Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : MathModExp (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Entité participante : University of Exeter — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1968392.05 €

Microbes form intricate communities where multiple strains and species communicate cooperate and compete, they can cause life-threatening diseases and destroy our food sources. Metabolism is key to these interactions, yet the way microbes acquire and utilise nutrients is often overlooked in evolutionary studies of pathogenicity, virulence and antibiotic resistance. I will address this by quantifying how microbial community composition is determined by the metabolism, genetics and physiology of individual players, establishing principles by which microbial composition affects virulence and antimicrobial resistance. Competition for resources is the most basic of ecological interactions, fundamental because one cell directly impacts the fitness of others. It is only by incorporating nutrient acquisition and utilisation into studies of virulence and antibiotic resistance that we can predict, and ultimately control, the evolutionary response of microbes to resource stresses, antimicrobials and host defences. I will address two outstanding problems: Challenge one: Pathogens must acquire nutrients from their hosts, but what combination of different resource acquisition and utilisation strategies maximise population success and, therefore, virulence? Challenge two: Antibiotics can perturb the composition of polymicrobial communities from susceptible to resistant species but how is this shift mediated by resource utilisation strategies? Fully integrating empirical data and theory, concepts from ecology and evolutionary dynamics will be key. We will formulate new theoretical tools that allow us to make predictions that will be fully challenged by data, both in vitro and in vivo. This research will exploit advances in the molecular genetics of important plant and human pathogens and we will use them to synthesise polymorphic microbial populations and polymicrobial communities. We will dissect these to understand what makes microbials so resilient to the challenges they face.

Mots-clés : mathematical models,computational modelling
Projet ERC : EVOMICROCOMM (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Entité participante : University of Lausanne — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNIL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498875.0 €

Microbes play an important role in various aspects of our lives, from our own health to the health of our environment. In almost all of their natural habitats, microbes live in dense communities composed of different strains and species that interact with each other. As these microbes evolve, so do the interactions between them, which alters the functioning of the community as a whole. In this project, I propose to develop theoretical and experimental tools to study and control evolving interactions between cells and species living in microbial ecosystems. This will involve three main research objectives: first, we will couple theory and experiments to disentangle and characterise the social interactions between five bacterial species that make up an ecosystem used to degrade pollutants. Our second objective will be to use this knowledge to control this same ecosystem, by directing it toward increased productivity and stability. Finally, our third objective will be to “breed” novel communities from scratch using experimental evolution to promote cooperative interactions between community members and thereby increase productivity. This interdisciplinary and ambitious research will allow us to improve existing methods in pollution degradation, and to design new microbial communities for this and other purposes. More generally, our model system will provide an in-depth conceptual understanding of microbial ecosystems and their evolution, and the tools to investigate more complex microbial communities. My ultimate vision is to possess the technology to use microbial communities to degrade waste, generate efficient biofuels, and design customised treatments for intestinal diseases. This project promises to create the foundations needed to develop this technology, and open many exciting avenues for future research.
Projet ERC : ModEM (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
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 : 1995818.0 €

Microbial communities occupy practically all habitats on Earth, from ocean deeps to the human gut, and are pivotal to the ecosystem function. They also hold a vast biotechnological potential to realize functionalities typically beyond the reach of single species, e.g. valorisation of complex resources. Rational design and modulation of communities can thus help addressing outstanding challenges in health and bio-sustainability. Yet, this remains difficult due to the complexity of interspecies interactions. Towards tackling this, I plan to combine modelling, genetics, omics and laboratory evolution to study complex microbial communities with a focus on metabolic cross-feeding. Kefir, a natural milk-fermenting community, and stable assemblies of human gut bacteria will be used as two model systems. Both systems have recently been pioneered by my lab and represent complexity relevant for real-world applications. We will first investigate the genetic and environmental factors driving metabolite secretion using high-throughput screening of natural isolates and genetic libraries. Large-scale pairwise interaction mapping and self-establishing stable sub-communities will be used to unravel higher-order interactions and to discover the principles of community assembly. Laboratory evolution will then be used to assess community stability as well as to decipher interaction mechanisms through multi-omics analyses. The experimental data on species metabolism and interspecies interactions will be used to build hybrid metabolic-ecological models for predicting effects of perturbations like species introduction and nutrient change. The applicability will be demonstrated through stable introduction of probiotic species in personalized gut bacterial communities, and by developing vitamin overproducing milk fermenting communities. The results will have fundamental implications for modulating microbial communities relevant for environment, health and biotechnology.

Mots-clés : microbial communities,metabolic modelling,synthetic ecology
Projet ERC : ASymbEL (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Entité participante : Dutch Research Council — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : NWO
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1869946.0 €

Microbial symbioses play an essential role in most aspects of life’s evolution and enabled major evolutionary events such as the origin of eukaryotes. But in spite of the importance of symbioses, our knowledge is based on a limited number of microbial host-symbiont systems, few of which include Archaea. Notably, recent cultivation-independent approaches have revealed two hugely diverse microbial groups of putative deep-branching archaeal and bacterial symbionts referred to as DPANN and CPR, respectively. The major aims of ASymbEL are to test the hypotheses that (a) DPANN, together with CPR, have key positions in the tree of life, requiring to revise our view on the early evolution of cells and (b) that the diverse DPANN substantially shape the evolution of life through symbiont-host interactions. This will be achieved using a unique three-pronged strategy that will integrate knowledge from both micro- and macroevolutionary levels: I will place the diverse DPANN in a rooted tree of life including CPR, reconcile the history of their genome content evolution and identify novel host-symbiont systems using sophisticated phylogenomic approaches combined with microscopy. Further, I will elucidate fundamental principles of their genome evolution and interactions, for the first time using experimental evolution approaches to study two cultivated DPANN symbionts in co-culture with their hosts. Finally, I will determine the dynamics of natural populations of known and newly identified archaeal host-symbiont systems and the influence of symbionts on host population structure and genome evolution using a unique approach combining single-cell, metagenomics and population genomics. Altogether, this will allow to provide key insights into the global impact of these symbionts in the deep origins and diversification of cellular life on Earth. Thereby, ASymbEL paves the way for a deeper understanding of symbiotic evolutionary theory and the fundamental laws of cellular evolution.

Mots-clés : tree of life,archaea,dpann radiation,macro  and microevolution of symbiosis,deep microbial roots,complementary genomics and experimental approaches
Projet ERC : CONMIC (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : University of Bayreuth — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149212.5 €

Microinjection molding is the current standard technology for the production of microcomponents. There is an increasing demand for microcomponents with feature sizes down to micrometers due to a general trend towards miniaturization in the medical and automotive industry. The main problem to meet this demand is the considerable fix-cost of the micromolds (microstructured injection tool inserts). Currently, the methods for their fabrication are lithography-based LIGA-techniques, electrical discharge machining (EDM), or precision laser ablation with high capital and maintenance costs. Our goal is the development and commercialization of inorganic composite micromolds, which can be produced at significantly reduced costs, thus making microinjection molding more profitable and variable. We found that inorganic composites are surprisingly versatile material for this purpose. The amazing feature of these composite micromolds is their extremely smooth surface having sub-micron roughness, an exact replication of even micrometer size features, and their excellent stability. Lower fix costs for such micromolds allow microinjection molding also of smaller numbers of microparts for special demands, e.g. for medical applications, thus opening new markets for microinjection molding. The proposed project aims to bring this idea to the proof-of-concept level by demonstrating a inorganic composite micromold that can be used in commercial microinjection molding equipment for the production of microcomponents. In parallel, we will also develop our future technical and intellectual property rights strategy, explore the market potential and secure potential customers. We finally intend to launch a company to develop the product and bring it to the market.

Mots-clés : concrete,micromold,microinjection molding,microcomponents
Projet ERC : ADOR (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : University of St Andrews — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2489220.0 €

Microporous materials are an important class of solid; the two main members of this family are zeolites and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Zeolites are industrial solids whose applications range from catalysis, through ion exchange and adsorption technologies to medicine. MOFs are some of the most exciting new materials to have been developed over the last two decades, and they are just beginning to be applied commercially. Over recent years the applicant’s group has developed new synthetic strategies to prepare microporous materials, called the Assembly-Disassembly-Organisation-Reassembly (ADOR) process. In significant preliminary work the ADOR process has shown to be an extremely important new synthetic methodology that differs fundamentally from traditional solvothermal methods. In this project I will look to overturn the conventional thinking in materials science by developing methodologies that can target both zeolites and MOF materials that are difficult to prepare using traditional methods – the so-called ‘unfeasible’ materials. The importance of such a new methodology is that it will open up routes to materials that have different properties (both chemical and topological) to those we currently have. Since zeolites and MOFs have so many actual and potential uses, the preparation of materials with different properties has a high chance of leading to new technologies in the medium/long term. To complete the major objective I will look to complete four closely linked activities covering the development of design strategies for zeolites and MOFs (activities 1 & 2), mechanistic studies to understand the process at the molecular level using in situ characterisation techniques (activity 3) and an exploration of potential applied science for the prepared materials (activity 4).

Mots-clés : zeolites,metal organic frameworks
Projet ERC : CELLOIDS (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499375.0 €

Microscale robotic devices, or microrobots, could someday enable revolutionary non-invasive medical procedures. However, fundamental limitations still hinder the realisation of this vision. Current microrobots have very limited functionalities: they strongly rely on wireless operation by external fields, which impedes the execution of sophisticated movements and tasks. As a consequence, despite their intended medical use, microrobots cannot move effectively in bodily fluids and tissues. This project addresses exactly this challenge: realising self-contained microrobots that autonomously move in complex 3D biological environments (such as soft body tissues). Our sources of inspiration are biological cells that naturally move through body tissues, such as immune cells. These cells move by continuously changing their shape, a strategy known as ‘amoeboid movement’. Such shape changes are powered by the self-organized flows and stresses of their intracellular filaments and motor proteins. Analogously, we will realise microrobots that each consist of a swarm of active particles: each microrobot will have a liquid body containing self-propelled particles and different sensitive particles; moreover, the particles swarm will be engineered to exhibit desired collective behaviours. These cell-inspired particle-based microrobots, or celloids, will spontaneously adapt their morphology, generate large body-shape changes, sense environmental cues and control signals, and autonomously navigate soft tissue-like environments. This project will establish a radically new method to design microrobots, and will result in microrobots capable of autonomous navigation of body tissues. The celloids will also constitute a robophysical model for studying the migration of immune and cancer cells, and will enable a number of revolutionary medical procedures, including long-term monitoring and non-invasive interventions in delicate organs (e.g. brain).

Mots-clés : micro,nano robots,biomimetics,soft material robotics,swarms robotics
Projet ERC : POCSEL (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ETH Zurich
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Mid-infrared spectroscopy is considered gold standard in bio-chemical analysis for both research and industry applications, providing chemical specificity, as well as a label-free and non-destructive way of accessing molecular structure on a wide range of samples. Currently available infrared (IR) sensor techniques rely on bulky and expensive Fourier transform infrared spectrometers or tunable light sources, which severely limits their use in field and practical applications. Therefore, there is a clear need for new optical sensing technologies capable of bringing the power of IR spectroscopy to miniaturized sensor devices at the point of care, which opens new business opportunities. The proposed ERC Proof of Concept project aims to realize a portable spectroscopic biochemical sensor by leveraging our recently invented nanophotonic technology enabled by pixelated dielectric metasurfaces. We will validate our sensor device for use with relevant biochemical samples related to medical diagnostics, food safety and environmental monitoring, and will integrate it into a technology demonstrator for testing of these compounds in the field. Our proposed spectroscopic sensor operates at much lower cost and in a more compact footprint compared to the current state-of-the art, opening up new application areas where no current point-of-care devices exist.

Mots-clés : mid infrared,point of care sensor,nanophotonics,metasurfaces
Projet ERC : LUBARTWORLD (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : École des hautes études en sciences sociales — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : EHESS
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 388200.0 €

Migrations are a central issue of the modern period, particularly since World War One. At the same time, the implementation of a systematic policy of categorization, discrimination, persecution, and extermination of European Jews is one of the major events of the first half of the 20th century. How should the relations between these two histories be understood? The goal of this project is to explore the links between migration and the Holocaust from a transnational microhistorical perspective. To this end, it will implement an original method: producing the collective biography of the Jewish inhabitants from the Polish shtetl of Lubartow from the 1920s to the 1950s, whether they emigrated or stayed behind, whether they were exterminated or survived the Holocaust. This research will, for the first time, reconstruct the trajectories of a group of persecution victims across the different places they travelled through, which is possible today thanks to new access to an impressive body of archives and the affordances of the digital humanities. The methodological and archival challenge is immense. This transnational collective biography explores the directions of individual journeys, the diversity of fates, as well as the connections between those who remained and those who left. By doing so, the LUBARTWORLD project addresses some prominent theoretical issues: the dynamics of a social structure drawn into a major disruption, the variability of social categorizations in diverse national and political contexts, and the complex making of identities. From an epistemological point of view, it will develop innovative ways of reconstructing and analyzing life-course information. Although the project begins with Lubartow, it leads to the world in its globality. Lubartow residents crisscrossed the globe, and their trajectories outline and embody in their own way the upheavals of Europe’s relations with the world before, during, and after the Holocaust.

Mots-clés : migrations,holocaust
Projet ERC : LUBARTWORLD (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
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 : 1596883.0 €

Migrations are a central issue of the modern period, particularly since World War One. At the same time, the implementation of a systematic policy of categorization, discrimination, persecution, and extermination of European Jews is one of the major events of the first half of the 20th century. How should the relations between these two histories be understood? The goal of this project is to explore the links between migration and the Holocaust from a transnational microhistorical perspective. To this end, it will implement an original method: producing the collective biography of the Jewish inhabitants from the Polish shtetl of Lubartow from the 1920s to the 1950s, whether they emigrated or stayed behind, whether they were exterminated or survived the Holocaust. This research will, for the first time, reconstruct the trajectories of a group of persecution victims across the different places they travelled through, which is possible today thanks to new access to an impressive body of archives and the affordances of the digital humanities. The methodological and archival challenge is immense. This transnational collective biography explores the directions of individual journeys, the diversity of fates, as well as the connections between those who remained and those who left. By doing so, the LUBARTWORLD project addresses some prominent theoretical issues: the dynamics of a social structure drawn into a major disruption, the variability of social categorizations in diverse national and political contexts, and the complex making of identities. From an epistemological point of view, it will develop innovative ways of reconstructing and analyzing life-course information. Although the project begins with Lubartow, it leads to the world in its globality. Lubartow residents crisscrossed the globe, and their trajectories outline and embody in their own way the upheavals of Europe’s relations with the world before, during, and after the Holocaust.

Mots-clés : migrations,holocaust