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The European Research Council (ERC) is awarding Prof. Dr. Elisa Oberbeckmann, Dr. Sophie de Vries, and Dr. Tristan Manfred Stöber an ERC Starting Grant of 1.5 million euros each for a period of five years.
+++ Joint press release with the University of Göttingen +++
Three researchers at the Göttingen Campus have been awarded ERC Starting Grants by the European Research Council (ERC): Professor Elisa Oberbeckmann at the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), for “A chromosome-wide in vitro reconstitution system to dissect human nucleosome positioning mechanisms (vitroCHROM)”; Dr Sophie de Vries, evolutionary biologist at Göttingen University, for “Plant Immune Responses in Perpetual symbiosis (PIRPetum)"; Dr Tristan Stöber, computational neuroscientist at Göttingen University for “World Models in Brains and Machines: From Normative Hippocampus Models to Robust Planning in Artificial Intelligence and Back (WoM-BaM)”. Projects run for five years and are worth around 1.5 million euros each.
How is gene regulation controlled? Professor Elisa Oberbeckmann, Assistant Professor and head of the “Chromatin Dynamics” research group at the Department of Molecular Biology at the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), is also an independent research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences. The vitroCHROM project will investigate how gene activity is regulated at the molecular level.
The genetic material in almost every human cell is stored in the cell nucleus in the form of thread-like structures known as chromatin. Chromatin contains DNA, the genetic blueprint for enzymes and other proteins that perform essential functions in the cell. As the DNA in each human cell is approximately two meters long, it must be compactly and precisely organized to fit inside the tiny nucleus while remaining accessible when needed. “Access to DNA is essential for maintaining cellular functions,” says Oberbeckmann. To package the genetic material, DNA is wrapped around protein cores called histones, resembling beads on a string. These DNA-protein structures, known as nucleosomes, protect the DNA. At the same time, however, they can block access to genetic information and prevent genes from being read. “This is where chromatin remodelers come into play,” explains Oberbeckmann. “These enzymes reposition nucleosomes along the DNA and thereby regulate access to the genetic information.”
With the support of the grant, Oberbeckmann and her team will investigate how human chromatin remodelers function and which factors influence their activity. The researchers will reconstruct chromatin structures in vitro, allowing them to reproduce the cell’s natural DNA-packaging mechanisms under controlled laboratory conditions. They will then systematically examine how remodelers affect DNA accessibility and nucleosome positioning. By combining these experiments with advanced sequencing technologies and artificial intelligence, the team aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of chromatin-remodeling processes. “Our goal is to uncover the fundamental principles that govern nucleosome positioning and to understand how defects in chromatin remodelers can contribute to neurological and developmental disorders, as well as cancer,” says Oberbeckmann.
How do plants maintain their friends while repelling foes? Dr Sophie de Vries, group leader at Göttingen University’s Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, has been awarded funding for her PIRPetum project. She will combine evolutionary genomics with experiments that pair ferns and different microbes, to investigate how plants fight off “foes” (diseases) at the same time as supporting their beneficial “friendships” (bacterial partners).
The evolution of complex life was made possible by partnerships between different organisms. As an example, cyanobacteria which convert light into energy first lived in symbiosis as “friends” with plants. This symbiosis became perpetual and then bacteria were incorporated into all the plants’ cells, enabling them to carry out photosynthesis, which was a significant advantage. Such mergers where two organisms become one are rare. Today, among plants only one lineage is known to harbour a second perpetual symbiosis (in addition to the chloroplast): a small water fern, Azolla, lives in a lifelong partnership with a nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium that has been passed from one generation to the next for more than 60 million years. This enduring relationship depends on precise communication between the plant and its bacterial partner, but scientists still know very little about how that communication works.
De Vries’ research suggests that the same signalling pathways plants normally use to defend themselves against diseases also help maintain the beneficial partnerships. “This raises a fascinating question,” says de Vries: “How do plants fight off harmful pathogens, while continuing to support helpful bacterial partners?” To answer this, her team will use Azolla as a model to investigate how plants balance immunity with cooperation. They will examine the role of the plant defence hormone salicylic acid, compare signalling networks with those found in other plant symbioses, and use the first natural disease-fighting system established for Azolla to study how defence and symbiosis interact. “Ultimately, our work will reveal how plants evolved to stably integrate beneficial partnerships for millions of years even when under attack from pathogens.”
How does the brain understand the world? Can this knowledge improve AI systems? Dr Tristan Stöber, Research Fellow at Göttingen University’s Campus Institute Data Science (CIDAS), has been awarded funding for the WoM-BaM project. This research will derive insights from neuroscience – in particular how the brain builds and uses its internal model of the world – to help build better AI systems. This in turn can deepen our understanding of how the brain works.
Evaluating future scenarios by mentally travelling in time is a hallmark of intelligence and requires an internal representation of the world. To build such a model, brains infer structural knowledge from interacting with the environment. AI systems attempt to do the same but have a weakness in “long-horizon navigation tasks” – meaning solving complex problems across large, unfamiliar, or changing environments over extended periods. This weakness may stem from a fundamental flaw in AI’s world model: in contrast to the brain, these algorithms may fail to develop well-structured representations.
To address this, Stöber’s project investigates world model learning in both brains and machines using a cross-disciplinary approach that explains the fundamental weaknesses of AI systems to overcome their limitations with newly developed techniques inspired by how the human brain works. Stöber and his team will first create a new, simplified, and scalable virtual test environment called the MiniGrid Memory maze to systematically probe the limits of current AI models. Second, the team will combine techniques from psychology, to create a system capable of both flexible processing in time and structured reasoning. This will enable them to validate artificial world models against a unique dataset of brain activity recorded from mice navigating different environments. “This method establishes a virtuous circle: insights from neuroscience will improve AI, which in turn will serve as a powerful computational framework to deepen our understanding of how the brain builds its model of the world,” explains Stöber. “In addition, improving world model learning in artificial neural networks should lead to intelligent systems that surpass current technology in reliability, speed and efficiency. This will reduce data requirements and energy consumption.”
Prof. Dr. Elisa Oberbeckmann, Department of Molecular Biology at the University Medical Center Göttingen (Photo: mpi-nat/swen pförtner), Dr. Sophie de Vries, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics at the University of Göttingen (Photo: sophie de vries), und Dr. Tristan Manfred Stöber, Campus Institute Data Science (CIDAS) at the University of Göttingen (Photo: eivind senneset/ayf).
Prof. Dr. Elisa Oberbeckmann (Photo: mpi-nat/swen pförtner), Dr. Sophie de Vries (Photo: sophie de v ...
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Prof. Dr. Elisa Oberbeckmann (Photo: mpi-nat/swen pförtner), Dr. Sophie de Vries (Photo: sophie de v ...
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