Many Earth processes result in a change in Earth's thermal structure, which can be revealed by changes of distinct geochemical and isotopic fingerprints from minerals and rocks. A transformative advance in Earth science is the development of thermochronology, which utilizes… Read more such fingerprints to quantify the thermal evolution of rocks through time as they move through the Earth's shallow crust. Low-temperature thermochronology has become a key element of tectonics, geomorphology, and sedimentary system research as it helps our understanding of how Earth materials deform, fault zones evolve, sedimentary basins and continental margins develop, Earth's surface responds to mantle flow, and orogens are built and decay through the interplay of tectonic and erosional processes. This project aims to develop a methodological approach, based mainly on the analysis of sediments, that could provide primary constraints to study the dynamic Earth response to tectonic and climatic forcing. We selected the Andes as our laboratory because, within a single geodynamic setting, they show varying subducting slab geometry, different topography, relief evolution and climate conditions. The research will be carried out along transects between southern Peru and central Chile, where the present geodynamic framework is constrained by geophysical information on the lithospheric and upper-mantle structure, while geological data provide a record of the position of the subducting slab through time. Four Work Packages (WP) are conceived: WP1 – Innovation in thermochronology: new detrital dating tools (U-Pb on apatite; single-grain multiple dating) and integration with other techniques (single-grain geochemistry, zircon U-Pb dating coupled with Raman spectroscopy); new statistical modelling for detrital thermochronology and thermal modelling. WP2 – Topography, drainage evolution and climate: quantification of surface uplift through dating and quantitative analysis of marine terraces, river networks and topography; spatio-temporal reconstruction of pattern of erosion to evaluate tectonic, surface processes, bedrock erodibility contribution to topography evolution. WP3 – Tectonic and thermokinematic evolution: quantification of the rate and amount of deformation; integration of deformation history, topographic evolution and thermal history of the crust into a thermo-kinematic model. WP4 – Dissemination, outreach and synergic activities: teaching projects for schools; short course for PhD and postdoc researchers. Activities will be performed in collaboration with geologists from Peru and Chile.

AMYGING will demonstrate in a zebrafish embryo model that natural polyphenol-based carrier systems hold a great potential as natural actives useful to form the basis of a highly modular amyloid imaging toolbox suitable for in vivo MRI and difference-fluorescence imaging.… Read more Out-of-the-box approaches for combining traditional amyloid-sensing structures with insights from nanotechnology, molecular electronics and inherent characteristics of natural polyphenols allow for the simultaneous realization of multimodal imaging probes. AMYGING aims at the implementation of a screening platform for highly sensitive detection of misfolded Aβ-oligomers in the CSF of AD patients via tunable nanoparticles (NPs). These NPs comprise a core of natural condensed polyphenolic (PNPs) structure complexing gadolinium ions and an outer layer of PNPs that are functionalized with amyloid-sensing small actives (ASSAs), a combination which leads to effectively increased contrast agent concentration in the immediate proximity of Aβ-oligomers for optimum bimodal imaging. Research will involve i) the specific targeting of amyloid oligomers by the sensing nanoparticles (ASNPs); ii) the exploration of the mechanism(s) of Aβ1-42 toxicity; and iii) the real-time monitoring using Gd(III) ions for MRI imaging. These three objectives will be targeted using an ethically unproblematic, yet 70% human genome carrying model organism, i.e., zebrafish embryos, enables an in vivo amyloid monitoring, which could potentially be extended to a monitoring for the entire life-spans; as such, AMYGING will set new standards in the field for both academic and industrial research concerned with either pure imaging, or even theranosis of amyloid-related illnesses. The toolbox character of the multipurpose active combined with the simplicity and unproblematic accessibility of the model organism will easily fascinate and offer a point of relation to the general public for awareness-generating public dissemination activities down to school levels. The fact that AMYGING thus represents a comprehensive example of how to overcome early stage animal studies will assist in demonstrating to the general public that forefront research is able to comply with the quest for ethically correct research practices, adhering at the same time to use of renewable resources and environmentally benign modular fabrication techniques, both for the synthetic efforts requested by the project, and the assembly of the nanostructured imaging composites.