Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : CONENE (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Starting 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 : 1346438.0 €

The increasing uptake of renewable energy sources and liberalization of electricity markets are significantly changing power system operations. To ensure stability of the grid, it is critical to develop provably safe feedback control algorithms that take into account uncertainties in the output of weather-based renewable generation and in participation of distributed producers and consumers in electricity markets. The focus of this proposal is to develop the theory and algorithms for control of large-scale stochastic hybrid systems in order to guarantee safe and efficient grid operations. Stochastic hybrid systems are a powerful modeling framework. They capture uncertainties in the output of weather-based renewable generation as well as complex hybrid state interactions arising from discrete-valued network topologies with continuous-valued voltages and frequencies. The problems of stability and efficiency of the grid in the face of its changes will be formulated as safety and optimal control problems for stochastic hybrid systems. Using recent advances in numerical optimization and statistics, provably safe and scalable numerical algorithms for control of this class of systems will be developed. These algorithms will be implemented and validated on realistic power grid simulation platforms and will take advantage of recent advances in sensing, control and communication technologies for the grid. The end outcome of the project is better quantifying and controlling effects of increased uncertainties on the stability of the grid. The societal and economic implications of this study are tied with the value and price of a secure power grid. Addressing the questions formulated in this proposal will bring the EU closer to its ambitious renewable energy goals.
Projet ERC : DRONETHICS (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : University of Southampton — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1359348.0 €

The increasing use of armed, uninhabited aircraft (drones) is a serious political challenge with implications for security and justice worldwide. Drone technology is attracting high levels of investment, drones controlled remotely are becoming more numerous, and technological momentum toward drones controlled by artificial intelligence (AI) is building. Many human lives are at stake in this, so the violent use of drones continues to raise ethical questions. DRONETHICS will systematically address an urgent need to clarify the morality of ‘drone violence’, defined as violence involving a weapon system that is radically remote from its immediate user. Such remoteness is achieved through extreme physical distancing or the devolution of agency from humans to machines, so drone violence disrupts traditional expectations about war and a warrior’s exposure to risk. In turn, the disruptively innovative premise of this project is that such violence does not necessarily fall within the remit of the Just War framework according to which war is traditionally judged and governed. Moving beyond state-of-the-art Just War thinking, the project opens up an ethical inquiry into drone violence conceptualised as either war, law enforcement, interpersonal violence, or devolved (to AI) violence. An interdisciplinary research team, incorporating international relations, moral philosophy and computer science perspectives, will conduct rigorous analysis of documentary sources and engage closely with officials, drone operators, and roboticists. Through innovative exploration and application of alternative frameworks for governing violence, DRONETHICS will produce: the first integrated conceptual framework for explaining ethical concerns arising from current and potential forms of drone violence; concrete recommendations for policy-makers on how to manage this violence ethically; and a new normative vision for shaping the longer-term trajectory of drone violence for the good of all humanity.

Mots-clés : military,computer science,artificial intelligence
Projet ERC : INFANT MEMORIES (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : University of Basel — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499055.0 €

The infant brain is a formidable learning machine. But is it able to encode memories of early-life experiences? Since most of us don’t remember what happened during the first years of our lives, for a long time this question has been open to debate. Recent evidence suggests that, even if we cannot recall them, early-life memories are encoded in the developing hippocampus, persist in a silent state into adulthood, and can affect the acquisition of new information later in life. We know very little about how the infant brain encodes early-life memories, despite the fact that our earliest experiences can stick with us and influence our behaviour as adults. How can the infant hippocampus produce long-lasting memory traces when its circuits are not yet mature? Why can’t we remember early-life memories? And how can infant memories have long-lasting effects if we can’t recall them? To answer these questions, in the following project I propose to study memory processes in the developing brain using the mouse as a model organism. I will implement a combination of genetics, viral tagging, calcium imaging, and opto- and chemogenetic methodologies, in association with behavioural paradigms, to track in vivo the activity of a large number of neurons as the brain matures, and to gain fundamental insights into the early functions of the mammalian memory system. The aims of my proposal are: 1. to understand how the infant hippocampus produces neuronal ensembles to represent early-life experiences; 2. to identify and dissect the neural circuits encoding infant memories; and 3. to unravel how neurons supporting silent memories created during infancy influence learning processes in adults. By bridging developmental, systems, and behavioural neuroscience, my ambition is to understand how the developing brain encodes memories of early-life experiences, and how infant memories influence the operations of higher-order cognitive functions later in life.
Projet ERC : MOBI (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : Utrecht University — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1477657.0 €

The influence of large tech-companies in society is undeniable. The emergence and development of the digital economy marks a paradigm-shift towards a more connected and fluid ‘platform society’. New challenges stem from rapid technological developments, the combination of economic and digital power, and arise from a combination of unprecedented data-collection and the indispensability of pivotal platforms for both market-participants and citizens. This impacts both markets and democracy. Even though the challenges are urgent, law struggles to find answers. This is true also for European competition law, which aims to combat the negative effects of market power. However, as is hypothesized here, powerful tech-companies give rise to a new type of power: ‘Modern Bigness’. It impacts both market values and non-market values, such as freedom and democracy. The MOBI project investigates whether European competition law can and should tackle the challenges of Modern Bigness, arising from the digital economy. It will first develop an original theory of ‘Modern Bigness’. A case study on hypernudging digital platform-users and autonomy, and a case study on access to platforms by using the essential facilities-doctrine or public utility theory will highlight the entwinedness of market and non-market impacts, while a third study evaluates whether the power of Modern Bigness itself could be under threat by the disruptive impact of blockchain-technology. The overarching research question is answered by considering the response to the question whether European competition should tackle the multifaceted challenges of Modern Bigness within a normative framework building upon European constitutional theory and the nascent field of technology regulation. The project fundamentally reconsiders the nature and boundaries of European competition law in relation to digital developments. Ultimately, it is driven by the desire to protect fundamental societal, market and non-market values.

Mots-clés : european competition law,digital economy,technology regulation
Projet ERC : STEP 2 (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy
Entité participante : University of Würzburg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1874425.0 €

The initiation of adaptive cellular immunity requires antigen-specific interactions between Dendritic cells (DC) and naive CD8 T cells in secondary lymphoid organs. We aim to understand how the dynamic migratory behavior of myeloid and lymphoid cells is coordinated to ensure that “the right cells” communicate at “the right time” in “the right place” to enable robust immune responses. Using intravital microscopy, we have recently identified a critical phase (“Step 2”) of T cell priming that follows the initial encounter of DC and CD8 T cells and is essential to develop protective immunity. The aim of this proposal is to identify the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating T cell differentiation during Step 2. We will employ a newly developed imaging method (“Net-Vis”) to investigate how key elements of Step 2 (XCR1 DC) receive antigenic and inflammatory “information” within a network of myeloid cells. Next, we will test a novel model of T cell priming in which stepwise relocalization to multicellular clusters within the LN orchestrates T cell differentiation. Combining deep-tissue intravital microscopy, “Niche-seq” and novel genetic approaches, we will identify the cellular players and molecules guiding these processes and test their mechanistic implications. Finally, we will investigate the identity and mechanisms of Foxp3+ T cells that co-regulate CD8 T cell activation and differentiation during Step 2. In summary, we will exploit an array of innovative imaging, spatiotemporal transcriptomics and genetic approaches to investigate novel fundamental aspects of CD8 T cell priming during a newly discovered distinct phase of T cell activation and differentiation. Investigating the mechanisms that guide these central steps in adaptive immunity is anticipated to reveal new avenues for the therapeutic manipulation of immune responses against infection and cancer.

Mots-clés : intravital microscopy,chemokines,viral infection,t cells,dendritic cells
Projet ERC : EPIPHARM (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IDIBELL;IDIBELL-CERCA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 119345.0 €

The innovative idea behind the EPIPHARM (EPIgenetics of PHARMacogenetics) project is to develop a package demonstrating the feasibility of a high-throughput tool for epigenotyping Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP) to identify a drug sensitivity fingerprint based in the DNA methylation profile of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) loci. CUPs are a heterogeneous group of cancers defined by the presence of metastatic disease with no identified primary tumor at presentation. The CUP outcome is extremely poor with an expected death within the first six months of the diagnosis. CUP has been reported to comprise approximately 5% of all cancer cases in the world. Despite the introduction of new image technologies and immunohistochemistry methods, more than 50% of CUPs remain anonymous regarding their primary tumor site of origin and, as mentioned, their prognoses are dismal. For most patients with CUP, recommended treatments involves just empiric chemotherapy, usually with a taxane/platinum or gemcitabine/platinum regimens that achieve the described modest clinical benefit. Thus, it is necessary to have better tools to guide the pharmacological treatment of CUP cases. As part of the ERC Advanced Grant “Epigenetic Disruption on Non-Coding RNAs in Human Cancer” (EPINORC) we identified CpG methylation changes in a wide variety of ncRNAs (microRNAs, lincRNAs, T-UCRs, snoRNAs, piRNAs...) that showed a tumor-type specific pattern that has allowed the successful development of the EPICUP assay for the diagnoses of CUPs that it has been licensed and it is undergoing final clinical validation. In the current EPIPHARM Proof of Concept (PoC) proposal, we plan to optimize a ncRNA DNA methylation assay that includes a user-friendly and cost effective approach to improve the therapy of CUP cases by providing a more personalized drug treatment to an extent that will make it interesting commercially for the health providers and their associated company partners.

Mots-clés : dna methylation,non coding rnas,cancer of unknown primary,microarray,chemosensitivity
Projet ERC : B2C (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : Université Paris 1 - Panthéon Sorbonne — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : Paris 1
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 81126.25 €

The intention of Beasts to Craft (B2C) is to document the biological and craft records in parchment in order to reveal the entangled histories of animal improvement and parchment production in Europe from 500-1900 AD. B2C will lay the foundations for a new approach to the the study of parchment manuscripts —biocodicology— which draws evidence from the overlooked first stages in production, the raising of livestock and the preparation of the skins. 1. Parchment is an extraordinary but overlooked high resolution zooarchaeological record and a molecular archive. Livestock genetics is revealing breed diversity and markers of character traits such as fleece quality. B2C will exploit this new-found knowledge, using progressively older dated archival (sheep) parchments to study the history of improvement 1300 - 1900. Visual examination of the skins will search for direct evidence of disease and fleece quality. 2. Craft skills can be read from parchment and, when combined with chemical data and comparison with modern analogues, will produce the first European wide record of the craft from 500-1900. The size and scope of this the parchment archive means it is one of the largest and most highly resolved records of a specialist medieval craft. We will explore how these skills develop and when and where regional patterns appear and decline. These two remarkable records requires a large interdisciplinary team. However biocodicology draws from and informs upon a wide and diverse spectrum of existing scholarship in conservation, the arts and sciences. A third strand of the project will (i) furnish manuscript scholars with some of the information available to the scribe at time of production (ii) inform and shape attitudes to parchment conservation (iii) provide high resolution biological data on animal management, movement and health and (iv) explore methods to link datasets and promote data reuse.

Mots-clés : partchment,craft,improvement
Projet ERC : B2C (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : Royal Danish Library — Pays : Danemark — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 223175.0 €

The intention of Beasts to Craft (B2C) is to document the biological and craft records in parchment in order to reveal the entangled histories of animal improvement and parchment production in Europe from 500-1900 AD. B2C will lay the foundations for a new approach to the the study of parchment manuscripts —biocodicology— which draws evidence from the overlooked first stages in production, the raising of livestock and the preparation of the skins. 1. Parchment is an extraordinary but overlooked high resolution zooarchaeological record and a molecular archive. Livestock genetics is revealing breed diversity and markers of character traits such as fleece quality. B2C will exploit this new-found knowledge, using progressively older dated archival (sheep) parchments to study the history of improvement 1300 - 1900. Visual examination of the skins will search for direct evidence of disease and fleece quality. 2. Craft skills can be read from parchment and, when combined with chemical data and comparison with modern analogues, will produce the first European wide record of the craft from 500-1900. The size and scope of this the parchment archive means it is one of the largest and most highly resolved records of a specialist medieval craft. We will explore how these skills develop and when and where regional patterns appear and decline. These two remarkable records requires a large interdisciplinary team. However biocodicology draws from and informs upon a wide and diverse spectrum of existing scholarship in conservation, the arts and sciences. A third strand of the project will (i) furnish manuscript scholars with some of the information available to the scribe at time of production (ii) inform and shape attitudes to parchment conservation (iii) provide high resolution biological data on animal management, movement and health and (iv) explore methods to link datasets and promote data reuse.

Mots-clés : partchment,craft,improvement
Projet ERC : lightMaterInt (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : Technion – Israel Institute of Technology — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999825.0 €

The interaction between light and material leads to beautiful visual phenomena that greatly enrich our perception of the world. The ability to measure and model light scattering is central to almost any field of science. However, light transport in rich scenes is a complex process involving a long sequence of scattering events. Computationally modeling, reproducing and acquiring the processes generated so easily by Mother Nature is an extremely challenging task. While several computational models have been proposed, they are all making various simplifying assumptions that cannot capture the full complexity of light transport processes in nature. In the proposed research, we suggest new measurement strategies and new inference algorithms that will allow us to infer more information on light and material interaction. Specifically, the research will focus on the following tasks: (i) Acquiring internal sub-scattering, and recovering the volumetric structure of partially translucent objects using transient imaging data; (ii) Acquiring external illumination from its reflection on diffused objects; (iii) Exploiting illumination for developing digital light sensitive displays, capable of presenting 3D scenes with spatially varying reflectance properties. As light scattering is such a fundamental phenomenon, our envisioned new tools have applications in almost any field of science, from astronomy to microscopy, and in medicine. We plan to push the bound on the penetration depth of medical imaging devices, and allow chemists to infer more information on material decomposition through scattering. In earth science we can infer aerosol density from the scattering of sunlight in the atmosphere and ocean, a central challenge in any study of climate and pollution. In addition, we will pursue new technological developments such as light sensitive displays, offering a novel form of immersive visual experience, and new technologies of coded security cameras.

Mots-clés : computational photography,subsurface scattering acquisition,light sensitive displays
Projet ERC : KILL-OR-DIFFERENTIAT (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Harvard University — Pays : Etats-Unis — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 183487.41 €

The interactions between tumor and its microenvironment are often critical to uncovering the mechanisms of tumor survival. A striking example is the recent success of immunotherapy approaches that expose tumor cells to immune attack by disrupting a specific interaction between the tumor and infiltrating lymphocytes. The tumor can also repress immune response by inducing complex interactions among dozens of immune and stromal cell types that typically make up tumor microenvironment, however those remain largely uncharacterized as we currently lack systematic approaches to uncover relevant cell-cell interactions. The alternative to killing tumor cells, either directly or through immune system, is to force them to differentiate. Such strategy is particularly promising for tumors arising due to failure of progenitor populations to follow proper differentiation cascade. Here as well, the progress has been limited by lack of understanding of specific intercellular signals that that are disrupted in tumorigenesis. We propose a systematic approach for characterizing cell-cell interactions in complex microenvironments through joint analysis of spatially-resolved and disassociated single-cell transcriptomics. We will apply it to identify inter-cellular signals and pathways that can push tumors of neural crest origin, including as pheochromocytoma (PCC), paraganglioma (PGL) and neuroblastoma (NB), towards terminal differentiation. Building on our expertise with neural crest development, we will use single-cell profiling to map individual tumor cells onto developmental trajectory of neural crest differentiation. Spatial transcriptomics analysis will then be used to identify the sources and nature of microenvironment signals that channel neural crest differentiation during normal development. Contrasting interactions in normal and tumor tissues we will then aim to identify factors, pathways or signals that would push that PCC, PGL and NB tumors towards benign state.

Mots-clés : neural crest,neuroblastoma,differentiation,cancer,single cell transcriptomics,2d transcriptomics,development,tumor,pheochromocytoma,sympatho adrenal differentiation