Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : SPRINT (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : Radboud University Nijmegen — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2141250.0 €

Intonation, the modulation of voice pitch, is essential for communication as it conveys information that helps listeners make inferences about the pragmatic intent of the speaker. Despite increased understanding of intonation’s importance, there is little agreement even about essential aspects of its structure and meaning. This is in large part because research has focused either on the form of intonation, often taking a reductive approach to meaning, or has concentrated on meaning but without full scrutiny of form. Crucially, most research has eschewed the study of intonational variability, seeing it as a problem, rather than a natural facet of speech production that needs to be understood and accounted for. Examining all three aspects in tandem is critical for understanding how intonation is structured and functions in communication: considering meaning in the study of intonational form (i.e. phonetics and phonology) can help delimit intonational categories and uncover the limits of within-category variability; in turn, a robust understanding of form will lead to insights into intonational pragmatics. The present proposal will take exactly this integrative approach, based on the PI’s recent research, to examine intonational phenomena attested in English and Greek that have vexed researchers for some time (uptalk, high accents, question tunes). Two varieties per language will be studied, Standard Southern British, Bristol English, Standard Athenian, and Corfiot Greek. Their systematic differences with respect to the phenomena under investigation will allow me to examine cross-linguistic differences, and dialectal variation and its role in communication. The investigation will involve phonetic and pragmatic analysis and modelling, followed by series of behavioural and neurophysiological experiments. Together, these methods will shed light onto the realization, structure and function of intonation, and lead to a robust model of intonational phonology and pragmatics.

Mots-clés : intonation,prosody,communication,english,greek
Projet ERC : PIONEER (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : University of London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : U. London
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 529090.4 €

Intraocular treatments require manipulation of structures with dimensions comparable to hand tremor. The demanded dexterity, coupled with reduced haptic and depth perception, calls for robotic assistance. Despite notable benefits, existing robots are not clinically disruptive but follow well-trodden intervention protocols with significant limitations, e.g. lack of flexibility at the scleral incision and limited manipulation bandwidth, as to avoid scleral, lens, and retinal damage. Robotics also does not obviate the prerequisite of the risky, cataract-inducing vitrectomy, which may cause retinal detachment (RD) or sight loss. Novel interventions like stem-cell delivery pose yet further challenges. Apart from removing healthy vitreous, they require millimetre-long retinal tears, lifting the retinal membrane, and injecting a stem-cell suspension or sheet. Current robots facilitate manipulations but conceivably neither enable alternative approaches nor reduce retinal-tear-induced risks. PIONEER, the proposed snake robot, can disrupt clinical protocol by navigating peri-ocularly and around the orbital muscles to suprachoroidally reach the retina. Revolutionizing existing robot paradigms, PIONEER innovates both scientifically and technically. Optimal robot compliance will ensure force-adaptive peri-ocular steering conforming to the eye’s exterior. A tactile sleeve with micro-sensors will provide exteroceptive force sensing and shape estimation. Enhanced navigation, fusing optical coherence tomography with on-line vessel detection from novel tip-mounted probes, will ensure safe guidance to avoid vessels through imposed virtual fixtures and path planning. No vitrectomy will be required and the posterior scleral incision will leave the retinal membrane intact, minimising RD risk. PIONEER can be an enabler of emerging stem-cell interventions and futuristic procedures like drug-implant insertion and nerve interfacing, currently at human-dexterity limits or impossible.
Projet ERC : Cancer-Recurrence (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : NKI-AVL
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1564393.6 €

Introduction: Current anti-cancer treatments are often inefficient, while many patients initially benefit from anti-cancer drugs eventually experience relapse of resistant tumors throughout the body. Current clinical strategies mainly aim at inducing tumor cell death, but this induction may have unintentional and unwanted side effects on surviving tumor cells. Preliminary data: We show that after chemotherapy-induced initial regression, PyMT mammary tumors reappear. During regression, we observe an increased number of cells that have undergone epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and become migratory. We show that migration can be induced upon uptake of extracellular vesicles (e.g. apoptotic bodies). Our findings suggest that EMT is induced upon chemotherapy, through e.g. EV uptake, potentially leading to migration and growth of surviving cells. Hypothesis and main aim: Based on preliminary data, we hypothesize that tumor cell death induces migration and growth of the surviving tumor cells. We aim to identify the key cell types and mechanisms that mediate this effect, and establish whether interference with these cells and mechanisms can reduce recurrence of tumors after chemotherapy. Approach: We have developed unique intravital imaging tools and genetically engineered fluorescent mice to visualize and characterize if and how dying tumor cells can affect surrounding surviving tumor and stromal cells. We will test whether dying tumor cells can influence the growth, migration, dissemination and metastasis of surviving tumor cells directly or indirectly through stromal cells. We will identify potential targets to block the influence of the dying tumor cells, and test whether this blockade inhibits the unintended side-effects of tumor cell death. Conclusion: With the studies proposed in this grant, we will gain fundamental insights on how induction of tumor cell death, the universal aim of therapy, could play a role in growth and spread of surviving tumor cells.

Mots-clés : intravital imaging,cancer imaging
Projet ERC : EPITOR (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
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 : 1998760.0 €

Ion channel genes have long been linked to Mendelian focal epilepsies, but my recent finding of frequent mutations in DEPDC5 opens completely new perspectives. DEPDC5 is an inhibitor of the mTORC1 (mammalian target of rapamycin) signaling pathway, the master regulator of cell proliferation and growth. Mutations of this gene are found in a wide spectrum of focal epilepsy syndromes, with or without cortical malformations. I propose to examine the links between DEPDC5 and the mTORC1 pathway in cortical development and the genesis of epileptic activity. My proposal work will combine high-throughput sequencing, in vivo proteomics, biochemistry, electrophysiology, and animal behavior testing (video-EEG). Functional analyses will be made on human postoperative tissue and neuronal cultures from human iPSC and specific rodent models. These approaches will enable me to (1) ask if and how the mTORC1 signaling pathway may contribute to epileptogenesis and seizures in patients with DEPDC5 mutations, (2) attempt to explain the diversity of phenotypes, in particular the presence of cortical lesion by searching for somatic brain mutations in the gene, (3) explore neurobiology pathways and partners of DEPDC5, and (4) identify novel actors for inherited focal epilepsies. Our results will help us understand the genesis of epileptic networks, and more generally how defects in mTORC1 signaling cascade cause neurologic conditions. We anticipate genetic studies on germline and somatic mutations will have a significant clinical impact for genetic counseling and improved prognosis. The molecules and pathways that will be studied in this proposal differ completely from ion channels and receptors that have been so far associated with focal epilepsies. Thus I hope to provide a new orientation for the field, to identify novel genetic mechanisms and to provide an unbiased route to new molecular therapeutic targets.

Mots-clés : epilepsy,mtor pathway,next generation sequencing,genetically modified mice models
Projet ERC : POLAR-4DSpace (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : University of Oslo — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UiO
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999111.0 €

Ionosphere is the partially ionized, outermost part of the Earth’s atmosphere. Its dynamics is inherently complex and affected by dynamic conditions in the solar wind. In the polar regions, it is directly coupled to the Earth’s magnetosphere and space plasma. The polar ionosphere is subject to the auroral particle precipitation, instabilities and turbulence, which all influence the energy transfer through the ionosphere and lead to plasma density irregularities which lead to scintillations of trans-ionospheric radio signals. Irregularities span over a large range of scales, from thousands of kilometers down to centimeters, making their investigation a highly challenging task. The state of ionosphere at high latitudes is a crucial aspect of the space weather, which has important impact on today’s society, in particular in the context of increasing shipping, aviation, and other operations in the Arctic. Understanding processes in the polar ionosphere, their technological impacts, and laying foundations for robust models for forecasting space weather effects are one of the major goals in space science. This project will determine the role of auroral particle precipitations and geomagnetic activity for the development of plasma irregularities at high latitudes, and their impacts on the global navigation satellite systems. Through an integrated approach, combining in-situ measurements by sounding rockets with novel multi-payloads, cutting-edge numerical simulations, and statistical studies with ground- and satellite-based observations at both hemispheres, it will provide groundbreaking understanding of plasma irregularities in the polar ionosphere, give insight into the energy transfer in the ionosphere, and lay foundations for the space weather models that will improve security of operations in the polar regions. The project is across scientific domains: it deals with the Earth’s Ionosphere, the near-Earth space environment, and fundamental processes in plasma physics.

Mots-clés : space weather,aurora,plasma irregularities,scintillations,polar ionosphere
Projet ERC : LABELED AMINO ACIDS (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : University of Vienna — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Univie
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Isotope-labeled amino acids are highly valuable and versatile tools to tackle complex biological questions and to accelerate research and therapeutic development. Current production processes are, however, low-yielding, expensive and time-intensive, and cannot be applied to all amino acids, leading to missed therapeutic opportunities and inefficient use of resources. We have addressed these limitations and developed an innovative and more efficient method to produce such isotope-labeled amino acids. Our new technology is fully scalable, substantially undercuts industry production costs, and provides access to products currently not available. The main objective of this project is to advance this technology to a commercializable stage that will enable us to distribute these valuable tools globally. This requires further proof-of-concept data and expansion and optimization of our protocols to bring it to industry standards and scale. This, in turn, will strengthen our intellectual property position, which is crucial for establishing a spin-off company. Anticipated outcomes of successful commercialization of our technology include several economic benefits for the EU, strengthening EU’s leadership in biotechnology and innovation, and –most importantly– technological advancements that will create new research avenues, improve research translation and disease management, and lead to an overall improvement of health and well-being.

Mots-clés : chemical biology,solid phase peptide synthesis  spps,nuclear magnetic resonance  nmr,mass spectrometry,peptides,proteins,recombinant expression
Projet ERC : TRACTION (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Cultures and cultural production
Entité participante : University of Oxford — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Issues of race, belonging, empire, and migration have been at the foreground of public consciousness globally in recent years. Our collective understanding of history and culture is often unsurprisingly at the centre of this discourse, with the foundational role of school education coming particularly under pressure. Imparting a full and complete understanding of issues of race and human mobility is in our collective interest, since the resulting diversity and social inclusion generate a range of socio-economic benefits, from increase in innovation and productivity, to the strengthening of social cohesion and racial equality. The present proposal is to use the research undertaken by the ERC-funded project TIDE (681884) to develop TRACTION, a pioneering platform of training, resources, and community network in one place that will equip teachers to engage with issues of race, belonging, empire, and migration in the classroom. Its dual focus on skills-training and community-building is unique, and designed for both immediate and sustainable impact. It is also designed to be modular and expandable, cuts across subject-boundaries, and can be adapted to different national and international educational systems and examination boards. The ultimate aim will be to translate TIDE’s research into a viable and innovative social enterprise that will that remain available beyond the lifetime of ERC funding, with longstanding and far-reaching socio-economic and cultural impact.

Mots-clés : race,diversity,migration,education,school education,teaching,history,literature,professional training,digital platform,social networking,social enterprise
Projet ERC : BottomUp3D (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Eindhoven University of Technology — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU/e
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1895897.0 €

It is a long held dream in nanoscience to synthesize materials from the bottom-up with atomic-level control of structure and properties, yet the fabrication of nanoelectronics still relies completely on top-down processing. Innovative schemes for bottom-up fabrication will be realized in this project by developing approaches for area-selective atomic layer deposition (ALD), a technique that has the potential to become the new paradigm of bottom-up processing because of its atomic-scale control. Current work on area-selective ALD focuses on the processing of planar substrates, while emerging developments in nanoelectronics and quantum computing require the fabrication of 3D nanostructured devices. Building on recent innovations in my lab, a multidisciplinary approach to area-selective ALD will be employed which combines vapor-phase dosing of inhibitor molecules as a chemical method and the exposure to directional ions from a plasma as a physical method. Fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of chemical inhibition will be acquired, and a new strategy for physical removal of defects will be developed. These methods will be employed on 3D substrates to enable the fabrication of future device structures. By bringing inhibitor molecules and the directional nature of plasma ions together, new flavors of selective processing will be invented including anisotropic or topographically-selective ALD, which opens up a new direction for the field of area-selective ALD. The synergy between my extensive expertise with in-situ reaction mechanism studies and plasma processing, my leading role in the field of area-selective ALD, and the group’s unique facilities for atomic-scale processing, offers a stepping stone to the long-awaited shift from top-down to bottom-up processing. Moreover, this work will allow for the scaling of electronics down to the single-nanometer level.

Mots-clés : atomic layer deposition  ald,area selective deposition  asd,atomic scale processing,surface reaction mechanisms,nanopatterning,plasma surface interaction
Projet ERC : FICOMOL (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Entité participante : Radboud University Nijmegen — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2000000.0 €

It is a long held dream of chemical physicists to study (and to control!) the interactions between individual molecules in completely specified collisions. This project brings this goal within reach. I will develop novel methods to study collisions between individual molecules at temperatures between 10 mK and 10 K, and to manipulate their interaction using electric and magnetic fields. Under these cold conditions, the collisions are dominated by quantum effects such as interference and tunneling. Scattering resonances occur that respond sensitively to external electric or magnetic fields, yielding the thrilling perspective to provide “control knobs” to steer the outcome of a collision. Building on my unique experience with state-of-the-art molecular beam deceleration methods, I will study scattering resonances for chemically relevant systems involving molecules such as OH, NO, NH3 and H2CO in crossed beam experiments. Using external electric or magnetic fields, we will tune the positions and widths of resonances, such that collision rates can be changed by orders of magnitude. This type of “collision engineering” will be used to induce and study hitherto unexplored quantum phenomena, such as the merging of individual resonances, and resonant energy transfer in bimolecular collisions. Measurements of exotic collision phenomena under yet unexplored conditions as proposed here provide excellent tests for quantum theories of molecular interactions, and pave the way towards the engineering of novel quantum structures, or the collective properties of interacting molecular systems. The proposed research program will transform this field from merely “probing nature” with the highest possible detail to “manipulating nature” with the highest possible level of control. It will open up a new and intellectually rich research field in chemical physics and physical chemistry, and will be a major breakthrough in the emerging research field of cold molecules.

Mots-clés : cold molecules,stark deceleration,velocity map imaging,field control of cold collisions
Projet ERC : SYNEXTRACT (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CEA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

It is a matter of strategic independence for Europe to urgently find processes taking into account environmental and economic issues, when mining and recycling rare earth elements (REE). As of 2015, only 1% of used REE were recycled in the EU and 80% of the mining operations were performed in China, hence representing a major Sword of Damoclès for the rest of the world’s economy. With SYNEXTRACT, we propose to leverage on discoveries made (and patented) within ERC-Adv REE-CYCLE, related to new extracting liquid-liquid process. Hence, SYNEXTRACT will try to implement these discoveries in a Solid-liquid extraction process based on Simulated Moving Bed Chromatography. Such process would complement nicely the liquid-liquid one. Indeed, in case of success, it would not only represent a new approach in chromatography, but it would also enable highly flexible purification processes for REEs containing waste streams, that can easily be adapted to various waste stream lixiviates. Due to the high selectivity, it could even be applied to low REE concentration lixiviates. The process flexibility is one of the main bottleneck to enable their recycling as the research and development cost currently necessary to adapt current liquid-liquid extraction processes prohibits it. It should also be mentioned that SYNEXTRACT process would be all aqueous, therefore avoid the use of organic solvent and would drastically reduce process wastes and running costs.

Mots-clés : rare earth,recycling,process,extractant,chromatography