Plant species forming storage organs like bulbs, tubers, or tuberous roots are cultivated as staple food and feed crops because of their high starch caloric content, and elevated yields per hectare. These organs can differentiate from the petioles, stems or the roots, in a secondary growth program whose control is little understood. Tubers and bulbs serve as propagation organs to the plant and remain dormant in soil during winter, to be reactivated the following spring and generate a new plant that is genetically identical to the mother plant. Plants sense short days and cool nights as an indicator of the approaching winter. In potato, these external cues activate expression of a member of the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) gene family acting as a main tuberigen signal, on be transported to the underground stolons. In this proposal I aim at characterizing the genes acting downstream of FT, and to identify the cells that respond to this mobile signal, thereby serving as tuber initials. As storage organs can initiate from different tissues, my working hypothesis is that this secondary growth process relies on the cambium meristem, which is induced to divide and differentiate into storage parenchyma instead of its default pathway to xylem vessels. Outcomes of this work will not only contribute to a better comprehension of cambium function, but unveil key regulators for storage organ identity which will imply a major breakthrough in our understanding on how these highly economical relevant plant organs are differentiated.

This proposal presents the concept of X-ray Light-Field camera, an optical system based on X-ray wavefront sensor with a specific algorithm that allows getting a 3D image from a single acquisition. The main advantages of this camera are the very important decrease in the X-ray dose sent to the sample /patient and the fast acquisition time allowing us to do real time imaging. Two prototypes, working at two different energy range,s will be ready at the end of the FET-Open VOXEL project. One is working at ~0.4 keV and aims at performing biological cell imaging while the second one, at ~17keV, is focused on the small animal imaging. These prototypes target different markets and therefore different communities. We will also explore the commercial opportunities of medical imaging with X-ray wavefront sensor-based optical systems with the energy around 25-30 keV. The goal of this project is to transform the two X-ray Light Field camera laboratory prototypes into pre-commercial products. The first step is to clarify for each prototype, the markets, the concurrent techniques, the risks (existing patents and regulation) and the specific needs required by the potential end-users. Depending on the research results, some changes might be applied to the prototypes and will be tested during collaboration with potential clients. Then, the results will be widely disseminated using classical channels, such as Imagine Optic’s website, scientific publications and conferences but also more modern channels like tutorial videos and social network announcements. Nowadays, X-ray imaging with wavefront sensors is foreseen to become an important activity at Imagine Optic. It is thus of prime importance to consider the best internal organization to fully reach the potential market. This project will be performed by Imagine Optic, a SME that has a large expertise in launching innovations related to wavefront sensors to the market.

This project examines transnational patronage of the Tibetan diaspora and tracks its overlapping geopolitical and sociocultural impact at local, national, and international scales. In this project, I will first map transnational patronage, increasingly from Buddhist organizations sweeping across East and Southeast Asia, and second investigate its impact on the material, spiritual, and psychosocial landscape of the Tibetan diaspora in India. By combining anthropology, religious studies, and international relations, the project will generate new data on how the intersection of geopolitics and global Tibetan Buddhism shapes diasporic Tibetan identity and ethnic belonging in Indian settlements. In short, the project analyzes the recursive loop between transnational patronage and Tibetan identity formation within the Indian milieu it most directly impacts and against the backdrop of Chinese geopolitics it most clearly reflects. As such, it will be the first quadratic analysis of diasporic Tibetans grounded in ethnographic fieldwork. The imbrication of global Tibetan Buddhism, patronage networks, and refugee politics necessitates scholarship which analyzes value creation and attendant forms of soft power. Such research is a corrective to an anti-materialist “Othering” within Tibetan Studies which, paired with lay New Age Orientalism, distorts the ethnographic picture of contemporary Tibetans.

The lack of women in leadership is a concern raised by several multinational organizations including the UN and the European Commission. Research suggests that women’s underrepresentation is partly attributable to stereotypes regarding female leaders. Despite the persistence of these stereotypes, leadership scholars have shown that women are in fact, more skilled than men at almost all attributes that distinguish excellent leaders from average/poor ones. In an effort to lessen the gender gap in leadership, the current project seeks to solidify “the business case” for increased women in leadership, by developing and testing hypotheses to demonstrate that women’s leadership advantages result in increased customer service. Based on research on servant leadership, which focuses on altruistic values that engage followers in relational and emotional dimensions, so they are empowered to grow, I propose that servant leadership will positively relate to subordinates’ soft skill development and that this relationship will be stronger among female leaders. Further, given the research linking soft skills to customer service, I propose that subordinates’ soft skill training will mediate the relationship between servant leadership and customer service. While I will publish theoretical and empirical studies based on this research in scholarly journals, a distinctive feature of the proposal is dissemination to non-academic stakeholders. I plan to lead seminars in the business community to share the practical implications of my findings. The pinnacle of my communication efforts will be creating a Women’s Leadership Centre at USE that I will lead after the fellowship period. To prepare myself, I will carry out a secondment at an academic institution that has a diversity centre and at a non-academic organization focused on gender equality, to acquire knowledge about the pressing research issues facing European working women and to learn how to develop and sustain the centre at USE.

The brain accumulates knowledge by experience-driven modifications of neuronal connectivity and creates models of the world that enable intelligent behavior. It is thought that these processes are based on autoassociative mechanisms of circuit plasticity. However, direct tests of these fundamental concepts are difficult because they require dense reconstructions of neuronal wiring diagrams. We will dissect structural and functional mechanisms of autoassociative memory in telencephalic area Dp of adult zebrafish, the homologue of olfactory cortex. The small size of the zebrafish brain provides essential advantages for exhaustive measurements of neuronal activity and connectivity patterns. Key predictions of theoretical models will be examined by analyzing effects of odor discrimination learning on the dynamics and stability of odor representations in Dp. The underlying structural circuit modifications will be examined in the same brains by circuit reconstruction using serial block face scanning electron microscopy (SBEM). The dense reconstruction of neuronal ensembles responding to learned and novel odors will allow for advanced analyses of structure-function relationships that have not been possible so far. Odor stimulation in a virtual environment will be combined with optogenetic activation or silencing of neuromodulatory inputs to write and disrupt specific olfactory memories and to analyze the effects on behavior and connectivity. The underlying cellular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity and metaplasticity will be examined by electrophysiology, imaging and optogenetic approaches. Mutants will be used to assess effects of disease-related mutations on circuit structure, function and plasticity. These mechanistic analyses are guided by theoretical models, expected to generate direct insights into elementary computations underlying higher brain functions, and likely to uncover causal links between circuit connectivity, circuit function and behavior.