Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : VaxVision (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Immunity, Infection and I mmunotherapy
Entité participante : Institut Karolinska — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499525.0 €

Vaccines are critical in preventing viral diseases, and recent advances in vaccine development and delivery platforms have enhanced their reach and efficacy. Viral glycoproteins that mediate host cell entry are the primary target of the humoral immune response and thus the main antigenic component of vaccines. However, for many viruses, we lack fundamental biological insights that would easily allow transforming their glycoproteins into highly effective vaccine antigens. In this proposal, I introduce a completely novel approach to thoroughly extract structural and functional insights of viral glycoproteins for rational design of superior antigens. By conducting nanobody repertoire screens, I will bypass common constraints encountered in antibody screening, such as immunodominance bias and redundancy. Contrasting with conventional techniques that narrowly target a limited selection of epitopes, my approach promises an exhaustive mapping of glycoprotein surfaces and epitopes. This paradigm shift enables antigen rather than antibody or nanobody characterization. By determining high-resolution cryoEM structures of nanobodies bound to glycoproteins in transitional states, we will understand their structural dynamics. Equipped with these unparalleled insights, we will harness pioneering deep learning methods to computationally design glycoproteins with enhanced antigenic form and exposed neutralizing surfaces. I will showcase this method for viruses with high case fatality rates, including Hendra, Nipah, Lassa, Tick-borne encephalitis, and Borna disease viruses. VaxVision is set to offer a comprehensive framework for the antigen design of these and genetically or structurally related viruses. My work aims to capitalize on the unused potential for vaccine antigen improvement and will provide an innovative workflow for extracting mechanistic insights and leveraging them for vaccine antigen design, with the potential to drive vaccine innovations beyond just viral pathogens.

Mots-clés : structure based vaccine design,viral glycoproteins,nanobodies,protein design,virus entry,re emerging viruses
Projet ERC : TRACE (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Immunity, Infection and I mmunotherapy
Entité participante : Institut Karolinska — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499932.0 €

The current Covid-19 pandemic highlights the need to gain better understanding of precise mechanisms that enable immune control of viral infections. Although it is established that CD8+ T cells are required to suppress viremia, most view these cells simply as ?killer T cells? based almost exclusively on studies of blood. I recently discovered that efficient immune control of HIV is mediated primarily by non-killer resident memory CD8+ T cells, whereas CD8+ T cells with high ?killer instinct? are mainly confined to the vasculature. These observations force a reevaluation of how antiviral CD8+ T cells are distributed anatomically and function in the tissue spaces where most viruses replicate. Using cutting-edge single-cell technologies on unique paired tissue samples from human organ donors, my aim here is to challenge prevailing concepts in the field of adaptive immunology and reassess how and where CD8+ T cells actually target viruses in the human body. My group will first use single-cell barcoding techniques to establish a reference map of CD8+ T cell clones specific for multiple viruses across tissue sites. We will then dissect this information to determine whether distinct resident memory CD8+ T cell clones and/or subsets exhibit differential antiviral functions across tissue sites. In parallel, we will use more mechanistic approaches to define the epigenetic imprints and functional properties of antiviral CD8+ T cells, aiming to determine to what extent these features are shaped by subset fate, anatomical location, and/or the nature of the expressed T cell receptor. A specific emphasis throughout this project will be to translate the emerging knowledge to the field of Covid-19, aiming to understand how CD8+ T cells control SARS-CoV-2. This ambitious but technically feasible project will establish a systematic foundation for future studies of antiviral T cells in humans and inform the development of more effective vaccine platforms to combat future viral threats.

Mots-clés : t cells,clonotypes,location,function,virus
Projet ERC : HYPOR (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and Processes Engineering
Entité participante : École polytechnique de Milan — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : PoliMi
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1482520.0 €

Reactive substances transported in river corridors undergo several transformations having important implications for the fate of toxic chemicals and the health of fluvial ecosystems. Delivery of substances into the slow and geochemically-microbially rich hyporheic zone delays their downstream transport and promotes opportunities for biogeochemical reactions. The resulting delay and reactivity at larger scales are shaped by the ubiquitous heterogeneity of environmental porous media and the temporal fluctuations that typify river corridors which control transport and mixing limitations in the reactive regions of the hyporheic zone. However, the most widespread upscaling pictures neglect these fundamental aspects, assuming either a transient storage in a well-mixed hyporheic zone or pure advective transport along non-interacting hyporheic streamlines. The paradigm of oversimplification leads to severe shortcomings, such as limited transferability of findings and great uncertainty in large-scale predictions.  HYPOR pursues a paradigm-shift: ground the upscaling of reactive-transport in river corridors on the mechanistic knowledge of the hyporheic dynamics. First, we will improve the understanding of heterogeneity and temporal fluctuations controls through comprehensive numerical investigations at small scales. Second, this will allow to quantify, on a physical basis, the stochasticity in the transport and mixing limitations of point-injections (Green functions) as they encounter reactive regions. The stochastic evolutions of Green functions will be the building block of a novel reactive-transport upscaled model to overcome current shortcomings. Yet, the hidden nature of the hyporheic zone leads to uncertainty. Third, HYPOR will exploit the link between small-scale uncertain properties and physics-based upscaling elements in a new uncertainty analysis framework that propagates uncertainty at small scales onto large-scale predictions, quantifying their reliability.

Mots-clés : hyporheic reactive transport upscale reactive transport heterogeneous porous media solute mixing in porous media uncertainty quantification
Projet ERC : UNITES (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Human Mobility, Environment, and Space
Entité participante : École polytechnique de Milan — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : PoliMi
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1143481.4 €

Geopolitical and socio-economic uncertainties are putting the European and Global energy transitions at stake. These deep uncertainties affect the analytical assessments underpinning energy and climate policies. For example, the models used to inform energy planning rely on uncertain forecasts and assumptions for future energy demands, macroeconomic indicators, social acceptance, fuel prices, technology costs, and climate scenarios. Due to fundamental methodological, computational, and data challenges, this uncertainty is at best rarely considered in energy planning, which increases the risk of failing to meet our urgent climate targets. This makes accounting for uncertainty one of the major unsolved problems in energy planning.  UNITES addresses these limitations to enable a new paradigm for long-term energy planning. In contrast to current approaches, which try to accurately predict the future, UNITES’ ambition is a systematic integration of uncertainty in energy-climate models. The project will result in three fundamental contributions: (i) theoretical developments to consider different types of uncertainty in energy planning models; (ii) data to quantify and characterize input uncertainties; (iii) AI methods to streamline the complex outputs of uncertainty studies into interpretable policy decisions.  The transferable and interdisciplinary developments across the data science, energy, and social sciences domains, unique to Europe and not available in concert elsewhere in the world, will bring about a breakthrough scientific contribution by overcoming important barriers for uncertainty analyses in a wide array of disciplines. The project will also be highly impactful on society, bringing together for the first time quantitative and qualitative dimensions to provide decision-makers with actionable policies to steer the energy transition, which will be central to ensuring that we can meet our climate neutrality targets in the face of a highly unpredictable future.

Mots-clés : uncertainty energy planning energy transition decision making modeling
Projet ERC : InterLab (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Université norvégienne de sciences et de technologie — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499098.0 €

Transport of energy and particles across vapor-liquid interfaces is central for growth of rain drops in the atmosphere, evaporation from lakes, distillation columns, development of micro/nano-fluidic devices and much more. The objective of InterLab is to develop theory and methods to reproduce evaporation rates from steady-state experiments with water and octane within an accuracy of 10%. Such a theory is needed urgently since the established alternatives overpredict evaporation rates of water by 2-3 orders of magnitude. The core component of this new theory is the local thermal conductivity in the interfacial region. To reach its objectives, InterLab must fill major knowledge gaps in the fundamental understanding of transport across vapor-liquid interfaces. The tensorial behavior of the local thermal conductivity at the interface will be described and the nature of the thermal insulation layer at the vapor-side of the vapor-liquid interface will be understood. Octane and water will be investigated to clarify the role of hydrocarbon chain contributions and hydrogen bonds. The predictions from the new theory will be tested against nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations and new evaporation experiments. To be able to distinguish the different transport mechanisms for evaporation and validate the theory, two experimental rigs will be built. The rigs will measure the pressure to an accuracy that is one order of magnitude better than what has been reported in the literature. A computational fluid dynamics model will be used to extract information about the local heat flux across the vapor-liquid interface to achieve sufficiently high accuracy. The overarching goal is to obtain an understanding, a theory, and quantitative agreement from the molecular level to lab-scale experiments.

Mots-clés : vapor liquid interfaces,evaporation,condensation,theory,experiments
Projet ERC : MidWay (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Soci al World and Its Interactions
Entité participante : Université norvégienne de sciences et de technologie — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1431630.0 €

About one-fifth of the world's greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture. Much of this relates to livestock used for animal-based foods. Rather than arguing for increased efficiency, MidWay probes the concept of sufficiency to explore its potential for reducing human impacts on Earth's biosphere while preserving overall welfare, i.e., its potential for defining a 'middle way' between 'too little' and 'too much'. To do this, MidWay studies the cases of meat and milk in China. While meat was always a high-status product, milk was historically considered a 'barbarian' food, and most Chinese were intolerant to it. Both products were scarcely consumed in Chinese history but have boomed in popularity over the past 40 years. While often thought about as a change of consumer preferences, it has taken a concerted effort by the Chinese government and domestic and international actors to make both products integral to Chinese food practices. Seeing China as a strategic research site to ask questions about the supply and demand of animal foods, the MidWay project hypothesises that what has made meat and milk integral to Chinese food practices might also be 'otherwise', i.e., opening up a possibility for a future disembedding of meat and milk from food practices. Thus, using a constructivist inspired lens, MidWay makes use of practice theory and 'systems of provision' to study the normalisation of animal foods in China, particularly since 1978, with China's opening up. The ultimate objective is to probe the concept of sufficiency as a useful organising principle to achieve reduced consumption - highlighted through the sub-objectives of understanding how meat and milk have been rendered desirable in China. Perspectives that show how food is connected to social, technical and cultural variables, and the system that provides food, are lacking internationally and could lead to changes through facilitating a multifaceted policy response.

Mots-clés : practice theory systems of provision foodways and food chains sufficiency demand
Projet ERC : EvOoC (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and Processes Engineering
Entité participante : École polytechnique de Milan — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : PoliMi
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2430625.0 €

EvOoC aims at developing smart mechanically active Organs-on-Chip platforms as clinically relevant in vitro setups to unravel mechanisms underlying tissue regeneration and progression of unmet diseases. A decade ago, developmental engineering (DE) proposed to model in vitro clinically relevant tissues replica by recapitulation of embryonic developmental events. Despite physical forces have recently been suggested as main driver of developmental processes, mechanical conditioning never prevailed as key DE strategy. This is related to a lack in current in vitro mechanobiology setups, mainly based on open loop systems, which disregard the fact that native mechanical environment varies in time as function of tissue state itself. EvOoC vision is to elevate mechanobiology as leading DE approach through a ground-breaking paradigm, named mechanical re-evolution, based on the high-risk/high-gain hypothesis that an iterative manipulation of mechanical forces is necessary to guide in vitro adult tissue development at unprecedented levels. Towards this vision, I will deliver a new method (Evolving OoC, EvOoC), integrating three enabling functions:  “Move” - to apply native-inspired mechanical forces to tissues in vitro;  “Sense” – to monitor their comprehensive effect on tissue development;  “Adapt” – to modulate forces as a function of tissue responses through machine learning (ML)-based algorithms, towards an unsupervised tissue evolution. I will take advantages of two paradigmatic test-cases (cartilage and heart) to showcase the power of mechanical re-evolution in guiding in vitro tissue physiological and pathological states, towards the identification of a brand-new class of mechanotherapeutics for unmet pathologies. By combining principles of microfabrication, DE, mechanobiology and ML, EvOoC will revolutionize basic studies in tissue development and disease modeling, facilitating innovative translational strategies to tackle tissue repair in manifold applications.

Mots-clés : organs on chip,developmental engineering,tissue engineering,cartilage engineering,cardiac tissue engineering,disease modelling,actuators,integrated sensors,machine learning
Projet ERC : SAC_2.0 (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and Processes Engineering
Entité participante : École polytechnique de Milan — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : PoliMi
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499681.0 €

The grand challenge for the chemical industries of the 21st century is the transition to more sustainable manufacturing processes that efficiently use raw materials and eliminate waste. Catalysis engineering is the key enabling technology to drive this transition, and single-atom catalysis is an emerging new approach to catalyst design. However, major questions concerning the local structure of these systems, their reactivity, and their evolution when prepared and structurally integrated into chemical devices are elusive. This project will address these important scientific gaps, laying the foundation for a new generation of catalysts for CO2 conversion. To unveil their microscale functioning, I will study for the first time the charge transfer taking place before, during, and after reactant adsorption and surface reactivity. This will be done combining synthesis, operando characterizations, microkinetics, and theoretical methods. Then, merging microreactor technology and process intensification, I will manufacture single-atom catalysts in powder and as miniaturized thin films or foams, using new, scalable and greener methods. This will bypass current limitations in terms of efficiency and metal dispersion, and close the gap on challenges related to catalyst-reactor integration, bridging chemical and device engineering. The materials will be validated in the valorization of CO2 to derive structure-function relationships and prove major catalytic improvements under realistic conditions. Overall, this is a fundamental and interdisciplinary project with ambitious objectives and high-risk/high-gain potential, that will go beyond the traditional pillars of catalysis. The scientific outcomes will provide new perspectives in catalysis and open paths in other fields, such as materials chemistry, green synthesis, and purification science. My pioneering contributions in this field and new proof-of-concept data place me in a unique position to undertake this fundamental study.

Mots-clés : process intensification chemical reaction engineering microreactor technology heterogeneous catalysis single atom catalysis catalysis engineering catalyst synthesis flow chemistry microreaction technology industrial catalysis surface science nanostructured materials chemical technologies carbon nanomaterials heterogeneous selective hydrogenations 2d materials industrial chemistry
Projet ERC : ShockAge (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Université de Vienne — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Uni Wien
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1471927.0 €

The history of the late 20th century international political economy – from the 1973 oil crisis to the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 – is often told as a succession of shocks. It has been argued that the resulting disorientation allowed for the global imposition of “structural adjustment”: policies favoring the removal of state regulations and subsidies, the privatization of public assets and services, and the liberalization of trade and foreign investment – “neoliberal globalization” to some. Others argue that there was simply no alternative to these policies because of economic constraints at the time. Accepting neither the imposition nor the no-alternative thesis, ShockAge posits that there were political choices in the South, East and West within a constrained field of maneuver. The project rejects the narrative of a quasi-natural global takeover of neoliberal ideas and instead emphasizes the highly contested nature of the “neoliberal turn”. By going beyond the national or regional level and transnational global (dis)connections, it inquires how structural adjustment became a global phenomenon in the first place. In four subprojects, ShockAge will investigate the contestation of structural adjustment and inquire about the room for maneuver by different actors and the alternatives pursued: 1) at the international/intergovernmental level (focusing on the “Group of 77” of self-described developing countries), 2) at the level of international financial organizations (World Bank and International Monetary Fund), 3) at the national level (Bolivia, a key site of structural adjustment), and 4) at the transnational activist level (“anti-globalization” protests in divided Germany). ShockAge uses a global history approach to revise our understanding of a hinge moment in recent history and breaks new ground in the entangled histories of the North-South confrontation, neoliberalism, international organizations, and popular challenges to late 20th-century “globalization.”

Mots-clés : north south conflict,international organizations,international financial institutions,international political economy,neoliberalism,anti globalization,transnational activism