Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : BEGMAT (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : HU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1198977.5 €

There is an apparent lack of non-metallic 2D-matrials for the construction of electronic devices, as only five materials of the “graphene family” are known: graphene, hBN, BCN, fluorographene, and graphene oxide – none of them with a narrow bandgap close to commercially used silicon. This ERC-StG proposal, BEGMAT, outlines a strategy for design, synthesis, and application of layered, functional materials that will go beyond this exclusive club. These materials “beyond graphene” (BEG) will have to meet – like graphene – the following criteria: (1) The BEG-materials will feature a transfer of crystalline order from the molecular (pm-range) to the macroscopic level (cm-range), (2) individual, free-standing layers of BEG-materials can be addressed by mechanical or chemical exfoliation, and (3) assemblies of different BEG-materials will be stacked as van der Waals heterostructures with unique properties. In contrast to the existing “graphene family”, (4) BEG-materials will be constructed in a controlled way by covalent organic chemistry in a bottom-up approach from abundant precursors free of metals and critical raw materials (CRMs). Moreover – and unlike – many covalent organic frameworks (COFs), (5) BEG-materials will be fully aromatic, donor-acceptor systems to ensure that electronic properties can be addressed on macroscopic scale. The potential to make 2D materials “beyond graphene” is a great challenge to chemical bond formation and material design. In 2014 the applicant has demonstrated the feasibility of the concept to expand the “graphene family” with triazine-based graphitic carbon, a compound highlighted as an “emerging competitor for the miracle material” graphene. Now, the PI has the opportunity to build a full-scale research program on layered functional materials that offers unique insights into controlled, covalent linking-chemistry, and that addresses practicalities in device manufacture, and structure-properties relationships.
Projet ERC : BEGMAT (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Charles University — Pays : Rép. Tchèque — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 163560.0 €

There is an apparent lack of non-metallic 2D-matrials for the construction of electronic devices, as only five materials of the “graphene family” are known: graphene, hBN, BCN, fluorographene, and graphene oxide – none of them with a narrow bandgap close to commercially used silicon. This ERC-StG proposal, BEGMAT, outlines a strategy for design, synthesis, and application of layered, functional materials that will go beyond this exclusive club. These materials “beyond graphene” (BEG) will have to meet – like graphene – the following criteria: (1) The BEG-materials will feature a transfer of crystalline order from the molecular (pm-range) to the macroscopic level (cm-range), (2) individual, free-standing layers of BEG-materials can be addressed by mechanical or chemical exfoliation, and (3) assemblies of different BEG-materials will be stacked as van der Waals heterostructures with unique properties. In contrast to the existing “graphene family”, (4) BEG-materials will be constructed in a controlled way by covalent organic chemistry in a bottom-up approach from abundant precursors free of metals and critical raw materials (CRMs). Moreover – and unlike – many covalent organic frameworks (COFs), (5) BEG-materials will be fully aromatic, donor-acceptor systems to ensure that electronic properties can be addressed on macroscopic scale. The potential to make 2D materials “beyond graphene” is a great challenge to chemical bond formation and material design. In 2014 the applicant has demonstrated the feasibility of the concept to expand the “graphene family” with triazine-based graphitic carbon, a compound highlighted as an “emerging competitor for the miracle material” graphene. Now, the PI has the opportunity to build a full-scale research program on layered functional materials that offers unique insights into controlled, covalent linking-chemistry, and that addresses practicalities in device manufacture, and structure-properties relationships.
Projet ERC : AUROMYC (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : University of Würzburg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1891017.5 €

There is an intense interest in the function of human Myc proteins that stems from their pervasive role in the genesis of human tumors. A large body of evidence has established that expression levels of one of three closely related Myc proteins are enhanced in the majority of all human tumors and that multiple tumor entities depend on elevated Myc function, arguing that targeting Myc will have significant therapeutic efficacy. This hope awaits clinical confirmation, since the strategies that are currently under investigation to target Myc function or expression have yet to enter the clinic. Myc proteins are global regulators of transcription, but their mechanism of action is poorly understood. Myc proteins are highly unstable in normal cells and rapidly turned over by the ubiquitin/proteasome system. In contrast, they are stabilized in tumor cells. Work by us and by others has shown that stabilization of Myc is required for tumorigenesis and has identified strategies to destabilize Myc for tumor therapy. This work has also led to the surprising observation that the N-Myc protein, which drives neuroendocrine tumorigenesis, is stabilized by association with the Aurora-A kinase and that clinically available Aurora-A inhibitors can dissociate the complex and destabilize N-Myc. Aurora-A has not previously been implicated in transcription, prompting us to use protein crystallography, proteomics and shRNA screening to understand its interaction with N-Myc. We have now identified a novel protein complex of N-Myc and Aurora-A that provides an unexpected and potentially groundbreaking insight into Myc function. We have also solved the crystal structure of the N-Myc/Aurora-A complex. Collectively, both findings open new strategies to target Myc function for tumor therapy.

Mots-clés : tumor biology,cancer,oncogenes,neuroendocrine tumors
Projet ERC : AUROMYC (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : University of Leicester — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 0.0 €

There is an intense interest in the function of human Myc proteins that stems from their pervasive role in the genesis of human tumors. A large body of evidence has established that expression levels of one of three closely related Myc proteins are enhanced in the majority of all human tumors and that multiple tumor entities depend on elevated Myc function, arguing that targeting Myc will have significant therapeutic efficacy. This hope awaits clinical confirmation, since the strategies that are currently under investigation to target Myc function or expression have yet to enter the clinic. Myc proteins are global regulators of transcription, but their mechanism of action is poorly understood. Myc proteins are highly unstable in normal cells and rapidly turned over by the ubiquitin/proteasome system. In contrast, they are stabilized in tumor cells. Work by us and by others has shown that stabilization of Myc is required for tumorigenesis and has identified strategies to destabilize Myc for tumor therapy. This work has also led to the surprising observation that the N-Myc protein, which drives neuroendocrine tumorigenesis, is stabilized by association with the Aurora-A kinase and that clinically available Aurora-A inhibitors can dissociate the complex and destabilize N-Myc. Aurora-A has not previously been implicated in transcription, prompting us to use protein crystallography, proteomics and shRNA screening to understand its interaction with N-Myc. We have now identified a novel protein complex of N-Myc and Aurora-A that provides an unexpected and potentially groundbreaking insight into Myc function. We have also solved the crystal structure of the N-Myc/Aurora-A complex. Collectively, both findings open new strategies to target Myc function for tumor therapy.

Mots-clés : tumor biology,cancer,oncogenes,neuroendocrine tumors
Projet ERC : IATSO (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Middlesex University — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 43258.19 €

There is arguably a lack of research on organizations with social goals in management. For an extreme case, i.e., of poverty, Prahalad (2006) described compelling examples of innovative organizations in South Asia, which he suggested served the poor. However, very little is known about: 1) What factors ‘cause’ social organizations, for instance, in settings of extreme poverty, to grow and scale up ‘successfully,’ and how and why?, and 2) What organizational factors influence ‘social performance’ for target groups, and how and why, and under which conditions (where and when), and for whom? Building on insights from our earlier theoretical and empirical work on networks, leadership, and learning, as well as our extensive pilot studies in India, we will explore how and why social organizations grow and scale up, in relation to social outcomes for relevant target groups, using mixed methods (a qualitative phase followed by a quantitative phase, to first build and then test theory). We propose to study organizations in an extreme setting, where arguably, social problems are worst: of poverty in South Asia, and picked the education sector given its potential importance for enabling people to move out of poverty. We believe that a better understanding of how and why organizations scale up successfully to enable target groups in poverty to be more proactive is also relevant from a practical perspective. It is for instance at the heart of the new Sustainable Development Goals, and it is our hope to make a contribution into this direction.

Mots-clés : social organizations,poverty,education
Projet ERC : MUMVIP (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Imperial College London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149633.0 €

There is ever increasing evidence that the vaginal microbiome plays an important role in reproductive health. Studies have shown that dysbiotic states can culminate in bacterial vaginosis, urinary tract infections and premature birth. Although the microbiome is usually characterised by 16S rRNA sequencing, the methodology is time consuming and expensive. Here we describe the development of a desorption ionisation mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) based technique which characterises microbial community structures based upon metabolomic analysis. The technique has been successfully demonstrated for a range of applications and here we describe its commercial development as a diagnostic tool, firstly, for assessing the potential success rates of in vitro fertilisation treatments and, secondly, for stratifying patients at higher risk of pre-term birth. During the first 12 months of the project the technology will be assessed using a unique sample set collected as part of two longitudinal cohort studies. During the later stages a thorough market assessment will be performed to identify the addressable demand and to evaluate market competitors. It is envisioned that this information will allow an in depth business case, including our current intellectual property position, to be written, from which further funding can be obtained for the eventual creation of a spin out company.

Mots-clés : metabolomics,diagnostics,microbiome,reproductive health
Projet ERC : NOVACHIP (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : University of Nottingham — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149951.0 €

There is great need to develop safer and more biologically relevant models for drug screening. Recent reports indicate that up to 20% of acute kidney complications can be linked to drug-induced nephrotoxicity and more than 40 molecules found to reduce Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)-related plaques in animal models were shown to be ineffective in AD patients. It is increasingly evident that both in vitro and in vivo models being used to develop drugs have a limited capacity to predict the pathophysiology of human disease, personalized response, and off-target drug toxicity. The inability to properly test drugs and treatments to diseases such as AD constitutes a risk for pharmaceutical companies and a major obstacle to overcome. This ERC PoC proposal aims to establish a practical microfluidic fabrication process capable of recreating structural and biomechanical features of native blood vessels. Specifically, we aim to develop a scalable 3D Blood-Brain-Barrier in vitro model (BBB-on-a-chip) able to provide a higher level of biological relevance than current in vitro models. The development of such a system would represent a major break-through for the pharmaceutical industry generating therapies for a variety of neurological disorders. Thanks to the ERC Starting Grant STROFUNSCAFF, we have developed a simple fabrication process that combines bioprinting and self-assembly to grow functional fluidic devices with endothelialized vessel-like capillaries (patent application in preparation). NOVACHIP proposes to a) build scalable microfluidic devices made from capillaries that incorporate relevant cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) components, exhibit tissue-like stiffness, and can be designed with specific sizes and geometries to better resemble the native BBB and b) compare it to a commercially available in vitro model as well as c) an established rat model by quantifying permeability of specific imaging biomarkers for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technique.

Mots-clés : self assembly,organs on a chip,biofabrication,in vitro models,blood brain barrier
Projet ERC : FIRMNET (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
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 : 960330.0 €

There is mounting evidence that firms are becoming more fragmented; production is less often made “in-house”. Firms buy inputs from abroad. Tasks are often split in parts. Some are offshored, others are subcontracted. Hence, firms buy services from other, local or international, firms. But they also supply inputs to other firms. Technical change, the internet, and globalization, all facilitate this transformation. In order to better understand how firms thrive in the new global environment, the proposed research aims to construct a networks view of the firm. Fragmentation offers new opportunities: firms may specialize in what they make best, hence creating a business network of customers and suppliers. Networks are also useful to secure provision of fragmented tasks. The firms’ suppliers of goods and services – accountants, logisticians, consultants… -- may well be related to the firm through its workers’ social networks: family ties, boardroom relations… These social networks should be useful when times are tough -- board members could help find financing in banks where their schoolmates have a job – or when times are unusually good -- employees could help in spotting the right hires among their former co-workers. The proposed research will focus on how firms social and business networks help firms to be resilient in the face of shocks. Resilience will be measured using the firms’ and workers’ outcomes – value-added, wages, employment, or occupations. The research will have a theoretical component using general equilibrium models with heterogeneous firms, an empirical component with unique data sources from at least two countries (France, Sweden), and an “econometric theory” component which will seek to develop techniques for the study of many-to-one matches in the presence of networks. The research will speak to the labor economics community but also to the international trade community, the management community, as well as the econometrics community.

Mots-clés : social networks,business networks,firms and workers
Projet ERC : SIMULTAN (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : Max Planck Society — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : MPG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 376201.5 €

There is no doubt that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has led to a breakthrough in our ability to measure how the complexities of the mind are rooted in biology. However, deactivation of certain brain areas during cognitive control and increased activation of prefrontal areas in aging are two examples of consistently found patterns of fMRI activation that have had a large impact on the study of the human mind, but that prompt major questions of interpretation. The physiological basis of the fMRI signal reflects interplay between hemodynamics and metabolic demands that vary across the brain, as well as between different tasks and individuals, and cannot be resolved by fMRI alone. To be able to use non-invasive imaging to distinguish a normally aging brain from one that is in the pre-clinical stages of disease, it is important to understand the neurobiological basis of these functional brain changes. Positron emission tomography (PET) is a molecular imaging method that is able to monitor brain glucose metabolism, which stems primarily from synaptic activity and is invariant to changes in blood flow. Studies that have made use of the complementary information gained from fMRI and PET to investigate human brain function have had to rely on sequential scans, and correlation of the signals from both modalities between individuals. The investigation of within-person switches between different mental states with complementary modalities is only made possible by the recent development of a hybrid PET-MR system, which, for the first time, allows simultaneous assessment of fMRI signal, blood flow and PET glucose metabolism during cognitive task performance. The proposal is structured in three work packages that include PET-fMRI scans in 30 healthy younger and 40 older adults. The analyses are designed to disentangle the hemodynamic and metabolic contributions to fMRI deactivations and prefrontal over-activation in aging during cognitive task performance.

Mots-clés : functional magnetic resonance imaging,positron emission tomography,human brain networks
Projet ERC : HiPhore (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
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 : 1922973.0 €

Thermophoresis denotes the motion of dissolved species in fluids created by temperature gradients. In water, the origin of thermophoresis is multiple, complex and still a matter of active research activities for solutes such as proteins, DNA or colloids. Thermophoresis at small scales (sub-100 µm) aroused a strong interest this last decade because it makes the process faster and because of the development of important applications in life sciences, e.g. in bioanalytics. However, reducing the spatial scale makes quantitative and non-invasive measurements of temperature and molecular concentration more challenging. In the HiPhore project, using gold nanoparticles under illumination as nanosources of heat, I wish to achieve major breakthroughs in the field of microscale thermophoresis in liquids (MTL): (i) We will develop new microscopy tools and pioneer their use in the context of MTL: we will implement the possibility to shape arbitrarily complex microscale temperature profiles and to quantitatively image in parallel the resulting fields of temperature and molecular concentration using label-free advanced optical tools. (ii) Thanks to these tools, we will study the enigmatic origin of protein thermophoresis with a new glance. We will also explore a new regime, that I coin super-thermophoresis, consisting in thermophoresis in superheated liquid water up to 200°C. We have shown that such a metastable state can be achieved at ambient pressure using gold nanoparticles under illumination at their plasmonic resonance. (iii) Based on this gain of knowledge and know-how, we will develop two new applications of MTL. The first one consists in studying the thermal stability of proteins by thermophoresis with a label-free approach. The second one consists in using a superthermophoretic trap to enable for the first time the culture and the real-time observation of hyperthermophilic microorganisms (living up to 113°C) in vivo at ambient pressure under optical microscopy means.

Mots-clés : plasmonics