Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : SUSTEG (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : KU Leuven — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 135000.0 €

The Internet of Things (IoT), where everyday objects sense their environment and communicate with each other, is a key drive of digitalization expected to make our society safer, more sustainable, and more competitive. The full deployment of the IoT requires sustainable and long-lasting energy solutions to minimize e-waste. Thermoelectrics (TEs) can convert the ubiquitous waste heat into electricity and could complement or even replace batteries to meet the renewable energy needs of IoT nodes. However, commercially available TEs are expensive, rely on raw critical materials, and present a limiting form factor (small, rigid, and flat) preventing their application on curved and dynamic surfaces. This research proposes the development of cost-effective and sustainable flexible TEs to power IoT devices. The devices will involve exclusively environmentally friendly materials, namely conducting polymers dissolved in non-toxic solvents, along with a compostable substrate to minimize e-waste. Fabrication will be carried out using brush and inkjet printing, performed at ambient conditions and temperatures below 150 °C. The process flow will be limited to 5-6 simple steps, avoiding post-treatment with harmful chemicals or energy-intensive procedures. Despite their minimalistic processing, the devices performance will be comparable to the state-of-the-art organic TE generators. They will generate a ~ 100 nW/cm^2 from a temperature difference of 20 K, a condition easily met in daily life scenarios such as contact with a wall heater, proximity to a motor, or mounted on human or pets skin. This power density over surface areas of a few cm^2 is sufficient to operate low-power IoT edge devices like low-sense rate accelerometers, pacemakers, RFID tags, thermometers, or light sensors.
Projet ERC : ADONIS (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : KU Leuven — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The EU aims to achieve climate neutrality with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, necessitating the electrification of key sectors like mobility and energy. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are crucial for this transition. To enhance strategic autonomy amid global competition and an increasingly hostile geopolitical context, the EU targets more strategic autonomy along the entire mine-to battery supply chain. This implies minimum targets for domestic extraction (10%), processing (40%) and recycling (25%) of battery raw materials. Given the strict environmental limits EU companies need to respect, a significant challenge in this mine-to-battery(-recycling) supply chain is the generation of large sulphate waste streams. Sodium sulphate is produced during lithium extraction from spodumene ores, cobalt and nickel sulphate refining, precursor cathode active material (pCAM) production for nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries, and LIB recycling. Similarly, lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery production generates ammonium sulphate waste. Addressing these waste streams economically is a major challenge for EU metallurgical and battery (recycling) companies. Prof. Koen Binnemans (KU Leuven, Belgium) proposed a solution, filing a European priority patent on July 18, 2024. The patent describes a “salt splitting process” that converts sodium sulphate into sodium hydroxide and sulphuric acid, and ammonium sulphate into ammonia and sulphuric acid, using simple inorganic reactions at moderate temperatures. The invention is a prime example of a “circular hydrometallurgical process”. The ADONIS project aims to provide the proof-of-concept for this process, while demonstrating its environmental and techno-economic superiority. If successful, ADONIS could solve the sodium and ammonium sulphate waste problem for many EU companies, enhancing their ESG credentials and easing permit acquisition. Commercialising this technology would boost the EU’s envisaged strategic autonomy.
Projet ERC : MODULATEDADA2 (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : KU Leuven — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Human ADA2 deficiency is a rare inborn error of immunity caused by pathogenic variants in ADA2. The disease has a wide array of presentations ranging from vasculitis of the skin to the central nervous system (with strokes), fevers and immunodeficiency to cytopenia and bone marrow failure. Mortality is 10%, and occurs mostly in childhood. TNF inhibitor treatment is efficient for treating the vasculitis, but the bone marrow failure is refractory to treatment and requires hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). In the context of DADA2, HSCT is complicated by graft failure in a high percentage of patients. Therefore, the treatment of cytopenia in DADA2 represents an urgent medical need. This project is built on the discovery, made during the course of the ERC St Grant MORE2DADA2, that it is possible to restore ADA2 expression in missense mutant cells by drug intervention in vitro, providing a first layer of evidence for the possibility to use modulator therapy in ADA2 deficiency. Therefore in this project, we wish to identify additional modulators for ADA2. Our goal is to identify drugs that are able to restore in part or completely the ADA2 expression and function as well as the transcriptomic and metabolomic signature of ADA2 mutant cells. The ultimate goal is to take these modulators to the DADA2 patients.

Mots-clés : dada2 modulator therapy
Projet ERC : MOFKADD (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : KU Leuven — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Diabetes mellitus is a global health concern affecting 537 million people and resulting in over 6.7 million deaths yearly. Diagnosis currently relies on blood analysis, which is expensive, time-consuming, and invasive. Breath analysis based on the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a promising non-invasive alternative. However, selectively measuring specific VOCs in breath is challenging due to their low concentrations and the presence of interfering compounds. Since current miniature sensors cannot efficiently distinguish between VOCs, there is a need for a novel technology capable of distinguishing a VOC of interest from a complex background. This project aims to address this challenge by combining a highly promising class of porous crystalline materials, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), with sensor technology. A novel sensing concept based on the kinetic selectivity in the pores of the MOFs will be leveraged to mimic nature’s approach to olfaction and enable selective sensing. A demonstrator will be established to enable diabetes mellitus diagnosis and prove the breakthrough potential of this disruptive sensing platform.
Projet ERC : SOPRANO (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : KU Leuven — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 120000.0 €

With urbanization accelerating on a global scale, airborne and impact sound insulation have become key performance quantities of building elements. Unfortunately, acoustic requirements do not naturally align with structural and thermal requirements. Achieving good sound insulation is difficult, especially for innovative, more sustainable building systems which are typically lightweight. There is an urgent need in the construction sector for adequate sound insulation design prediction software. In the ERC Starting Grant VirBAcous, new, dedicated numerical methods for sound insulation prediction have been developed that possess the required combination of a high prediction accuracy and a high computational efficiency. By doing so, they open up the possibility of reliable model-based design optimization. The aim of this ERC Proof of Concept project is to bridge the gap between the fundamental numerical methods from VirBAcous and the construction sector.
Projet ERC : PO-CPMpy (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : KU Leuven — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

In today’s world, organizations across various industries face the challenge of efficiently scheduling their production processes and rostering their workforce optimally. However, despite consistent improvements in combinatorial optimization software for scheduling and rostering, the complexity of this task continues to grow due to uncertainty about multiple factors such as employee availability, demand fluctuations, supplier variability, variable prices, the impact of weather and the increasing need for energy efficiency. Machine learning can be used to make estimates about these uncertain factors, but the real challenge is in integrating predictions and the optimization of scheduling and rostering problems. Or more precisely *that predictions and optimization over these predictions need to be developed and evaluated together*. While many combinatorial optimisation solvers for solving scheduling and rostering exists, including Constraint Programming and Mixed Integer Programming solvers; few of these solvers can be easily integrated with machine learning libraries. Futhermore, in a machine learning pipeline, the requirements for the solver change. What is needed is a framework for solving prediction + optimization problems that bridges the machine learning and combinatorial optimization solving tools. It should allow actors to discover what a data-driven approach can signifigy to their scheduling and rostering problem, by allowing them to easily experiment and prototype, both on the learning side, the solving side and the combination of the two.  In my ERC Consolidator project 'Conversational Human-Aware Technology for Optimisation', we started building such a library: CPMpy. We notice an increasing industrial interest in solving Prediction + Optimisation problems, but a lack of unified tools to do so. This proposal sets out to increase the Technological Readiness Level of CPMpy from TRL 4 to 6; and to demonstrate its potential and align it with industry needs.

Mots-clés : constraint programming,prediction optimisation,combinatorial optimisation
Projet ERC : Opto-AF-Therapy (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Pacingcure b.v. — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 70000.0 €

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of heart rhythm disturbance, progressive in nature and associated with high morbidity and mortality. Thus, an effective and broadly applicable treatment to quickly restore normal rhythm at any time and place is highly desired. However, such therapy is lacking. In contrast to drugs and ablation, electrical cardioversion of AF is effective in broad populations of AF patients, but can only performed within hospitals because of the required patient sedation due to the use of high-voltage shocks. This undesired delay in treatment, huge hospital workload, and impact on patient mobility, further signifies the need for the development of new treatment strategies. To overcome these challenges and meet this need for new therapeutics, my group developed the concept of optoelectronic cardiac rhythm control. This approach is based on the paradigm that arrhythmia termination for restoration of normal rhythm can be achieved by appropriately timed generation of bioelectrical currents by the arrhythmic heart itself. To enable such shock-free and therefore pain-free AF termination, cardiac tissue will be optogenetically modified to express light-sensitive proteins. A small implantable optical defibrillator will trigger the release of light pulses by a multi-electrode LED array upon automated AF detection. Our recent results in rodents show that this indeed results in pain-free and immediate AF termination, thus overcoming the drawbacks of electrical cardioversion. To realize valorisation towards clinical exploration, Opto-AF-Therapy will focus on the optimization of the expression cassette for optogenetic modification of atrial tissue and conduct first proof-of-principle large animal studies. Complementary to these activities, my team will establish an IP strategy, file relevant patent application(s), conduct thorough market analyses and condense all findings into a business case to present to potential partners & investors.
Projet ERC : BRIDGE (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : École supérieure Sainte-Anne de Pise — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Air-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) offers a game-changing alternative to conventional spacecraft propulsion by using atmospheric particles as propellant, enabling sustained operations in very low Earth orbit (VLEO). This region of space provides advantages like higher spatial resolution and reduced latency, but atmospheric drag drastically shortens satellite lifetimes. ABEP can overcome this challenge, extending mission duration without the need of onboard propellant. BRIDGE aims to leverage the testing, analysis, and insights developed in the BREATHE ERC project to advance a promising early-stage air-breathing electric propulsion technology, based upon a combination of microwave power and novel magnetic field topologies to achieve high ionization efficiency at very-low pressures. The key objectives of BRIDGE are: (i) optimizing the trade-off between atmospheric propellant collection and ionization, and (ii) demonstrating the concept functionality on-ground and extrapolating performance to flight conditions, and (iii) developing a roadmap for in-orbit demonstration and commercialization of the technology, paving the way for cost-effective and sustainable VLEO space assets with broad scientific and commercial applications.

Mots-clés : air breathing electric propulsion,plasma physics,very low earth orbit,cubesat,atmosphere,space propulsion
Projet ERC : SMART-TOPOSPEC (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Salamanque — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 84000.0 €

In the era of quantum materials, material properties can be precisely tailored at the smallest (nanometer) and fastest (femtosecond to attosecond) scales ever controlled by humankind. Among them, atomically thin quantum materials stand out due to their remarkable conductivity and optical transparency, making them highly attractive for semiconductor and photonic industries. SMART-TOPOSPEC, integrating a team between University of Salamanca, SME Sphere Ultrafast Photonics and Lund University, aims to develop a novel all-optical metrology technique to spatially-resolve the electronic response of quantum materials. This is achieved through topological harmonic spectroscopy, an innovative approach that exploits structured ultrafast light pulses to extract spatially-resolved information about laser-matter interactions. The use of ultrafast structured light, which requires advanced diagnosis tools and manipulation techniques, opens up new avenues for characterization and quality checking of quantum materials. By innovating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in ultrafast science, our approach will solve the inverse problem to unequivocally identify quantum material properties that can not be resolved with standard techniques. Integrating AI into advanced pulse characterization techniques will facilitate the acceleration of retrieval algorithms, paving the way for real-time, high-precision diagnostics. The project will culminate in a prototype that integrates AI-assisted topological harmonic spectroscopy with advanced laser pulse diagnostics. This method will provide a rapid, robust, cost-effective, and tabletop solution for the semiconductor industry, enabling quality control and defect detection at nanometer scales. Building on previous patents and ERC research results, SMART-TOPOSPEC translates cutting-edge science into industrial applications to impact the laser technology and semiconductor markets.
Projet ERC : SUPRAHEART (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Leyde — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The SUPRAHEART proof-of-concept project aims to use our squaramide-based (SQ) filamentous double network hydrogels for assembly of engineered heart tissues (EHTs). As the current dependency of EHTs on natural materials (e.g., collagen I, Matrigel) limits their large-scale application as cardiac models, their generation using a fully synthetic matrix will provide improved reproducibility, tunability and scalability, opening the door for their use as a high-throughput pharmaceutical testing platform. Expanding on our development of bioactive and mechanically tunable squaramide-based hydrogels for the 3D culture of a broad range of cell types, we will scale-up the synthesis of the needed squaramide materials, perform in- depth characterization of the structural and mechanical properties of formed hydrogels, develop protocols to generate EHTs in the squaramide hydrogels and evaluate the quality of the formed tissues within the materials. In parallel with these activities, we will prepare a business plan that presents a roadmap to market, perform detailed market research on these mechanically tunable hydrogels for 3D cell culture and protect our intellectual property (IP) position. Should a patent application be successful, we will collaborate with local partners for commercialization through product licensing.
Projet ERC : PLANeT (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Planet biotech sl — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : PLANET BIOTECH
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 120000.0 €

Agricultural ecosystems are severely pressed by global warming. Elevated temperature consequence of climate change is causing dramatic crop and economic losses while threaten the healthy and sustainable living standards of most European citizens. Predictions on increased ambient temperatures between 1.5-4ºC pose on danger food security globally for the coming years. In the context of European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant (IDRICA-683163), our lab found that vascular Brassinosteroid receptors can confer resistance to several abiotic stresses without penalizing plant growth, disclosing a yet unexplored innovation potential (EU patent application P6100130EP; 2021). These findings were initially obtained in the model Arabidopsis and the emerging hypothesis has been now tested in Brassinosteroid mutants of cereal Sorghum. We found that hypocotyl and mesocotyl growth on selected mutants is compromised upon elevated temperatures in both Arabidopsis and Sorghum respectively, supporting conserved mechanisms across species. These findings enable a novel HighThroughPut (HTP) screening capacity for compounds/biologicals to overcome the most damaging impacts of warming in crops. Upon initial HTP screening, this proposal aims to enter into a valorization path towards lead generation through a computationally-assisted screening cascade to identify cost-effective Lead compounds that can improve crop yield at elevated temperatures. Overall, PLANeT takes the opportunity for transferring proprietary knowhow into value to market-creating innovation in the Agricultural industry.
Projet ERC : HEPARANIB (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Leyde — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The Heparanib Proof-of-Concept project aims to establish the feasibility of our unique small molecule heparanase inhibitors as drug candidates for the treatment of metastatic cancers. To strengthen our science case (experimental development A) and by building on our in vivo data in mouse models for metastatic breast cancer, lung cancer and multiple myeloma, we will (A-I) design a suitable route of synthesis to prepare sufficient quantities of clinical grade material; (A-II) synthesise reference compounds; and (A-III) perform initial pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) studies. With the aim to prepare for the establishment of a spin-out biotech company (business development B) to take our leads towards the clinic we will (B-IV) strengthen our intellectual property (IP) position; (B-V) perform an extensive analysis of the anti-metastatic cancer drug market; and (B-VI) prepare for commercialisation by consolidating the results in an investor-ready business plan to develop and commercialise our anticancer drug candidate.
Projet ERC : FLUOROTRAP (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université d'Édimbourg — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Cancer is the second-leading cause of death globally with more than 10 million deaths worldwide in 2020. Immunotherapies can reactivate the immune system against tumors and are promising treatments for many types of cancer; however, only a small fraction of patients that receive immunotherapies show positive responses and it remains unclear what therapy is most suitable for every patient. There is a clear need for rapid, simple and functional assays that can rapidly evaluate the efficacy of anti-cancer immunotherapies to personalize treatment and accelerate precision oncology. This unmet need drives the development of FLUOROTRAP.  The ERC CoG project DYNAFLUORS delivered the first fluorescent chemical toolbox for imaging immune cell activity in real time. During the treatment of cancer patients with immunotherapies, the activity of immune cells is indicative of how patients are responding to therapy. Granzyme B is a protein secreted by activated immune cells, such as T cells and natural killer cells; high enzymatic levels are correlated to strong anti-cancer immunity and therefore this biomarker holds potential to predict immunotherapy outcomes. We propose to develop a simple test to measure active granzyme B in cells and biosamples from cancer patients. This technology will advance personalized and precision oncology to ultimately improve patient outcomes, and it will also enable further research and drug discovery on anti-cancer immunotherapies.  Funding from the ERC PoC will allow us to: 1) commercialize fluorescent reagents for biomedical research through licensing with industry, and 2) establish the foundations for new healthcare technologies to measure granzyme B activity in biosamples from cancer patients during immunotherapy treatment. This project will be guided by input from industrial partners and biomedical experts, and it will create multiple opportunities for cancer research and precision medicine.