Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : HAPLOTAGGING (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 €

DNA sequencing has transformed biological research, and is fast becoming the standard-of-care in medicine. Chances are good that every European person born today may have their genome sequenced at some point in their lifetime (it is already happening in Iceland). The currently prevailing sequencing platform, Illumina short-read sequencing, prioritizes content (DNA basepairs) over preserving long-range haplotype context. This decision has paid off so far, but comes at the cost of complicated analyses and often lead to undetected disease-causing chromosome rearrangements. Alternative “long-read” technologies, however, have yet to deliver the scale and throughput to truly take over from Illumina sequencing. To meet the grand challenge of sequencing humanity and biodiversity, we need both content and context. As part of our ERC StG action, we have invented haplotagging, a technique that restores haplotype context while integrating seamlessly into Illumina sequencing. We have previously published a small-scale pilot study that haplotagging can deliver superior results at a fraction of existing costs. In doing so our team have solved a series of molecular engineering and computational challenges that have stumped far larger parties. However, our prototype dataset are still not large enough to fully allay concerns from potential licensees regarding robust scalability. Thus, we propose to generate a mid-scale, 2000-sample pilot with direct support from Illumina to provide additional benchmark data, guide scale-up efforts and inform decision-making by industry and academic stakeholders. We expect this proposal will help transition haplotagging from a research concept towards the market.
Projet ERC : NeuroHyp (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 €

Despite decades of research, neurodegenerative diseases remain challenging to diagnose and identify on time. At the point external symptoms, such as memory or motor deficits become evident, the patient has usually suffered irreparable neuronal damage. This not only decreases life quality and expectancy of the patient, but also severely limits our ability to design new effective treatments and apply existing ones in a timely manner. A promising approach for early diagnosis could be the visualisation of metabolic changes in the brain. There are specific differences in the points of origin for different neurodegenerative diseases. The fact that the metabolism of neurons change when they are exposed to internal or external stressors, makes detecting changes in the metabolism of specific brain regions in comparison to the rest of the organ a possible powerful tool to early diagnose the onset of neurodegeneration. During the course of my ERC starting grant my team and I have developed new magnetic resonance technologies and contrast agents based on body own metabolites. These metabolic contrast agents can not only visualize overall metabolism of observed tissues but also show differences in the rate of resulting metabolites, further increasing the potential diagnostic accuracy. Before the developments made in my ERC project, especially a fast and simple approach to obtain such contrast agents was out of reach. In first experiments we provided evidence that my approach can be used to detect the onsets of Parkinson’s disease, one severe neurodegenerative illness. With the project outlined in this PoC we now aim to determine the feasibility of our technology as a clinical solution and a business opportunity, to enable timely, straight forward, fast and non-invasive diagnosis for neurodegenerative diseases. The success of this project will be the first important step to bring our technology into the clinics and improve patient’s health on a global scale in the future.
Projet ERC : CATCH (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Amsterdam University Medical Centers — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is the most common type of leukaemia globally and can rarely be cured. Despite recent advances, the efficacy of promising autologous T cell-based therapies, such as CAR-T technology and bi-/tri-specific antibodies, has been disappointing. This stems from a T cell dysfunction in this disease setting: altered T cell skewing, impaired metabolic plasticity, and disrupted T-cell functioning.  Prof. Arnon Kater's group studies alternative activation pathways to overcome T cell dysfunction and stimulate an immune response. CATCH will explore the technical and commercial feasibility of alternative T-cell activation, through CAR-T and tri-specific antibody technologies. To reach proof-of-concept stage, in this project we will: 1) Validate the efficacy of two applications (CAR-T, tri-specific antibody) by achieving T-cell activation and killing target cells in in-vitro CLL samples and live specimens. 2) Perform a thorough IP landscape analysis, establish Freedom-to-Operate, and define an IP strategy. 3) Engage with key stakeholders to gather feedback and advise from key perspectives (patient, clinical, industry), conduct market research to discover potential customers/industrial partners, analyse competitors and identify a feasible roadmap to commercialisation. 4) Formulate a detailed business case to guide the commercialisation of CATCH.
Projet ERC : TOSCP (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Bergen — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

TOSCP will proof-of-concept a radically new approach to climate prediction based on supermodelling. Climate prediction promises reliable information on climate and its extremes for the coming seasons and years. This information is critical to providing climate services that are needed to build a resilient and sustainable society. Unfortunately, predicting climate in the extra-tropics remains a major challenge. Model systematic error is the major limitation. In the North Atlantic-European sector it leads to the strong under representation of the predictable dynamics, compared to unpredictable atmospheric weather patterns. The current approach to account for such errors is to perform a vast number of independent simulations with different models. This is computationally expensive and impractical in an operational context. The supermodel approach developed in the ERC-STERCP project is aptly suited to improve climate prediction. A supermodel combines a set of different models in runtime so that the individual model errors compensate so as to produce a superior model. The approach is extremely effective in mitigating long-standing model errors, and can control the ratio between predictable and unpredictable dynamics. TOSCP will reconfigure a supermodel developed in the STERCP project for climate prediction. The supermodel is based on three state-of-the-art climate models. We will develop new ensemble generation and data assimilation schemes. We aim to demonstrate that supermodel climate predictions greatly outperform the standard approach to climate prediction that is currently used for climate services. Dialogue with users and providers of climate services will ensure the development of an optimal configuration of the new prediction system and its use in operational climate services. This will set the stage for the wider exploitation of supermodel climate prediction, leading to improved climate services for the benefit of society.
Projet ERC : SMARTSENS (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 €

Neurological injuries such as stroke or spinal cord injury, leave 5 million people disabled worldwide annually, drastically impairing individuals' ability to move independently. The main element hampering efficacy of current neuro-rehabilitation procedures is the inability of sensing the activity of neural cells involved in the control of movement, along with the movement-generating mechanical force produced by innervated muscle-tendon units, in the intact moving human in vivo. Current technologies for sensing the neuromusculoskeletal system rely on expensive, large, and bulky sensing devices that can only be used in the highly controlled settings of research laboratories. Therefore, a wearable, rapid-to-wear system that could track function in a person’s motor neuron activity along with associated function in muscle, tendon and joint function would revolutionise current neuro-rehabilitation paradigms. SMARTSENS proposes a fully wearable, non-invasive solution to monitor a range of clinically relevant neuromuscular parameters, which currently could only be extracted in constrained laboratory settings via lengthy procedures. SMARTSENS enables measuring such information during daily life activities using a sensorised smart wear that is unobstructive and rapid to wear. This will enable continuous monitoring of the human neuromusculoskeletal system, which will disrupt current movement-measuring and diagnostic systems, by enabling causal understanding of the activity of neural and musculoskeletal structures in vivo at a resolution not considered before.
Projet ERC : TeraGEAR (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : HGF
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

TeraGEAR aims at exploring and verifying the innovation potential of a novel class of optical signal-processing systems that might be of transformative impact to optical communications. On a technical level, the project builds upon novel schemes for optical arbitrary waveform generation and measurement (OAWG/OAWM) that combine advanced photonic integrated circuits (PIC) with chip-scale frequency comb sources and that can address two key challenges of optical communications: The testing and characterization of high-speed transceivers with symbol rates approaching or even exceeding 200 GBd, and the agile assignment of physical-layer resources in software-defined optical networks. TeraGEAR will focus on analyzing the innovation potential of the envisaged schemes, building upon a unique and highly distinct value proposition with clear advantages over competing solutions. Aiming at a start-up company, we will pursue a two-step strategy, exploiting the strong complementarity of the addressed challenges on the market side: While test and measurement equipment is a performance-driven high-margin market that is well suited as an entry point for novel technologies with disruptive performance advantages, optical transceivers and communication networks offer high volumes that allow to scale the business once the technology base has been established. Beyond the direct techno-economic impact, the TeraGEAR concepts might be key to sustain the evolution of powerful communication infrastructures that build the foundation of modern society. While the technological foundations have been established in the framework of the ERC Consolidator Grant TeraSHAPE, the focus of TeraGEAR will be on exploring the associated application and market potential, on developing concepts for viable products, and on formulating a business plan and an implementation strategy. The project will rely on close interaction with industrial lead customers, mediated by an external industry expert.
Projet ERC : LABORIOUS (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Saragosse — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Exosome-based therapies are among the hottest topics in biomedical research, driven by the unique properties of exosomes regarding stability, low immunogenicity, prolonged circulation and especially, selective targeting. In 2022, over 50 clinical trials using exosomes for therapy were under way, in diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes to central nervous system disorders. However, both current research on exosomes and their future translation into clinical therapies are hindered by two significant problems. The first is the isolation of exosomes (and of extracellular vesicles in general), a highly challenging task due to: i) the high complexity of the body fluids that contain them, and ii) the delicate nature of exosomes themselves: soft entities of 50-150 nm whose membrane is responsible for key properties and must be preserved. Ultracentrifugation, the standard isolation method, has clear limitations: low yields, impurity of the products and damage to exosomal membranes due to long processing times at high g. While numerous alternatives have been commercialized (size, affinity and precipitation-based methods), these issues remain unsolved. The second problem relates to the loading of therapeutic agents (nanoparticles, drugs, siRNA, miRNA), into exosomes without damaging their membranes, another challenge without a solution today. LABORIOUS leverages the experience gained in AdG CADENCE to propose innovative solutions. A novel tangential filtration procedure will segregate exosomes by size, removing impurities and minimizing pressure-induced membrane damage. Also, a pioneering continuous electroporation system will provide unprecedented control, allowing the load of therapeutic cargo with minimal membrane disruption. Results will be closely monitored for patenting and commercialization, in collaboration with an industrial observer.
Projet ERC : MAGNIFICO (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Technion - Institut de technologie d'Israël — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-damaging and non-invasive imaging modality, with the abilities to effortlessly image the entire brain at any depth. However, MRI provides images with low contrast and very poor resolution, and these are but an indirect description of features in the tissue (e.g., cells) because MRI images water protons. These aspects limit the use of MRI in pre-clinical research settings (e.g., biomedical research) to study brain diseases. Resultantly, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are constantly in search of novel methods that endow MRI with capabilities to distinguish defined biological targets for the study of brain diseases in animal models. Currently, there are no suitable solutions. We specifically address these shortcomings, and extend the capabilities of MRI, by developing an all-in-one solution. The solution consists of the synthesis of novel targeted fluorescent contrast agents suitable for light microscopy, computed tomography and MRI, and the parallel engineering of cells. When combined, cells in the brains of animals can be detected by MRI in vivo. Lastly, we provide a unique ex vivo protocol for validating the targets imaged by MRI in vivo.
Projet ERC : SYNERGIZE (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Technion - Institut de technologie d'Israël — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Cancer immunotherapy has transformed oncology, offering new hope to patients with advanced cancers such as melanoma. However, approximately 40% of melanoma patients do not respond to current immunotherapies, highlighting the urgent need for predictive biomarkers and therapies that can increase the response and convert “non-responder” patients into “responders”. Emerging evidence indicates that the functionality of the gut microbiota plays a critical role in modulating immune responses. A common mechanism that controls bacterial functionalities is genomic DNA inversions, regulating gene expression in a phase-variable manner. This project aims to harness such gut bacterial functional plasticity to enhance immunotherapy outcomes in melanoma patients applying a dual approach: (1) developing a non-invasive quantitative PCR-based diagnostic tool to identify potential responders; and (2) engineering gut bacteria in their immune-activating phase to activate the immune system and synergize with immunotherapy. The diagnostic tool will be validated on DNA from human stool samples, assessing its sensitivity, specificity, and predictive accuracy. The genetically engineered bacteria will be tested in melanoma mouse models, evaluating their impact on tumor regression, immune activation, and survival rates. The project also includes comprehensive market, IP, and business strategy analyses to ensure successful commercialization. If successful, this innovation will provide clinicians with a reliable method for patient stratification and offer a novel therapeutic approach to enhance immunotherapy responses, improving outcomes for patients who currently have limited treatment options.
Projet ERC : BioMarkerFlow (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Technion - Institut de technologie d'Israël — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Detection of low concentrations of biomarkers, such as low-abundant proteins in physiological samples, is crucial for early-stage diagnosis and disease monitoring. However, existing detection methods are often laborious, costly, and time consuming, rendering them unsuitable for such applications. Based on advances in computational PSF engineering microscopy made during our ERC Starting Grant, and in combination with microfluidic design, we developed a simple and fast biomarker detection method which allows accurate and sensitive results with minimal hands-on sample processing, which we have validated for potential applicability in diagnostics, and specifically, for continuous monitoring. As a target clinical application towards which we can optimize our engineering efforts, we demonstrate the potential for preventative diagnostics via a collaboration with Rambam Medical Center (Israel), focusing on monitoring cell-based cancer treatments. While cell-based therapies can be highly effective, they have introduced new types of cytokine-related adverse effects that can be debilitating and even life threatening. Due to the current lack of appropriate diagnostics for preventative treatment, these adverse effects are mitigated only when symptoms arise, which might be too late. We hypothesize that earlier detection using our method will enable preventive treatment and reduction in frequency and severity of these adverse events, transforming patient outcome. We will develop a multiplexed cytokine detection scheme that reaches clinically significant sensitivity, and assess the effectiveness of this approach by monitoring CAR-T patients. In the duration of the project, we will conduct a market research and develop regulation strategy with the aid of industrial and medical collaborations, advancing our diagnostic method toward commercialization.
Projet ERC : Chem-Afib (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Technion - Institut de technologie d'Israël — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia and is responsible for significant morbidity, mortality, and burden on the health care systems. Importantly, AF events may promote further fibrillatory episodes by inducing atrial remodelling. Traditional therapies for AF have relatively limited efficacy, and are either destructive (ablation), painful (defibrillation), or associated with side effects because of their global cardiac and systemic actions (drugs). Consequentially, novel treatment modalities for AF are direly needed. Here, we propose to develop a targeted, functional, non-destructive, and easily administered treatment for AF termination that does not cause pain or other side effects, which can also potentially prevent the associated atrial remodelling. Our proposed treatment is based on chemogenetics. This approach, which transformed neuroscience, utilizes inert drugs or designer molecules that have no effect on native host cells but can modulate the electrical properties of cells that are genetically modified to express specific chemogenetic receptors. Recently, we showed the feasibility of using chemogenetic tools for modulation of cardiac excitability. Here, we aim to evaluate the potential anti-arrhythmic capabilities of our newly created chemogenetic construct, which can cause transient electrical silencing in response to an inert drug. This approach has the potential to be the first chemogenetic tool capable of “defibrillating” cardiac tissue in a highly targeted manner. To evaluate the potential of this concept for treating AF, we plan to optimize its use and study its effects in an in vitro human cardiac tissue model of reentrant arrhythmias and in an in vivo AF rodent model. The suggested approach represents a paradigm shift in the way AF can be treated and opens a pathway to targeting additional cardiac arrhythmias.
Projet ERC : Circular Fluorine (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Imperial College London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ICL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and fluorinated polymers (fluoropolymers) are widely used as refrigerants, foaming agents, insulating materials, and coatings. The negative impact of HFCs and fluoropolymers in the environment is under increasing scrutiny. HFCs are potent contributors to global warming, while it has been suggested that fluoropolymers can breakdown into small chain poly(fluorinated) alkyl substances (PFAS), known to be damaging to health. Current methods for disposal of F-gases and fluoropolymers are both highly energy-intensive and costly. Arguably a better approach would involve the chemical recycling of these molecules and materials. This would not only prevent their release into the environment it would also provide an alternative means to source fluorine atoms that does not rely on mining finite mineral resources (e.g. CaF2, fluorspar).  Underpinned by ERC StG and CoG projects and more than 10 years of experience in the field, my lab recently developed a breakthrough technology that allows simple, cost-effective method for recycling HFCs and fluoropolymers. In this project, we will translate and commercialise this technology allowing the fluorine content of both HFCs and fluoropolymers to be reused to generate commercially relevant fluorochemicals – this activity marks an important step toward a new circular economy for fluorine.