Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : PAPA (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : LMU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2496875.0 €

Arterial hypertension is a major cardiovascular risk factor that affects between 10-40% of the population. Primary aldosteronism (PA) due to adrenal excess production of aldosterone is the most common secondary form of hypertension affecting 4-12% of hypertensives. Given the severe cardiovascular adverse effects of aldosterone excess early detection and individualized treatment of PA has important impact on clinical outcome and survival. However, the pathophysiology of PA is not well understood: While we recently identified specific genes underlying aldosterone producing adenoma, the most prevalent form of PA, bilateral adrenal hyperplasia, has remained enigmatic. It is the first hypothesis of this proposal that the pathophysiology of PA is a process based on two ‘hits’: agonistic angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) autoantibodies (proliferation, nodular hyperplasia) and somatic mutations (adenoma formation). It is the second hypothesis, that together, both factors induce not only aldosterone but also marked glucocorticoid excess. 1.) I will analyze prevalence and binding characteristics of AT1R autoantibodies as a pathophysiologic basis of PA. 2.) I will determine the effect of AT1R antibodies and genetic factors on cellular adrenal cortex models in vitro. 3.) I will extend these studies to specific in vivo genetic rodent models of PA. 4.) I will quantify aldosterone and glucocorticoid excess as disease effectors of AT1R autoantibodies and somatic mutations using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry in PA. 5.) Using the generated data I will develop a pathophysiology-based concept of PA. This groundbreaking approach using innovative in vitro and in vivo models, state-of-the art genetic, immunologic and steroidobolomic techniques will uniquely open new avenues to the pathophysiologic understanding of PA. It will change our current understanding of PA, has high health impact and, thus, will pave the way to novel concepts of aldosterone excess and hypertension.

Mots-clés : endocrine hypertension,primary aldosteronism,cortisol,aldosterone
Projet ERC : INTENT (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Cultures and cultural production
Entité participante : Iceland University of the Arts — Pays : Islande — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IUA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999460.0 €

Artificial Intelligence is becoming increasingly human-like and it is now proficient in a key human activity: musical creativity. But what does this mean? How does creative AI change our notions of art, culture and society? As new machine learning technologies begin to mirror ourselves, we need to look into that mirror and ask how AI is changing us. This project takes a pioneering leap in research about AI by answering how new creative AI transforms our relationships with technology and other people. This ambitious vision is achieved by using music as a platform to establish public understanding of AI. Through technology development we will create the conditions to study higher level theoretical questions on the meaning of creative AI in contemporary culture. Three respective work packages will develop: 1) instruments with creative AI; 2) human-AI collaboration in music; and 3) sonic instruments as scientific instruments. The project initiates a public discourse on creative AI and develops a theoretical framework describing the transformed notions of self, others and knowledge when we adopt intelligent instruments in our work. INTENT is interdisciplinary in nature. Applying the methodology of our new research collaboration protocol, we summon researchers from diverse disciplines to conduct frontier science on intelligent instruments as boundary objects. Through open science methods the outcomes will address: a) the role of creative AI in embodied technologies, and b) the understanding and reflection of artificial intelligence in future society. Grounded equally in technology development and the humanities, the project will benefit diverse disciplines by developing a theoretical framework of creative AI, initiating a discourse around human-centred creative AI, and defining principles of human-AI relations in services and products.

Mots-clés : musical instruments,creative ai,artistic research,digital humanities,systematic musicology,science and technology studies,machine learning,public understanding of ai,human computer interaction,scientific instruments,discourse on ai,performance
Projet ERC : MechanoTubes (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : University of Groningen — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RUG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1752767.5 €

Artificial molecular motors and switches have the potential to become a core part of nanotechnology. However, a wide gap in length scales still remains unaccounted for, between the operation of these molecules in solution, where their individual mechanical action is randomly dispersed in the Brownian storm, and on the other hand their action at the macroscopic level, e.g. in polymer networks and crystals. This proposal is about bridging this gap, by developing chemo-mechanical transduction strategies that will allow dynamic molecules to perform a range of unprecedented tasks, e.g. by generating strong directional forces at the nanoscale, and through shape-shifting microscopic formations. This project aims to harness the mechanically-purposeful motion of dynamic molecules as to generate measurable forces from the nanoscale, and ultimately establish operational principles for chemo-mechanical transduction in supramolecular systems. In my wholly synthetic approach, I draw inspiration from the operational principles of microtubules. I will incorporate molecular photo-switches into supramolecular tubes, and enable the controlled growth and disassembly of the tubes by using light as the energy input. Thus, I will: (i) Synthesize stiff supramolecular tubes that grow actively under continuous illumination, and disassemble with a power stroke as soon as illumination stops; (ii) Measure, and harvest the forces generated by the tubes to manipulate individual nanoparticles with a sense of directionality; and (iii) Encapsulate the tubes into water droplets and vesicles, to yield shape-shifting, and eventually rudimentary splitting models for cells. This project reaches beyond the state of the art in adaptive molecular nano-systems, by pioneering strategies to engineer and harness strain in supramolecular assemblies. It thus lays the foundations for machineries that are capable of manipulating matter at length scales that are also those at which the cytoskeleton operates.

Mots-clés : complex supramolecular systems,molecular motors and switches,light activated nano structures
Projet ERC : MechanoTubes (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : University of Twente — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 247232.5 €

Artificial molecular motors and switches have the potential to become a core part of nanotechnology. However, a wide gap in length scales still remains unaccounted for, between the operation of these molecules in solution, where their individual mechanical action is randomly dispersed in the Brownian storm, and on the other hand their action at the macroscopic level, e.g. in polymer networks and crystals. This proposal is about bridging this gap, by developing chemo-mechanical transduction strategies that will allow dynamic molecules to perform a range of unprecedented tasks, e.g. by generating strong directional forces at the nanoscale, and through shape-shifting microscopic formations. This project aims to harness the mechanically-purposeful motion of dynamic molecules as to generate measurable forces from the nanoscale, and ultimately establish operational principles for chemo-mechanical transduction in supramolecular systems. In my wholly synthetic approach, I draw inspiration from the operational principles of microtubules. I will incorporate molecular photo-switches into supramolecular tubes, and enable the controlled growth and disassembly of the tubes by using light as the energy input. Thus, I will: (i) Synthesize stiff supramolecular tubes that grow actively under continuous illumination, and disassemble with a power stroke as soon as illumination stops; (ii) Measure, and harvest the forces generated by the tubes to manipulate individual nanoparticles with a sense of directionality; and (iii) Encapsulate the tubes into water droplets and vesicles, to yield shape-shifting, and eventually rudimentary splitting models for cells. This project reaches beyond the state of the art in adaptive molecular nano-systems, by pioneering strategies to engineer and harness strain in supramolecular assemblies. It thus lays the foundations for machineries that are capable of manipulating matter at length scales that are also those at which the cytoskeleton operates.

Mots-clés : complex supramolecular systems,molecular motors and switches,light activated nano structures
Projet ERC : PATCHWORK (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Social World and Its Diversity
Entité participante : Autonomous University of Barcelona — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UAB
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2447501.0 €

As European societies are becoming increasingly unequal, diverse, and polarised, concerns about their cohesion are growing. In this light, it is surprising that social cohesion research has almost entirely ignored one of its core dimensions: relationships. Broad acquaintanceship networks, which connect each individual to hundreds of others through both intimate and superficial relationships, have long been assumed to bind societies together and provide a sense of community and solidarity. Nonetheless, they have hardly been studied empirically due to the technical complexity that the comprehensive study of society-wide networks involves. This project will develop a ground-breaking, network-scientific approach to social cohesion. After designing a theoretical framework for the structural cohesion of societies, it develops a new methodology to study structural cohesion empirically, hybridising two strands of network research in an unprecedented way. The methodology will be implemented in a large-scale, cross-national European survey administered to representative samples of the populations. The survey estimates are used to simulate society-wide networks, to explore resulting macro-level structures. These macro-level structures are then used to specify agent-based models to study in more depth how broad acquaintanceship networks influence subjective manifestations of cohesion. For the first time, we will know how cohesive broad acquaintanceship networks are across categorical fault lines of citizenship, social class, religion and political orientation for five societies, how real-life inter- and intragroup relationships cluster to form network constellations that expose individuals in unique ways to other social groups, and how these constellations shape subjective manifestations of cohesion such as tolerance, trust, and acceptance of diversity.

Mots-clés : analytical sociology,social networks,social cohesion,social integration,social influence,personal networks
Projet ERC : FAST SPECTRO (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Spanish National Research Council — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CSIC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149922.0 €

As a result of the research undertaken in the NANOFORCELLS project (ERC-StG-2011-278860), Dr Montserrat Calleja’s team has successfully developed instrumentation for the investigation of cell mechanics. The NANOFORCELLS project proposes a tool-box of three converging technologies for the aim of discriminating cancer and healthy cells from their physical properties: AFM, label-free microscopy and nanomechanical sensors. The instrument object of commercialization through the FAST-SPECTRO project is the output of the second key technology development: label-free microscopy. The research undertaken under ERC support has evidenced that cell lines with different degrees of tumorigenicity show different mechanical properties, a result confirmed by AFM and nanomechanical tests. Such results are found to have a potential interest for cancer diagnostics, We envision a high commercial potential of the technique. In order to accelerate the market entry of the results, the FAST SPECTRO “Proof of Concept” (PoC) project will focus on conducting a market feasibility study of the SMS instrument developed, as well as clarifying the IP position strategy and making an initial approach to potential partners and investors.

Mots-clés : cell mechanics,plasmonics,mems,spectrophotometry
Projet ERC : CTCapture_2.0 (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Universität Hamburg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UHH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149825.0 €

As an alternative to invasive needle biopsies, the analysis of CTCs released by metastatic lesions into the blood has been recently introduced by the PI as “liquid biopsy”. The molecular analysis of CTCs before and during treatment could supply a real-time status of the landscape of metastatic tumor cell clones in an individual cancer patient. CTCs might reveal representative information on metastatic cells located at different sites because the blood represents a pool of tumor cells potentially released by all lesions in the cancer patients. Moreover, blood samples can be taken sequentially during the course of the disease and therefore allow a real-time assessment of the molecular evolution of the disease with important implications for decision making on cancer therapies. However, despite the obvious potential of CTCs as biomarker, current CTC capture assays require sophisticated, expensive and complex assay systems, which is the most important bottleneck for a more widespread use of CTCs as liquid biopsy. The assay development in the ERC PoC Grant CAPTURE-CTC (end: 11/2016) and the successful research on improved methods for molecular characterization of CTCs in the Advanced Investigator Grant DISSECT (end: 07/2016) of the PI has allowed to develop a novel improved platform for CTC detection. To implement our chip into future clinical decision making, we will now focus on the clinical validation of the chip platform including the development of SOPs as basis for kits for expression of therapeutic targets and resistance mechanisms in CTCs. Moreover, the establishment of transient CTC cultures from chip-isolated tumor cells will foster drug testing in individual cancer patients. In conclusion, the CTCapture_2.0 project will be an important prerequisite for successful future commercialization of a novel liquid biopsy assay.

Mots-clés : nanotechnology,microfluidic chips,cancer,circulating tumor cells,blood,liquid biopsy,precision medicine,oncology
Projet ERC : Allelic Regulation (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems
Entité participante : Karolinska Institutet — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : KI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1923060.0 €

As diploid organisms inherit one gene copy from each parent, a gene can be expressed from both alleles (biallelic) or from only one allele (monoallelic). Although transcription from both alleles is detected for most genes in cell population experiments, little is known about allele-specific expression in single cells and its phenotypic consequences. To answer fundamental questions about allelic transcription heterogeneity in single cells, this research program will focus on single-cell transcriptome analyses with allelic-origin resolution. To this end, we will investigate both clonally stable and dynamic random monoallelic expression across a large number of cell types, including cells from embryonic and adult stages. This research program will be accomplished with the novel single-cell RNA-seq method developed within my lab to obtain quantitative, genome-wide gene expression measurement. To distinguish between mitotically stable and dynamic patterns of allelic expression, we will analyze large numbers a clonally related cells per cell type, from both primary cultures (in vitro) and using transgenic models to obtain clonally related cells in vivo. The biological significance of the research program is first an understanding of allelic transcription, including the nature and extent of random monoallelic expression across in vivo tissues and cell types. These novel insights into allelic transcription will be important for an improved understanding of how variable phenotypes (e.g. incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity) can arise in genetically identical individuals. Additionally, the single-cell transcriptome analyses of clonally related cells in vivo will provide unique insights into the clonality of gene expression per se.
Projet ERC : EQOP (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Social World and Its Diversity
Entité participante : OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : HiOA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 170912.94 €

As inequality increases in most developed countries, children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families are at exceptional risk for academic underachievement with lasting consequences for individuals, their communities, and society at large. Among policy makes, early childhood education and care (ECEC) is considered a key to remedy this risk. Yet the science on ECEC effectiveness at a national scale lags behind the excitement. Exploiting unique Norwegian data, we first seek to identify how and why socioeconomic disadvantage undermines children’s language skills and school achievement. Second, we will investigate whether ECEC can improve opportunities for disadvantaged children to excel. Third, to clarify the policy relevance of these inquiries, we will estimate costs of socioeconomic achievement gaps and the economic benefits of ECEC at scale. We take an investigative approach that is unprecedented in scope—from population level trends down to nuanced assessments of individual children’s growth. Throughout the 2000s, Norway’s child poverty rates increased from about 4% to 10%, while the coverage of public ECEC for toddlers increased from 30% to 80%. Across this unique window of time, we have access to rich survey data on language skills and home environment for 100,000 children, and genetically informative data, linked with administrative records on community- and family level socioeconomic risks and opportunities, and on national achievement test scores. These data allow us powerful analytic opportunities, combining state-of-the-art statistical, econometric, psychometric, and genetic epidemiological methods. I am well positioned to lead this project, having qualified for a Professorship at the University of Oslo aged 36, and having considerable experience in (a) publishing in highly respected scientific journals, (b) working at the intersection of research and policy, (c) leading research projects, and (d) mentoring younger scholars.

Mots-clés : social inequality,language development,school achievement,early childhood care and education,family processes,home environment,neighborhood,benefit cost analyses
Projet ERC : EQOP (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Social World and Its Diversity
Entité participante : University of Oslo — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UiO
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1692671.06 €

As inequality increases in most developed countries, children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families are at exceptional risk for academic underachievement with lasting consequences for individuals, their communities, and society at large. Among policy makes, early childhood education and care (ECEC) is considered a key to remedy this risk. Yet the science on ECEC effectiveness at a national scale lags behind the excitement. Exploiting unique Norwegian data, we first seek to identify how and why socioeconomic disadvantage undermines children’s language skills and school achievement. Second, we will investigate whether ECEC can improve opportunities for disadvantaged children to excel. Third, to clarify the policy relevance of these inquiries, we will estimate costs of socioeconomic achievement gaps and the economic benefits of ECEC at scale. We take an investigative approach that is unprecedented in scope—from population level trends down to nuanced assessments of individual children’s growth. Throughout the 2000s, Norway’s child poverty rates increased from about 4% to 10%, while the coverage of public ECEC for toddlers increased from 30% to 80%. Across this unique window of time, we have access to rich survey data on language skills and home environment for 100,000 children, and genetically informative data, linked with administrative records on community- and family level socioeconomic risks and opportunities, and on national achievement test scores. These data allow us powerful analytic opportunities, combining state-of-the-art statistical, econometric, psychometric, and genetic epidemiological methods. I am well positioned to lead this project, having qualified for a Professorship at the University of Oslo aged 36, and having considerable experience in (a) publishing in highly respected scientific journals, (b) working at the intersection of research and policy, (c) leading research projects, and (d) mentoring younger scholars.

Mots-clés : social inequality,language development,school achievement,early childhood care and education,family processes,home environment,neighborhood,benefit cost analyses