Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : VIPERCON (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Pompeu Fabra University — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UPF
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149750.0 €

A significant research outcome from the IP4EC ERC Starting Grant has been to propose a vision model for contrast perception that can be realized as an image-dependent non-linear transformation that can accurately reproduce the detail and contrast directly visible in a scene. The model is based on findings from psychophysical and neurophysiological studies and is well suited to the statistics of natural images. The resulting transform is automatic (no need for user-selected parameters) and of extremely low computational complexity, making it a good candidate for real-time applications. It produces images and videos that look natural, without any halos, spurious colors or artifacts. The model has been validated through psychophysical tests that confirm that it outperforms other state of the art algorithms in terms of users’ preference. A European patent application has been filed. The core idea for this Proof of Concept proposal is to take this research outcome, our vision model, and make a series of products that highlight its capabilities on three distinct scenarios: image and video capture, professional post-production of photography and cinema, and rendering in computer graphics. Specifically, this project will produce, in a B2C commercial approach, a free web application and commercial mobile apps for iOS and Android systems intended for the general public, plus commercial software for professionals in three media industries: a Nuke plug-in for cinema post-production, a Photoshop plug-in for photographers, and a Unity plug-in for videogame development. We will formulate a business plan around these products, that also show the potential of our model for other applications like on-chip implementation on camera, on-set monitorization for cinema shoots, format conversion in HDR TV broadcast, or image enhancement for virtual reality headsets, for which we intend to license our technology and provide services, in a B2B commercial approach.

Mots-clés : visual perception,vision models,visual appearance,contrast enhancement,image processing,camera pipeline,photography,cinema post production,graphics rendering
Projet ERC : STRAINSTIFF (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : Kiel University — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CAU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

A strain-stiffening material is a material that increases its stiffness in response to deformation. This behaviour is frequently found in nature to protect systems from destruction. For example, in cells strain-stiffening occurs by the cross-linking of cytoskeletal fibers upon external forces. Within the ERC project CELLINSPIRED we have developed a material where we mimic this biological behavior in a novel type of artificial strain-stiffening material, where comb-like structures touch each other, adhere, and thus increase the stiffness of the total material as a reaction to external shear force. It is very flexible in the choice of stiffness range and in the direction of strain-stiffening, and is easy to produce in a large variety of length scales (µm to cm) as well as in large quantities (patent application DE 10 2016 107 480.2, WO 2017/182024 A1, statuts “Notice of Intention to Grant”). This is of high interest in the field of orthotics, as the strain-stiffening protection mechanism is in our approach intrinsically located in the material and therefore does not require further chemical reagents. The work proposed here has the goal to validate our novel strain-stiffening material for the field of orthotics. The expected outcome of our project is to receive a prototype that (1) has well-defined strain-stiffening properties , (2) can be fabricated in different levels of complexity, (3) can easily be integrated into orthotic systems, and (4) can be fabricated using high-throughput processes. Our final goal is to license the patent to a company.

Mots-clés : bioinspired materials,biophysics,strain stiffening,structured materials,orthotics
Projet ERC : ZSCAN (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Technion – Israel Institute of Technology — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

A touch-less, markerless interface for next generation Virtual Reality headsets and laptops (with embedded 3D sensors expected early 2015), will be possible only when accurate and robust finger and hand pose detection is available and developers can easily build applications with these natural interfaces. Solutions based on color cameras are problematic because of the restrictions on environment lighting, complex backgrounds and varied skin tones. A recent breakthrough during research within our current ERC grant has been the development of a highly efficient prototype system that is capable of real-time markerless fingertip and hand pose detection and analysis using 3D sensors. Exposing this functionality for future human-computer interfaces is an important and necessary step forward that will allow more intuitive and effective interaction with next generation computing systems. Upscaling our current prototype system and packaging its functionality for easy use by developers is precisely the innovation we aim to implement in this PoC.

Mots-clés : finger tracking,hand tracking,big data,computational geometry,depth sensors,virtual,reality,augmented reality,3d sensor,3d scanning,depth camera,fingertip detection,gesture recognition
Projet ERC : CRISPRcombo (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Entité participante : Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : GBF;HZI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2000000.0 €

A ubiquitous yet poorly understood theme pervading biology is redundancy, wherein seemingly equivalent components drive shared processes. In cases from development to pathogenesis, untangling the ensuing web of potential genetic interactions can be virtually impossible with conventional techniques. CRISPR technologies, with their propensity for multiplexing, are well poised to address this challenge. However, current CRISPR-based screens have not exceeded more than two targets at a time. Here, I will achieve a major leap forward for CRISPR-based screens and dissecting redundancy by harnessing a core yet underexplored part of CRISPR: CRISPR arrays. CRISPR arrays naturally form the immunological memory of CRISPR-Cas systems and produce multiple targeting gRNAs processed from a single transcript. The arrays are highly compact, genetically stable, and can encode hundreds of gRNAs. However, the repetitive “repeats” within each array have hampered their construction and widespread adoption. My group recently made a breakthrough with the modular one-pot assembly of long arrays and array libraries. This capability grants us the unique opportunity to develop the first high-throughput, CRISPR-based screens that readily scale to many gene targets at a time. In parallel, our first assembled arrays highlighted technical constraints to designing robust and highly active arrays. I posit that native CRISPR arrays have faced similar limitations and thus can inform the design of array libraries. I thus propose to 1) Develop design rules for CRISPR arrays yielding only intended and uniformly abundant guide RNAs. 2) Elucidate and exploit why CRISPR arrays are genetically stable. 3) Perform scalable combinatorial screens using redundancy by small RNAs in E. coli as a compelling case study. If successful, this project will reveal unexplored properties of CRISPR arrays and, for the first time, achieve scalable combinatorial screens for interrogating redundancy throughout biology.

Mots-clés : combinatorial screens,crispr,guide rnas,rna folding,rna processing,bacteria
Projet ERC : SM-IMPORT (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions
Entité participante : University of Groningen — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : RUG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1000000.0 €

ABC (ATP Binding Cassette) transporters represent the most abundant and diverse family of transport proteins known that play crucial roles in numerous cellular processes. Despite their importance, all proposed molecular models for transport are based on indirect evidence due to the inability of classical biophysical and biochemical techniques to directly visualize dynamic structural changes. To solve this problem, I suggest a novel approach that can decipher the molecular mechanisms of transport, with the ultimate goal to use this knowledge against pathogenic bacteria, for treatment of ABC-related diseases or multi-drug resistance of cancer cells. I propose to use single-molecule fluorescence microscopy for the study of conformational states of an ABC model system in vitro, and thus to observe directly how elementary transport steps are coordinated. This will open up a virtually unexplored biophysical research area and provide a detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms of ABC transporters. The key questions of this proposal are: Aim 1: What is the mechanism of substrate binding in ABC transporters? The conformational equilibrium (open vs. closed state) of ABC-associated substrate-binding proteins will be studied to understand the molecular mechanism of binding, i.e., induced fit vs. conformational selection. Aim 2: What are relevant conformational states and changes for substrate translocation? The time- and length-scales of conformational changes in transmembrane and nucleotide binding domains as well as interactions with other domains will be characterized using the osmoregulator OpuA as a model system. Aim 3: How are substrate binding, energy utilization and translocation coordinated in ABC transporters? Finally, a complete model of transport will be developed to decipher the coordination of transport events, i.e., how substrate binding and ATP-hydrolysis are coupled and transferred into conformational changes that drive substrate transport.

Mots-clés : abc transporter,single molecule studies,f rster resonance energy transfer,fluorescence microscopy
Projet ERC : ACHIEVE (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : National University of Ireland — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : NUI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 0.0 €

ACHIEVE focuses on the application of Excluded Volume Effect in cell culture systems in order to enhance Extracellular Matrix (ECM) deposition. It represents a new horizon in in vitro cell culture which will address major challenges in medical advancement and food security. ACHIEVE will elucidate extracellular processes which occur during tissue generation, identifying favourable conditions for optimum tissue cultivation in vitro. These results will be applied in the diverse fields of regenerative medicine, drug discovery and cellular agriculture which all require advancements in in vitro tissue engineering to overcome current bottlenecks. Effective in vitro tissue culture is currently limited by lengthy culture periods. An inability to maintain physiologic (in vivo) conditions during this lengthy in vitro culture leads to cellular phenotype drift, ultimately resulting in generation of an undesired tissue. Enhanced tissue generation in vitro will greatly reduce culture times and costs, effecting improved in vitro tissue substitutes which remain true to their original phenotype. The research will be addressed under four work-packages. WP1 will investigate biochemical, biophysical and biological responses to varying culture conditions; WP 2, 3 and 4 will apply results in the fields of Tissue Engineering, Drug Discovery and Cellular Agriculture respectively. Research will involve extensive characterisation of derived- and stem-cell cultures in varying conditions of expansion and relevant health and safety and preclinical testing. The five year programme will be undertaken at the National University of Ireland, Galway, a centre of excellence in tissue engineering research, at a cost of € 2,439,270.

Mots-clés : cell culture,in vitro,extracellular matrix,macromolecular crowding,excluded volume effect,pathophysiology models,cellular agriculture
Projet ERC : ACHIEVE (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : National University of Ireland — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : NUI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2076770.0 €

ACHIEVE focuses on the application of Excluded Volume Effect in cell culture systems in order to enhance Extracellular Matrix (ECM) deposition. It represents a new horizon in in vitro cell culture which will address major challenges in medical advancement and food security. ACHIEVE will elucidate extracellular processes which occur during tissue generation, identifying favourable conditions for optimum tissue cultivation in vitro. These results will be applied in the diverse fields of regenerative medicine, drug discovery and cellular agriculture which all require advancements in in vitro tissue engineering to overcome current bottlenecks. Effective in vitro tissue culture is currently limited by lengthy culture periods. An inability to maintain physiologic (in vivo) conditions during this lengthy in vitro culture leads to cellular phenotype drift, ultimately resulting in generation of an undesired tissue. Enhanced tissue generation in vitro will greatly reduce culture times and costs, effecting improved in vitro tissue substitutes which remain true to their original phenotype. The research will be addressed under four work-packages. WP1 will investigate biochemical, biophysical and biological responses to varying culture conditions; WP 2, 3 and 4 will apply results in the fields of Tissue Engineering, Drug Discovery and Cellular Agriculture respectively. Research will involve extensive characterisation of derived- and stem-cell cultures in varying conditions of expansion and relevant health and safety and preclinical testing. The five year programme will be undertaken at the National University of Ireland, Galway, a centre of excellence in tissue engineering research, at a cost of € 2,439,270.

Mots-clés : cell culture,in vitro,extracellular matrix,macromolecular crowding,excluded volume effect,pathophysiology models,cellular agriculture
Projet ERC : AFRIUNI (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Cultures and cultural production
Entité participante : University of Bristol — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

AFRIUNI explores cultural representations and lived experiences of university life on the African continent. Building on insights from critical pedagogy and decolonial thought, the project considers in material, affective, and aesthetic terms the forms of structural and epistemic violence, physical discomfort, and individual and collective self-realization that obtain within these contested institutions. The project asks: 1. How are African universities represented in creative work and how do these representations inform the perception of education? 2. What do student experiences of campus life tell us about the human experience of uncertainty in the global South? 3. What are the languages of creative expression in these universities and how does translation manifest? What does multilingualism contribute to the experiences of hope, resilience, uncertainty and despair experienced there? 4. How do debates around epistemic justice and engaged pedagogy manifest in historically francophone sites? 5. How can fine-grained understanding of cultural production and reception on campus inform local and global thinking about education? The work responds to these questions by exploring case studies in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin and Cameroon. The project’s first strand will document and analyse cultural representations (including literature, hip hop, film, theatre) of the universities; the second strand will map the histories of literary curricula/pedagogies; the third strand will focus on students’ lived experiences. Throughout, the project will test and develop cutting-edge decolonial (participatory, co-productive, digital) methodologies for Humanities research. AFRIUNI is acutely attuned both to the legacies of imperial linguistic and cultural structures and the significance of place-based learning. It will drive forward connections between these case studies and local, continental, and global scales of debate concerning decoloniality, creativity, and education.

Mots-clés : university,africa,critical pedagogy,decolonial,curriculum
Projet ERC : AMELI (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : University of Erlangen-Nuremberg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : FAU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2945003.0 €

AMELI aims to exploit the potential of the layer-by-layer approach of metal powder bed based additive manufacturing to blaze the way to a groundbreaking new design freedom in manufacturing: Voxel based material design. If successful, AMELI will solve one of the most important challenges in metal-based manufacturing of high performance components: Control and adaption of the local material properties. In order to reach this aim, AMELI will amalgamate the potential of powder bed based electron beam additive manufacturing (PBF-EL) with the analytic power of electron scanning microscopy (SEM). AMELI will to push the performance limits of components made of high performance alloys for demanding applications as required e.g. for aviation or power generation. The applications comprise components for aircraft and land-based gas turbines to increase the efficiency and to reduce emissions as well as parts for hydrogen generation for regenerative energy generation. Thus, AMELI will contribute to sustainable energy supply and mobility. Prerequisite to realize voxel based material design is to reach full control of the local thermal conditions during material creation. This requires numerical tools to predict the corresponding digital processes, the possibility to realize these processes and unparalleled process and material analysis for control. We target to accomplish this by combining cutting-edge process technology, forefront process modeling and unprecedented analysis based on electron inspection. AMELI is based on a pioneering PBF-EL technology to realize both, complex and very dynamic heat sources for local material property control and a probe for electron analysis leading to an unmatched depth of process information. Only this combination will eventually enable us to implement cutting-edge digital processes and process monitoring as fundament for closed-loop process control to demonstrate voxel based material design in complex high-performance components.

Mots-clés : additive manufacturing,electron microscopy,process simulation,multi criteria optimization,artificial intelligence,closed loop control,voxel based material design
Projet ERC : ANTS (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : University of Santiago de Compostela — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : USC
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149250.0 €

ANTS aims to prove the viability of a novel thermal microsensor, with highly improved thermal, temporal and spatial resolution, to be the basis of a breakthrough micro/nano-calorimeter. The resulting device shall quantify binding rates and enthalpy/entropy changes in interactions of biological interest in a much more accurate and straightforward manner than available techniques. Consequently, ANTS-microcalorimeter will facilitate enormously drug discovery and development of biomedical products and technologies. We propose to exploit the large Nernst effect in ferromagnetic conductors for electrical sensing of temperature gradients with exceptional sensitivity. The active sensing elements are composed of a single material, thus offering important advantages for miniaturization over conventional micro-calorimetry, based on diverse Peltier modules, whereas easy to fabricate by standard, scalable deposition and photolithographic methods. Standard microcalorimeter configuration can also be maintained in the novel device, which is convenient to ensure compatibility and foster adoption by users and manufacturers.

Mots-clés : thermal sensing,thermoelectric effect,nernst effect,isothermal titration calorimetry