Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : VIETNAMICA (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Cultures and cultural production
Entité participante : École pratique des hautes études — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : EPHE PSL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 924441.5 €

Driven by a general movement in Asia to invest in Classical studies, the project Vietnamica aims for a historical and linguistic study of ancient, invaluable Vietnamese inscriptions, while also helping to determine a ground-breaking method for the use of epigraphic resources. In partnership with Han-Nôm Institute and Vietnam National University, the project is motivated by the recent divulgence of 40,000 paper stampings that reproduce the inscriptions engraved on the surfaces of 25,000 steles erected between the 16th to 20th century in Vietnam. These inscriptions, written in a complex Chinese embedded with the local vernacular, are conserved at the Han-Nôm Institute in Hanoi. Offering an unexpected counterpoint to existing official sources, these inscriptions prompt the study of rural inhabitants, monks and notables across an era of five centuries through their very own language. The project will produce a series of studies on popular Buddhism and its connection to the ancestor cult, donations and the role of women in the economy of gifting, and monetization and land property. Based on these themes, the project will record and analyze the logographic processes that the Vietnamese once used to transcribe the language they spoke. Such research - close to the field and to its people - was once a dream for scholars, and is now possible due to the corpus of stampings available. Characteristic of local histories, information is dispersed in fragments all throughout the corpus and it is first necessary to categorize the existing inscriptions. Vietnamica will rely on tools available through digital and computational humanities to construct a database of the stampings, connect it to data mapping, and on a more technical level, proceed with a segmentation of the text to allow for the automatic identification of the demotic characters. The results from the project will converge on a Platform (Vietnamica.eu) that is meant to remain accessible to researchers indefinitely.

Mots-clés : history,donation,computational humanities,inscription
Projet ERC : VIETNAMICA (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Cultures and cultural production
Entité participante : Francophone University Association — Pays : Canada — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : AUF
Type d'entité : Autres
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1567142.0 €

Driven by a general movement in Asia to invest in Classical studies, the project Vietnamica aims for a historical and linguistic study of ancient, invaluable Vietnamese inscriptions, while also helping to determine a ground-breaking method for the use of epigraphic resources. In partnership with Han-Nôm Institute and Vietnam National University, the project is motivated by the recent divulgence of 40,000 paper stampings that reproduce the inscriptions engraved on the surfaces of 25,000 steles erected between the 16th to 20th century in Vietnam. These inscriptions, written in a complex Chinese embedded with the local vernacular, are conserved at the Han-Nôm Institute in Hanoi. Offering an unexpected counterpoint to existing official sources, these inscriptions prompt the study of rural inhabitants, monks and notables across an era of five centuries through their very own language. The project will produce a series of studies on popular Buddhism and its connection to the ancestor cult, donations and the role of women in the economy of gifting, and monetization and land property. Based on these themes, the project will record and analyze the logographic processes that the Vietnamese once used to transcribe the language they spoke. Such research - close to the field and to its people - was once a dream for scholars, and is now possible due to the corpus of stampings available. Characteristic of local histories, information is dispersed in fragments all throughout the corpus and it is first necessary to categorize the existing inscriptions. Vietnamica will rely on tools available through digital and computational humanities to construct a database of the stampings, connect it to data mapping, and on a more technical level, proceed with a segmentation of the text to allow for the automatic identification of the demotic characters. The results from the project will converge on a Platform (Vietnamica.eu) that is meant to remain accessible to researchers indefinitely.

Mots-clés : history,donation,computational humanities,inscription
Projet ERC : BoneScreen (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : Eindhoven University of Technology — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU/e
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Drug development remains a long and costly process with low success rates in clinical trials. While a majority of cell-based compound screenings are still based on 2D experiments, compelling evidence suggests that 3D culture technologies will accommodate for a better precision in drug discovery. On the other hand, such screening cultures are particularly challenging in terms of 3D visualization. In the BoneScreen project, we propose to develop a high content screening (HCS) platform capable of identifying drugs that alter the reaction of bone cells in terms of bone formation and/or resorption (called bone remodeling). Abnormal bone remodeling is the primary cause of bone diseases such as osteoporosis. Limitations in the development of effective therapeutics for bone remodeling disorders are that the interplay between the bone cells has been ignored, as well as their 3D environment. The micro-computed tomography based monitoring technology of the BoneScreen project is combined with an ex vivo 3D osteochondral system preserving the viability and interactions of tissue-specific cells and their environment. Drug effects are validated in this ex vivo platform by comparison with known drug effects on bone. This system will allow reducing the number of animal experiments needed in drug discovery for bone diseases, as promising leads can first be screened ex vivo before being investigated in vivo. Its experimental design is cost-effective and acceptable in terms of animal welfare and in accordance with the 3Rs. We aim to assess and demonstrate its commercial value to the pharmaceutical industry by building a strong knowledge transfer strategy and by further exploring the platform for potential other applications. In conclusion, the BoneScreen platform has a great fundamental and commercial potential in various fields such as drug discovery for bone diseases.

Mots-clés : bone,remodeling,bioreactor,monitoring,drug
Projet ERC : PHRD (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Technion – Israel Institute of Technology — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Drug resistance is a major reason for failure in cancer chemotherapy and/or modern targeted drugs. While tumours usually initially respond to therapy, resistance occurs within several cycles of treatments, or later on when patients are off therapy. Until recently, acquired and intrinsic resistance mechanisms for therapy were thought to be solely tumour driven. They are usually measured after tumours relapse or after several lines of treatments. However, in our ERC starting grant (HostResponse No. 260633), we found a novel way to predict resistance to therapy, already after 24 hours after the first drug administration. This discovery resulted in a new stream of research by means of published papers and the formation of special interest groups in cancer research and pharmaceutical disciplines that tackle this paradigm shift in cancer therapy. During our discussions with the cancer community, a clear need has emerged for a Specific Host-Driven Resistant Mechanisms (SHDRM®) diagnostic platform which will serve two (closely connected) markets:(1) the research community – enabling researchers to further examine this new paradigm; and (2) Clinicians- enabling oncologists to identify each patient specific host driven resistance mechanism and repurpose off-the-shelf drugs to counteract the specific factor driving the resistance. PHRD goal is to technically validate and develop a diagnostic platform Prototype for both markets including a clinical study design report which will enable to secure our partners including drug manufacturers, diagnostic providers, and the research community to commit to jointly push the new PHRD standard.

Mots-clés : personalised therapy,diagnostic biomarkers,cancer therapy,drug resistance
Projet ERC : DiurnalHealth (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 66495.0 €

Due to a significant increase in the use of artificial light in our 24h economy, the biological clocks of all living organisms, including humans, are severely disrupted. Many severe health disorders are consequences of clock disruption such as diabetes, sleep/mood disorders, cardiovascular disease, and immune dysfunction. The central timekeeper in mammals is the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), and the mechanisms by which light disrupts integrity of the SCN has been well investigated in nocturnal species. In contrast, mechanisms of clock disruption in humans and other diurnal (day-active) species remain poorly defined. I have evidence that the mechanisms that drive SCN function are fundamentally different between nocturnal species and diurnal species. This defines my aim to restore proper clock function in diurnal species, including humans. To test this, in Objective 1 we will identify similarities and differences between nocturnal and diurnal clocks with respect to their i) response to light, ii) neuronal synchronization, iii) output, and iv) response to physical activity. Based on these findings, in Objective 2 we will develop novel strategies to manipulate and restore clock function in diurnal species. These objectives will be achieved using novel, state-of-the-art chronobiology methods including in vivo electrophysiology and Ca2+ and bioluminescence reporters—all in freely behaving day-active animals, as well as in slice preparations containing the SCN. For studies on the human SCN we record with 7-Tesla fMRI. This proposal will help establish a new basis for chronobiology with respect to the most suitable models for studying translational applications. The results will yield immediate benefits in terms of manipulating biological clock function among vulnerable populations in modern society, particularly the elderly, patients in intensive care, and shift workers.

Mots-clés : circadian,in vivo electrophysiology,neuronal network,neurophysiology,light input,light pollution,seasonal rhythms,exercise,health,synchronization,sleep,behaviour,plasticity
Projet ERC : BUBBLE CURE (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Erasmus MC — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1878000.0 €

Due to an aging population, increasingly more cardiac devices are implanted (pacemaker/ICD/CRT/ prosthetic valve/LVAD; worldwide ~2 million yearly). Life-threatening bacterial infections (1-60% infection and 29-50% mortality rate) associated with these devices are a major healthcare burden and pose scientific challenges. Ultrasound imaging is currently the primary diagnostic modality. However, it lacks specificity and sensitivity because the signal from the bacteria is similar to the signal of healthy tissue or the cardiac device, thus making accurate diagnosis impossible. Recent developments in targeted ultrasound contrast agents (i.e. targeted microbubbles (tMB), 1-8 micron in size) allow ultrasound imaging of a specific tMB vibration signal resulting in exceptional sensitivity and specificity. Advancing tMB imaging to detect bacterial infections is needed to solve the challenges caused by the complex ultrasound field from these devices. I was the first to show that vibrating tMB induce vascular drug uptake, thereby showing the potential of tMB as a theranostic agent by combining imaging with drug delivery. Recently, my team and I were also the first to demonstrate which tMB vibrations kill vessel wall cells in vitro by developing analysis methods that link tMB vibrations to drug uptake patterns on a single cell layer. As this is the first time this technique will be applied to 3D bacterial biofilm infections on cardiac devices, I will go beyond the state-of-the-art in tMB-tissue interaction technology by developing novel detection, analysis, and modeling methods to accurately determine which tMB vibrations eradicate bacterial biofilm infections on devices. The Bubble Cure project will result in a novel multidisciplinary technology that allows accurate diagnosis and treatment of cardiac device-related bacterial biofilm infections, thereby creating a whole new direction of tMB ultrasound imaging and therapy in the scientific field of cardiology and microbiology.

Mots-clés : targeted ultrasound contrast agent,ultrasound molecular imaging,microbubble mediated therapy,biofilm,cardiovascular device
Projet ERC : PICOCRYPT (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IMDEA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999873.0 €

Due to phenomena like the ubiquity of the Internet and cloud computing it is increasingly common to store and process data on third-party machines. In spite of its attractive aspects, this trend raises a number of security concerns, including: How to ensure that the results computed by third parties are correct (integrity) and no unauthorized information is leaked (privacy)? The current way to deal with these problems is to trust third parties under legislation guarantees. This approach assumes that third-party machines stay honest all time, even if they get hacked! This is unrealistic and contradicted by the numerous security incidents that are regularly reported. In contrast, our vision is that any computing device must be able to store and process data on untrusted machines without risking for privacy and integrity and without the need of trusting these machines. Recent trends in cryptography promise solutions to realize our vision but the existing generation of protocols is limited due to its high costs and its poor support of emerging applications such as data streams processing. The grand challenge of this project is to invent a new generation of cryptographic protocols for computing securely on untrusted machines in a way that is cost-effective and suitable for future application scenarios. Towards this goal we will design new methods to scale up the applicability of cryptographic protocols. One of our key approaches will be trading generality for efficiency. While existing solutions are either general but impractical or efficient but of limited applicability, in PICOCRYPT we will look for protocols that support a wide range of applications while staying efficient. The PICOCRYPT solutions will enable a paradigm shift in the way privacy and integrity will be enforced and will have impact in the IT world by making remote computing safer not only for citizens but also for public and private organizations that due to the current risks renounce to these services.

Mots-clés : cryptography,privacy,integrity,cloud computing,data protection
Projet ERC : ImageToSim (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : RWTH Aachen University — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : RWTH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 0.0 €

Due to the intricate process of transferring diagnostic imaging data into patient-specific models, simulation workflows involving complex physiological geometries largely rely on the manual intervention of specially trained analysts. This constitutes a significant roadblock for a wider adoption of predictive simulation in clinical practice, as the associated cost and response times are incompatible with tight budgets and urgent decision-making. Therefore, a new generation of imaging-through-analysis tools is needed that can be run autonomously in hospitals and medical clinics. The overarching goal of ImageToSim is to make substantial progress towards automation by casting image processing, geometry segmentation and physiology-based simulation into a unifying finite element framework that will overcome the dependence of state-of-the-art procedures on manual intervention. In this context, ImageToSim will fill fundamental technology gaps by developing a series of novel comprehensive variational multiscale methodologies that address robust active contour segmentation, upscaling of voxel-scale parameters, transition of micro- to macro-scale failure and flow through vascular networks of largely varying length scales. Focusing on osteoporotic bone fracture and liver perfusion, ImageToSim will integrate the newly developed techniques into an imaging-through-analysis prototype that will come significantly closer to automated operation than any existing framework. Tested and validated in collaboration with clinicians, it will showcase pathways to new simulation-based clinical protocols in osteoporosis prevention and liver surgery planning. Beyond its technical scope, ImageToSim will help establish a new paradigm for patient-specific simulation research that emphasizes full automation as a key objective, accelerating the much-needed transformation of healthcare from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive, proactive, evidence-based, and person-centered.

Mots-clés : finite element method,computational solid mechanics,computational fluid mechanics,multiscale analysis,bone fracture,liver perfusion,variational and pde based image processing
Projet ERC : TORPEDO (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Cellular, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
Entité participante : Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : VIB
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499937.5 €

Due to the presence of a rigid cell wall, plant cells are fixed within their tissue context and cannot move relative to each other during development. Plants thus need to rely on directed cell elongation and cell division to generate a full three-dimensional (3D) structure. Controlling cell division orientations relative to the tissue axis is therefore the fundamental basis for 3D growth. In the root, plant cells are organised in cell files and undergo two main types of cell division to allow directional growth: anticlinal cell divisions (AD, adding cells within a cell file) and periclinal cell divisions (PD, creating new cell files, organs and tissues). Understanding the mechanisms that control cell division orientation is a key question in developmental biology and the main focus of this application. PDs are challenging to study as they only occur sporadically and typically in the most inner tissues of the root. I recently constructed a powerful system to induce strong, fast and homogenous PDs in any tissue type. I therefore now have the perfect tool at hands to tackle the fundamental question of how plants control the orientation of its cell divisions by: 1. Understanding the cellular events that occur prior to PD using a set of complementary techniques. 2. Identifying novel downstream components that translate the known genetic triggers for PD into changes in cell division orientation by performing an unbiased genetic screen. 3. Determining the developmental specificity and convergence of the known genetic pathways capable of inducing PD through studying their transcriptional targets in an ectopic tissue context. 4. Establishing a cell-culture based system for genetic and high throughput chemical perturbation studies of cell division orientation. I thus aim to perform a global and comprehensive study of cell division orientation, a process crucial for 3D growth in general and vascular development in specific.
Projet ERC : DOUBLE EXPRESS (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Entité participante : Trinity College Dublin — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TCD
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1824793.75 €

Duplicate genes are important in disease, are a hugely important source of evolutionary novelty, and for many years we thought we understood them. We thought that duplication relieved selective constraints. We thought that gene knockout neutrality was due to redundancy. We thought that a duplicate is a duplicate is a duplicate. Evidence is accumulating challenging each of these views. Rather than being the result of an unbiased process, the genes that tend to duplicate in our genome and others are quickly evolving, non-essential genes, irrespective of current duplication status. Conversely, genes retained after whole genome duplication (WGD) are slowly evolving, important genes. I propose that different resolution of the evolutionary constraints imposed by the demands of gene expression can explain these contrasting relationships. I propose that the opposing constraints on gene-by-gene duplications as compared to WGD channel these different sets of genes into remarkably different evolutionary trajectories. In particular, in much the same way that individual gene duplication creates an opportunity for the evolution of a new gene, the co-evolution of expression of sets of interacting genes after WGD creates an opportunity for the evolution of new biochemical pathways and protein complexes. Furthermore, I suggest a common mechanism of pathogenicity for many duplication events independent of the biochemical function of the encoded genes. With the availability of abundant high-quality genomics data, now is an opportune time to address these questions. Primarily through computational and statistical analysis I will reveal the relationship between gene duplication and expression and test a model that the indirect costs of gene expression are a major determinant of the outcome of gene duplication. I will explore the effects this has on gene and genome evolution. Finally, I will link the patterns of gene expression and duplicability to pathogenic effects.

Mots-clés : molecular evolution,gene duplication,evolution of gene expression,evolutionary rates