Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : isitFlutter (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Mathe medical gmbh — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 142500.0 €

We have been developing a new diagnosis tool for cardiac arrhythmia. Our clients are expert cardiologists. They can use our Mobile App with a Smartphone or Tablet, easily and cost-efficiently. The App records the beeps of a heart rate monitor or takes a picture of the printout of an electrocardiogram (ECG), communicates with a server, and displays the result of the calculations as decision support for the medical expert. Depending on the diagnosis of the medical expert either a long-term treatment with drugs or an operation follows. The correct diagnosis and proper treatment implies an increased life quality and a reduction of unnecessary drug side effects (for patients); avoidance of legal disputes and higher success rates (for doctors); reduced costs (for health insurance companies); and an increase in the number of profitable procedures (for providers of ablation technology). Alas, the misdiagnosis rate of expert cardiologists and of competing diagnosis tools so far is high. Studies report success rates of 50%. We showed in a peer-reviewed study that our success rate is almost 90%. We have received preliminary feedback from cardiologists in hospitals that our prototype works well and that they want to use it in their daily work. The diagnosis is a daily task for cardiologists in Europe, with an estimated number of one million diagnoses per year. We have unique selling points and market entry barriers for competitors: our approach is based a) on a deep understanding of electrophysiological processes and the integration of the team into clinical practice and b) on sophisticated mathematical algorithms that are not easy to reimplement and further enhanced in the ERC Consolidator Grant MODEST and c) on a comfortable IPR situation (granted patent). With isitFlutter we want to perform a multi-center test and adapt our product accordingly, evaluate competition and IPR, and extend our contacts with future customers, investors, and players in the market.

Mots-clés : atrial fibrillation,atrial flutter,supra ventricular tachycardia,automatic diagnosis,algorithm,app development
Projet ERC : KupfferCellNiche (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy
Entité participante : Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : VIB
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1996705.0 €

We have recently shown that contrary to common hypotheses, circulating monocytes can efficiently differentiate into Kupffer cells (KCs), the liver-resident macrophages. Using self-generated knock-in mice that allow specific KC depletion, we found that monocytes colonize the KC niche in a single wave upon KC depletion and rapidly differentiate into self-maintaining KCs that are transcriptionally and functionally identical to their embryonic counterparts. This implies that: (i) access to the KC niche is tightly regulated, ensuring that monocytes do not differentiate into KCs when the KC niche is full but differentiate very efficiently into KCs upon temporary niche availability, and (ii) imprinting by the KC niche is the dominant factor conferring KC identity. Understanding which cells represent the macrophage niche, which signals produced by these cells imprint the tissue-specific macrophage gene expression profile and through which transcription factors (TxFs) this is mediated is emerging as the next challenge in the field. We here propose an original strategy combining state-of-the-art in silico approaches and unique in vivo transgenic mouse models to tackle this challenge specifically for KCs, the most abundant macrophage in the body. We hypothesize that the liver sinusoidal endothelial cell (LSEC) to which the KC is attached represents the most likely candidate to sense KC loss, recruit new monocytes and drive their differentiation into KCs. Thus, this proposal aims to: (I) determine the TxFs through which the niche imprints KC identity, (II) map the LSEC-KC crosstalk during KC development, (III) generate LSEC-specific knock-in mice to study LSECs in vivo, (IV) demonstrate which LSEC factors influence KC development and function. Importantly, understanding how the KC-TxFs and the LSEC-KC crosstalk control KC development and function will be essential for the development of novel therapeutic interventions for hepatic disorders in which KCs play a central role.

Mots-clés : kupffer cell,transcription factors,cellular identity,niche imprinting,tissue resident macrophages,liver sinusoidal endothelial cells
Projet ERC : MICROCLEANERS (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IBEC;IBEC-CERCA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

We have witnessed a massive growth in industrial and agricultural activities, and a huge increment in the release of pollutants to our aqueous ecosystems. Centralized water suppliers look for systems energetically more viable than current ones and for onsite water purification systems which can be faster, more affordable and less aggressive. Here, we present a novel active self-mixing and multifunctional system (microcleaners) capable of cleaning chemical and biological pollutants. Using a combination of cutting-edge technologies, microcleaners will be applied in several aqueous environments such as industrial wastewaters or polluted aquatic ecosystems. The system will consist of an active part (for self-power), and a chemically reactive part (for cleaning pollutants). The small microcleaners can be recovered using magnetic fields and guided to defined locations using “tactic behaviours” imposed by gradients (temperature, chemical, or pH, for example). This property, will contribute to the re-usability of the microcleaners, which will significantly reduce the cost of the water treatment. A pilot microfluidic device will be fabricated where multiple fluidic parameters can be precisely controlled and model pollutants can be tested. Thereafter, the developed technology will be carefully evaluated and tested in up-scaled systems containing real samples of contaminated water. Overall, this project will enable to treat water in an unprecedented revolutionary, energy efficient and target-specific manner. We aim at engineering microcleaners such that small –but functionally significant- modifications will allow us to target organic pollutants and capture heavy metals. The expected outcome of the project is to test the benefits of our microcleaners technology to a new generation of water treatment methods and make this technology available to the market.

Mots-clés : nanotechnology,nanomotors,self propulsion,water treatment
Projet ERC : WHOLE SUN (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : University of Ioannina — Pays : Grèce — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1906165.0 €

We live around an active magnetic star, our Sun, that has a direct impact on our technological society through its variability and eruptive behaviour. Despite decades of intense research, fundamental questions such as How does the Sun work? Why does it possess a magnetic cycle and a dynamic hot atmosphere and how they are interrelated? remain mostly unanswered. In the Whole Sun project, we aim at tackling these key questions as a coherent whole for the first time. For too many years, the Sun has been split into internal and external solar physics topics lacking a global integrated view of its complex plasma dynamics. For instance, dynamo simulations seeking to answer the origin of the magnetic field and of its cyclic behaviour neglect surface physics and the existence of sunspots and likewise surface models often assume the magnetic field as a given input without the detailed knowledge of the nonlinear interplay between convection, rotation and magnetic fields in the Sun’s outer envelope. The time has come to gather European world leading solar/stellar physicists to build a deeper understanding of our star and to extend it to its twins. To do so many bottlenecks must be addressed: highly disparate spatial and temporal scales, physical interfaces of all solar layers, complex microphysics and global effects, strong dynamics and how parameters such as star’s metallicity, mass and rotation influence the outcome. By gathering physicists from each side of the solar surface we aim at tackling these challenging, beyond the state-of-the-art problems, by developing a deep theoretical understanding of our star and of its analogues and by building the most advanced multi-resolution solar code in order to jointly address global/macrophysics and local/microphysics aspects of the solar dynamics. The advent of Exa-scale computers makes such a challenge within our reach as do modern analysis methods to interpret observations and 4-D data cube that the project will produce or access.

Mots-clés : solar physics,dynamo,magnetohydrodynamics  mhd,plasma physics,solar activity,solar stellar connection
Projet ERC : RELATE (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : University of Leeds — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 72503.75 €

We live in a time of profound environmental change. Phenomena such as urbanisation and agricultural intensification have led to ecosystem degradation and species extinctions, and thus a reduction in biodiversity. Yet, while it is now widely asserted in the research, policy and practice arenas that interacting with nature is fundamental to human wellbeing, there is a paucity of evidence characterising how biodiversity, the living component of nature, plays a role in this accepted truth. With RELATE, I will pioneer a completely novel approach to investigating this challenging problem, innovating through interdisciplinary (human geography, environmental psychology, economics and ecology) integration and the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods. As such, RELATE will initiate a step-change in our understanding of how nature underpins human wellbeing. Three objectives will be met: (1) explore how people relate to different biodiversity attributes (particular morphologies, sounds, smells, textures, behaviours and/or cultural meanings associated with species), positively and negatively, across all classes of cultural ecosystem service and types of human-nature experience (intentional, incidental, indirect, thereness); (2) quantify variation in how people value, or not, different biodiversity attributes using a range of monetary and non-monetary valuation techniques, including new subjective wellbeing measures; (3) understand how co-occurrence between biodiversity and people may alter across space/time (both seasonal and inter-decadal), and the impact this may have on human-biodiversity relationships. The crucial trade-offs decision-makers tasked with managing environmental spaces have to make between multiple biodiversity, individual and societal deliverables cannot be optimised until we understand human-biodiversity relationships specifically. Consequently, RELATE will deliver a timely, rich and holistic evidence-base, supported by transformative science.

Mots-clés : biodiversity,cultural ecosystem services,human wellbeing,human wildlife interactions,green space,seasonality,species traits,urbanisation
Projet ERC : NoChaPFI (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : University of Edinburgh — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

We propose a novel platform for particle characterisation in diverse applications making use of colloidal suspensions. These are ubiquitous in applications across many sectors: agriculture, food, household and personal care goods, paints and coatings, oil, water treatment, etc.. In other applications, the role of suspensions is less obvious, but no less vital: molten chocolate is a suspension of sugar crystals in oil, while all ceramics start as particulate pastes (of, e.g. titania) before sintering. Particle characterisation is key to research, development and manufacturing in all of these industries. Our technique is based on the fast and accurate measurement of the dynamics of particles suspended in a liquid, which we have been developing in a current ERC Advance Grant. Our platform is unique in its speed, facility of operation and range of applications.

Mots-clés : particle characterisation,sizing,suspensions,formulation,manufacturing,microscopy,image processing,soft matter,turbid systems
Projet ERC : RGGC (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Mathematics
Entité participante : University of Warwick — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1177905.0 €

We propose an intradisciplinary research programme in pure mathematics, with graph theory at the epicenter and rich connections to other fields. Although the bonds between graph theory and other branches of mathematics have been growing in recent years, large parts of graph theory are still almost isolated from the rest of mathematics, and conversely, there are fields based on graphs that still make hardly any use of graph-theoretic machinery: the study of Cayley graphs in combinatorial group theory, the recent notion of Benjamini– Schramm convergence, and the many instances of approximating continuous spaces by graphs in various contexts are such examples. The RGGC project offers concrete graph theoretic approaches to important challenges in the afore- mentioned fields. At the same time, advances in graph theory using group theoretic and analytic machinery will be achieved. The project comprises 4 research Themes overarching a wide mathematical scenery. Theme 1 unites the worlds of Benjamini–Schramm convergence and graph minor theory using tech- niques from enumerative and analytic combinatorics that were applied for the first time in this context by the PI. Theme 2 builds on the deepest part of the PI’s past work to offer a new perspective to geometric random graphs profiting from a sophisticated theory triggered by Kesten’s random walks on groups. Theme 3 aims at deepening the understanding of cover time of graphs by exploring its extremal and typical behaviour using the concept of cover cost, an approach pioneered by the PI. Theme 4 introduces diffusions on continuous, graph-like spaces in the sense of Thomassen & Vella motivated by both theoretic and applied considerations. The proposed research not only attacks challenging questions in each of thease areas, it also creates bridges for transferring knowledge and tools among them, through concrete novel approaches of the PI that have already achieved initial success.

Mots-clés : random graphs,random walk,benjamini schramm convergence,cover time,diffusions
Projet ERC : BeStMo (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Entité participante : University of Luxembourg — Pays : Luxembourg — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1811650.0 €

We propose focused theory developments and applications, which aim to substantially advance our ability to model and understand the behavior of molecules in complex environments. From a large repertoire of possible environments, we have chosen to concentrate on experimentally-relevant situations, including molecular fluctuations in electric and optical fields, disordered molecular crystals, solvated (bio)molecules, and molecular interactions at/through low-dimensional nanostructures. A challenging aspect of modeling such realistic environments is that both molecular electronic and nuclear fluctuations have to be treated efficiently at a robust quantum-mechanical level of theory for systems with 1000s of atoms. In contrast, the current state of the art in the modeling of complex molecular systems typically consists of Newtonian molecular dynamics employing classical force fields. We will develop radically new approaches for electronic and nuclear fluctuations that unify concepts and merge techniques from quantum-mechanical many-body Hamiltonians, statistical mechanics, density-functional theory, and machine learning. Our developments will be benchmarked using experimental measurements with terahertz (THz) spectroscopy, atomic-force and scanning tunneling microscopy (AFM/STM), time-of-flight (TOF) measurements, and molecular interferometry. Our final goal is to bridge the accuracy of quantum mechanics with the efficiency of force fields, enabling large-scale predictive quantum molecular dynamics simulations for complex systems containing 1000s of atoms, and leading to novel conceptual insights into quantum-mechanical fluctuations in large molecular systems. The project goes well beyond the presently possible applications and once successful will pave the road towards having a suite of first-principles-based modeling tools for a wide range of realistic materials, such as biomolecules, nanostructures, disordered solids, and organic/inorganic interfaces.

Mots-clés : quantum fluctuations,molecular environments,complex systems
Projet ERC : CepBin (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe sciences
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 380225.0 €

We propose to carry out a project which will produce a decisive step towards improving the accuracy of the Hubble constant as determined from the Cepheid-SN Ia method to 1%, by using 28 extremely rare eclipsing binary systems in the LMC which offer the potential to determine their distances to 1%. To achieve this accuracy we will reduce the main error in the binary method by interferometric angular diameter measurements of a sample of red clump stars which resemble the stars in our binary systems. We will check on our calibration with similar binary systems close enough to determine their orbits from interferometry. We already showed the feasibility of our method which yielded the best-ever distance determination to the LMC of 2.2% from 8 such binary systems. With 28 systems and the improved angular diameter calibration we will push the LMC distance uncertainty down to 1% which will allow to set the zero point of the Cepheid PL relation with the same accuracy using the large available LMC Cepheid sample. We will determine the metallicity effect on Cepheid luminosities by a) determining a 2% distance to the more metal-poor SMC with our binary method, and by b) measuring the distances to LMC and SMC with an improved Baade-Wesselink (BW) method. We will achieve this improvement by analyzing 9 unique Cepheids in eclipsing binaries in the LMC our group has discovered which allow factor- of-ten improvements in the determination of all basic physical parameters of Cepheids. These studies will also increase our confidence in the Cepheid-based H0 determination. Our project bears strong synergy to the Gaia mission by providing the best checks on possible systematic uncertainties on Gaia parallaxes with 200 binary systems whose distances we will measure to 1-2%. We will provide two unique tools for 1-3 % distance determinations to individual objects in a volume of 1 Mpc, being competitive to Gaia already at a distance of 1 kpc from the Sun.

Mots-clés : eclipsing binaries,cepheids,distance scale
Projet ERC : CyberGenetics (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ETH Zurich
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2499887.0 €

We propose to develop a new theory and design tools for the estimation and real-time control of living cells. The control systems designed using these tools will precisely and robustly steer the dynamic behavior of living cells in real time to achieve desired objectives. Cells would be controlled either collectively at the population level, or individually as single cells. The control systems achieving this regulation will be realized either on a digital computer that is interfaced with living cells, or using de novo genetic circuits that are introduced into the cells where they are designed to function as molecular control systems. Our methods will explicitly confront the numerous challenges brought about by the special environment of the cell including nonlinearity, stochasticity, cell-to-cell variability, metabolic burden, etc. The theory and methods developed in this project will thus enable the systematic, rational, and effective feedback control of living cells at the gene level, and will lay the foundation for a new corresponding body of knowledge which we call ``Cybergenetics''. It will also open new research directions in the areas of control theory and estimation. We also propose to design three cybergenetic control systems, each addressing an important application in biotechnology or therapeutics. In the first, the controller will use light and nutrient supply to precisely regulate gene expression and cell growth in E. coli to achieve high protein and low biomass production rates. The second involves multiple feedback controllers regulating in parallel a large number of single stem cells, and leading to their differentiation to desired fates, e.g. beta cells, with potential for therapeutic applications. Finally, we will engineer into living cells dynamic molecular control systems. Such controllers can be used to monitor physiological variables and secrete biological effectors in a feedback fashion for the treatment of diseases like Type 1 diabetes.

Mots-clés : feedback control,regulation,stochastic biochemical reaction networks,intrinsic and extrinsic noise,synthetic biology,homeostasis,robust perfect adaptation,optogenetics,genetic engineering