Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : FattyCyanos (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : University of Porto — Pays : Portugal — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1462938.0 €

Known, but mostly novel natural products (NPs) are in high demand – these are used in drugs, cosmetics and agrochemicals and serve also as research tools to probe biological systems. NP structures inspire chemists to develop new syntheses, and NP biosynthetic enzymes add to the metabolic engineer’s toolbox. The advent of next generation DNA-sequencing has revealed a vastly rich pool of NP biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) among bacterial genomes, most of which with no corresponding NP. Hence, opportunities abound for the discovery of new chemistry and enzymology that has the potential to push the boundaries of chemical space and enzymatic reactivity. Still, we cannot reliably predict chemistry from BGCs with unusual organization or encoding unknown functionalities, and, for molecules of unorthodox architecture, it is difficult to anticipate how their BGCs are organized. It is the valuable, truly novel chemistry and biochemistry that lies on these unexplored connections, that we aim to reveal with this proposal. To achieve it, we will work with a chemically-talented group of organisms – cyanobacteria, and with a specific structural class – fatty acids (FAs) – that is metabolized in a quite peculiar fashion by these organisms, paving the way for NP and enzyme discovery. On one hand, we will exploit the unique FA metabolism of cyanobacteria to develop a feeding strategy that will quickly reveal unprecedented FA-incorporating NPs. On the other, we will scrutinize the intriguing biosynthesis of three unique classes of metabolites that we have isolated recently and that incorporate and modify FA-moieties. We will find the BGCs for these compounds and dissect the functionality involved in such puzzling modifications to uncover important underlying enzymatic chemistry. This proposal is a blend of discovery- and hypothesis-driven research at the NP chemistry/biosynthesis interface that draws on the experience of the PI’s work on different aspects of cyanobacterial NPs.

Mots-clés : cyanobacteria,natural products,biosynthesis
Projet ERC : NNLOforLHC2 (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
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 : 1713983.0 €

LHC Run 2 will operate at significantly higher centre of mass energy and could offer an unprecedented insight into the largely unexplored region of TeV physics. The usefulness of this wealth of forthcoming high-quality data would, however, be strongly dependent on the availability of theoretical predictions with matching accuracy. The current state of the art for hadron collider calculations is NNLO and calculations for the most interesting 2-to-2 processes have already been performed. The utility of these theoretical results is, however, limited: they are either incomplete or have been applied to a limited number of observables. Moreover, their flexibility is limited which prevents their widespread use in experimental analyses. The goal of this proposal is to turn high-precision NNLO results into a LHC mainstream. We propose the following multi-prong approach, which addresses all main shortcoming of currently available 2-to-2 NNLO results: First, create a library of partonic events for the processes with top quarks and jets. A user-friendly interface will allow direct analysis by the user. Such a system would be novel, especially at NNLO, and once operational could be extended to any 2-to-2 NNLO process. Second, develop matching of NNLO calculations for processes with coloured partons to parton showers. This is an outstanding problem, which naturally fits the existing fixed order/shower expertise in the Cavendish. Its solution will unleash the potential of NNLO calculations and will make them truly useful for experimental analyses. Third, work on specific phenomenological analyses that make use, and promote, the precision results developed by the group. Last but not least, pursue novel techniques for computing 2-to-3 two-loop amplitudes, which is the bottleneck for advancing beyond the current frontier in LHC processes; use this to compute the 3 jet NNLO cross-section at the LHC. Such a result will be a first-ever and a great achievement for the LHC program.

Mots-clés : hadron colliders,nnlo calculations,phenomenology,standard model,physics beyond the standard model
Projet ERC : VOLUME-BIO (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : Utrecht University — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 315615.86 €

Lab-made artificial tissues and organoids promise to revolutionize medicine, tackling transplant shortage, and to innovate biological and pharmaceutical research, introducing accurate in vitro models of human physiology, as potential alternatives to animal experimentation. The functionality of living organs is intimately linked to their complex architecture, from the physicochemical properties of extracellular microenvironment, to tissue-level scale, where multiple cell populations interact in a precisely orchestrated spatial distribution. Advances in key technologies capturing this shape-function relationship in vitro can bring the long-sought goal of real tissue engineering within reach. In VOLUME-BIO I will develop a novel multi-material volumetric bioprinting technology for the precise generation of engineered tissues and organoids exhibiting physiological functions. Inspired by optical tomography, cell-laden hydrogels are sculpted into tissue analogues within seconds, upon exposure to bio-friendly 3D visible light fields. Tuneable light patterns control the local distribution of cells and, through orthogonal photo-chemical reactions, of key factors that guide stem cell fate, namely stiffness of the extracellular matrix and morphogenetic biochemical cues. The unprecedented ability to tune independently such parameters will also permit to build 3D platforms to study how architectural complexity impacts organoid maturation. This will provide a new tool to address the so far unanswered question of how much an engineered tissue needs to mimic Nature’s template to achieve physiological functionality. Bringing together my expertise in engineering, bioprinting, materials design and stem cell biology, I will first test the potential and versatility of this novel volumetric technology by building from anatomical patient-specific images functional and centimetre-scale vascularized bone and bone marrow organoid supporting physiological-like hematopoiesis.

Mots-clés : biofabrication,3d printing,biomaterials,tissue engineering
Projet ERC : ROCKY (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : Utrecht University — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2342875.0 €

Languages have various ways of referring to collections like families, herds and forests. The grammatical properties of collective expressions critically determine how we understand them. The sentences “this forest is old” and “these trees are old” categorize an arboreal collection using a concept (“old”), while conveying different meanings. This semantic difference correlates with the difference in grammatical number between the sentences: singular vs. plural. Such effects of collective categorization in language are crucial for understanding the connections between grammar and the mind, as well as for artificial intelligence. However, currently little is known about the mechanisms underlying our linguistic ability to conceptualize collections. This project aims to develop a novel linguistic theory of this ability, applied to a wide range of empirical phenomena and interdisciplinary challenges in computational semantics and comparative linguistics, benefiting from the recent synergy between linguistics and the psychology of concepts. The idea is that when classifying a collection, speakers rely on two inferential principles with mental concepts: (i) geometric inferences: a forest is considered “far away” if all of its trees are far; (ii) symmetric inferences: two trees are “similar” if each of them is similar to the other. The leading hypothesis is that uniform interactions between these inferential principles and the grammar of collective expressions account for collective categorization in language. This hypothesis is explored in three work packages, each of which develops the semantic theory and evaluates it on a different interdisciplinary domain: human interaction with geographic information systems, behavioral linguistic experiments, and comparative linguistics. Together, the three components of the project are expected to lead to a theoretical breakthrough in semantic theory and to enrich its interdisciplinary connections with neighboring disciplines.

Mots-clés : formal semantics,grammar,language and logic
Projet ERC : QML (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Entité participante : University of Vienna — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : Univie
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 364789.56 €

Large and diverse property data sets of relaxed molecules and crystals, resulting from computationally demanding quantum calculations, have recently been used to train machine learning models of various energetic and electronic properties. We propose to advance these techniques to a level where they can also describe reaction profiles, i.e. reactive non-equilibrium processes which traditionally would require quantum chemistry treatment. The resulting quantum machine learning (QML) models will provide reaction profiles for new reactants in real-time and with quantum accuracy. The overall goal is to develop a predictive computational tool which allows chemists to easily optimize reaction conditions, develop new catalysts, or even plan new synthetic pathways.

Mots-clés : chemical compound space,quantum chemistry,density functional theory
Projet ERC : TerrACE (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : University of Padua — Pays : Italie — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : UNIPD
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 207632.5 €

Large areas of agricultural terracing have been abandoned and are being destroyed in Europe. TerrACE will develop a transferrable methodology of archaeological protocols for understanding the creation, maintenance and use of terraces over the longue durée, thereby informing strategies for the sustainable management of these environmental-fragility hotspots. Terraces and lynchets are hallmarks of complex Prehistoric to Post-Medieval societies and were critical for the sustainability of many European societies (including the Greeks & Romans). However, we typically know less about them than any other archaeological site type, although they were one of the first transformations of natural into cultural landscapes, which in many cases persisted to the 20th century. Key archaeological questions are: how old are terrace systems, how were they used, did they reduce soil erosion and are they carbon sinks? The answers to these questions have high relevance in Europe today as terraces can combine high yields with decreased erosion and fire risk, whilst increasing social resilience and food security in the face of environmental change. TerrACE will be a step-change in our archaeological approach by integrating a raft of new and innovative scientific techniques through an exemplary study of the creation, operation and abandonment of terraced landscapes on a N-S climatic transect of well-known/excavated terraces across Europe. TerrACE has 5 objectives; 1) improving terrace-landscape mapping, 2) multiple dating typical terrace systems, 3) determining history of use and management, 4) understanding the role of terraces in carbon storage, and 5) outreach to promote terraces as part of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Landscapes (UNESCO GIAHS). TerrACE is only now feasible due to the development of techniques including LiDAR, direct sediment dating, palaeoenvironmental proxies, soil carbon modelling and the innovatory use of ancient DNA on terrace palaeosols.

Mots-clés : environmental history,complex societies,social change,palaeoecology,archaelogical survey,biomolecular methods,sediment dating,agricultural history,rural sustainability
Projet ERC : TerrACE (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : UiT The Arctic University of Norway — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UiT
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1757066.5 €

Large areas of agricultural terracing have been abandoned and are being destroyed in Europe. TerrACE will develop a transferrable methodology of archaeological protocols for understanding the creation, maintenance and use of terraces over the longue durée, thereby informing strategies for the sustainable management of these environmental-fragility hotspots. Terraces and lynchets are hallmarks of complex Prehistoric to Post-Medieval societies and were critical for the sustainability of many European societies (including the Greeks & Romans). However, we typically know less about them than any other archaeological site type, although they were one of the first transformations of natural into cultural landscapes, which in many cases persisted to the 20th century. Key archaeological questions are: how old are terrace systems, how were they used, did they reduce soil erosion and are they carbon sinks? The answers to these questions have high relevance in Europe today as terraces can combine high yields with decreased erosion and fire risk, whilst increasing social resilience and food security in the face of environmental change. TerrACE will be a step-change in our archaeological approach by integrating a raft of new and innovative scientific techniques through an exemplary study of the creation, operation and abandonment of terraced landscapes on a N-S climatic transect of well-known/excavated terraces across Europe. TerrACE has 5 objectives; 1) improving terrace-landscape mapping, 2) multiple dating typical terrace systems, 3) determining history of use and management, 4) understanding the role of terraces in carbon storage, and 5) outreach to promote terraces as part of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Landscapes (UNESCO GIAHS). TerrACE is only now feasible due to the development of techniques including LiDAR, direct sediment dating, palaeoenvironmental proxies, soil carbon modelling and the innovatory use of ancient DNA on terrace palaeosols.

Mots-clés : environmental history,complex societies,social change,palaeoecology,archaelogical survey,biomolecular methods,sediment dating,agricultural history,rural sustainability
Projet ERC : VORTEX (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : Dutch Research Council — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : NWO
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999185.0 €

Large quantities of plastics comprising a diverse set of hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon-like polymers are constantly released to the oceans. The impacts of plastics in marine environments are detrimental, as they are seemingly recalcitrant and harmful to marine life. The severity of this problem is gaining momentum because the untamed demand for plastics has led to an ever-increasing release of plastic to the sea. However, despite their seemingly persistent properties, they do not accumulate as expected, indicating a substantial sink for plastics in the ocean. Plastics are synthetic and thus rather new and ‘unconventional’ compounds in the marine realm, yet microbes can utilise plastics as carbon substrates. However, the potential for microbial degradation of plastics in the ocean as well as key factors controlling degradation kinetics are largely unknown and have been discussed controversially. Using innovative stable isotope assays, my preliminary research has shown that plastics can be degraded in marine sediments under aerobic as well as anaerobic conditions. Here I propose to further investigate the potential for marine plastic degradation by microbes in laboratory- and field-based experiments across a wide range of contrasting environmental boundary conditions. In the VORTEX project, we will use cutting-edge stable isotope labelling and stable isotope probing assays in combination with biogeochemical/microbiological and organic geochemical tools to trace isotopically labelled carbon from the plastic-substrate pools into microbial metabolites (e.g. CO2) and biomass (e.g. diagnostic lipid biomarkers, DNA/RNA). This will lead to a breakthrough in our understanding of microbial plastic degradation in the ocean because the proposed analytical approaches allow to quantify kinetics of microbial polymer breakdown, to identify and quantify the responsible microbes and degradation pathways, and to determine environmental conditions conducive for plastic degradation.

Mots-clés : microplastic,lipids,bioremediation,stable isotope labeling,stable isotope probing
Projet ERC : CoMoFun (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
Entité participante : Max Planck Society — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : MPG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 314591.26 €

Laser cooling of atomic gases in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) has revolutionized modern physics. A MOT uses precisely tuned lasers and a magnetic field to cool atoms and trap them. It has enabled the invention of precise instruments, such as atomic clocks, magnetometers, gravimeters and accelerometers. It has also enabled new fundamental research with unprecedented precision and the study of matter dominated by quantum effects. However, there is still potential to push the boundaries of science and technology: using ultracold molecules. Project CoMoFun aims to do just this, creating a high-density ultracold gas of polar molecules by laser cooling to build a new platform for fundamental research. A high-density ultracold gas of polar molecules has a wide range of new applications. It can be used to study a dipolar quantum gas, to test fundamental physics and to store and process quantum information efficiently. An array of polar molecules, all interacting with each other via controllable and strong interactions, can serve as a universal simulator for more complex quantum systems that cannot be modeled by a computer. Simulating such strongly-interacting many-body systems from the bottom-up will aid the understanding of fascinating phenomena such as high-temperature superconductivity and exotic forms of magnetism. Recently, it has become possible to make a MOT of molecules. However, the density of the molecules is far too low for most applications. CoMoFun will increase the density by five orders of magnitude by laser-cooling stable and deeply-bound aluminum monofluoride molecules. The high density provides an excellent starting point to investigate evaporative cooling to quantum degeneracy. The molecules can then be arranged in a regular array by loading them into a trap formed by interfering laser beams. This instrument can then be used for precision measurements and applications in quantum information and simulation, to realize the full potential of molecular MOT.

Mots-clés : ultracold molecules,quantum simulation,laser cooling,precision measurements
Projet ERC : NANOBUBBLE (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Ghent University — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UGent
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1980000.0 €

Lasers have found widespread application in medicine, such as for photothermal therapy. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), are often used as enhancers of the photothermal effect since they can efficiently absorb laser light and convert it into thermal energy. When absorbing intense nano- or picosecond laser pulses, AuNPs can become extremely hot and water vapor nanobubbles (VNBs) can emerge around these particles in tissue. A VNB will expand up to several hundred nm until the thermal energy from the AuNP is consumed, after which the bubble violently collapses, causing mechanical damage to neighbouring structures. In this project the aim is to make use of the disruptive mechanical force of VNBs to enable highly controlled and efficient delivery of macromolecules and nanoparticles in cells and biofilms. First, optical set-ups and microfluidics devices will be developed for high-throughput treatment of cells and biofilms. Second, VNBs will be used to achieve efficient cytosolic delivery of functional macromolecules in mammalian cells by cell membrane perforation or by inducing endosomal escape of endocytosed nanomedicine formulations that are functionalized with AuNPs. These concepts will be applied to tumorigenesis research, generation of induced pluripotent stem cells and modulation of effector T-cells for adoptive T-cell anti-cancer therapy. Third, contrast nanoparticles for cell imaging will be delivered into the cytosol of mammalian cells through VNB induced cell membrane perforation. This will enable more reliable in vivo imaging of labelled cells, labelling of subcellular structures for time-lapse microscopy and intracellular biosensing. Finally, [... confidential...] laser-induced VNBs will be used [... confidential...] for improved eradication of biofilms. This concept will be applied to biofilm infections in dental root canals and chronic wounds.

Mots-clés : drug delivery,phototherapy,gene therapy,nanomedicines,nanotechnology,biophotonics,nanoparticles,cell therapy,bio imaging,microfluidics,biofilms