synapse formation in awake mice. For the first time, researchers will be able to uncover the mechanisms establishing this novel role of microglia as the mediator of synapse formation in live animals.

Duration

01.09.2020 - 31.08.2025

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Matthias Hullin
Institut für Informatik II
Endenicher Allee 19A
53115 Bonn

Abstract

The automated analysis of visual data is a key enabler for industrial and consumer technologies and of immense economic and social importance. Its main challenge is in the inherent ambiguity of images due to the very mechanism of image capture: light reaching a pixel on different paths or at different times is mixed irreversibly. Consequently, even after decades of extensive research, problems like deblurring or descattering, geometry/material estimation or motion tracking are still largely unsolved and will remain so in the foreseeable future.
Transient imaging (TI) tackles this problem by recording ultrafast optical echoes that unmix light contributions by the total pathlength. So far, TI used to require high-end measurement setups. By introducing computational TI (CTI), we paved the way for a lightweight capture of transient data using consumer hardware. We showed the potential of CTI in scenarios like robust range measurement, descattering and imaging of objects outside the line of sight – tasks that had been considered difficult to impossible so far.
The ECHO project is rooted in computer graphics and computational imaging. In it, we will overcome the practical limitations that are hampering a large-scale deployment of TI: the time required for data capture and to reconstruct the desired information, both in the order of seconds to minutes, a lack of dedicated image priors and of quality guarantees for the reconstruction, the limited accuracy and performance of forward models and the lack of ground-truth data and benchmark methods.
Over the course of ECHO, we will pioneer advanced capture setups and strategies, formation models, priors and numerical methods, for the first time enabling real-time reconstruction and analysis of transient light transport in complex and dynamic scenes. The methodology developed in this far-reaching project will turn TI from a research technology into a family of practical tools that will immediately benefit many applications.

Duration

01.12.2018 - 30.11.2023

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Alexander Blanke
Institut für Evolutionsbiologie und Zooökologie
An der Immenburg 1
53121 Bonn

Abstract

Insects are extremely efficient feeders that impact on the world's ecosystems and our agriculture with their feeding capabilities. Insects evolved diverse mouthpart types during ~400 million years of evolution which allowed them to conquer many food recourses. How this feeding system evolved, in particular the transition from one mouthpart type to the other, is unclear. My idea represents the first extensive assessment of insect head mechanics applying latest semi-automatic workflows and engineering approaches to unravel the factors driving insect mouthpart evolution and performance. Specifically, I will study the mechanical evolution from early biting-chewing to piercing-sucking mouthparts and head types, considering recent as well as fossil species. In contrast to earlier studies, I aim to quantify mechanical evolution for the whole head which has never been attempted before for insects. This will be done using engineering software to simulate insect feeding, followed by 3D shape analysis and finally evolutionary modelling using algorithms based on likelihood models of evolutionary processes. The project is therefore positioned at the interconnection between experimental biology, engineering and biological simulation. The results will impact our understanding of insect evolution, with the project identifying which mechanical factors made insects such extraordinarily successful feeders, and why their mouthparts evolved into so many different types. To achieve an integrative understanding, my idea will furthermore take into account ecological, evolutionary and life history factors. Understanding the mechanical head evolution has never been tried before in a systematic way at this scale. However, my project idea also delivers results for industry: Since modern engineering methods are used, the results can be readily exported to the industry for the design of lighter robot arms with better lifting capabilities, thus advancing robotic techniques.

Duration

01.02.2018 - 30.09.2023

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Simon Stellmer
Physikalisches Institut
Nussallee 12
53115 Bonn

Abstract

The Standard Model of particle physics (SM), while largely successful, fails to accurately describe the state of the Universe, e.g. with respect to the evident matter/antimatter asymmetry. Various theories seek to conciliate the SM with observations by extending it, and most of these extensions introduce a massive violation of the combined charge invariance and parity (CP) symmetry. The CP violation would reflect in a sizeable permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of fundamental particles, large enough to be detected by realistic future experiments. A few pioneering experiments already set out to measure the EDM of neutrons, electrons, or atoms. The most stringent upper limit to any EDM is currently obtained by an experiment based on room-temperature gases of mercury. I propose to take this approach to the quantum world by employing ultracold or even quantum-degenerate mercury samples. To this end, we will construct a dedicated quantum gas experiment. We will develop advanced cooling methods, obtain the world’s first Bose-Einstein condensate and degenerate Fermi gas of mercury, and introduce vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) lasers to the field. These ground-breaking innovations will increase the coherence time of the sample, enable a higher detection efficiency, and exploit coherent effects, thereby increasing the sensitivity tremendously. Our measurements of the Hg-199 atomic EDM will complement cold-molecule measurements of the electron's EDM. Technologies developed here can readily be utilized to improve the performance of Hg lattice clocks and will inspire quantum simulations of unique many-body systems. The principal investigator of this project is highly respected for his pioneering work on degenerate quantum gases of strontium. His current work on a nuclear optical clock introduced him to VUV optics and strengthened his footing in the community. Bringing together his expertise in these two fields – quantum gases and VUV optics – will lead the project to success.

Duration

01.04.2018 - 31.03.2025

Principal Investigator

Dr. Bernardo Franklin
Institute of Innate Immunity
Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25
53127 Bonn

Abstract

The Interleukin (IL)-1 family of pro-inflammatory cytokines are among the most potent pyrogens, and their excessive production can cause several auto-inflammatory syndromes. Additionally, overabundance
of IL-1 cytokines can trigger, or contribute to a range of inflammatory and metabolic disorders. The expression of the key members of the IL-1 family, such as IL-1β and IL-18, is regulated at both the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. IL-1β and IL-18, are produced as inactive precursors, which require activation of caspase-1 by the inflammasomes for their maturation and release by from cells, occasionally at the cost of caspase-1 mediated-cell death. We have recently discovered that inflammasomes are released into the extracellular space where they remain active after the demise of activated cells, and that extracellular inflammasomes can amplify inflammation by sustaining extracellular production of IL-1β. However, the sources of extracellular pro-IL-1β are not known. Recent advances in platelet proteomics have revealed that these non-nucleated cells are able to produce their own cytokines, including soluble IL-1β and membrane-bound IL-1α, and are able to significantly magnify IL-1 production by immune cells. As platelets outnumber leukocytes by several folds, they could potentially be the major source of extracellular inflammasomes in the body, or be a major producer of IL- precursors that are cleaved by extracellular inflammasomes released from dying immune cells. In this proposal, we will investigate the mechanism(s) by which platelets produce IL-1, and the specific contribution of platelet-derived IL-1 to sterile inflammation, or host resistance to bacterial and viral infection. We believe that a deeper understanding of platelet-IL-1 and their interaction with immune cells during sterile inflammation, or infection might help to uncover new targets for immune-therapies.

Duration

01.03.2017 - 31.08.2022

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Matthew Smith
Institut für Informatik 4
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 144
53113 Bonn

Abstract

Usability problems are a major cause of many of today’s IT-security incidents. Security systems are often too complicated, time-consuming, and error prone. For more than a decade researchers in the domain of usable security (USEC) have attempted to combat these problems by conducting interdisciplinary research focusing on the root causes of the problems and on the creation of usable security mechanisms. While major improvements have been made, to date USEC research has focused almost entirely on the non-expert end-user. However, many of the most catastrophic security incidents were not caused by end-users, but by developers or administrators. Heartbleed and Shellshock were both caused by single developers yet had global consequences. The recent Sony hack compromised an entire multi-national IT-infrastructure and misappropriated over 100 TB of data, unnoticed. Fundamentally, every software vulnerability and misconfigured system is caused by developers or administrators making mistakes, but very little research has been done into the underlying causalities and possible mitigation strategies. 

I aim to extend the frontiers of usable security by conducting foundational research into USEC methods for developers and administrators. To this end I will research and systemize the hitherto unexamined human factors in a carefully selected set of problems currently faced by developers and administrators, specifically: authentication, secure messaging, systems configuration, intrusion detection, and public key infrastructures. From this pioneering research I will extract and develop principles, methods, and best practices for conducting usability studies and research with these actors and establish a foundation for this emerging research field. In addition to these foundational methodological results, I expect to make fundamental advancements in the above application research domains by including the human factors in these currently purely technical research areas.

Duration

01.08.2016 - 31.07.2021

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Gall
Institut für Informatik III
Römerstr. 164
53117 Bonn

Abstract

The goal of the project is to automatically analyse human activities observed in videos. Any solution to this problem will allow the development of novel applications. It could be used to create short videos that summarize daily activities to support patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease. It could also be used for education, e.g., by providing a video analysis for a trainee in the hospital that shows if the tasks have been correctly executed. 

The analysis of complex activities in videos, however, is very challenging since activities vary in temporal duration between minutes and hours, involve interactions with several objects that change their appearance and shape, e.g., food during cooking, and are composed of many sub-activities, which can happen at the same time or in various orders. 

While the majority of recent works in action recognition focuses on developing better feature encoding techniques for classifying sub-activities in short video clips of a few seconds, this project moves forward and aims to develop a higher level representation of complex activities to overcome the limitations of current approaches. This includes the handling of large time variations and the ability to recognize and locate complex activities in videos. To this end, we aim to develop a unified model that provides detailed information about the activities and sub-activities in terms of time and spatial location, as well as involved pose motion, objects and their transformations. 

Another aspect of the project is to learn a representation from videos that is not tied to a specific source of videos or limited to a specific application. Instead we aim to learn a representation that is invariant to a perspective change, e.g., from a third-person perspective to an egocentric perspective, and can be applied to various modalities like videos or depth data without the need of collecting massive training data for all modalities. In other words, we aim to learn the essence of activities.

Duration

01.06.2016 - 31.05.2021

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Karin Paeschke
Med. Klinik III, Abteilung für Onkologie
Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25
53125 Bonn

Abstract

Secondary structures such as G-quadruplexes (G4s) can form within DNA or RNA. They pose a dramatic risk for genome stability, because due to their stability they can block DNA replication and this could lead to DNA breaks. In certain cancer cells mutations/deletions are observed at G4s, if a helicase that is important for G4 unwinding is mutated. Nevertheless, G4s are also discussed to be functional elements for cellular processes such as telomere protection, transcription, replication, and meiosis. The aim of this research proposal is to use various biochemical and computational tools to determine which proteins are essential for formation and regulation of G4s. Proposed experiments will gain insights into both “effects” of G4s, the risk for genome stability and its significant function for the cell. In aim 1 we will elucidate and identify novel proteins that bind, regulate, and repair G4s, especially in the absence of helicases, in vitro and in vivo. Our focus is to understand how G4s become mutated in the absence of helicases, which proteins are involved, and how genome stability is preserved. In aim 2, we will use cutting edge techniques to identify regions that form G4s in vivo. Although there is experimental proof for G4s in vivo, this is not commonly accepted, yet. We will provide solid data that will support the existence of G4s in vivo. Furthermore, we will survey genome-wide when and why G4s become a risk for genome stability. Aim 3 will focus on the in silico observation that G4 structures are connected to meiosis. In this aim we will use a combination of techniques to unravel the biological significance of G4s during meiosis in vivo. Due to the connection of G4s and cancer the data obtained from this research proposal will not only be important to understand G4 regulation and formation, but will also provide unique knowledge on the impact of G4 structures for genome stability and thereby for human health.

Duration

01.07.2015 - 28.02.2021

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Stephan Lauermann
Institut für Mikroökonomie
Adenauerallee 24-42
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Elections are the foundation for democratic decision making. This research program will examine the effects of biased and privately informed entities—election organizers—on the ability of elections to aggregate information: Existing theory demonstrates that large electorates can reach correct decisions by aggregating information dispersed among many voters. However, existing theory does not account for the ubiquitous presence of biased organizers who intend to affect the election outcome. Examples of biased organizers may include a CEO holding a shareholder vote, a regional government holding a referendum, and political parties in general elections.

This project will develop and analyze new models of voting that account for the effects of biased organizers on information aggregation. One of the examples I consider is an election organizer who can increase voter participation at some cost (e.g., through advertising). Preliminary work suggests that the presence of biased organizers has significant impact. As increasing participation becomes cheap, equilibria exist where the election organizer recruits a large number voters and yet the majority votes almost surely for the organizer’s favorite policy. This failure of information aggregation contrasts starkly with existing results for elections in which the number of voters is exogenously large.

I will study the effectiveness of institutional safeguards against such manipulation, including supermajority rules, publicity requirements, and the regulation of communication to voters, and I will apply the theory in the context of shareholder voting and corporate control. Thus, this research program has important implications for the design of elections in realistic voting scenarios.

Duration

01.07.2015 - 30.06.2020

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Heiko Röglin
Institut für Informatik, Abteilung I
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 144
53113 Bonn

Abstract

For many optimization problems that arise in logistics, information retrieval, and other contexts the classical theory of algorithms has lost its grip on reality because it is based on a pessimistic worst-case perspective, in which the performance of an algorithm is solely measured by its behavior on the worst possible input. This does not take into consideration that worst-case inputs are often rather contrived and occur only rarely in practical applications. It led to the situation that for many problems the classical theory is not able to differentiate meaningfully between different algorithms. Even worse, for some important problems it recommends algorithms that perform badly in practice over algorithms that work well in practice only because the artificial worst-case performance of the latter ones is bad.

We will study classic optimization problems (traveling salesperson problem, linear programming, etc.) as well as problems coming from machine learning and information retrieval. All these problems have in common that the practically most successful algorithms have a devastating worst-case performance even though they clearly outperform the theoretically best algorithms.

Only in recent years a paradigm shift towards a more realistic and robust algorithmic theory has been initiated. This project will play a major role in this paradigm shift by developing and exploring novel theoretical approaches (e.g. smoothed analysis) to reconcile theory and practice. A more realistic theory will have a profound impact on the design and analysis of algorithms in the future, and the insights gained in this project will lead to algorithmic tools for large-scale optimization problems that improve on existing ad hoc methods. Even though the main focus lies on theoretical work, we will also test the applicability of our theoretical considerations in experimental studies.

Duration

01.10.2012 - 30.09.2017

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Christian Bayer
Department of Economics
Macroeconomics and Econometrics Group
Kaiserplatz 7-9
53113 Bonn

Abstract

Micro-level uncertainty and borrowing constraints are first order issues in macroeconomics and fluctuations in uncertainty and borrowing constraints can be expected to have strong consequences for business cycles. Not least the Great Recession provides a strong example. At the same time, almost all macroeconomic models with heterogeneous agents abstract from nominal rigidities to ensure numerical tractability. Yet, this restricts their applicability to business-cycle research drastically. Vice versa, the standard sticky-prices representative-agent approach to business-cycle research assumes away the role of idiosyncratic uncertainty and heterogeneity outright; again for reasons of tractability.
This significantly limits our understanding of what might be an important component of business cycles. To give an example: In a standard incomplete markets model, it depresses consumption if there is a temporary increase in uncertainty or borrowing constraints. In a flexible price setup this implies a boom driven by higher investment and an increase in labour supply. This contradicts existing empirical evidence showing that idiosyncratic uncertainty is countercyclical. However, sticky prices may be able to quantitatively align model prediction and evidence as they make aggregate output demand determined.
This motivates the proposed research, where the first objective is to develop a quantitative framework that merges nominal rigidities with market incompleteness. In this framework, I then analyse income risk from unemployment as a propagation mechanism and fluctuations in borrowing constraints as potential drivers of business cycles.
As income risk from the labour market is a central building block of any incomplete markets model, this first set of projects is complemented by analysing the micro structure of job and worker flows to grasp the frictions in hiring workers or creating jobs. A good understanding of these frictions helps to gauge the effect of policies aimed at mitigating the idiosyncratic uncertainty, such as unemployment insurance, subsidized part-time layoffs, or legal restrictions on firing. These projects build on a unique data set generated by a small team around me at the Institute of Employment Research of the German Federal Employment Agency, which covers all quarterly worker- and job flows for the universe of German plants since 1975 with detailed information on workers and plants.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Eva Viehmann

Technische Universität München
Zentrum Mathematik - M11
Boltzmannstr. 3
85748 Garching bei München

Abstract

This project provides a novel approach to the local Langlands programme via a comprehensive investigation of local G-shtukas and their moduli spaces and the exploitation of their relations to Shimuravarieties.

Local G-shtukas are generalisations to arbitrary reductive groups of the local analogue of Drinfeld shtukas. They also are the function field counterpart of p-divisible groups. Hence moduli spaces of local G-shtukas are of great interest, in particular for the geometric realisation of local Langlands correspondences. Compared to p-divisible groups local G-shtukas have several advantages. They can be defined and studied for any reductive group, enabling a systematic use of group theoretic methods and promising unified results. Furthermore, their local description by elements of loop groups makes them more accessible than the description of p-divisible groups by Cartier theory or displays. Comparison theorems to p-divisible groups then provide a novel way to insight into their moduli spaces.

The research plan of this project is subdivided into three strands which mutually benefit from each other: Firstly we want to understand the representations realised in the cohomology of moduli spaces of local G-shtukas in connection with the geometric local Langlands programme. Secondly, we study the geometry of the moduli spaces and investigate several natural stratifications. Finally, we build the bridge to Shimura varieties. On the one hand we explore the source of new results obtained by transferring methods developed for one of the two sides (Shimura varieties resp. moduli spaces of local G-shtukas) to prove similar assertions for the other. On the other hand we establish closer ties by proving direct comparison theorems.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. László Székelyhidi

Universität Leipzig
Mathematisches Institut
Johannisgasse 26
04009 Leipzig

Abstract

A fundamental problem of the theory of turbulence is to find a satisfactory mathematical framework linking the Navier-Stokes equations to the statistical theory of Kolmogorov. A central difficulty in this task is the inherent non-uniqueness and pathological behaviour ofweak solutions of the Euler equations, the inviscid limit of the Navier-Stokes equations. This non-uniqueness, rather than being an isolated
phenomenon, turns out to be directly linked to the celebrated construction of Nash and Kuiper of rough isometric embeddings and, more generally, to Gromov’s h-principle in geometry. The central aim of this project is deepen the understanding of this link, with the following goals:

I. Scaling Laws. Attack specific conjectures concerning weak solutions of the Euler equations that are motivated by the Kolmogorov theory of homogeneous isotropic turbulence. Most prominently the conjecture of Onsager, which relates the critical regularity for energy conservation to the scaling of the energy spectrum in the inertial range.

II. Selection Criteria. Study the initial value problem for weak solutions, with the aim of characterizing the set of initial data for which an entropy condition implies uniqueness, and obtaining information on the maximal possible rate of energy decay and identifying selection criteria that single out a physically relevant solution when uniqueness fails.

III. General Theory. Identify universal features of the construction, in order to be applicable to a large class of problems. This involves an analysis of the geometry induced by the equations in an appropriate state space, developing iteration schemeswhich use only a finite number of "cell-problems", and developing versions of convex integration that use higher-dimensional constructions.

Principal Investigator

Dr. Ambre Luguet

Steinmann-Institut
Poppelsdorfer Schloss
53115 Bonn

Abstract

This project aims to directly constrain the melting history and composition of the mantle of the Earth for the first 750 Ma of its history. So far, our limited knowledge hinges on isolated detrital zircons from Archean crustal rocks. They indicate crustal extraction as early as 4.4 Ga with peaks at 4.0 and 4.3 Ga but reveal conflicting models for the composition of the Hadean mantle. Both the timing and extent of these early crust formation events and the composition of the Hadean mantle have crucial implications for our understanding of the Early Earth’s chemical evolution and dynamics as well as crustal growth and thermal cooling models. Sulfides (BMS) and platinum group minerals (PGM) may hold the key to these fundamental issues, as they are robust time capsules able to preserve the melting record of their mantle source over several billion years.

I propose to perform state-of-the-art in-situ Pt-Re-Os isotopic measurements on an extensive collection of micrometric BMS and PGM from Archean cratonic peridotites and chromite deposits, and paleoplacers in Archean sedimentary basins. For the first time, < 20 μm minerals will be investigated for Pt- Re-Os. The challenging but high-resolution micro-drilling technique will be developed for in-situ sampling of the PGM and BMS with subsequent high-precision 187Os-186Os isotopic measurements by NTIMS. This highly innovative project will be the first to constrain Hadean Earth history from the perspective of the Earth’s mantle. By opening a new window towards high-precision geochemical exploration for micrometric minerals, this project will have long-term implications for the understanding of the micro to nano-scale heterogeneity of isotopic signatures in the Earth’s mantle and in extra-terrestrial materials.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Holger Rauhut
RWTH Aachen
Lehrstuhl für Mathematik C (Analysis)
Templergraben 55
52056 Aachen

Abstract

Compressive sensing is a novel field in signal processing at the interface of applied mathematics, electrical engineering and computer science, which caught significant interest over the past five years. It provides a fundamentally new approach to signal acquisition and processing that has large potential for many applications. It is based on the empirical observation that many signals appearing in real-world applications can be well-approximated by a sparse expansion. Compressive sensing (sparse recovery) predicts the surprising phenomenon that such signals can be recovered from what was previously believed to be highly incomplete measurements (information) using computationally efficient algorithms. In the past year, exciting new developments emerged on the heels of compressive sensing: low rank matrix recovery (matrix completion); as well as a novel approach to the recovery of high-dimensional functions.

We plan to pursue the following research directions:

• Compressive Sensing: We will investigate several open important mathematical problems, such as the rigorous analysis of certain measurement matrices.
• Low rank matrix recovery: In low rank matrix recovery, one replaces the sparsity assumption by a lowrank assumption. First results predict that low rank matrices can be recovered from incomplete linearinformation using convex optimization.
• Low rank tensor recovery: We plan to extend methods and mathematical results from low rank matrix recovery to tensors. This field is presently completely open.
• Recovery of high-dimensional functions: Classical methods for the numerical treatment of highdimensionalfunctions commonly suffer from the curse of dimensionality: the computational effort increasesdramatically with growing dimension. In order to decrease the computational burden, a recentnovel approach assumes that the function of interest actually depends only on a small number of a priori unknown variables. Preliminary results suggest that compressive sensing and low rank matrix recovery tools can be applied to the efficient recovery of such functions.

We plan to develop computational methods for all the subtopics and to derive rigorous mathematical results on their performance. With the experience I gained over the past years, I strongly believe that I have the necessary competence to pursue this project. I expect a strong impact in science and technology.

Declined Project

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Veit Hornung
Institut für Klinische Chemie und Pharmakologie
Bereich Klinische Biochemie
Universitätsklinikum Bonn
Biomedizinisches Zentrum
Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25
53127 Bonn

Abstract

Host cytokines, chemokines and type I IFNs are critical effectors of the innate immune response to viral and bacterial pathogens. Several classes of germ-line encoded pattern recognition receptors have been identified, which sense non-self nucleic acids and trigger these responses. Recently NLRP-3, a member of the NODlike receptor (NLR) family, has been shown to sense endogenous danger signals, environmental insults and the DNA viruses adenovirus and HSV. Activation of NLRP-3 induces the formation of a large multiprotein complex in cells termed ‘inflammasome’, which controls the activity of pro-caspase-1 and the maturation of pro-IL-1β and pro-IL18 into their active forms. NLRP-3, however, does not regulate these responses to double stranded cytosolic DNA. We identified the cytosolic protein AIM2 as the missing receptor for cytosolic DNA. AIM2 contains a HIN200 domain, which binds to DNA and a pyrin domain, which associates with the adapter molecule ASC to activate both NF-κB and caspase-1. Knock down of AIM2 down-regulates caspase-1-mediated IL-1β responses following DNA stimulation or vaccinia virus infection. Collectively, these observations demonstrate that AIM2 forms an inflammasome with the DNA ligand and ASC to activate caspase-1. Our underlying hypothesis for this proposal is that AIM2 plays a central role in host-defence to cytosolic microbial pathogens and also in DNA-triggered autoimmunity. The goals of this research proposal are to further characterize the DNA ligand for AIM2, to explore the molecular mechanisms of AIM2 activation, to define the contribution of AIM2 to host-defence against viral and bacterial pathogens
and to assess its function in nucleic acid triggered autoimmune disease. The characterization of AIM2 and its role in innate immunity could open new avenues in the advancement of immunotherapy and treatment of autoimmune disease.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Benjamin Schlein
Hausdorff Center for Mathematics & Institute for Applied Mathematics
Endenicher Allee 60
53115 Bonn

Abstract

The main goal of this proposal is to reach a better mathematical understanding of the dynamics of quantum mechanical systems. In particular I plan to work on the following three projects along this direction. A. Effective Evolution Equations for Macroscopic Systems. The derivation of effective evolution equations from first principle microscopic theories is a fundamental task of statistical mechanics. I have been involved in several projects related to the derivation of the Hartree and the Gross-Piteavskii equation from many body quantum dynamics. I plan to continue to work on these problems and to use these results to obtain new information on the many body dynamics. B. Spectral Properties of Random Matrices. The correlations among eigenvalues of large random matrices are expected to be independent of the distribution of the entries.

This conjecture, known as universality, is of great importance for random matrix theory. In collaboration with L. Erdos and H.-T. Yau, we established the validity of Wigner's semicircle law on microscopic scales, and we proved the emergence of eigenvalue repulsion. In the future, we plan to continue to study Wigner matrices to prove, on the longer term, universality. C. Locality Estimates in Quantum Dynamics. Anharmonic lattice systems are very important models in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. With B. Nachtergaele, H. Raz, and R. Sims, we proved Lieb-Robinson type inequalities (giving an upper bound on the speed of propagation of signals), for a certain class of anharmonicity. Next, we plan to extend these results to a larger class of anharmonic potentials, and to apply these bounds to establish other fundamental properties of the dynamics of anharmonic systems, such as the existence of its thermodynamical limit.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Michael Köhl
Physikalisches Institut
Nussallee 12
53115 Bonn

Abstract

We propose to investigate hybrid quantum systems composed of ultracold atoms and ions. The mutual interaction of the cold neutral atoms and the trapped ion offers a wealth of interesting new physical problems. They span from ultracold quantum chemistry over new concepts for quantum information processing to genuine quantum many-body physics. We plan to explore aspects of quantum chemistry with ultracold atoms and ions to obtain a full understanding of the interactions in this hybrid system. We will investigate the regime of low energy collisions and search for Feshbach resonances to tune the interaction strength between atoms and ions. Moreover, we will study collective effects in chemical reactions between a Bose-Einstein condensate and a single ion. Taking advantage of the extraordinary properties of the atom-ion mixture quantum information processing with hybrid systems will be performed. In particular, we plan to realize sympathetic ground state cooling of the ion with a Bose-Einstein condensate. When the ion is immersed into the ultracold neutral atom environment the nature of the decoherence will be tailored by tuning properties of the environment: A dissipative quantum phase transition is predicted when the ion is coupled to a one-dimensional Bose gas. Moreover, we plan to realize a scalable hybrid quantum processor composed of a single ion and an array of neutral atoms in an optical lattice. The third direction we will pursue is related to impurity effects in quantum many-body physics. We plan to study transport through a single impurity or atomic quantum dot with the goal of realizing a single atom transistor. A single atom transistor transfers the quantum state of the impurity coherently to a macroscopic neutral atom current. Finally, we plan to observe Anderson s orthogonality catastrophe in which the presence of a single impurity in a quantum gas orthogonalizes the quantum many-body function of a quantum state with respect to the unperturbed one.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Daniel Cremers
Technische Universität München
Fakultät für Informatik
Lehrstuhl für Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Boltzmannstraße 3
85748 Garching

Abstract

Optimization methods have become an established paradigm to address many Computer Vision challenges such as the reconstruction of three-dimensional objects from multiple images, or the tracking of a deformable shape over time. Yet, it has been largely overlooked that optimization approaches are practically useless if there exist no efficient algorithms to compute minimizers of respective energies. Most existing formulations give rise to non-convex energies. As a consequence, solutions highly depend on the choice of minimization scheme and implementational (initialization, time step sizes, etc.), with little or no guarantees regarding the quality of computed solutions and their robustness to perturbations of the input data.

In the proposed research project, we plan to address this important shortcoming by developing optimization methods for Computer Vision which allow to efficiently compute globally optimal solutions. Preliminary results indicate that this will substantially leverage the power of optimization methods and their applicability in a substantially broader context. Specifically we will focus on three lines of research:

1) We will develop convex formulations for a variety of challenges such as 3D reconstruction from multiple views, tracking of deformable objects, and object recognition. While convex formulations are currently being developed for low-level problems such as image segmentation, our main effort will focus on carrying convex optimization to higher level problems of image understanding and scene interpretation.

2) We will investigate alternative strategies of global optimization by means of discrete graph theoretic methods. We will characterize advantages and drawbacks of continuous and discrete methods and thereby develop novel algorithms combining the advantages of both approaches.

3) We will go beyond convex formulations. This is an important challenge since many realworld problems cannot be expressed in terms of convex functionals. By developing nonconvex programming methods we intend to substantially enlarge the class of tractable problems and compute high quality solutions that lie within a bound of the optimal energy. We plan to study their relation to discrete polynomial time approximation schemes (PTAS).

Advancing the state of the art in optimization methods will have a profound impact well beyond Computer Vision. We strongly believe that we have the necessary competence to pursue this project. Preliminary results have been well received by the community.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Jan Hasenauer
Hausdorff Center for Mathematics / LIMES 
Endenicher Allee 64
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Modern cancer therapeutics target signalling processes within the cancer cells and the interaction of cancer and immune cells. A comprehensive understanding of these signalling processes is therefore essential to identify drug targets, plan clinical trials, and to select suitable drugs, drug combinations and drug dosages for a specific patient. Yet, most of the available mathematical models capture only a small number of molecular species and pathways, thereby ignoring important crosstalk and feedback loops. Furthermore, these models are usually based on experimental data for cell lines, which behave differently from complex cancer tissues.

In INTEGRATE, I will develop computational methods for the full process of data-driven modelling of signalling processes in cancer, ranging from model development to parameterisation all the way to uncertainty analysis. To this end, I will combine methods from the fields of mathematical modelling, machine learning, and signal processing with established approaches in systems biology. The model development will employ natural language processing and an automatic testing framework. For federated model inference, I will develop scalable mini-batch optimisation and marginalisation based uncertainty quantification. To refine models, I will exploit tools from signal processing, such as blind identification of latent variables. I will apply the developed scalable mechanistic modelling
approach to integrate large-scale biomedical data for molecular phenotyping studies and clinical trials across sites. This will provide mechanistic models reconciling the available data.

The study will, for the first time, combine mechanistic modelling and machine learning for the integrated analysis of patient-derived omics and phenotypic data. By linking these data sources, INTEGRATE will deepen our understanding of biological signal processing and provide the basis for the development of digital twins.

Duration

01.05.2024 - 30.04.2029

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Florian Schmidt
Institut für Angeborene Immunität
Venusberg-Campus 1
53127 Bonn

Abstract

The innate immune system evokes inflammation to control pathogens or damage. Sophisticated mechanisms interpret molecular triggers to activate inflammasomes or transcription of pro-inflammatory genes. While numerous autoinflammatory conditions underline the need to control inflammation, we still rely on simplistic models to understand its negative regulation. I hypothesize that an intricate signaling network interprets information to prevent or downregulate inflammation. Understanding these so far elusive processes demands radically new cell biology tools, which I will develop and apply in ‘DEFLAMMATION’.

I propose to define signaling hubs that integrate cellular input and coordinate effectors to actively downregulate inflammation where beneficial to the organism. To yield unprecedented molecular insights, we will apply nanobodies to inhibit protein function, manipulate post-translation modifications, and visualize endogenous proteins and their binary interactions. I hypothesize that two poorly understood members of the NLR family, NLRC3 and NLRX1, act as signaling hubs that coordinate negative regulation of pro-inflammatory gene expression. No such coordinator is known for inflammasomes. In objective 1, we will pinpoint how NLRC3 controls inflammation and T cell activity. I hypothesize that NLRC3 forms anti-inflammatory signalosomes to control the ubiquitination status of pro-inflammatory signaling components. In objective 2, we will reveal how
NLRX1 counteracts interferon responses, inflammation, and proliferation. We will explore whether NLRX1 activation coordinates organelle-specific autophagy to remove pro-inflammatory signaling complexes. In objective 3, we will identify novel regulatory circuits that control inflammasome activation using CRISPR/Cas9 and cDNA screens, taking advantage of a novel reporter we have developed.

The anticipated results will reveal entirely new layers of regulation of inflammation with implications for therapeutic intervention.

Duration

2024 - 2029

Declined Project

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Annaliese Mason
Institut für Nutzpflanzenwissenschaften und Ressourcenschutz (INRES)
Katzenburgweg 5
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Hybrid breeding has been one of the biggest contributors to yield increase of the last century. Hybrids are individuals which have genetically different parents, which results in a “hybrid vigour” effect. This hybrid vigour effect can confer advantages over inbred parent lines in growth, yield, and resilience and tolerance to different types of environmental stresses, important for securing agricultural production in a changing climate. An even greater hybrid vigour effect is possible in autopolyploids, which can have up to four different copies of each chromosome, than in diploids, which have can only have up to two different copies of each chromosome. In effect, “double hybrids” can be made in autopolyploids, with up to four different parents contributing to hybrid vigour in a single individual.
However, to date the double hybrid effect has almost never been used for breeding. Most of our crops are not autopolyploids. We can induce autopolyploidy through chromosome doubling, but this causes meiotic instability, where multiple crossovers occur between the four chromosome copies during meiosis. This pairing disruption leads to potential loss of chromosomes and chromosome fragments essential for seed fertility and viability. Although induced autopolyploids are meiotically unstable, this is not the case for established autopolyploids. In the majority of established autopolyploids, a maximum of one crossover per two homologous chromosomes during meiosis is strictly enforced, thus achieving 100% pairing and correct segregation of chromosomes into daughter cells. I propose to stabilise meiosis in induced autopolyploid Brassica rapa (turnip, Chinese cabbage) by knock-out of crossover promoting genes, over-expression of crossover suppressing genes and selection of natural genetic variants. Stable autopolyploids will be used to produce double-hybrid lines, which will be evaluated for hybrid vigour for yield-related traits.

Duration

01.08.2023 - 31.07.2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Dennis Lehmkuhl
Institut für Philosophie
Am Hof 1
53115 Bonn

Abstract

The foundations of the general theory of relativity (GR) were laid by Albert Einstein in 1915. But much of what has been built on those foundations was developed in the Renaissance Period of GR between 1955 and 1975. Indeed, without the concepts and tools formed during this Renaissance, the recent observation of gravitational waves, rewarded with the Nobel Prize in physics in 2017, and the convincing prediction of and mounting evidence for the existence of black holes, rewarded with the Nobel Prize in physics in 2020, would not have been possible.

At the centre of the Renaissance of GR is Roger Penrose. It was Penrose who developed much of the tool box that made the successes of the Renaissance possible. Penrose was surrounded by and built upon the work of the newly emerging international community of relativists, in particular Hermann Bondi at Cambridge, John Wheeler at Princeton, Jürgen Ehlers at Hamburg, and Stephen Hawking at Cambridge. The Centre of Gravity Project (COGY) will combine pioneering research on the literary estates of the core figures of the Renaissance period, including unique access to the hitherto inaccessible Penrose estate, with the analysis of detailed oral-history interviews. The analysis will be helped by the creation of a novel kind of database that will help cross-correlate the different sources.

The aim is to get to the bottom of the most advanced mathematical techniques and conceptual innovations of GR, concepts like black holes and event horizons. In understanding the genesis and subsequent interpretation of these concepts we will also lay the groundwork for understanding the most exciting elements of today's physics: the physics of gravitational waves as they arise from black hole and neutron star mergers, as well as of the supermassive black hole around which our entire galaxy rotates.

Duration

01.06.2023 - 31.05.2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Rayk Behrendt
Institut für Klinische Chemie und Klinische Pharmakologie
Venusberg-Campus 1
53127 Bonn

Abstract

Almost half of our genome is occupied by ancient viral sequences that can be mobilized under certain conditions and either jump or copy themselves from one location to another. A group of these mobile genetic elements is called endogenous retroelements. Mobilization of retroelements like LINE1 has been shown to cause cancer via insertional mutagenesis. In recent years LINE1 activation has also been associated with the development of inflammatory diseases and inflammation-driven ageing. This means, we collected substantial evidence that half of our genome can potentially make us sick. Nevertheless, we keep replicating these sequences with every cell division at great energetic cost, suggesting that keeping them provides an evolutionary advantage.

In my project I will investigate if sporadic retroelement transcription in healthy cells serves a physiological role in priming the immune system through the constant sensing of retroelement-derived nucleic acids by intracellular nucleic acid sensors. My team and I will investigate how retroelement transcription is regulated in response daily life stresses like virus infections or DNA damage. I propose that instead of regulating transcription themselves, retroelements are largely regulated by canonical gene expression. In mouse models we will investigate how retroelements are sensed by the innate immune system and if this has functional consequences for establishing protective and pathologic immunity. Furthermore, we will investigate the exact molecular mechanism, by which retroelement-derived single stranded cDNA activates the innate immune
system, which is currently not understood. Our project involves the development of a new deep sequencing workflow for identification of the genomic origin of retroelement transcripts and a new mouse model to study endogenous LINE1 elements in vivo.

I believe that my project can fundamentally change our view on the role of endogenous retroelements as modulators of host immunity.

Duration

01.06.2023 - 31.05.2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Claude Duhr
Physikalisches Institut
Nußallee 12
53115 Bonn

Abstract

The interactions between the elementary particles are encoded into a set of mathematical quantities called scattering amplitudes. Consequently, they are key to making predictions for physical observables that match the precision achieved by current and future high-energy experiments. Computing loop quantum corrections to scattering amplitudes is still a major challenge today, and calls for innovative and groundbreaking new techniques. 

Over the last decade, a new field of research that studies scattering amplitudes through the lens of a certain branch of modern mathematics, the so-called theory of motives, has led to breakthroughs in the way we compute loop corrections to scattering amplitudes. This proposal will bring the connection
between scattering amplitudes and modern mathematics to the next level. LoCoMotive will investigate in detail what the theory of motives teaches us about the structure of scattering amplitudes. Its final aim is to achieve a global change of perspective on the mathematical underpinnings of the laws of nature and develop novel computational techniques for scattering amplitudes that are currently beyond reach of conventional state-of-the-art technology. 

The ultimate goal of LoCoMotive is threefold: Inspired by cutting-edge research in seeminglydisconnected areas in mathematics and physics, LoCoMotive will

reveal the mathematics underlying the description of the laws of nature.
perform the computations needed to uncover and test dualities relating certain gauge and gravity theories.
play a decisive role in providing the theoretical predictions at the percent level needed for the LHC and future collider experiments.
To sum up, LoCoMotive has a unique multi-disciplinary character. Its results will transcend the traditional boundaries between mathematics and physics, with a major impact on formal aspects of quantum field theory and predictions for the LHC experiments, and possibly even pure mathematics.

Duration

01.01.2023 - 31.12.2027

Principal investigator

Prof. Dr. Felix Meißner
Institut für Angeborene Immunität
Venusberg-Campus 1
53127 Bonn

Abstract

Inflammation is a natural mechanism to restore tissue homeostasis, and its deregulation causes human disease. The programmed cell death form pyroptosis elicits inflammation in a cell-autonomous and non-autonomous fashion by releasing cytokines and ‘danger’ signals. Intriguingly, immune pathology independent of cytokines has alluded to unexplored signaling circuits between cells regulating pyroptotic inflammatory reactions.
FIREALARM addresses the fundamental question of the physiological origin of inflammation using
convergent system-wide, organismal, cell biological, and molecular approaches. We will test the central hypothesis that endogenous intercellular signaling proteins drive sterile inflammation and shift homeostatic stable to non-resolving chronic states. We will determine paracrine activities of pyroptosis by systematic, iterative ablation of molecule release from dying and perception pathways of sentinel cells. In a complementary approach, we will identify inflammatory signals in vitro and in vivo by newly developed cell type-specific mass spectrometry-based secretomics technologies. Holistic views of intercellular signaling proteins, their exposure, and modification will determine the molecular language orchestrating communication networks between cells and enable the recognition of signals initiating, amplifying, and resolving inflammation. We will
achieve a new level of molecular and organismal understanding of intercellular circuits governing homeostasis and conceive strategies to revert chronic conditions. Emerging inflammatory cell death markers will stratify molecular etiology and outcome of patients with sterile inflammatory diseases.
Together, FIREALARM tackles the fundamental principles of sterile inflammation relevant for understanding the pathogenesis of chronic metabolic and age-related disorders.

Duration:

01.01.2023 - 31.12.2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Gall
Institut für Informatik III
Römerstr. 164
53117 Bonn

Abstract

Human errors remain the main source of incidents. They can lead to fatalities, traffic accidents, or product defects and cause high economic and social cost. While some errors can still be corrected if they are detected in time, many human errors cause high costs as soon as they occur or are even irreversible. In these cases, it is very important to recognize human errors before they occur.

The goal of this project is therefore to develop methods based on artificial intelligence that forecast human errors from video data. We focus on erroneous and unintentional human actions and we aim to support humans to avoid them. In order to achieve this goal, we aim to solve three tasks jointly. We aim to develop methods that forecast human motion and intention with a very low latency such that unintentional actions can be recognized before they occur. Without the capability to interfere, however, even the best forecasting model does not prevent human errors. We therefore aim to develop a model that generates an auditory feedback if an error is forecast. The feedback, however, should not only warn humans, but also guide them such that they can successfully complete their intended action. Finally, we aim to model how humans will react to the feedback.

We thus aim to develop a model that forecasts the motion of humans and objects they interact with, that recognizes human errors before they occur, and that guides the human motion via auditory feedback in order to prevent errors. The model should automatically decide if and what auditory feedback is generated by reasoning how the feedback will affect the motion of persons that are close-by. While we aim to showcase that the developed technology is able to prevent errors before they occur, this technology has the potential to drastically reduce the social and economic costs caused by human errors in the long term.

Duration:

01.10.2022 - 30.09.2027

Principal Investigator

Maja Köhn

Abstract

Protein phosphatase-1 (PP1) is a ubiquitously expressed enzyme known to dephosphorylate a large number of the phosphorylated serines and threonines. The catalytic subunit PP1c is bound to regulatory proteins in holoenzymes. These play specific and fundamental roles in physiological processes and pathologies. One key role lies in the regulation of important cardiac signaling pathways and calcium homoeostasis. Accordingly, deregulation of PP1 has been implicated in cardiac dysfunctions. Powerful tools to study PP1 biology are our own developed PP1-disrupting peptides (PDPs) that selectively release PP1c (bound to PDP: PDP–PP1c) activity in cells. Recently, we showed that PDP treatment counteracts kinase hyperactivity and seals the arrhythmogenic sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR)-calcium-leak in human heart failure tissue. Mechanistic data indicated that PDP–PP1c-mediated dephosphorylation of the ryanodine receptor type 2 (RyR2) is involved in this effect. Nevertheless, given the large amount of potential PP1 substrates, so far the scope of PDP action is unknown, and therefore the mechanisms underlying this beneficial and potentially therapeutic effect of the PDPs in heart failure are unclear and currently hard to investigate. PDPcardio will address these challenges by providing new chemical biology methodologies combined with proteomics approaches using PDPs to guide PP1c to its substrates and to identify PDP-mediated interactions of PP1. These strategies will enable identifying the scope of PDP action in general, and in particular they will be applied here in cardiomyocytes to study the effects of PDP–PP1c. The results will provide the basis to fine-tune targeting PP1 for the treatment of heart insufficiency. Furthermore, the principles and methods developed here will be applicable more generally for defining the interaction scope of target-bound ligands (drugs) as well as for using PP1 as tool in synthetic biology.

Duration (Bonn)

01.10.2024 - 31.01.2026

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Carmen Ruiz de Almodóvar
Institut für Neurovaskuläre Zellbiologie
Venusberg-Campus 1
53127 Bonn

Abstract

Oligodendrocytes (OLs) are the glia cells that produce myelin in the central nervous system (CNS). Despite the severe outcome of demyelinating diseases, like multiple sclerosis (MS), little is known about the mechanisms by which myelin is disrupted or why remyelination fails in disease. Thus, a substantial advance in the understanding of oligodendrocyte biology and myelin pathology is required in order to develop successful treatments for demyelinating diseases. Recent research indicates that apart from delivering oxygen and nutrients, blood vessels are active regulators of organ function. Our recent work supports the existence of an oligo-vascular interface where vessels directly control oligodendrogenesis. However, mechanistic insights of the interaction between OLs and the vasculature are lacking. Based on the innovative hypothesis that proper generation and OL functionality depends on active crosstalk with the vasculature, the OLI.VAS project will now tackle the challenge to characterize in depth the interaction between OLs and the vasculature during development and demyelinating diseases. To achieve this goal, two complementary multidisciplinary research tracks are pursued: Research track 1: Deconstructing and reconstructing the oligo-vascular interface to unravel the relationship of oligodendrocyte lineage cells with the vasculature Research track 2: Studying the oligo-vascular interface in white matter lesions. Modulating the vasculature to prevent de-myelination or promote of re-myelination Both tracks combine cutting edge technology in single cell and spatial transcriptomics, bioinformatics, 3D imaging, in vitro and ex vivo tissue culture, mouse genetics and MS patient samples. OLI.VAS will deliver new insights into the role of the vasculature as a regulator of oligodendrogenesis and myelination and thus generate major scientific breakthroughs in an area that is highly relevant for diseases such as MS, which affects more than 600000 patients in Europe.

Duration

01.06.2020 - 31.05.2025

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Dr. Dominik Bach
Hertz-Professur für Künstliche Intelligenz und Neurowissenschaften
Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie
Venusberg-Campus 1
53127 Bonn

Abstract

Run away, sidestep, duck-and-cover, watch: when under threat, humans immediately choreograph a large repertoire of defensive actions. Understanding action-selection under threat is important for anybody wanting to explain why anxiety disorders imply some of these behaviours in harmless situations. Current concepts of human defensive behaviour are largely derived from rodent research and focus on a small number of broad, cross-species, action
tendencies. This is likely to underestimate the complexity of the underlying action-selection mechanisms. This research programme will take decisive steps to understand these psychological mechanisms and elucidate their neural implementation. 

To elicit threat-related action in the laboratory, I will use virtual reality computer games with full body motion, and track actions with motion-capture technology. Based on a cognitive-computational framework, I will systematically characterise the space of actions under threat, investigate the psychological mechanisms by which actions are selected in different scenarios, and describe them with computational algorithms that allow quantitative predictions. To
independently verify their neural implementation, I will use wearable magnetoencephalography (MEG) in freely moving subjects.

This proposal fills a lacuna between defence system concepts based on rodent research, emotion psychology, and clinical accounts of anxiety disorders. By combining a stringent experimental approach with the formalism of cognitive-computational psychology, it furnishes a unique opportunity to understand the mechanisms of actionselection under threat, and how these are distinct from more general-purpose action-selection systems. Beyond its immediate scope, the proposal has a potential to lead to a better understanding of anxiety disorders, and to pave the way towards improved diagnostics and therapies.

Duration

01.04.2022 - 30.09.2025

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Moritz Schularick
Institut für Makroökonomie und Ökonometrie
Kaiserplatz 7-9
53113 Bonn

Abstract

Popular wisdom has it that no other investment is as ‘safe as houses’. Households have rigorously followed this investment advice. At the beginning of the 20th century, home ownership was the exception, not the rule. 100 years later, about two thirds of Europeans own the houses they live in. Homes have become the most important asset of households and mortgage loans have driven the growth of the financial sector, becoming its main asset. In the 2008 crisis, the housing market was the epicentre of shocks to the wealth of households and the health of banks.

The rise of debt-financed home ownership has transformed household portfolios and the balance sheets of banks. Yet the effects on the macroeconomy and the implications for financial stability are not well understood. We do not have a good understanding of how risky residential real estate is as an asset, how growing housing wealth affected the overall wealth distribution, or why housing and credit markets are prone to creating boom-bust cycles. SafeHouse aims to close this gap and break new ground in the macroeconomic and financial history of housing markets in 13 European countries as well as Australia, Canada, Japan and the U.S. from 1870–2015. 

I will pursue three main goals. First, I will determine the long-run price of housing risk, its time variation, and geographic heterogeneity, based on an extensive data collection effort. Second, I will track the evolution of housing wealth in the 20th century and quantify its contribution to much-debated trends in wealth inequality. Third, I will study the causes of boom-bust episodes in housing markets, focusing in particular on the interaction between house prices and credit supply. By combining the production of new historical data with state-of-the-art quantitative analysis, SafeHouse will open new avenues for macroeconomic and financial research on housing markets, inequality, and financial stability.

Duration:

01.06.2018 - 31.05.2024

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Sebastian Hofferberth
Institut für Angewandte Physik
Wegeler Str. 8
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Optical photons, for all practical purposes, do not interact. This fundamental property of light forms the basis of modern optics and enables a multitude of technical applications in our every-day life, such as all-optical communication and microscopy. On the other hand, an engineered interaction between individual photons would allow the creation and control of light photon by photon, providing fundamental insights into the quantum nature of light and allowing us to harness non-classical states of light as resource for future technology. Mapping the strong interaction between Rydberg atoms onto individual photons has emerged as a highly promising approach towards this ambitious goal. In this project, we will advance and significantly broaden the research field of Rydberg quantum optics to develop new tools for realizing strongly correlated quantum many-body states of photons. Building on our successful work over recent years, we will greatly expand our control over Rydberg slow-light polaritons to implement mesoscopic systems of strongly interacting photons in an ultracold ytterbium gas. In parallel, we will explore a new approach to strong light-matter coupling, utilizing Rydberg superatoms made out of thousands of individual atoms, strongly coupled to a propagating light mode. This free-space QED system enables strong coupling between single photons and single artificial atoms in the optical domain without any confining structures for the light. Finally, we will experimentally realize a novel quantum hybrid system exploiting the strong electric coupling between single Rydberg atoms and piezo-electric micro-mechanical oscillators. Building on this unique coupling scheme, we will explore Rydberg-mediated cooling of a mechanical system and dissipative preparation of non-classical phonon states. The three complementary parts ultimately unite into a powerful Rydberg quantum optics toolbox which will provide unprecedented control over single photons and single phonons.

Duration:

01.05.2018 - 30.04.2023

Principal Investigator

Dr. Hendrik Hildebrandt
Argelander-Institut für Astronomie
Auf dem Hügel 71
53121 Bonn

Abstract

The standard model of cosmology is impressively consistent with a large number of observations.Its parameters have been determined with great accuracy with the Planck CMB (cosmic microwave background) mission. However, recently local determinations of the Hubble constant as well as observationsof strong and weak gravitational lensing have found some tension with Planck. Are those observations first glimpses at a crack in the standard model and hints of an evolving dark energy component? With this ERC Consolidator Grant I will answer these questions by greatly increasing the robustness of one of those cosmological probes, the weak lensing effect of the large scale structure
of the Universe also called cosmic shear.

In order to reach this goal I will concentrate on the largest outstanding source of systematic error: photometric redshifts (photo-z). I will exploit the unique combination of two European imaging surveys in the optical and infrared wavelength regime, an additional narrow-band imaging survey with extremely precise photo-z, and spectroscopic calibration data from a recently approved ESO large program on the VLT. Using angular cross-correlations and machine-learning I will calibrate the photo-z in a two-stage process making sure that this crucial systematic uncertainty will keep pace with the
growing statistical power of imaging surveys. This will yield an uncertainty on the amplitude of the clustering of dark matter that is smaller than the best constraints from the CMB.

I will also apply these methods to ESA’s Euclid mission launching in 2020, which will fail if photo-z are not better understood by then. If the discrepancy between lensing and CMB measurements holds this would potentially result in a revolution of our understanding of the Universe. Regardless of this spectacular short-term possibility I will turn cosmic shear – one of the most powerful probes of dark energy – into a litmus test for our cosmological paradigm.

Duration:

01.06.2018 - 31.05.2023

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Christian Bayer
Department of Economics
Macroeconomics and Econometrics Group
Kaiserplatz 7-9
53113 Bonn

Abstract

Households face large idiosyncratic income risks and use their wealth to self insure. In doing so, they make portfolio choices we can summarize grosso modo as choices between liquid (safe and nominal) and illiquid (risky and real) assets. These choices have the potential to create strong aggregate repercussions as invest¬ments in real assets create an immediate demand for goods, while liquid nominal savings only when some¬one else uses the funds to invest or consume. As a result, portfolio choices are key for economic dynamics and important for the propagation of monetary and fiscal policy. Moreover, household portfolio positions and the liquidity of assets itself become an important determinant of aggregate savings and investment. Yet, they are widely disregarded in standard business cycle models today.

The proposed research therefore develops a novel framework that allows us to understand this nexus - a framework that studies business cycles, household portfolios, income risks, and asset liquidity in unison. This novel framework allows us to address a wide array of important macroeconomic questions of our time: how wealth inequality and stabilization policies interact, how monetary policy redistributes, how a housing freeze can create a recession as big as the last one, and finally, why crises are particularly severe in times of high household debt.

To develop this framework, empirical and theoretical work has to go hand in hand: First, I document the historical movements in the distribution of household (and firm) portfolios to understand how and whose portfolio positions change over the cycle and in response to shocks. Second, I document the cyclical movements in asset liquidity. Third, I develop a theoretical framework that allows us to understand the implications of changes in asset liquidity in a setup with incomplete markets and nominal rigidities. Finally, I make liquidity fluctuations endogenous and augment the model with a structure of overlapping generations.

Duration:

01.06.2017 - 31.05.2023

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Frank Bigiel
Argelander Institut für Astronomie
Auf dem Hügel 71
53121 Bonn

Abstract

A thorough understanding of the processes regulating the conversion of gas into stars is key to understand structure formation in the universe and the evolution of galaxies through cosmic time. Despite significant progress over the past years, the properties of the actual dense, star forming gas across normal disk galaxies remain largely unknown. This will be changed with EMPIRE, a comprehensive 500hr large program led by the PI at the IRAM 30m mm-wave telescope. EMPIRE will provide for the first time extended maps of a suite of dense gas tracers (e.g., HCN, HCO+, HNC) for a sample of nearby, star-forming, disk galaxies. By means of detailed analysis, including radiative transfer and chemical modelling, we will constrain a variety of physical quantities (in particular gas densities). We will relate these directly to the local star formation efficiency and to a variety of other dynamical, stellar and local ISM properties from existing pan-chromatic mapping of these galaxies (HI, IR, CO, UV, optical) to answer the question: "how is star formation regulated across galaxy disks?". By determining true abundance variations, we will contribute key constraints to the nascent field of galaxy-scale astrochemistry. Detailed comparisons to data for star forming regions in the Milky Way will link core, cloud and galactic scales towards a coherent view of dense gas and star formation. These results will provide an essential anchor point to Milky Way and high redshift observations alike. 

Duration:

01.07.2017 - 31.12.2022

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Corinna Kollath
HISKP
Nussallee 14-16
53115 Bonn

Abstract

One of our dreams for the future is to control and manipulate complex materials and devices at will. This progress would revolutionize technology and influence many aspects of our everyday life. A promising direction is the control of material properties by electromagnetic radiation leading to photo-induced phase transitions. An example of such a transition is the reported dynamically induced superconductivity via a laser pulse. Whereas the theoretical description of the coupling of fermions to bosonic modes in equilibrium has seen enormous progress and explains highly non-trivial phenomena as the phonon-induced superconductivity, driven systems pose many puzzles. In addition to the inherent time-dependence of the external driving field, a multitude of possible excitation and relaxation mechanisms challenge the theoretical understanding. Recently in the field of quantum optics, a much cleaner realization of a photo-induced phase transition, the Dicke transition, has been observed for bosonic quantum gases loaded in an optical cavity. Above a critical pump strength of an external laser field, the ensemble undergoes a transition to an ordered phase.
We aim to advance the general theoretical understanding of photo-induced phase transitions both in the field of solid state physics and quantum optics. In particular, we will focus on the design and investigation of photo-induced transitions to unconventional superconductivity and non-trivial topological phases. Our insights will be applied to fermonic quantum gases in optical cavities and solid state materials. In order to treat these systems efficiently, we will develop new variants of the numerical density matrix renormalization group (or also called matrix product state) methods and combine these with analytical approaches.

Duration:

01.09.2015 - 31.08.2021

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Veit Hornung
Institut für Molekulare Medizin
Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25
53127 Bonn

Abstract

In vertebrates, a receptor-based, innate sensing machinery is used to detect the presence of microbederived molecules or the perturbation microbial infection causes within the host. In the context of viral infection, non-self nucleic acids are sensed by a set of intracellular receptors that upon activation initiate broad
antiviral effector responses to eliminate the imminent threat. Over the past years our understanding of these processes has considerably grown, mainly by employing murine knockout models.
Recent advances in genome engineering now provide the opportunity to knockout genes or even to perform functional genetic screens in human cells, providing a powerful means to validate and generate hypotheses. We have developed a high-throughput genome targeting and validation platform that allows us to tackle large-scale loss-of-function studies both at a polyclonal as well as an arrayed format. In addition, we have invested considerable efforts to render this technology applicable to study innate immune sensing and signalling pathways in the human system. GENESIS will combine these efforts to tackle pertinent questions in this field that could not have been addressed before: We will systematically dissect known nucleic acid sensing pathways in the human system to explore their unique roles, cooperativity or redundancy in detecting non-self nucleic acids. We will perform polyclonal, genome-wide loss-of-function screens to elucidate signalling events downstream of intracellular DNA and RNA sensing pathways and their roles in orchestrating antiviral effector mechanisms. Moreover, in a large-scale perturbation study, we will specifically address the role of the kinome in antiviral innate immune signalling pathways, exploring the role of its individual members and their epistatic relationships in orchestrating gene expression. Altogether, these studies will allow us to obtain insight into innate immune signalling pathways at unprecedented precision, depth and breadth.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Günter Mayer
Life & Medical Sciences (LIMES)-Institut
Bereich Chemische Biologie und Medizinische Chemie
Gerhard-Domagk-Str. 1
53121 Bonn

Abstract

Light-sensitive channel proteins have attracted much attention as functional molecules, as they possess unique conformations and functions depending on their respective irradiation states. Embedding these proteins in heterogeneous cellular frameworks enabled to gain light-control of cellular and in particular neuronal behaviour. However to date, optogenetic solutions that address endogenous, intracellular biomolecules in a universal fashion remain elusive. The project will apply design and selection strategies aiming at nucleic acid molecules that can be controlled by irradiation with light and which we have developed in preliminary studies. This will now be taken significant steps forward by generating modular allosteric ribonucleic acid (RNA) assemblies that respond to light. These assemblies provide a generic solution and represent long-sought methods to complement the optogenetic toolbox. The aim of this project is the generation of allosteric molecules built from at least two RNA domains; one domain that binds to a soluble photoreceptor protein (PRP) in a light-dependent manner and a second RNA domain, whose protein inhibiting function in turn depends on the binding state of the PRP-recognizing part. We will construct lightresponsive allosteric RNA assemblies that can be ubiquitously used in cells and in vivo, independent of specific model organisms, for optogenetic control and spatiotemporal analysis of endogenous, intracellular biomolecule function. The project is highly interdisciplinary and will open novel routes for biomolecule analysis in cells and in vivo. It has implications ranging from life sciences to optogenetics, and from combinatorial biochemistry to synthetic biology. As these new tools will be applicable by any scientist to analyse protein function at high spatiotemporal resolution, the project bears an enormous innovative potential.

Duration:

01.05.2014 - 30.04.2019

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Eicke Latz
Institute of Innate Immunity
Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25
53127 Bonn

Abstract

The innate immune system protects the host from infections, detects and repairs tissue damage and functions to maintain tissue homeostasis. Several families of signaling receptors can recognize microbial substances or altered host molecules and orchestrate a coordinated inflammatory response. Inflammasomes are signaling platforms that control proteolytic activation of highly proinflammatory cytokines of the IL-1β family and thus, are relevant for infection control but are also implicated in mediating inflammatory diseases. In addition to recognizing several foreign signals, the NLRP3 inflammasome can sense sterile tissue damage, and a number of endogenous danger signals that appear in many common chronic inflammatory conditions. NLRP3 can be triggered by material released from dying cells and aggregated or crystalline substances, and its activation has been implicated in the pathogenesis of prevalent diseases in Western societies, including type 2 diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. The NLRP3 inflammasome can be activated by diverse signals, however, the molecular mechanisms that lead to NLRP3 inflammasome activation remain poorly understood. Using chemical biology screens, as well as proteomics analysis, we have identified that NLRP3 activity can be post-tranlationally regulated by phosphorylation and ubiquitination.

In this proposal we aim to identify the enzymes and signaling mechanisms leading to NLRP3 activation. In an integrated, multidisciplinary approach, we will employ chemical biology screening to identify novel targets that act in the regulation of NLRP3 and will describe the NLRP3 interactome in response to various triggers. The data obtained by these approaches will be analyzed by bioinformatics, and the signaling mechanisms identified will be subsequently confirmed using RNA interference and gain-of-function studies. Utilizing a range of biochemical, biophysical and immunological techniques, we will determine the mechanisms by which the identified molecules can activate the NLRP3 inflammasome and assess their physiological relevance in in vitro and in vivo models of inflammation.

Duration:

01.07.2014 - 30.06.2019

Principal Investigator

Prof. Michael Köhl
Physikalisches Institut
Nussallee 12
53115 Bonn

Abstract

We explore unconventional ways how ultracold fermions pair and form collective quantum phases exhibiting long-range order, such as superfluidity and magnetically order. Specifically, we plan to realize and study pairing with orbital angular momentum and pairing induced by long-range interaction. Besides the fundamental interest in unravelling unconventional pairing mechanisms and the interplay between superfluidity and quantum magnetism, our project will also lead to gaining experimental control over topologically protected quantum states. This will pave the way for future topological quantum computers, which are particularly robust to environmental decoherence.

Our project addresses three different aspects: (1) We plan to realize p-wave superfluids in two dimensions. This quantum phase exhibits topological excitations (vortices) with anyonic statistics and an isomorphism to the fractional quantum-Hall effect. We will investigate the unusual properties of p-wave superfluids, such as Majorana fermions, i.e. quasiparticles being their own anti-particles, which are predicted to be localized at vortices. This will boost the long-standing efforts in the cold atoms and condensed matter communities to understand topological states of matter. (2) We aim to realize d-wave pairing in optical lattices using a novel experimental approach. d-wave pairing is closely related to high-Tc superconductivity in the cuprates and we are interested in exploring its interplay with magnetic order. Superfluidity and magnetic order are antagonistic phenomena from a conventional BCS-theory point-of-view and hence several fundamental questions will be answered. (3) We plan to induce long-range interactions using a high-finesse optical cavity leading to a light-induced pairing mechanism. We will search for Cooper pairing in spin-polarized Fermi gases mediated by the interaction of Fermions with a quantized light field. This provides access to a new class of combined light-matter quantum states.

Duration:

01.10.2014 - 30.09.2019

Principal Investigator

PD Dr. Markus Cristinziani
Physikalisches Institut
Nussallee 12
53115 Bonn

Abstract

The discovery of a new particle, compatible with the Higgs boson, at the Large Hadron Collider, marked a major triumph of the Standard Model of particle physics. However, many fundamental questions remain and direct or indirect evidence of new physics can be probed with the large number of proton-proton collision data, collected in 2011 and 2012 at 7 and 8 TeV centre-of-mass energy.

With this proposal we plan to exploit the large sample of top-quark pair events that is already recorded, and the sample that will be collected from 2015 onwards, at the ultimate energy of 14 TeV. In particular we plan to study the coupling of top quarks to neutral bosons, by measuring the production of associated tt̄γ, tt̄Z and tt̄H. Anomalous electromagnetic or weak couplings could be uncovered by studying kinematic properties of the resulting photon or Z-boson, once the signal is established. By studying the tt̄H production in detail the mechanism of Yukawa coupling of the Higgs boson to fermions will be tested, possibly providing important confidence in the characterisation of the new boson.

In all measurements we plan to include the tt̄ dilepton channel that, despite the smaller branching fraction has typically superior signal-to-noise ratios. An essential part of the programme will be the calibration of the btagging algorithms, where we plan to use tt̄ events. For associated Higgs production we will explore the decays H→ bb and H→ γγ.

Duration:

01.01.2014 - 31.12.2018

Principal Investigator

Prof. Günter Mayer
Life & Medical Sciences (LIMES)-Institut
Bereich Chemische Biologie und Medizinische Chemie
Gerhard-Domagk-Str. 1
53121 Bonn

Abstract

Cellular behaviour is methodically studied using systems biology approaches that analyse the presence, absence, or oscillation of biomolecules. To this end, exogenous perturbations, among others, are used to alter protein expression and study their effects on cellular homeostasis. However, proteomes are inherently versatile and diversified by alternative splicing, protein cleavage, and post-translational modifications (PTM). Similarly, the spatiotemporal formation of multicomponent complexes plays an important but less well understood role in cellular homoeostasis and disorders. Specific recognition of these complexes by ligands is a difficult task to solve. Therefore, deciphering signalling cascades at the proteome and complex levels requires technologies that enable the identification of protein-binding and -inhibiting compounds that are sensitive or tolerant to PTMs and can recognize protein complexes. Intracellularly expressed aptamers, known as intramers, offer a solution to this challenge. The IntraMAP project will develop generally applicable paradigms for the automated evolution of intramers and combine them with cellular screening methods. In this way, intramers will be identified that are optimally adapted to cellular environments and effectively disrupt signalling cascades. These intramers will be used to identify signalling components and protein complexes associated with these cascades. They will be applied to various cells, organoids and in vivo to uncover fundamental principles of complex signalling events. The project has a strong interdisciplinary focus and will open novel avenues for the analysis of biomolecules. It has implications ranging from life sciences to systems biology, and will not only establish intramers as a broadly applicable discovery technology to study signalling cascades on an ‘omics’-like scale, but also holds enormous innovative potential for the development of novel gene therapies and future RNA-based drugs.

Duration

01.10.2024 - 30.09.2029

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Matthias Geyer
Institut für Strukturbiologie
Venusberg-Campus 1
53127 Bonn

Abstract

Inflammasomes are cytosolic multi-protein complexes that form in response to a wide range of pathogens, tissue damage, and other harmful stimuli. Members of the family of NOD-like receptors (NLRs) sense these pathogen and danger associated molecular patterns, triggering innate immune responses. NLRP3 is a well-studied NLR whose activation by a broad spectrum of stimuli leads to inflammasome formation and pyroptosis. Yet, the mechanisms inducing NLRP3 activation and the way how antagonistic small molecules counteract its function remain poorly understood. Just recently, we have determined the cryo-electron microscopy structures of full-length human NLRP3 in its inactive form and bound to the inhibitor CRID3. Native NLRP3 is a decamer composed of homodimers of intertwined LRR domains that assemble back-to-back as pentamers. We made the surprising finding that the effector pyrin domain is shielded inside the decamer cage providing a safeguard mechanism against accidental activation. To obtain insights into the activation mechanism of NLRP3 and the molecular formation of the inflammasome, I here propose a challenging and pioneering endeavour: employing biochemical, biophysical and structural analyses, we will resolve the structure of activated NLRP3 associated to lipid membranes, unravel its regulation by post-translational modifications, design specific inhibitors for the targeted protein degradation, and explore filamentous seeds for the maturation of Caspase-1 and Alzheimer’s disease forming amyloid-beta fibrils. Further, transferring our knowledge of CRID3-mediated NLRP3 inhibition to other NLRs as NLRP12 and NLRP1 will shed light on their mechanism of action and open new avenues for directed targeting. Collectively, this work will uncover fundamental molecular principles of inflammasome activation and the mode of action of anti-inflammatory drugs. I foresee, that these insights will open a wide field for the development of NLR-specific inhibitors as new medicines.

Duration

01.01.2024 - 31.12.2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Eicke Latz
Institut für Angeborene Immunität
Venusberg-Campus 1
53127 Bonn

Abstract

To ‘feel comfortable in one’s own skin’ is an idiom referring to one’s confidence in interacting with others. However, when the skin is inflamed, as in atopic dermatitis or psoriasis, patients carry a substantial burden leading to opposite effects. Current therapies target redundant, late-stage inflammatory events but not the disease drivers, leading to heterogeneous and insufficient efficacy. Understanding the proximal mechanisms of inflammation will stimulate the development of better therapies.

Among the innate immune sensors for stress and microbes in keratinocytes, mutations in NLRP1 and NLRP10 inflammasome sensors are linked to skin disorders. These molecules and the pro- and anti-inflammatory IL-1family members they regulate are differentially expressed in different layers of the epidermis. We hypothesize that inflammasome signaling in keratinocytes needs context-dependent and spatio-temporal control to avoidinflammation, which poses unique analytical and conceptual challenges.

Therefore, to understand how inflammasome signaling in specific keratinocytes drives skin inflammation, 4DSkINFLAM will i. optogenetically activate specific inflammasome components with spatio-temporal precision and perform a spatial analysis of transcriptomes and proteomes in neighboring cells. With loss-of-function approaches and pathway activity reporters, we will ii. define the ‘sensome’ and the activity of inflammasomes in different areas of the epidermis. Using mouse models, we will iii. evaluate how spatial inflammasome activity drives skin inflammation, and through iv. AI-driven deep visual proteomics combined with an analysis of inflammasome activity, we will discover spatial inflammasome activation and its effects in inflammatory skin disorders.

A precise understanding of spatio-temporal inflammasome signaling in the skin will be critical for selecting therapeutic targets acting as upstream drivers of prevalent diseases with high unmet needs.

Duration

01.10.2023 - 30.09.2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Valentin Blomer
Mathematisches Institut
Endenicher Allee 60
53115 Bonn

Abstract

This proposal is at the interface of number theory and automorphic forms and aims at a crossfertilization of both areas. It focuses on explicit arithmetic problems that can be solved using the full force of the automorphic machinery. Conversely it develops the theory of automorphic forms in higher rank using number theoretic methods.

At the core are three sets of deep and longstanding open conjectures in higher rank cases:
the joint equidistribution conjectures of Michel and Venkatesh concerning the distribution of pairs of CM points,
the \beyond endoscopy" program of Langlands of identifying functional lifts by a comparison of different trace formulae,
the density and optimal lifting conjectures of Sarnak concerning the behaviour of exceptional eigenvalues, and their arithmetic consequences.
The key objects are certain Shimura varieties associated to abelian varieties, higher rank Kloosterman sums, families of L-functions, trace formulae and Hecke eigenvalues.

By an interdisciplinary combination of analytic number theory and automorphic forms, the proposal aims at denitive progress and solutions to these three conjectures, each of which has been open for at least 15 years.

Duration

01.04.2023 - 31.03.2028

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ulf-G. Meißner
Helmholtz-Institut für Strahlen- und Kernphysik
Nussallee 14-16
53115 Bonn

Abstract

The least understood part of the so successful Standard Model of the strong and electroweak forces is the formation of strongly interacting composites, like hadrons, atomic nuclei and hypernuclei. In addition, the nucleosynthesis in the Big Bang and in stars is fine-tuned at various places, which immediately leads to the question how much these fine-tunings can be offset to still lead to an habitable universe?
Over the last decade, the PI and his collaborators have further improved the chiral effective field theory for two- and three-nucleon forces, have pioneered and refined the extension of this approach to baryon-baryon interactions and, most importantly, have developed nuclear lattice effective field theory, which enabled them to solve longstanding problems in nuclear physics, like the ab initio calculation of the Hoyle state in 12C. Based on these achievements, EXOTIC will provide answers to: i) where are the limits of nuclear stability? ii) what hypernuclei can exist, what are their properties and how is the equation of state of neutron matter modified by the presence of strange quarks? and iii) what limits on the fundamental parameters of the Standard Model are set by the fine-tunings in nucleosynthesis in the Big Bang and in stars?
Apart from answering these big science questions, EXOTIC will, as a by-product, develop methods in effective field theories and Monte Carlo simulations that will be of use in other fields, such as cold atom and condensed matter physics.

Duration:

2021 - 2026

Website

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Karl-Theodor Sturm
Institut für Angewandte Mathematik
Endenicher Allee 60
53115 Bonn

Abstract

The project is devoted to innovative directions of research on metric measure spaces (`mm-spaces') and synthetic bounds for the Ricci curvature.

It aims to bring together two - currently unrelated - areas of mathematics which both have seen an impressive development in the last decade: the study of `static' mm-spaces with synthetic Ricci bounds and the study of Ricci flows for `smooth' Riemannian manifolds. A new ansatz - based on the concept of dynamical convexity - will enable to merge these two cutting-edge developments and will lead to the very first approach to Ricci
flows on singular spaces.

The project also aims to break up the limitations for the study of (generalized) Ricci curvature for mm-spaces, until now being restricted exclusively to spaces with uniform lower bounds for this curvature. For the first time ever, mm-spaces with (signed) measure-valued lower bounds for the Ricci curvature will be studied - the absolutely continuous, non-constant case being highly innovative as well. Besides Ricci bounds also Ricci tensors will be defined and utilized for novel insights and sharp estimates.

Furthermore, the project aims to initiate the development of stochastic calculus on mm-spaces and, in particular, to provide pathwise insights into the effect of (singular) Ricci curvature. The focus will be on pathwise optimal coupling, stochastic parallel transport, and derivative formulas. Both the static and the dynamic case are of interest. Methods from optimal transport and from stochastic calculus will be combined to push forward the analysis on path and loop spaces.

Each of these aims is important and worth in its own. Only in combination, however, they produce the dynamics, synergy effects, and cross-fertilization requested for maximum success. The anticipated breakthroughs of the project depend on exceeding classical borders of mathematical disciplines and on merging together topical developments from different fields.

Duration:

01.09.2016 - 30.11.2022

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Lück
HIM (Hausdorff Research Institute for Mathematics)
Poppelsdorfer Allee 45
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Many milestone results in mathematics emerge from interactions and transfer of techniques and methods between dierent areas. I want to attack outstanding problems concerning K-theory, L²-invariants, manifolds and group theory. The time is ripe to use the exciting and profound progress that has been made during the last years in the individual areas to build new bridges, gain new insights, open the door to new applications, and to trigger new innovative activities worldwide lasting beyond the proposed funding period. 

The starting point are the prominent conjectures of Farrell-Jones on the algebraic K- and L-theory of group rings, of Baum-Connes on the topological K-theory of reduced group C-algebras, and of Atiyah on the integrality of L²-Betti numbers.

I intend to analyze and establish the Farrell-Jones Conjecture in other settings such as topological cyclic homology of \group rings" over the sphere spectrum, algebraic K-theory of Hecke algebras of totally disconnected groups, the topological K-theory of Frechet group algebras, andWaldhausen's A-theory of classifying spaces of groups. This has new and far-reaching consequences for automorphism groups of closed aspherical manifolds, the structure of group rings, and representation theory. Recent proofs by the PI of the Farrell-Jones Conjecture for certain classes of groups require input from homotopy theory, geometric group theory, controlled topology and ows on metric spaces, and will be transferred to the new situations. There is also a program towards a proof of the Atiyah Conjecture based on the Farrell-Jones Conjecture and ring theory. Furthermore, I want to attack open problems such as the approximation of L²-torsion for towers of nite coverings, and the relation of the rst L²-Betti number, the cost and the rank gradient of a nitely generated group. I see a high potential for new striking applications of the Farrell-Jones Conjecture and L²-techniques to manifolds and groups.

Duration:

01.11.2015 - 31.10.2020

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Armin Falk
briq
Institute on Behavior & Inequality
Schaumburg-Lippe-Strasse 5-9
53113 Bonn

Abstract

The main objective of the proposed research is to enhance our understanding of the critical role of institutions in affecting moral transgression. I aim at identifying institutional mechanisms operating in markets and organisations that promote immoral outcomes. The key question this project seeks to explain is why “ordinary” people endowed with a given moral conception engage in behaviours they would generally object to. While the focus is on immoral behaviour, the reverse inference is always intended as well: if we understand mechanisms that promote immoral behaviour, we can build on this knowledge to design institutions that limit those outcomes.

The importance of studying morality is self-evident. Harmful outcomes resulting from market interactions or organisational design include, e.g., detrimental working conditions, suffering of animals that are kept in inhumane husbandry, or environmental damage. The critical role of institutions has also been pointed out in most extreme cases such as the organisation of the Holocaust.

Morality is an elusive term but there exists an academic common sense that immoral behaviour involves harming others in an unjustified way. It is this definition of immoral behaviour that organises the project as reflected in the suggested experimental paradigms. The two main institutional categories I will consider are markets and underlying market mechanisms (WP1) and organisational mechanisms, in particular the role of pivotality, hierarchy, division of labour, delegation, and framing (WP2). In all experiments I causally identify the role of institutions by comparing the distribution of moral values in a baseline condition to the one arising from specific institutional set-ups. WP 3 will complement the analysis from a different angle, studying (i) individual determinants of immoral behaviour, (ii) moral development in children, (iii) and the effects of a randomised intervention (mentoring program) on moral judgment in children.

Duration:

01.01.2015 - 31.12.2019

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Istvan Mody
Klinik für Epileptology
Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25
53127 Bonn

Abstract

Optogenetics are used to activate or silence specific sets of neurons, intracellular signaling pathways, or to examine brain structure at an unprecedented detail. The only optogenetic approach lagging behind all others is the genetically encoded optical monitoring of multi-neuronal activity at a time resolution of single action potentials. Such ultrafast (<1 ms) resolution is important to understand network function in healthy and diseased nervous systems because timing of neuronal firing and synchrony are the foremost determinants of brain function. Techniques exist to measure membrane voltage and/or cellular activity using optical probes, but all have drawbacks either in their genetic targeting, optical sensitivity and/or temporal resolution. Recent developments using genetically encoded hybrid voltage sensor (GEVOS) methodology showed that this approach has an excellent potential to become an ultrafast voltage sensing system. The GEVOS technique can easily be adapted to work with multiple colors simultaneously, thus recording the activities of genetically distinct cell types in the same preparation. The overall objective of this proposal is to advance the GEVOS method so that it can be used with multiple colors simultaneously in at least two different genetically targetable cell types. Two major advances are sought after in this proposal: a technical/ methodological innovation (improve upon the GEVOS technique and extend it to two fluorescent proteins) and a scientific vision. The latter relates to gaining insights into the parallel functioning of local microcircuits and the optical recording of the concurrent behavior of pre- and postsynaptic elements during GABAergic inhibition. These studies will advance high temporal resolution optical voltage sensing (the other side of optogenetics) and will provide an unprecedented look at the functioning of cortical microcircuits with their specific components monitored at the same time.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Martin Weitz
Institut für Angewandte Physik
Wegelerstr. 8
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Bose-Einstein condensation, the macroscopic ground state occupation of a system of bosonic particles below a critical temperature, has in the last two decades been observed in cold atomic gases and in solid-state physics quasiparticles. The  perhaps most widely known example of a bosonic gas, photons in blackbody radiation, however exhibits no Bose-Einstein condensation, because the particle number is not conserved and at low temperatures the photons disappear in the system’s walls instead of massively occupying the cavity ground mode. This is not the case in a small optical cavity, with a low-frequency cutoff imprinting a spectrum of photon energies restricted to well above the thermal energy. Using a microscopic cavity filled with dye solution at room temperature, my group has recently observed the first Bose-Einstein condensate of photons.

Building upon this work, the grant applicant here proposes to study the physics of interacting photon Bose-Einstein condensates in variable potentials. We will study the flow of the light condensate around external perturbations, and exploit signatures for superfluidity of the twodimensional photon gas. Moreover, the condensate will be loaded into variable potentials induced by optical index changes, forming a periodic array of nanocavities. We plan to investigate the Mott insulating regime, and study thermal equilibrium population of more complex entangled manybody states for the photon gas. Other than in an ultracold atomic gas system, loading and cooling can proceed throughout the lattice manipulation time in our system. We expect to be able to directly condense into a macroscopic occupation of highly entangled quantum states. This is an issue not achievable in present atomic physics Bose-Einstein condensation experiments. In the course of the project, quantum manybody states, when constituting the system ground state, will be macroscopically populated in a thermal equilibrium process.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Ursula Hamenstädt
Mathematisches Institut
Endenicher Allee 60
53115 Bonn

Abstract

The primary goal of the project is to obtain an understanding of geometric and dynamical properties of moduli spaces and mapping class groups. For the mapping class group of a surface of finite type, we are interested in subgroups, in particular in the trace fields of Veech groups beyond the case of genus 2. Convex cocompact surface subgroups are word hyperbolic surface-by-surface groups, and we aim at clarifying whether or not such groups exist.
Fine asymptotics of the distribution of periodic orbits for the Teichmüller flow on strata of quadratic or abelian differentials can be related to dynamical zeta functions. A Borel conjugacy of the Teichmüller flow on the moduli space of quadratic differentials into the Weil-Petersson flow will be used to analyze dynamical properties of the Weil-Petersson flow.
The handlebody group is a finitely presented subgroup of the mapping class group which however is not quasi-isometrically embedded. A new geometric model for the group will be used towards obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the geometry of this group, in particular with respect to calculating the Dehn function and quasi-isometric rigidity.
A similar geometric model for the outer automorphism group of a free group may yield hyperbolicity of the electrified sphere graph on which this group acts by simplicial automorphisms.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Dieter Meschede
Institut für Angewandte Physik
Wegelerstr. 8
53115 Bonn

Abstract

We propose to build a two-dimensional (2D) discrete quantum simulator based on ensembles of ultracold neutral atoms. In this system all degrees of freedom will be controlled at the quantum limit: the number and positions of the atoms as well as their internal (qubit) and vibrational states. The dynamics is implemented by discrete steps of spin-dependent transport combined with controlled cold collisions of the atoms.
Although numerous theoretical studies have considered this architecture as the most promising route to quantum simulation, it has not yet been realized experimentally in all essential aspects.
This simulator allows us to study dynamical properties of single-particle and many-body systems in engineered 2D environments. In single-particle discrete systems, also known as quantum walks, we plan to investigate transport properties connected to graphene-like Dirac points, and localization phenomena associated with disorder. In the many-particle setting we will realize 2D cluster states as needed for measurement-based quantum computation, as well as simple quantum cellular automata.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Benny Moldovanu
Wirtschaftstheoretische Abteilung II
Lennéstr. 37
53113 Bonn

Abstract

Our main purpose is to construct a solid theoretical connection between the classical, non-strategic, dynamic allocation models used in Operations Research/Management Science/Computer Science, and between the modern theory of mechanism design.

The Economics literature has focused on information and incentive issues in static models, whereas the Operations  Research/Management Science literature has looked at dynamic models that were lacking strategic and informational aspects. There is an increased recent interest in combining these bodies of knowledge, spurred by applications to yield management, and by the emergence of decentralized platforms for interaction and communication among agents.

The planned research will focus on new models involving multidimensional incomplete information:

1. Introduce incomplete information in the dynamic and stochastic knapsack problem;
2. Allow for strategic purchase time in dynamic pricing models;
3. Enrich the existing models by allowing for competing mechanism designers.

A general mechanism design approach needs to start with the characterization of all dynamically implementable allocation policies. Once implementable policies are identified, variational arguments can be used in order to characterize optimal policies. The ensuing control problems are often not standard and require special tools.

When there is learning about the environment, the information revealed by an agent affects both the value of the current allocation, and the option value of any future allocation. The main objective in this part are:

1. Derive the properties of learning processes that allow efficient, dynamic implementation,
2. Characterize second-best mechanism in cases where adaptive learning and first-best efficiency are not compatible with each other.

We expect that our theoretical results will generate insights for the construction of applied pricing schemes and many empirically testable implications about the pattern of observed prices associated in practice.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Matthias Schott
Physikalisches Institut
Nußallee 12
53115 Bonn

Abstract

The overarching goal of the GravNet project is to develop, test and deploy a novel experimental platform that could enable the first detection of gravitational waves (GWs) in the frequency range of MHz to GHz, thereby providing a new and unique window into astrophysical processes that have so far eluded observation. The first detection of gravitational waves by LIGO in 2015 ushered in a new era of fundamental physics. Since then, a network of ground-based GW interferometers has probed the frequency range from 10 Hz to 10 kHz, detecting nearly a hundred mergers of black-hole and neutron-star binaries. In 2023, a signal at much lower frequency, in the nHz band, was detected by timing radio signals from pulsars. The race is now on to explore other bands. Of particular interest in this context is access to the MHz–GHz range, as in this range signals may be
generated copiously by events such as primordial-black-hole-merger, by the dynamics of ultra-light dark matter overdensities or violent phenomena in primordial cosmological times — all processes related to some of the most pressing open questions about our Universe.

The use of cavities in strong magnetic fields has been identified as one of the most promising techniques to search for high-frequency gravitational waves. So far, efforts were focused on cavities with small volumes that are tuned to search for axion-like particles. By contrast, the GravNet scheme is based on combining different technologies and methodological approaches to measure synchronously cavity signals from multiple devices in magnetic fields operated as a network across Europe, increasing the sensitivity to high frequency GWs (HFGWs) by several orders of magnitude compared to current approaches. In this way, GravNet will open up a new, vast
parameter space for gravitational-wave searches and might be the enabling step towards the first detection of HFGWs— with the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the Universe.

Duration

2025 - 2030

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Dietmar Schmucker
Life & Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES)
Carl-Troll-Straße 31
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Cells continuously sense and interpret the external signals coming from their time-varying environments to generate context-dependent responses. This is true for the entire tree of life, ranging from bacteria and unicellular eukaryotes to neurons forming networks in the developing brain. Identifying the fundamental principles and underlying mechanisms that enable cells to interpret their complex natural surroundings and adequately respond remains one of the fundamental questions in biology. Conceptual views so far have been mainly guided by molecular biology descriptions, suggesting that cells are controlled by a genomic program executing a pre-scripted plan. Our goal is to develop an alternative conceptual framework: cells generate internal representations of their external ‘world’, which they utilise to actively infer information about it and
predict changes, in order to determine their response. We will formalise this concept in a theory of single-cell learning, by combining information theory concepts to quantify the predictive  information from the internal cell representations, with dynamical systems theory to explain how these encodings are realised. We will interrogate experimentally systems across all scales of biological organization: bacteria (B. subtilis), singlecell organisms (Paramecium, Tetrahymena) and neuronal cell culture models. By studying them in a comparative manner, we aim at identifying generic molecular mechanisms through which single-cell learning is realised. The acquired  understanding will enable us to address in vivo how single neurons during D. melanogaster development learn to form, stabilize or eliminate axonal branches, to generate stereotyped
synaptic patterning under highly-variable conditions. We argue that providing a broader and generic definition of learning will serve as a unifying framework, linking disparate areas and scales of biology, and offering a basis for addressing fundamental biological questions.

Duration

2025 - 2030

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Sebastian Hofferberth
Institut für Angewandte Physik
Wegelerstraße 8
53115 Bonn

Abstract

The past decade has seen remarkable advances in the field of quantum non-linear optics, where individual photons are made to strongly interact which each other. Such strong photon-photon interactions are of both fundamental and technological interest: They are the prerequisite for implementing deterministic quantum logic gate operations for processing optical quantum information. Moreover, photons that strongly interact via a quantum nonlinear medium exhibit complex out-of-equilibrium quantum dynamics that enable one to tailor and control the photon statistics of light. Quantum non-linear effects have been successfully demonstrated with few photons in a number of experimental platforms, which exploit resonant enhancement of emitter-photon coupling via high-finesse optical cavities, collective response of ensembles of strongly interacting Rydberg atoms, so-called superatoms, or efficient coupling of single quantum emitters to guided light in the realm of waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED). However, it remains a formidable challenge to reach the true
many-body regime of quantum non-linear optics, where strong interactions and entanglement between many photons and many quantum emitters give rise to exotic quantum phases of light, such as photonic molecules or fermionic subradiant states. The objective of SuperWave is to realize this regime by synergizing superatoms and waveguide QED. By uniting the expertise and experimental methods of three teams that have previously driven these fields independently, we will develop near-ideal fiber-coupled nonlinear quantum devices. Their implementation will mark a major breakthrough in quantum optics and constitute a key resource in quantum sensing, quantum metrology, quantum communication, as well as quantum simulations. We will illustrate this
great potential through a number of hallmark experiments such as the coherent fragmentation of a classical light pulse into its highly nonclassical photon number components.

Duration

01.11.2023 - 31.10.2029

Principal Investigator

PD Dr. Ursula Brosseder
Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie
Brühler Strasse 7
53119 Bonn

Abstract

Horse Power will examine the complex interactions between the eastern steppe and China from the second millennium BCE to the formation of the Xiongnu empire in Mongolia and the Qin state in China after 300 BCE. From the second millennium BCE two great worlds formed, traded and fought across Eurasia. From Mongolia to the European steppe great horse and herding cultures coalesced across thousands of kilometres of grassland. To the south, a string of states existed from Egypt to the Chinese Central Plains, some already ancient and others newly created. Interaction between these worlds was constant and profoundly formative for all parties, a fact we are only starting to fully appreciate. To examine the connections between the steppe, Mongolia and China’s
Central Plains we will combine the latest scientific techniques in genetics and metallurgical analysis with theory concerning politics and power within and between China and its northern neighbours. Three principal empirical elements underpin the project: ancient DNA from horses; the characterization of bronzes to throw light on their movement and recycling; the structure and contents of archaeological sites (mainly graves) in China, Mongolia and the steppe. We will develop theory on the nature of leadership and power, particularly in mobile societies. Science will meet social science in a mutually informative manner and we will work across linguistic boundaries (Chinese, Mongolian, Russian, English) in a spirit of the co-production of knowledge with important partners including The Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum in China and Mongolian universities. We will reflect on our working practices, engaging a broader public in how a complex research project works. An innovative artistic programme will engage a range of local communities, horse enthusiasts and local artists in the work and results of the project. Working together we will create a picture of this complex region impossible if we had worked alone.

Duration

01.06.2023 -31.05.2029

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Daniel Huybrechts
Mathematisches Institut
Endenicher Allee 60
53115 Bonn

Abstract

The space around us is curved. Ever since Einstein’s discovery that gravity bends space and time, mathematicians and physicists have been intrigued by the geometry of curvature. Among all geometries, the hyperkähler world exhibits some of the most fascinating phenomena. The special form of their curvature makes these spaces beautifully (super-)symmetric and the interplay of algebraic and transcendental aspects secures them a special place in modern mathematics. Algebraic geometry, the study of solutions of algebraic equations, is the area of mathematics that can unlock the secrets in this realm of geometry and that can describe its central features with great precision. HyperK combines background and expertise in different branches of mathematics to gain a deep understanding of hyperkähler geometry. A number of central conjectures that have shaped algebraic geometry as a branch of modern mathematics since Grothendieck’s fundamental work shall be tested for this particularly rich geometry.
The expertise covered by the four PIs ranges from category theory over the theory of algebraic cycles to cohomology of varieties. Any profound advance in hyperkähler geometry requires a combination of all three approaches. The concerted effort of the PIs, their collaborators, and their students will lead to major progress in this area. The goal of HyperK is to advance hyperkähler geometry to a level that matches the well established theory of K3 surfaces, the two-dimensional case of hyperkähler geometry.
We aim at proving fundamental results concerning cycles, at classifying Hodge structures and cohomological invariants, and at unifying geometry and derived categories. Specific topics include the splitting conjecture, the Hodge conjecture in small degrees, moduli spaces in derived categories, geometric K3 categories, and special subvarieties.
The ultimate goal of HyperK is to draw a clear and distinctive picture of the hyperkähler landscape as a central part of mathematics.

Duration:

01.09.2020 - 31.08.2026

Principle Investigator

Prof. Dr. Christian Bayer
Institut für Makroökonomik und Ökonometrie
Kaiserplatz 7-9
53113 Bonn

Abstract

My ERC-CoG project has advanced the methodological frontier in solving and estimating macroeconomic equilibrium models, enabling analysis of the interplay between business cycles and inequality. To transform this innovation into a benefit for society, policymakers must be able to work with models with ease. This will allow them to comprehend how the policies they propose impact both the macroeconomy and income/wealth distribution. For this purpose, policymakers require a software tool that allows for swift development and analysis of models. The ERC-CoG-funded research has produced a pilot software that can theoretically achieve this, alongside fundamental methodological research. However, it lacks the versatility and user-friendliness required by policymakers who must develop answers to policy questions under time pressure. The aims of the BASEforHANK project include the further development of the pilot software into a more user-friendly and versatile tool. If successful, this development will enable policymakers worldwide to understand the impacts of their policies better, resulting in more socially cohesive and stable growth. The development follows the model of the Dynare software package, which made it possible to use macroeconomic equilibrium models with representative agents that are now pervasive in policy institutions.

Duration

01.09.2024 - 28.02.2026

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Alexander Blanke
Institut für Evolutionsbiologie und Zooökologie
An der Immenburg 1
53121 Bonn

Abstract

Within ERC Starting Grant “Mech-Evo-Insect”, we have identified a new principle to filter small particles such as microplastics from water. This filtration principle is used in a variety of organisms but one particular example, the filtration used by suspension feeding fish, is promising to filter diverse waste waters. The idea of the PoC “SuspensionFlow” is to transfer this principle to a filtration unit which can be used in all household washing machines to reduce global microplastics emissions. SuspensionFlow will also serve to further patent relevant discoveries based on the filtration used by suspension feeding fish.

Duration

01.06.2024 – 30.11.2025

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Simon Stellmer
Physikalisches Institut
Nussallee 12
53115 Bonn

Abstract

Rotation sensors, also called gyroscopes, are ubiquitous in consumer electronics, navigation, and environmental sensing. The most advanced gyroscopes are ring lasers that are based on the Sagnac effect.

All current compact and transportable devices, however, show significant drift and limited sensitivity, which precludes their usage in fields of application where extremely small rotation rates in the nrad/s to prad/s range need to be measured. These limitations are of purely technical origin: they derive from residual movement of the gaseous laser medium, light scattering, and acoustic fiber noise.

Within the scope of an ERC Starting Grant, we have implemented a disruptively different design of a ring laser gyroscope that circumvents these limitations, now allowing for a compact and transportable device with near-zero drift and improved sensitivity. 

Such a device is in high demand for example in seismology, where it would benefit earth quake and tsunami early warning systems. Sensing of environmental ground motion is imperative in the context of climate change. Monitoring the structural health of bridges and other large-scale constructions is another pressing task, where highly precise acquisition of rotation and distortion will have a massive impact on the early and reliable detection of structural fatigue.

Within GyroRevolution, we will demonstrate the supremacy of our concept and show operation outside of the laboratory. We will develop an IPR strategy and prepare a patent application. A detailed competitor and market analysis will constitute the first step on the pathway of deployment via a spin-out company. We will intensify contacts with companies to prepare for future partnerships. Importantly, we will get involved with potential end-users early-on to adapt our innovative technology to their needs. GyroRevolution marks the first and decisive step in technology transfer from fundamental research to a scalable device with a wide range of applications.

Duration

01.07.2023 - 31.12.2024

Principal Investigator

Dr. Bernardo Franklin
Institute of Innate Immunity
Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25
53127 Bonn

Abstract

With a growing ageing population, there is an imminent demand to develop new therapeutic strategies to ameliorate disorders of the hematopoietic system. Our innate immune system can remember its previous encounters with inflammatory triggers. Epigenetic memories of previous inflammatory experiences throughout an individual's lifetime are imprinted in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), a small pool of bone marrow progenitors that give rise to all our blood cells. Inflammation harms HSCs causing their functional decline and premature ageing. It also causes long-term differentiation bias, and a heightened basal inflammatory status, known as “inlfammageing”. The most striking characteristic of aged HSCs is their increased expression of platelet and megakaryocyte markers and their commitment towards platelet biogenesis, referred to as “Platelet-bias." Platelet bias has important consequences to human health. In our ERC starting grant project PLAT-IL-1 (714175), we discovered that platelets boost the inflammatory capacity of innate immune cells and are essential for the cytokine production of human monocytes. Our findings support that a dangerous combination of myeloid and platelet bias in inflammation-exposed HSCst results in a heightened innate immune activation. The injuries to HSCs are persistent and continue even after the clearance of the inflammatory insult, indicating that remnants of inflammatory events accrue and prolong damage to HSCs. Hence, if we could “erase" these harmful remnants, we could UNBIAS HSCs differentiation and prevent hyper-inflammation. In our ERC-funded project, we developed novel nanobodies that efficiently eliminate remnants of inflammation in vivo. In this PoC project, we will test the ability of nanobodies to erase memories from previous inflammatory events and prevent hyper-inflammation. This project will be a stepping stone to licensing our nanobodies to industrial partners.

Duration

2023 - 2024

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Volker Busskamp
Augenklinik
Ernst-Abbe-Straße 2
53127 Bonn

Abstract

One of the major causes of adult visual impairment and blindness in industrialized countries is the progressive dysfunction and death of photoreceptor cells (PR) as a result of retinal degenerative diseases. Current treatment options are still insufficient to counteract these forms of blindness. The development of many drugs and therapies fail in preclinical stages because the used animal models are suboptimal for translating results from the bench to the bedside. Especially, for testing the transplantation of human PRs, which is currently extensively explored as a treatment option for late stages of retinal degeneration, the biggest bottleneck is the lack of PR material in sufficient quantity and quality. Within the ERC Starting Grant ProNeurons, my team and I have developed a disruptive technology to differentiate human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to PR precursor cells by overexpressing three transcription factors yielding in up to 60% in only 10 days. Our technology allows fast, efficient and unlimited production of PRs essential as testbeds for drug screenings, for further disease research and for photoreceptor replacement therapies. We submitted already a patent application in 2019. Within the PoC actions, we strive for bringing the induced PRs closer to the market. We will finalize the last product development steps and FTO reviews to define the final products such as PR differentiation kits and/or cryopreserved PRs for research, development and therapy. We will identify and approach industrial exploitation partners for out-licensing or further funding. The final goal of commercializing the induced PRs is to aid the development of new drugs to treat retinal degenerative diseases.

Duration:

01.03.2021 - 31.08.2022