Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : NEURAL SPICING (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : German Cancer Research Center — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : DKFZ
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999975.0 €

Had we the capacity to image the molecular tissue composition in real time, without exposing the patient or clinical staff to radiation, then this would revolutionize healthcare. Spectral imaging techniques, such as multispectral diffuse reflectance imaging and photoacoustics, have the potential to recover important tissue properties including oxygenation, temperature and the concentration of water. However, decades of research invested in solving the inverse problem of reconstructing clinically relevant tissue properties from spectral measurements have failed to produce solutions that can quantify tissue parameters robustly in a clinical setting. Initial attempts to address the limitations of model-based approaches with machine learning were hampered by the absence of labeled reference data needed for supervised algorithm training. While training data simulation can potentially address this bottleneck, the domain gap between real and simulated images remains a huge unsolved challenge. This project at the intersection of physics, biology, medicine, and data science bridges the domain gap with a “learning-to-simulate” approach and reframes the quantification problem as a decoding problem that can be tackled with physics-constrained neural networks. It is based on the hypothesis that unlabeled and weakly labeled measurement data can be leveraged to improve the realism of simulated spectral images and ultimately the quantification accuracy. In building upon modern machine learning techniques, the concept naturally allows different sources of uncertainty to be handled and even exploited, requires no labeled data for the target task, and enables imaging systems to learn from their experience. The proposed second generation of spectral imaging is inherently safe and low-cost and could thus pave the way for a new era in interventional healthcare, with clinical applications ranging from cancer diagnosis to the staging and therapy of cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases.

Mots-clés : machine learning,biophotonics
Projet ERC : SPICE DUNE (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe sciences
Entité participante : University of Geneva — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNIGE
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499956.0 €

Half of known exoplanets orbit close to their star, featuring a desert of hot Neptunes whose origins remain uncertain. These planets may have lost their gas atmosphere, eroding into the dust-rich rocky planets found below the desert. Testing this scenario requires deriving accurate mass losses, but a lack of observational tracers prevented us from validating and refining models of escaping atmospheres. The coupling of atmospheric evolution with orbital migration, which can bring planets close to their star in various ways and delay their erosion, also remains to be explored. My work on infrared spectroscopy recently opened a new window into atmospheric escape, complementing traditional ultraviolet observations. I further brought to light an interplay between escape and migration by discovering that two warm Neptunes survive on the edge of the desert despite strong mass loss. I showed from one of these planets' orbital architecture that it migrated recently, triggering its erosion. These breakthroughs highlight the way to determine the origin of the desert: 1) Gathering UV/IR spectra (gas) and Vis/IR photometry (dust) for a representative sample of planets around the desert 2) Developing a self-consistent model of escaping atmosphere, validated by observations, which accounts for dust and gas physics. Interpreting data from 1) with this cutting-edge model will yield accurate mass loss for both gaseous and rocky planets 3) Measuring the sample orbital architectures, and combining them with mass losses for the first time to constrain population syntheses coupling long-term orbital and atmospheric evolution. This ambitious approach, exploiting advanced modeling informed by the most relevant tracers, will unveil the evolutionary tracks of exoplanets and bring insights into their nature. Challenges lie in developing a versatile atmospheric model and acquiring a sufficient sample. We will build upon existing codes, and exploit surveys led by the PI and his collaborators

Mots-clés : exoplanets,atmospheric escape,orbital migration,uv and ir spectroscopy,atmospheric modelling,population synthesis
Projet ERC : FREENERGY (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : University of Naples Federico II — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Halide perovskites are the next big thing in solar energy. State-of-the-art perovskite solar cells outperform established technologies with the advantage of processing from solution. Solution-processed perovskite solar cells are made spraying a precursor ink onto a substrate: the perovskite forms as the chemicals contained in the ink crystallize. This production process makes halide perovskites a valid low-cost alternative established material such as silicon. Furthermore, halide perovskite can work in tandem with silicon to break the theoretical power conversion efficiency limit of 33% according to the Shockley-Queisser model. However, the most effective photovoltaic perovskites contain more than 10% by weight of lead, which overstep the limits adopted in most of the countries to regulate the use of heavy metals in electronics. The FREENERGY project aims at achieving efficient and cost-effective lead-free perovskites replacing lead (Pb) with tin (Sn). We have demonstrated that tin is relatively inert if dispersed in the environment as compared to lead, which is prone to enter into plants and thus into the food chain. This solution does not present any manufacturing issue, as making tin-based perovskite is very similar to make lead-based perovskite. The main obstacle is represented by the low chemical stability of Sn2+, which is very prone to be oxidized to Sn4+. We have identified three key strategies: • Inorganic cations: We found that organic cations comprising perovskite are more prone than inorganic in to activate the Sn oxidation. We have selected a series of inorganic cations comprising Cs and K to replace the organics most commonly used. • Alternative solvents: dimethyl sulfoxide is currently used to synthesize the perovskite, but it contributes to the oxidation. We identified alternative solvents to overcome this issue. • Reducing additives: The perovskite materials are deposited from a solution comprising the precursor of the materials and the solvents.

Mots-clés : perovskite solar cells,photovoltaics,renewable energy,optoelectronics
Projet ERC : HarmfulTraditions (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UCSC;UNICATT
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1389687.5 €

Harmful traditions (e.g. child marriage, female genital cutting (FGC), breast ironing) affect millions of girls in developing countries. These customs have a strong detrimental effect on women’s human capital accumulation, empowerment and wellbeing, thus perpetuating gender imbalance and the vicious circle of poverty. Yet we know remarkably little on why these norms persist and what policies are able to eradicate them. This project will help to fill this gap. I will address the following research questions: How have harmful traditions originated in the first place and why do they persist over time? Given that simply legislating against harmful traditions is often ineffective, can we design policy interventions able to change them in a way that is conducive to development? To answer to the first question, I will start by investigating the historical roots of female genital cutting since slavery. Combining contemporary survey data with historical data on slave shipments by ethnic group and across slave routes, I will test whether current variation in FGC prevalence within Africa can be traced back to the Red Sea slave trades, where women were sold as concubines and infibulation was used to ensure chastity. I will then examine whether contemporaneous factors, and in particular current political institutions, play a role in perpetuating harmful norms, manipulating the timing of FGC to influence electoral outcomes. Finally, using climate data, I will provide new insights on the relationship between global warming and child marriage. To answer to the second question, I propose three randomized control trials uniquely designed to address specific determinants of the persistence of harmful traditions: alternative harmless rituals to remove cultural barriers, information provision to reduce breast ironing, peers’ interactions to decrease FGC and child marriage. Original data will be collected through field work, overcoming data limitations characterizing existing research.

Mots-clés : harmful traditions,women empowerment,gender bias,poverty
Projet ERC : ElastoCardioScope (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Inserm
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149750.0 €

Heart failure (HF) affects 14 million people in Europe, and this number is expected to increase to 30 million by 2020. Early diagnosis of HF is essential for successfully addressing underlying causes. However, initial diagnosis is difficult in many situations so that HF is correctly diagnosed in only half of patients. Diastolic HF, that accounts for more than 50% of all HF patients, is due to abnormal ventricular stiffness which remains very difficult to diagnose. The characterization of myocardial properties remains today a challenge and there is no technique that can assess myocardial stiffness in clinical practice. Shear Wave Imaging (SWI), a novel ultrasound technique, has been shown capable of quantifying myocardial stiffness. The development of SWI for transthoracic evaluation of myocardial stiffness in patients is one of the major goal of ULTRAECHOCARDIO, the related ERC-funded project. To achieve this goal, ultrafast ultrasound imaging is developed in order to provide thousands of images per second of the heart requiring the development of complex equipment and imaging methodology. In ElastoCardioScope, a novel portable ultrasound device will be developed for non-invasive quantification of myocardial stiffness. The idea of ElastoCardioScope is to develop a simple and innovative approach for SWI that 1) quantifies myocardial stiffness transthoracically, 2) evaluates myocardial function through time-varying stiffness and 3) is cost effective. In contrast with SWI that requires costly and complex multichannel electronics and transducers, this project aims to develop a low cost and portable approach which does not rely on ultrafast imaging of the heart. The clinical proof of concept of this technology will be performed on patients with diastolic HF. This simple and low cost innovative technology will provide a clear solution to unmet medical needs and thus has great potential for take-up and use by clinicians at hospital but also in other points of cares.

Mots-clés : heart failure,myocardial stiffness,ultrasound
Projet ERC : RAMBO (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : University of London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : U. London
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2499817.0 €

Heart failure is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in developed countries including EU. Novel and efficient therapeutics to treat patient with heart failure have to be developed. Mitochondria are subcellular organelles that produce energy and dynamic organelles that fuse and divide. Dysregulated mitochondrial activity results in generation of free radicals which cause damage to cellular components. We reported that mitochondrial quality control by autophagy is essential for normal cardiac functions (Nat Med 2007). Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) contains bacteria-like unmethylated CpG motifs, which are inflammatogenic. We reported that mtDNA that escapes from autophagy-mediated degradation leads to inflammatory responses in cardiomyocytes and heart failure (Nature 2012). Damaged mitochondria in failing hearts are selectively removed by mitochondria-selective autophagy, mitophagy. Mitophagy is preceded by mitochondrial fission, which divides elongated mitochondria into pieces for autophagy. Although Atg32 is essential for mitophagy in yeast, no homologue has been known in mammals. Recently, we identified Bcl2-like protein 13 (Bcl2-L-13) as a functional mammalian homologue of Atg32 which induces mitochondrial fragmentation and mitophagy (Nat Commun in press) in mammalian cells. While methylation of nuclear DNA involves in epigenetic regulation of protein synthesis, the significance of mtDNA methylation in transcription and autophagy-medicated inflammation remains to be elucidated. Our pilot study showed an isoform of DNA methyltransferase targets to mitochondria for mtDNA methylation. In this proposal, we shall attempt to characterize regulation mechanism of Bcl2-L-13 and its in vivo function and to elucidate the physiological significance of mtDNA methylation. Furthermore, we shall elucidate the role of mtDNA methylation and Bcl2-L-13 in the genesis of heart failure and examine whether these will be the therapeutic targets for the treatment of heart failure.

Mots-clés : mitochondrial dynamics,mitophagy,dnase ii,innate immunity,heart failure
Projet ERC : GRAVIBONE (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
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 : 908310.0 €

Heavy animals, said to be graviportal, are under strong mechanical constraints. Their skeleton, notably their limb bones, show convergent morpho-functional adaptations that surprisingly remain very poorly studied. Understanding the convergent and specific adaptations of bone to weight bearing in taxa with various morphologies, sizes, habitats and locomotor behaviours is essential to understand how bone responds to biomechanical constraints. In palaeontology, it will allow determining how giant fossil animals could move and support their weight. The study of graviportality provides an ideal case-study to analyse form-function relationship in a macro-evolutionary context. GRAVIBONE proposes a broad and modern comparative investigation of the biomechanical adaptations of the outer and inner bone anatomy of long bones observable in different modern and fossil taxa that have converged on graviportality. It combines various approaches using recently developed powerful methods and tools (notably the innovative integration of the whole 3D external and internal bone anatomy in biomechanical modelling) and uses these in an explicit phylogenetic context. Characterizing the various adaptive traits observed in extant taxa and understanding the link between specific isolated microanatomical, morphological and mechanical parameters will enable to: a) define degrees/types of adaptations to graviportality, b) make palaeoecological and paleofunctional inferences, and c) explain adaptations to graviportality in amniote evolutionary history. This new and highly integrative approach will increase our knowledge on the adaptation of the vertebrate skeleton and thereby of the organisms, to environmental demands.

Mots-clés : functional anatomy,bone adaptation
Projet ERC : DUVlight (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : University of Bern — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UB
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 140625.0 €

Here we present an original design of a compact and portable set-up able to generate very broadband (70-100 nm at 300 nm) and powerful (>1uJ/pulse) ultrashort deep-UV pulses. Compared with other schemes, it guarantees an aberration-free propagation, an easy installation and minimal dispersion. The present project aims to bring the current prototype to the level of a commercial device. The conceived design will allow to manufacture a compact, portable and cost effective device, which will be user-friendly and with almost no required maintenance. There is no such a source commercially available and the schemes proposed in scientific literature require an advanced level of competence in optics and laser physics, are not cost effective and unsuitable for industrial applications. There is thus a need of sources for ultrafast broadband radiation in the deep-UV to advance and enable new ultrafast science and extend into this spectral range the technological application of ultrafast laser sources. The implementation of the proposed device will definitively fill this gap.

Mots-clés : ultrafast,achromatic doubling,second harmonic generation,deep uv,femtosecond,non collinear optical amplification,non linear optics
Projet ERC : StemBAT (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Wellcome Trust — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : WT
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1635261.51 €

Here we propose a strategy to control body weight and prevent/reverse obesity based on targeting brown adipose tissue (BAT) to facilitate negative energy balance and prevent adaptive responses to dietary restriction. However, BAT in humans is limited and poorly characterised. Thus, we propose to use stem cells as a tool to gain unique insights into the biology of human brown adipocytes. The General Objective is to identify pathways and factors of potential therapeutic relevance that promote BAT development and/or activation/recruitment using a stem cell based BAT differentiation approach, and then to functionally validate the role of these factors in vitro by genome engineering human stem cell derived adipocytes and in vivo by transplanting these cells into mice. Specific Aims are: 1.To identify molecular mechanisms involved in human brown adipose tissue development and activation. 2. To investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in human white adipose tissue browning/beige cells recruitment 3. To identify new agents/compounds of therapeutic value, able to activate or recruit human brown adipose tissue/brite cells. Experimental strategy: We will use a UCP1-reporter human pluripotent stem cell (PSC) line differentiated into brown and white adipocytes to identify genetic factors that may contribute to brown adipocyte differentiation/activation and white adipocyte browning. Following the identification of candidate genes, we will knock out, constitutively and/or inducibly, both alleles of these genes in human PSC cells, producing a total loss of function. Following the in vitro phenotyping of the cells we will proceed to the in vivo validation of the functional properties/phenotype of human PSC derived brown/brite adipocytes (wild-type and loss of function) by transplanting these cells into mice. Using these reporter tools we will also perform in vitro pharmacological screening and in vivo validation of new compounds that stimulate BAT activation and WAT browning

Mots-clés : brown fat,thermogenesis,obesity
Projet ERC : hmqChIP (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions
Entité participante : Karolinska Institutet — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : KI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 107000.0 €

Here, we develop a highly multiplexed, quantitative, ChIP-Seq technology (hmqChIP-Seq) for commercial exploitation in high-throughput profiling of epigenetic drug on- and off-target effects. Screening efficacy and toxicology of drug candidates in early stages of development has been recognized to be an essential part of drug screening. 90% of all Phase I drug candidates do not reach FDA approval and it is estimated that a quarter of failures relates to unexpected toxicity in humans. This is stunning given that all Phase I drugs have undergone animal-heavy battery of toxicologic tests and showcases the importance of expanding the screening capabilities for drug efficacy and toxicology in human cell-based assays, be it standard culture, organoids or engineered tissues. We believe that the interaction of drugs with the epigenome is an understudied/undervalued area of pre-clinical testing and epigenetic drug profiling will be key in predicting long term outcome in humans. With hmqChIP-Seq, 96 or more drug conditions can be screened against 24 or more epigenomic markers, such as histone or DNA post-translational modifications using specific antibodies and next-generation sequencing read-out. The method development aims to reduce the necessary input material to 1000 cells per condition, allowing it to be placed downstream of typical high-throughput cell-based drug screening assay in a variety of relevant human cell models, such as induced pluripotent stem cells, engineered tissues, organoids. The technology provides a framework for high-throughput, low cost, elucidation of short and long term action and toxicology of epigenetic drugs, or any drug candidate that could affect epigenetic markers.

Mots-clés : epigenomics,high throughput screening  hts,drug screening,drug toxicity,cell based screening