Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : SPEC (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : Aarhus University — Pays : Danemark — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : AU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1495902.0 €

MPC is a cryptographic technique that allows a set of mutually distrusting parties to compute any joint function of their private inputs in a way that preserves the confidentiality of the inputs and the correctness of the result. Examples of MPC applications include secure auctions, benchmarking, privacy-preserving data mining, etc. In the last decade, the efficiency of MPC has improved significantly, especially with respect to evaluating functions expressed as Boolean and arithmetic circuits. These advances have allowed several companies worldwide to implement and include MPC solutions in their products. Unfortunately, it now appears (and it’s partially confirmed by theoretical lower bounds) that we have reached a wall with respect to possible optimizations of current building blocks of MPC, which prevents MPC to be used in critical large-scale applications. I therefore believe that a radical paradigm-shift in MPC research is needed in order to make MPC truly practical. With this project, I intend to take a step back, challenge current assumptions in MPC research and design novel MPC solutions. My hypothesis is that taking MPC to the next level requires more realistic modelling of the way that security, privacy and efficiency are defined and measured. By combining classic MPC techniques with research in neighbouring areas of computer science I will fulfill the aim of the project and in particular: 1) Understand the limitations of current abstract models for MPC and refine them to more precisely capture real world requirements in terms of security, privacy and efficiency. 2) Use the new models to guide the developments of the next generation of MPC protocols, going beyond current performances and therefore enabling large-scale applications. 3) Investigate the necessary privacy-utility trade-offs that parties undertake when participating in distributed computations and define MPC functionalities that encourage cooperation for rational parties.
Projet ERC : PASMAR (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Leiden University Medical Center — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : LUMC
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2493715.0 €

MRI is a key modality in clinical care, with well over 150 million scans performed annually for diagnosis and treatment monitoring. Its major strengths are multi-contrast and the lack of ionizing radiation. However, its Achilles-heel is cost: typically millions of euros to purchase, site, and maintain, and also requires highly skilled technicians. As a result, MRI is available only in larger hospitals in the developed world, and unlike other imaging modalities plays little role in population screening. In the developing world, MRI systems are far too expensive and complex to purchase and maintain, and over 70% of the world’s population has zero access to MRI, which could be critical in treating diseases such as hydrocephalus, stroke, head trauma and viral infections. The aims of PASMAR are to develop new low-field MRI systems which will enable a role in medical screening in the developed world, as well as providing an affordable, sustainable and accessible platform for the developing world. The major thrust of PASMAR is methodological, designing new types of low-cost low-field systems for specific clinical applications, and optimizing all aspects of system performance to overcome the challenge of much lower MRI signal. I aim to develop, in consultation with clinical colleagues locally and via ongoing collaborations with engineers and clinicians in Africa, specialized systems which can be used for adult/pediatric brain, orthopedics and lung/spine scanning, as well as new types of inexpensive handheld ultra-lightweight surface scanners. These take advantage of the enormous flexibility of designing permanent magnet arrays with completely new geometries, targeted for specific organs. I will focus on portability to maximize patient reach and minimize siting requirements, accessibility via dramatically reduced system costs, and sustainability via modular and open source design to allow local maintenance and repair.

Mots-clés : sustainability,portability,electromagnetics,permanent magnets,magnetic resonance imaging
Projet ERC : MULTIEPIGEN (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : University of Turku — Pays : Finlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2498606.0 €

MULTIEPIGEN seeks to solve does ancestral exposure to various stressors transmit to offspring via epigenetic mechanisms. Thus far animal models have indicated that exposure to certain stressors can lead to phenotypic changes not only in the predisposed individuals, but also in the future generations, such that individuals can acquire phenotypes caused by exposures of their ancestors. Such effects do not involve new DNA mutations, but are transmitted to offspring via epigenetic mechanisms such as the transfer of non-coding RNA molecules in the semen. In humans, intergenerational transmission has been examined extremely little because a priori designed population-based studies across several generations are lacking. To close this gap MULTIEPIGEN will expand the well-characterized Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS) to the parents and offspring of the original YFS participants. During the ERC funding period, we will perform field studies involving N~9000 individuals across 3 generations and test 3 key ancestral exposures with very high plausibility causing intergenerational effects on obesity-related phenotypes, cognitive function and psychological well-being. The studied exposures are 1) tobacco smoke, 2) persistent organic pollutants, and 3) accumulation of psychosocial adversities. We will collect serum, blood and semen samples for epigenetic marker analysis to provide understanding of the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission in humans. Specifically, we will seek proof for the hypothesis that paternal stressors can lead to phenotypic changes in the offspring via non-coding RNA molecules in the semen. Multigenerational epidemiologic data showing robust links between ancestral exposures and offspring phenotypes that operate with biologically plausible epigenetic mechanism would provide a conceptual change in the developmental biology in humans and have substantial ramifications on public health.

Mots-clés : epigenetics,intergenerational transmission,developmental biology
Projet ERC : MUSCLEGUY (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : University of Lisbon — Pays : Portugal — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

MUSCLEGUY represents a unique opportunity to commercialize a novel 3D in vitro system for screening and validation of drug candidates to treat muscle disorders. Although skeletal muscle disorders are relatively rare they pose a huge socioeconomic burden. Currently there is a lack of therapeutic options for the majority of patients. This is, for an important part, due to the lack of reliable, reproducible, and physiological relevant in vitro models of muscle disorders that accurately reflect the in vivo reality on which novel therapeutic strategies may be developed. We generated a novel 3D in vitro system of highly matured myofibers, the relevant functional unit of the muscle affected in most muscle disorders and used it to identify novel therapeutic targets of muscle disorders. During MUSCLEGUY, we will further technically optimise our in vitro system to generate human relevant disease models for muscle disorder. Such systems can be used for drug screening and validation. In addition, we will further investigate the commercial feasibility of our product by conducting an elaborate market analysis and establishing a strong IP portfolio. The ultimate aim of MUSCLEGUY is to develop a business plan to convince the relevant stakeholders. Our novel 3D in vitro system for muscle disorder has the potential to meet the requirements for pharmaceutical drug discovery research (HTS format, reproducible and robust) and drastically reduce the associated costs and the number of animals used, in order to further increase the interest of the pharmaceutical industry for muscle disorders.

Mots-clés : 3d in vitro system,patient derived ipscs,muscle disorders,drug screening and drug validation
Projet ERC : MUTE (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Cultures and cultural production
Entité participante : University of Cyprus — Pays : Chypre — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : UCY
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 83566.78 €

MUTE’s main objective is to investigate for the first time empirically and theoretically the use of music and sound in situations of confinement and displacement from the Cold War to contemporary times. It explores their weaponization in light of transnational developments in technologies of terror. At the same time, it carefully attends to how music/sound can become a tool of survival, even in the same setting in which they are weaponized. Also explored are ethical challenges of such research, and of music programmes for prisoners and refugees, highlighting their shortcomings and providing alternative models. MUTE innovates through a theoretical framework that investigates the interlocking of politics, ethics, and aesthetics, focusing on the ethics of sound and ethics of witnessing. Its comparative approach extends to (post)colonial Cyprus, Greece, Serbia, Germany, Soviet Union and contemporary Russia, Iraq, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay. MUTE will critically analyse this complex phenomenon across the disciplines of (ethno)musicology, social anthropology, history, critical theory, human rights law and sound art, since it cannot be fully grasped through the methods of any one alone. The PI’s extensive immersion into all disciplinary components over the last decade, evident in her novel approach, ensures the successful implementation of research objectives. MUTE’s findings and results will transform scientific discourse, changing current perceptions about music’s social function. This historical recovery is important in revisiting and assessing detention-related policies and current definitions of torture. Given recent mass asylum seeking in Europe and the growing number of music research projects with refugees, it will offer the needed ethical, methodological and theoretical foundations for present and future research, ensuring the well-being of participants and researchers, research excellence, and critically nuanced scholarship.

Mots-clés : musicology,ethnomusicology,trauma studies,sound studies,social anthropology,ethics,witnessing,trauma memory,detention,displacement,acoustic violence,torture,aesthetics,research based art
Projet ERC : QFreC (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Leibniz University Hannover — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1497658.0 €

Machine learning empowers computers to solve complex tasks such as pattern identification and strategy optimization with applications in, e.g., financial trading, fraud detection, medical diagnosis, and self-driving vehicles. The required computing power is, however, pushing existing computational resources to their limits, restraining their further advancement. In QFreC, I target the realization of photonic frequency-based quantum co-processors, specifically tailor-made to solve machine learning problems with capabilities commensurate with today’s high-power, yet energy-efficient processing needs. In particular, I will use a high-dimensional photonic quantum frequency comb approach, where photons have hundreds to thousands of discrete and equidistantly spaced frequency modes, giving access to large, scalable information capacity. For implementing quantum-accelerated machine learning tasks such as the classification of classical or quantum data, I will follow i) the exploration of quantum photonic frequency-domain processing with the adaptation of qubit learning concepts (vector-based and neural network-based approaches) to high-dimensional quantum representations, i.e., quDits, ii) the realization of efficiency-enhanced and novel integrated quantum frequency comb systems with quantum resources that allow real-world applications using highly nonlinear on-chip platforms, and iii) the development of reconfigurable, fast, and broadband experimental control schemes using, e.g., quadrature amplitude modulation formats and nonlinear optical processes. To enable stable, compact, cost- and energy-efficient quantum processing devices, the QFreC project will build on the advances of the well-developed telecommunications infrastructure and the photonic chip fabrication industry. QFreC merges photonic quantum frequency-domain circuits with quantum machine learning, enabling large-scale controllable quantum resources for the exploration of quantum-enhanced machine learning

Mots-clés : integrated quantum optics,on chip frequency combs,machine learning,photonic quantum signal processing
Projet ERC : DDRMac (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy
Entité participante : Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Macrophage differentiation programs are critical for the outcome of immunity against infection, chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer. How diverse inflammatory signals are translated to macrophage programs in the large range of human pathologies is largely unexplored. In the last years we focused on macrophage differentiation in granulomatous diseases. These affect millions worldwide, including young adults and children and tend to run a chronic course, with a high socioeconomic burden. Their common hallmark is the formation of granulomas, macrophage-driven structures of organized inflammation that replace healthy tissue. We revealed that macrophage precursors in granulomas experience a replication block and trigger the DNA Damage Response (DDR), a fundamental cellular process activated in response to genotoxic stress. This leads to the formation of multinucleated macrophages with tissue-remodelling signatures (Herrtwich, Cell 2016). Our work unravelled an intriguing link between genotoxic stress and granuloma-specific macrophage programs. The molecular pathways regulating DDR-driven macrophage differentiation and their role in chronic inflammatory pathologies remain however a black box. We hypothesize that the DDR promotes macrophage reprogramming to inflammation-maintaining modules. Such programs operate in granulomatous diseases and in chronic arthritis. Using state-of-the art genetic models, human tissues and an array of techniques crossing the fields of immunology, cell biology and cancer biology, our goal is to unravel the macrophage-specific response to genotoxic stress as an essential regulator of chronic inflammation-induced pathologies. The anticipated results will provide the scientific community with new knowledge on the role of genotoxic stress in immune dysregulation and will carry tremendous implications for the therapeutic targeting of macrophages in the context of chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer.

Mots-clés : macrophages,granulomatous diseases,dna damage response,genotoxic stress
Projet ERC : ResidentMacroPhage (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Cellular, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
Entité participante : Institut Pasteur — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1675746.0 €

Macrophages are professional phagocytic cells that orchestrate homeostatic and innate immune functions, via the scavenging of cells, debris, and pathogens, and the production of cytokines, both concurring to tissue homeostasis and repair. This project aims to investigate in vivo the development and functions of macrophages, which have considerable phenotypic and functional diversity depending on their tissue of residence and pathophysiological conditions. Because this diversity is not well understood, the functions of macrophages in vivo have not been well characterized. Most hematopoietic cells renew from hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), however recent evidence has shown that tissue ‘resident’ macrophages are generated from yolk sac progenitors, expand and differentiate within developing seeded tissues, and self-maintain in adults independently of HSC. In contrast to HSC-derived macrophages, resident macrophages proliferate locally in steady state and might self-renew. Thus, two lineages of macrophages coexist in most adult tissues. To critically assess the contribution of resident macrophages to tissue repair/regeneration, this proposal aims to determine their developmental pathway and the underlying molecular mechanisms that control their renewal and functions in vivo. This project will investigate the control of differentiation and proliferation in the resident macrophage lineage by combining state-of-the-art genetic fate-mapping approaches with innovative live-imaging in mice. We will develop novel methodologies to visualize the interactions between cell cycle and differentiation, to identify the molecular control of macrophage proliferation and to decipher their specific role during regeneration. This work will significantly increase our knowledge of the differentiation, proliferation and function of resident macrophages in development and tissue repair and will open new venues of research into the role of self-renewing macrophages in regeneration and aging.

Mots-clés : hematopoiesis,macrophages,regeneration
Projet ERC : mrSANE (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : University of Freiburg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149937.0 €

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and spectroscopy critically relies on the homogeneity of the main field. Despite of the best technological efforts magnetic field in MR examinations cannot be made homogeneous due to the presence of the object of investigation – the human or an animal – in the magnet. Heterogeneous and unique distribution of tissues with their characteristic magnetic susceptibilities requires the process of field homogenization, termed shimming, to be performed on a subject-by-subject basis. Shimming subsystems of the clinical MRI devices often show insufficient, leading to sub-optimal image quality and even failing diagnosis. Furthermore, numerous emerging methods, while showing their great potential in research settings, require even better shim fidelity. We therefore identify improved shimming as a current unmet need in MRI. Add-on hardware for more reliable shimming will greatly aid MRI research especially in the field of ultra-high imaging, such as 7T and above. A wider availability of improved shimming capabilities in the clinical machines will accelerate the transition of a multitude of current promising scientific applications of MRI to the clinical practise, allowing for a more precise diagnosis and improved patient outcomes. The current project will aid a wider spread of the emerging shimming techniques, not based on spherical harmonics. As these techniques require a higher number of electrically controlled driving channels, the project addresses the scalability problem of the current shim amplifier technology by bringing the equipment closer to the magnet and eliminating a substantial number of expensive and error-prone components. It is therefore to expect that the novel system topology will make future MRI devices cheaper and more reliable, reducing the production, citing and maintenance costs. Collaboration with a European power amplifier manufacturer will ensure market-driven developments and a rapid dissemination of the results.

Mots-clés : magnetic resonance,shimming,magnetic resonance imaging,magnetic resonance spectroscopy,high stability power supply
Projet ERC : RTMFRM (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : Institute of Photonic Sciences — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ICFO;ICFO-CERCA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enables three-dimensional images to be created in a non-destructive and safe manner. Mechanical resonators can greatly increase the sensitivity of MRI compared to commercial systems. Considerable effort is being expended to push magnetic resonance imaging down to single atom resolution. This is currently done by applying large-amplitude magnetic pulses at milliKelvin temperatures. However, these large-amplitude pulses generate heating, creating a roadblock for reaching single atom resolution. Here, we propose a completely new approach to carry out magnetic resonance force microscopy at room temperature. This is expected to eliminate the effect of the “heating” roadblock, opening a new route to achieving MRI with single-atom resolution.

Mots-clés : nanomri,nuclear spin,mechanical resonators,carbon nanotube