Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : DescendPain (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : Institut Karolinska — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2500000.0 €

Pain is a large societal and health problem. Although often thought of as an invariant representation of active nociceptors, pain varies a lot under the influence of different affective states, sometimes with near complete analgesia. Such modulation of pain is thought to occur through a descending pathway originating in the brain and to be executed by Rostral Ventromedial Medulla (RVM) neurons that project to the spinal cord. Deciphering the complexity of the cell types involved and how they contribute to the descending control of pain has been challenging, but recent advances in single-cell omics, computational biology and advanced genetic technologies now open for unbiased system-wide insights.  DescendPain will uncover the power of the brain to control pain. We will classify RVM neuron types by single-cell RNA-sequencing and use scRNAseq-based stimulus-to-cell-type mapping to identify neuronal ensembles conferring analgesia and hyperalgesia during morphine, naloxone, stress, sleep-deprivation and exercise. Using activity-based mouse genetics, we will reveal the full complexity of the combinations of neurons engaged and unravel their role in pain modulation, thus identifying for the first time the cellular basis for how affective states modulate pain. We will also use novel intersectional strategies for dual capturing of active neurons to determine how the descending RVM controls the transmission of pain in the ascending pathway of the spinal cord. Finally, we will identify the memory substrate underlying chronic pain, providing evidence for the existence of RVM neuron ensembles of chronic pain and revealing underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms. This project takes a new system-wide strategy in the pain field that should fundamentally change the view of pain, by providing a cellular basis for how it is continuously scaled by mental states and uncovering mechanisms of chronic pain, which may provide strategies for designing effective pain therapies.

Mots-clés : single cell rna sequencing,somatosensation,chronic pain
Projet ERC : SLaVEgents (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas — Pays : Grèce — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : FORTH
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2259325.0 €

SLaVEgents is an ambitious project focused on slave agency; it aims to explore how enslaved persons in antiquity actively shaped the societies they lived in. It will examine the multiple identities of enslaved persons, the communities and networks that they created or participated in, and how slave agency brought about major political, social, economic and cultural changes in the ancient world. By exploring the various forms of slave agency, SLaVEgents will offer a radically new perspective on antiquity from the point of view of history from below. The project moves beyond the usual focus on slavery in classical Greece and Roman Italy to offer a comprehensive examination of the history of enslaved persons across Western Eurasia and North Africa between 1000 BCE and 300 CE. SLaVEgents is the first project to examine together all ancient slaveries from Mesopotamia to the Atlantic, and include sources in the full range of ancient languages (Assyrian, Babylonian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Phoenician, Egyptian, Greek, Latin) and the relevant archaeological data. The research team – composed of the PI, eight senior researchers, seven post-doctoral researchers and three PhD candidates – will construct a large-scale digital prosopography of all attested ancient slaves which will include all relevant sources in the original and in English translation. The Linked Open Data created by the digital prosopography will enable new forms of quantitative and qualitative research and will make a significant contribution to Digital Humanities. The monograph and the two collective volumes of the project will offer an important step towards rewriting the history of antiquity with slaves at its centre. In addition, the project will deliver fifteen articles, three PhD dissertations, three workshops, one international conference and a website.

Mots-clés : slavery agency ancient history history from below mediterranean history ancient greece ancient rome history of the ancient near east ancient egypt ancient judaism
Projet ERC : CITYBUZZ (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Center for Monetary and Financial Studies — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CEMFI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2491628.0 €

This research project aims to understand the changing landscape of cities. These are cities where face-to-face interactions happen less around office water coolers and more on the streets; where individuals not only produce differently by location but also have heterogeneous consumption; and where, beyond the adoption of working from home, the transformation of work involves a reorganisation of firms' establishments and hierarchies across locations.  To capture face-to-face interactions accurately, we use anonymised cellphone records to identify spatial and temporal overlaps among users who also have phone conversations. By combining location and call data, meaningful interactions are distinguished from passing strangers, while quantifying social connectivity and distinguishing between strong and weak ties. The project examines variations in quantity, quality, and diversity of face-to-face interactions across spatial contexts. It isolates the effects of the urban environment from personal characteristics by studying individual changes following shocks.  The project also investigates consumption differences across locations. It uses anonymised credit card data to examine the quantity, quality, and variety of consumption venues, going beyond locally available venues to explore how individuals utilise them and accounting for endogenous amenities and location choices. We consider co-consumption evidence, residence, and job information to understand leisure interactions among neighbours, co-workers, and friends.  Finally, we explore changes in the hierarchical organisation of firms across space. Using matched employer-employee data and a model of cities and hierarchies, we investigate how firms organise establishments and managerial hierarchies across locations. Moreover, we examine the relationship between systematic differences in firms' hierarchies across cities and workers' progression to explain the city-size earnings premium.

Mots-clés : cities agglomeration economies density urban form face to face interactions accessibility amenities hierarchies spatial data cellphone data matched employer employee data transaction data
Projet ERC : MaMa (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : École nationale supérieure de chimie de Paris - PSL — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ENS Chimie de Paris
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2350000.0 €

The MaMa project aims at developing integrated computational approaches enabling to describe and design new mechanochromic materials. In particular, we aim at rationally design technologically consistent commodity polymers with smart and intelligent features such as mechano-responsive elastomeric, thermoplastic and thermoset polymers by the introduction of chromogenic species in the polymeric matrix in the form of mechanophore chromophores. The inter- or intra-molecular interactions ruling the opto-mechanical behaviour of the chromophores within the polymer matrix, and thereby the macroscopically perceived colour, can be tuned by application of an external force and they will be the key issue to control - by suitable design of the chromophores and polymers- and to predict by theoretical tools.  In this respect the present project concerns, beside primary fundamental issues, such as the development of theoretical approaches for the description of photophysical processes in complex matrix, the handling, description and prediction of phenomena occurring from molecular to nano-scale in presence of an external stimulus such as pression/shearing or drawing. We will focus on mechanochromic luminogenic materials based on strain-induced modulation of molecular covalent or non-covalent interactions, affecting phenomena like excimer modulation or aggregation-induced emission at the molecular chromogenic scale. The functionalized smart materials designed can find real-life applications ranging from anti-counterfeiting systems for intelligent packaging, smart coatings and textiles, and optical indicators for the detections of cracks and fatigue issues in thermoset polymers. The solid and active collaboration with leading experimental and theoretical chemists will allow for the efficient synthesis and characterization of the most promising demonstrators, to exhaustively validate the computational tools and to further illustrate the technological relevance of these materials.

Mots-clés : density functional theory,mechanochromism,aggregation induced emission,quantum chemistry,excited electronic states,mechano responsive polymers,
Projet ERC : HeartCORE (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Université de Glasgow — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 329391.0 €

Remodelling processes associated with genetic and non-genetic cardiac diseases can cause electrical conduction disturbances and arrhythmias. Current models used to predict functional alterations due to structural remodelling fail to accurately assess arrhythmogenic risk, mainly because they do not draw upon comprehensive functional and structural data and are typically based on low-resolution and non-integrated information. Here, I present HeartCORE, an interdisciplinary approach designed to establish a mechanistic relationship between electrophysiological dysfunction and structural alterations in an animal model that mimics human cardiac electrophysiology. Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts will first be electrically characterized in terms of conduction, repolarization properties, and arrhythmogenicity using a dual-wavelength panoramic optical mapping system that includes the transmural dimension. The hearts will then be transformed into well-preserved, fully transparent organs and imaged with a high-throughput light sheet mesoscope to reconstruct cardiac muscle organization and collagen deposits with micrometric resolution. Selected high-resolution immunohistochemistry images will be integrated with the structural data of each organ to develop a computational model of cardiac electrical activity and explore the possibility of reproducing in silico experimentally observed electrical behaviour. This methodology will be applied to investigate the impact of cardiac remodelling (including non-myocyte reorganization) on conduction disturbances and arrhythmogenesis in two distinct scenarios: generalized interstitial fibrosis in congenital hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and localized scarring in acquired myocardial infarction. HeartCORE aims to create a unifying model that integrates functional and structural data, enabling a comprehensive investigation of the morphological causes leading to electrical alterations and enhancing predictive concepts in arrhythmogenesis.

Mots-clés : cardiac electrophysiology arrhythmia cardiac fibrosis optical mapping mesoscopic imaging advanced microscopy computational cardiac electrophysiology
Projet ERC : SocBond (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Entité participante : Goldsmiths, University of London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 43555.0 €

Friendship is a bidirectional affiliative bond that helps people live longer healthier lives, while loneliness is linked to poor physical and mental health. SocBond is a large-scale investigation of the brain, behavioural and cognitive mechanisms that build social connections. Studies of whether two people will become friends suggest that synchrony (moving together), homophily (similarity of culture and cognition), and task (opportunities to coordinate and share ideas) are the three strongest factors predicting affiliation. We bring these together in the SyncShareBond model where task and homophily create conditions that allow people to synchronise brain and behaviour when they meet and this synchrony builds affiliations. SocBond will test this with experimental studies of affiliation in small groups (4 people with fNIRS brain imaging) and large groups (10-30 people with motion and heart-rate sensors). Research Question 1 asks How does synchrony create affiliation? Multimodal recordings of brain, behavioural and physiological synchrony in small groups of participants doing a variety of tasks will reveal what causes affiliation and thus define the cognitive mechanisms of social bonding. RQ2 asks What methods best model synchrony? and will use cutting-edge analysis methods from different domains to answer our questions. RQ3 asks Do cognitive differences and homophily impact social bonding? Using large-group studies with measures of social skills in each person, we will test if some people find it hard to make friends and if being in a homophily-group can help. RQ4 asks How does friendship develop over time? Tracking synchrony in cohorts who meet regularly over 8 months with additional brain imaging will reveal the dynamics of friendship formation and the neural mechanisms that underlie this. Overall, SocBond is a novel detailed examination of the mechanisms of affiliation with broad implications for reducing loneliness and improving human wellbeing.

Mots-clés : human social cognitive neuroscience,social cognition,social brain,wearables,real world behaviour,prosocial,bonding,
Projet ERC : TARGET-NMNAT2 (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Institut Karolinska — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2261875.0 €

The goal of this ERC Advanced Grant is to develop clinically translatable neuroprotective strategies for glaucoma by focusing on NAD metabolism. NMNAT2 is a neuron-specific NAD-generating enzyme and is the upstream enzyme that coordinates axon degeneration. The Williams lab is expert in taking basic biological findings in glaucoma to the clinic, and we will leverage our expertise in this space to develop novel clinically translatable therapeutic interventions for glaucoma based on NMNAT2 biology. In Program 1 my team will further our on-going drug development program developing novel compounds targeting NMNAT2 by: (1) Continuing refining medicinal chemistry to develop an oral and injectable formulation, (2) Confirming NMNAT2 engagement via autoradiography and assessing BBB permeability and distribution via PET radiopharmacology using fluorine-18 radio ligands of these compounds, (3) Assessing the neuroprotective potential of these compounds in proof-of-concept animal models of glaucoma.  In Program 2 my team will target neuroprotection and axon regeneration to develop a comprehensive, titratable, single dose treatment for glaucoma via gene therapy by: (1) Combining a regenerative gene therapy (phosphomimetic Protrudin) with neuroprotective treatments (nicotinamide therapy, novel NMNAT2 compounds, NMNAT2 gene therapy), (2) Exploiting the E. coli DHFR and human FKBP destabilising domains to develop a gene therapy product which is rapid, titratable, and switchable (i.e. ON/OFF) and test this in the context of glaucoma.  This ERC Advanced Grant will capitalize on my recent findings that targeting NAD can prevent degeneration in animal models and restore vision glaucoma patients and develop crucial in vivo data transitioning this program from TRL 3 to TRL 4. By the end of this funding, we expect to be in a position to perform our regulatory toxicology on our lead drug and gene therapy candidates and file for our IND in preparation for a Phase I clinical trial.

Mots-clés : novel pharmacology,gene therapy,glaucoma,retina,optic nerve,neuroprotection,neuroregeneration,nad
Projet ERC : ANGLE (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Soci al World and Its Interactions
Entité participante : Oriental Institute — Pays : Rép. Tchèque — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : OÚ AV ČR
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 10937.0 €

The world is an increasingly angry place. Fueled by economic turmoil, conflict, climate collapse and culture wars, outbursts of collective anger are visible online, on the streets, and in various political forums. These outpourings of visible, collective ire, what we call ‘amplified anger’, have been historically condemned in mainstream public discourse as anti-democratic, uncivil attacks on human co-existence. But for the people engaged in these acts of rage, anger is often seen as a fully legitimate, necessary response to injustice, oppression or crisis. There is an urgent need to study the sources and rhetorics of legitimation that allow this amplified anger to flourish, be voiced, and spread within and across contemporary communities. ANGLE (anger, legitimised) will study how communities that feel their anger has been delegitimised seek to perform, communicate and justify this volatile emotion. Composed of four interconnected work packages (Fury, Venom, Rage and Wrath), the project will explore gendered, postcolonial, post-conversion and neo- religious iterations of anger in specific cultural sites across the globe. It uses a novel two-fold methodology: fieldwork and participant observation to access and study the localised ‘anger worlds’ of particular communities; and textual analysis to study print and online spaces where discourses of amplified anger intermingle to create wider, transnational ‘anger arenas’. ANGLE’s analytical framework will provide critical empirical insights into the dynamics of global political action. Through the innovative concept of the ‘grammar of anger’, we will compare the legitimation, transmission and ethics of amplified anger across local and global political sites. We will advance EU’s research environment by consolidating empirically informed anger studies, building an international consortium of anger scholars, and creating a significant repertoire of knowledge on the economic, cultural and political impact in the 21st century.

Mots-clés : anger,legitimisation,world politics
Projet ERC : GEOTRADE (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : Université de Salzbourg — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : PLUS
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2485639.0 €

Currently, we witness the “geopoliticization” of trade, namely the linking of national security concerns to trade policy. While this geopoliticization is related to the U.S.-China trade war and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has become a broad phenomenon affecting most countries worldwide. Much existing research sees governments in the driver’s seat of this process. By contrast, I explain the domestic politics behind the geopoliticization of trade policy focusing on the interaction between the economic interests of domestic actors and national security concerns. My approach is ground-breaking because I will: 1.) develop an original theoretical argument that distinguishes between three causal pathways for the influence of domestic actors: one where the economic interests of domestic actors constrain geopoliticization, one where business actors shape trade measures in line with their economic interests, and one where business actors drive the geopoliticization of trade. 2.) collect and analyse a large amount of novel empirical evidence, including on public opinion and business associations, to test this argument. This research will cover not only the three most important trading entities (China, the EU and the U.S.) but also India, Mexico, and Turkey as examples of middle powers that have only received scant attention. 3.) innovate in terms of methodology by combining evidence on inputs into the policymaking process, the policy process, policy outputs, and policy consequences to test an explanation of politics. The project promises to have a significant impact not only on the literature on the trade-security nexus but also on work done on the political economy of trade, interest groups, public opinion, international conflict, and the political economy of emerging countries. Given that geopoliticization affects the international order, the distribution of wealth, and the likelihood of interstate conflict, the project is of high relevance for several broad debates.

Mots-clés : geopoliticization,trade policy,national security,domestic politics,business associations,public opinion