Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : IFLAI (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Göteborg — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Our goal is to create a virtual tissue-staining device to replace manual chemical-staining techniques by integrating optics and deep learning.  Chemical staining of cell components plays an essential role in biomedical and pharmaceutical research and practice. Cell structures of interest are highlighted using various chemical stains and imaged with the appropriate optical setup. However, these techniques are often invasive and sometimes even toxic to the cells, in addition to being time consuming, labor intensive, and expensive.  Recently, the use of deep learning has been proposed as a way to create images of virtually stained cell structures, thus mitigating the inherent problems associated with the conventional chemical staining. However, these methods are usually specialized for a specific application and, thus, highly dependent on the setting of the optical device used for acquiring the training data.  In order to make virtual tissue-staining more accessible to end-users, we propose a device based on a simple optical system with an integrated deep-learning-powered virtual-staining software.  This is an ideal moment to enter the virtual tissue-staining market because we can gain a first mover advantage. Further, we can take advantage of the fact that the tissue-staining market is expected to grow with a compound annual rate of roughly 8.5% until 2025 (up to 3400M USD), and to continue to grow for the foreseeable future.  As part of this project, we aim to launch the startup company IFLAI to commercially exploit our virtual-staining technology and the prototype we will develop. With the startup IFLAI, we aim to provide ~20 jobs to university-educated individuals in the EU within the next 5 years. IFLAI has already received initial funding and support from two different organisations that support and believe in its venture.
Projet ERC : TTT-therapy (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Hôpital de l'Université d'Oslo — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : OUH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 20000.0 €

The aim of this PoC project is to commercialize new therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) developed in context of my ERC consolidator grant. T-cell receptors (TCRs) have in recent years emerged as promising therapeutic molecules in cell- and gene-therapy of cancer. I have completed the pre-clinical validation of a TCR that recognizes an HLA-bound peptide from a novel target, the nuclear enzyme terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT-TCR). In vitro and in vivo data from four different mouse models show eradication of ALL and no indications of toxicity. T-cells genetically modified with the TdT-TCR effectively kill lymphoblastic cancer cells while sparing healthy B and T-cells, myeloid cells and hematopoietic stem cells. Funding has been secured for an investigator-initiated trial to determine safety and explore efficacy of TdT-TCR-T-cell therapy – TTT-therapy. The trial will recruit ALL patients relapsing from/refractory to standard therapy, who have a dismal prognosis and thus a great unmet medical need. To facilitate commercial development, I have created a start-up company and secured the company exclusive licenses for the patents on the TdT-TCR and the technology used for the development, on which I am the main inventor. In the proposed ERC PoC project, I and my strong team of advisers with expertise in the business development, clinical development, IPR and financial aspects needed for commercialization, will conduct a market analysis for TTT-therapy and develop an IPR and business strategy for the start-up company. Since several studies report expression of TdT in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), I will conduct laboratory research to determine if the TdT-TCR can also mediate killing of AML cells. AML patients have an overall 5-year survival of only 30% and hence a great medical need that potentially could be met by TTT-therapy. The described work has the potential to contribute to saving lives that would otherwise be lost to acute leukemia.
Projet ERC : CHRONOS (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Hôpital de l'Université d'Oslo — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : OUH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

A research discovery has little relevance if it never makes an impact on its target users. A key challenge for radiology is that very few diagnostic innovations end up changing clinical practice. Most clinical decision-making processes follow the same hypothesis-driven approach where the association between a biomarker and disease status are assessed by trial-and-error. By forcing the patients’ data into traditional paradigms, we are inherently making poor use of the available information. Moreover, a new drug or change in treatment have little impact if the intervention is initiated at a late stage. For a patient with short life expectancy, this scenario is unacceptable. A new diagnostic paradigm is needed to catch disease status before it becomes symptomatic.  Based on the work of an ERC Starting Grant, we introduce a new paradigm for clinical neuroimaging, coined synthetic biomaps, where artificial intelligence brings to life hidden information stored in diagnostic images. As an intelligent decision-support system, CHRONOS is a fully developed software prototype that enhance classical image analyses with synthetic biomaps to produce smarter and better diagnoses of disease. We showcase how a growing brain tumor change the entire architecture of the brain more than six months before these changes are observed by traditional means. This innovative step will allow the treating physician to make the correct clinical decisions at an unprecedented and early timepoint. We have integrated our invention in a hospital-approved digital framework that allows our clinical experts to validate the technology and demonstrate its clinical value. Our initial market analysis and a favorable search report show that a substantial commercial value can be realized by positioning CHRONOS at the center of a wider strategy of a new company to introduce sibling AI-imaging solutions. Τhis project aims to set the stage for an investor ready spinout company based on the CHRONOS technology.
Projet ERC : TriboCharge (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université d'Amsterdam — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UvA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The main purpose of this proposal is to develop a radically new technology for very precisely delivering medicine to the human body. Targeted deposition of drug formulations to the lungs exhibits great promise in several treatments, e.g. siRNA treatment against lung cancer or mRNA vaccination against COVID-19. This requires oral and nasal inhalation for which spray pumps and nebulizers are widely used to transform an aqueous formulation into a soft mist spray. However producing the necessary drop size is hampered by droplet coalescence, making drops too large and polydisperse; because of this, they deposit in the wrong places. Large droplets between 10 and 50 micrometers deposit mostly in the upper respiratory tract (mouth, throat or nasal cavity) through ballistic impact on the mucosal tissue, whereas small droplets between 5 and 10 micrometers can be lifted by the airstreams and deposit mostly in the lower respiratory tract (bronchi and lungs). Our innovation relies on the charging of drops through the friction with the nozzle material. The charged drops repel and do not coalesce, allowing precise control of their size to target e.g. the lungs. This allows to achieve safe and effective targeted deposition of drugs and /or vaccines with hitherto unequaled precision.
Projet ERC : nanoVAST (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Panosome gmbh — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 80000.0 €

Cell-specific cargo delivery is a key remaining problem in the field of RNA-based therapeutics. Thus far, delivery has relied on lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) which encapsulate RNA with high efficiency, but broadly lack in specificity. Viral vectors are currently the only FDA approved tissue-specific cargo delivery option, with specificity being the result of manipulation of outer capsid proteins. However, viral systems are also associated with drawbacks such as oncogenicity, antigenicity and pre-existing immunity to the viral carrier itself. The ideal carrier system would involve LNP-efficient cargo encapsulation together with specific targeting in the absence of oncogenicity or immunogenicity. DKFZ and Panosome GmbH have together developed this exact particle – the nanoVAST: a patented vesicular phospholipid bilayer densely decorated with a single protein that can be fused to a targeting molecule of interest through specific, efficient, and separately patented chemistry. Importantly, the attachment of the targeting component relies on a coupling of the vesicle to the targeting moiety, rather than a genetic manipulation of the carrier itself (as is the case with viral vectors), giving this system an unparalleled level of versatility. Additionally, our vesicular system is inherently fusogenic with target membranes, thus permitting cargo delivery directly to the cytoplasm and avoiding the reliance on the incredibly inefficient “endosomal escape” mechanism that plagues LNPs (it is estimated that conventional LNPs only deliver approximately 1% or less of their payload into the cytoplasm). This ERC PoC proposes to use the nanoVAST particle to (a) deliver specific RNA cargo to CD19+ B cells; (b) transport within the cells this cargo to the endogenous RNA editing machinery and (c) functionally alter the surface of the targeted cells. Through the PoC we aim to accelerate nanoVAST, our precision payload delivery system, towards direct clinical applications.
Projet ERC : Opti-AAV (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Trinity College — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

While the blood neural barriers represent significant hurdles for the development of gene therapies for neurological and ophthalmological conditions it is now becoming clear that many of these conditions actually present with disrupted barrier integrity as the driving force of the pathology. Included in these diseases is age related macular degeneration (AMD), in which we have shown that the blood retina barrier (BRB) is sub-clinically disrupted and is a key driving force for disease progression (ERC funded Retina Rhythm project). Specifically related to this Proof of Concept grant, a novel form of therapy for the end stage of AMD, namely geographic atrophy (GA), is now desperately needed. A targeted approach to locally delivering adeno associated virus (AAV) to endothelial cells of the BRB would offer the opportunity to restore barrier function and prevent disease. However, the current tools available to achieve this localized approach to gene therapy are not optimum. Here we will use an exosome encapsulated and endothelial cell specific AAV to achieve robust transduction of retinal endothelial cells. This modified and optimized AAV (Opti-AAV) will represent a novel tool in translating recently identified biological mechanisms into real and meaningful therapies for patients.
Projet ERC : POIRE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Trinity College — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

With 1.5 million people in prison across Europe, and a need to ensure human rights standards are upheld in places of detention, international oversight of prisons plays a fundamental role in upholding European values and ensuring decent and fair treatment. Oversight of prisons by international human rights bodies, such as the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), is now a growing and global phenomenon. The PRILA project, from which this proposal derives, discovered that while oversight of prisons has value, it is undermined by inconsistent government engagement and by low awareness of human rights and oversight functions amongst prisoners. Prison Oversight: Improving Rights in Europe (POIRE) addresses these challenges. It is the first initiative to develop, test and evaluate a set of programmes that support and train governments in how they report to the CPT, a long standing and well-respected prison oversight body, and raise awareness of human rights and oversight in prisoner populations. POIRE will assess need, develop, design and deliver its programmes, and evaluate them for effectiveness in two case study countries subject to a visit from the CPT. Its findings will also feed into a public policy arm, which will make submissions for reform to the legal frameworks for prison oversight in Europe and globally, contributing to sustainable and embedded change. A key element of POIRE is to lay the foundations for a post-POIRE spin-off, not-for-profit enterprise to deliver its programmes to states, prison systems, oversight bodies and NGOS globally. POIRE seeks to strengthen international oversight in prison and states and prisoners' capacity to engage with human rights monitoring. In so doing, POIRE aims to improve human rights compliance in prisons and support prisoner engagement with rights, thereby upholding the European value of fundamental rights protection in places where they are vulnerable.
Projet ERC : E-Wood (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Trinity College — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The rapid advancement of electronic and communication technologies has heightened the complexity of electromagnetic environments, increasing the risk of device malfunctions and health hazards. This reality highlights the crucial need for effective electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials to protect human health and ensure reliable operation of sensitive electronics. Alongside the swift pace of technological innovation and frequent product updates, there is a growing global demand for EMI shielding materials, which in turn exacerbates electronic waste and environmental challenges. In response, government regulations, such as E.U. directives on waste from electrical and electronic equipment, have also been implemented, aim to improve the recycling rates of electronic products for enhanced sustainability. Thus, developing green, sustainable EMI shielding materials from renewable resources is essential.  Wood, being a renewable and abundant resource, offers a viable solution. In the E.U., about 50.2 million tons of wood waste are produced annually, with only a small fraction recycled. Similar issues exist globally, with only 17% of wood waste recycled in the U.S. in 2018. Recycling wood waste into high-value products can not only help mitigate environmental concerns but also offer substantial economic benefits.  Herein, we propose utilizing abundant, low-value, pulverized wood waste combined with 2D MXenes to produce high-value functional nanocomposite inks for additive manufacturing of EMI shields. By overcoming technical challenges including ink formulation, rheology adjustment, manufacturing accuracy optimization, and performance enhancement, this approach will allow users to create custom, high-efficiency EMI shielding solutions that precisely meet their specific needs with minimum material wastes and reduced prototyping costs, and enhance the overall sustainability of electronics for industrial applications.
Projet ERC : MucOncoBots (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IBEC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 127500.0 €

Mucus is a defensive barrier that protects the underlying cells from pathogens and toxic compounds, although it also hinders the delivery of drugs whenever they are administered locally. There are different types of mucus-secreting tumours, such as pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP), that could benefit from more efficient transmucosal delivery of anti-cancer drugs. PMP is a rare disease and the most mucinous tumour type, thus it will be used as a proof of concept for this project. In fact, it is characterised by the production of abundant mucus in the peritoneal cavity and is treated with cytoreductive surgery combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, usually Mitomycin C. This approach has extended patient survival, but there is a significant proportion of recurrence, most probably due to the shielding effect of mucus. Therefore, there is an urgent need to offer new therapeutic strategies to PMP patients. Recently, Dr. Palmer’s lab has established a collection of PMP patient-derived organoids and xenografts and has shown that some PMP patients present oncogenic BRAFV600E mutations, introducing a new druggable targeted mutation. In this proposal, Dr. Sánchez’s lab (IBEC), in collaboration with Dr. Palmer’s research group (VHIO), aims to use nanobots able to overcome the mucus barrier that will be loaded with Mitomycin C or Encorafenib (BRAF inhibitor) to treat PMP. A comparative study will be performed to assess the treatment’s efficacy compared to the standard of care, and medical advice will be received from Dr. Élez (VHUH) to ensure the translation of the results to the clinic. We believe that using this all-in-one system will certainly enhance the delivery and efficacy of the active therapeutic compound, thus potentially improving current treatments.
Projet ERC : seEMT (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Max Delbrück Center — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : MDC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Cancer is a very heterogeneous disease and its subtypes display great variability in their response to treatment. The high failure rate of anticancer drug discovery consumes billions of dollars annually, contributing to the high cost of those few drugs that are eventually approved. One of the problems lies in inaccurate and oversimplified cell line models for studying human tumors. Yet, a method to incorporate tumour subtype contribution in response to drugs is lacking. To improve experimental oncology and drug discovery, we propose to develop a validated toolkit of ready-to-use cell lines and defined cell culture media in order to clearly and unambiguously represent well conserved solid tumor subtypes. This approach is drawn from our ERC StG-funded project, in which we invented, validated and patented a method to genetically label any cell type or cell state transition. Our idea is novel because it uses custom synthetic genetic reporters in in vitro tumor models, which enables tracing of tumor cell states. The first component of the kit is a set of genetically modified cell lines representing tumors from different epithelial tissues and reporting on epithelial or mesenchymal states (work package1; WP1). Thereafter, we will use these cells to define the formulation of two additional components of the kit: i) the cell culture media and ii) the supplements to in vitro propagate and discriminate the two distinct cell states (WP2-WP3). In WP4, we will perform a product comparison, by measuring the features of the toolkit cell lines in response to anti-cancer treatment as compared to current standards. In parallel, WP5-WP6 will address industry-quality, IP strategy implementation and freedom-to-operate. Given the socioeconomic impact of cancer and the lack of a similar technology, our solution has the potential to eliminate the high failure rate of anticancer drug discovery because it will make it possible to perform drug screens on different tumor cell states at once.
Projet ERC : OrthoBots (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IBEC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Arthritis, a widespread inflammatory condition, affecting millions globally, necessitates urgent advancements in therapeutic approaches. Predominantly characterized by osteoarthritis (OA), this debilitating condition causes joint pain and stiffness, notably impacting the knee, hand, and hip joints. OA, a chronic degenerative disease, intensifies with age, imposing a significant economic burden on healthcare systems. The insufficiency of current treatments highlights the need for innovative therapies. Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine offer promising avenues, with platelet-rich plasma therapy (PRP) emerging as a forefront contender. PRP harnesses the regenerative potential of growth factors (GFs) to stimulate tissue repair processes, particularly in cartilage and bone cells. However, clinical application faces hurdles, notably the rapid degradation of GFs within the intricate synovial fluid (SF) environment, limiting their therapeutic efficacy and distribution. To overcome these challenges, scientists explore advanced drug delivery systems utilizing nanoparticles (NPs) as carriers. Although promising, passive NPs diffusion through viscous biological barriers, such as joint fluids, remains a significant obstacle. In response, OrthoBots introduces enzyme-powered NPs, termed nanobots, as active carriers of GFs within SF. By utilizing enzymatic propulsion, nanobots aim to enhance GF transport and distribution, facilitating targeted cartilage regeneration. This innovative approach holds transformative potential, potentially revolutionizing arthritis therapy by overcoming current limitations and offering more effective and personalized treatment strategies. Through systematic in vitro studies and in vivo proof-of-concept demonstrations, OrthoBots will pave the way for the next generation of arthritis therapeutics, addressing the unmet clinical needs and improving patient outcomes.
Projet ERC : PARTIPERSION (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université d'Helsinki — Pays : Finlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Aqueous particle dispersions are elemental to many aspects of every-day life, from food and pharmaceuticals to construction materials. However, today’s dispersion science faces a grand challenge in developing colloidal particles with outstanding functionality in a sustainable manner. To enable society’s transformation from oil-based economy to bioeconomy, there is an urgent need to develop sophisticated biocompatible materials, such as particle dispersions, from biomass-derived precursors through sustainable conversion routes. Current bio-based alternatives to synthetic dispersions are entering the market rather slowly, primarily because key technologies to achieve superior functionality to justify industrial adaptation of biobased polymers are lacking. I will promote the findings of my fundamental ERC CoG project on hierarchical particles from two of the most abundant, but underused biopolymers: lignin and hemicelluloses. PARTIPERSION will establish a green route to sophisticated hierarchical architectures - hemicellulose-coated lignin particles - utilizing abundant bioresources. The project will lead to a breakthrough in colloid and interface science and contribute to more sustainable use of Earth’s resources.

Mots-clés : lignin nanoparticles,hemicelluloses,dispersions,stability