A New Dimension in Research Funding

People who perceive, feel, or move creatively through the world in ways that diverge from dominant norms are rarely considered in art and design. The Emerging Field TSxS takes a different approach: What can design and art know when diverse abilities are used as a method rather than treated as a special case? A Research Hub and four labs at the University of Arts Linz and TU Wien will be working together in mixed-abled teams toward a paradigm shift in which diversity does not constrain research and design, but drives it.

“When people with different life realities work together to shape research on art and design, questions can be posed that have not been asked before – and forms of expression can be explored that have been disregarded in a structural context up to now,” says Florian Sametinger, coordinator, about the aims of the Emerging Field.

Despite major advances in cancer treatment, many children with cancer still face limited treatment options, severe side effects, or therapy resistance. New approaches are urgently needed. This Emerging Field will be exploring a previously overlooked layer of gene regulation: how cells control the production of proteins from RNA. This process is carried out by molecular machines called ribosomes, long thought to be simple factories but now recognized as powerful regulators of protein synthesis that shape how cells behave in health and disease. By studying how ribosomes function in pediatric cancers, we aim to uncover a hidden “ribosome code” that cancer cells use to grow and evade treatment. Decoding this system could transform our understanding of protein production and open new paths toward safer and more effective therapies for children with cancer.

“Motivated by the emerging role of ribosomes as an underexplored layer of gene regulation in pediatric cancers, our diverse team brings together expertise in mechanistic biology with pediatric cancer research. This powerful combination uniquely positions us to decipher the ribosome code of childhood cancers and to translate these discoveries into innovative therapeutic approaches,” says Gülsün Elif Karagöz, coordinator of the Emerging Field.

“Uncovering the Axioms of Mathematics” is an interdisciplinary project integrating mathematics, computer science, and philosophy to address one of the most fundamental questions in science: What should the rules of mathematics be? This question was investigated already 100 years ago by the Vienna circle, a group of leading intellectuals from philosophy and the natural sciences. Their work culminated in Gödel's incompleteness theorems, one of the most significant achievements in the foundations of science. The theorems show that there are questions that cannot be answered by the known rules of mathematics. In this Emerging Field, researchers will be revisiting the phenomenon of incompleteness from a modern perspective, with the help of modern developments such as computers and AI. The aim is to uncover the axioms of mathematics.

“Axioms are the rules of mathematics. They are the most important thing. They are like the atoms of the universe or the bits of a computer: the elementary building blocks from which everything is created. This means axioms are like the DNA of mathematics, which we want to understand even better,” says Juan P. Aguilera, coordinator, about the aims of the Emerging Field.

More than 2/3 of humanity live near an ocean. While oceans have long been seen as a sink for plastic pollution, breaking waves eject sea spray into the air that transfer plastic particles into the atmosphere. The Emerging Field “Marine Micro/Nanoplastics: Emission, Fate and Health Impacts” asks three fundamental questions: How much plastic do waves release into the atmosphere, where does it travel, and what risks does it pose to human health? By bringing the ocean into the laboratory and linking emission experiments with global atmospheric transport modelling and health impact studies, the project will, for the first time, connect emission, transport, and health impacts in a consistent framework. The knowledge gained will fundamentally change how we understand global plastic pathways and human exposure and lay the foundation for future air-quality forecasting of plastic pollution.

"We want to establish a paradigm change where the ocean is no longer regarded as a sink of plastic but a key source that re-emits plastic into the atmosphere. This will provide a new understanding of emission, global transport, and health impacts of micro- and nanoplastics,” says Markus Holzner, coordinator, about the objectives of the Emerging Field.

Every human being originates from the union of two special cells. These cells are generated in the germline. Their sole function is to carry and transmit the blueprint of life in an unbroken link between generations. The Emerging Field “Germline Illuminated by Cellular Structural Biology” (GEMINI) aims to solve a fundamental mystery: How do these cells protect, package, and deliver genetic information? By combining revolutionary high-resolution imaging technologies with computational simulations, the team will look inside these cells to not only observe germline biology in action but also understand their fascinating, poorly understood biology.

The team will investigate how germ cells fight off ‘genetic parasites,’ how DNA is compacted in sperm, and how sperm and egg fuse to start a new life. By studying these processes in fruit flies, zebrafish, and mice, GEMINI will transform our understanding of fertility and inheritance, and as such the very origins of life.

“The germline contains the most important cells in our bodies: Without them, none of us would be here, and our entire species would not exist. GEMINI will shed light on the fascinating biology hidden in these unique cells. By doing so, it will serve as a role model for the emerging field of ‘Integrated Cell Biology 2.0’ – a cross-fertilization between biology and technology that can transform our understanding of fundamental questions in biology and at the same time advance technology," says Andrea Pauli, coordinator, about the goals of the Emerging Field.

Where does inventiveness come from? It is not limited to humans but can also be found in many different animals. The Emerging Field “Comparative Ecological Innovation Styles” investigates how different body structures, ecological niches, and cognitive abilities shape the emergence of novel behaviors. Rather than comparing only successful problem-solving outcomes, the team analyzes detailed learning and developmental trajectories in some of the most innovative animals, including parrots, corvids, and great apes. This generates a process-based understanding of how innovation arises, the role played by motor abilities and environmental conditions, and why creative strategies differ across species. These insights will not only expand our understanding of animal intelligence but also contribute to the development of robotic systems that act more flexibly and adaptively.

“Innovation is the result of the interaction of bodies, environments, and experience. By studying these processes comparatively, we gain a new understanding of inventiveness in evolution and in the transmission to robotics,” says Alice Auersperg, coordinator, about the aims of the Emerging Field.

Crises such as wars, pandemics, and climate extremes destabilize global supply chains. But how do they affect resource use, sustainability, inequality, and social well-being? REMASS addresses these questions with the help of new approaches to researching society’s metabolism, i.e. resource flows and stocks (for example in buildings and infrastructures) and what they contribute to society. REMASS will generate a social metabolism database with unprecedented granularity, allowing researchers to quantify the resilience of the metabolism to supply chain disruptions using big data approaches in complexity research. REMASS will be analyzing the malleability of resource use in three important supply systems (food, housing, and mobility) and identifying key actors, decision-making processes, and power relations.

“The increasing use of natural resources is driving global warming, while at the same time current crises are threatening global supply chains. In our research, we analyze the resilience of resource use and options for making it more sustainable – perhaps we will even find tipping points towards more sustainability and justice,” says Helmut Haberl, coordinator, about the goals of the Emerging Field project.

Gravity is the curvature of space-time: This is the central message of Einstein’s theory of Relativity, expressed in the mathematical language of Lorentzian differential geometry. However, the latter can only deal with the curvature of smooth surfaces (without edges or vertices), which is often insufficient in physics. Based on the mathematical theories of Metric Geometry and Optimal Transport, in recent decades a concept of curvature has been developed for non-smooth geometries. Our research group has built a bridge from this curvature concept to Lorentzian geometry. The vision is to now address open problems in fundamental physics with this new geometry: singularities in General Relativity and a unifying language for discrete approaches to quantum gravity.

“Einstein's great insight is that gravity is nothing other than the curvature of space-time. Our Emerging Field is developing a completely new approach to spacetime curvature that promises applications in relativity and quantum gravity,” says Roland Steinbauer, coordinator, about the goals of the Emerging Field.

The mammalian brain is formed by highly complex developmental processes that are controlled by thousands of genes and their interaction with the prenatal environment. Mutations in the underlying genes can cause a predisposition to various neurodevelopmental disorders. However, many people with a genetic predisposition to neurodevelopmental disorders live a healthy life. This project aims to unravel the molecular processes by which a favorable prenatal environment can reverse a genetic predisposition to neurodevelopmental disorders and enable the development of a healthy brain by strengthening brain resilience.

“The approach in this project is completely novel, as we want to explore the natural mechanisms of brain resilience in order to positively influence the expression of genetically determined changes in brain function and behavior,” says Igor Igorevich Adameyko, coordinator, about the goals of the Emerging Field.

Where do we come from? How multicellular life forms like plants and animals evolved from single-celled microorganisms, such as bacteria and archaea, is one of the most fundamental and least understood questions in biology. It leaves the mystery of our origins unanswered.

One clue to this question lies in the emergence of a group of proteins that assemble with DNA to form what is called “chromatin.” Chromatin controls gene expression to differentiate the many cell types of complex life forms. We know that chromatin proteins diversified before the origin of multicellular life forms and it is likely that the evolution of chromatin enabled the appearance of complex life forms and enabled them to adapt to the various environmental settings on planet Earth.

The EvoChromo project brings together three experts with interdisciplinary expertise to form a new laboratory across the Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology of the University of Vienna, the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). Together, this team aims to uncover when and how chromatin evolved to give rise to complex life forms.

Lokiarchaeum ossiferum, or “Loki” for short, a recently cultured single-celled microorganism, will be in the focus of our explorations. Loki is part of the Asgard archaea that merged with bacteria two billion years ago, producing the ancestor of complex organisms including humans, animals and plants. The new EvoChromo team will find and characterize chromatin proteins in Loki to reveal how the innovation of chromatin protein in Asgards enabled the diversification of cell types, eventually leading to the evolution of complex multicellular life forms. Revealing such a unique event will change our understanding of the evolution of life on Earth and our own origins.

“Our EvoChromo project will identify the origins of proteins that interact with the genome and have enabled the evolution of all complex life forms on Earth. The research in EvoChromo is based on new experimental strategies and organisms that are integrated in an interdisciplinary research unit,” says Frédéric Berger, coordinator, about the goals of the Emerging Field.

Osteosarcoma is an aggressive form of bone cancer that affects over 1,000 children in the EU every year and carries complex genetic mutations. This has hampered the development of targeted drugs, with the result that there has been no progress in clinical therapy for 40 years. The “DART²OS” research project aims to break this deadlock with a new type of cancer therapy that harnesses the power of the human immune system. The team will use state-of-the-art molecular biological methods to characterize mutations that are visible to the immune system. This information is used to develop patient-specific immune cells (so-called TCR-T cells) that can recognize and kill cancer cells. In addition to osteosarcoma, the aim is also to lay the foundations for the development of personalized TCR-T cell therapies for other types of cancer.

“Our team unites experts from different research areas behind a common goal: to make the promising concept of personalized TCR-T cell therapies viable for the treatment of pediatric cancer,” says Johannes Zuber, coordinator, about the goals of the Emerging Field project.