Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : hyControl (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : TU Dortmund University — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1994791.0 €

In the physics and chemistry of materials science, an intense focus of forefront research is the search for ever-smaller and ever-faster building blocks for information and communication technology (ICT) applications. The realization of next-generation devices, in ICT fields such as spintronics, spin-orbitronics and plasmonics, will depend decisively on our ability to generate new functionalities that can be actively controlled on the shortest length and time scales. The groundbreaking idea of hyControl is to develop a conceptually new class of active ICT nano-scale materials by building functionality into the nano-scale object that naturally forms when an organic molecule is hybridized on a metallic surface: a nano-scale hybrid unit (NHyU). NHyUs will be realized by depositing selected organic molecules onto three classes of inorganic systems: transition metals; spin-textured materials such as Rashba systems and topological insulators; and magneto-plasmonic nano-structures. By tuning optical excitation to specific resonances, we will control the hybridization strength with ultrashort laser pulses, and thereby induce a coherent response in the spin, orbit, and/or electron degrees of freedom of the NHyU. Thereby we will achieve coherent control - at the molecular scale - of technologically important parameters, such as magnetization, plasmonic resonances, and spin texture. This hyControl concept will be implemented using a novel experimental method, spin- and phase-resolved orbital mapping, that is capable of resolving the transient spin-dependent electronic structure of precisely those valence band electrons which mediate the hybridization in a single NHyU. While inspired by the latest achievements in molecular spintronics, hyControl will open the way to new technologies in various ICT applications, three of which - spintronics, spin-orbitronics, and plasmonics - have been selected to demonstrate the ability and versatility of optically controlled NHyUs.

Mots-clés : molecular spintronics,coherent control,multi functional nano scale hybrid materials
Projet ERC : PROTEOMICAN (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems
Entité participante : Tel Aviv University — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TAU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1699260.75 €

In the proposed research we will explore the functional proteomic diversity of histologically-defined regions within human breast tumors, aiming to identify novel protein biomarkers of tumor aggressiveness. Once identified, these proteins will serve as potent diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets. Towards this aim we will perform genome-scale proteomic profiling on tumor regions displaying diverse histopathology. This will be followed by functional investigation of these cancer cell sub-populations to determine their tumorigenic potential, and search for microparticle-based proteomic biomarkers from serum samples towards identification of cancer aggressiveness in blood tests. Analysis of the proteomic diversity holds a promise to reveal yet unidentified regulators of the tumorigenic phenotype as quantitative protein profiling is expected to most faithfully predict cellular phenotypes. This will be accomplished using the 'super-SILAC' technology, which I developed during my post-doctoral research. Using this technology, we identified over 12,000 proteins in formalin-fixed paraffin embedded breast cancer tumors. In the current project we will take one large step further, namely, microdissect and analyze selected regions in breast tumors based on local histopathological characteristics, such as the expression of known markers, cancer cell density, the vicinity to blood vessels and to the tumor invasive front. This "topological map" of the proteome will be followed by functional in vitro and in vivo studies, directly probing the aggressiveness of these cell populations, manifested by an accelerated proliferation and invasive/metastatic capacity. Finally, proteins associated with tumor aggressiveness will serve as blood-based biomarkers for predicting the tumorigenic phenotype using non-invasive tests. This work will set the basis for quantitative probing of tumor heterogeneity, which is crucial for accurate diagnosis and effective therapy.

Mots-clés : biomarker discovery
Projet ERC : FAIME (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
Entité participante : Jožef Stefan Institute — Pays : Slovénie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IJS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1952107.0 €

In the proposed research, precision measurements of rare processes involving heavy quarks and leptons will be used to search for new phenomena beyond the Standard Model, popularly known as New Physics. This research at the intensity frontier is complementary to searches at the highest achievable energies carried out at the LHC proton-proton collider. Indications of very interesting discrepancies have recently been observed by three experiments (LHCb, BaBar, and Belle) between their results and predictions of the Standard Model in certain classes of decays of B mesons, which involve leptons in the final state. The proposed project will address these issues by using large event samples collected with the Belle II detector at a new electron-positron collider, SuperKEKB. By investigating a broad range of selected rare decays of B and D, the project will attempt to provide a definite answer on the violation of Lepton Flavour Universality, one of the cornerstones of our current understanding of the interactions among the elementary particles. Based on the results of these studies, the final stages of the project will be devoted to possible explanations and to studies of transitions that would be based on related new physics phenomena. Within the proposed research programme, novel, highly advanced identification methods for charged particles will also be developed. They will be of crucial importance to suppress backgrounds arising from other, much more abundant decays in measurements of rare processes where the sensitivity to a possible contribution of New Physics is largest. The proposed research will strongly benefit from the fact that the same group that contributed substantially to the physics programme, concept, design, and construction of the detector, will also carry out the development of novel analysis methods, their calibration and optimization for individual reactions.

Mots-clés : flavour physics,flavour anomalies,lepton universality,belle ii,superkekb
Projet ERC : ZIPgeting (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : Leipzig University — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2000000.0 €

In the recent years a number of protein systems have been identified that recognize long (tens of base pairs) DNA sequences and allow flexible programmability of their target specificity. This promoted an enormous range of applications in genome engineering and synthetic biology. This project aims to decipher the mechanisms by which these proteins recognize their DNA targets in order to develop quantitative models/predictors for target recognition and to avoid off-target effects. To obtain detailed insight into the targeting mechanisms of different programmable systems in a “bottom-up manner”, cutting-edge single-molecule experiments, such as mechanical DNA twisting combined with single-molecule fluorescence detection will be employed. This will provide a fully quantitative characterization of the targeting process and insight into the mechanisms of allosteric regulation coupled to targeting. The quantitative data will allow to develop physics-based models of the target recognition process. In particular, we will focus on recognition through non-equilibrium, directional zipping along the target sequence – as recently revealed for CRISPR-Cas enzymes – as a promising unifying mechanism. To obtain precise targeting predictors our first-principle models will be tested and refined using high-throughput measurements on many different targets in parallel. Finally, the predictions will be used in order to understand target selection in live cells using single-molecule imaging. Within the project the following goals are defined: Goal 1: Quantitative understanding of target binding/degradation for CRISPR-Cas systems Goal 2: Detailed mechanistic insight into the target recognition process by TALEs Goal 3: Development of highly parallelized measurements on different target sequences down to the single-molecule level Goal 4: Target identification in the complex environment of live cells

Mots-clés : single molecule biophysics,force,torque spectroscopy,random walk model,crispr cas,dna recognition
Projet ERC : NanoPP (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Imperial College London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149990.0 €

In this application a platform is proposed that builds on preliminary work from ERC starting grant NanoP in order to develop a technology for high throughput electronic recognition of a large library of proteins using nanometer sized channels. These channel (or nanopore) dimensions are on the same order of magnitude as the proteins that we are using, making a natural confinement mechanism. Importantly, this allows for the efficient detection and screening of individual protein molecules and as will be shown in a high throughput manner. Here we propose to couple protein recognition to an electrical readout via a nanopore, that will result in improved prospects in efficiency, scalability, and sensitivity. Furthermore, this grant will allow for appropriate market research and IP landscaping to be performed in order to ensure the preferred option of setting up a spin-out company will be positioned correctly to ensure success.

Mots-clés : single molecule,nanopore,protein
Projet ERC : FLEET (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
Entité participante : University of Southampton — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2570198.0 €

In this project I will study the generation, detection, and interaction with matter of Flying Toroids, a new type of light pulses never experimentally studied before. This represents an exciting opportunity to advance optics and electromagnetism in a radically new direction since Hertz, Marconi, Popov and Tesla developed technology for generating, detecting, and communicating with transverse electromagnetic waves. Conventional transverse electromagnetic waves propagate in free-space with the electric and magnetic field vectors perpendicular to the wave propagation direction, forming the famous triad. Theoretical analysis of recent years has shown that another, very different type of waves exists, which propagate at the speed of light, but only occur as short bursts of electromagnetic energy in the form of Flying Toroids. Flying Toroids are inseparable solutions of Maxwell equations with a unique, doughnut-like configuration of the electric and magnetic fields. Flying Toroids interact with matter in unique ways, drastically different from that of conventional electromagnetic pulses. In a broader context, the electrodynamics of Flying Toroids is an exciting emerging field of optical science linked to intriguing recent developments in physics such as toroidal dipoles and anapoles, and, due to their topology, to Majorana fermions and skyrmions. Building on my recent proof-of-principle demonstration of Flying Toroid generation through conversion of few-cycle conventional transverse light pulses in artificial photonic nanostructures, my goal for this project is to experimentally study and understand the fundamental properties of Flying Toroids and their interaction with matter at optical frequencies, and to assess their potential for developing new technologies. In my vision this project can lead to spectacular new opportunities for spectroscopic and light-enabled applications, and will impact on other branches of science, from astronomy to solid-state physics.
Projet ERC : Interfaces (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : University of Sussex — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 580910.0 €

In this project we will leverage developments in acoustic meta-materials to build interactive systems that manipulate sound to create experiences with the same ease and fidelity as we are so accustomed to doing with light. This involves designing and evaluating new acoustic meta-materials AND building interactive systems that create novel interaction experiences that were hitherto impossible to achieve. We will use acoustic metamaterials technology to build a Spatial Sound Modulator (SSM) that aims to be a software controlled device that transforms an input acoustic wave into a time-variable, user-defined acoustic field. SSM comprises of a surface made of electronically adjustable acoustic metamaterial bricks. Each brick in the surface can individually vary the phase of an incident acoustic field, to shape the complex output field. Our objectives are: 1. Design, implement and evaluate dynamically reconfigurable metamaterial unit-cells and surfaces using transmissive modes of operation. We will explore narrow-band devices for air-borne operation at low ultrasonic frequencies (e.g. 40 kHz). 2. Design SSMs from a spatial distribution of metamaterial unit cells. Specifically, we will identify discretization strategies, digital control mechanisms and develop concepts that are efficient and reduce field reconstruction errors while at the same time constructing the SSM from a small set of reconfigurable metamaterial unit-cells. 3. Create multiple application-specific prototypes of the SUM and identify context specific design constraints and trade-offs.

Mots-clés : user interfaces,ultrasound,phased array system,metamaterials
Projet ERC : ABODYFORCE (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Lund University — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999720.0 €

In this project we will push the limits of microscale ultrasound-based technology to gain access to diagnostically important rare constituents of blood within minutes from blood draw. To meet the demands for shorter time from sampling to result in healthcare there is an increased interest to shift from heavy centralized lab equipment to point-of-care tests and patient self-testing. Key challenges with point-of-care equipment is to enable simultaneous measurement of many parameters at a reasonable cost and size of equipment. Therefore, microscale technologies that can take in small amounts of blood and output results within minutes are sought for. In addition, the high precision and potential for multi-stage serial processing offered by such microfluidic methods opens up for fast and automated isolation of rare cell populations, such as circulating tumor cells, and controlled high-throughput size fractionation of sub-micron biological particles, such as platelets, pathogens and extracellular vesicles. To achieve effective and fast separation of blood components we will expose blood to acoustic radiation forces in a flow-through format. By exploiting a newly discovered acoustic body force, that stems from local variations the acoustic properties of the cell suspension, we can generate self-organizing configurations of the blood cells. We will tailor and tune the acoustic cell-organization in novel ways by time modulation of the acoustic field, by altering the acoustic properties of the fluid by solute molecules, and by exploiting a novel concept of sound interaction with thermal gradients. The project will render new fundamental knowledge regarding the acoustic properties of single cells and an extensive theoretical framework for the response of cells in any aqueous medium, bounding geometry and sound field, potentially leading to new diagnostic methods.

Mots-clés : pacs2010  43 25 nm  acoustic streaming  43 25 qp  radiation pressure  43 40 rj  radiation from vibrating structures into fluid media  47 35 rs  sound in fluids  43 35 ud thermoacoustics,high temperature acoustics,photoacoustic effect
Projet ERC : HILTRAC (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Entité participante : University of Leeds — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 545093.99 €

In this project, I will build, optimize, and apply a Highly Instrumented Low Temperature Reaction Chamber (HILTRAC) to study organosulfur chemical reactions. This chamber is the first of its kind to couple a uniform supersonic flow (USF) capable of achieving a wide range of cold temperatures (30 – 250 K) with the unique detection capabilities of an infrared direct frequency comb spectrometer (DFCS). The combination of DFCS with two additional detection methods (laser-induced fluorescence and time-of-flight mass spectrometry) will make HILTRAC a highly versatile instrument, with sufficient sensitivity and selectivity to measure very low concentrations of molecules in a gas phase chemical reaction. The spectrally broadband and high resolution frequency comb laser enables both reactants and products to be identified and monitored simultaneously as a function of reaction time. For the first time, a single instrument will have the ability to collect multiplexed information on temperature-dependent reaction kinetics, product identification, and product branching ratios. This will set a new benchmark for what should be considered a more complete understanding of the way a reaction progresses. As a first target for the newly commissioned HILTRAC, I will study three different organosulfur reactions relevant to chemical environments ranging from the interstellar medium to biological systems. There is very little information about organosulfur reactions in general and especially at low temperatures due to experimental challenges which the USF is able overcome. By using the combined power of the HILTRAC detection methods and the temperature controlled environment, with supporting quantum chemical calculations and reaction kinetics simulations, I will be able to draw conclusions about the reaction potential energy surfaces which govern the branching to reaction products. This in turn will allow predictive abilities beyond achievable experimental conditions.

Mots-clés : frequency comb spectroscopy,low temperature kinetics and dynamics,vibrational spectroscopy,laser induced fluorescence,time of flight velocity map ion imaging,pulsed laval uniform supersonic flow
Projet ERC : SUPERNEMS (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : Cardiff University — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2734048.75 €

In this project, the fabrication and characterisation of all diamond superconducting Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems (NEMS) is proposed for the investigation of macroscopic quantum states. This involves state of the art Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) of diamond, doping, nanofabrication and modelling of devices. The fundamental properties of superconducting diamond, the associated mechanical properties of diamond NEMS and the characterisation of low temperature and low dimensional quantum effects will be investigated. Critically, the unprecedented resonant frequencies of diamond cantilevers allow the possibility of cooling cantilever devices down to the ground state. Coupled with its superconducting-based read out possibilities, this material offers new opportunities for challenging the Standard Quantum Limit, the study of quantum entanglement and the fabrication of superconducting diamond Qubits. This work is highly ambitious, as it aims to manipulate systems by exploiting fundamental quantum limits. However, the applicant has already demonstrated the individual constituents of this approach and thus it is not reckless to propose to integrate them.

Mots-clés : diamond,chemical vapour deposition,mems,qubit
Projet ERC : PHOQS (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
Entité participante : University of Copenhagen — Pays : Danemark — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UCPH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1976164.0 €

In this project, we will develop mechanical systems of unprecedented coherence under full optomechanical quantum control. At the same time, these systems provide a versatile and practical platform for force measurements and sensing. This novel and unique combination generates a host of opportunities in science and technology, ranging from fundamental tests of quantum decoherence and highly non-classical mechanical sensor states, to new kinds of mechanical quantum transducers. These advances will be enabled by recent pioneering work of my group in the area of phononic engineering, that is, tailoring the phononic density of states in periodic geometries. In combination with state-of-the-art cryogenic refrigeration, we will achieve coherence times of mechanical quantum states at the level of one second, challenging existing models for mechanical state collapse. We will implement cavity-optomechanical interfaces to these systems which operate deeply in the quantum regime, and by themselves find applications as narrow, noiseless filters sought-after for gravity wave detectors. Furthermore, we will harness purely mechanical parametric interactions as a new resource. This allows noiseless gain immediately in the sensing device, and the preparation of highly nonclassical sensor states, such as strongly squeezed and entangled states. To demonstrate the sensing capabilities of this platform, we will functionalize it magnetically, and perform real-time measurements of single electron spins. We will resolve the split of the mechanical wavefunction as it interacts with a spin in a superposition state, and eventually prepare mechanical Schrödinger cat states, never generated before with a massive, millimetre-sized object visible to the naked eye. At a practical level, this project catalyses the experimental convergence of spin sensing and quantum optomechanics, with synergistic effects both for magnetic resonance imaging at the molecular scale and spin-based quantum networks.

Mots-clés : quantum optomechanics,phononic engineering,force sensing