HORIZON-INFRA-2022-TECH-01-01 grant led by R Ciancio
2023 – 2027 Title: “Interoperable electron Microscopy Platform for advanced RESearch and Services” (IMPRESS). The aim of this project is instrumentation development for electron microscopy. Start: February 1, 2023
HORIZON-INFRA-2021-SERV-01-04 grant (project number 101058414) led by S Facsko
2022 – 2026 Title: “Recyclable materials development at analytical research infrastructures” (ReMade@ARI). A radical shift to the Circular Economy is urgently needed to cope with the challenge of finite resources decreasing at a frightening pace while the quantity of waste increases alarmingly. The European Commission?s (EC) Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) adopted in March 2020 has identified seven key product value chains that must rapidly become circular, given their environmental impacts and circularity potentials. This requires substantial research on materials with a very high recycling capability while exhibiting competitive functionalities. In ReMade@ARI, the most significant European analytical research infrastructures join forces to pioneer a support hub for materials research facilitating a step change to the Circular Economy. ReMade@ARI offers coordinated access to more than 50 European analytical research infrastructures, comprising the majority of the facilities that constitute the Analytical Research Infrastructures in Europe (ARIE) network. ReMade@ARI offers comprehensive services suiting any research focusing on the development of new materials for the Circular Economy in the key areas highlighted in the CEAP and plays an important role in the preparation of the common technology roadmap for circular industries. Senior scientist, facility experts and highly trained young researchers contribute scientific knowledge and extensive support to realise a user service of unprecedented quality, making each promising idea a success. Particular attention is attributed to the implementation of attractive formats to support researchers and developers from industry. The comprehensive service catalogue is complemented by an extensive training programme. Communication and dissemination activities are underpinned by a continuous impact assessment, which also enables evidence- based decision-making in the context of the proposal selection. Routes to sustainability of the platform will be explored towards the end of the project. Start: September 1, 2022 More info
ESTEEM3 – European Network for Electron Microscopy
More info ESTEEM3 – Enabling Science and Technology through European Electron Microscopy – is an EU funded project for electron microscopy, which aims at providing access to the leading European state-of-the-art electron microscopy research infrastructures, facilitating and extending transnational access services of the most powerful atomic scale characterization techniques in advanced electron microscopy research to a wide range of academic and industrial research communities for the analysis and engineering of novel materials in physical, chemical and biological sciences. ESTEEM3 objective is to deliver access to users coming from a wider range of disciplines. Transnational Access (TA) to ESTEEM3 centers is obtained through a transparent, simple peer review process based on merit and scientific priorities. Optimum service to users is supported by Networking Activities (NA) and Joint Research Activities (JRA), which address key issues such as specimen preparation, data interpretation, treatment and automation through theory and simulation, and standardization of protocols and methodologies. Innovative activities dedicated to the dissemination of expertise, education and training in cutting-edge quantitative transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques, such as schools, advanced workshops and webinars, are offered to the European electron microscopy users from academia, research institutes and industry. Directed research programs involving the academic and industrial partners of the consortium focus on the further methodology development in imaging and diffraction, spectroscopy, in-situ techniques and metrology, and on advancing applied research of materials related to ICT, energy, health, and transport for the benefit of European scientists and industry. Moreover, the definition of strategic roadmaps and open access data policies aims to ensure the long-term sustainability of the consortium. In all, ESTEEM3 establishes a strategic leadership in electron microscopy to guide future developments and promote electron microscopy to the widest research community at large.
FP7 – MINERVA: MId- to NEaR infrared spectroscopy for improVed medical diAgnostics
The MINERVA project is funded under the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7-ICT) and runs from November 2012 until October 2016. Project cost 10.6 M€ Project funding 7.3 M€ The MINERVA project brings together thirteen partners from across Europe with the common objective of developing mid-infrared (mid-IR) technology to improve the early diagnosis of cancer. In recent years it has become clear that a technology known as mid-IR imaging spectroscopy has the potential to open a new chapter in bio-medical imaging. There is good evidence that it could be an effective tool for early cancer diagnosis and improved survival rates. The mid-IR covers the bio-molecule “fingerprint region” and can be used to identify tiny quantities of chemicals associated with important diseases. Early work based on a direct search for “cancer marker” absorption peaks has proved of limited value. However, great progress has been made in recent years by analysing the entire bio-molecular mid-IR spectral signature using automated algorithms. Mathematical techniques, especially multi-variate analysis, map the distribution of different related molecular species. Computer programs then search for and identify known patterns that have been shown to be linked with cancer, allowing improved early diagnosis. To date, the lack of suitable sources, detectors and components in the mid-IR has restricted the technology to one of academic interest, based on weak thermal sources, low power lasers or synchrotron research tools. The MINERVA project will take advantage of several new breakthroughs in photonic technology to develop a new mid-IR technology platform and processes for early detection of cancer.
ChipScope – Overcoming the Limits of Diffraction with Super-Resolution Lighting on a Chip
More info ChipScope will revolutionize optical microscopes with super-resolution capabilities, making them chip-sized, convenient, affordable and ubiquitously available, not only for laboratories working in manifold research fields, but also in everyday life. During the project, very small LEDs of 50 nm (this is 1000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair) will be developed and used as light sources for a new microscope which will be integrated on a chip. The fundamental difference with conventional optical microscopy will be that the illumination is made by extremely small individual light sources instead of a wide illumination field and tiny detectors in the camera. This allows super-resolution (<50nm) optical microscopy, which could be used to investigate extremely small structures as viruses, DNA or living cells, in real time.
ESFRI – European Biomedical Imaging Infrastructure – from Molecule to Patient
More info Preparatory Phase: 2009-2010 (10 M€)Construction Phase: 2010-2014 (370 M€)Operation: 2012 onwards (160 M€ per year)Coordinators: Dr. Jan Ellenberg, EMBL (Advanced Light Microscopy) ; Prof. Gabriel Krestin, EIBIR (Medical Imaging) Euro-BioImaging is a pan-European research infrastructure project which is part of the ESFRI process. The aim of Euro-BioImaging is to provide access to imaging technologies across the full scale of biological and medical applications, from molecule to patient. Euro-BioImaging will address the imaging requirements of both basic and medical imaging communities by creating nodes in many ESFRI member states that will deploy imaging infrastructure in a coordinated and harmonised manner and thus address the fragmentation of such efforts currently present in Europe.