Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : TAPTAPP (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université d'Europe centrale — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Making music together requires not only individual skills and musical expertise, but the ability to coordinate one's actions with others. Typically, musicians try to improve their joint performances by practicing together. However, musicians encounter two kinds of obstacles when trying to improve their joint music making skills. One obstacle is the lack of sufficient opportunities for joint rehearsal. The other obstacle is the lack of research-guided exercises that would allow for learning transfer across pieces, partners, and different coordination problems. Based on the results of an ERC Consolidator project investigating the behavioral, cognitive, and neural mechanisms involved in joint action learning, we propose to develop an app that allows musicians at any level of expertise to improve their joint playing skills. Two aspects of the app make it possible to overcome the typical limitations of joint practice: First, with the knowledge gathered during the ERC Consolidator project we will be able to program virtual partners with whom musicians can train their ensemble skills individually outside of resource intensive joint rehearsals. Second, the app will focus on training the ability to flexibly shift between self-other integration and self-other segregation, which is a high-level skill with a large potential to generalize to a wide range of pieces and playing styles. The app will be web-based and freely accessible to a large pool of users. Its effectiveness will be thoroughly tested in the lab and in the field to assess its value for musicians playing in smaller and larger ensembles. As the first app directly training joint music making, TAPTAPP will provide new opportunities for musicians and has the potential to transform music education.
Projet ERC : DIASTORE (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CSIC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Embryo transfer is a key enabling technology in the farming industry, playing an essential role in expanding genetic improvement and its associated economic and environmental benefits. The procedure requires estrous synchronized recipient animals, which are often not available at the same time and location than the embryos. The only solution available to circumvent this problem is to arrest embryo development by cryopreservation, a technique that allows embryo storage but reduces embryo viability and requires time, training and specialized equipment. Diapause is the natural way to temporarily arrest embryo development and it could provide an alternative means to store embryos before transfer. In this project we will employ an advanced embryo culture system developed by the project StG-757886-ELONGAN -able to sustain embryo development beyond blastocyst hatching- as a platform to test different media modifications to induce diapause in bovine embryos. The development of a diapause-inducing medium will constitute a better solution than cryopreservation, as it avoids the mechanical damage and exposure to cryoprotectants, circumvents the need of special equipment, and provides a faster and easier to learn protocol to store embryos.

Mots-clés : embryo,diapause,ungulate,farm animal,embryo transfer,bovine,developmental biology
Projet ERC : VIR-Quantify (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CSIC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Airborne viruses causing respiratory diseases represent a mayor global health threat, being viruses with RNA-genomes from animal reservoirs highly likely to cause further public health emergencies in the future. VIR-Quantify aims to provide proof of concept for a technology capable of highly sensitive, fast and untargeted airborne virus detection with infectivity assessment, providing a comparative advantage in the competitive landscape. VIR-Quantify builds upon an unprecedented application of NMS sensors to the field of airborne viral particles detection (methodology developed and patented by the PI in the framework of a previous ERC CoG). VIR-Quantify proposes the use of ionic liquids to preserve the virus structure, together nanowire sensors that allow mass and stiffness measurements for identification and infectivity studies of the pathogens. The innovative solution lies in two fronts: 1) an unprecedented capability to measure with high throughput (30 particles/minute) the stiffness of intact viruses to infer their infectivity potential, not at reach to other techniques, 2) the capability to count and characterize all the viral particles present in the liquid sample without loss of bioanalytes during the measurements. VIR-Quantify aims to exploit the novel technology for on-site identification and quantification of airbone viral particles and validate the innovation potential of such technological tool for commercialization by developing a market entry strategy built upon IPR consolidation and spin-off set-up. This will lead to high-gain, disruptive outcomes in the form of unprecedented mechanistic understanding for detecting the quick spread of airbone viral particles with great socioeconomic benefits visible at three levels: (1) fuelling industrial innovation and economic growth in a game-changing sector (preventive medicine); (2) reducing healthcare costs worldwide, thus enabling more resilient and efficient health systems; (3) improving human welfare.
Projet ERC : CO2Chains (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CSIC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Aliphatic organic compounds are an essential class of platform chemicals in a wide range of industries. They account for a global market volume exceeding 20 EUR billion per year. However, their production currently relies on fossil-based petrochemicals and deforestation-linked natural oils, contributing significant net greenhouse gas emissions and facing strict EU regulations aimed at phasing out unsustainable production practices. The CO2Chains project proposes a groundbreaking solution by synthesizing a wide variety of industrially relevant chemicals directly from sustainable and lower-cost C1 carbon sources. Unlike conventional multistep processes, this method catalytically converts renewable C1 raw materials into aliphatic organic compounds with high chemo- and regio-selectivity under mild conditions. This innovation eliminates the need to feed costly, preformed precursor compounds, drastically reducing feedstock cost, and aligning with current and upcoming EU directives on the environmental impact of chemical production.  The project aims to demonstrate the economic feasibility of CO2Chains. It focuses on upscaling the new manufacturing concept, with a strong emphasis on product benchmarking, a critical factor for customer acceptance and regulatory compliance. Techno-economic and market analyses will culminate in a robust business case for this technology, which transforms waste CO2 into high added-value and global-demand chemical products. This advancement represents a significant step forward in sustainable manufacturing and supports the principles of a circular economy.

Mots-clés : sustainability catalysis co2 recycling
Projet ERC : Golden-ADC (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université Bar-Ilan — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BIU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have emerged as promising therapies by combining the precision targeting abilities of antibodies with the potency of chemotherapy drugs, to directly attack cancer cells and minimize damage to healthy tissue. However, approved ADCs show low efficacies in treating solid tumours, due to inherent challenges. These include design challenges, which limit the drug-antibody ratio and the ability to integrate multiple drug types, and delivery challenges, in which pharmacokinetics and tumor barriers limit ADC accumulation and distribution within tumours. In the framework of the ERC-CoG project, we are developing gold nanoparticles (GNPs) that harness insulin for delivery of large therapeutics, including antibodies, across biological barriers. As part of this research, we have recently revealed that these insulin-GNPs can be further developed as an ADC nanoplatform. This Golden-ADC nanoplatform enables simple conjugation of large payloads of multiple antibodies and drug types, shows efficacy in cancer cell models, and enhances in vivo tumor accumulation, together with deep penetration and wide distribution throughout the tumour. In this PoC proposal, we will test our Golden-ADC nanoplatform for effective and safe treatment of triple negative breast cancer, due to the potential high benefits that our nanoplatform can provide for this hard-to-treat cancer, which has a long-standing paucity of effective therapies. Within GOLDEN ADC, we aim to acheive significant progress in the technology development process, by proof of concept demonstration of efficacy and safety of the Golden-ADC conjugated with multiple drugs in in-vivo triple negative breast cancer models. We also intend to achieve business readiness, via consolidating the IP strategy, undertaking a comprehensive market analysis, end-user engagement and developing the business strategy.
Projet ERC : FuseSeq (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Institut Karolinska — Pays : Suède — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 30000.0 €

Current advanced short-read sequencing technologies and third generation long-read sequencing technologies are still not capable of full molecule reconstruction in a high throughput manner due to their limited read length and throughput respectively. This project aims at bridging the gap between long reads and high throughput by developing a fragment labelling system compatible to high-throughput short-read Illumina sequencing technology. The labelling system consist of tags that can be incorporated into the target nucleic acid sequences using Tn5-transposase and can be subsequently used to create fragments from the target molecule, allowing the generated fragments to retain information of their original position in the target molecule, thus the reconstruction of the sequence of the original, individual target molecules from them. This technology has considerable market potential due to its relatively high ease of market entry as it can be incorporated in existing library preparation techniques for next generation sequencing since many of them readily use Tn5 transposase for fragment generation. Additionally, the ability to be able to link the short, high accuracy reads generated by high throughput next generation sequencing technologies can have a large interest in the field of genomics, by allowing the complete reconstruction of diploid human genomes by tackling more difficult, highly repetitive genomic segments, in the field metagenomics, by enabling the assembly of more complete genomes from clinical samples, and also in the field of transcriptomics, by providing information about isoform- and allelic-specific expression through the reconstruction of full length transcripts.
Projet ERC : NODRY (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Rome « La Sapienza » — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 100000.0 €

High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) is the leading separation technology in research and industry, which often relies on potentially hazardous and environmentally harmful organic solvents. Water is the ideal environmentally friendly mobile phase, which would open the way to green HPLC. However, its broad applicability is hindered by the phenomenon of dewetting of the stationary phase – the formation of bubbles in the hydrophobic nanoporous material – which makes it unavailable to the substances that need to be separated (“retention loss”). NODRY proposes to develop a unique, experimentally validated simulation testbed based on the PI expertise in theory and simulation of dewetting of nanopores acquired in ERC-StG HyGate. These simulation tools will be deployed to rationally design HPLC protocols capable of eliminating or alleviating the problem of dewetting in most HPLC columns operating with pure water as the solvent, thus opening the way to a green and energy efficient chromatography.
Projet ERC : Open-Imaging (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CSIC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Open-IMAGING will develop an innovative Open Imaging System, highly flexible and adaptable to the organ to be examined. The system of the Proof of Concept will consist of two large paddle detectors built with the novel PET (Positron Emission Tomography) technology developed in 4D-PET ERC-ADG. Outstanding (<150ps) Coincidence Time Resolution and placing the detectors closer to the Field of View (FOV) will dramatically increase the sensitivity, allowing high resolution and high contrast images, at lower dose (factor 10) than current commercial scanners. It will open up new venues for real time image-guided interventions (surgery, radiation therapy) and in-vivo tracking of small number of cells. It will also enable performing repeated scans for active surveillance of suspect patients, diminishing the number of false positives, and a safer post-treatment (for instance, chemotherapy) follow-up.
Projet ERC : AMA (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CSIC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 136000.0 €

i-TED is a gamma-ray imaging system that was fully developed and successfully applied for nuclear astrophysics experiments at CERN n_TOF in the previous HYMNS ERC CoG. i-TED was designed for highest possible detection sensitivity, and it is also characterized by its modularity, portability and low sensitivity to neutron-induced backgrounds. These characteristics make the developed system potentially very attractive for several emerging applications in health and life science. Indeed, Compton imagers are expected to provide a breakthough innovation potential in the fields of i) ion-range monitoring in hadron therapy, ii) intraoperative Radio-Guided Surgery (RGS), iii) dose-monitoring in boron-neutron capture therapy (BNCT), and iv) theranostics (radioisotopes that serve for both therapy and diagnostics). Thus, the aim of this POC proposal is to perform first proof-of-concept measurements with readily available i-TED Compton cameras for demonstrating their applicability and advantages in two of these fields: (ii) intraoperative RGS and (iii) neutron dose assessment in BNCT. We also aim at addressing the corresponding technical-readiness levels (TRLs) for each application, which seems the most convenient approach for an efficient transfer of the developed technology towards society.
Projet ERC : PanThera (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Collège de France — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Epilepsy, affecting about 1% of the population, comprises a group of neurological disorders characterized by the periodic occurrence of seizures, which disrupt normal brain function. Despite treatment with current antiepileptic drugs, one third of epileptic patients are pharmacoresistant and most patients suffer from side effects, making it crucial to develop novel therapies. Current drugs indeed target channels and receptors involved in normal brain function, not specific to the disease. Our academic work has recently identified a novel and innovative target for epilepsy. Our project thus aims at bringing to the market a new generation of antiepileptic drugs specifically targeting the disease.
Projet ERC : CO2SINk (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CSIC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

CO2SINk aims at proving the effectiveness of an innovative CO2 storage concept in deep volcanic areas that reduces the leakage risk. Humans need to take urgent action to achieve a climate-neutral society. Among the necessary actions, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) will enable decarbonizing the hard-to-abate industry, which represents some 10% of the current CO2 emissions and can even provide net-carbon removal if it is combined with bioenergy (BECCS) or direct air capture (DACCS). To effectively mitigate climate change, CCS should scale up from the current 40 Mt/yr of stored CO2 to the gigatonne scale by 2050. Yet, one of the main risks of CCS is CO2 leakage because CO2 is buoyant in the conventional concept of storing CO2 in deep sedimentary formations. The leakage risk can be significantly reduced by storing CO2 in deep volcanic areas where water stays in supercritical state because at these pressure and temperature conditions CO2 is denser than water and thus, sinks. Therefore, this novel storage concept, if proven effective, would improve the safety of CCS and would amplify the storage options. We estimate that a few hundreds of wells could be storing CO2 in deep volcanic areas by 2050, representing a storage on the order of 1 Gt/yr. This storage capacity highlights the high gain of the proposal. Nonetheless, injecting CO2 in deep volcanic areas also entails high risks: (1) potential long-term CO2 leakage due to convective fluid flow and (2) potential induced seismicity above acceptable levels. We will investigate the extent of these risks and propose mitigation measures to manage them. We will disseminate and communicate the project outcome to the scientific community, society, policy makers and companies. We plan to patent this storage concept if it is proved to be effective and will establish a commercialization roadmap with the advice of industrial collaborators and experts in knowledge transfer.
Projet ERC : VERITASCAN (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CSIC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The global demand for cold-chain logistics is surging, driven by changing consumer lifestyles, government legislations to reduce waste and rapid diversification of supply chains. The pressure is particularly felt in the pharmaceutical and medical industries, where many life-saving products such as vaccines, peptides, blood and plasma explicitly require shipping and handling at specific temperatures. The use of time-temperature indicators to provide visual cues for undesirable exposure to elevated temperatures offers the means for cold-chain verification. However, the existing food market indicators cannot fully address the specific challenges posed by the pharmaceutical industry, such as: i) Small size and flexible form factors; ii) Low cost for item-level applications and distribution in low-income countries; iii) Operation at ultra-low temperatures from –20 down to –70 °C for mRNA vaccines. The ambition of VERITASCAN is to advance a new class of time-temperature indicators, drawing on emerging ‘smart packaging’ concepts and harnessing recent breakthroughs in scalable micro-processing of organic semiconductors realised within my group. Specifically, my team will deliver versatile indicators design based on patterned organic semiconductor films that are erasable on-demand by selection of molecular ‘solvents’. We will optimize the temperature range and accumulative exposure monitoring, as well as validate the commercial viability of the technology via comprehensive field-tests with our industrial partners. My interim objective is to establish a sustainable value creation model in the market. The long-term goal of VERITASCAN is to introduce transformative user-centred technology that addresses urgent societal needs.
Projet ERC : DeepDive (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Rome « La Sapienza » — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Expanding on the “eHONESTY” ERC project about the link between body and moral decisions, the DeepDive PoC proposal aims to explore the neglected role of deep-body signals in modulating physical/mental health in humans and animals through the radically new approach of using ingestibles for mapping gastrointestinal (GI) physiology. Crucially, although the market of ingestible devices is burgeoning, none of the existing products has the features needed for probing the link between GI dys/functions and physical/mental well-being in humans and animals. To fill this outstanding gap, the DeepDive project aims to develop and test a class of ingestibles that can capture from different tracts of the GI system (e.g., stomach, small/large intestine), physiological signals like endoluminal pH, pressure, and temperature with unprecedented accuracy and precision; and, remarkably, add causation to correlation by recording the GI neurons' activity before and after their electrical perturbation. The inert capsules will be produced by: i) assembling specific components created using 3D printing and ii) integrating a number of microscopic components ranging from solid state pH, temperature, and pressure sensors to A/D–D/A Microconverter and RF Radio 2.4 GHz, in a sub-centimetric space. GI functions at rest and in conditions of social stress will be tested in piglets using the new ingestible and in humans using commercial pills. All the steps towards patenting and obtaining permission for use in humans of the novel ingestible will be taken, and existing contacts with industrial partners and biomedical devices approval offices will be strengthened. Given the link of gastroenterology with physical/mental dys/functions and human/animal well-being, the project will have significant benefits at neuroscientific, medical, and societal levels. Moreover, since the global market of ingestible sensors is expected to exceed $14 billions by 2026, DeepDive will likely have key economic implications.