The Open Competition Domain Science – XS grants of a maximum of € 50,000 are intended to support promising ideas and to facilitate innovative and more speculative initiatives within the seven Domain Science disciplines. The proposed research is ground-breaking and high-risk. What counts is that all results, be they positive or negative, must contribute to the advancement of science.
Iddo Heller for his resarch You’re as cold as ice, but not willing to sacrifice your life?
What do space travelers, crop protection, organ- and food-preservation, and climate-change-related ice restructuring have in common? All involve solid-liquid mixtures in which thermodynamically driven (ice-)recrystallisation processes can cause harmful/fatal crystal growth. Nature has evolved ingenious ways to inhibit ice-recrystallisation, which allows insect survival even down to -70oC. We propose to use theory and single-molecule experiments to uncover how nature uses ice-binding proteins to control recrystallisation processes. Uncovering these fundamental principles for the first time implies a breakthrough with exciting potential applications in engineering (synthetic) protectants for use in cryopreservation, medical applications, and… perhaps even space travel.