Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : QUANTA (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Max Planck Society — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : MPG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2490603.0 €

Exact quantification, including the ability to count, depends on both conceptual breakthroughs and cognitive tools such as numeral systems. These tools appear in striking diversity across cultures and manifest in different modalities (verbal, body-based, written, or material). To address the tantalizing questions of when, why, and how they emerged and evolved, we test two previously untestable key hypotheses: that conceptual breakthroughs and tools co-evolved, with different modalities coactively scaffolding the breakthroughs; and that the tools diversified in response to changing cultural requirements. Reconstructing this evolution is the prime goal of QUANTA. Addressing its ambitious objectives requires an unprecedented synergetic combination of (i) archaeological, ethnographic, and linguistic insights into numeral systems worldwide, including prehistoric artefacts and symbols, and on contemporary contexts in which quantification occurs and changes; (ii) a cognitive framework for deriving evolutionary hypotheses from system properties; (iii) powerful computational (phylogenetic) methods for testing these hypotheses and thereby reconstructing cultural evolution; and (iv) innovative means to substantially extend the temporal scope of these methods into the past, to include the first attested instances of quantification. To achieve this goal, QUANTA brings together four leading PIs with unique and complementary expertise in exactly these means. By integrating an evolutionary approach with a cognitive perspective on quantification, QUANTA will transform this research field. Its novel strategy will, for the first time ever, yield substantiated insights into the emergence and evolution of numeral systems, thus advancing our understanding of human cognition and its dependence on cultural tools. While the highly interdisciplinary, multi-method approach renders this a high-risk project, QUANTA has the potential to bridge the gap between previously incommensurable fields.

Mots-clés : numbers,language,and mind,evolutionary anthropology,cultural evolution,phylogenetics,numerical cognition and culture,numeral systems,diversification of languages,distributed cognition,cognitive evolution,prehistory,quantification,counting devices,experimental archaeology,history of writing,notational systems
Projet ERC : BrainBIT (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
Entité participante : National Research Council — Pays : Italie — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : CNR
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 237250.0 €

Exchange of information between different brains usually takes place through the interaction between bodies and the external environment. The ultimate goal of this project is to establish a novel paradigm of brain-to-brain communication based on direct full-optical recording and controlled stimulation of neuronal activity in different subjects. To pursue this challenging objective, we propose to develop optical technologies well beyond the state of the art for simultaneous neuronal “reading” and “writing” across large volumes and with high spatial and temporal resolution, targeted to the transfer of advantageous behaviour in physiological and pathological conditions. We will perform whole-brain high-resolution imaging in zebrafish larvae to disentangle the activity patterns related to different tasks. We will then use these patterns as stimulation templates in other larvae to investigate spatio-temporal subject-invariant signatures of specific behavioural states. This ‘pump and probe’ strategy will allow gaining deep insights into the complex relationship between neuronal activity and subject behaviour. To move towards clinics-oriented studies on brain stimulation therapies, we will complement whole-brain experiments in zebrafish with large area functional imaging and optostimulation in mammals. We will investigate all-optical brain-to-brain information transfer to boost an advantageous behaviour, i.e. motor recovery, in a mouse model of stroke. Mice showing more effective responses to rehabilitation will provide neuronal activity templates to be elicited in other animals, in order to increase rehabilitation efficiency. We strongly believe that the implementation of new technologies for all-optical transfer of behaviour between different subjects will offer unprecedented views of neuronal activity in healthy and injured brain, paving the way to more effective brain stimulation therapies.
Projet ERC : EscapeVector (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : University of London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : U. London
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1991004.0 €

Executing actions that move the body across space to reach goals is a task that animals constantly perform. In some cases, the goal is within direct reach of sensory systems, but in others the goal location has to be retrieved from memory and requires moving towards to a memorised point in space. Previous work has identified neural circuits that represent space, and devised models for transforming object-centred spatial representations into body-centred coordinates, but we do not know the mechanisms by which actions are computed to reach memorised locations. Our goal is to uncover these mechanisms, by investigating instinctive escape to shelter in mice. Recent work has shown that escape to shelter is a goal-directed action that relies on memory of the shelter location, and which is controlled by a midbrain defensive circuit encompassing the superior colliculus and the periaqueductal gray. These circuit nodes can elicit the entire flight sequence to shelter, providing a unique entry point for investigating how spatial representations are converted into goal-directed actions. We aim to explain at the cellular and circuit level how the spatial vector to the shelter is encoded and transformed into shelter-directed flight actions. Our experimental strategy is to use loss-of-function approaches to identify circuit nodes that project to the superior colliculus and are necessary for escaping to the correct location, and perform neural activity recordings with high-density silicon probes and calcium imaging to determine how the spatial vector to the shelter is encoded and transferred to midbrain effector circuits. At the single neuron level, we will use whole-cell recordings to investigate connectivity and the biophysics of synaptic integration in circuits controlling the execution of flight. The results from this project will produce mechanistic models of how neurons encode information about a goal in space, and compute appropriate motor actions to reach the goal.

Mots-clés : escape,flight,shelter,spatial vector,computation,synaptic integration,neural circuits,midbrain
Projet ERC : BrightSens (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
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 : 503025.0 €

Existing fluorescent molecular probes, due to limited brightness, do not allow imaging individual biomolecules directly in living cells, whereas bright fluorescent nanoparticles are unable to respond to single molecular stimuli and their inorganic core is not biodegradable. The aim of BrightSens is to develop ultrabright fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) capable to convert single molecular stimuli into collective turn-on response of >100 encapsulated dyes, and to apply them in amplified molecular sensing of specific targets at the cell surface (receptors) and in the cytosol (mRNA). The project is composed of three work packages. (1) Synthesis of FONs: Dye-doped polymer and micellar FONs will be obtained by self-assembly. Molecular design of dyes and the use of bulky hydrophobic counterions will enable precise control of dyes organization inside FONs, which will resolve the fundamental problems of self-quenching and cooperative on/off switching in dye ensembles. (2) Synthesis of nanoprobes: Using cooperative Forster Resonance Energy Transfer from FONs to originally designed acceptor-sensor unit, we propose synthesis of the first nanoprobes that (a) undergo complete turn-on or colour switch in response to single molecular targets and (b) harvest light energy into photochemical disruption of cell membrane barriers. (3) Cellular applications: The obtained nanoprobes will be applied in 2D and 3D cultures of cancer cells for background-free single-molecule detection of membrane receptors and intracellular mRNA, which are important markers of cancer and apoptosis. An original concept of amplified photochemical internalization is proposed to trigger by light entry of nanoprobes into the cytosol. This high-risk/high-gain multidisciplinary project will result in new organic nanomaterials with unique photophysical properties that will enable visualization of biomolecules at work in living cells with expected impact on cancer research.

Mots-clés : fluorescent organic nanoparticles,responsive nanoparticles,polymers,dyes,fluorescent probes,energy transfer,fluorescence spectroscopy,cellular imaging,membrane receptors,nucleic acids,mrna
Projet ERC : FASTCORR (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Uppsala University — Pays : Suède — Rôle : CO-PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2319420.0 €

Experimental activities at advanced photon sources, such as pulsed lasers, high harmonic generation facilities, and X-ray free electron lasers, generate results that challenge our understanding of light-matter interaction and ultrafast dynamics at the femtosecond and sub-femtosecond timescales. These results are particularly difficult to interpret for materials with correlated electrons, where a driving pulse can produce strong non-linear effects. In FASTCORR, we answer this challenge with the development of a theory for driven quantum many-body systems that goes well beyond existing methods. This will be accomplished by developing dynamical mean-field theory and its generalizations, e.g., the dual fermion and dual boson theory, to cover out-of-equilibrium phenomena. We aim to create a solid theoretical foundation on which we will build practical tools that allow to interpret and predict ultrafast time-resolved phenomena of correlated electron systems. This involves (i) the development of fundamental mathematical and physical concepts, (ii) software implementation, and (iii) numerical simulations that will be compared to experiments. Synergies between the three applicants are crucial to achieving the goals of this project. FASTCORR will result in novel high-performance software that we will distribute freely. These computational tools will enable designed and targeted calculations for driven materials where the electronic structure is determined by strong correlation effects. The developed theory will be used hand in hand with world-leading experimental works in the field of pump-probe measurements and spectroscopy, e.g., as investigated at X-ray free-electron laser laboratories.

Mots-clés : dynamic mean field theory,correlated electrons,ultra fast phenomena,spectroscopy
Projet ERC : FASTCORR (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Radboud University Nijmegen — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2910827.5 €

Experimental activities at advanced photon sources, such as pulsed lasers, high harmonic generation facilities, and X-ray free electron lasers, generate results that challenge our understanding of light-matter interaction and ultrafast dynamics at the femtosecond and sub-femtosecond timescales. These results are particularly difficult to interpret for materials with correlated electrons, where a driving pulse can produce strong non-linear effects. In FASTCORR, we answer this challenge with the development of a theory for driven quantum many-body systems that goes well beyond existing methods. This will be accomplished by developing dynamical mean-field theory and its generalizations, e.g., the dual fermion and dual boson theory, to cover out-of-equilibrium phenomena. We aim to create a solid theoretical foundation on which we will build practical tools that allow to interpret and predict ultrafast time-resolved phenomena of correlated electron systems. This involves (i) the development of fundamental mathematical and physical concepts, (ii) software implementation, and (iii) numerical simulations that will be compared to experiments. Synergies between the three applicants are crucial to achieving the goals of this project. FASTCORR will result in novel high-performance software that we will distribute freely. These computational tools will enable designed and targeted calculations for driven materials where the electronic structure is determined by strong correlation effects. The developed theory will be used hand in hand with world-leading experimental works in the field of pump-probe measurements and spectroscopy, e.g., as investigated at X-ray free-electron laser laboratories.

Mots-clés : dynamic mean field theory,correlated electrons,ultra fast phenomena,spectroscopy
Projet ERC : CellScreenChip (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Karlsruhe Institute of Technology — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : KIT
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Experiments with live cells are fundamentally important in biology, pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology or in medicine and diagnostics. One important example of cell experiments is the prescreening of cells from cancer biopsies with anticancer drugs in order to identify the most effective and least toxic combination of drugs for a particular patient also known as personalized medicine. The goal of this ERC Proof-of-Concept project is to develop, fabricate and optimize a device (CellScreenChip) for performing miniaturized, parallel and, therefore, more affordable and faster cell screening experiments for the areas of diagnostics and personalized medicine. Applications of the CellScreenChip include (but not limited to) cell based disease diagnosis (e.g. cancer diagnostics), drug screening (e.g. body on a chip) or personalized medicine (e.g. personalized drug compatibility tests). The CellScreenChip will be based on our recent development of the superhydrophobic-superhydrophilic micropatterning methods and the ability to create high-density arrays of droplet microreservoirs on superhydrophobic-superhydrophilic patterns that can be used for parallelized and miniaturized cell experiments.

Mots-clés : cell screening,high throughput screening,miniaturization,chip,cell biology,personalized medicine,diagnostics
Projet ERC : TEMPO (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Entité participante : University of Oxford — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499496.0 €

Explaining the great disparity of organismal form is a central goal of biological research. However, despite many decades of inquiry, there is little understanding of how evolution gave rise to this disparity. Key hypotheses predict changes in macroevolutionary modes through geological time: rates of evolution may either have decreased as global niche space became crowded, or increased due to accumulation of key innovations that improve body plan versatility. The absence of data to test these hypotheses a major knowledge gap that severely limits our understanding of evolution on Earth. TEMPO is an ambitious project to quantify patterns of phenotypic evolution on an unprecedented scale (>300 million years), by generating a large, detailed morphological dataset. Using the evolutionary radiation of land vertebrates as a model system, TEMPO will address these fundamental, unresolved questions: (1) How have rates and constraints of phenotypic evolution varied through geological time? (2) Are these patterns consistent with the occurrence of global niche-filling? (3) Can evolutionary versatility enabled by key innovations explain these patterns? (4) What modes of lineage evolution generated observed trends of morphological disparity? Previous large-scale studies lacked the temporal and phenotypic scope to address these questions, analysing only body size in only extant taxa. TEMPO will overcome these limitations to provide a step-change in understanding, by: (1) Using 21st century 3D data-capture methods on specimens from the mammalian and bird/crocodile evolutionary lineages. (2) Combining living with fossil taxa to extend our knowledge far into deep time; and (3) Analysing multiple aspects of form in a multivariate framework, using cutting-edge phylogenetic model-fitting approaches. By doing this, TEMPO will unify palaeontology and evolutionary biology, transforming knowledge of how phenotype evolves and the processes generating animal disparity on geological timescales.

Mots-clés : palaeontology,macroevolution
Projet ERC : NanoBioMade (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1967000.0 €

Exposed to smart man-engineered nanomedicines, cells can profoundly transform and recycle them. To communicate, or in response to exogenous stress, cells generate extracellular vesicles which can play crucial roles in multiple physiological processes, as for instance, and unfortunately, for cancer progression. The goal of this proposal is to combine both biological events to deliver nanomedicines created by cells only, using mesenchymal stem cells as the most relevant cell model. The focus of this proposal on nano-bio-production is three-fold. - In the first instance, I aim to rationally develop novel strategies for bioinorganic intracellular synthesis of nanoparticles. The first aspect will be to demonstrate, as suggested by preliminary data, that nanoparticles degradation products can be de novo-synthesized nanoparticles! And also that nanoparticulate end products can also be obtained when cells are “fed” with soluble ionic salts. The vicarious synthesis using living cells as bioreactors, will allow creating functional, sophisticated and organism-friendly nanoparticles. Basic ingredients and little chemical proceedings should lead to advanced prospectively biological nano-tools. When iron and cobalt constituents will be used as precursors, cells will generate nanoparticles with magnetic and photothermal properties. - The second focus is devoted to nanoparticles biological encapsulation. Indeed, in order to be useful, nanoparticles should be efficiently delivered to the target site. In the strategy to make “100% Bio Made nanomedicines”, it is obvious there are no better delivery systems than the cell’s innate delivery systems, the extracellular vesicles, an especially the ones derived from stem cells, supposed to inherit from their natural tumour homing. Here, ground-breaking physically-inspired (hydrodynamic, light) approaches for production and loading of these vesicles with nanoparticles will be proposed and fully implemented. One specific aim wi

Mots-clés : magnetic nanoparticles,copper nanoparticles,bioinorganic synthesis,biomineralization,extracellular vesicles,mesenchymal stem cells,drug delivery systems,photothermal therapy,magnetic targeting
Projet ERC : DECAF (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : University of Leeds — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1965623.0 €

Extensive and ongoing tropical deforestation and degradation have important environmental impacts. Smoke aerosol from deforestation fires degrades air quality, but the effects are poorly quantified. Deforestation alters rainfall through changes in the land surface and through changes to atmospheric aerosol. The magnitude and the sign of the rainfall response is not clear, because of poor process-level understanding and because previous attempts have studied land surface and aerosol responses separately. The impacts of deforestation on atmospheric composition and climate cause a complex set of biosphere interactions resulting in potential Earth system feedbacks. These feedbacks have not yet been quantified and so their importance is not known. The full impact of deforestation on air quality, climate and the Earth System may have been underestimated because there have been no integrated studies of the combined interactions and feedbacks between deforestation and the Earth system. DECAF is the first integrated study of the combined interactions and feedbacks between tropical deforestation, fire, atmospheric composition and climate. To address this important challenge, DECAF will exploit new information from in-situ and satellite observations in combination with state-of-the-art numerical models. DECAF will deliver improved process-level knowledge of the impacts of deforestation on atmospheric composition and climate and a step change in our understanding of the interactions and feedbacks between deforestation, atmospheric composition and climate. New understanding will inform the development of climate and Earth System Models and will facilitate new climate and Earth system assessments.

Mots-clés : deforestation,vegetation fire,atmospheric pollution,climate,rainfall,land atmosphere interaction