Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet Co-CaReD (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The search of new therapies for cancer is a primary EU mission. In-cell redox catalysis promoted by organometallic complexes of precious metals as Ru(II), Os(II), Rh(III) and Ir(III) is a novel promising concept to access more efficient, safer, and less invasive medicines. Co-CaReD aims to design new in-cell catalytic systems based on half-sandwich Co(III) complexes. Cobalt combines effective catalytic performances for biomedical applications and high catalytic versatility. Moreover, it is a cheap, sustainable, and biocompatible metal whose peculiar chemical properties can access unique reactivity pathways. The project will focus on the development of new synthetic catalysts, on their applications in redox reactions of therapeutic interest, involving known examples and unprecedent cases of study, and on the unveiling of their biological mechanism of action in cancer cells. Co-CaReD will be implemented in a vibrant and stimulating research environment at IMDEA Nanociencia, in Dr. Ana Pizarro research group. The project will benefit of the complementary expertise of the ER in organometallic chemistry and redox catalysis and of the supervisor in studying the intracellular reactivity at the molecular level of metal-based drugs. An intense training plan is designed to equip the researcher with the necessary skills to study the biological activity of the Co(III) catalysts – including single-cell studies – and to design proof-of-concept experiments that confirm the occurrence of a metal-based catalytic reactivity inside the human cells. The main goal of Co-CaReD is to generate novel redox catalytic systems based on more biocompatible, less toxic, and cheaper cobalt drug candidates, as complementary tools to noble metal complexes.

Mots clés : bioorganometallic chemistry, cisplatin, metallodrugs, bioinorganic chemistry

Participants :
- Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 165312.96 €
Projet hyper-mirrors (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

A flow of ideas from string theory has inspired spectacular progress in modern mathematical research. This intersectional phenomenon arises from the pursuit of symmetries exhibited by fundamental theories in physics and mathematics. One of these symmetries is S-duality, whose complex behaviour has remained inaccessible to our current mathematical techniques.  A theoretical breakthrough came in 2006. Kapustin and Witten conjectured that S-duality gives rise to an equivalence between two types of boundary conditions - branes of type "BBB" and "BAA", conditions that come from a hyperkähler geometric structure. Their conjecture sets out a clear route to a new mathematical understanding of S-duality: construct the proposed equivalence and shine light on the underlying geometry. The action addresses this challenge using modern tools from algebraic geometry. New methods are developed within three vast fields of research: mirror symmetry, the geometric Langlands program, and wall-crossing. This broad range of ideas will be harnessed to seek powerful and novel insights into branes and their dualities. Specifically, the research objectives are:  (1) Construct a categorical equivalence between BBB and BAA-branes in special cases (i.e. prove hyperkähler enhancements of homological mirror symmetry). (2) Develop a twistor theoretic approach to the geometric Langlands program, designed to encode the hyperkähler geometry of BBB and BAA-branes.  (3) Apply wall-crossing to construct a class of branes with a particularly rich geometry and study their behaviour under S-duality. The implementation brings together my PhD research, wall-crossing techniques developed by the supervisor Dr. Feyzbakhsh, and spectacular recent progress on the geometric Langlands program by Gaitsgory et al. In doing so, new frontiers are sought in rapidly developing fields of research, from which myself and the academic community will benefit in the years to come.

Mots clés : geometric langlands, mirror symmetry, higgs bundles, k3 surfaces, hyperk hler geometry, moduli theory, derived algebraic stacks, yang mills theories, non linear sigma models

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 260347.92 €
Projet AI-ARM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Malaria, a global infectious disease, is facing a critical issue of drug efficacy loss due to the alarming rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). To combat this, a promising strategy is the discovery of cell-active drug leads hitting new targets, such as P. falciparum dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (PfDHODH). However, two main roadblocks prevent us from achieving this important goal: 1) many molecules with potent activity on a protein target are later found to be inactive in pathogen cultures for various reasons, 2) identifying novel drug leads with potent activity on both protein and phenotypic targets has traditionally been a lengthy and costly process. A timely opportunity leveraging the fast-growing volumes of bioactivity and protein structure data to guide virtual screening. Indeed, Artificial intelligence (AI)-guided virtual screening has boosted hit rates and potencies in both molecular and phenotypic activity assays on other human pathogens. This multidisciplinary project will therefore investigate cutting-edge AI models to guide structure-based virtual screening against the molecular target PfDHODH. This project will use the best of these AI models to screen drug-like ultralarge libraries for novel molecules with potent activity on the considered target in a fast and cost-effective manner. To predict which of these target-active molecules are also cell-active, we will investigate and use AI models to guide phenotypic virtual screening against reference (Pf3D7) and drug-resistant (PfDd2) pathogen cultures.

Mots clés : antimicrobial resistant, malaria, virtual screening, conformal prediction

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 260347.92 €
Projet SWITCH-G4 (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Guanine-rich (G-rich) oligonucleotides can fold into G-Quadruplexes (G4s), four-stranded DNA structures involved in the fine regulation of key cellular processes. G4s are found in telomeres, oncogene promoters (kRAS, cMYC, BCL2), and non-coding RNA, where they likely play important roles in transcription and translation. Despite extensive research, the precise regulatory function of G4s remains unclear, and key questions — such as whether G4 formation actively drives gene expression or is a byproduct of it — are still unresolved. A significant limitation to advancing this understanding is the lack of chemical tools that offer the temporal and spatial control necessary for studying G4 dynamics in living cells. This proposal aims to address this challenge by developing a light-responsive tool that enables precise temporal control of G4 folding in relevant promotor region, in living cells. By using UV/visible light as an external trigger, this tool will allow dynamic studies on the effects of G4 formation on gene expression, offering the possibility of controlling the secondary structure folding on-demand. The core of this approach is the synthesis of light-responsive DNA primers, which will be incorporated into photo-responsive plasmids via NEEL, a novel plasmid resynthesis method. The modifications introduced are designed to dynamically favor or inhibit the formation of stable G4 structures by manipulating the assembly of G-tetrads—the core element required for G4 folding. The tool, SWITCH-G4, will be validated using the cKIT promoter model and then expanded to study other G4-forming promoters, such as kRAS, cMYC, and VEGF. This project will provide unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution in the study of G4s, advancing our understanding of their regulatory roles in cells and potentially offering new therapeutic insights.

Mots clés : g quadruplex g4 , proto oncogenes, ckit, dna, photochemistry, photocaging, photoswitching, photouncaging, dna secondary structures, plasmid

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276187.92 €
Projet IRIS-XLZD (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Understanding the nature of dark matter (DM) is a primary question in modern physics. Dual-phase liquid xenon (LXe) time projection chambers (TPCs) have led the search for particle DM, particularly for DM candidates above ~5 GeV. Building on the success of current experiments like XENONnT and LZ, the XLZD consortium aims to design, construct, and operate a 60-80 t LXe-TPC to probe WIMP-nucleon cross-sections down to the neutrino fog limit. XLZD will also search for low-energy solar neutrinos, neutrinoless double beta decay, solar axions, and supernova neutrinos, making it a genuine "rare event observatory." In this context, I propose to enhance the optical readout system for the LXe skin detector using silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) and to study the sensitivity of the TPC to supernova (SN) neutrinos. The first part of the project is designing and characterizing VUV SiPMs and a minimal-radioactivity readout system for the LXe skin region. Achieving a 100 keV threshold will improve gamma-ray tagging from the active target, reducing electronic recoil background and, to a lesser extent, the nuclear recoil background. A prototype will be developed and tested at Imperial College London (ICL) and later at the University of Zurich (UZH), including in LXe. The second part focuses on enhancing the SN detection capabilities of LXe detectors, including contributions to an online SN monitor for the LZ experiment and its integration with the Supernova Early Warning System (SNEWS). The project will assess XLZD's sensitivity to SN neutrinos, evaluating its potential impact on neutrino property measurements and SN model discrimination, and contribute to the design of a parallel DAQ system for near-continuous SN monitoring. The proposed research will significantly advance the design and physics reach of next-generation xenon-based dark matter detectors, while fostering collaboration between ICL and UZH, uniting expertise from previous LZ and XENONnT projects for the XLZD experiment

Mots clés : dark matter, multi messenger, supernova, neutrinos, particle physics, detector instrumentation, photosensors

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 260347.92 €
Projet ETPB (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : TERMINATED

Fast charging for lithium batteries still faces challenging issues like fast heat generation, uneven electrochemical stress and side reactions like dendrites growth and solid-electrolyte interface (SEI) evolution. While considering How fast can we charge, another key concern is, How much we lose on capacity and Is it safe? Industry has primarily focused on improving the energy density of batteries, such as enhancing fast charging capacity—key electrochemical metrics. However, thermal metrics have received less attention, raising concerns about heat accumulation and uneven heat distribution, which exacerbate side reactions. Thermal management of LIBs is key to solving these problems, and it is widely believed that battery thermal management systems (BTMs) should maintain a constant battery temperature around room temperature for optimal performance. However, with the advancement of LIBs towards higher energy densities and faster charge rates, this assumption is being challenged. The root cause of the mismatch between demand and design lies in the research gap between thermal energy science and electrochemical science which is likely to cause over-engineer. The ambition of this project is to optimize the design of next-generation high-energy-density battery design by balancing the trade-offs between heat generation and energy density, while also fostering the development of reliable BTMs. This project will decouple the impact of different electrochemical reactions on the resistance R change and the heat generation variation induced by fast charging. The proposed research will outline three critical balancing issues: the trade-off between charging speed with (a) intrinsic safety (b) battery health and (c) heat generation. Ultimately, this project will help the industry make next-generation batteries safer and more cost-effective by drawing on comprehensive multidisciplinary knowledge from academic pre-design research, with the potential to inspire future innovati

Mots clés : lithium battery, heat transfer

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 260347.92 €
Projet BIOCOMAT (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

A diet rich in plant-based foods, abundant in beneficial polyphenolic compounds (PCs), is pivotal in preventing civilization-related diseases. PCs are valued for their robust antioxidant properties and prebiotic potential. However, their inherent instability and sensitivity to environmental factors and processing methods pose challenges. Rapid oxidation and limited bioavailability in the human body underscore the need for effective stability enhancers and delivery systems. In principle, the encapsulation technique provides prolonged and controlled release of food ingredients and increases the stability and bioavailability of bioactive compounds. The complexity of the capsule design, however, has consumed considerable resources in the food science field but has yet to result in satisfactory results in terms of PCs delivery.  This project offers a fresh perspective by treating capsule design as a materials engineering task. We aim to leverage cutting-edge material design, preparation, and characterization techniques to enhance the bioavailability of encapsulated PCs. Our approach will involve layer-by-layer methods to create model systems with precise control over the morphology of polysaccharide and protein encapsulation layers. Co-focal microscopy, SEM imaging, and nanomechanics will provide insights into structure, stability, and PC release in vitro. To optimize layer composition efficiently, we will integrate robot-aided experimentation and machine learning. These efforts will culminate in developing a Material Acceleration Platform, a versatile methodology for designing polyphenolic compound delivery systems for food applications.  To achieve these objectives, the Researcher will be provided training-through-research in a broad spectrum of preparation and characterization techniques aimed at layer-by-layer systems and data-driven experimentation approaches such as the Design of Experiments and Bayesian optimization.

Mots clés : polyphenolic compounds, encapsulation, structure engineering, materials acceleration platform, machine learning

Participants :
- Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique (Espagne) — Partner, associated partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 181152.96 €
Projet IMMMPACCT (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Binder Jetting (BJ) is an emerging additive manufacturing (AM) technology with greater flexibility on material selection and reduced residual stresses than fusion-based AM technologies. However, a deeper comprehensive understanding of the multiphase and multiscale phenomena involved in BJ is essential for its successful adoption. In this proposal, we will delve into the intricate mechanisms of BJ through the combination of various computational methods and the application of advanced statistical analyses. Our primary objective is to develop a robust computational framework that will facilitate a more precise comprehension of how the different stages of the BJ process interact employing different numerical methods, including Discrete Element Method for the simulation of the powder spreading stage and the Phase Field for the curing and sintering stage. The combination of these different techniques will enable us to unravel the complex interplay of factors at different scales, leading to a comprehensive understanding of the process kinetics. Moreover, the accuracy and reliability of the computational models will be ensured by the use of a custom-designed Bayesian calibration framework that will leverage existing collaborations industrial partners and advanced 3D X-ray characterization to obtain the required experimental data. Once completed, the calibrated computational framework will enable us to optimize critical parameters of the process (e.g. binder viscosity, layer thickness, powder properties) focusing on two high-impact steels (316L and 17-4 PH). Our project will advance the state-of-the-art in BJ technology by providing a comprehensive computational framework and bridge the gap between theory and practice. This framework will not only enhance our understanding of the process but also enable us to drastically reduce the occurrence of defects, paving the way for the widespread adoption of Binder Jetting in critical applications.

Mots clés : multiscale modeling additive manufacturing binder jetting metals and alloys

Participants :
- Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 165312.96 €
Projet AMMoRFISM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The AMMoRFISM (Additive Manufacturing Modeling Research Fostering Innovation in Soft Magnets) project seeks to address the critical need for high-performance soft magnetic materials in the transition toward greater electrification, a key aspect of the EU’s 2050 climate neutrality goals. Energy production and use account for over 75% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions, and the development of next-generation power electronics and electric motors/generators is essential to reduce these emissions. Amorphous and nanocrystalline metals, known for their superior soft magnetic properties, hold great potential in this regard. However, these materials face limitations due to their low glass-forming ability, which restricts their production to a narrow range of manufacturing techniques. This project aims to leverage additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, particularly laser powder-bed fusion (LPBF), to overcome these limitations. LPBF offers rapid cooling rates that allow the production of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) from alloys with low glass-forming ability, such as Fe-based soft magnetic alloys. Recent breakthroughs have demonstrated the potential of LPBF to print complex 3D geometries with excellent mechanical and magnetic properties, but advances still rely primarily on inefficient experimental trial-and-error methods. AMMoRFISM will develop an advanced computational framework to predict amorphous and crystalline phase formation during LPBF of soft magnetic alloys, focusing on the Kuamet6B2 alloy. The research objectives include developing a multiphysics thermomechanical model, a phase transformation kinetics model, and predictive tools for print quality and phase fractions. These tools will guide alloy design and process optimization, validated through experimental data from the ongoing AM2SoftMag project. This project is highly relevant to the work program as it aims to advance energy-efficient manufacturing and the electrification of the EU’s energy systems.

Mots clés : multiscale modelling additive manufacturing metals and alloys metallic glasses phase transformations

Participants :
- Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 209914.56 €
Projet MeNaWir (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Fusion reactors demand materials capable of withstanding unprecedented extreme conditions. Refractory-based nanoporous metals offer a combination of mechanical and radiation performance that makes them ideal potential candidates for nuclear applications. Introducing a new material for this application requires characterizing its response under the extreme environment of fusion reactors; however, experimental testing facilities allowing to perform tests under these conditions are extremely limited. Modelling and simulation emerge as a valuable tool, allowing to replace many of such tests by simulations, and will become drivers in fusion materials development. The MeNaWir project aims at shedding light into elusive aspects of the mechanical behaviour of nanoporous refractory metals, focusing on nanoporous tungsten (np-W) and the effect of radiation damage on its mechanical properties. This will be accomplished by building a multiscale computational framework for the exploration of the mechanical properties of nanoporous metals for nuclear applications. This framework will encompass state-of-the-art modelling techniques from different fields, including Fast Fourier Transform – Crystal Plasticity simulations, radiation damage models and plasticity at the nanoscale. To achieve this goal, MeNaWir brings together a researcher with expertise in nanoporous metals and materials modelling at the atomistic scale with a world-recognized supervisor with expertise in modelling the non-linear behaviour and fracture of complex microstructures at the continuum scale and a research institute with a record of excellence, technology transfer, and top-level training in Materials Science. The specific objectives are to develop a framework for the computational assessment of nanoporous materials for the nuclear industry and to provide a window of optimal np-microstructures to guide the fabrication of np-W parts. MeNaWir could lastingly impact innovation on materials for fusion.

Mots clés : nuclear materials nanoporous metals computational modeling computational homogenization crystal plasticity

Participants :
- Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 181152.96 €