Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : FGEHP (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental Constituents of Matter
Entité participante : Université d'Édimbourg — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999448.0 €

To an astonishing degree the laws of physics are described by the Standard Model of particle physics. Having discovered its final miTo an astonishing degree the laws of physics are described by the Standard Model of particle physics. Having discovered its final missing piece, the Higgs boson, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider has now entered its high-precision phase challenging not only the SM but also our abilities to draw sufficiently precise predictions from it. A formidable challenge will be to bring the accuracy of theoretical calculations to the percent level and, if possible, beyond. There are various bottlenecks associated to the different ingredients entering these predictions. An enormous challenge will be to improve the accuracy of partonic cross sections, which describe the scattering of the proton's constituent quarks and gluons, in perturbative quantum chromo dynamics. To reach the required precision we already now desire next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) predictions for 2-to-3 processes, next-to-NNLO (N3LO) predictions for 2-to-2 processes and even N4LO predictions for 2-to-1 processes. At the same time further improvements to N4LO will be required for the splitting functions which are needed for a systematic treatment of parton density functions. With the high luminosity phase of the LHC commencing in 2029 we can expect, however, that predictions of even more complicated final states will be required. It is clear that our current methods are not be up to the task. This project aspires to fill this gap through a new methodology based on very recent advances I made in Feynman graph Theory and its applications to asymptotic expansions and infrared subtraction schemes. This methodology will allow for the efficient automation of expansions around kinematic limits, leading to new pathways to obtain reliable and systematically improvable approximations for scattering amplitudes and the cross sections to which they contribute, which are currently out of reach.

Mots-clés : lhc phenomenology,perturbative qcd,method of regions,nlo,nnlo
Projet ERC : RESILI-ANT (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
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 : 1998298.0 €

Organisms differ from machines in their resilience: their capacity to spontaneously recover from defects. This is because organisms, contrary to machines, are self-developing systems that change over time, like ‘a melody that sings itself’. The plastic mechanisms that enable animal and human self-development and resilience is barely known, but understanding them would profoundly impact how we apprehend brains, behaviours and their evolution. RESILI-ANT will tackle this question using the stunning ability of solitary foraging ants to visually navigate in complex environments. Ant navigational behaviours develop through stages with strong learning components, and can recover from sensory-motor alterations that would disable any machine. The advantage is that the full ontogeny of these behaviours unfolds in a couple of days, can be easily manipulated, and involves a brain numerically much simpler and better-known than any vertebrate. We will combine an ecological approach, complexity science and modelling with state-of-the-art technologies to dissect the mechanisms underlying these behavioural developmental processes. We will track ant ontogeny under different scenarios; perform straightforward manipulations to disclose the underlying rules; and use virtual reality to probe their ability to compensate for severe sensory-motor defects. In parallel, we will explore how these processes are implemented – in the light of our ever-increasing knowledge of insect circuits – by augmenting our current neural models with network plasticity and recurrent connections between brain areas. The evolutionary causes and consequences of such plastic neural topologies will be investigated using neuro-evolution algorithms selecting for self-developing agents that forage in reconstructed environments. The dialogue between simulations and observation will move us towards a concrete understanding of the self-developing nature, and their fundamental and societal impact.

Mots-clés : ethology computational neuroscience distributed intelligence embodied cognition navigation behavioural compensation insect vision
Projet ERC : HATESHIELD (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Soci al World and Its Interactions
Entité participante : Université de York — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1973814.0 €

In the last 10 years, online misogyny has increased at an alarming rate. Social media influencers within the ‘manosphere’ preach that women are fundamentally inferior to men and ought to be subordinated to them. Women are derogated as innately illogical, greedy and scheming. These attributions are used to justify harassment, coercive control and discrimination. Teenagers, who get much of their news and entertainment from social media, are bombarded with this content on a daily basis. Teachers, parents and elected officials report grave concerns about the ways in which misogynistic influencers are affecting the attitudes of young people, particularly teenage boys. Developmental psychology provides a solid foundation for understanding the emergence of gender stereotypes and attitudes across childhood. However, it has struggled to keep pace with the rapidly expanding influence of social media and how it is affecting young people. A novel approach is needed. HATESHIELD will uncover the social dynamics of the manosphere and use this understanding to protect young people from its negative influence. The project will achieve four aims. First, use cutting-edge methods from AI to characterise the nature of adolescents’ interaction with online misogyny and pinpoint the age at which they are at greatest risk of exposure. Second, understand how interaction with online misogyny predicts changes in adolescents’ gender attitudes, homophobia and self-worth over time. Third, develop and rigorously evaluate strategies to prepare young adolescents (aged 12 – 13) to critically engage with online misogyny. Finally, develop and rigorously evaluate strategies to mitigate the deleterious effects of online misogyny on young adults (aged 18 – 25) who have already embraced some of its key messages.

Mots-clés : child development social cognition stereotyping sexism
Projet ERC : microTOUCH (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : Université de Trente — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2394779.0 €

The human microbiome is a key component of our own biology and has important biomedical applications, but while its composition has been studied in depth and linked with several lifestyle and disease factors, it is still highly unknown how its members are acquired, spread, and transmitted across hosts. Our preliminary results suggest that person-to-person microbiome transmission (MT) is extensive and shapes the microbiome according to host interaction networks, leading to the hypothesis that microbiome-linked diseases that are considered non-communicable are instead partially communicable. microTOUCH will (i) develop the methods needed to model MT in human populations from metagenomic sequencing, (ii) unravel the features of microbial transmissibility, and (iii) detail the contribution of MT to host conditions that are currently considered non-communicable. We will first empower metagenomics with the ability to track and model the transmission of known and unknown members of the microbiome, and will then apply these methods to specific case studies of MT in humans (children and adults) and non-human primates across diverse family, social, and interaction networks. Meta-analysis of MT integrating publicly available datasets will unravel the factors impacting MT the most and the degree of transmissibility of each microbiome member. Exploiting the large and deeply phenotyped metagenomic datasets available to the PI, microTOUCH will characterize the role of MT in shaping the connections between the gut/oral microbiome and (i) nutrition and cardiometabolic health, (ii) oral diseases, (iii) cancer and cancer immunotherapy, (iv) autism, and (v) the Westernization process. microTOUCH will advance our understanding of the epidemiological forces shaping the human microbiome and will link MT with host conditions and risk factors, thus enabling the development of biomedical strategies promoting or limiting the transmission of specific disease-associated microbiome components.

Mots-clés : human microbiome microbiome transmission
Projet ERC : TUSCany (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
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 : 1999555.0 €

MacroMolecules (e.g Proteins, DNA) carry out most of the functions of the living and these functions come from their 3D-structure. For instance, foldopathy like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease are caused by misfolding of proteins. Modifying this structure non-invasively is consequently a tremendous challenge for both microbiology research and applications.  Besides, light-Matter strong coupling (SC) occurs when a material is located at a high density of state of a photonic mode resonant with one of its transitions. Extensively studied in optics and quantum physics, SC recently gave exciting results in chemistry with the demonstration of its ability to change the product ratio of several chemical reactions. Experimental and theoretical results unveil that macromolecules have delocalized vibrations over their whole 3D-structure in the Terahertz (THz) range. Therefore, one can ask if the functions of macromolecules can be modified by implementing strong coupling on the vibration of macromolecules in the THz.  In Tuscany, I will develop µ/nano THz photonics devices and experiments to establish reliable methods for macromolecules THz spectroscopy from cryogenic to body temperatures on samples from the single macromolecules to the cell culture. Then, I will demonstrate vibrational SC in the THz on these samples. Finally, I will demonstrate that the function of macromolecules, including catalysis and macromolecules assembly can be modified by selectively coupling individual vibrational modes from the single macromolecules up to in vivo experiments with prion propagation and viral capsid assembly.  My overall aim is to understand in detail the vibrational strong coupling in the THz range for macromolecules and make it a useful tool for biochemists and biophysicists. In the longer term, I hope this knowledge will seed the design of new approaches in µbiology leading to medical treatments impeding the proteins aggregation and ultimately the evolution of the foldopathies.

Mots-clés : terahertz,biophotonics,metasurfaces,macromolecules,strong coupling
Projet ERC : Paleo-MARE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth System Science
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 : 1996625.0 €

Global biogeochemical cycles drive our planet’s health through the control of microbial habitats, nutrient availability and distribution, and exposure to reactive chemicals. By releasing heavy metals into the environment and altering natural fluxes, Humans have carried out a planetary wide experiment for millennia that is pushing our ecosystem towards an unknown future. More recently, this has included the production, use and release of antibiotics, which has led to the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) across the globe. ARG spread has critical consequences for human and environmental health with an estimated 700.000 deaths/year resulting from infections unresponsive to antibiotics. However, the underlying mechanisms that led to the spread of ARGs worldwide are unknown. The presence of heavy metal resistance genes (HMRGs) and ARGs in microbial genomes suggests a co-selection. However, present day ecosystems are contaminated by both. To solve this conundrum, I will combine geochemical and microbiological discovery of the links between heavy metal pollution and the spread of antimicrobial resistance from pre-industrial times to the present using paleoecological archives. I will identify the mechanisms underlying metal-induced ARG spread, the preferential relationships between specific metals and ARGs, and quantify the timing between drug/metal use and ARG spread, determine the impact of emerging pollutants on ARG spread, and evaluate the future risk of remobilization of contaminants and resistance genes. I will redefine how heavy metal pollution maintains antibiotic resistance in the environment. This will reach well beyond the project and develop the synergy of microbiology and geochemical processes for a quantum-leap forward in defining the effects of geochemistry on human health. These results will provide fundamental data that can be used to inform policy on emission guidelines and on drug development.
Projet ERC : GELECTRO (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : Leibniz-Gemeinschaft — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : WLG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999473.0 €

Bioelectronic interfaces are machines designed to exchange information with living matter. They are opening new frontiers in medicine. For example, machines implanted in the body may soon enable repair of damaged tissues or replacement of functions affected by chronic disease. The realisation of this vision is impeded by the available hardware. Today’s materials, devices and systems are electronic, while soft living matter uses ions and molecules for communication and computation. The central hypothesis of GELECTRO is: electrically conductive hydrogels can enable bioelectronic machines that are multimodal and nearly indistinguishable from the biological host. The project will thus contribute a new class of interfacing technologies that are made almost entirely of water. If successful, they will not only blur the boundary with the host, but also tap into the control loops that organise and maintain the living system.  The hypothesis will be validated by achieving five key aims. Hydrogels with dual (electronic and ionic) conductivity will be created by combining organic conductor and biomacromolecule building blocks. A tailored additive microfabrication method will be developed to combine hydrogels in devices. Devices that transduce electronic commands into ionic currents, release/sequestration of signalling molecules and mechanical actuation (and vice versa) will be constructed. Devices will be integrated in arrays and in circuits capable of sensing and actuation in aqueous environments. Finally, an impact case study interfacing GELECTRO machines with cortical organoid cultures will be developed. By emulating the finely tuned morphogens present in the early stages of brain development, GELECTRO machines will encode advanced tissue organisation and emergent electrical activity in the organoids.  The project will catalyse interest in hydrogel-based electronics as a promising technology for next generation human-machine interfaces.

Mots-clés : organic bioelectronics,electrodes,sensor arrays,conductive hydrogels,3d printing
Projet ERC : mayFLYeye (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : Université de Barcelone — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1995263.0 €

The history of life on Earth has been defined by key game-changing events. In animals, this has often been driven by the appearance of novel organs, conferring new capabilities to explore new niches and adaptive landscapes, completely changing the subsequent evolution of certain lineages. This proposal will focus on one of the most fascinating and revolutionary events in animal history: insect’s conquest of the skies. First, by addressing the origin of the morphological change responsible for this revolution: the origin of wings. Second, by studying one of the multiple cascading effects set off by this initial event that continued shaping flying insects’ anatomy and boosted their diversification: the turbanate eyes of mayflies, a sex-specific extra set of eyes that males use to find mates during flight. We still know very little about these two events, due to the lack of data from key species and the need for multilevel and quantitative approaches. My lab will overcome these difficulties by using a unique experimental platform that I have built over the last five years: the setup of mayflies, a key group to study insect evolution, as a new experimentally tractable model. We will study the genetic basis and key factors underlying the origin of these two organs, with a multidisciplinary view combining single cell -omics, developmental and functional approaches and, in the case of new eyes, their impact in physiology and diversification. By comparing these two evolutionary processes, we will unveil key common and specific events in the evolution of the gene regulatory networks behind the origin of these two new organs. This project will generate the most comprehensive picture of two novel organs with huge impact in the evolution and ecology of winged insects and mayflies, answering long-standing evolutionary questions on morphological novelties. This will have a major impact in the way we study and understand the origin of new forms and their transformative nature.

Mots-clés : evo devo,morphological evolution,new organs,insects,mayflies,origin of wings,new visual systems,functional genomics
Projet ERC : ChromaDYN (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative B iology : from Genes and Genomes to S ystems
Entité participante : Université de Fribourg-en-Brisgau — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Chromatin packages the eukaryotic genome in a highly dynamic fashion, with dramatic structural changes during every cell cycle. At the same time, chromatin provides remarkable stability for transcriptional regulation and genome organization, for example in maintaining gene expression programs and lineage identity during complex organismal development. A mechanism to propagate information through ‘disruptive’ transitions in the cell cycle, namely DNA replication and mitosis, is key in maintaining heritable, so-called ‘epigenetic’ chromatin states.  Proteins that build and interact with chromatin, foremost histones, are much more than static architectural components. This motivates the development of time-resolved quantitative assays in the living cell, which will allow to capture dynamic features of chromatin states over timescales from minutes to days. Building on a synthetic biology toolbox, a quantitative multimodal pulse-and-label strategy will be developed. Following protein populations in both time and subcellular/genomic space, dynamic protein-protein interaction networks and chromatin maps will be captured.  The project will use to state-of-the-art quantitative biochemical, imaging, genomics and proteomics readouts, including single-cell readouts. These will feed into mathematical models to describe the dynamics and potential heterogeneity/stochasticity of the system under study, predict its response to perturbations and guide mechanistic hypotheses. The project will systematically decipher mechanisms for propagating epigenetic chromatin states, starting with the fundamental rules of histone inheritance through replication and mitosis. Additional levels of complexity introduced through chromatin remodeling activities, nucleosome turnover and histone exchange will be integrated. Finally, the dynamics underlying developmental chromatin state transitions, including asymmetric cell fate decisions, will be resolved.

Mots-clés : quantitative epigenomics,quantitative proteomics,chromatin dynamics,epigenetic inheritance,pluripotent stem cells,gene expression regulation,chromatin remodeling,mathematical modeling
Projet ERC : FRAME (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Université de Bristol — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 205249.0 €

FRAME capitalises on advances in archaeological science and a critical mass of archaeological material to examine how the Roman Empire’s frontiers in Europe functioned as economic as well as militarised zones. The Empire’s expansion and longevity relied on the capability to maintain large armies and provincial garrisons for long periods. The army comprised c. 300,000 soldiers, mainly concentrated on frontiers and supply was a vast challenge, yet how it was achieved remains poorly understood. International in scale, this multi-disciplinary project will explain how the army was supplied with food and the impact this had on the landscapes and economies of frontier provinces and beyond. The Roman Empire’s frontiers are iconic, and their extensive remains have been a focus of research for centuries. Traditionally viewed as physical and cultural boundaries between civilised Romans and their ‘barbarian’ neighbours, Rome’s frontiers in Europe are ready for this ground-breaking project that will reappraise their functions and roles and make a major contribution to the study of Roman imperialism’s remarkable resilience and longevity.  FRAME focuses on the somewhat neglected (in Roman studies) resource of food remains (animals, plants and organic residues in ceramics) in five frontier regions. By combining cutting-edge multi-isotope and organic residue analysis with archaeological and historical evidence, the project will reconstruct the military diet across frontiers, address how food was produced, the networks that supplied it and the impact this had on frontier landscapes and economies. The ambitious analytical programme will reveal the regional strategies core to the functioning of the Roman Empire and how they were affected by cultural choices and environmental constraints. This multi-scalar methodology, using a suite of methods never before integrated in archaeological research, will provide a blueprint for studying past food supply in wide-ranging contexts globally.

Mots-clés : roman archaeology,biomolecular archaeology,material culture studies,ancient textual sources,roman economy,roman military,isotope archaeology,organic residue analysis