Nanostructures for biology

Objective

I propose to employ our advanced capabilities for nanofabrication to explore new biology at the single-molecule and single-cell level. I choose to specifically address two directions of intense scientific interest: (i) With my team I will develop and exploit solid-state nanopores for the study of real-time translocation of individual biomolecules. In the past few years, my group has attained a leading position in this field and we want to apply our advanced knowledge to push the technology and use it to resolve some pressing questions in cell biology and biotechnology. Specifically, we will explore screening of DNA-protein complexes at the single-molecule level, and we will build biomimetic nanopores to address the physical mechanism of selection and controlled molecular transport of the nuclear pore complex. (ii) We will use nanofabrication to create well-defined landscapes for bacteria. This will allow biophysical studies of the interaction between bacteria and their habitat with an unprecedented control of the spatial structure and habitat parameters. I strongly believe that this approach constitutes a major new tool to experimentally address a number of fundamental issues in the ecology and evolution of bacteria for the first time in a controlled environment. Additionally, it opens up a way to explore the biophysics of bacteria in confined space, where we will study a new bacterial phenotype in nanofabricated slits which we recently discovered. While this research is primarily driven by the quest for understanding physical mechanisms in biology, it can also be expected to have profound impact on applications in antibiotics, gene therapy, and DNA sequencing.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

• natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
• natural sciences biological sciences genetics DNA
• natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules
• natural sciences biological sciences cell biology
• natural sciences biological sciences biophysics

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• ERC-AG-PE3 - ERC Advanced Grant - Condensed matter physics

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2009-AdG
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-AG - ERC Advanced Grant

Host institution

Beneficiaries (1)