Introduction

Asset management, a distinctive sector within the financial services industry, centers on an agency relationship between a client and an individual manager or firm appointed to manage the client\u27s investment portfolio. Additionally, in many jurisdictions asset managers are subject to a technically complex set of regulatory requirements, which differ across jurisdictions. This book is the only comparative analysis of the law of asset manager liability in the major European jurisdictions, the United States, and Canada, with chapters written by specialists from the relevant jurisdictions plus a comprehensive chapter covering the relevant European law, in particular the MiFID directive. The book\u27s coverage is limited to relationships that pertain to individual portfolios of securities, as opposed to collective investment schemes such as mutual funds and UCITs. A central focus is how regulation interacts with civil liability, whether based on breaches of duties imposed by general law (such as breach of fiduciary duty and duties of care) or on breaches of duties imposed by regulation itself. The Introduction, co-authored by the book\u27s co-editors, situates the country-by-country materials within the broader context of questions about regulatory design and effectiveness. These include whether regulation and liability should be understood as substitutes for each other or as necessary complements; differences in the style of regulation; the role of industry-based self-regulation; and the impact of mandated disclosure of information by asset managers

The Knock-On Effect of Financial Supervision Law in Civil Liability Law

The heavy stamp that financial supervision law has come to put on the regulation of the financial sector has made the relationship between public and private law in this domain increasingly complex. The most pressing question in theory and practice in this respect is to what extent financial supervision law has a knock-on effect in civil law. This contribution discusses the effects of financial supervision law on civil liability law and distinguishes three types of knock-on effect: (i) financial supervision law itself contains rules of civil liability law; (ii) the knock-on effect of financial supervision law through national civil liability law; (iii) EU financial supervision law, whether or not, in combination with the EU effectiveness principle and the EU principle of legal certainty, imposes certain preconditions on national civil liability law

A Bank's duty of care:Perspectives from European and comparative law - Part I

In this article we place a bank's duty of care in a European and comparative law perspective. We have chosen five topics which are hotly debated in theory and practice. The first topic is the scope and intensity of the essential duties which typically flow from a bank's duty of care: duties to investigate, duties to disclose or warn, and - in exceptional cases - outright duties to refuse to render financial services or products. In some jurisdictions, financial disputes between investors and banks are not so much resolved by reference to a bank's duty of care, but by reference to the traditional doctrine of error or mistake, and fraud. That is the second topic we discuss in this article. The third topic is the impact of the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) on a banks' duty of care. The fourth topic focuses on the role of the financial regulator in settling disputes between banks and clients. We conclude this article with the bigger picture and relevant reform perspectives.</p

A Bank's duty of care:Perspectives from European and comparative law - Part I

In this article we place a bank's duty of care in a European and comparative law perspective. We have chosen five topics which are hotly debated in theory and practice. The first topic is the scope and intensity of the essential duties which typically flow from a bank's duty of care: duties to investigate, duties to disclose or warn, and - in exceptional cases - outright duties to refuse to render financial services or products. In some jurisdictions, financial disputes between investors and banks are not so much resolved by reference to a bank's duty of care, but by reference to the traditional doctrine of error or mistake, and fraud. That is the second topic we discuss in this article. The third topic is the impact of the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) on a banks' duty of care. The fourth topic focuses on the role of the financial regulator in settling disputes between banks and clients. We conclude this article with the bigger picture and relevant reform perspectives

A bank's duty of care:Perspectives from European and comparative law - Part II

In this article we place a bank's duty of care in a European and comparative law perspective. We have chosen five topics which are hotly debated in theory and practice. The first topic is the scope and intensity of the essential duties which typically flow from a bank's duty of care: duties to investigate, duties to disclose or warn, and - in exceptional cases - outright duties to refuse to render financial services or products. In some jurisdictions, financial disputes between investors and banks are not so much resolved by reference to a bank's duty of care, but by reference to the traditional doctrine of error or mistake, and fraud. That is the second topic we discuss in this article. The third topic is the impact of the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) on a banks' duty of care. The fourth topic focuses on the role of the financial regulator in settling disputes between banks and clients. We conclude this article with the bigger picture and relevant reform perspectives.</p

Unauthorized Agency

This paper seeks to provide an overview of the project which led to publication of the book The Unauthorised Agent: Perspectives from European and Comparative Law, published by Cambridge University Press in 2009. Broadly speaking, the project concerned the problems caused by agents who act in an unauthorized manner and the legal concepts used to tackle those problems. These issues are analysed in the context of different national legal systems within the European Union and beyond. Drawing on the national chapters, the authors provide a detailed comparative analysis. Within this context, they assess whether a common law/civil law divide exists, and also analyse the contribution made by mixed legal systems. Finally, the book assesses the approach of international instruments such as the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) and the Unidroit Principles of International Commercial Contracts

The microRNA landscape of MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma

MYCN gene amplification and upregulated expression are major hallmarks in the progression of high-risk neuroblastoma. MYCN expression and function in modulating gene synthesis in neuroblastoma is controlled at virtually every level, including poorly understood regulation at the post-transcriptional level. MYCN modulates the expression of various microRNAs including the miR-17-92 cluster. MYCN mRNA expression itself is subjected to the control by miRNAs, most prominently the miR-17-92 cluster that balances MYCN expression by feed-back regulation. This homeostasis seems disturbed in neuroblastoma where MYCN upregulation coincides with severely increased expression of the miR-17-92 cluster. In the presented study, we applied high-throughput next generation sequencing to unravel the miRNome in a cohort of 97 neuroblastomas, representing all clinical stages. Aiming to reveal the MYCN-dependent miRNome, we evaluate miRNA expression in MYCN-amplified as well as none amplified tumor samples. In correlation with survival data analysis of differentially expressed miRNAs, we present various putative oncogenic as well as tumor suppressive miRNAs in neuroblastoma. Using microRNA trapping by RNA affinity purification, we provide a comprehensive view of MYCN-regulatory miRNAs in neuroblastoma-derived cells, confirming a pivotal role of the miR-17-92 cluster and moderate association by the let-7 miRNA family. Attempting to decipher how MYCN expression escapes elevated expression of inhibitory miRNAs, we present evidence that RNA-binding proteins like the IGF2 mRNA binding protein 1 reduce miRNA-directed downregulation of MYCN in neuroblastoma. Our findings emphasize the potency of post-transcriptional regulation of MYCN in neuroblastoma and unravel new avenues to pursue inhibition of this potent oncogene.Publikationsfonds ML

Generation of ordered protein assemblies using rigid three-body fusion

Protein nanomaterial design is an emerging discipline with applications in medicine and beyond. A longstanding design approach uses genetic fusion to join protein homo-oligomer subunits via α-helical linkers to form more complex symmetric assemblies, but this method is hampered by linker flexibility and a dearth of geometric solutions. Here, we describe a general computational method that performs rigid three-body fusion of homo-oligomer and spacer building blocks to generate user-defined architectures, while at the same time significantly increasing the number of geometric solutions over typical symmetric fusion. The fusion junctions are then optimized using Rosetta to minimize flexibility. We apply this method to design and test 92 dihedral symmetric protein assemblies from a set of designed homo-dimers and repeat protein building blocks. Experimental validation by native mass spectrometry, small angle X-ray scattering, and negative-stain single-particle electron microscopy confirms the assembly states for 11 designs. Most of these assemblies are constructed from DARPins (designed ankyrin repeat proteins), anchored on one end by α-helical fusion and on the other by a designed homo-dimer interface, and we explored their use for cryo-EM structure determination by incorporating DARPin variants selected to bind targets of interest. Although the target resolution was limited by preferred orientation effects, small scaffold size, and the low-order symmetry of these dihedral scaffolds, we found that the dual anchoring strategy reduced the flexibility of the target-DARPIN complex with respect to the overall assembly, suggesting that multipoint anchoring of binding domains could contribute to cryo-EM structure determination of small proteins

Generation of ordered protein assemblies using rigid three-body fusion

Protein nanomaterial design is an emerging discipline with applications in medicine and beyond. A longstanding design approach uses genetic fusion to join protein homo-oligomer subunits via α-helical linkers to form more complex symmetric assemblies, but this method is hampered by linker flexibility and a dearth of geometric solutions. Here, we describe a general computational method that performs rigid three-body fusion of homo-oligomer and spacer building blocks to generate user-defined architectures, while at the same time significantly increasing the number of geometric solutions over typical symmetric fusion. The fusion junctions are then optimized using Rosetta to minimize flexibility. We apply this method to design and test 92 dihedral symmetric protein assemblies from a set of designed homo-dimers and repeat protein building blocks. Experimental validation by native mass spectrometry, small angle X-ray scattering, and negative-stain single-particle electron microscopy confirms the assembly states for 11 designs. Most of these assemblies are constructed from DARPins (designed ankyrin repeat proteins), anchored on one end by α-helical fusion and on the other by a designed homo-dimer interface, and we explored their use for cryo-EM structure determination by incorporating DARPin variants selected to bind targets of interest. Although the target resolution was limited by preferred orientation effects, small scaffold size, and the low-order symmetry of these dihedral scaffolds, we found that the dual anchoring strategy reduced the flexibility of the target-DARPIN complex with respect to the overall assembly, suggesting that multipoint anchoring of binding domains could contribute to cryo-EM structure determination of small proteins

Creating a low carbon, environmentally sustainable and socially just value chain for rare earth magnets. Final Report, Project 1008431

First paragraph:The Project aimed to explore the potential effectiveness of socio-economic extended input-output modelling and to explore the possible overall impacts of potential interventions across the rare earth magnet value chain to decrease negative and increase positive economic impact whilst measuring the overall impact without focusing only on a single measure such as carbon reduction or job creation