"Whither Music?" was the motto of Leonard Bernstein's 1973 lectures at Harvard, where he analysed the (inevitable?) process that led to what he called the 20th Century Crisis of Music: the gradual decline of tonality, driven by a takeover of tonal ambiguity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, eventually leading to complete abandonment of tonality in Schönberg's dodecaphony. WHITHER MUSIC? is a project that aims to establish model-based computer simulation (via methods of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and probabilistic modelling) as a viable methodology for asking questions about musical developments, possibilities and alternatives - for musicology, for didactic purposes, for creative music exploration scenarios. Computer simulation here means the design of predictive or generative computational models of music (of certain styles), learned from large corpora, and their purposeful and skilful application to answer, e.g., "what if" questions, make testable predictions, or generate musical material for further analysis, musicological or aesthetic. Making it possible to do this in highly controlled and musically 'valid' ways will require massive research on machine-learning-based music modeling, to obtain generative models that are stylistically faithful, tightly controllable, transparent and explainable - in this way advancing the field of Music Information Research (MIR). At the same time, this will open entirely new possibilities for musicological research, for music education, and for creative engagement with music, some of which will be further explored, in the form of musicological studies, didactic tools and exhibits, and public educational events. To attain this vision, we will need to thoroughly re-think the way music is modeled in AI systems. The project wants to contribute to a redirection of MIR research towards more musically informed modeling, thus eventually addressing not only the "Whither Music?", but also the "Whither MIR?" question.

Hydrogels evolved as versatile building blocks of life – we all are in essence gel-embodied soft machines. Drawing inspiration from the diversity found in living creatures, GEL-SYS will develop a set of concepts, materials approaches and design rules for wide ranging classes of soft, hydrogel-based electronic, ionic and photonic devices in three core aims. Aim (A) will pursue a high level of complexity in soft, yet tough biomimetic devices and machines by introducing nature-inspired instant strong bonds between hydrogels and antagonistic materials – from soft and elastic to hard and brittle. Building on these newly developed interfaces, aim (B) will pursue biocompatible hydrogel electronics with iontronic transducers and large area multimodal sensor arrays for a new class of medical tools and health monitors. Aim (C) will foster the current soft revolution of robotics with self-sensing, transparent grippers not occluding objects and workspace. A soft robotic visual system with hydrogel-based adaptive optical elements and ultraflexible photosensor arrays will allow robots to see while grasping. Autonomous operation will be a central question in soft systems, tackled with tough stretchable batteries and energy harvesting from mechanical motion on small and large scales with soft membranes. GEL-SYS will use our experience on soft, “imperceptible” electronics and devices. By fusing this technology platform with tough hydrogels - nature’s most pluripotent ingredient of soft machines - we aim to create the next generation of bionic systems. The envisioned hybrids promise new discoveries in the nonlinear mechanical responses of soft systems, and may allow exploiting triggered elastic instabilities for unconventional locomotion. Exploring soft matter, intimately united with solid materials, will trigger novel concepts for medical equipment, healthcare, consumer electronics, energy harvesting from renewable sources and in robotics, with imminent impact on our society.

The WE-EXPERTH project aims to study the parallel and simultaneous water entry (WE) of two spheres impacting on a water surface. The physics of WE and of parallel WE is important for a variety of engineering and natural science applications, such as underwater or navy vehicles, coating and spraying processes, marine platforms such as floating offshore wind turbine platforms, invasive free-surface flow measurement devices used in the steel industry, synchronized-diving athletes or plunge-diving birds. Scientific research in this area may lead to measures to reduce slamming loads on marine vessels and platforms, improve the accuracy of free-surface instrumentation, or even explain, why a diving bird does not get injured when it collides with water at high speed. Parallel WE is a highly nonlinear and unsteady process and has thus far not been addressed by research. Interactions are expected to influence air entrainment cavities and pinch-off (which can strongly affect the impact forces and the objects' kinetics) as well as splash curtains and jets (often undesired in engineering applications). During WE-EXPERTH we aim to analyze experimentally (by High-Speed-Camera/PIV/IMU) and theoretically the parallel WE of hydrophilic/hydrophobic spheres and significantly extend current knowledge by investigating the interaction of the involved physical phenomena, analyzing spheres' critical distance and spheres' kinetics for numerous scenarios. WE-EXPERTH brings together an experienced researcher with knowledge in WE, a supervisor with a background in theoretical fluid mechanics, and a host research group with experience in experimental research and image processing. This fellowship will be major step for the fellow towards full-professorship and will enable both fellow and host to continue WE-research beyond the scope of this project. Dissemination efforts will not only focus on scientific communities but also on broader audiences by producing explanatory slow-motion videos.

Precise investigation tools for analyzing and manipulating matter down to the scale of single atoms are the eyes, ears and fingers of nanoscience and -engineering. SARF takes these nano-analytical "senses" one next step beyond the present state of the art. SARF is breaking new grounds by enabling spectral fingerprinting of single atoms for elemental identification and intra-molecular chemical analytics with sub-nanometer spatial resolution and operating in vacuum- as well as liquid-phase environments. This presently impossible combination of analytical capabilities simultaneously in a single tool is highly desirable to many diverse fields of nanoscience and technology, where decisive functionality originates from single individual atoms and molecules (e.g. spintronics, sensors, catalysis, medicinal drug development, surface physics, biology, etc.). SARF realizes resonance spectroscopy at giga-Hertz frequencies combined with scanning tunneling microscopy for specific single-atom fingerprinting. Characteristic resonance signals are locally detectable by the probe tip as small changes of conductance that indeed enable elemental and chemical identification. SARF conceives and develops single-atom fingerprinting on a manifold of different systems including magnetic and nonmagnetic metals, semiconductors and, exemplarily, tetrapyrrole-based metal-organic functional molecules. If successful, SARF will provide a controlled, versatile, fast and readily applicable "atom-by-atom" matter analysis, where single atoms are selected and identified one by one in real time and space.

We propose an interdisciplinary project at the interface of biophysics, biochemistry, and medical research. Our objective is to investigate the specific role of cell membrane associated heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) in the context of invasive cancer. In particular we address the question how cell membrane localization of Hsp70 affects differential adhesion of cancer cells and the formation of metastasis. In general, heat shock proteins (HSP) assist in folding of nascent proteins, prevent protein aggregation, and assist transport of proteins. Upon a variety of stresses HSP production is rapidly upregulated. Hsp70 is the major stress-inducible member of the HSP70 family. In normal cells it copes with harmful unfolded and denatured protein conferring protection to the cell. Tumor cells frequently present Hsp70 on their outer surface where it exhibits additional activities. For a number of different tumors a high level of membrane Hsp70 has been found to indicate drastically decreased survival chances in patients. Moreover it has been implicated in formation of metastasis where it might support spread and anchoring into distant tissues. These findings highlight the clinical significance of cell membrane associated Hsp70 and the need for a better understanding of its role in differential cell adhesion and progression of cancer. We will employ atomic force microscopy (AFM) in order to elucidate the function of membrane Hsp70 as a possible adhesion molecule or mediator of cellular adhesion. (1) Using single-cell force spectroscopy we will characterize and quantify adhesion forces of Hsp70 positive and negative cells to different substrates mimicking their interaction with extracellular matrix and host tissue. (2) With the help of a specialized AFM technique that enables topography imaging with a simultaneous recognition of specific surface molecules we will determine the localization and arrangement of Hsp70 molecules on the cell surface with nanometer resolution.