The miniaturization of electronic products is driving printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing towards flexible, smaller and more densely packed boards with increased electronic capabilities. Electroless plating of copper circuit is becoming a promising alternative of today’s subtractive patterning approach. It consumes significantly less raw copper, generates much fewer pollutants, and most importantly is capable of fabricating circuit on the flexible board. Nevertheless, such plating must be catalyzed by expensive Pd sensitizers and the adhesiveness of the plated circuit to the substrate needs more optimizations. Besides, the catalyst is also sensitive to aeration and several ions contaminants, rendering complex plating process industrially. In the proposed work, inspired by the autocatalytic nature of the plating, we will use Cu itself, a cheap and abundant material, as the catalyst. Via optimizing both the composition and the structure of Cu nanoparticles, we will prepare a core-shell and a bimetallic alloy catalyst, respectively. This “sustainable” nano-catalyst is highly stable in the plating environment and can effectively catalyze the copper deposition. We use functionalized graphene as the support of the nano-catalyst. Thanks to its high electrical/thermal conductivity, low thickness and plenty of functional groups, this graphene behaves as an intermediate layer, which promises to substantially promote the adhesion between the polymeric substrate and copper circuit without interfering the PCB performance. This novel approach provides exciting opportunities in the fabricating of robust, flexible and inexpensive microcircuits for tomorrow’s electronics.

Embryogenesis in plants can be initiated from the zygote, but also from other, somatic cells, which highlights a general competence of plant cells to undergo embryo initiation. While this competence has been widely appreciated, the mechanisms underlying plant embryo initiation are mostly unknown. In this project, two teams that each work on different modes of plant embryo initiation will complement each other?s expertise and join forces to identify general mechanisms underlying this process. The Liu team has isolated a novel set of mutants affected in genes that control zygote activation. The Weijers group has established auxin-dependent suspensor-embryo transformation as a model to study embryo initiation. In this project, both teams will mechanistically dissect these two forms of embryogenesis and ultimately jointly define the degree of mechanistic conservation. We will use a combination of genetics, molecular biology, imaging and transcriptomics, and expect to gain insight into how embryogenesis is initiated in plants. We believe that this project will deliver essential fundamental knowledge, and can become the foundation for strategies aimed at engineering embryogenesis for crop propagation.

Microalgae are considered one of the most promising feedstocks for sustainable production of commodities such as food, feed, chemicals, materials and biofuels. Microalgae do not need to be grown in agricultural areas and have a high areal productivity. Microalgae accumulate lipids and starch in high concentrations under ?stress? conditions, caused by depletion of nutrients, such as nitrogen. In the absence of nutrients, growth is hampered, while energy is continuously received in the form of light. Microalgae channel the excess of energy into large macromolecules, such as lipids or starch. In those cases the lipid or starch content can be as high as 60%. Under stress conditions these lipids accumulate in lipid bodies as neutral lipids and starch in granules. Neutral lipids can be used as an alternative for palm oil and starch as a carbohydrate source, both applicable in food. Under stress conditions usually both starch and lipids are produced at the same time. It would be preferred to produce only lipids or only starch. To increase lipid or starch yield we would like to be able to control the switch of the starch or lipid metabolism. Objective of this proposal is to identify that switch in algal metabolism that determines whether lipids or starch is produced, to control that switch and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the control of the switch in photobioreactors. Successful control of the switch would increase the lipid or starch yield with nearly 50% resulting in a lipid or starch concentration increase from about 35% of the biomass to 60% of the biomass. Our objective is to identify the switch, engineer the regulator of that switch and validate the effectiveness in production.

Working memory is the ability to temporarily maintain and manipulate information to guide ongoing behaviour. Understanding the mechanisms underlying working memory remains a grant challenge in neuroscience. Previous studies have demonstrated that working memory involves co-activation of large-scale networks, particularly the PFC and cerebellum. Currently how such cerebro-cerebellar communication is involved in working memory remains to be illustrated. It is our central hypothesis that persistent communication between PFC and cerebellum plays a crucial role in the maintenance and modification of working memory, particularly during attention shifting. To obtain a mechanistic understanding of cerebro-cerebellar communication and test our specific hypothesis, we propose four key objectives in this collaborative project. 1) We will develop a behavioural paradigm of dual-task design in mice to probe the central executive for working memory. 2) Subsequently we will use optogenetic and electrophysiological methods to identify the causality and neural correlates in PFC and cerebellum for working memory. 3) Further we will identify the causality and neural correlates for connection between PFC and cerebellum, including thalamus and striatum. 4) And last we will generate a large-scale neural-circuitry model based on the above empirical evidence. Once accomplished, each of these key objectives will provide new insights into the neuronal substrates of cerebero-cerebellar communication; and a grand combination of these data will largely advance our understanding of the general computational principle underlying working memory. In the long run, this Sino-Dutch cooperation will pave a way towards a fundamental understanding of brain-wide communication and shed light on the generic neuronal mechanisms of cognition.

The aim of the proposed research on smart urban retrofitting is to identify the social and institutional conditions under which smart retrofitting of urban housing in China and the Netherlands may lead to decoupling of domestic energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions. Apart from the use of smart technologies like smart meters and smart energy systems in energy retrofitting, the ?smartness? of urban retrofitting in this project also refers to the inclusion of end-user perspectives and the co-producing consumer. The project entails a comparative multiple case study of smart retrofitting projects in Amsterdam and Mianyang. Policy documents will be studied, and project initiators, local authorities, housing corporations, grid operators and utilities will be interrogated on the set up and governance of these projects, while changing energy practices of residents will be studied by means of interviews, observations and a series of consumer focus groups both in Amsterdam and in Mianyang. The energy practices that emerge as an implication of smart urban retrofitting will be central to this study, next to the identification of new social relations amongst and between householders and housing and energy providers. Results of the project will inform policy makers and practitioners in Amsterdam and Mianyang on the implications for consumers and providers of smart retrofitting projects in terms of new emerging energy practices and new relations between consumers and providers.