Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : NUMEROUS (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Entité participante : Académie royale néerlandaise des arts et des sciences — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : KNAW
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2500000.0 €

Understanding the mechanisms for consciousness is arguably one of the most intriguing questions of modern neuroscience. Why are some visual stimuli consciously perceived, whereas others remain subliminal? What is the relation between conscious perception, attention and working memory? Recent work of my lab demonstrated that weak but simple stimuli can be reported once they elicit a minimal level of activity in the frontal cortex, which is related to the storage of the stimulus in working memory. For these simple stimuli, the visual cortex acts as a relay station that needs to pass the information to higher cortical areas. However, we found that the perception of more complex visual stimuli relies on a more sustained interaction between visual cortex and associative brain regions, related to scene segmentation and visual attention. These recent results pave the way for a genuine understanding of mechanisms for consciousness, inspiring new paradigms that assess the awareness of stimuli while varying the demands on attention and working memory. The present proposal will be the first to compare the neuronal fate of simple and complex stimuli that do and do not enter consciousness across most brain regions. We will measure the activity of single neurons in human patients who are implanted with electrodes as part of their treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy. We will also use a new method that permits the recording from numerous single neurons within an entire hemisphere of a monkey and characterize neuronal activity in most regions of the cortex and subcortex. We will use perturbation methods at numerous locations throughout the brain in combination with functional imaging in monkeys to measure a “functional connectome” and to investigate the brain regions in which activity does (or does not) readily lead to a reportable experience. The proposed combination of experiments will provide unprecedented insight into how sensory stimuli give rise to conscious perception.

Mots-clés : consciousness,attention,working memory,electrophysiology,imaging,fmri
Projet ERC : EDO (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials Engineering
Entité participante : Conseil national de la recherche — Pays : Italie — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : CNR
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 174375.0 €

EDO will develop protocols for intentional, spatially controlled, and stable electronic doping in metal halide semiconductors. Electronic doping implies engineering of carrier density in semiconductors through the intentional introduction of a defect and it is necessary to achieve high performances in micro and optoelectronic technologies. Unlike established semiconductors, which are typically covalent solids, those belonging to the class of soft materials, such as molecules and polymers, forming van der Waals solids, and metal halide perovskites, forming ionic solids, host complex doping mechanisms. As a result, the design of free carrier density is far from being established and exploited in metal halides perovskites thin films. Intrinsic challenges, such as compensation and migration of defects, charge localization, phase segregation and the strong doping−processing relationship, may hide or hamper the designed doping process. Characterization and control of such phenomena require the combined knowledge of electronic, chemical and morphological/structural information, which is often missing. As a result, reports are often contradictory and advanced tools are in demand to draw a complete picture. Synchrotron facilities may help reaching the target, however, their limited access hampers direct feedback between synthesis and characterization. EDO will develop an unprecedent multimodal experimental tool, in laboratory environment, to quantitatively assess the doping and examine its impact on the optoelectronic properties of metal halides perovskites semiconductors. A photoemission microscope will be coupled to tunable coherent sources, covering the entire spectrum from NIR to soft X-ray radiation to map at nanometer scale the Fermi level shift, the electronic structure and the elemental composition and organization of thin films, and the relative optoelectronic dynamics, transferring the secured knowledge to the development of materials processing.

Mots-clés : defects,metal halide perovskites,optical and electronic spectroscopy and microscopy,optoelectronics
Projet ERC : TOPOMECH (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: B iological  Mechanisms , Structures  and Functions
Entité participante : Conseil national de la recherche — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNR
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1452415.0 €

The nucleus is the stiffest organelle in the cell and is constantly challenged by intrinsic and extrinsic forces that deform the nuclear envelope. Chromosomes are mechanical objects that can sense, transduce and adsorb mechanical forces. Inter-chromosomal contacts and nuclear envelope-associated domains contribute to transduce mechanical stress when cells experience compression, stretching or interstitial migration. We aim to study the mechanical properties of the chromosomes and how genome integrity and the chromatin topological landscape are affected by nuclear deformations. We will combine mechanistic, genetic and genomic studies in yeast (WP1) with genomic, imaging and microfluidic approaches in mammalian cells (WP2). In WP1 we will investigate i) how the topological context influences nucleosome chirality and the epigenetic landscape; ii) how the inter-chromosomal connections mediated by topoisomerase activities influence genome mechanics; iii) how chromosome topology contributes to generate aberrant DNA structures and how DNA damage induces topological changes; iv) how the nuclear envelope and the nucleolus influence chromatin topology and histone modifications; v) how nuclear deformation affects genome integrity and the topological landscape. In WP2 we will study: i) the ATR and ATM-mediated mechanisms controlling nuclear and genome integrity and mechanics, under unperturbed conditions or in response to mechanical stress; ii) how the topological context of the genome responds to mechanical forces generated by cell compression or stretching and the implications for fragile site expression; iii) how mechanical stress generated by interstitial migration influences genome topology, chromosome instability, and those mechanisms causing amplification of specific chromosomal loci. The expected results may contribute to elucidate the mechanisms controlling nuclear and genome mechanics and those pathological processes promoting certain mechano-diseases.
Projet ERC : CORNERSTONES (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Université polytechnique de Catalogne — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 157100.0 €

Between 3000 and 1500 BCE, a relatively small number of Mediterranean and European societies underwent deep changes, leading to large-scale, centralised, and highly unequal economic and political entities. Most of these Early Bronze Age “innovative regions” are identified with the rise of a warrior elite or aristocracy, craft specialisation, agricultural intensification, and expanding exchange networks. What caused the rapid emergence and, centuries later, sudden collapse of these “disruptive societies” is one of history’s most important open questions, particularly in view of their triggering effect on the development of statehood beyond Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. CORNERSTONES will examine the economic factors underlying and connecting the rise and fall of Early Bronze Age disruptive societies by drawing on the heuristic potential of macrolithic tools. No artefact category of later prehistory was involved in a larger range of productive processes, from food processing to metal forging. Ubiquitous and plentiful, their numbers are directly related to production intensity, while their distribution reveals economic specialisation and centralisation. The limited attention so far paid to macrolithic tools in prehistoric archaeology is mainly due to the complexity of the required interdisciplinary approach. CORNERSTONES will meet this challenge with a set of innovative research tools from the fields of geology, material mechanics, functional analysis, ethnoarchaeology, and network analysis. New procedures and scientific standards will be combined in a comparative paleo-economic investigation of three of the most prominent Euro-Mediterranean Bronze Age contexts with disruptive trajectories: the Aegean Bronze Age, including Minoan Crete, the Únětice society in Central Europe, and El Argar in the western Mediterranean. This investigation is critical to the understanding of later disruptive processes and the economic challenges they represent for our own society.

Mots-clés : disruptive social dynamics,early state formation,euro mediterranean bronze age,palaeo economy,macrolithic tools
Projet ERC : IDefix (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Université Humboldt de Berlin — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2499995.0 €

Generating novel polymer functions based on rational design criteria, derived from deep statistical analysis of massive experimental data sets, would fundamentally impact materials development and represent the next evolutionary step in macromolecular engineering.   The IDefix project establishes a generic information-based design strategy to define polymer–surface interactions that represent the key property in various applications. The project focuses on advancing adhesives, to facilitate material-specific adsorption and triggerable desorption by distinct electrochemical transformations.  The rationale of engineering such polymers is extracted from peptide phage display (PD) biopanning with an advanced selection scenario and using next-generation sequencing (NGS). This allows to screen 10^9 sequences and readout of 10^6, providing the data sets to feed machine learning (ML) tools. A new software tool “SurPhage” is developed and tailored to the material-oriented biopanning. Leveraging ML concepts, sequence data interpretation and feature abstraction are combined with sequence-function data of a broad analysis pipeline to learn on the rationale that feeds generative models for in-silico design.  The underlying chemistry relies on peptides with L-3,4-Dihydroxyphenylalanin (Dopa)-residues that show potent catechol anchors and a unique debonding mechanism on quinone oxidation. However, the strategy enables to identify hidden champions and discover novel Dopa-free mechanisms.  Employing the design rationale an IDefix platform is developed, covering polymers from artificial adhesive proteins to copolymers. These enable the electrochemical manipulation of adhesives, coatings or membranes, facilitating applications of debonding on command or dimming of permeability. Combining IDefix materials with piezoelectric elements leads to self-reinforcing mechano-responsive composites and integrating in near-field communication devices enables remote controlled drug release patches.
Projet ERC : Cortical Coupling (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : Université Humboldt de Berlin — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2303750.0 €

The mechanism for anaesthesia has eluded neuroscience despite being used as a medical intervention for more than two centuries. Two facts are clear: loss-of-consciousness under anaesthesia correlates with a massive reduction in global neuronal signalling and a de-coupling of feedback information. We recently found that the apical dendrites of layer 5 pyramidal neurons are effectively "cut off" from the cell body under anaesthesia and that higher order thalamic input maintains dendro-somatic coupling via the activation of metabotropic glutamate and acetylcholine receptors. We hypothesize that dendro-somatic coupling, the influence of the apical dendrite on the soma, regulates the flow of information around the brain. If true, this would mean that dendro-thalamic coupling is a ubiquitous mechanism by which the brain, via thalamo-cortical interactions, can regulate the degree to which feedback is reintegrated into any given cortical column. Moreover, since human pyramidal neurons are twice as long as rodent neurons, the issue of dendro-somatic coupling in human neurons is even more profound.  Here, we propose to comprehensively investigate this cortical coupling mechanism in vitro and in vivo using state-of-the-art approaches developed in my laboratory and specifically designed to investigate dendritic signalling. We will also perform experiments in resected cortical tissue from human patients using fast-viral expression of optogenetic constructs, an approach that we have also developed and tested in my laboratory. Lastly, we use modelling to probe the consequences of dendro-somatic coupling both for single-cell computation and the principles of multi-compartment neuronal networks.  Dendro-somatic coupling as a dynamic mechanism for global neuronal signalling is a bold new perspective for which we have clear evidence, and which stands to revolutionize our understanding of cortex and possibly also provide insights into more efficient neural network architectures.

Mots-clés : cerebral cortex,dendrites,anesthesia,metabotropic receptors
Projet ERC : ADA (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Mathematics
Entité participante : Université de la Sarre — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2419896.0 €

This project lies at the nexus of complex and symbolic dynamics, group theory, decision problems and computation. It aims to solve major problems in each of these fields by means of automatic actions and relations.  Finite state automata, pervasive in theoretical computer science, will serve to define self-similar mathematical objects, and produce efficient algorithms to manipulate them. — I will explore a novel notion of automatically acting group, encompassing the previously unrelated notions of automatic groups, automata groups and substitutive shifts.  Geometric group theory propounds the vision of groups as geometric objects. A basic notion is volume growth, and Milnor's still open “gap problem” asks for its possible range. — In this proposal, I will give candidates of groups with very slow superpolynomial growth, defined by their automatic action on dynamical systems, and a proof strategy.  A celebrated open problem by Gromov asks whether all groups are “sofic”. This property has too many valuable consequences to always be true, yet there is no known non-example! — I will present a strategy of producing non-sofic groups closely associated to automata.  Rational maps on the Riemann sphere provide a rich supply of dynamical systems. A fundamental goal is to give a combinatorial description of the dynamics across families of maps, constructing models of parameter space. — I will encode the maps via automatic actions, and study relations between automata to produce such models. I aim to achieve a full topological description (including the long-open connectedness problem) of Milnor's “slices” of quadratic maps.  This project will tackle these fundamental questions from group theory and dynamics, and develop presently unexplored interactions between them, through a unified use of automata. It will prove decidability of certain algorithmic problems such as Dehn's and Tarski's, and construct efficient tools to further our exploration of these mathematical universes.

Mots-clés : group theory decision problems symbolic dynamics complex dynamics
Projet ERC : QUEERSHIP (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Studies of Cultures and Arts
Entité participante : Université de Varsovie — Pays : Pologne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2500000.0 €

The marginalization of Central and Eastern Europe in queer kinship and family studies has created a critical gap in understanding global LGBTIQ* family dynamics. Dominant theories, shaped largely by Anglo-American contexts, often overlook the diversity of family structures and practices in other regions. QUEERSHIP addresses this gap through the first transnational, interdisciplinary study of queer kinship across Poland, Hungary, Czechia, and Croatia. QUEERSHIP aims to develop the Multidimensional Sociocultural Model of Queer Kinships, challenging dominant paradigms and broadening the understanding of family, kinship, gender, and sexuality. Unlike most scholarship, which often focuses on same-sex families or separately on trans experiences, QUEERSHIP adopts a holistic approach by studying LGBTIQ* families together, considering all identities and relational practices within one framework. It also employs a multi-actor perspective, incorporating the voices of significant others, activists, and professionals alongside LGBTIQ* families. Using a mixed and multi-methods approach, QUEERSHIP combines discourse analysis, longitudinal ethnography, focus group interviews, and a large-scale survey to comprehensively explore how LGBTIQ* families are formed, maintained, and displayed across diverse sociocultural and political landscapes. Additionally, it applies participatory action research to refine methods and keep the research responsive to participants' lived realities. By integrating diverse perspectives and employing a robust interdisciplinary framework, the project offers a groundbreaking approach that decentralizes and expands (queer) kinship and family studies. QUEERSHIP findings, innovative methodological approach, and the proposed MSMQK will impact scholarly debates in gender, queer and kinship studies, as well as postcolonial and post-socialist studies, paving the way for future research that better reflects the complexities of LGBTIQ* family lives.

Mots-clés : lgbtiq families,queer kinship,sexuality,gender,family studies,central and eastern europe
Projet ERC : PLIODIS (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Vrije Universiteit Brussel — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1789653.75 €

Modern humans are unique in their ability to adapt to, and to thrive in, different environments. This trait facilitated their dispersal out-of-Africa to higher latitudes, i.e. to temperate and seasonal habitats, during the Pleistocene. However, there are Plio-Pleistocene hominins at higher latitudes in South Africa (SA) from ~3.7Ma onwards. Did human behavioural/physiological flexibility evolve early in our evolutionary history? Alternatively, did Pliocene hominins occupy such temperate zones due to different palaeoclimatic conditions in deep time and/or due to stochastic events? To untangle these questions this project will: (1) determine the geomorphological and palaeoecological changes in the Kalahari/proto-Limpopo basin, (2) create dynamic palaeo-precipitation/-vegetation models from various archives, (3) carry out detailed anatomical, functional and morphometric analyses of the hominin fossil record and (4) combine the datasets to appraise species diversity (functional adaptations), geneflow (hybridization) and dispersal scenarios (palaeobiogeography). 3 key working hypotheses underlie the proposal: 1. >2.6Ma East African (EA) hominin ranges expanded/contracted in accord with wet and dry phases; periodically, the southernmost populations became reproductively isolated. Early SA hominins represent descendants of Australopithecus anamensis and Australopithecus afarensis, respectively. 2. ~2.6-1.5Ma With the onset of the Northern Hemisphere Glaciation and the re-organisation of the drainage pattern within the Kalahari basin, dispersal corridors repeatedly closed (vicariance) and opened, resulting in intermittent levels of gene flow (i.e. hybridization) between EA and SA hominins. 3. <~1.5Ma Tectonic and hydrographic changes led to the Zambezi River becoming a powerful barrier during the Pleistocene. SA hominins younger than 1.5Ma are likely the result of endemism; competitive exclusion amongst these hominins resulted in exploitation of distinct ecological niches

Mots-clés : palaeoanthropology hominin palaeobiology plio pleistocene hominins south african hominins hominin functional anatomy hominin diversification palaeoscience homo
Projet ERC : EXPEDITE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Telethon Foundation — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2136303.0 €

In vivo gene therapy based on a single administration of adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors is emerging as an effective therapeutic option for both monogenic and complex diseases. Given the episomal nature of the AAV genome, its applications are limited to non-replicating tissues like retina or adult liver. Several AAV-based products that target these tissues are either approved or in advanced clinical development. Despite this, some limitations still remain, including: the potential for insertional mutagenesis associated with genome-wide AAV integration; the loss of transgene expression from replicating tissues like newborn liver; and the challenge to counteract toxic gain-of-function mutations, which cause dominant diseases for which canonical gene replacement is ineffective. EXPEDITE aims to integrate therapeutic DNA at desired genomic loci safely and effectively, thus overcoming the above limitations. EXPEDITE will go beyond the current state-of-the-art by implementing and comparing two parallel strategies: (i) novel Cas fusion proteins to recruit DNA repair machineries at induced double stand breaks (DSBs) to maximize on-target donor DNA integration; (ii) novel cleavage-free platforms for therapeutic DNA integration, based on transposases or bacterial single strand-DNA annealing proteins. The therapeutic relevance of these platforms will be tested in the retina and liver, two highly relevant tissues for gene therapy, using animal models of inherited retinal degenerations and lysosomal storage diseases, respectively, and, ultimately, non human primates. To reduce the risk of potential off-targets, EXPEDITE will also test non-viral vectors for transient delivery of the genome editing tools while delivering the donor DNA via AAV. The results from EXPEDITE will allow significant expansion of the patient population that can benefit from in vivo gene therapy and may represent a change of paradigm for gene therapy by replacing canonical gene addition approaches.

Mots-clés : gene therapy,adeno associated viral vectors,aav,genome editing,liver,retina