Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : ExclusiveHiggs (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
Entité participante : University of Birmingham — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499945.0 €

Following the discovery of a Higgs boson with a mass of about 125 GeV, a detailed set of property measurements has confirmed that it plays a central role in the spontaneous breaking of the electroweak symmetry. Nevertheless, its role in the generation of fermion mass, in particular of the first and second generation, is still unclear. In the Standard Model (SM) this is implemented in an ad hoc manner through Yukawa interactions, and many beyond-the-SM theories offer rich phenomenology and exciting prospects for the discovery of New Physics in this sector. This project will attack - for the first time - in a systematic and comprehensive way the experimentally most unconstrained sector of the SM: the couplings of the light-quarks (up, down, charm and strange) to the Higgs boson, including possible flavour-violating interactions. The rare exclusive Higgs boson decays to a meson and a photon or Z boson, which is a novel and unique approach, will be searched for with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). At the same time, an extensive set of measurements of analogous rare exclusive decays of the W and Z bosons will be performed, further enhancing the scientific value of the proposed research programme. The expected branching ratio sensitivity of 10^{-6} for the Higgs boson decays, and 10^{-9} for the W and Z boson decays will probe viable New Physics models, and in several cases will reach and surpass the SM predictions. This project will lead to a profound extension of the ATLAS and LHC physics output, going beyond what was previously considered possible. It will open a new line of research in the Higgs sector, providing relevant input to many different areas of frontier research, including particle cosmology and planning for possible future particle physics facilities.

Mots-clés : yukawa couplings,light quarks,flavour violation,higgs boson,w boson,z boson,precision qcd
Projet ERC : ChromatidCohesion (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions
Entité participante : The Francis Crick Institute — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2120099.99 €

Following their synthesis during DNA replication, sister chromatids remain paired by the cohesin complex, which forms the basis for their faithful segregation during cell division. Cohesin is a large ring-shaped protein complex, incorporating an ABC-type ATPase module. Despite its importance for genome stability, the molecular mechanism of cohesin action remains as intriguing as it remains poorly understood. How is cohesin topologically loaded onto chromatin? How is it unloaded again? What happens to cohesin during DNA replication in S-phase, so that it establishes cohesion between newly synthesized sister chromatids? We propose to capitalise on our recent success in the biochemical reconstitution of topological cohesin loading onto DNA. This lays the foundation for a work programme encompassing a combination of biochemical, single molecule, structural and genetic approaches to address the above questions. Five work packages will investigate cohesin’s molecular behaviour during its life-cycle on chromosomes, including the ATP binding and hydrolysis-dependent conformational changes that make this molecular machine work. It will be complemented by mechanistic analyses of the cofactors that help cohesin to load onto chromosomes and establish sister chromatid cohesion. The insight gained will not only advance our molecular knowledge of sister chromatid cohesion. It will more generally advance our understanding of the ubiquitous family of chromosomal SMC ATPases, of which cohesin is a member, and their activity of shaping and segregating genomes.

Mots-clés : chromosome segregation,sister chromatid cohesion,smc proteins,yeast model systems
Projet ERC : SENSOILS (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Entité participante : University of Dundee — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 228777.0 €

Food production is predicated on the application of nitrogen fertilisers, which can contribute significantly to the production of greenhouse gasses and eutrophication of agroecosystems. The use of nitrogen fertilisers must, therefore, be optimised. The recent development of transparent soils in my group gives great scope to unravel the processes involved in the reactive transport of nutrients in soil and their interaction with the soil biota. My team will combine principles of optics, chemical engineering, the physics, chemistry, and biology of soils, and plant biology to image and characterise nitrogen movement in soil at the micro-scale. We will develop a new generation of transparent soil analogues that measure the biological and chemical status of soils. This will enable, for the first time, to characterise transport at the surface of soil particles and to elucidate the role of root–particle–particle contacts, exudation and microbial transformation on the bioavailability of nitrate and ammonium. The legacy of the research will be knowledge, concepts, model soil systems and imaging approaches to understand and predict nutrient bioavailability in soil with an emphasis on nitrification as a model for nitrogen movement in soil. Transparent soils and imaging technologies will be patented and could pave the way for 3D chemical sensors, and have application in crop breeding and precision phenotyping. Understanding of nutrient movements in soil will lead to substantial progress in the development of more efficient fertilisers. New model soil systems could be used to better understand the spread of soil-borne diseases, the bio-remediation of contaminated soils and the mechanisms underlying soil biodiversity and activity.

Mots-clés : nitrification,rhizosphere,soil,root,imaging,barley,model
Projet ERC : SENSOILS (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Entité participante : James Hutton Institute — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1140417.21 €

Food production is predicated on the application of nitrogen fertilisers, which can contribute significantly to the production of greenhouse gasses and eutrophication of agroecosystems. The use of nitrogen fertilisers must, therefore, be optimised. The recent development of transparent soils in my group gives great scope to unravel the processes involved in the reactive transport of nutrients in soil and their interaction with the soil biota. My team will combine principles of optics, chemical engineering, the physics, chemistry, and biology of soils, and plant biology to image and characterise nitrogen movement in soil at the micro-scale. We will develop a new generation of transparent soil analogues that measure the biological and chemical status of soils. This will enable, for the first time, to characterise transport at the surface of soil particles and to elucidate the role of root–particle–particle contacts, exudation and microbial transformation on the bioavailability of nitrate and ammonium. The legacy of the research will be knowledge, concepts, model soil systems and imaging approaches to understand and predict nutrient bioavailability in soil with an emphasis on nitrification as a model for nitrogen movement in soil. Transparent soils and imaging technologies will be patented and could pave the way for 3D chemical sensors, and have application in crop breeding and precision phenotyping. Understanding of nutrient movements in soil will lead to substantial progress in the development of more efficient fertilisers. New model soil systems could be used to better understand the spread of soil-borne diseases, the bio-remediation of contaminated soils and the mechanisms underlying soil biodiversity and activity.

Mots-clés : nitrification,rhizosphere,soil,root,imaging,barley,model
Projet ERC : LYSOSOMICS (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems
Entité participante : Telethon Foundation — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2362562.5 €

For a long time the lysosome has been viewed as a “static” organelle that performs “routine” work for the cell, mostly pertaining to degradation and recycling of cellular waste. My group has challenged this view and used a systems biology approach to discover that the lysosome is subject to a global transcriptional regulation, is able to adapt to environmental clues, and acts as a signalling hub to regulate cell homeostasis. Furthermore, an emerging role of the lysosome has been identified in many types of diseases, including the common neurodegenerative disorders Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s. These findings have opened entirely new fields of investigation on lysosomal biology, suggesting that there is a lot to be learned on the role of the lysosome in health and disease. The goal of LYSOSOMICS is to use “omics” approaches to study lysosomal function and its regulation in normal and pathological conditions. In this “organellar systems biology project” we plan to perform several types of genetic perturbations in three widely used cell lines and study their effects on lysosomal function using a set of newly developed cellular phenotypic assays. Moreover, we plan to identify lysosomal protein-protein interactions using a novel High Content FRET-based approach. Finally, we will use the CRISPR-Cas9 technology to generate a collection of cellular models for all lysosomal storage diseases, a group of severe inherited diseases often associated with early onset neurodegeneration. State-of-the-art computational approaches will be used to predict gene function and identify disease mechanisms potentially exploitable for therapeutic purposes. The physiological relevance of newly identified pathways will be validated by in vivo studies performed on selected genes by using medaka and mice as model systems. This study will allow us to gain a comprehensive understanding of lysosomal function and dysfunction and to use this knowledge to develop new therapeutic strategies.

Mots-clés : lysosome,autophagy
Projet ERC : NewHuman (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : University of the Witwatersrand — Pays : Afrique du Sud — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : Wits
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 68750.0 €

For almost 100 years, the evolution of humans has been summarized as a transition from small-brained bipeds with an ape-like body plan (referred to as australopiths), to large-brained striding bipeds with a human-like body plan (members of the genus Homo). This characterisation dominates popular perception of human evolution in the public sphere. However, three newly discovered fossil human (hominin) species (H. naledi, H. floresiensis and Australopithecus sediba) do not fit this simple transitional model in either morphology or time (the former two surviving contemporaneously with modern humans), and have re-ignited debate about the origin of the Homo lineage, including perceptions of the earliest putative Homo species, H. habilis. These new fossils raise fundamental questions about the ecological niches occupied by hominins and the inferred transitions between niches throughout human evolution. With NewHuman, I will pioneer a novel, interdisciplinary and holistic approach using cutting-edge analyses of internal structures of fossil hominin teeth and bones to reconstruct the adaptive niche of these enigmatic species and test whether there is an unrecognized adaptive branch on the human family tree. Specifically, NewHuman will employ ground-breaking imaging techniques and analytical tools to reveal never-before-examined tooth and bone structures in these hominins. In doing so, it will 1) characterize the behaviour of these enigmatic species and place them more firmly into their ecological environment; and 2) elucidate the adaptive strategy that was likely the transition from australopith-like hominin species to later Homo, but which also represents a highly successful lifeway that persisted for over 2 million years alongside the evolving human lineage. By achieving these ambitious aims, NewHuman will have a significant impact on hypotheses about human evolution, and could result in a paradigm shift that overturns current views on human evolutionary history.

Mots-clés : human evolutionary history,micro computed tomography,biomechanics,adaptive niche,fossil excavations
Projet ERC : NewHuman (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : Lakehead University — Pays : Canada — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 50000.0 €

For almost 100 years, the evolution of humans has been summarized as a transition from small-brained bipeds with an ape-like body plan (referred to as australopiths), to large-brained striding bipeds with a human-like body plan (members of the genus Homo). This characterisation dominates popular perception of human evolution in the public sphere. However, three newly discovered fossil human (hominin) species (H. naledi, H. floresiensis and Australopithecus sediba) do not fit this simple transitional model in either morphology or time (the former two surviving contemporaneously with modern humans), and have re-ignited debate about the origin of the Homo lineage, including perceptions of the earliest putative Homo species, H. habilis. These new fossils raise fundamental questions about the ecological niches occupied by hominins and the inferred transitions between niches throughout human evolution. With NewHuman, I will pioneer a novel, interdisciplinary and holistic approach using cutting-edge analyses of internal structures of fossil hominin teeth and bones to reconstruct the adaptive niche of these enigmatic species and test whether there is an unrecognized adaptive branch on the human family tree. Specifically, NewHuman will employ ground-breaking imaging techniques and analytical tools to reveal never-before-examined tooth and bone structures in these hominins. In doing so, it will 1) characterize the behaviour of these enigmatic species and place them more firmly into their ecological environment; and 2) elucidate the adaptive strategy that was likely the transition from australopith-like hominin species to later Homo, but which also represents a highly successful lifeway that persisted for over 2 million years alongside the evolving human lineage. By achieving these ambitious aims, NewHuman will have a significant impact on hypotheses about human evolution, and could result in a paradigm shift that overturns current views on human evolutionary history.

Mots-clés : human evolutionary history,micro computed tomography,biomechanics,adaptive niche,fossil excavations
Projet ERC : NeMoFoil (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : University Medical Center Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UMC
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149060.0 €

For certain neurological disorders it is necessary to record electrical signals directly from the brain. Intracranial neuromonitoring is indicated for several neuropathologies, such as for localization of the source of seizures in epilepsy patients for surgical removal, or closely watching neurological status in intensive care (eg stroke, brainswelling), typically lasting days to weeks. For this, special electrodes embedded in silicon sheets (‘grids’) are surgically placed between the brain and the skull, which measure neural electrical discharges. Another, emerging need for grids is by severely paralyzed people, to enable direct communication between the brain and computers for writing or for controlling appliances (Brain-Computer Interface). A major problem with grids is that their wires, connecting to external amplifiers, have to pass through the skull, posing an infection risk, and risk of wire breakage with chronic use. A wireless solution would solve many problems. In NeMoFoil the feasibility of wireless grids for human use will be determined. The concept entails embedding of microelectronics for signal amplification, AD conversion and wireless transfer, together with the electrodes in a thin sheet, a ‘foil’. Using modern printing technology, it is possible to print electrodes and their connections with microcircuits. Using several strategically placed coils, power is supplied by induction while signals are transmitted. I have brought together a team of experts in the relevant domains, including engineers and business planners. This project will lead to a blueprint for a commercial product that requires further investment in the production and CE certification process (pre-demonstration stage). In addition a business plan is developed alongside, and ample attention is paid to patentability of the concept. With this approach I expect to have a complete package with which we can attract investors or partners to move the concept towards commercial viability.

Mots-clés : brain,neuromonitoring,wireless,medical device,epilepsy,stroke
Projet ERC : DESPO (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Social World and Its Diversity
Entité participante : University of Milan — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNIMI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1106528.0 €

For decades, deindustrialization has inflicted collateral damage far beyond displaced manufacturing workers by affecting the lives of working-class families and driving formerly industrialized areas into deprivation, generating new political fault lines in society. The aim of this project is to reveal how a person’s individual, family, and local community experiences of manufacturing decline transform the way they participate in politics and their political attitudes over the course of their life. DESPO will focus on the long-term consequences by studying a rich time frame which spans five decades of manufacturing decline and its political aftermath (1965-2015). It will examine an exhaustive series of political attitudes and behaviours covering: if and how people vote; what people believe and think about their political system; and how strongly people identify with political parties. The project will use large-scale administrative data to construct a unique database of multi-dimensional measures of deindustrialization for small geographic units that will be linked with individual and household longitudinal data. Finally, the analysis will use state-of-the-art statistical techniques to estimate the causal effects of experiencing manufacturing decline.
Projet ERC : GALFOR (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe sciences
Entité participante : University of Padua — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNIPD
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 717246.0 €

For half a century, globular clusters (GCs) have been considered as prototype of simple stellar populations and their color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) were believed to be the proxy of an isochrone. My research activity has resulted in one of the most exciting and unexpected developments in stellar-population studies in recent years: the discovery that the CMDs of many GCs are made of two or more intertwined sequences that can be followed continuously from the hydrogen-burning limit to the last stages of the stellar evolution. These findings, together with the discovery that multiple sequences correspond to distinct stellar populations with different helium abundance, have dramatically changed the traditional picture of these seemingly simple stellar systems. Among the open issues are the still-eluding second-parameter problem of the horizontal-branch morphology and the formation mechanisms that build the Galactic halo. Multiple populations may correspond to different generations of stars and prove that GCs, similarly to dwarf galaxies, have experienced a very complex star-formation history. As an alternative, they can be the product of exotic phenomena that have taken place in the proto-GC environment only. The Hubble-Space-Telescope archive is a golden mine to extend the innovative studies that I have introduced on a few objects to a large sample of hundreds clusters. The proposed research is based on this huge dataset, together with the data that Hubble is in process of collecting as part of my surveys of GCs. I will use the last-generation image analysis and spectroscopic techniques to derive the first atlas of multiple populations in the Milky Way and in Magellanic Cloud clusters, derive their helium abundance, investigate their chemical composition, spatial distribution and internal dynamics. In summary, I will trace the series of events that led from massive clouds in the early Universe to the GCs we see today, with their multiple populations.