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Photosynthesis in the ocean is as important to the planetary climate as that of plants; and is performed by a wide range of cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algae, which possess chloroplasts derived through endosymbioses. Previously, I have used phylogenomics and in vivo localisation to show that chloro

Planetary atmospheres are fundamental reservoirs controlling the habitability of planets. The chemical and isotopic compositions of atmospheric constituents also hold clues on the geological evolution of the entire planetary body. Today, the terrestrial atmosphere contains about 80% dinitrogen and 2

A fundamental goal of Algebraic Geometry is to classify algebraic varieties up to isomorphism. This is extremely hard, already for surfaces, and open in general. It has become clear that we can only hope for a classification up to birational maps, that is, isomorphisms between dense open sets. Unde

Interacting particle- or agent-based systems are ubiquitous in science. They arise in an extremely wide variety of applications including materials science, biology, economics and social sciences. Several mathematical models exist to account for the evolution of such systems at different scales: sto

Negative curvature features of Artin groups, surface mapping class groups and outer automorphisms of free groups have been the subject of intense study in geometric group theory. I propose to confront this viewpoint with recent developments in measured group theory and operator algebras. The focus i

Fluid flow in porous media plays a central role in a large spectrum of geological, biological and industrial systems. Recent advances have shown that microscale chemical gradients are sustained by pore-scale chaotic flow dynamics. This fundamentally challenges the current macrodispersion paradigm th

Over the last decade, experiments have all but ruled out low-energy supersymmetry. It has thus become imperative to understand supersymmetry breaking in our best-developed theory of quantum gravity, string theory. However, constructing stable, and thus physically viable, non-supersymmetric solutions

Cell differentiation progresses via a continuous lineage restriction process where cell potential is reduced as the embryo develops. Pluripotent embryonic cells can beget all somatic cell types, but this capacity is rapidly restricted during the formation of the three germ layers, each giving rise t

The project explores a new class of silicon photonic devices and circuits in a three-dimensional integration technology for the generation, control, and reception of free-space laser beams. This research is motivated by the surging importance of communication, sensing, and imaging applications explo

Natural biological structures, e.g. plants and insects, are a fantastic source of inspiration featuring strategies where control of form and motion often relies on interacting elementary units that exhibit a simple actuation mechanism. This ERC Starting grant proposal builds on these bioinspired str

Tumors must survive microenvironmental stresses, such as nutriment deprivation, low levels of oxygen and anticancer treatments. To do so, tumor cells have developed numerous adaptation mechanisms, and we have recently shown that induction of macropinocytosis is associated with tumor cell survival. I

Motivated by M-theory, String theory in theoretical physics and the Minimal Model Problem in algebraic geometry we study singular Kähler spaces and in particular we focus on investigating their special structures (of a differential geometry nature) and their interaction with various parts of analysi

Motivated by recent works showing significant untapped potential in the design of variation operators for randomized search heuristics, we take up the challenge of analyzing the power and limits of generalizing their design. Randomized search heuristics are general-purpose optimization algorithm

ABSTRACT. In regions of active star formation, the protoplanetary discs around young stars act as planetary factories. Recent observing campaigns have shown that the majority of protostars belong to multiple stellar systems: the younger the stars, the higher the degree of multiplicity. Young discs a

Due to their cellular anatomy, syncytial cells face many unique challenges that mono-nucleated cells do not. One of them is how syncytial cells organize gene expression among many nuclei in a shared cytoplasm. How such property is linked to their biological functions remains poorly understood. U

Chemical weathering is a central biogeochemical process that shapes the Earth’s Critical Zone (CZ), regulates the global carbon cycle and sets the pace for nutrient delivery to soils and ecosystems. Most knowledge on the rates and controls on chemical weathering are from laboratory experiments and f

Riemannian data are ubiquitous in modern statistics and machine learning: Low-rank matrix completion, dictionary learning, matrix factorization, computer vision, shape statistics, optimal transport, etc. Moreover, in an era where extraordinarily rich, yet also complex and heterogeneous datasets b

ATTOP is a theoretical chemistry project that will explore the synergy between the fields of attoscience and photochemistry. Chemical processes initiated by light are extremely widespread and their applications cover vital molecular research fields from medicine to computer science and energy conver