European Research Council Grants at Hungary2007-2010

Budapest, May 2011

Title:European Research Council Grants at Hungary2007-2010

Published by the Hungarian Academy of SciencesBudapest, May 2011

Photos: provided by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and by the ERC grantees

Legal Notice:

Neither the Hungarian Academy of Science nor any person acting on behalf of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences is responsible for the use which might be made of the following information.

A great deal of additional information on the European Research Council and its programmes is available on the internet, which can be accessed through the website: http://erc.europa.eu/ .

Printed in Hungary

CONTENTS

Foreword

Testimonials – “What does the ERC grant mean for me?”

Research funding opportunities of the European Research Counciland the ERC results at Hungary between 2007 and 2010

European Research Council Starting Grant Holders 2007-2010Szabolcs CSONKAGyörgy GYÜRKYMihály KÁLLAYIstván KATONASándor KATZAndrás MÁLNÁSI-CSIZMADIAAttila MÓCSAICsaba PÁLGergely RÖSTFerenc SIMONGergely SZAKÁCSGyörgy VANKÓ

European Research Council Advanced Grant Holders 2008-2010Imre BÁRÁNYGergely CSIBRAVictor KARÁDYÉva KONDOROSILászló LOVÁSZJános PINTZGábor TAMÁSVilmos TOTIKTamás VICSEK

Source of Assistance and Advice in Hungary for the ERC Funding Programmes

FOREWORD

There is fierce competition for talented scientists in Europe and also all over the world, as these people represent the future not only in science and development but in public life as well. Europe is seriously challenged not only in innovation but even more in frontier research. Real scientific breakthrough discoveries are needed to bring back the best minds to Europe and European countries.

One of the most successful parts of the 7th Framework Program is the IDEAS Specific Programme run by the European Research Council, where high risk frontier research can be financed and excellence is the only criterion. The funding instruments provided by the European Research Council are not only facilitating the work of the most talented scientists in Europe on a competitive basis, but also provide a Europe-wide truly science based benchmark for scientific excellence in general and also for world class researchers wishing to pursue their carrier at Europe.

Hungary has the highest success rate in this programme in this region of Europe, and compared to other parts of FP7, Hungarian research performing organisations and their scientists attracted one of the highest overall Community support in view of the share of other FP7 funding opportunities.

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is supporting the participation of Hungarian researchers in the funding opportunities of the ERC from the very beginning of FP7. Along with the goals of the European Commission and the ERC programme, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences designed its own programme to attract and retain world-class excellent scientists at Hungary. Launched in 2009 by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the yearly announced Momentum (‘Lendület' in Hungarian) Programme, is a program of excellence extending possibilities for talented researchers and putting a stop to their emigration while renewing the research programs and increasing the competitiveness of the institutes of the Academy at the same time. Winners of the program are to receive funds for establishing their own internationally competitive research groups conducting promising research in various institutes of the Academy or at research universities.

In line with the above goals, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences is proud to provide an opportunity for raising the visibility of Hungary-based scientific excellence and its representing researchers and institutions. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is looking forward to host the next general meeting of the European Research Council and the “Promoting Excellence in Research in Europe” ERC Day as an EU presidency event on June 20 2011. This brochure at hand tables an overview of the results achieved by them across the calls of the European Research Council between 2007 and 2010, as well as gives a brief insight of the exceptionally brilliant research ideas they are working on.

Prof. József PálinkásPresident of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

TESTIMONIALS – “What does the ERC grant mean for me?”

“As an experimental physicist, the ERC Starting Grant provides a unique opportunity to build up an own laboratory and start research activity in a new field in Hungary.” (Szabolcs Csonka, StG 2010)

“It has been a great honour for me that in the first round of the Starting Grant projects I could win the grant being the only one in Europe in the field of low energy nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics. With the help of this grant substantial infrastructural developments could be implemented and our research group could also be strengthened so that we can clearly show now that world-class research can be carried out with small-scale particle accelerators.” (György Gyürky, StG 2007)

“The ERC grant provides European conditions for me to perform research in my home country.” (Mihály Kállay, StG 2007)

“It is a great honour to be one of the Hungarian ERC Starting grant holders. This grant gives me the unique opportunity 1) to focus on the most important and sometimes most difficult problems of my research field; 2) to continue my scientific carrier in my home country; 3) to provide an ideal environment for scientific development of outstanding and motivated young talents from Hungary and abroad; 4) to build state-of-the art research equipment and to introduce new, cutting-edge technologies, which are fundamental for targeting the current frontier questions of our research field.” (István Katona, StG 2009)

“After several postdoctoral jobs and other visits to Germany the grant provides a great opportunity to come back to Hungary and have my own research team. The order of magnitude of the funding opens previously unseen possibilities such as the installation of the competitive computer cluster or bringing other colleagues back to Hungary.” (Sándor Katz, StG 2007)

“It is a great appreciation to me that I won a support from the first ERC scheme. This grant is especially valuable for my scientific career since it allows us to test our high risk ideas of basic science that, in fortunate situations, we may bring to fruition.” (András Málnási-Csizmadia, StG 2007)

“The ERC grant has allowed me to initiate a research project that would not have been possible by national-level funding or by other international funding available from Hungary. Those include long-term projects, as well as expensive and risky projects that may not pay back in the short term but may provide very significant long-term benefit. An important additional aspect of the ERC grant was that I was able to recruit exceptional junior investigators to our group and to

provide a high-quality working environment for them even by international standards. I hope that this will contribute to the training of a new generation of Hungarian researchers for whom it will be an obvious matter of fact that it is possible to perform internationally competitive scientific research in Hungary.” (Attila Mócsai, StG 2007)

“I am honoured to be among the ERC grant holders. The grant enabled a major transition from years of postdoctoral research to being an independent researcher, including my reintegration into the Hungarian research scenery. It also provides an outstanding opportunity to concentrate exclusively on my research programme, develop new ideas, and encourage other young colleagues in my lab to develop their own scientific career in Eastern Europe.” (Csaba Pál, StG 2007)

“I feel privileged to be an ERC grant holder. During my postdoc years in Canada, I was amazed by the flourishing mathematical biology research group I had the luck to be part of. I have always wondered how cool would it be to have something similar back home. With the help of this grant, I can start the first such research group in Hungary, what is truly a dream come true for me.” (Gergely Röst, StG 2010)

“It is a great opportunity to establish my own research laboratory as an independent researcher and to start my research group, which is composed of young and motivated scientists. It also allows to liberate both my personal and science related budget constraints, which enables me to focus fully on the research and to the career development of the younger colleagues. I believe that the ERC grant will positively affect and stimulate the career of a number of other young scientists.” (Ferenc Simon, StG 2010)

“The ERC grant is a great honour, a fantastic opportunity and a challenge. The size and esteem of the grant provides an opportunity to continue my work in Hungary, in a financial and intellectual freedom. Finally, it is a formidable challenge to fulfil the expectations set by the high standard of the ERC-funded projects.” (Gergely Szakács, StG 2010)

“Receiving the ERC grant is a great honour and a great opportunity at the same time. After having spent seven years at a leading international facility, I have returned to my home country with the desire to establish a new research group to perform world-class X-ray spectroscopy research. The ERC grant provides the means to meet this challenge.” (György Vankó, StG 2010)

“On the basis of the infrastructure that CEU provided, this grant has allowed me to build an international research group that matches any infant research center of the world in quality. Now not only young Hungarian researchers migrate abroad, but the best international scholars compete to get a job in Hungary as well.” (Gergely Csibra, AdG 2009)

“Being an ERC grant holder is a great honour, and part of this honour should go to Professor J. Matoušek (Charles University, Prague) who is my main collaborator in this grant. I hope to continue to work with him, and with several other leading researchers in this field. We plan to organize a number of small workshops, focusing on few specific problems. The ERC grant is an excellent opportunity for the development of discrete and convex geometry.” (Imre Bárány, AdG 2010)

“The ERC grant is the materialization for me and my team of a unique chance to complete all the empirical elite research efforts we have been pursuing since several decades in France and Hungary. By this we have good hope to achieve results hitherto never attempted to realize on several country wide scales on a crucial problem area of the modernization of emerging nation states.” (Viktor Karády, AdG 2008)

“The ERC Advanced Grant is one of the biggest challenges for senior researchers. I am honoured to be among the Grant holders. This support makes possible a very ambitious research program; to investigate yet undiscovered fundamental biological questions and to translate the findings into application in the fields of life sciences, agriculture and medical practice.” (Éva Kondorosi, AdG 2010)

“The ERC grant provides me with the means to do my research, like travels, books, special software. More importantly, it allows me to invite and work with some of the best, mostly young people in my research area. It provides a great possibility to develop a successful research group. I also appreciate its un-bureaucratic, informal way of operation.” (László Lovász, AdG 2008)

“It is a great honour for me to have received the ERC grant. The results of the Advanced Grant call mean a recognition of Hungarian science, Hungarian mathematics as well as of the Alfréd Rényi Mathematical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The grant gives an excellent opportunity to work together with a research group on problems, which are very interesting to me and which reached the frontline of the international research in the recent years.” (János Pintz, AdG 2008)

“The ERC Advanced Grant provides world class support for the successful continuation of our recent work. It is essential in keeping our research group in Europe, particularly in Hungary.” (Gábor Tamás, AdG 2010)

“Naturally, it is a big honour. It gives the opportunity of independent and undisturbed research, the possibility to work with doctoral students, to maintain intensive collaboration with foreign colleagues, as well as to organize conferences.” (Vilmos Totik, AdG 2010)

“Winning the ERC Advanced grant gave a huge impetus to my research, because it has made possible for me both to acquire the kind equipments and to hire such talented young researchers which otherwise I would not have been able to do. A great team could be formed and leading this team I can fully realize my dreams of being a researcher, and this is somewhere the best thing that could happen to a physicist.” (Tamás Vicsek, AdG 2008)

Research funding opportunities of the European Research Council and the ERC results at Hungary between 2007 and

20101

The European Research Council (ERC) is the first European funding body set up to support investigator-driven frontier research. Its main aim is to stimulate scientific excellence by supporting and encouraging the very best, truly creative scientists, scholars and engineers to be adventurous and take risks in their research. The scientists are encouraged to go beyond established frontiers of knowledge and the boundaries of disciplines.

The ERC complements other funding activities in Europe such as those of the national research funding agencies, and is a flagship component of the 'Ideas Programme' of the European Union's Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7).

The European Research Council funds every year excellent research projects in any scientific discipline, aiming at broadening the scientific and technological knowledge ("frontier research"). Top researchers of any nationality and from anywhere in the world can apply, as long as their ERC project will be carried out in a public or private institution based in Europe (EU Member State or Associated Country). The grants are for up to 5 years.

There are two main types of ERC grants supporting research activities, which are financed through the IDEAS Specific Programme of FP7:ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grants ("ERC Starting Grants"; 2-12 years after PhD): Starting Grants provide attractive support to the independent careers of excellent researchers, whatever their nationality, located in or moving to the EU Member States and Associated Countries, who are at the stage of starting or consolidating their own independent research team or, depending on the field, their independent research programme.ERC Advanced Investigator Grants ("ERC Advanced Grants"; at least 10 years of significant research achievements): Advanced Grants encourage and support excellent, innovative investigator-initiated research projects by leading advanced research leaders located in or moving to the EU Member States and Associated Countries. This funding scheme complements the Starting Grant scheme by targeting the population of researchers who have already established themselves as independent research leaders in their own right.

During the first years of operation of the ERC - between 2007 and 2010 - applicant scientists with Hungarian host institutions (HI) achieved outstanding results in this region of Europe; compared to EU-12, Hungary has the strongest performance as regards of successful ERC participation (and about the same as for example Denmark). During this time period as a response for both the ERC Starting and Advanced Grant calls, altogether 317

1 Information provided in this chapter on the ERC and its grant schemes is based on the content of the ERC’s website ( http://erc.europa.eu/ ), where further more detailed information can also be found. For the information on submission numbers data is provided by European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA) in May 2011, other statistical information is based on the data provided by the National Innovation Office (NIH) and by the information collection by the NCP at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences from Hungarian ERC grant holders.

proposals were submitted with Hungarian HIs (it should be noted that the first call in 2007 allowed a two-step submission procedure which resulted a considerable higher number of proposals (about 180), however the subsequent calls required a one-step submission procedure with a two-step evaluation).

From 2008 onward (also including the last calls of 2011), the number of submitted Starting Grant applications with Hungarian HIs per call ranged between 28 to 42, the same number for Advanced Grant calls of this time period ranged between 14 to 28. Although the ERC funds 100% of the eligible costs of FP7 frontier research projects, the last year’s difficult financial situation in Hungary for potential Hungarian host organisations left its mark on the number of submissions, as beside the costs covered by the ERC, the necessary institutional contributions in order to host a project (such as the non-eligible costs, including VAT or currency exchange losses, and for pre-financing certain parts of the project expenses, such as the proportion of equipment depreciation and the last 15% of the grant) for such a magnitude of grant which is provided by the ERC, resulted in less Hungarian organisations with the ability to take full financial and administrative responsibility for a potentially 5-year-long project, although otherwise being fully capable to host such initiatives from the scientific and managerial viewpoint.

Currently there are altogether 21 ERC grant with Hungarian HIs which were selected for funding, from which 12 were granted to Starting Grant applicants and 9 for Advanced Grant applicants. This altogether mobilised close to 26 million Euro Community funding for Hungarian research performing organisations (~13.7 M EUR for Starting Grants and ~12.1 M EUR for Advanced Grants at Hungary). The size of the individual Starting Grants ranged between 0.5 to ~1.6 M Euro, the same for the Advanced Grants were between 0.4 to ~2.4 M Euro with a project duration usually 60 months (exceptionally 36 months). In view of Hungary’s overall performance in FP7 including all different Specific Programmes and programme parts, successful ERC participant Hungarian research performing organisations and their scientists attracted one of the highest share of the overall Community support up to now.

The distribution of the selected proposals per domain was the following:for Starting Grants 5 went to Life Sciences (LS) and 7 for Physical Science and Engineering (PE); for Advanced Grants there are 2 ERC projects in LS, 5 in PE and 2 in the domain of Social Science and Humanities (SH).

The 21 selected grants are hosted by 11 different host institutions in Hungary; 8 of them are located at Budapest (with 15 grants), two at Szeged (with 5 grants) and one at Debrecen. Host institutions includes universities (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Eötvös Loránd University, Semmelweis University, Central European University and the University of Szeged), and research institutes of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Institute of Experimental Medicine, Biological Research Center of HAS, Institute of Enzymology, KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Alfréd Rényi Mathematical Institute and the Institute of Nuclear Research).

In addition to the 21 ERC grants hosted by Hungarian host institutions, up to now 10 Hungarian national scientists applied successfully for the support of the European Research Council; their host institutions are located in 6

different EU Member States (mostly in Germany, but also in Bulgaria, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.)

European Research CouncilSTARTING GRANT HOLDERS

2007-2010

Szabolcs CSONKA (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Department of Physics, Budapest, Hungary)

Profession: physicist

Year of PhD: 2006

Research interest: Electron transport in nanostructures

Homepage: http://dept.phy.bme.hu/staff/csonka/csonka.html

Most important experience abroad: 1999.Erasmus Scholarship, University ’La Sapienza’ Rome, Italy (1 semester)2000 – 2003. Visitor researcher, University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands (4 months)2004. Visitor researcher, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Svájc (1 month)2006 – 2008. FP6 Marie Curie Fellow, University of Basel, Switzerland (2 years, 4 months)2009 – 2010. Visitor professor program “Quantum Coherence and

Computation”, Swiss Nanoscience Institute, Switzerland (4 months)

Grants and Awards: 2000 BUTE Scholarship2001 National competition for physics students, 1st prize in Solid state physics

section2005 Award of youth scientist Hungarian Academy of Sciences 2006 – 2008. Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships 2009 – 2011. Norway OTKA NNF Grant 2009 – Bolyai János Research Fellowship Hungarian Academy of Sciences2009 – FP7 Marie Curie Reintegration Grant2011 – FP7-ICT FET Open, STREP Network

Title of the ERC Starting Grant: Cooper pairs as a source of entanglement Duration: 60 months (2011 - 2015)Size of the grant: 1 496 000 EURERC host institution: Department of Physics, Budapest University of Technology

Brief presentation of the project:Entanglement and non-locality are spectacular fundamentals of quantum mechanics and basic resources of future quantum computation algorithms. Electronic entanglement has attracted increasing attention during the last years. The electron spin as a purely quantum mechanical two level system has been put forward as a promising candidate for storing quantum information in solid state. Electron spin is also suitable to transfer quantum information, since mobile electrons can be coherently transmitted in a solid state device preserving the spin information. Although several theoretical concepts have been worked out to address spin entangled mobile electrons, the absence of an entangler device has not allowed their realization so far. The aim of the present proposal is to overcome this experimental challenge and explore the entanglement of electron pairs generated by Cooper pair splitting. This

research project will lead to a fundamental understanding of the production, manipulation and detection of spin entangled mobile electron pairs, thus it will significantly extend the frontiers of quantum coherence and opens a new horizon in the field of on-chip quantum information technologies.

György GYÜRKY (Institute of Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Debrecen, Hungary)

Profession: physicist

Year of PhD: 2001

Research interest: experimental nuclear astrophysics

Personal webpage: http://namafia.atomki.hu/~gyurky/

Most important experiences abroad: Ruhr Universität Bochum, Germany INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy

Grants and Awards: 2002: ATOMKI Young researcher prize2002 and 2006: Bolyai fellowship, Hungarian Academy of Sciences2005: Young researcher prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences2007: Young researcher prize of the Academies of Visegrád countries (CZ, HU, PL, SK)

Title of ERC Starting Grant: Nuclear reaction studies relevant to the astrophysical p-process nucleosynthesis.Size of the grant: 750 000 EURDuration: 60 months (start: 1 July 2008)ERC host institution: Institute of Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of SciencesWebpage of the project: http://namafia.atomki.hu/~gyurky/ERC/

Brief presentation of the project:The synthesis of the heavy, proton rich isotopes (p-isotopes) is the so called astrophysical p-process, which is one of the least known processes of nucleosynthesis. The identification of the astrophysical site where the process takes place is still ambiguous and the models are not able to reproduce well the abundances of the p-isotopes observed in nature. For the model calculations huge reaction networks needs to be taken into account, and the rates of nuclear reactions involved in the networks are necessary inputs for the calculations. In lack of experimental data the reaction rates are usually provided by theory, namely the statistical model. Since they cannot be compared with experimental data, the reliability of these calculations is questionable. Therefore, the experimental determination of reaction rates and thus the check of the model calculations is of crucial importance for making the p-process models more reliable. In the framework of the present project measurements of the cross sections of charge particle induced nuclear reactions are being carried out in the mass and energy range relevant for the p-process. The results are compared with statistical model calculations. For the experiments the accelerators of ATOMKI provide the basic infrastructure.

Mihály KÁLLAY (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary)

Profession: chemist

Year of PhD: 2001

Research interest: theoretical chemistry

Homepage: http://web.fkt.bme.hu/~sp/kallay.html

Most important experience abroad: 2002–2004: postdoctoral associate, Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Univ. Mainz, Germany

Grants and Awards:1997 Pro Scientia Gold Medal2004-2007 fellowship of the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA)2007-2010 Bolyai fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences2008-2011 OTKA “Support of internationally known young researchers (NF)” grant2009 Medal of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science

Title of the ERC Starting Grant: High-accuracy models in theoretical chemistrySize of the grant: 500.000 EURDuration: 60 months (2008 - 2013)ERC host institution: Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Brief presentation of the project:Even today, quantum chemical calculations with experimental accuracy are only feasible for small molecules. This statement is especially true if the considered molecule is far from the equilibrium structure, where the overwhelming majority of quantum chemical models break down. The main purpose of this project is to develop new quantum chemical methods that are applicable to at least medium-sized molecules and simultaneously provide results sufficiently close to the experimental data and are capable of describing entire potential energy surfaces. The accuracy goal is achieved through the reduction of the computational costs of high-precision quantum chemical calculations, which were previously practical for small molecules. The cost reduction is accomplished by decreasing the number of numerical parameters to be optimized without sacrificing accuracy. To this end, the negligible parameters are identified and dropped. The correct behaviour of the models for distorted structures is ensured by developing new approaches that use a linear combination of functions rather than a single function as a starting point for the description of electronic states. Since the programming work associated with the implementation of the proposed schemes is very complex, the project relies on the automated programming tools previously developed by the principal investigator. In addition to the outlined challenging tasks, the project aims to implement several more straightforward objectives. In particular, the high-accuracy calculations are extended to molecular

properties that were previously not available. Furthermore, the developed methods are applied to real-life problems, especially in the field of spectroscopy and atmospheric chemistry.

István KATONA (Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary)

Profession: biologist

Year of PhD: 2000

Research interest: Neurobiology and endocannabinoid signaling

Homepage: http://www.katonalab.hu/

Most important experience abroad: 06/2004-09/2004. Visiting scientist, Laboratory for Neuronal Circuit Development, RIKEN BSI, Wako-shi, Japan. Head: Prof. Takao K. Hensch. 2000-2002. EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Max-Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany. Head: Prof. Hannah Monyer.

Grants and Awards: 2010. The Wellcome Trust International Senior Research Fellowship2009. European Research Council (ERC) Starting Independent Researcher Grant 2009. International Association for Cannabinoids as Medicines (IACM) Young Investigator Award2007-2009. Royal Society International Joint Projects 2007. Central European Talent Award 2003-2006, 2007-2010. János Bolyai Research Fellowship 2000-2002. European Molecular Biology Organization, Long-term Fellowship

Title of the ERC Starting Grant: Understanding the molecular blueprint and functional complexity of the endocannabinoid metabolome in the brain.Duration: 60 months (2009 - 2014)Size of the grant: 1 638 000 EURERC host institution: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Brief presentation of the project:Synaptic junctions are the major sites of communication in the brain, where chemical messenger molecules transmit information from presynaptic nerve cells to their postsynaptic partners. The efficacy of synaptic transmission is not constant in time and space. Instead, its plasticity is a fundamental phenomenon underlying information storage and adaptation to environmental stimuli. Recently we and others have uncovered that endogenous cannabinoid molecules produced by the nerve cells play a central role in the regulation of synaptic transmission and plasticity as special messengers. Thus, the major objective of our research group is to characterize this new signaling system, the so-called endocannabinoid system in the brain. We aspire to delineate how endocannabinoids, these novel lipid messengers, as well as their synthesizing and inactivating enzyme proteins, which regulate their brain levels, are molecularly integrated into the most important synaptic signaling pathways. Based on this activity we also aim to gain a better understanding of the physiological and pathophysiological functions of distinct endocannabinoid

molecules, which ultimately may facilitate their targeted therapeutic exploitation in brain disorders.

Sándor KATZ (Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Theoretical Physics, Budapest, Hungary)

Profession: physicist

Year of PhD: 2002

Research interest: theoretical particle physics, lattice calculations of the strong interactions at high temperature

Most important experience abroad: 2006, 2007. Guest researcher, University of Wuppertal.2003-2004. Postdoctoral fellow, University of Wuppertal2001-2003. Postdoctoral fellow, DESY Hamburg

Grants and Awards:2006 - 2009 : Bolyai scholarshipParticipant in several OTKA grants2008: Junior Príma award2005: Talentum award

Title of the ERC Starting Grant: QCD Thermodynamics on the latticeDuration: 60 months (2008 - 2013)Size of the grant: 1 300 000 EURERC host institution: Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Theoretical Physics

Brief presentation of the project: Studying the quark-gluon plasmaAbout 10 microseconds after the big bang protons and neutrons were formed from their quark and gluon constituents. Understanding the details of this transition is relevant both for the evolution of the early Universe as well as for present and upcoming heavy-ion experiments.The ERC project aims to study this transition between protons/neutrons and the quark-gluon plasma using computational methods. The numerical solution of the equations relevant for the transition requires huge computer resources. We have built a cluster that exploits the great computational performance of modern graphics cards. This way a system of almost two hundred PC-s becomes competent with today’s best supercomputers.Using this graphics card based cluster we hope to give for the first time final answers to questions such as the temperature of the transition or the pressure of the high temperature quark-gluon plasma.

András MÁLNÁSI-CSIZMADIA (Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Biochemistry, Budapest, Hungary)

Profession: biologist

Year of PhD: 1999

Research interest: Motor enzyme mechanisms, new approaches in drug design

Homepage: www.malnalab.hu

Most important experience abroad: 1997-1999 Brandeis University, Department of Biology, Boston, USA2000-2003 University of Leicester, Department of Biochemistry, Leicester, U.K.

Grants and Awards: Wellcome Trust GrantEMBO YIP (European Molecular Biology Organisation, Young Investigator Program)HHMI (Howard Hughes Medical Institute) Young ResearcherMagyary Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship AwardBékésy Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, Hungarian Ministry of EducationBolyai Fellowship Award of the Hungarian Academy of SciencesÁnyos Jedlik Programme Grant Joint Research Infrastructure Development Grant of the European Commission and the Hungarian Ministry of Economics, GVOP Program

Title of the ERC Starting Grant: Intramolecular force mapping of enzymes in action: the role of strain in motor signaling mechanisms.Duration: 60 months (2008 - 2013)Size of the grant: 750 000 EURERC host institution: Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Biochemistry

Brief presentation of the project: The role of strain in motor enzyme mechanismsA fundamental but unexplored problem in biology is whether and how enzymes use mechanical strain during their functioning. It is now evident that the knowledge of atomic structures and chemical interactions is not sufficient to understand the intricate mechanisms underlying enzyme specificity and efficiency. Several lines of evidence suggest that mechanical effects play crucial roles in enzyme activity. Therefore we aim to create detailed force maps that reveal how the intramolecular distribution of mechanical strains changes during the enzyme cycle and how these rearrangements drive the enzyme processes. The applicability of current nanotechniques for the investigation of this problem is limited because they do not allow simultaneous measurement of mechanical and enzymatic parameters. Thus we seek to open new avenues of research by developing site-specific sensors and passive or photoinducible molecular springs to measure force-dependent chemical/structural changes with high spatiotemporal resolution in a motor

enzyme i.e. myosin and regulatory proteins. Since force perturbations occur very rapidly, we are able to combine experimental studies with quasi-realistic in silico simulations to describe the physical background of enzyme function. We expect that our research will yield fundamental insights into the role of intramolecular strains in enzymes and thus greatly aid the design and control of enzyme processes (specificity, activity, regulation). Our studies may also lead to new paradigms in the understanding of motor and signaling systems.

Attila MÓCSAI (Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary)

Profession: medical doctor

Year of PhD: 1999

Research interest: cell biology, immunology

Homepage: http://www.phagocytes.net/groups/mocsai.html

Most important experience abroad: 1999-2003 postdoctoral fellow, University of California, San Francisco, USA1997 visiting scientist, University of Verona, Italy

Most important grants and awards:2012-2015 Coordinator, EU FP7-Health Cooperation Project (TARKINAID; 3 M EUR)2009-2014 Wellcome Trust International Senior Research Fellowship (553 kEUR)2008-2013 ERC Starting Independent Investigator Award (MOLINFLAM; 1.2 M EUR)2007-2010 NKTH (Hungary) Ányos Jedlik Research Grant (334 M HUF)2004-2009 Wellcome Trust International Senior Research Fellowship (96 M HUF)

Title of the ERC Starting Grant: Molecular Dissection of Inflammatory Pathways (MOLINFLAM)Size of the grant: 1 200 000 EURDuration: 60 months (2008 - 2013)ERC host institution: Semmelweis University, School of Medicine

Brief presentation of the project: Signal transduction in inflammatory diseasesInflammatory diseases such as autoimmune diseases are highly prevalent, severe and chronic diseases that are of major burden for the affected individuals and health service providers. While the limitation of current therapeutic options call for the development of novel therapies, that would require the better understanding of the mechanisms of the diseases at the molecular level. Our group previously identified several proteins that play a major role in certain leukocyte functions, raising the possibility that those molecules (such as Syk, Src-family kinases and PLC2) may also participate in the development of inflammatory diseases. The aim the research project is the identification of the role of the above proteins in inflammatory diseases and the detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms of those processes.The results of the first two years of the project have revealed that Syk, PLC2 and certain Src-family kinases play an indispensable role in the development of various autoimmune diseases. Our results have also clarified a number of additional questions related to the mechanism of the role of the above proteins in autoimmune diseases. Taken together, we have identified a number of components of autoimmune inflammatory diseases that may prove to be

suitable therapeutic targets for the pharmacological treatment of those diseases in the future.

Csaba PÁL (Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged, Hungary)

Profession: biologist

Year of PhD: 2002

Research interest: Systems biology and Evolutionary Genomics

Homepage: http://www.brc.hu/sysbiol/

Most important experience abroad: 2007-2008. Visiting Scientist, Microsoft Centre for Computational and Systems Biology. Trento, Italy2005-2007. EMBO postdoctoral fellowship, University of Oxford, UK2004-2005. European Molecular Biology Lab, Heidelberg, Germany2003-2004. Royal Society postdoctoral fellowship. University of Bath, UK

Grants and Awards: 2008. Ignaz L. Lieben prize (Austrian Academy of Sciences)2007. European Research Council (ERC) Starting Independent Researcher Grant 2007. EMBO Installation Grant2005. Talentum Award (Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Central European Talent Support Foundation.

Title of the ERC Starting Grant: Network evolution: Integrated evolutionary analyses of genetic and drug interaction networks in yeast.Duration: 60 months (2008 - 2013)Size of the grant: 1 280 000 EURERC host institution: Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Brief presentation of the project: The ability of cellular systems to adapt to genetic and environmental perturbations is a fundamental but poorly understood process both at the molecular and evolutionary level. There are both physiological and evolutionary reasonings why mutations often have limited impact on cellular growth. First, perturbations (e.g. mutations or drug treatments) that hit one target often have no effect on the overall performance of a complex system, as they can be adjusted by activity of other genes. Second, they can readily be alleviated during evolution. Understanding the extent of intrinsic and evolved robustness in cellular systems demands integrated analyses, that combines functional genomics and computational systems biology with microbial evolutionary experiments. In collaboration with several leading research teams in the field, we investigate the following issues. First, we ask how accurately genome-scale metabolic network models can predict the impact of genetic deletions and drug treatments. Second, we pursue large-scale lab evolutionary experiments to study evolution of drug resistance in microbes, and study the corresponding genomic changes. Finally, we are developing novel methods to automate scientific discovery in the fields of systems biology and drug discovery.

Gergely RÖST (University of Szeged, Bolyai Institute, Szeged, Hungary)

Profession: mathematician

Year of PhD: 2006

Research interests: functional differential equations, nonlinear dynamics, bifurcation theory, mathematical epidemiology

Homepage: http://www.math.u-szeged.hu/~rost

Most important experience abroad: 2000, 2002 studies in Italy (Potenza U. Basilicata, Pisa Scuola Normale Superiore)2002-2003 DAAD scholarship, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany 2006, 2007 MITACS postdoctoral research fellow, York University, Toronto, Canada2011 Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

Grants and Awards: 2006 Promotio sub Auspiciis Praesidentis Rei Publicae (PhD with golden ring of Hungary)2007 Grünwald Prize2008 Young Researcher Award, Hungarian Academy of Sciences2009 Bolyai Research Scholarship, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Title of the ERC Starting Grant: Delay differential models and transmission dynamics of infectious diseases (EPIDELAY)Duration: 60 months (2011 - 2016)Size of the grant: 796 000 EURERC host institution: University of Szeged, Bolyai Institute

Brief presentation of the project: The aim of this project is to develop and analyse infinite dimensional dynamical models for the transmission dynamics and propagation of infectious diseases. We use an integrated approach which spans from the abstract theory of functional differential equations to the practical problems of epidemiology, with serious implications to public health policy, prevention, control and mitigation strategies in cases such as the ongoing battle against the nascent H1N1 pandemic. Delay differential equations are one of the most powerful mathematical modelling tools and they arise naturally in various applications from life sciences to engineering and physics, whenever temporal delays are important. In abstract terms, functional differential equations describe dynamical systems, when their evolution depends on the solution at prior times. The central theme of this project is to forge strong links between the abstract theory of delay differential equations and practical aspects of epidemiology. Our research will combine competencies in different fields of mathematics and embrace theoretical issues as well as real life applications.

In particular, the theory of equations with state dependent delays is extremely challenging. Developing new theories in this area and connecting them to relevant applications would go far beyond the current research frontier of mathematical epidemiology.

Ferenc SIMON (Budapest University of Technology and Economics and the „Condensed matter research group” of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary)

Profession: physicist-engineer

Year of PhD: 2002

Research interest: Spintronics in nanostructural materials

Homepage: http://dept.phy.bme.hu/staff/simon/simon.html

Most important experience abroad: 2009-2010. Visiting scientist, Universität Wien, Austria2003-2005. Individual Marie Curie fellowship, Universität Wien, Austria1995-1996 TEMPUS scholarship, The University of Manchester, UK

Grants and Awards: 2006. Talentum prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences2005. Marie-Curie reintegration grant (ERG)2003. Individual Marie-Curie postdoctoral fellowship (EIF)

Title of the ERC Starting Grant: Spin dynamics and transport at the quantum edge in low dimensional nanomaterials (SYLO).Duration: 60 months (2010 - 2015)Size of the grant: 1 230 000 EURERC host institution: Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Brief presentation of the project: Sustainable development in information technology calls for an ever increasing information processing and storage capability. A promising route to maintain exponential growth capability, i.e. to keep on the Moore's roadmap, is to turn to the electron spins as information carriers rather than their charge. This field, spintronics, has enormous potential whose exploitation requires solid knowledge in the fundamentals of spin dynamics and spin transport. Herein, novel nanomaterials are suggested for spintronics purposes, such as graphene and single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). These, fundamental two- and one-dimensional carbon allotropes are promising candidates for such purposes, carbon being a light element with a low spin-orbit coupling which results in a long spin coherence. There are several fundamental open issues, e.g. the dominant spin orbit coupling mechanism in graphene, whether bulk electron spin resonance can be observed for this material, and the length of the spin diffusion length. Our goal is to pursue electron spin resonance in graphene and carbon nanotubes and to perform optically detected magnetic resonance in carbon nanotubes. We will commission a magneto-optical spectrometer with a substantial added value.

Gergely SZAKÁCS (Institute of Enzymology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary)

Profession: medical doctor

Year of PhD: 2001

Research Interest: Multidrug Resistant Cancer

Most important experience abroad: 2001-2005 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Laboratory of Cell Biology (LCB),

National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health 1996 Tempus-Phare Scholar, Kremlin-Bicetre Hospital, University XI.,

Grants and Awards:2010 Momentum - Young Researchers' Program, Hungarian Academy of

Sciences2009 Bolyai Fellowship (Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Excellent

Achievements Category 2008 EMBO SDIG Fellow2007 Marie Curie IE Fellow2006 Leukemia &Lymphoma Society Fellow2006 Outstanding Postdoc (Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH)2005 Bolyai Fellowship (Hungarian Academy of Sciences)2005 Federal Technology Transfer Award, National Cancer Institute1999 Soros Predoctoral Fellow

Title of the ERC Starting Grant: Targeting Multidrug Resistant Cancer Duration: 60 months (2011 - 2016Size of the grant: 1 500 000 EURDuration: 60 months (2011 - 2016)ERC host Institution: Institute of Enzymology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Brief presentation of the project: Despite considerable advances in drug discovery, resistance to anticancer chemotherapy confounds the effective treatment of patients. Cancer cells can acquire broad cross-resistance to mechanistically and structurally unrelated drugs. P-glycoprotein (Pgp) actively extrudes many types of drugs from cancer cells, thereby conferring multidrug resistance (MDR) to those agents. The classical method of dealing with multidrug resistant cancer has been to inhibit transporters that keep the level of cytotoxic agents below a cell-killing threshold. Unfortunately, the in vitro effectiveness of these inhibitors has not translated to the clinic despite a number of trials. My approach is radically different: I suggest that Pgp should be considered the "Achilles' Heel" of resistant cells, representing a fatal weakness that should be targeted, rather than obstructed for tackling MDR in cancer. Successful targeting of MDR cells would reduce the tumor burden and would also enable the elimination of ABC transporter-overexpressing cancer stem cells that are responsible for the replenishment of tumors.

György VANKÓ (KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary)

PhD in Physical Chemistry, 2002

Research interest: Switchable transition metal compounds, X-ray spectroscopy

Homepage: http://mffo.rmki.kfki.hu/ vanko

Most important experience abroad: 2002-2007. Scientist at the beamline ID16 (Inelastic Scattering), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France. 2001-2002. postdoctoral fellow to ID16, ESRF, Grenoble, France.1996. Visiting scientist in the Johannes-Gutenberg Universität, Mainz, Germany.

Grants and Awards: 2009 Schmid Rezső Prize of the Roland Eötvös Physical Society2007–2010 Bolyai János Research Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences 2001 Young Scientist Award of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences1996 Hungarian State Eötvös Fellowship

Title of the ERC Starting Grant: Electronic transitions and bistability: states, switches, transitions and dynamics studied with high-resolution X-ray spectroscopyDuration: 60 months (2010 - 2015)Size of the grant: 1 125 960 EURERC host institution: KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Brief presentation of the project: We study transition metal compounds of uncommon transport properties and excitation characteristics applying emerging high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy. The objective is to determine the microscopic origin of the unconventional behaviour of systems with strong electron correlation through systematic investigations, as well as to reveal bistability conditions and excitation characteristics of switchable molecular systems. The main techniques involved are synchrotron radiation (SR)-based spectroscopies, which can explore the fine details of the electronic structure. Besides using existing end stations of SR facilities, we plan to build a portable spectrometer that can be advantageously used both in a laboratory (e.g., with a radioactive source) and at specially dedicated beamlines of SR facilities, in order to benefit from their specializations in extreme conditions and advanced sample environments, in particular unconventional experiments. This spectrometer should also be able to work in a time-resolved mode so that it could address the dynamics of electronic excitations on the attosecond to nanosecond time scale. The suggested work is expected to push high-resolution X-ray

spectroscopies toward maturity, which should open up new horizons in electronic structure and dynamics studies of condensed matter research. Furthermore, we will also prepare for using the ultrashort pulses of upcoming new European infrastructures: the European XFEL and the Attosecond Laser Branch of the Extreme Light Infrastructure.

European Research CouncilADVANCED GRANT HOLDERS

2008-2010

Imre BÁRÁNY (Alfréd Rényi Mathematical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary)

Profession: mathematician

Scientific degrees: PhD in 1982, Doctor of Sciences (from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) in 1993

Corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2010).

Homepage: http://www.renyi.hu/~barany/

Some of the positions held:ETH Zurich, Nachdiplom Lecturer, 2008 springHebrew University Jerusalem, visiting professor, 2007 springMicrosoft Research, Redmond, visiting researcher, 2004 springMSRI, Berkeley, visiting professor, 2003 autumnUniversity College London, visiting professor since 1998Yale University, visiting professor 1989-91, and in 1994, in 1997

Grants and Awards, some important lectures:Several Hungarian National Foundation Grants from 1996 to 2010Award of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1998)Prize of the Academy (1994)Rényi Prize (1988)Invited speaker on ICM (2002, Beijing), Erdős lecturer (2004, Jerusalem)Plenary speaker at SIAM Discrete Mathematics (2010, Austin)

Title of the ERC Advanced Grant: Discrete and Convex Geometry: Challenges, Methods, Applications.Duration: 60 months (2011-2016)Size of the grant: 1 300 000 EURERC host institution: Alfréd Rényi Mathematical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Brief presentation of the project: My main research interests are combinatorics, discrete geometry, convexity, random polytopes, lattice polytopes, algebraic topology, and their applications in computer science, mathematical programming, integer programming, and operations research. These are the main research topics in the ERC grant as well. Some of the main questions: (a) weak and strong epsilon-nets, (b) the k-set problem and point selection theorems, (c) Helly type results and geometric transversals, (d) integer convex hull and its randomized version, (e) Tverberg type results and their topological versions, (f) Arnold's question on the number of convex lattice polytopes of given dimension and volume, (g) extremal incidence problems, for instance Erdős's unit distance question.

Gergely CSIBRA (Central European University, Budapest, Hungary)

Degree: psychology

Year of PhD: 1994

Research interest: Cognitive Development

Homepage: http://cognitivescience.ceu.hu/profiles/faculty/gergely_csibra

Positions: 1987-1994 Institute for Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, junior researcher1994-1998 Medical Research Council, Cognitive Development Unit, London, research scientist1998-2008 Birkbeck, University of London, Senior Lecturer, Reader then Professor2008- Central European University, Budapest, Department of Philosophy then Department of Cognitive Science, Professor

Grants: 1998 and 2003 Medical Research Council program grant2004 and 2006 James McDonnell Foundation2005 FP6 NEST Pathfinder grant by the European Commission

Title of the ERC Advanced Grant: Human Infants' Preparedness for Relevance-Guided Learning through Ostensive-Referential Communication.Size of the grant: 1 557 428 EURDuration: 60 months (2010 - 2015)ERC host institution: Central European University (CEU)

Brief presentation of the project: A recent hypothesis (the theory of 'natural pedagogy') proposes that an important function of human ostensive-referential communication is to allow the transmission of generic (semantic) knowledge to others. The primary potential beneficiaries of such a communication system are children, who are always novices with respect to the culture they are born into. This proposal aims to explore whether and how human infants are prepared to learn from adults through communication, what cognitive and neural systems support such learning process, and how this social learning process changes infants' perception, interpretation and representation of the world. Beyond traditional behavioural methods, we plan to use eye-tracking, electrophysiological (EEG, ERP) and optical imaging (NIRS) techniques to get insights about the online processes of perception, attention and memory during, as well as the understanding of the social and physical world through, non-verbal communication. In particular, we seek to track (1) the early development of sensitivity to various ostensive-communicative signals, (2) their relation to the understanding of referential deictic gestures, which is essential to be engaged in triadic communication, (3) how these signals modulate what infants pay

attention to and preserve in their memory about objects, and (4) how the functional understanding of human-made cultural artefacts (such as tools) is affected by their demonstrated use in ostensive-referential communicative settings. The new framework theory of natural pedagogy will also provide a novel perspective to elucidate how further cognitive systems, such as the understanding of actions or causal relations, as well as the processes of imitation and word learning contribute to cultural learning by communication.

Victor KARÁDY (Central European University, Budapest, Hungary)

Degrees: in sociology and demography (1965, Sorbonne)Elected external member, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1993)Research interest: historical sociology

Homepage: http://www.ceu.hu/profiles/faculty/victor_karady

Experience abroad:1965-1968 assistant to Raymond Aron at the Parisian Centre de Sociologie Européenne, employed by the French CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) 1968-2003 research fellow of the CNRS, member of the Parisian Centre de Sociologie de l’Education et de la Culture under the late Pierre Bourdieu (retired as research director emeritus – first class – of the CNRS)1970-1980 editorial board member of the Revue française de sociologie1980-82 invited fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford1976-1988 invited lecturer at the Parisian Ecole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (with entitlement to sponsor doctoral theses)

1993-1994 member of Collegium Budapest, Institute of Advanced Studies1992- recurrent professor at the History Department of the Central European University in Budapest, since 2007 appointed university professor

Title of the ERC Advanced Grant: Culturally Composite Elites, Regime Changes and Social Crises in Multi-Ethnic and Multi-Confessional Eastern Europe ) The Carpathian Basin and the Baltics in Comparison cc.- 1900-1950).Size of the grant: 771 528 EURDuration: 36 months (2008 - 2011)ERC host institution: Central European University (CEU)

Brief presentation of the project:The problem of elite formation is a central issue of social history in East Central Europe during the period of post-feudal and pre-socialist modernization, especially when the tasks of modernization of the emerging nation state were at least in part taken up not by members of the ethnically titular elites, but by minority clusters. Our project investigates long term processes of elite formation resorting to (prosopographical) survey methods of historical sociology in societies where the ruling ethnic bracket represented a minority (pre-1919 Hungarian Kingdom) or where one could observe several major elite changes and political upheavals with ethnico-confessional implications (successor regions of Hungary after 1919, Estonia and Latvia). The focus of the project is a set of standardized serial biographies of students and graduates of universities and, in pre-1919 Hungary, secondary schools and vocational institutions of higher education. The information collected derive from archival and other sources. It is organized in computerized data banks destined for statistical elaboration and socio-historical interpretation. The main topical targets of the project are as follows : social, ethnic, regional, residential, ethnic and confessional selection of students and graduates,

factors of the nature of secondary education (choice of schools, scholarly success in various subjects, etc.), study options and trajectory in higher education, sociological conditions of dropping out or scholarly excellence as well as further specialization, the logic of professional choices, success and specialization in the career, determinants of intellectual creativity such as it is expressed in publications or other forms of intellectual performance. Our project is based on a scheme of multiple comparisons. We first compare regional and national societies to study their system of elite training in different historical junctures. Inside countries or regions (especially in the Carpathian Basin) graduates of various institutions are compared following the above. Finally the mechanism of elite training is compared in various historical periods, especially around historical landmarks or turning points like before and after 1919 or 1940-45 with regard to schooling policies, political and cultural power relations, trends of social mobility, the availability and accessibility of higher education inside and outside the countries and regions concerned and their group specific patterns of exploitation.

Éva KONDOROSI (BAYGEN Institute, Szeged, Hungary)

Profession: biologist

1996. "Doctor of Sciences" at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.2010. Corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Research interest: Rhizobium-legume symbiosis, plant development, antimicrobial plant peptides

Homepage: http://www.baygen.hu

International recognition: 2010. Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2010. Member of the Academia Europeae2007. Hotchkiss award 2006. EMBO member 2006. Member of the Board of Directors of the IS-Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions2006. Member of the Scientific Expert Advisory Committee of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research1985. Award of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Title of the ERC Advanced Grant: Dual exploitation of natural plant strategies in agriculture and public health: enhancing nitrogen-fixation and fighting microbial infectionsDuration: 60 months (2011-2016)Size of the grant: 2 320 000 EURERC host institution (in progress): Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged

Brief presentation of the project:Higher agricultural production, enhanced food safety and protection against alarming rise of antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria are amongst the main challenges of this century. This proposal centered on Rhizobium-legume symbiosis aims at contributing to these tasks by i) understanding the development of symbiotic nitrogen fixing cells for improvement of the eco-friendly biological nitrogen fixation, ii) gaining a comprehensive knowledge on polyploidy having a great impact on crop yields and iii) exploiting the strategies of symbiotic plant cells for the development of novel antibiotics. Symbiotic nitrogen fixation in Rhizobium-legume interactions takes place in root nodules where giant plant cells host the nitrogen fixing bacteria. In Medicago nodules both the plant cells and the bacteria are polyploids and incapable for cell division. These polyploid plant cells produce hundreds of symbiotic peptides (symPEPs) that provoke terminal differentiation of bacteria in symbiosis and exhibit broad range antimicrobial activities in vitro. It will be studied how different ploidy levels affect DNA methylation and expression profile and whether polyploidy is required for the expression of symPEP genes. The activity and mode of actions of symPEPs are in the focus of the proposal; i) how symPEPs achieve bacteroid differentiation and affect nitrogen fixation

and ii) whether symPEP antimicrobial activities provide novel modes of antimicrobial actions and iii) whether “Sym-Biotics” could become widely used novel antibiotics.

László LOVÁSZ (Mathematical Institute of the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary)

Profession: mathematician

Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1985)

Research interest: Combinatorial optimization, graph theory, theoretical computer science

Homepage: http://www.cs.elte.hu/~lovasz

Some of the positions held:1975-1978. Docent, József Attila University, Szeged1978-1982. Professor, Chair of Geometry, József Attila University, Szeged1983-1993. Professor, Chair of Computer Science, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest1993-2000. Professor, Dept. of Computer Science, Yale University1999-2006. Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research2006–present: Director, Mathematical Institute of the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest

Prizes:Grünwald Géza Prize, Bolyai Society, 1970 - George Pólya Prize, Soc. Ind. Appl. Math., 1979 - Best Information Theory Paper Award, IEEE, 1981 - Ray D.Fulkerson Prize, Amer. Math. Soc.–Math. Prog. Soc., 1982 - State Prize, Hungary, 1985 - Tibor Szele Medal, Bolyai Society, 1992 -Brouwer Medal, Dutch Matematical Society - Royal Netherl. Acad. Sci., 1993 - National Order of Merit of Hungary, 1998 - Bolzano Medal, Czech Mathematical Society, 1998 - Wolf Prize, Israel, 1999 - Knuth Prize, ACM-SIGACT, 1999 - Corvin Chain, Hungarian Government, 2001 - Goedel Prize, ACM EATCS, 2001- John von Neumann Medal, IEEE, 2005 -John von Neumann Theory Prize, INFORMS, 2006 - Bolyai Prize, 2007, Kyoto Prize, 2010

Editorial work:Combinatorica (Editor-in-Chief), J. Combinatorial Theory (B), Discrete Math., Discrete Applied Math., J. Graph Theory, Europ. J. Combinatorics, Discrete and Computational Geometry, Random Structures and Algorithms, Acta Mathematica Hungarica, Acta Cybernetica, Electronic J. of Combinatorics, Geometric and Functional Analysis.

Title of the ERC Advanced Grant: From discrete to continuous: understanding discrete structures through continuous approximation (DISCRETECONT)Duration: 60 months (2008 – 2013)Size of the grant: 739 671 EURERC host institution: Eötvös Loránd University

Brief presentation of the project:Important methods and results in discrete mathematics arise from the interaction between discrete mathematics and “continuous” areas like analysis or geometry. Classical examples of this include topological methods, linear

and semidefinite optimization generating functions and more. More recent areas stressing this connection are the theory of limit objects of growing sequences of finite structures (graphs, hypergraphs, sequences), discrete and continuous processes on networks, geometric representations of graphs. Perhaps most promising is the study of limits of growing graph and hypergraph sequences. In resent work by the PI and his collaborators, this area has found highly nontrivial connections with extremal graph theory, the theory of property testing in computer science, to additive number theory, the theory of random graphs, and measure theory as well as geometric representations of graphs. The goal of this proposal is to explore these interactions, with the participation of a number of researchers from different areas.

János PINTZ (Alfréd Rényi Mathematical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary)

Profession: mathematician

Scientific degrees: PhD: 1975, Doctor of Sciences (from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences): 1984

Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2004)

Research interest: number theory

Homepage: http://www.renyi.hu/~pintz/

Most important experiences abroad:1979 Frankfurt University, visiting professor1979 Leiden University, visiting professor1983 Salerno University, visiting professor1984/85 Frankfurt and Freiburg Universities, Humboldt fellowship1986/87 Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA, visiting professor1990/91 Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, USA, visiting researcher1994 Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA, visiting professor1999/2000 Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA, Fulbright fellowship2009 Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, USA, visiting researcher

Title of the ERC Advanced Grant: Gaps between Primes and Almost Primes. Patterns in Primes and Almost Primes. Approximations to the Twin Prime and Goldbach Conjecture.Duration: 60 months (2008-2013)Size of the grant: 1 376 400 EURERC Host Institution: Alfréd Rényi Mathematical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Brief presentation of the project:The twin prime conjecture is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) and most famous unsolved problem of whole mathematics. We call a pair of primes a twin prime pair if their difference is exactly 2, that is, if they are consecutive odd numbers, which are both prime numbers, i.e. they have no other divisors except 1 and the number itself. The twin prime conjecture asserts that there are infinitely many twin primes, that is, we can find above arbitrary large bounds such pairs again and again. As an approximation of the conjecture, Hardy and Littlewood began to investigate 80 years ago, whether there are prime pairs much closer to each other than the average distance between consecutive primes. In case of a prime p the average distance is the value logp, the natural logarithm of p (which is approximately 2.3 times the number of decimal digits of p, i.e. in case of primes with thousand digits it is approximately 2300). As a result of the works of several world famous mathematicians (Paul Erdős, Bombieri, Davenport and others), it was shown that there are infinitely many prime pairs which are closer to each other than the ¼ of the average distance (H. Maier, 1988).In 2005 we proved in a joint work with Goldston and Yildirim, that the above ratio ¼ can be substituted by an arbitrarily small positive constant, that the distance of the closest prime pairs can be arbitrarily small compared to the average distance. The most

important problems of the project are connected to further investigations in this circle of problems. A brief selection of the most important open questions is as follows:(i) how small gaps can we guarantee infinitely many times between consecutive primes compared to the size of the relevant primes?(ii) is there any way to show that the difference of consecutive primes is infinitely many times smaller than some given fixed bound, which may be much larger than 2?(iii) how can we improve these results if primes are substituted by numbers with a small numbers of prime divisors, so called almost primes, e.g. by semiprimes, that is, numbers with two prime divisors?

Gábor TAMÁS (University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary)

Profession: biologist

Scientific degrees: PhD in 1997, Doctor of Sciences (from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) in 2005

Research interest: Function of neurons and their networks in the cerebral cortex

Homepage: http://tamaslab.org/

Most important experience abroad: 1996-1997 European Blaschko Visiting Research Fellowship, University of

Oxford, UK1994-1996 Oxford-Szeged Scholarship, University of Oxford, UK

Grants and Awards: 2006 European Young Investigator Award; European Science Foundation2006 Polányi program, NKTH2006 Research Group for Cortical Microcircuits of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences2005 International Research Scholarship, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA2002 International Senior Research Fellowship; Wellcome Trust, UK1998 Collaborative Research Initiative Grant, Wellcome Trust, UK1998 Eastern European Science Initiative, James S. McDonnell Foundation, USA

Title of the ERC Advanced Grant: Impact of identified interneurons on cellular network mechanisms in the human and rodent neocortexDuration: 60 months (2011-2016)Size of the grant: 2 391 000 EURERC host institution: University of Szeged

Brief presentation of the project:We address mechanisms linking the activity of single neurons with network events by defining the function of identified cell types in the cerebral cortex. The key hypotheses emerged from our experiments and propose that neurogliaform cells and axo-axonic cells achieve their function in the cortex through extreme forms of unspecificity and specificity, respectively. The project capitalizes on our discovery that neurogliaform cells reach GABAA and GABAB receptors on target cells through unitary volume transmission going beyond the classical theory which states that single cortical neurons act in or around synaptic junctions. We propose that the spatial unspecificity of neurotransmitter action leads to unprecedented functional capabilities for a single neuron simultaneously acting on neuronal, glial and vascular components of the surrounding area allowing neurogliaform cells to synchronize metabolic demand and supply in microcircuits. In contrast, axo-axonic cells represent extreme spatial specificity in the brain: terminals of axo-axonic cells exclusively target the axon initial segment of pyramidal neurons. Axo-axonic cells were considered as the most potent inhibitory neurons of the cortex. However, our experiments suggested that axo-axonic cells can be the most powerful excitatory neurons known to date by triggering complex network events. Our unprecedented recordings in the human cortex show that

axo-axonic cells are crucial in activating functional assemblies which were implicated in higher order cognitive representations. We aim to define interactions between active cortical networks and axo-axonic cell triggered assemblies with an emphasis on mechanisms modulated by neurogliaform cells and commonly prescribed drugs. We will test these emerging ideas with a state of the art combination of electrophysiological, imaging and ultrastructural methods helped with molecular profiling of neurogliaform and axo-axonic cells.

Vilmos TOTIK (University of Szeged)

Profession: mathematician

Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1993)

Research interest: mathematical analysis; approximation theory, potential theory, orthogonal polynomials

Major works (monographs):Moduli of Smoothness, (with Z. Ditzian), Springer, 1987; General Orthogonal Polynomials (with H. Stahl), Cambridge University Press, 1992; Weighted approximation with varying weights, Springer, 1994; Logarithmic Potentials with External Fields, (with E.B. Saff), Springer, 1997, Metric properties of harmonic measures, American Mathematical Society, 2006, Problems and Theorems in Set Theory (with P. Komjáth), Springer , 2006.

Editorial work:Journal of Approximation Theory, Analysis Mathematica, Acta Scientiarum Mathematicarum, Zeitschrift für Analysis und Ihre Anwendungen, Constructive Approximation, Acta Mathematica Hungarica, Surveys in Approximation Theory (co-editor-in-chief)

Title of the ERC Advanced Grant: Potential Theoretic Methods in Approximation and Orthogonal PolynomialsDuration: 60 months (2011 - 2015)Size of the grant: 402 000 EURERC host institution: University of Szeged

Brief presentation of the project:Mathematical analysis is one of the most powerful branches of mathematics. Within it the theory of orthogonal polynomials and approximation theory goes back to the early 19th century and they have an enormous number of connections and applications from classical and quantum physics through stochastic processes and prediction theory to Radon transforms and computer tomography. In the last 2-3 decades potential theoretical methods have been playing an increasingly important role in these theories, and these methods were essential in the solution of several difficult problems and in the extension of the theory. In the ERC project several problems will be investigated (from the universality hypothesis in quantum mechanics to domain reconstruction), in the solution of which potential theory will play a crucial role.

Tamás VICSEK (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary)

Profession: physicist

Year of PhD: 1983

Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2001)

Research field: Statistical physics of collective behaviour

Home page: http://hal.elte.hu/~vicsek/

Most important experience abroad: 2004 Aug – Dec. visiting professor, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA1988 – 1989 visiting scholar, Emory University, Atlanta, USA1988 visiting scientist, Yale University, New Haven, USA1983-1985 visiting scholar, Emory University, Atlanta, USA1981 British Council scholarship, King's College, London, England

Most important Grants and Awards: 2002-2005 NKFP, Nanobiotechnology2004-2009 OTKA Statistical physics of the collective behaviour of organisms2004-2007 EU FP7 STREP Starlings in flight1999 Széchenyi Award2003 Leó Szilárd Professor2006 – present: Fellow of the American Physical Society

Title of the ERC Grant: The structure and dynamics of collective motionDuration: 60 months (2009 - 2014)Size of the grant: 1 280 000 EUR, ERC host institution: Eötvös Loránd University

Brief presentation of the project:The main goal we intend to achieve in our multidisciplinary research is the identification and documentation of new unifying principles describing the essential aspects of collective motion, being one of the most relevant and spectacular manifestations of collective behaviour. To do so we shall carry out novel type of experiments, design models that are both simple and realistic enough to reproduce the observations and develop concepts for a better interpretation of the complexity of systems consisting of many organisms as well as such non-living objects as interacting robots. We plan to study systems ranging from cultures of migrating tissue cells through flocks of birds to collectively moving devices. The interrelation of these systems will be considered in order to deepen the understanding of the main patterns of group motion in both living and non-living systems by learning about the similar phenomena in the two domains of nature. As an example, we plan to understand the essential ingredients of flocking of birds by building collectively moving unmanned aerial vehicles while, in turn, high resolution spatiotemporal GPS data of pigeon flocks will be used to make helpful conclusions for the best designs for swarms of robots. In particular, we shall construct and build a set of vehicles that will be capable, for the first time, to exhibit flocking behaviour in the three-dimensional space

Source of Assistance and Advice in Hungary for the ERC Funding Programmes

The National Contact Point (NCP) for the ERC and the FP7 IDEAS Specific Programme

Under the 5th, 6th and 7th Framework Programmes, all Member States and Associated Countries have set up systems of National Contact Points (NCP systems) to inform and assist potential participants and contractors during their planned and ongoing projects. For the new structures and funding schemes of FP7 – including those of offered by the ERC -, providing appropriate information and assistance to potential participants is vital for assuring transparency and equal access. These include:

1. Informing, awareness raising Provide information on the ERC’s funding opportunities, including on

conditions for participation, and on possibilities and conditions for submission of proposals.

Organise promotional activities in liaison with the Commission services (e.g. infodays, consultation seminars, conferences etc.), and follow-up participation results.

2. Advising, assisting and training Explain the scope and the modalities of the funding opportunities of ERC

taking into account the whole spectrum of funding schemes to be used in FP7.

Provide assistance for potential applicants for identifying the most appropriate funding opportunities, advising during the proposal preparation phase, evaluation of proposals, granting process and assist concerning questions related to the administrative and management aspects of project implementation, including reporting.

Advise on administrative procedures and legal issues (e.g. role and responsibilities of participant legal entities in a proposal/project, costs and non-eligible costs, rights and obligations of participants, respect of ethical rules and for the principles laid down in the Commission Recommendation C(2005)576 on the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their Recruitment).

Assist organisations, in particular new actors, with a view to increasing their participation in FP7.

Provide information for and advice participants, on the setting up of appropriate management and legal structures in projects.

Assist the participant legal entities in understanding the framework programme requirements in view of the national legislative environment and the institutions own regulations and accounting principles.

Provide assistance to the different institutional players (management, administrative and financial staff as well as the scientists themselves) to understand the relevant rules and administrative requirements taking into account the different roles they play in a given activity.

3. Signposting and Feedback Give feedback to the Commission services and to the relevant

national authorities on any problems and difficulties in implementing and participating in the Ideas Specific Programme.

Inform the Commission services about planned NCP activities and events requiring participation of Commission staff.

Contact:

Dr. Erika Szendrák, ERC/Ideas SP NCP, HungaryTelephone: +36-1-411-6248E-mail: erika.szendrak@office.mta.hu or eszendrak@yahoo.com Skype: erika.szendrak