Researchers are continuously looking for materials with novel electronic properties. In this program, we combine two fields of research to create materials that respond sensitively to disturbances and where these disturbances can lead to topological changes in the electronic structure. By making use of external stimuli such as electric and magnetic fields or elastic deformations, we will create the first materials in which topological phase transitions are realized.

Psychiatric patients are ambivalent about the value biomarker research. On the one hand, they hope it can give them "definite" proof that their condition is real. On the other hand, they are afraid of stigmatization. Patients stress that biomarker technology should not replace ‘subjective’ experiences in their conversations with psychiatrists. With regard to physicians, in this case urologists, often they disagreed with developers of biomarkers on 1) the perceived advantages of biomarkers; 2) the scientific and clinical evidence; 3) the advantages of other technologies such as MRI in urology; and 4) the value of other diagnostic tests

Molecular Insights for Advancing Nitrogen Reduction: The project aims to revolutionize knowledge of nitrogen reduction by studying reactive intermediates in electrocatalytic N2 reduction. Using voltammetry coupled electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (VESI-MS), researchers will monitor reactions in real time. By studying known catalysts and designing new ones with tunable cavities, the research will provide detailed insights into reaction mechanisms and intermediates. Unique coupling of these methods with cryogenic ion spectroscopy will enlighten the activation of N2 and the effects of the molecular environment on it. This knowledge could lead to better catalyst design and thus advance the field of N2 electroreduction.

The central aim in Quantum Gravity is to construct a quantum theory of spacetime geometry that is mathematically consistent, predictive to arbitrarily high energies, and compatible with current understanding of the gravitational force at low energies. Standard perturbation theory, in which one assumes moderate quantum fluctuations around a smooth spacetime background, fails to accomplish this due to the nonrenormalizability of the gravitational interaction. Taking for granted large quantum fluctuations at high energies, i.e. at the tiniest length scales, one has to rethink the concepts of renormalization: how do the quantum laws of spacetime geometry change when probing physics at smaller and smaller length scales? A promising scenario, referred to as asymptotic safety, is that the quantum laws stabilize beyond the Planck scale: the geometry in the deep ultraviolet regime is governed by a nonperturbative fixed point of the renormalization group flow where the laws acquire an exact scaling symmetry. The combination of self-similarity and high curvatures on arbitrarily small scales suggests that spacetime geometry has to acquire fractal properties that are quite different from the smooth spacetime we experience on macroscopic scales. The aim of this project is to construct and study the first explicit examples of quantum geometries in three and four dimensions with such exact scaling symmetries that may serve as the ultraviolet fixed point of asymptotically safe gravity. To this end a recent mathematical construction will be generalized that was previously shown to exhaust all possible ultraviolet fixed points of quantum gravity in two dimensions. It relies on the assembly of higher-dimensional geometries from simpler scale-invariant constituents in ways that have not previously been considered from the perspective of high-energy physics.