Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : PRIVTOOLS (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer Science and Informatics
Entité participante : Université de technologie de Darmstadt — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999640.0 €

Privacy is a fundamental right and ideally both users’ data and organizations’ intellectual property are protected. Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) can protect data and function privacy. A mature PET to protect data is Multi-Party Computation (MPC). Further PETs are Private Set Intersection (PSI) to compute functions on sets of elements, and Private Function Evaluation (PFE) to protect data and functions. The main goal of PRIVTOOLS is to develop composable PETs and corresponding open-source tools that make them accessible to developers who are non-experts in cryptography. So far, MPC, PSI and PFE were studied mostly separately, and their composition to more complex functions is open. We will develop composable and efficient PETs using various function representations.  We achieve these objectives: 1) Currently, each MPC framework uses a dedicated high-level language. The objective for MPCTool is to give developers unified access to multiple MPC frameworks and function representations from multiple programming languages. This allows technology transfer across MPC frameworks, compare their performance, and protects against vendor lock-in. 2) For set operations, a developer must currently generate circuits for postprocessing elements in the intersection which is cumbersome. To make PSI more accessible, PSITool will be the first tool for PSI that generates optimized PSI variant protocols from programs using common abstractions for sets. 3) For private functions, a developer must currently generate a circuit that is evaluated with a PFE protocol. This is inefficient and often only parts of the function must be hidden. PFETool will be a flexible tool for PFE that uses multiple function representations and automatically chooses efficient PFE protocols for subfunctions.  The tools built in PRIVTOOLS also work with each other, e.g., PFETool can hide the set operations in PSITool. They will allow protecting data and functions in a large variety of applications.

Mots-clés : applied cryptography,privacy enhancing technologies,cryptographic protocols,secure computation,function privacy,multi party computation,private set intersection,private function evaluation,cryptographic engineering,optimization,compilation
Projet ERC : WaveNets (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental Constituents of Matter
Entité participante : Organisation des Nations unies pour l'éducation, la science et la culture — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Unesco
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1986250.0 €

WaveNets aims to establish a novel theoretical paradigm for understanding quantum systems, centred on a network interpretation of many-body wave-functions.  Ongoing experimental progress motivates the need for a new theoretical approach: in the field of quantum simulation and quantum computing, probing capabilities have reached unprecedented levels, with the ability to collect thousands of wave function snapshots with impressive accuracy. However, most of our theoretical understanding of such settings still relies on and relates to few-body observables. This has created a clear gap between experimental capabilities and theoretical tools and concepts available to understand physical phenomena. The overall goal of WaveNets is to bridge this gap by introducing a mathematical framework to describe wave-function snapshots based on network theory — wave function networks — that will enable a completely new set of tools to address open problems in the field of quantum matter.  WaveNets' main objectives are:  - to demonstrate that wave function snapshots of correlated systems are described by scale-free networks, and classify the robustness of quantum simulators according to such; - to formulate methods for quantifying the Kolmogorov complexity of many-body systems, and propose an information-theory-based characterization of topological matter and confinement in gauge theories; - to propose scalable methods for measuring entanglement in quantum simulators and computers, as well as for their validation.  Achieving these objectives will (a) provide unique insights into the information structure of quantum matter, (b) enable methods of probing and controlling matter of direct experimental relevance thanks to the intrinsic scalability of network-type descriptions, and (c) establish a new, interdisciplinary bridge between quantum science, and network and data mining theory, that makes possible knowledge transfer between two mature, yet poorly connected disciplines.

Mots-clés : quantum simulation,entanglement,cold atoms,trapped ions,rydberg atom arrays,data mining
Projet ERC : PresentDead (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Université d'Uppsala — Pays : Suède — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 200000.0 €

The project aims to investigate the practical, mental and emotional dimensions of human interactions with the materials of the dead (graves, human remains and artefacts) in early medieval central and eastern Europe (5th to 8th centuries CE). Based on archaeological and textual evidence, diverse contexts of contact will be investigated through an innovative approach combining cutting-edge scientific methods, technical solutions and new theoretical approaches. The project’s working hypothesis is that perspectives on interaction with the materials of the dead will vary with the ritual stages of funerals.  Early medieval cemeteries comprise of up to hundreds of graves where corpses were generally inhumed in individual graves, frequently together with lavish objects. Many graves were interfered with soon after burial. While disturbed graves have elsewhere been seen as an inferior source of evidence, this project argues that these interventions are important sources for early medieval practices relating to the dead. Investigating cemeteries and out-of-cemetery contexts in four central- and eastern European regions it pursues the following objectives: 1. Investigating the range of practices and contexts in the archaeological records. 2. Analysing textual perspectives in diverse genres. 3. Synthesising material and textual perspectives via an innovative technical solution for semantic integration of data. The methodological objectives for achieving the archaeological goals are: 1. Consolidation of methods and development of research protocols. 2. Development of strategies to mitigate deficiencies of archaeological data. The development of digital tools, moving from high- to low resolution evidence, will be novel and key to the approach.  The project will significantly contribute to our understanding of the relationship between the living and the dead in early medieval Europe.

Mots-clés : mortuary archaeology,taphonomy,early medieval period,digital humanities,
Projet ERC : FIREALARM (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative B iology : from Genes and Genomes to S ystems
Entité participante : University Hospital Bonn — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1991250.0 €

Inflammation is a natural mechanism to restore tissue homeostasis, and its deregulation causes human disease. The programmed cell death form pyroptosis elicits inflammation in a cell-autonomous and non-autonomous fashion by releasing cytokines and ‘danger’ signals. Intriguingly, immune pathology independent of cytokines has alluded to unexplored signaling circuits between cells regulating pyroptotic inflammatory reactions. FIREALARM addresses the fundamental question of the physiological origin of inflammation using convergent system-wide, organismal, cell biological, and molecular approaches. We will test the central hypothesis that endogenous intercellular signaling proteins drive sterile inflammation and shift homeostatic stable to non-resolving chronic states. We will determine paracrine activities of pyroptosis by systematic, iterative ablation of molecule release from dying and perception pathways of sentinel cells. In a complementary approach, we will identify inflammatory signals in vitro and in vivo by newly developed cell type-specific mass spectrometry-based secretomics technologies. Holistic views of intercellular signaling proteins, their exposure, and modification will determine the molecular language orchestrating communication networks between cells and enable the recognition of signals initiating, amplifying, and resolving inflammation. We will achieve a new level of molecular and organismal understanding of intercellular circuits governing homeostasis and conceive strategies to revert chronic conditions. Emerging inflammatory cell death markers will stratify molecular etiology and outcome of patients with sterile inflammatory diseases. Together, FIREALARM tackles the fundamental principles of sterile inflammation relevant for understanding the pathogenesis of chronic metabolic and age-related disorders.

Mots-clés : cytokines,damps,inflammation,intercellular signaling,cell death,pyroptosis
Projet ERC : DEFLAMMATION (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Immunity, Infection and I mmunotherapy
Entité participante : University Hospital Bonn — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1997828.0 €

The innate immune system evokes inflammation to control pathogens or damage. Sophisticated mechanisms interpret molecular triggers to activate inflammasomes or transcription of pro-inflammatory genes. While numerous autoinflammatory conditions underline the need to control inflammation, we still rely on simplistic models to understand its negative regulation. I hypothesize that an intricate signaling network interprets information to prevent or downregulate inflammation. Understanding these so far elusive processes demands radically new cell biology tools, which I will develop and apply in ‘DEFLAMMATION’. I propose to define signaling hubs that integrate cellular input and coordinate effectors to actively downregulate inflammation where beneficial to the organism. To yield unprecedented molecular insights, we will apply nanobodies to inhibit protein function, manipulate post-translation modifications, and visualize endogenous proteins and their binary interactions. I hypothesize that two poorly understood members of the NLR family, NLRC3 and NLRX1, act as signaling hubs that coordinate negative regulation of pro-inflammatory gene expression. No such coordinator is known for inflammasomes. In objective 1, we will pinpoint how NLRC3 controls inflammation and T cell activity. I hypothesize that NLRC3 forms anti-inflammatory signalosomes to control the ubiquitination status of pro-inflammatory signaling components. In objective 2, we will reveal how NLRX1 counteracts interferon responses, inflammation, and proliferation. We will explore whether NLRX1 activation coordinates organelle-specific autophagy to remove pro-inflammatory signaling complexes. In objective 3, we will identify novel regulatory circuits that control inflammasome activation using CRISPR/Cas9 and cDNA screens, taking advantage of a novel reporter we have developed. The anticipated results will reveal entirely new layers of regulation of inflammation with implications for therapeutic interventio

Mots-clés : inflammation,signaling,ubiquitination,autophagy,nanobodies
Projet ERC : Re-Start PD (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : University Hospital Bonn — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1529937.5 €

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder, but current diagnostic criteria identify individuals late, impeding the development of neuroprotective therapies: There is the critical yet unmet need to identify the disease onset timely and to define the inception of pathology. Advancing recognition of early motor deterioration and coupling it with biological evidence of pathological α-synuclein will overcome present barriers and tackle the questions when and where PD starts. Isolated REM sleep behavior disorder, confidently detectable by polysomnography, signals an early α-synucleinopathy. Overseeing a large cohort, I will integrate multimodal motor data on speech, facial expression, hand movements, gait, and long-term actigraphy within a machine learning framework, permitting a tablet-based application for highly mobile uses. This earliest PD motor-fingerprint, common to PD in general, will enable prospective large-scale screening from an unselected population. Motor phenotype detection will be paired with biological confirmation of pathological α-synuclein species in the cerebrospinal fluid using precise seed aggregation assays (SAA), capturing imminent PD earlier than ever before. This universal identification of the earliest phase of PD will allow to explore the initial spread of α-synuclein pathology, elucidating variations of pathology initiation: I will employ α-synuclein SAA on biosamples from the olfactory epithelium (brain-first) and the peripheral autonomic nervous system (body-first) to decode fundamental subtypes. Re-Start PD pairs general PD characteristics - its primal motor phenotype and its biological α-synuclein signatures - outlining the earliest phase of PD prospectively and being readily transferable for broad application to kickstart timely therapeutic innovations. Complementary biobanking, brain-imaging, and follow-up of this unique cohort will foster further biomarker development and subtype determination.

Mots-clés : parkinson s disease,rem sleep behaviour disorder,machine learning,early diagnosis,motor behavior,alpha synuclein,seed amplification assay
Projet ERC : Vision2Action (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : University Hospital Bonn — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 548850.0 €

Our movements influence how we perceive the world. Our eyes are attached to a behaving body creating a complex dynamical stream of input that can provide additional information if we know the movement pattern. The interaction between motor and visual signals is especially pronounced in rodent visual cortex that exhibits a substantial, multi-dimensional contribution from motor signals, even in early visual areas. However, a fundamental principle that governs the interaction between visual and motor signals across neurons and visual areas is currently unknown, especially for freely moving animals. I hypothesize that the interaction between visual and motor tuning in mouse visual cortex provide the animal with a consistent and behaviorally beneficial multi-modal picture of its environment. However, studying the interaction between motor behavior and sensory processing is challenging as experiments face a trade-off between experimental control in head-fixed animals (but limited movement) and the availability of rich movement signals in freely moving animals (but limited experimental control). I propose that this trade-off can be bridged by a data-driven in silico neuroscience approach that compiles experimental data into a digital twin that captures the interaction between physiology, motor behavior, internal state, and a model of the environment. The goal of this proposal is to build such an in silico framework to capture the detailed influence of motor behavior on visual processing in freely behaving mice. I will use this framework to discover fundamental organizational principles of the relation between visual and motor tuning across neurons and areas in mouse visual cortex, use them to test computational theories, and develop computational models to quantify their behavioral benefit. This project will not only change our view on the influence of motor signals in visual cortex, but also yield a computational framework with countless applications in neuroscience.

Mots-clés : visual system digital twin deep learning free behavior system identification virtual environment
Projet ERC : cryoNERVE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: B iological  Mechanisms , Structures  and Functions
Entité participante : University Medical Center Göttingen — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UMG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1986750.0 €

Myelinated axons propagate action potentials across otherwise unsurmountable distances. The overarching hypothesis of the cryoNERVE project is that membrane morphology crucially determines axonal health and function. Mutations in genes coding for membrane-shaping proteins are the major cause of familial axonopathies like hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) and Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease. However, current techniques lack the resolution to ascertain the functions of these proteins and their pathological dysfunction within native nerves. At the same time, the highly specialized architecture of axons and their delicate interplay with glia can only be studied in situ.  I have shown how cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) reveals the structural basis of neuronal function and disease within intact cells. However, cryo-ET imaging of tissues remains a major challenge. In cryoNERVE, we will develop cryo-ET workflows to image native nerve tissue at unprecedented resolution. We will build on these advances to study the function of HSP and CMT proteins within truly physiological environments. Specifically, we will investigate (i) how these proteins shape axonal organelles and their cross-talk, (ii) the mechanisms allowing myelin sheath formation and neuron-glia communication, and (iii) the alterations introduced by axonopathy-causing mutants.  Lastly, we will pioneer the first cryo-ET analyses of vitrified human tissues. Frustratingly, peripheral nerve biopsies from axonopathy patients often cannot be diagnosed with existing methods. We will examine patient biopsies at molecular resolution, and capitalize on our findings in flies and mice to reveal hitherto obscured pathological abnormalities. Thus, cryoNERVE will provide a holistic molecular and structural basis of human axonopathies like HSP and CMT, pave the way for high-resolution analyses of native human tissues and explore the potential of cryo-ET as a diagnostic tool with nanometric precision.

Mots-clés : cryo electron tomography cryo focused ion beam milling endoplasmic reticulum mitochondria myelin membrane morphology axonopathy hereditary spastic paraplegia charcot marie tooth disease
Projet ERC : TargetCKD (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : University Hospital Aachen — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UKA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999063.0 €

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) represents an important medical, social and economic burden with high morbidity and mortality. The prevalence of CKD has reached >10% in the developed world, and CKD globally accounts for more years lived with disability than all neoplasms combined. Therapeutic strategies to treat CKD or tools for risk stratification of patients are limited and the field has produced the fewest translational randomized clinical trials in medicine while diagnosis is still based on invasive tissue biopsies. TargetCKD aims to establish a holistic understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive disease to develop novel diagnostic, predictive and therapeutic options. Concrete objectives are: (1) the development of a platform for identification of novel predictive markers and therapeutic targets in kidney biopsies; (2) the identification of conserved spatio-temporal mechanisms and cellular cross-talk events driving CKD; (3) the validation of mechanisms and therapeutic targets in human 3D organoid systems and development of therapeutics and (4) the development of a noninvasive diagnostic platform from urine. TargetCKD will utilize a broad interdisciplinary expertise with various novel single cell and spatial genomic and computational technologies combined with transgenic mouse models and cutting-edge in vitro platforms. The integration of all these technologies in clinical relevant specimen with follow up data and large independent validation cohorts will allow TargetCKD to radically transform nephrology towards a better understanding of kidney diseases, development of novel diagnostics and risk stratification tools for patient allocation and clinical testing as well as urgently needed therapeutics for patients suffering from CKD. The passion that drives this project results from a simple emerging hypothesis: It is possible to predict CKD and develop therapeutics by an in-depth systems approach utilizing emerging genomic technologies.

Mots-clés : chronic kidney disease
Projet ERC : ProAct (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Université de Twente — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2533250.0 €

Proteins carry out all functions in living cells, from division, metabolism and transport to programmed cell death. Understanding how protein structure and movements relate to their function is key to advancing biology and medicine. A recent breakthrough, interferometric scattering (iSCAT) microscopy, allows us to observe single protein molecules without using fluorescent labels or chemical tethers. This innovation enables label-free protein studies but currently cannot detect changes in protein shape and structure. With ProAct, I aim to enhance iSCAT microscopy by introducing a new way to detect protein conformational changes. The key idea is to measure how a protein responds to an uneven electric field. When a protein moves in this field, it experiences a dielectrophoretic force that depends on its dipole moment, which is influenced by the protein's structure, conformational dynamics, and interactions. Within the ProAct project, we will focus on quantifying this dielectrophoresis force, as it provides a unique experimental approach to accessing protein dipole moments—previously only computable. By using nanoelectrodes to create this inhomogeneous electric field, we can register the protein motion with iSCAT and discern the protein properties from its trajectory. This combination represents a completely new approach to studying protein behavior without labels, as it enriches the palette of protein properties measurable at the single-molecule level. I expect that the ProAct method will make it much easier to study how proteins move and interact with other molecules. It could also change how we think about proteins in electric fields by helping to understand the role of the dipole moment in protein properties. ProAct pushes iSCAT microscopy into exciting new territory for observing molecular dynamics.

Mots-clés : single molecule optics,iscat,dielectrophoresis,protein trapping,protein dynamics,label free