Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : STREAM (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : University of Birmingham — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 801480.33 €

Episodic memories are the essential building blocks of our identities. How the brain codes these memories such that we can access them minutes, days or even years later is still unknown. We tend to believe that the memories we bring back to mind are more or less precise "snapshots" of a past event. Reflecting this view, current neurocognitive studies focus on isolating static snapshots of past events in an individual's pattern of brain activity. This snapshot approach, however, ignores the reconstructive and dynamic nature of the retrieval process, necessarily limiting our understanding of human memory. The vision behind STREAM is to advance the field beyond its current state of the art by mapping the spatiotemporal dynamics of mnemonic reconstruction in the human brain. The research programme contains three work packages that support this vision at multiple levels of investigation, from combined electrophysiological and hemodynamic activity down to neuronal assembly firing patterns in the human hippocampus. These techniques are used in combination with paradigms that decompose memories into their constituent elements, and track the neural representations of these elements as they unfold in time and space when an event is reconstructed from memory. So far, it has been difficult to integrate information obtained by these various recording techniques. STREAM will use an innovative representational mapping approach that combines spatiotemporal information at the level of an individual's neural representational architecture. This approach enables us to directly map memory patterns emerging at a given time point onto a given brain region. If successful, STREAM will reveal the first comprehensive spatiotemporal map of memory retrieval, with the potential to cause a major shift in the field away from the currently dominant snapshot paradigm towards a time-resolved, reconstructive view of human memory.
Projet ERC : SleepEpisMemory (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center — Pays : Israël — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 178750.0 €

Episodic memory is a core element of the human mind, but how experiencing an episode consolidates into long-term memory remains a central unsolved question in cognitive science. We will test the hypothesis that hippocampal-cortical dialogue (HCD) during sleep promotes memory consolidation, a hypothesis that has been largely beyond direct testing in humans to date. Moreover, transcending report is essential, since it remains unclear if sleep improves memory per-se, or the ability to access and report memories. Conventional paradigms do not facilitate sleep and memory research in dementia, where it is vital. Based on my expertise, ongoing studies, and preliminary results, I propose a unique approach to address these gaps by combining novel approaches to recording and stimulating brain activity in human sleep with novel ‘no-report’ memory paradigms. We will go beyond the state-of-the-art in three synergistic domains: (1) Develop an ecological ‘no-report’ paradigm to study episodic memory, and its consolidation during sleep. (2) Test the role of sleep HCD in mediating human memory consolidation. (3) In dementia and aging, we will investigate to what extent disrupted HCD during sleep impairs memory consolidation, and whether noninvasive neuromodulation can improve memory in dementia. The proposed research has the potential to elucidate fundamental principles and transform conceptual insights of how sleep promotes episodic memory consolidation.
Projet ERC : Code4Memory (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : University of Birmingham — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1526051.76 €

Episodic memory refers to the fascinating human ability to remember past events in a highly associative and information rich way. But how are these memories coded in human brains? Any mechanism accounting for episodic memory must accomplish at least two functions: to build novel associations, and to represent the information constituting the memory. Neural oscillations, regulating the synchrony of neural assemblies, are ideally suited to accomplish these two functions, but in opposing ways. On the one hand, neurophysiological work suggests that increased synchrony strengthens synaptic connections and thus forms the basis for associative memory. Neurocomputational work, on the other hand, suggests that decreased synchrony is necessary to flexibly express information rich patterns in a neural assembly. Therefore, a conundrum exists as to how oscillations code episodic memory. The aim of this project is to propose and test a new framework that has the potential to reconcile this conflict. The central idea is that synchronization and desynchronization cooperatively code episodic memories, with synchronized activity in the hippocampus in the theta (~4 Hz) and gamma (~ 40-60 Hz) frequency range mediating the building of associations, and neocortical desynchronization in the alpha (~10 Hz) and beta (~15 Hz) frequency range mediating the representation of mnemonic information. Importantly the two modules, with their respective synchronous/asynchronous behaviours, must interact during the formation and retrieval of episodic memories, but how and whether this is the case remains untested to date. I will test these fundamental questions using a multidisciplinary and multi-method approach, including human single cell recordings, neuroimaging, brain stimulation, and computational modelling. The results from these experiments have the potential to reveal the neural code that human episodic memory is based on, which is still one of the biggest mysteries of the human mind.

Mots-clés : brain oscillations,episodic memory,desynchronization,synchronization,information coding
Projet ERC : Interactive (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : Ben-Gurion University of the Negev — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BGU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499375.0 €

Error correcting codes allow for reliable transmission of data over unreliable channels. The 70 years of development that went into the study of error correction, following Shannon's ground-breaking paper in 1948, yielded a fairly complete theory with far reaching applications to other theoretical and practical fields. However, many modern communication settings are not simply about transmitting information, but rather operate over many rounds of interactive communication between different parties. Cloud computing, cryptographic protocols, and distributed computing schemes are prime examples of such settings. Due to the overwhelming success of classical error correcting codes, and because interaction is central in many applications, we strongly believe that the theory of interactive error correcting codes will be transformative. Crafting error correcting codes tailored for interactive settings, as well as understanding their fundamental limitations, is the main goal of this proposal. We will study some of the most exciting fundamental open problems in interactive communication. In particular, this includes computing the rate distance trade-off for interactive coding, and building error resilient schemes for distributed computing. We will consider a diverse set of ``classical'' questions in the interactive setting, as well as aspects of interactive coding that are unique and have no counterparts in classical coding. Further, we will build adaptive coding schemes which will achieve better rates than non-adaptive counterparts. Indeed, one of the main powers of interactive communication, and an integral part of this proposal, is adaptivity. Here, each party can adapt its actions based on previous communication. As our research draws ideas from several scientific communities, it will lift our understanding of interdisciplinary connections between them to new heights.

Mots-clés : error correcting codes,interactive communication
Projet ERC : HyperBiota (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1497250.0 €

Essential hypertension damages organs such as the kidney, thereby leading to premature death. Beyond elevated blood pressure, hypertension is characterized by a pro-inflammatory immune response ahead of measurable organ damage. Activated immune cells infiltrate the kidney to cause tissue injury. However, inflammation is insufficiently addressed by today’s drugs. Current treatments do not include the gut microbiota, its metabolites and the associated lymphoid tissue – the largest immune cell reservoir in the body. We have recently shown for the first time that variations in dietary salt intake promote hypertension by modulating the immune system via the microbiota and its metabolites. Thus, the diet-microbiota axis is an important modulator of the immune response in hypertension. HyperBiota envisions a personalized, microbiome-guided immunonutrition for anti-inflammatory immunomodulation and organ protection in hypertension. It will explore the interplay between diet-dependent microbial metabolism in the intestine and the immune system in hypertension. By using an interdisciplinary approach, HyperBiota aims to 1) decipher the reciprocity of dietary composition, microbial community structure and metabolism, and immune response in hypertension. The identification of critical dietary and microbial components will enable targeted interventions. 2) Particular attention will be payed to worsening kidney function and how this affects microbial ecology and immune cell homeostasis. 3) It will investigate the extent to which the gut-associated lymphoid tissue contributes to the immune response in hypertension and its responsiveness to targeted interventions. 4) Knowledge gained in model systems will be translated and verified in mice associated with human microbial communities. Taking this approach, HyperBiota will cross borders and take a systems view on inflammation in hypertension to enable microbiome-guided immunonutrition for organ protection in hypertension.

Mots-clés : hypertension,chronic kidney disease,immune system,microbiota,bacterial metabolites
Projet ERC : RNApaxport (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions
Entité participante : Research Institute of Molecular Pathology — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IMP
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Eukaryotic gene expression is partitioned across two cellular compartments: the nucleus, where messenger RNA (mRNA) is produced, and the cytoplasm, where protein translation occurs. mRNA export across the nuclear membrane is highly selective, ensuring that only fully processed and mature mRNA is transported to the cytoplasm. Yet how does the multi-step mRNA maturation process converge to a binary decision, ‘to export or not to export’? While we know many of the proteins involved in packaging and export of nuclear mRNA ribonucleoprotein complexes (mRNPs), how a defined set of conserved proteins package and export all nuclear mRNA remains poorly understood. To reveal how specificity towards mature mRNA is achieved and to identify regulatory checkpoints, I propose to visualize key mRNP intermediates using a state-of-the-art integrative structural biology approach. First, we will determine the human THO/TREX complex structure to reveal how this key packaging factor is organized and brought to mRNA (aim 1). Second, we will determine the structure of a human mRNP 5’-end to explain how two key features of mature mRNPs, the 5’-cap and the first splice junction, are recognized and integrated by THO/TREX to achieve export competence (aim 2). Third, we will obtain the architecture of endogenous human mRNPs to reveal their dynamics and to determine how mRNAs of varied length and sequence are packaged (aim 3). These data will enable the complementary and targeted in vitro and in vivo structure-function analysis. Taken together, the expected results will reveal novel insights into the mechanisms that underlie an important step of gene expression, which mediates nuclear mRNA quality control and links transcription to translation. My background in structural biology, mRNA transcription and processing is ideally suited to carry out this high-impact proposal.

Mots-clés : rna biology,rna processing,structural biology,cryo em
Projet ERC : RESOLUTION (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : University of Bologna — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNIBO
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1149476.0 €

Europe was the continent where Neanderthal and Anatomically Modern Human (AMH) interacted in a supposed time window of up to five millennia around 40,000 years ago (40 ka BP). The fate of our species versus the demise of Neanderthals, the geospatial timing of this process, the behavioural implications of their interaction, are hotly debated topics in archaeology. In this context, chronology plays a pivotal role, with radiocarbon (14C) dating representing the backbone back to 50 ka BP. However, due to varying atmospheric 14C concentrations in the past, the method requires calibration to an independently dated archive. So far, only the past 14 ka BP can profit from the most direct natural archive of 14C activity, which are annually resolved tree-ring chronologies. Before this time, temporal resolution is remarkably lower and different calibration records disagree, leading to discrepancies in the calibration of up to 2000 years. This project aims to achieve for the first time an accurate and highly resolved chronology back to 50 ka BP, to establish the timing of when AMHs arrived in Europe, their interaction with Neanderthals and the final cause of Neanderthal extinction. The project involves fieldwork in Mediterranean and southeast Europe to find more glacial trees, the study of the existing collection of glacial conifers, exceptional 14C precision for 14C dates in the Glacial, and the cutting-edge methodology in linking floating tree-ring chronologies to 10Be on the ice core scale. The results of this work will be crucial in solving some of the most interesting puzzles in European prehistory. With tree-rings, the resolution will be an order of magnitude higher, and using the most recent advances in the AMS technique, we will obtain confidence intervals of only a few centuries in glacial times. This project will be of pivotal importance for key periods in human evolution.

Mots-clés : human evolution,radiocarbon dating,dendrochronology,cosmogenic isotope,neanderthal,anatomically modern human
Projet ERC : EvoMotion (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : University of Exeter — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1950430.0 €

Even unicellular organisms have a sense of self -- that basal recognition of where their own membranous boundaries end, and where the extracellular environment in which they inhabit begins. Yet unlike the cells in your body, these primitive lifeforms can reproduce, and exist autonomously, most importantly, they can respond to stimuli, and change their behaviour accordingly. Responsive self-movement is a defining characteristic of life, which for simple organisms is essential to enable to them to explore and react to their surroundings, improve their circumstances, and outcompete other cells. In this proposal, I will determine the sensorimotor pathways of unicellular organisms and the physical mechanisms of early movement control, showing that a nervous system is not required for complex behaviour, particularly, 1) motility originating from cell shape changes by cilia and flagella, and 2) the as-yet unexplained surface gliding movement of diatoms which occurs in the complete absence of shape changes. I will develop novel interdisciplinary approaches, merging physiological experiments on diverse unicellular species with unique behavioural features, with theoretical modelling, mathematical/computational analysis of behaviour, as well as robotics-aided hypothesis testing. To highlight the importance of fast, nonequilibrium sensing in unicells and its significance for the evolution of nervous signalling, I will pioneer the integration of high-speed imaging and live-cell perturbations to resolve and understand previously unseen cellular processes and excitable phenomena. These investigations will culminate in novel designs for long-time behavioural assays which will probe the limits of aneural organisms and their capacity to perceive and interact with their surroundings.

Mots-clés : cell motility,cilia and flagella,microswimmers,active matter,cell behaviour,cell signalling,control of locomotion
Projet ERC : MATTER (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : Bielefeld University — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 767925.92 €

Ever since the discovery of topological surface states in three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators (TI), this fascinating physics has thrilled scientists. While arguable the transport properties of 3D TIs are of utmost importance for potential applications, they are extremely difficult to characterize, yet utilize for devices. The reason is that transport in those materials is always dominated by bulk carriers. Within this proposed research project, I will overcome the problem of bulk carrier domination conceptually by a nanoparticle-based materials’ design of interrupted early stage sintering. By this interrupted early stage sintering approach, I compact 3D TI nanoparticles at mild temperature and low pressure. The obtained highly porous macroscopic sample features a carrier density of the surface states in the order of 1018 cm-3, hence in a comparable order of magnitude as the bulk carrier density. Further, the interruptedly sintered nanoparticles impose energetic barriers for the transport of bulk carriers (hopping transport), while the connected surfaces of the nanoparticles provide a 3D percolation path for surface carriers. Within the preliminary work, my group tuned interruptedly sintered nanoparticles into a transport regime completely dominated by the surface states. Within this project, nanoparticle-based macroscopic 3D TI materials will be developed towards test structures for devices. Their properties will be tailored by the nanoparticle synthesis (Objective 1) and the materials processing of interrupted early stage sintering (Objective 2). This is complemented by an in-depth characterization of the transport as well as spectroscopic properties and data modelling (Objective 3). My group will use this know-how for the fabrication of test devices (Objective 4). This combination will provide the first macroscopic quantum transport devices that utilize the unique electronic properties of surface states, overcoming the problem of bulk carrier domination

Mots-clés : nanoparticle processing,topological insulator,transport properties,sintering
Projet ERC : DISCONNECTOME (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1456973.95 €

Every year a brain stroke will impair approximately 2 million Europeans. Notwithstanding recent progress, many of these individuals will have persistent cognitive deficits, impacting their personality, degrading their quality of life and preventing their return to work. Early identification of anatomical predictors of brain recovery may significantly reduce the burden of these deficits on patients, their families and wider society, while also leading to the discovery of new targets for treatments. I have pioneered the development of imaging techniques that allow for the exploration of the relationship between brain disconnection and neuropsychological syndromes. With these tools, I aim to demonstrate that the structural organisation of the human brain's connections is the common denominator supporting functional specialisation and, when damaged, neuropsychological disorders. Building on my expertise, I plan to (1) establish an atlas mapping the function of white matter for the entire human brain, (2) fractionate the stroke population according to disconnection profiles, (3) predict neuropsychological symptoms based on disconnection profiles, and (4) characterise and manipulate the fine biology involved in the disconnection recovery.In so doing, this project will introduce a paradigm shift in the relationship between brain structure, function and behavioural/cognitive disorders. I will deliver a comprehensive biological model of the neurocircuitry that supports neuropsychological syndromes, which will gather the modular organisation of primary idiotypic functions with the integrative organisation of highly associative levels of functions. In the long term, this project will allow me to determine if measures of brain ‘connectivity’ can be translated into advanced standard procedures that provide for a more personalised medicine, that focuses upon rehabilitation and improving the prediction of symptom recovery, while providing new targets for pharmacological treatment.

Mots-clés : neuropsychology,cognition,stroke,associationism,connections,model,connectivity,white matter