Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : SMS-INKS (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CSIC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Global warming is one of the main challenges that society is currently facing. It involves a major change of the energy paradigm to drastically reduce CO2 emissions. High Temperature Superconductivity presents a huge interest worldwide for its opportunities for cleantech energy as superconductors allow energy harvesting and transport electric power with minimal losses. Superconducting nanocomposites in the form of coated conductors (CC) are specially interesting as generators operating at high magnetic fields. However, the widespread use and commercialization of CC nanocomposites in large scale applications is limited by the high cost / performance ratio of existing manufacturing processes. We developed a novel method that when combining the low-cost benefits of chemical solution deposition (CSD) processing with the ultra-fast growth rates of crystallization from liquid phases (Transient Liquid Assisted Growth-TLAG), a four times cost reduction is expected in comparison with state of the art. The TLAG-CSD approach uses multifunctional colloidal inks (MFCI) that replaces the standard CSD inks, enabling the control of the nanoscale landscape required to improve performance. The key point is the stabilization of the nanoparticles in a highly ionic environment at high concentrations. The innovation product of SMS-INKS is the manufacturing of robust, stable and reproducible MFCI in large quantities (several litres) by industrial processes, which will fill the existing gap in the superconducting nanocomposites Coated Conductors industry. A new generation of MFCI will be validated by upscaling the manufacturing process, focusing on value capture and market fit, ensuring a strong IP position and preparing a development plan that can be further (co-)developed with industry. Additionally, this MFCI technology could be easily adapted to other CSD material areas (magnetic, ferroelectric, thermoelectric).
Projet ERC : CUBE_SAT_PYRO (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Luxembourg Institute of science and technology — Pays : Luxembourg — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : LIST
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Can we find new sources of energy in space? This project aims to explore pyroelectric materials as an alternative or complement to photovoltaic panels. Unlike solar panels, which require continuous sunlight, pyroelectric energy harvesters convert thermal variations into electricity, offering an alternative energy solution in space. For the first time, this study will assess the potential of pyroelectric energy harvesters directly in space. Pyroelectric modules will be selected, prepared, mounted on a cube satellite, and launched in space in low earth orbit. The harvested energy will be measured in situ in space. The measurement data will be sent from the satellite and collected via a ground station built in our premises. The objective of this project is to show that this pyroelectric element can generate an electric energy density of 200 J/kg per thermal cycle and a continuous power density of 1 W/kg, which would show that pyroelectric energy harvesting is a convincing solution to produce electric energy in space. The project is structured in five work packages addressing the key scientific and technological challenges but also focusing on a strong exploitation plan. The first work package is about pyroelectric materials. The harvesting modules and their associated electronics will be developed in the second one, both occurring before launch. Post-launch, the third work package will analyse thermal cycling behaviour in space, whereas the fourth one will evaluate long-term reliability, notably assessing radiation effect on pyroelectric harvesters for several months. Finally, the last work package is dedicated to project management and exploitation strategies, in which we will look for partners after the intellectual property is secured. By demonstrating the feasibility of pyroelectric energy harvesting in space, this project will offer a new electric power source for satellites and space missions, broadening the possibilities for future space exploration.

Mots-clés : cube satetille waste heat energy harvesting pyroelectric materials
Projet ERC : T2Lead (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université Louis-et-Maximilien de Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : LMU
Type d'entité : Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a disease with a poor prognosis, especially for such patients either failing initial treatment or relapsing thereafter. In AML, specific immune cells such as T cells have been proven to bear curative potential in the context of stem cell transplantation but toxicity and therapy failure are frequent. The use of T cells modified for specificity with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) has changed the landscape of several blood-borne cancer of the B cell lineage. In AML, however, ongoing development of CAR T cells is associated with severe toxicities, limiting dosing and efficacy because of poor specificity of used targets for AML blasts. In my ERC funded research, I have identified unique AML targets which are not shared with healthy hematopoesis or other relevant healthy organs. Developing CAR against these, I could demonstrate the potential of my strategy. To enable clinical development and exploitation, T2LEAD will identify and develop lead CAR candidates for further translation. T2LEAD will explore the medical and commercial potential of lead CAR and route exploitation towards licensing or spin out or both. T2LEAD will be supported by a strong network of advisors from academia, industry and regulation frame work. Ultimately T2LEAD will help advancing the treatment landscape in AML to the benefit of AML patients.
Projet ERC : AGAINST (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université des sciences de la vie de Varsovie — Pays : Pologne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Macrophage therapy is promising for solid tumor treatment as these cells are continuously recruited into the tumor mass, even the most hypoxic regions. Our pioneering research demonstrated that macrophages are able to take up ferritins loaded with anti-cancer drugs, creating Macrophage-Drug Conjugates (MDCs), and transfer these to cancer cells and kill them, a phenomenon we named TRAIN. In my ongoing ERC Starting Grant PROJECT ‘McHAP’, we have proven that MDCs can be sucessfully used not only to treat solid tumors but also to induce subsequent resistance to the tumor re-challenge. Acquisition of resistance to tumor development after specific therapy is a 'Golden Grail' in oncology. Now we aim to turn the MDC technology into a commercial and social value proposition by confirming mechanisms of tumor-resistance in tumor-bearing mice and identify immune response. This is crucial to raise interest of and establish a co-development (or licensing) deal with big pharma’s to realize commercialization and clinical uptake of our IP-protected MDC technology. During the ERC PoC project, we will perform high-dimensional spectral flow cytometry, spatial transcriptomics and single-cell transcriptomics of the tumor before and after MDC treatment to identify mechanisms of tumor-resistance and optimize our business case. This project will thus provide proof of concept for the immune activation after the MDC treatment and thus establish the viability, feasibility, commercialization and overall direction for our innovative MDC technology. This project will substantially contribute to bring our MDC technology to the market and clinical practice.
Projet ERC : SHIPMENT (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Twente — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Membrane technology is a very sustainable approach to separation, as it requires much less energy than conventional separation approaches. But the sustainable image of membranes becomes substantially tarnished when you realize that nearly all membranes are prepared using large quantities of toxic and unsustainable aprotic solvents (NMP, DMF etc). To secure the future of membrane technology, it becomes critical to develop more sustainable approaches to membrane fabrication. An Aqueous Phase Separation (APS) technique has recently been proposed by the PI as a green and sustainable alternative to the currently dominant non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) process.[1–4] APS utilizes polyelectrolytes such as poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS), poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC), poly(allyl amine hydrochloride) (PAH), and polyethyleneimine (PEI) to obtain sustainable polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) membranes in a completely water-based process. The structure and morphology of these APS membranes can easily be controlled to produce excellent separation properties. Although APS membranes show high solute retentions, the water permeability is much lower than NIPS membranes now utilized for the same application. This originates from the fact that the separation is performed by the same material that gives the membrane its mechanical strength and porosity. As a result, the water permeability is compromised when utilizing dense and mechanically strong membranes, but mechanical properties are poor when more swollen materials are used that provide a high water permeability. The lower water permeability of the existing APS membranes is now the major obstacle preventing their commercial production and large scale industrial acceptance. Herein, we propose a modification of the APS procedure by employing Interfacial Complexation (IC) during the phase inversion step to produce composite membranes that ultimately lead to the required high performances.
Projet ERC : Opto-AF-Therapy (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Leiden University Medical Center — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : LUMC
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 80000.0 €

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of heart rhythm disturbance, progressive in nature and associated with high morbidity and mortality. Thus, an effective and broadly applicable treatment to quickly restore normal rhythm at any time and place is highly desired. However, such therapy is lacking. In contrast to drugs and ablation, electrical cardioversion of AF is effective in broad populations of AF patients, but can only performed within hospitals because of the required patient sedation due to the use of high-voltage shocks. This undesired delay in treatment, huge hospital workload, and impact on patient mobility, further signifies the need for the development of new treatment strategies. To overcome these challenges and meet this need for new therapeutics, my group developed the concept of optoelectronic cardiac rhythm control. This approach is based on the paradigm that arrhythmia termination for restoration of normal rhythm can be achieved by appropriately timed generation of bioelectrical currents by the arrhythmic heart itself. To enable such shock-free and therefore pain-free AF termination, cardiac tissue will be optogenetically modified to express light-sensitive proteins. A small implantable optical defibrillator will trigger the release of light pulses by a multi-electrode LED array upon automated AF detection. Our recent results in rodents show that this indeed results in pain-free and immediate AF termination, thus overcoming the drawbacks of electrical cardioversion. To realize valorisation towards clinical exploration, Opto-AF-Therapy will focus on the optimization of the expression cassette for optogenetic modification of atrial tissue and conduct first proof-of-principle large animal studies. Complementary to these activities, my team will establish an IP strategy, file relevant patent application(s), conduct thorough market analyses and condense all findings into a business case to present to potential partners & investors.
Projet ERC : G-PROBE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : École polytechnique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : X
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 130000.0 €

For more than 30 years, the platforms based on scanning probe microscopy (SPM) have contributed enormously in the progress of nanoscience and nanotechnology, becoming a fundamental tool for specialists spanning a wide range of research fields, such as materials science, nanoelectronics or biophysics. The versatility of these multipurpose microscopes is bestowed by the extended variety of probes available in the market, used to interact with the nanoscale. For this proof of concept grant, we will further develop our probes and collect extended data-sets of tip performance, propose scalable manufacturing processes and demonstrate further capabilities of this new generation of SPM probes.
Projet ERC : NutriBone (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Twente — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Keeping large (>1cm3) living tissues alive is an unresolved key challenge that hinders many clinical and industrial applications, including tissue/organ transplants, engineered tissues, drug screening models, and lab grown meat. While natural tissues within our body are continuously provided with nutrients via the blood stream, engineered, explanted, or even implanted tissues have to rely on the slow diffusion of nutrients until perfused vascularization is achieved. This commonly leads to tissue starvation, which inevitably causes tissue failure. The NutriBone project is based on the logical yet never before explored premise that these tissues need to provide their own nutrients if the environment cannot do so. This is an innovative concept named self-feeding. We have surprisingly discovered that glycogen offers cell-driven long-term release of physiologically relevant quantities of glucose enabling long-term implant survival, accelerated tissue formation, reduced inflammation and immune responses, and improved vascularization. As this approach is a first-of-its-kind, we have patented it and here propose its valorisation.  We propose to develop a marketable self-feeding bone implant to address the current clinical challenge of critically sized bone defects. Although our technology is relevant for many clinical applications, we will focus on large bone defects. Bone is the second most implanted tissue but implant failure remains high, leading to high medical cost and low quality of life for patients. Moreover, bone implants represent the largest, and still fast growing market for engineered tissues, while awaiting a solution to maintain implant viability. Thus, we can foresee a concrete path-to-market. To this end, we will perform product development towards a minimum viable product, establishing a roadmap for certification, and market research as well business plan development to ensure a good product-market fit including a market entry and exit strategy.
Projet ERC : ConnectomesToANNs (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Société Max-Planck pour le développement des sciences — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Société Max Planck
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have found applications in a wide variety of real-world problems. Despite this tremendous success, artificial intelligence systems still face major challenges due to their reliance on extensive training and large datasets. Recent reports indicate that the architecture of ANNs could be a prime target for reducing their training and data requirements.  We hypothesize that such architectural features can be identified from neuronal networks in the brain, which have evolved to efficiently perform highly specialized functions. Recent advances in electron microscopy will soon provide detailed reconstructions of large-scale neuronal networks from different brain areas, species, developmental stages and/or pathological conditions. However, even if such data become available, directly transforming neuronal network reconstructions into ANNs will raise problems of interpretability, due to their enormous complexity, and generalizability, due to high inter-individual variability.  Here, we will resolve these challenges by implementing a set of computational approaches that allow the extraction of rules that explain the wiring properties underlying dense connectomics data, the transfer of these anatomical principles into the design of ANN architectures, and the evaluation of how these principles impact performance on a battery of deep learning tasks. This unique methodology will lay the foundation for groundbreaking insights into how different network architectures facilitate specific brain functions, and also how the underlying anatomical principles can inform the development of more effective and efficient artificial intelligence systems.  Our methodology will be publicly accessible online to scientists, but also to companies and non-profit organizations that seek to improve the performance or reduce training data requirements for applications of deep learning.
Projet ERC : APOLLO (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Twente — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Endovascular interventions in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) are vital for treating cardiovascular diseases through small incisions. However, current manual and tendon-driven instruments lack precision. Magnetic actuation offers a groundbreaking solution, providing exceptional dexterity. The APOLLO project aims to develop a flexible probe capable of generating internal magnetic fields, revolutionizing MIS with advanced diagnosis and treatment options. Integrated sensors and biocompatible materials ensure precise control, meeting clinicians' needs in challenging anatomical regions. APOLLO's pursuit of commercial success involves strategic partnerships and dedicated business development efforts. In essence, APOLLO signifies a significant advancement in minimally invasive surgery, offering unparalleled precision and accessibility in treatment.
Projet ERC : WaterSAFE (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Chypre — Pays : Chypre — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 85200.0 €

The WaterSAFE project addresses the growing threat of malicious attacks on water distribution Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS)—an unprecedented risk to public health, safety, and critical infrastructure operations. While the integration of Information Technology with Operational Technology in water organizations has revolutionized the evolution of smart water systems, it has also exposed security vulnerabilities. WaterSAFE introduces a groundbreaking CPS security-as-a-service solution for water distribution systems. Currently, CPS security solutions do not take into consideration the implications of cyber or physical attacks on system dynamics and controls. By leveraging state-of-the-art Digital Twin and machine learning technologies, WaterSAFE enables real-time simulation, detection, and analysis of the impacts of cyber-physical threats, marking a paradigm shift in CPS security analysis. This proposed system incorporates an Early Warning System for real-time anomaly detection in both cyber and physical states, offering advanced response tools for mitigating contamination incidents caused by cyber or physical attacks. Additionally, WaterSAFE offers interactive training platforms for water operators that facilitate enhancing critical skills for effective responses in real-world emergency scenarios.  WaterSAFE uses scientific results from the ERC SyG Water-Futures project on real-time water quality state estimation, machine learning for event diagnosis, CPS security, and contamination management, toward a proof-of-concept Minimum Viable Product (MVP), demonstrated in a small-scale testbed as well as large-scale living lab. This goes beyond existing solutions, which do not consider system dynamics or health impacts.  WaterSAFE will enable water utilities to implement stronger risk management, respond faster and more effectively to incidents, and subsequently meet EU regulations, fostering a cybersecurity culture within the water sector.
Projet ERC : EVADES (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : EURECOM — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Mobile malware is getting harder and harder to detect. This is one of the reasons why malicious apps regularly appear on the official Play Store, despite the considerable effort Google and the security industry put into early detection and validation of each application. To mitigate this problem, EVADES aims to combine a number of novel techniques developed as part of the ERC BitCrumbs project into the first evasion-resilient, scalable, and maintainable sandbox to analyze Android applications. Our current prototype outperforms all open-source and commercial competitors, showing a significant technological advantage over the current market. We already performed preliminary experiments and the results we obtained are as worrisome for users as they are encouraging to justify a business idea. In fact, 70% of the Android malware we tested with our technology implemented some form of evasion targeting existing malware analysis tools. This shows that the data we are using today to decide whether applications are benign or malicious is completely unreliable.  The EVADES project will focus on transforming our prototype server-side component into production software, developing the missing client-side components required to produce an MVP, and exploring different ways we could sell and monetize our technology. We are certain that our solution has the potential to revolutionize the Android security market by providing a more accurate and scalable way to collect information about the behavior of applications. This is paramount for any mobile security solution, as well as for existing and future machine learning-based approaches that today struggle to use the ‘unreliable‘ information provided by existing dynamic analysis systems.