Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : OPTONEUROCHEM (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Entité participante : University of Zurich — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UZH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498750.0 €

How specific neurochemicals (neurotransmitters, neuropeptides and hormones) influence our mental states and behaviors remains one of the biggest questions in biology. So far, we largely lack tools to precisely monitor the temporal and spatial profile of neurochemical signaling in behaving animals. The ability to do this is a prerequisite for understanding the critical functions of these molecules in both health and disease. OPTONEUROCHEM is a bold and transformative project that will develop a new breed of genetically encoded sensors to enable real-time and highly-specific functional imaging of neurochemicals at unprecedented resolution in awake behaving animals. This project is geared towards creating innovative tools that will transform the current biotechnological landscape. I will first engineer novel red-shifted sensors for monoamines and apply them in multiplex and optoacoustic imaging experiments (Objective 1). I will then develop sensors for neuropeptides based on previously unexplored receptor subtypes. These will be validated in increasingly complex biological systems and utilized for monitoring the task-specific dynamics of endogenous neuropeptides in multiple brain regions of awake behaving mice (Objective 2). Finally, I will leverage on novel protein scaffolds to engineer the first ultrasensitive probes for steroid hormones and explore their application to in vivo imaging (Objective 3). This high-risk high-reward project combines state-of-the-art cross-disciplinary techniques, ranging from protein engineering and optogenetics, to animal behavior, and in vivo fluorescence and optoacoustic imaging. Together, the next generation tools I plan to develop will revolutionize our approach to study neurochemical activity in living animals. Ultimately, these tools will advance our understanding of brain function in health and disease.

Mots-clés : fluorescent proteins,chemical signaling,receptors,bioimaging
Projet ERC : TRANSFORM (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : University of London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : U. London
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149995.0 €

How to provide justice for conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has now become a highly visible and challenging global problem with few solutions. The TRANSFORM project addresses this problem by creating a prototype Gender Justice Framework to guide analysis of, and responses to, conflict-related sexual violence. The ERC Gender of Justice Project (GoJ) provides a unique array of justice indicators and innovative methods that can deliver ground-breaking strategies to combat impunity for conflict-related sexual violence. The prototype Framework exploits these cutting edge analytics and insights by building them into an integrated package of guiding principles and tools for policy-makers and practitioners. These ‘how to’ guides and instruments map patterns of sexual violence and affected groups, assess the adequacy of criminal and social justice responses, and generate new justice strategies. This prototype framework for analysis and action in this difficult field has wide application for those working in the human rights, international criminal law, transitional justice, and peace building and security sectors in conflict-affected contexts.

Mots-clés : conflict related sexual violence,gender harms,sexual violence as an international crime,gender justice,criminal justice,accountability,social justice,diagnostic and action framework
Projet ERC : CUSTOM-SENSE (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Entité participante : Forschungszentrum Jülich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : FZJ
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1482220.0 €

How will we meet the globally growing demand for pharmaceutically active compounds, nutrients and fine chemicals when crude oil resources are dwindling? For decades, biotechnologists have been engineering microorganisms to produce valuable compounds from sugar and biomass. However, a lack of knowledge regarding the host cell metabolism as well as long and laborious development times render this approach challenging to this day. I want to establish a platform to engineer transcriptional biosensors for the intracellular detection of heterologous compounds in single cells. The application of these sensors in combination with flow cytometry and next-generation sequencing will enable high-throughput engineering of microorganisms at the single-cell level with unprecedented speed and simplicity. In the field of biotechnology, this new technology will be a powerful tool for the (i) accelerated directed evolution of genes and pathways in vivo, (ii) functional integration of heterologous genes or whole synthetic pathways into the metabolism of microorganisms for the production of small valuable metabolites, (iii) genome engineering of industrially relevant microorganisms and (iv) adaptation of production strains to process conditions. Furthermore, during CUSTOM-SENSE, biosensors will also prove to be a valuable tool to answer questions in basic science because they will help to elucidate the function of unknown genes and aid the discovery of novel and unexpected functional links in cellular metabolism. I am in an exclusive position to pursue this goal of developing an engineering platform for custom-made biosensors due to the previous invention of biosensors at IBG-1. The starting grant would allow me to compete with Patrick D. Cirino (University of Houston, USA), who is working on a similar approach, and Christina D. Smolke (Stanford University/Caltech, USA), who is focusing on RNA devices for metabolite detection.

Mots-clés : biosensors,high throughput metabolic engineering,protein engineering,comparative,genome analysis,industrial biotechnology,bio based economy
Projet ERC : Hemstem (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : University of Tübingen — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1739846.25 €

Human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains a devastating disease with less than 30% of patients surviving five years after diagnosis. Despite decades of research and detailed mo-lecular insights provided by mutational profiling, curative treatment still requires high-intensity chemotherapy and the crude approach of allogeneic stem cell transplantation – an effective, yet non-specific immunotherapy that is costly to the patient because of its severe side effects. One reason why the wealth of molecular and experimental knowledge has so far been unable to revolutionize treatments is the fact that AML is driven by small subpopulations of so-called leukemic stem cells (LSCs), which survive chemotherapy and immune surveillance. LSCs have growth advantages induced by oncogenic mutations, but are in many ways similar to healthy hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). This similarity makes it difficult to target LSCs without simultaneously eradicating HSCs and healthy hematopoiesis derived from these cells. Like HSCs, LSCs home to protective bone marrow (BM) niches promoting stemness and therapy resistance and modify them to displace HSCs and promote their own expansion. This proposal explores strategies to target LSCs based on understanding these interactions. In Aim 1 we investigate how WNT signaling, an evolutionary conserved pathway governing stem cell self-renewal, regulates interactions between leukemic and healthy hematopoietic (stem) cells. In Aim 2, we propose to inhibit the in vivo expansion of LSCs by enhancing self-renewal and niche affinity in their natural competitors, the healthy stem cells with inborn BM homing ability. Aim 3 uses zebrafish to visualize LSC-HSC interactions and screens for molecules supporting healthy instead of (pre-) malignant hematopoiesis. Our studies will im-prove the knowledge on the complex interactions between LSCs and HSCs and provide a rationale for novel treatments that might lead to a paradigm-shift in the clinical management of AML.

Mots-clés : hematopoiesis,hematopoietic stem cells,acute myeloid leukemia,leukemia stem cells,zebrafish,niche,xenograft models,translational cancer research
Projet ERC : Hemstem (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : University Hospital of Basel — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : USB
Type d'entité : Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 185238.75 €

Human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains a devastating disease with less than 30% of patients surviving five years after diagnosis. Despite decades of research and detailed mo-lecular insights provided by mutational profiling, curative treatment still requires high-intensity chemotherapy and the crude approach of allogeneic stem cell transplantation – an effective, yet non-specific immunotherapy that is costly to the patient because of its severe side effects. One reason why the wealth of molecular and experimental knowledge has so far been unable to revolutionize treatments is the fact that AML is driven by small subpopulations of so-called leukemic stem cells (LSCs), which survive chemotherapy and immune surveillance. LSCs have growth advantages induced by oncogenic mutations, but are in many ways similar to healthy hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). This similarity makes it difficult to target LSCs without simultaneously eradicating HSCs and healthy hematopoiesis derived from these cells. Like HSCs, LSCs home to protective bone marrow (BM) niches promoting stemness and therapy resistance and modify them to displace HSCs and promote their own expansion. This proposal explores strategies to target LSCs based on understanding these interactions. In Aim 1 we investigate how WNT signaling, an evolutionary conserved pathway governing stem cell self-renewal, regulates interactions between leukemic and healthy hematopoietic (stem) cells. In Aim 2, we propose to inhibit the in vivo expansion of LSCs by enhancing self-renewal and niche affinity in their natural competitors, the healthy stem cells with inborn BM homing ability. Aim 3 uses zebrafish to visualize LSC-HSC interactions and screens for molecules supporting healthy instead of (pre-) malignant hematopoiesis. Our studies will im-prove the knowledge on the complex interactions between LSCs and HSCs and provide a rationale for novel treatments that might lead to a paradigm-shift in the clinical management of AML.

Mots-clés : hematopoiesis,hematopoietic stem cells,acute myeloid leukemia,leukemia stem cells,zebrafish,niche,xenograft models,translational cancer research
Projet ERC : MOBILE (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : University of Cambridge — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : U. Cambridge
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499991.0 €

Human evolution has been punctuated by a handful of behavioural transitions driving greater social complexity – examples include the use of tools, language and farming. The shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture specifically involved a series of new co-evolutionary relationships with other species, including domesticates, diseases, and our own microbiome. Unusually, these transitions are also ongoing. Those few hunting and gathering groups that remain are near-universally experiencing radical changes in mobility and diet as they interact more intensely with their settled, agricultural neighbours. MOBILE will study the impacts of mobility on biological diversity and evolution in some of the last remaining hunter-gatherers in rapidly developing Southeast Asia, an under-studied cradle of human evolution. The project will generate spatially embedded social networks from Indonesian hunter-gatherer communities at various stages of the lifestyle transition. It will combine this data with multi-species genomics and detailed simulations to understand how social interactions maintain community biological diversity in small, traditional societies, and how movement redistributes variation allowing for adaptation over rapid, intra-generational time scales. MOBILE will unify the genetic study of diversity, demography and natural selection at microgeographic scales using simulations and novel remote sensing mobility data, enriching our understanding of tropical forest hunter-gatherers and of the role of mobility as a force in human evolution more broadly.

Mots-clés : social networks,mobility,hunter gatherers,biological diversity,human evolution
Projet ERC : BCINET (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Inria
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1690220.0 €

Human-computer interfaces are increasingly explored to facilitate interaction with the external world. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), bypassing the skeletomuscular system, are particularly promising for assisting paralyzed people in control and communication, but also for boosting neuromotor rehabilitation. Despite their potential, the societal impact of BCIs is dramatically limited by the poor usability in real-life applications. While many solutions have been proposed - from the identification of the best classification algorithm to the type of sensory feedback - the accuracy is still highly variable across subjects and BCIs cannot be used by everyone. Critically, these approaches have implicitly assumed that the user’s intent could be decoded by examining the activity of single brain areas. Today, we know that this is not true as the brain functioning essentially depends on a complex network of interactions between differently specialized areas. The grand challenge of this project is to develop a novel generation of BCIs that integrate the user’s brain network information for enhancing accuracy and usability. Based on this approach, we will experiment innovative BCI prototypes to restore the lost motor functions in patients suffering from stroke. This project relies on a unifying framework that analyses and models brain networks by means of analytical tools derived from graph theory and complex systems science. By recruiting diverse neuroimaging and experimental methods, within a modern computational framework, we aim to i) identify new control features for enhancing BCI accuracy, ii) study the brain dynamics of human learning for improving adaptive BCI architectures, and iii) optimize brain stimulation techniques for boosting BCI skill acquisition. This project can significantly improve BCI usability as well as determining how brain lesions compromise brain functioning and which solutions are most effective to unlock motor restoration after stroke.

Mots-clés : brain computer interfaces,complex networks,stroke rehabilitation
Projet ERC : MIDNIGHT (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : Freie Universität Berlin — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : FU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 156886.84 €

Humans and many animals produce complex vocal sequences in order to communicate with each other. What are the neuronal mechanisms that integrate the auditory information and permit the production of a coordinated motor response during a vocal interaction? I will address this issue in the nightingale, a songbird species that is capable of duetting with rivals. During vocal interactions, nightingales have to precisely alternate between singing and listening, and I will test whether premotor centers are differentially sensitive to auditory input during these two states. In zebra finches, I have shown that the impact of a father’s song on premotor circuitry can be regulated by inhibitory interneurons during developmental song learning. Here I ask whether this same regulation of auditory input can rapidly change to support real-time vocal coordination in a duetting songbird. To measure neuronal activity during listening and singing, I will use intracellular recordings to assay the synaptic inputs and outputs of a premotor circuit. I will use a motorized intracellular microdrive that I helped to develop during my postdoc in order to enable these measurements in the freely behaving bird. A custom built vocal robot will be used to dynamically interact with birds during neural recordings. These experiments will reveal the synaptic profile of neurons during sensorimotor integration and clarify how nightingales are able to sing a temporally precise duet. The aims of my research proposal are 1) to investigate how auditory input influences the motor program, 2) how this auditory input is gated depending on behavioral demands and 3) how a song motif is generated on a neuronal population level. I will elucidate neural dynamics essential for vocal interactions, which may provide insights into brain mechanisms involved in human communication. As a result, this work would also generate new implications for our understanding of speech disorders and impairments to social function.

Mots-clés : sensorimotor integration,electrophysiology in behaving animals,vocal communication
Projet ERC : CerebralHominoids (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : UK Research and Innovation — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UKRI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1444911.0 €

Humans are endowed with a number of advanced cognitive abilities not seen in other species. So what allows the human brain to stand out from the rest in these capabilities? In general, the brains of primates, including humans, have more neurons per unit volume than other mammals. But humans are also in the fortunate position of having the largest of the primate brains, making the number of neurons in the human cerebral cortex greatly expanded. Thus, the difference seems to be a matter of quantity, not quality. My laboratory is interested in understanding how neuron number, and thus brain size, is determined in human brain development. The research proposed here is aimed at taking an evolutionary approach to this question and comparing brain development in an in vitro 3D model system, cerebral organoids. This method, which relies on self-organization from differentiating pluripotent stem cells, recapitulates remarkably well the endogenous developmental program of the human brain. Having previously established the brain organoid approach, and more recently improved upon it with the application of bioengineering, my laboratory is in a unique position to carry out functional studies of human brain development. I propose to use this approach to compare developing human brain tissue to that of other hominid species and tease apart unique features of human neural stem cells and progenitors that allow them to generate more neurons and therefore a greater cerebral cortical size. Furthermore, we will perform transcriptomic and functional screening to identify factors underlying this expansion, followed by careful genetic substitution to test the contributions of putative evolutionary changes. In this way, we will functionally test putative human evolutionary changes in a manner not previously possible.
Projet ERC : IBiDT (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Humans have two ears – and for good reason: So-called binaural hearing is critical not only for localizing acoustic events but also for selectively focusing on a target sound while suppressing sound from other directions. In order to perform these tasks, neural circuits with the most temporally precise processing within the entire nervous system have evolved. 360 million people have impaired hearing. Although hearing aids and cochlear implants help restore audibility, they provide insufficient benefit in restoring the advantages of true binaural hearing. IBiDT is designed to fundamentally change this perspective. Appreciating the individual nature of each hearing deficit, it will provide the means of diagnosing pathologies, not just the perceptual symptoms. IBiDT will suggest algorithms specific to the individual detailed patient profile and suggest therapeutic interventions specific to the listening situation. To achieve these aims, a multidisciplinary approach in which both auditory and non-auditory aspects of patient profiles and a computer model simulating the impaired auditory system will, together, transform diagnosis of hearing impairment from one concerned with audibility to one concerned with effective communication in any listening environment. Binaural hearing is an ideal conceptual framework in which to investigate this approach as it increases greatly the number of possible pathologies, compared to unilateral diagnostics. The binaural hearing system is also ideal to investigate because it allows for large improvements in listening performance. Despite significant R&D expenditure, cochlear-implant performance has plateaued over the last 15 years, at least with respect to unilateral devices. Improvements from Individualized Binaural Diagnosis and Technology will have a large, positive impact on the increasing number of bilateral cochlear implant users (many of them children), as well as on the many tens of millions of people who use hearing aids.

Mots-clés : auditory,hearing,binaural,hearing aid,cochlear implant