Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : EcoEvoDiv (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : Biology Centre — Pays : Rép. Tchèque — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BC AV ČR;BC CAS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1995250.0 €

There is growing evidence of rapid evolution leading to entangled eco-evolutionary dynamics. However, we are only beginning to address what this implies for maintenance of biodiversity in nature. Community ecology studies how species diversity is maintained in communities despite negative interactions. Separately, population biology studies how phenotypic and genetic variation is maintained in populations despite selection and drift. These two questions are interlinked, but usually addressed independently, not considering the other level. Intriguingly, genetic variation could help maintain species diversity, and reciprocally, diversity could help maintain variation, forming a positive feedback loop. However, this hypothesis has not been empirically tested in complex ecological networks, because maintaining such networks in the laboratory is a major challenge.  I propose to experimentally test this hypothesis using a uniquely tractable network of tropical rainforest Drosophila and their parasitoids (6 fly and 5 wasp species), that I developed to allow multigenerational microcosm experiments. We will manipulate species diversity and genetic variation of all species in a factorial design to test the hypothesis. We will then explore the mechanisms of interactions between diversity and variation, focusing on rapid evolution. To link the findings to natural eco-evolutionary dynamics, we will investigate mechanisms maintaining diversity and variation in the wild. Based on the empirical work we will advance eco-evolutionary concepts of organismal diversity and stability.  This project will provide a causal test of the interaction between maintenance of diversity and variation, thus linking two key questions in ecology and evolutionary biology. Uncovering the specific coexistence mechanisms will allow us to predict the importance of diversity – variation feedbacks in other systems with important implications for conservation of biodiversity.

Mots-clés : coexistence,persistence,genetic variation,population,host switching,negative density dependence,host parasitoid,food web,tropical forest,rainforest,drosophila,parasitic wasp
Projet ERC : cQEO (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental Constituents of Matter
Entité participante : Institute of Science and Technology Austria — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ISTA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999073.0 €

Optical photons propagate with ultra-low loss and do not interact easily which makes them perfect information carriers. Logical operations and sensing on the other hand rely on nonlinearities and strong interactions. GHz clock speed electrical circuits are used for computing and wireless receivers – a frequency range where also some of the most promising solid-state quantum devices, such as superconducting circuits and semiconductor spin qubits, operate and interact. The field of microwave photonics combines these two domains of the electromagnetic spectrum with a diverse set of applications ranging from radar and satellite communication, to radio-over-fiber and remote sensing. At the quantum level however, no equivalent technology exists. This is particularly problematic because quantum systems rely on analog information exchange in a low-noise environment. Microwave quantum circuits so far are restricted to operate inside an isolated space at millikelvin temperatures. Building on our modular electro-optic platform - the lowest noise microwave-optical interconnect to date - cQEO will realize a remarkable set of new experiments that were not possible before: Heralded entanglement and teleportation of long-lived qubit states over kilometers of fiber, synthesis of optical cat states from microwave cats, photonic control and readout of superconducting circuits, as well as photonic masing and RF sensing below the standard quantum limit. Pushing towards higher electro-optic cooperativities will open up the rich physics known from cavity optomechanics, except now it is the readily accessible microwave field that experiences dynamical and quantum back-action rather than a mechanical mode. This is a new physical limit akin to nonlinear optics that was predicted a decade ago but never realized. cQEO aims to uncover the full range of new physics offered by high quantum cooperativity electro-optics combined with the unique capabilities of circuit quantum electrodynamics.

Mots-clés : quantum information,quantum communication,quantum sensing,circuit quantum electrodynamics,cavity electro optics,superconducting qubits,fiber optic communication
Projet ERC : QuHAMP (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental Constituents of Matter
Entité participante : Institute of Science and Technology Austria — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ISTA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2000000.0 €

Does gravity obey the laws of quantum mechanics? Can gravitational fields exist in superposition states or mediate entanglement? These questions lie at the frontier of physics and have crucial implications –affirmation would constitute a union of the gravitational and quantum realms, while negative results would demand a revision of fundamental physical laws. Only recently have we identified potential paths to entertain experiments to address these questions. Daunting technical challenges nevertheless remain.  The objective of this proposal is to enable the observation of quantum signatures in gravitational interactions by developing interacting systems of cold atoms and milligram-scale pendulums. This objective will be addressed with three concrete goals:  –Goal A: Gain unparalleled control over quantum behavior of massive objects by pioneering light-mediated artificial interactions between atoms and milligram-scale masses –Goal B: Observe for the first time the gravitationally driven dynamics of a pair of masses that behave quantum mechanically –Goal C: Demonstrate the basic tenets of entanglement mediated by force fields of macroscopic objects utilizing electrostatic interactions  The key to achieving the objective is to induce unprecedented levels of quantum delocalization for a massive object. The core novelty of this project is to use an atomic ensemble as a quantum regulator of radiation pressure acting on a massive object. With interactions of two copies of such a system, the project will set the stage for gravitationally mediated entanglement – archetypal quantum signature. This approach builds on techniques to control atomic ensembles in optical cavities, where the PI has demonstrated world-leading results. Though inherently high risk, this proposal lays out a conceivable path toward shedding light on some of the most fundamental questions in contemporary physics.

Mots-clés : quantum metrology,quantum sensing with atoms,optomechanics,hybrid quantum systems,quantum control,small scale gravity,gravitational entanglement
Projet ERC : GTPaseNet (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: B iological  Mechanisms , Structures  and Functions
Entité participante : Institute of Science and Technology Austria — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ISTA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1928624.0 €

Eukaryotic cells are characterized by their compartmentalization into hundreds of different membrane-bound organelles with unique biochemical identities. Small GTPases of the Rab family play a central role in this organization, but how they are able to generate spatiotemporal order in the complex cellular environment is currently not known. Most previous studies on Rab GTPases have either relied on describing their behavior in living cells or in highly reductionist biochemical assays. However, neither of these two approaches can explain the dynamic activity patterns of Rab GTPases associated with their cellular functions. It has become clear that Rab GTPases are controlled in sophisticated regulatory networks with emergent, self-organizing properties. To obtain a mechanistic understanding of these Rab GTPase systems, new experimental assays are now required. In this proposal, we will use a “bottom-up” synthetic biology approach to rebuild the biochemical networks of Rab GTPases from purified components and demonstrate their self-organization into spatiotemporal activity patterns in vitro. We will combine these reconstitution experiments with cryo-electron microscopy to elucidate the structures of membrane-recruited Rab GTPase regulators. Finally, we will use microfabrication and laser lithography to prepare a mimic for the compartmentalized cell and find out how Rab GTPase signaling systems sense and process preexisting geometric and biochemical cues as in the living cell. This project will provide novel, quantitative information from different scales, from the emergent ensemble behavior down to the molecular structure of protein complexes. Together, this data will reveal how signaling systems of Rab GTPases control membrane identities in space and time, thereby improving our understanding of the intracellular organization of the eukaryotic cell.

Mots-clés : in vitro reconstitution,protein self organization,bottom up synthetic biology
Projet ERC : 3DMASH (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems E ngineering
Entité participante : Institut Karolinska — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1950000.0 €

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is a prevalent liver disease that affects up to 6% of the general population and 15-40% of obese persons. MASH is characterized by intracellular triglyceride accumulation (steatosis), chronic inflammation and hepatocyte injury. Importantly, MASH is prone to progress into liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma and, even if diagnosed early, the disease is associated with reductions in life expectancy of 2-4.5 years. Despite tremendous efforts, there are currently no approved pharmacological treatments for MASH. MASH is closely linked to obesity, sarcopenia, dyslipidemia and insulin resistance and it has become clear that adipose tissue, pancreas and skeletal muscle produce important signals that orchestrate hepatic metabolism, inflammation and fibrosis. However, the underlying mechanisms in humans remain poorly understood. In the 3DMASH project, we will utilize organotypic cultures isolated from patients with a clinical diagnosis of MASH and matched controls to comprehensively map tissue interactions and to identify novel targets for pharmacological interventions. By combining co-culture of metabolically relevant tissues from healthy and diseased individuals in microphysiological systems (MPS) with network biology approaches, we will identify novel extrahepatic signaling that positively or negatively influence MASH disease phenotypes. Moreover, we will use the established platform to screen chemogenomic libraries of G protein coupled receptors, ion channels and nuclear receptors to identify new pharmacologically accessible targets that activate “healthy” signals or inhibit “disease” cues. This project thus provides a conceptually novel perspective that considers MASH as a complex pathology caused by dysregulated tissue interactions and targets these disease mechanisms, which are neglected by current drug development programs, to finally develop effective treatments.

Mots-clés : phenotypic screening,chemogenomics
Projet ERC : CARAVEL (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer Science and Informatics
Entité participante : EURECOM — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1978935.0 €

The brain vessel tree is essential to brain function. However, we still have limited knowledge about this structure compared to other organs that have been extensively studied. While atlases have been helpful in advancing our understanding of the brain in neurosciences, the same progress has not been seen for the brain vessel tree. Its extraction, modelling, and analysis still pose several methodological challenges, making it impossible to accurately, robustly, reliably, and reproducibly quantify and compare it across individuals within large populations. As a result, brain vascular atlases that provide a comprehensive representation of the brain vessel tree are scarce, and the existing ones face important limitations. This is a critical bottleneck towards understanding the role played by the neurovasculature in pathology onset, ageing, and well-being.   CARAVEL is an ambitious project at the intersection of biomedical imaging, neuroscience, computer vision, statistics and medicine, aiming to transform neurovascular image analysis. It will devise a radical new approach to build and provide the first population atlas of brain vascular ageing, encompassing multiple scales, and it will formulate a robust and reliable methodological framework to accurately extract, model and analyse the brain vessel tree in a reproducible way. Our efforts will enable the study of the brain's vascular system at a scale that is currently unattainable.  The atlas and its methodological framework will be freely available to the scientific community. This will help clinicians and researchers to test and validate new hypotheses, discover knowledge about the brain vessel tree and its interaction with the brain, and contribute to numerous clinical applications. Hence, CARAVEL shall have a tremendous impact on society and the economy.

Mots-clés : brain vessel tree,medical imaging,neurovascular ageing
Projet ERC : InterCom (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Entité participante : Université de Gand — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UGent
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 3000000.0 €

While many of our daily interactions involve people of different ages, little is known about how the human brain supports naturalistic communication between generations. InterCom combines laboratory research with real-world experimentation, and intrapersonal analyses with interpersonal measures (e.g. ‘brain-to-brain synchrony’), to better understand multi-generational communication, both within and beyond family contexts. Do age-related differences in brain rhythms inhibit conversational flow? How do listeners process speech produced by children or older adults? Can intergenerational miscommunications be partly attributed to the fact that children and older adults are less likely to predict what others are about to say? How can we overcome implicit neurobehavioral culprits of misalignment? Curiously, while laboratory studies have shown that there are significant differences in how children, adults, and older adults process (non)verbal information, these and related questions remain largely unanswered. InterCom will test a novel ‘community neuroscience’ approach, one that flows from the real world, to the lab, and back. We will collect brain, body, and language data from socio-culturally diverse groups of children, adults, and older adults during real-world storytelling events that are co-designed with community partners. The data collected during these events will then inform and constrain subsequent laboratory studies and vice versa. As such, InterCom leverages the benefits while offsetting the downsides of both naturalistic observations and experimental control, and will innovate on and combine laboratory and real-world data collection, stimulus development, and data analysis in a truly reciprocal manner.  Together, InterCom will tread previously uncharted territory in both intergenerational and real-world neuroscience research to generate insights and tools to investigate and improve communication between and across generations.

Mots-clés : community science,brain computer interface technology,art science interface
Projet ERC : GaMaTeN (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental Constituents of Matter
Entité participante : Université de Gand — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UGent
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1997500.0 €

We are in the midst of the second quantum revolution. Highly entangled quantum matter is being discovered, engineered, controlled and probed across a wide range of scales and conditions; quantum platforms are being used to emulate other quantum systems. The ability to simulate the quantum world on classical computers has been instrumental in guiding, validating and diagnosing these exciting developments. As the quantum world is probed beyond regimes of weak coupling and near-equilibrium, novel computational methods are required that can faithfully parameterise the peculiar entanglement patterns of physical quantum states in a scalable manner. The central goal of GaMaTeN is the design and application of tensor network methods for studying quantum lattice systems with gauge symmetries, the universal paradigm that governs high-energy particles as well as low-temperature condensed matter. A computational framework will be developed for targeting interacting gauge and matter degrees of freedom in conditions that are beyond the reach of the ubiquitous Monte Carlo sampling techniques. Equilibrium properties of phases with high baryonic densities as well as non-equilibrium dynamical effects such as the phenomenon of string breaking or the spontaneous particle production in strong external fields will be investigated. At the conceptual level, a unique entanglement perspective on the non-perturbative real-space scaling behaviour of gauge theories will be provided. Furthermore, the advancements in this proposal are essential in order for tensor networks to uphold their instrumental role in assisting and benchmarking future quantum simulation proposals and experiments. The tensor network algorithms developed in the GaMaTeN project will be optimised for high performance and will maximally exploit symmetries. They will be released as a general-purpose open-source library, which offers the potential for a lasting impact far beyond the scope of this proposal.

Mots-clés : tensor networks,gauge symmetry,quantum matter,renormalisation group,entanglement,computational physics
Projet ERC : ARTDETECT (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Texts and Concepts
Entité participante : Université de Gand — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UGent
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999430.0 €

Although scientific methods to analyze cultural heritage are being developed rapidly, research in the field of forgery detection (art created with the intent to deceive) is too fragmentary and discipline-bound to face the current scholarly confusion and information overload. This project lays the intellectual foundation for a new type of connoisseurship, building on the latest developments in (technical) art history and data science. Art historians are used to focus on the past and the present. This project will allow art experts –for the first time– to face forward and predict high risks. The goal is to first generate fundamental new insights into significant anomalies that betray forged paintings (as well as into key characteristics of comparable originals); secondly, to develop ‘thin-slicing’ tools, i.e. computer programs and checklists that help to quickly and effectively select potential forgeries for in-depth analysis; and ultimately, to give connoisseurship a new reach and relevance through the novel, integrated approach to assess, categorize and interpret paintings. Despite the great importance of connoisseurship for art history (providing the basic classification of who created what and when, information essential for virtually all interpretative studies in this field), its methodology has not kept abreast with innovative multi-disciplinary approaches to collaboration among experts in different fields of inquiry. The 21st century has witnessed major breakthroughs in thinking about authenticity within art history; the scientific methods and technical means to examine artworks have improved tremendously; and data science and data visualization techniques allow us to think on an unprecedented scale. Building on classified research for the French Ministry of Justice, two recent Dutch Research Council (NWO) projects and extensive experience, I am in a unique position to forge effective multi-disciplinary collaborations and spearhead this project.

Mots-clés : connoisseurship,forgery identification,old master paintings,modern paintings,smart tools,cultural heritage
Projet ERC : SoftQuanta (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed Matter Physics
Entité participante : Nanocenter — Pays : Slovénie — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Autres
Financement ERC de l'entité : 523210.0 €

Quantum optics is an exciting and rapidly growing research field with a huge potential in different applications such as quantum communications, computing, sensing, and imaging. One of the most crucial components of any quantum optical device is a source of non-classical light, called a quantum light source. Currently, these sources are almost exclusively based on solid-state inorganic materials, which limits their properties, such as lack of complex geometries and limited tunability.  In the past, I have pioneered the use of liquid crystals and biomaterials to make various photonic devices. Notably, I made a laser inside a live human cell. Since then, this pioneering work has been employed in a large number of applications, including tunable light sources, biological sensing, cell barcoding, and imaging. Soft photonic devices have unparalleled properties compared to their solid-state counterparts, such as extremely large tunability, self-assembly of complex structures that are impossible to make by lithography, biocompatibility and even self-healing.  Similarly as with microlasers, I propose to make quantum light sources from soft and biological matter. The unique properties of soft materials have the potential to give an unprecedented twist to the field of quantum optics but have been unexplored until now. I propose to develop sources of photon pairs out of liquid crystals. By selecting the appropriate liquid crystal structure, these sources will generate almost arbitrary polarization quantum states of the photon pairs, including entangled photons. Moreover, the quantum states will also be tunable by an electric field. Further, I propose to use single-photon sources in biological materials for novel applications such as cell barcoding and to make a purely biological single-photon source.  The novel quantum light sources developed in the SoftQuanta project could have a significant impact on quantum sensing, imaging, communications, and maybe even quantum computing.

Mots-clés : liquid crystals,ferroelectric nematics,color centers,entangled photons,photon pairs,single photon sources,quantum optics,microscopy,bioimaging,cellular barcoding