The current pandemic demonstrates how viruses represent a major threat for human health. Viral infection is a complex multistep process involving both the virus and the host cell machinery. The very first stage consists of landing and binding of the virus, followed by host cell entry, and then the release of the viral genetic material into the cell. Entry pathways are largely defined by the preliminary interactions between viruses and their receptors at the cell interface. Elucidating this complex interplay is a crucial step towards establishing a full picture of the infection process and may lead to the discovery of new antiviral drugs targeting viral entry. Our current knowledge of virus-host interactions mainly relies on the use of cancerous model cell lines cultured in 2D that far from mimic the 3D in vivo conditions of tissue, such as cell heterogeneity and complex organization. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop an innovative platform to monitor and quantify the molecular forces and dynamics at play during the entry pathways in such complex environments. The ambition of this proposal is to unravel virus-host interactions under physiologically relevant 3D conditions by combining single-virus atomic force microscopy and optical tweezer techniques. By means of cellular models of increasing complexity, we will decipher the complex relationship between the organization and heterogeneity of epithelium and the early stages of viral infection. At the frontiers of nanobiophysics and virology, this project will push the limits of advanced nanotechniques to understand the molecular mechanisms of virus entry in unprecedented 3D in vivo conditions. This project will have strong scientific and medical impacts. In virology, it will strongly enhance our molecular understanding of virus-host interactions. In medicine, our new methodology will contribute to the identification of new compounds that target viral infection and the innate immune response.

EUFREEDOMS examines the philosophical underpinnings of the four fundamental freedoms of the EU single market (the free movement of goods, persons, services, and capital). While the legal literature on the four freedoms is huge, much less effort has been made to analyse the freedoms in philosophical terms. Philosophical debates have focused predominantly on the free movement of natural persons. Yet, there are many interesting questions about all the freedoms. How can we best interpret the rights protected by the freedoms? Which kind of justifications should be given of the four freedoms? How are EU citizens benefited by having each of the freedoms? How should we understand the relationships between the freedoms? is there a hierarchy between the freedoms? Is the free movement of persons worthier of protection than the free movement of capital? How should we handle conflicts between the freedoms and other values (e.g. social rights)? EUFREEDOMS is an interdisciplinary project that contributes to the political theory literature of the EU with an analysis of the philosophical foundations of the four freedoms, which will contribute to shed light on the nature of the rights protected by the freedoms, and hence also on the possibility of establishing a hierarchy between the freedoms, arguing that the free movement of persons is more fundamental than the other freedoms: indeed, that it should be considered a basic right. EUFREEDOMS aims to shed light also on the way in which the four freedoms should be balanced with other considerations (e.g. social rights). There are many areas where EUFREEDOMS can have considerable impact: for example, it can contribute to a better understanding of the shape that EU integration should take in the future, and to better legitimising the four freedoms in the eyes of EU citizens.

Heat engines are an integral part of our daily lives. They power cars or produce electricity by converting heat into work. Increasing their efficiency is very difficult and only marginal improvements have been achieved over the last decades. Thus, to reach the ambitious climate goals, it is necessary to go beyond conventional technologies. Atom-sized systems where quantum mechanical effects come into play could enable this: theory predicts that their efficiency can be boosted beyond the classical limits imposed by thermodynamics. However, so far, this has not been tested in practice due to a lack of suitable model systems. I propose to build a molecular heat engine of only a few atoms in size, with such high control over its structure and properties that these predictions can finally be tested. The engine's quantum properties will be robust at experimentally accessible temperatures, its coupling to the environment will be controllable, and electrical transport through it will be quantum coherent. I seek to exploit the full gamut of their physical properties to boost efficiency, including spin entropy and vibrational coupling. Practically, I will 1) implement a scanning probe setup into a dilution refrigerator, 2) fabricate single-molecule junctions with micro-heaters and ultra-sensitive superconducting thermometers, and 3) perform and interpret caloric experiments on single molecules at unprecedented precision. The results will teach us about the fundamental properties of atom-scale quantum systems and heat flowing through single molecules. It will inspire new ways to increase the performance of thermoelectric applications such as waste heat harvesters, nanoscale spot-cooling devices, or even thermal rectifiers and transistors. I am one of the forerunners in molecular thermoelectrics, with extensive hands-on experience in material sciences, nanotechnology, and mesoscopic physics. This multidisciplinary background is needed to make this ambitious project a success.