Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : EpiID (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems
Entité participante : Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : KNAW
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Phenotypic variation arises from the heritable acquisition of cell-type specific gene-expression programs. Key in understanding cellular specification is to elucidate the epigenetic mechanism that underlies transcriptional heterogeneity. Thus a central question in biology is how cell-to-cell variability in the epigenome contributes to the emergence of phenotypic differences. However, current techniques to profile the epigenome require populations of cells and consequently present ensemble averages of the underlying biology. Therefore, to grasp the molecular concept behind the cellular acquisition of heritable traits it is essential to develop techniques to profile the epigenome at the single-cell level. The advent of single-cell genomics enabled profiling of few epigenetic features and transcriptomics in single cells; however, this toolbox is still very restricted and moreover, to directly correlate the variability in the epigenome to changes in gene-expression activity it is pivotal to device methods to obtain both measurements from the same cell. Therefore, to bridge these shortcomings in the epigenetic toolbox, we plan to develop and apply novel techniques to profile the epigenome in single cells. With this proposal we aim to (1) develop a method to map histone modifications in single cells (2) develop a method to map chromatin organization in single cells (3) develop a method to obtain combined measurements of the epigenome and the transcriptome of the same cell (4) apply these and previously developed single-cell methods, to different biological systems to study how the epigenome contributes to lineage specification. Collectively, the goal of this proposal is to develop a comprehensive single-cell toolbox to take the field to the next (epigenomic) level and to work towards elucidating the molecular mechanism behind cellular specification.

Mots-clés : single cell genomics,nuclear organization,histone posttranscriptional modifications,damid,lads,pre implantation development
Projet ERC : COHERENCE (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Université Grenoble Alpes — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UGA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1932630.0 €

Photoacoustic imaging is an emerging multi-wave imaging modality that couples light excitation to acoustic detection, via the photoacoustic effect (sound generation via light absorption). Photoacoustic imaging provides images of optical absorption (as opposed to optical scattering). In addition, as photoacoustic imaging relies on detecting ultrasound waves that are very weakly scattered in biological tissue, it provides acoustic-resolution images of optical absorption non-invasively at large depths (up to several cm), where purely optical techniques have a poor resolution because of multiple scattering. As for conventional purely optical approaches, optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy can also be performed non-invasively for shallow depth (< 1 mm), or invasively at depth by endoscopic approaches. However, photoacoustic imaging suffers several limitations. For imaging at greater depths, non-invasive photoacoustic imaging in the acoustic-resolution regime is limited by a depth-to-resolution ratio of about 100, because ultrasound attenuation increases with frequency. Optical-resolution photoacoustic endoscopy has very recently been introduced as a complementary approach, but is currently limited in terms of resolution (> 6 µm) and footprint (diameter > 2 mm). The overall objective of COHERENCE is to break the above limitations and reach diffraction-limited optical-resolution photoacoustic imaging at depth in tissue in vivo. To do so, the core concept of COHERENCE is to use and manipulate coherent light in photoacoustic imaging. Specifically, COHERENCE will develop novel methods based on speckle illumination, wavefront shaping and super-resolution imaging. COHERENCE will result in two prototypes for tissue imaging, an optical-resolution photoacoustic endoscope for minimally-invasive any-depth tissue imaging, and a non-invasive photoacoustic microscope with enhanced depth-to-resolution ratio, up to optical resolution in the multiply-scattered light regime.

Mots-clés : photoacoustic imaging,speckle,wavefront shaping,super resolution,endoscopy
Projet ERC : COHERENCE (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 183660.0 €

Photoacoustic imaging is an emerging multi-wave imaging modality that couples light excitation to acoustic detection, via the photoacoustic effect (sound generation via light absorption). Photoacoustic imaging provides images of optical absorption (as opposed to optical scattering). In addition, as photoacoustic imaging relies on detecting ultrasound waves that are very weakly scattered in biological tissue, it provides acoustic-resolution images of optical absorption non-invasively at large depths (up to several cm), where purely optical techniques have a poor resolution because of multiple scattering. As for conventional purely optical approaches, optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy can also be performed non-invasively for shallow depth (< 1 mm), or invasively at depth by endoscopic approaches. However, photoacoustic imaging suffers several limitations. For imaging at greater depths, non-invasive photoacoustic imaging in the acoustic-resolution regime is limited by a depth-to-resolution ratio of about 100, because ultrasound attenuation increases with frequency. Optical-resolution photoacoustic endoscopy has very recently been introduced as a complementary approach, but is currently limited in terms of resolution (> 6 µm) and footprint (diameter > 2 mm). The overall objective of COHERENCE is to break the above limitations and reach diffraction-limited optical-resolution photoacoustic imaging at depth in tissue in vivo. To do so, the core concept of COHERENCE is to use and manipulate coherent light in photoacoustic imaging. Specifically, COHERENCE will develop novel methods based on speckle illumination, wavefront shaping and super-resolution imaging. COHERENCE will result in two prototypes for tissue imaging, an optical-resolution photoacoustic endoscope for minimally-invasive any-depth tissue imaging, and a non-invasive photoacoustic microscope with enhanced depth-to-resolution ratio, up to optical resolution in the multiply-scattered light regime.

Mots-clés : photoacoustic imaging,speckle,wavefront shaping,super resolution,endoscopy
Projet ERC : ELICOS (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Technical University of Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TUM
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2357901.0 €

Photochemical reactions are induced by ultraviolet or visible light and they enable the construction of molecular skeletons that are difficult or even impossible to access by any other means. In order to secure a widespread application of these reactions in organic synthesis and in order to make the respective products available for high-tech applications, it is required that photochemical reactions can be performed enantioselectively, i.e. that the three-dimensional architecture of the product molecules is unambiguously defined. Despite some progress in recent years, this challenge has as yet remained unsolved. It is the objective of this proposal to develop catalytic methods that allow the enantioselective synthesis of a broad variety of compound classes by light-induced reactions. The mode of action of potential catalysts is based on energy transfer or on wavelength-selective excitation. In the former scenario, the substrate-catalyst complex will be held together by non-covalent interactions, which position the substrate for an efficient energy transfer and for an enantioselective approach of the reagent. In the latter approach, acid-base interactions in the substrate-catalyst complex will lead to a significant bathochromic absorption shift of the substrate, enabling a selective excitation within the complex and a subsequent enantioselective reaction pathway within a spatially defined chiral environment. Both approaches include the option to employ sunlight as the exclusive energy source to drive enantioselective processes without the need to apply external heat or pressure.
Projet ERC : TOMATTO (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Universidad Complutense de Madrid — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UCM
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2730866.0 €

Photoinduced electron transfer (ET) and charge transfer (CT) processes occurring in organic materials are the cornerstone of technologies aiming at the conversion of solar energy into electrical energy and at its efficient transport. Thus, investigations of ET/CT induced by visible (VIS) and ultraviolet (UV) light are fundamental for the development of more efficient organic opto-electronic materials. The usual strategy to improve efficiency is chemical modification, which is based on chemical intuition and try-and-error approaches, with no control on the ultrafast electron dynamics induced by light. Achieving the latter is not easy, as the natural time scale for electronic motion is the attosecond (10-18 seconds), which is much shorter than the duration of laser pulses produced in femtochemistry laboratories. With femtosecond pulses, one can image and control “slower” processes, such as isomerization, nuclear vibrations, hydrogen migration, etc., which certainly affect ET and CT at “longer” time scales. However, real-time imaging of electronic motion is possibly the only way to fully understand and control the early stages of ET and CT, and by extension the coupled electron-nuclear dynamics that come later and lead (or not) to an efficient electric current. In this project we propose to overcome the fs time-scale bottleneck and get direct information on the early stages of ET/CT generated by VIS and UV light absorption on organic opto-electronic systems by extending the tools of attosecond science beyond the state of the art and combining them with the most advanced methods of organic synthesis and computational modelling. The objective is to provide clear-cut movies of ET/CT with unprecedented time resolution and with the ultimate goal of engineering the molecular response to optimize the light driven processes leading to the desired opto-electronic behavior. To this end, synergic efforts between laser physicists, organic chemists and theoreticians is compulsory.

Mots-clés : attosecond chemistry,electron and charge transfer,organic optoelectronics,molecular wires,attosecond pump probe,quantum chemistry of attosecond molecular science,organic synthesis,carbon nanostructures
Projet ERC : IMOS4ALL (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Eindhoven University of Technology — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU/e
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Photonic technologies are key enablers for high-speed, on-demand communications, precision sensors, imaging and metrology. Industry roadmapping initiatives are now showing a clear and pressing need for miniaturising photonics solutions across market segments with sustained improvements in energy-efficiency, precision and performance. Photonic integration can meet these challenges, and has been convincingly demonstrated in fiber optic systems, but there is an absence of chip scale solutions for connectorless communications and sensor circuits requiring optical wireless connectivity. The necessary combination of high-performance optoelectronics, photonics integration, and chip-scale beam forming is not available to the industry. IMOS – Indium Phosphide membrane on Silicon enables the combination of nanophotonics, photonic integration, lasers, amplifiers and the highest efficiency electro-optic processes. Integrated nanophotonics offers a route to exquisite optical beam control within the chip, and removes the need for fiber optic connectivity, micro-mechanical-assemblies and off-chip optics. The ERC project NoLimits has pioneered a nanophotonic platform which additionally integrates lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers, high performance detectors and low-loss, fabrication-tolerant surface grating technologies. The IMOS4ALL program will implement the most comprehensive set of active and nanophotonic building blocks as created in the ERC project NoLimits and make them available within one wafer scale process and valid the platform with industry-inspired circuits. The free placement of standard high-performance building blocks enables the project to deliver an open-access platform where designers configure circuits to enable new and unanticipated circuits. The platform approach also enables the integration of a pipeline of future high-performance building blocks for future technology nodes.

Mots-clés : photonic integration,inp photonics,silicon photonics,open access,multi project wafer  mpw
Projet ERC : SENSiSOFT (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
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 : 1499360.0 €

Piezoelectrics are the active elements of many everyday applications, from ink-jet printers to ultrasound generators, representing a billion euro industry. They are the key elements of motion sensors and resonators present in any wireless network sensor (WNS) node. However, an increased production of piezoelectrics in a sustainable way is to-date a milestone. SENSiSOFT proposes to come up with materials that can provide a solution to this problem: piezoelectric materials that are abundant, cheap and harmless. The aim of this project is to produce new piezoelectric devices of nanometer size with an unusual limit for wireless mechanical sensors, using direct and combined chemical integration of quartz, perovskite and hollandites materials as nanostructured epitaxial thin films on silicon. This is a major challenge that demands bridging the gap between soft-chemistry and microfabrication techniques. Three strategies are proposed for this goal: i) Implement a soft chemistry unified, monolithic process that will allow integrating epitaxial quartz, hollandite and perovskite oxide thin layers on silicon substrate with high piezoelectric response. ii) Nanostructuration of piezoelectric epitaxial oxide thin films into controllable morphologies or nanostructures, in particular porous structure and 1D nanowires or nanorods, allowing excellent properties of oxides to be exploited to the fullest, mainly by avoiding clamping and improving its sensitivity. iii) Fabrication of nanostructured SAW resonator-based and a LAMB-WAVE multisensor for monitoring mechanical parameters (mass, forces, pressure…). We will use MEMs technology in order to be able to define resonating structures (plates, membranes, bridges…) by silicon micromachining. So, SENSiSOFT presents three innovative strategies to develop sensor devices capable to answer the metrology demand, with a detection threshold 10 to 100 times more sensitive resulting from a 1D and 2D configuration of novel piezoelectric oxides.

Mots-clés : epitaxial growth,silicon integration,chemical solution deposition,functional oxides,ferroelectrics,piezoelectrics,sensors devices,quartz,nanomaterials
Projet ERC : CURVE-X (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe sciences
Entité participante : Aix-Marseille Université — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : amU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 40540.0 €

Pillar II of the ERC-STG-ICARUS aimed at paving the way to a common use of curved sensors for cost-effective imaging systems, through prototyping and recommendation for mass production. The next steps towards commercialisation and industrialisation are proposed in this PoC project to: improve the repeatability, prepare the industrialisation, realise market studies and outline a business plan. We create the start-up CURVE-ONE for the valorisation towards scientific instrumentation and amateur astronomy. The project has the positive support of potentiel clients and will be done with the help of CNRS-Innovation as a third party and the OPTITEC photonics competitiveness cluster to enhance the impact on industry.

Mots-clés : curved sensors,curved detectors,imagery,optical systems,optics
Projet ERC : KIWIsome (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Entité participante : Philipps University of Marburg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2344343.0 €

Plant diseases caused by pathogenic fungi critically affect global food security and plant ecology. How plants defend themselves against pathogenic invaders and the molecular weaponry involved is still far from being complete. Kiwellin proteins (KWL) represent an emerging class of highly diverse proteins with antibody-like properties serving as countermeasures of plants against virulence factors secreted by pathogenic fungi. The aim of this ERC-project is to establish the functional, structural and mechanistic basis enabling this fundamentally new class of proteins in the defense against their pathogenic invaders. Thus, this ERC-proposal might not only offer new perspectives for a future plant engineering (e.g. towards resistance), but also provides a deeper fundamental understanding into the molecular mechanisms, underlying the everlasting arms race between plants and their pathogenic invaders.
Projet ERC : IMMUNE-EXPRESS (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Entité participante : University of Edinburgh — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499960.0 €

Plants are continuously exposed to a wide variety of pathogenic attackers that cause major crop losses to agriculture worldwide. Unlike vertebrates that use specialized immune cells to detect non-self, each individual plant cell is thought to be capable of launching an effective immune response. Plant immune responses are largely orchestrated by the immune hormone, salicylic acid (SA), which accumulates upon infection and establishes both local and broad-spectrum systemic immunity. SA induces the reprogramming of thousands of genes to prioritize immune responses over normal cellular growth functions. Consequently, commercial SA mimics have been developed and applied as crop protection agents worldwide. Nonetheless, how SA reprograms the transcriptome remains poorly understood yet is critical for the design of improved crop protection strategies that avoid plant growth and yield penalties. SA-induced transcription reprogramming is largely mediated by NPR1, a master coactivator of gene expression. We recently reported that direct perception of SA by a Cullin3-RING ubiquitin ligase (CRL3) in the nucleus regulates the transcriptional activity of NPR1 by targeting it for degradation via the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS). Our latest data suggest that ubiquitination by CRL3 and other ubiquitin chain modifying enzymes may be processive and establishes a transcriptional timer for NPR1 activity. This proposal aims to understand the flexibility and necessity of this transcriptional ubiquitin timer in meeting cellular demands for dynamic gene expression during SA-mediated plant immune responses. Moreover, we will uncover the full substrate ranges of SA-induced ubiquitin ligases and their post-translational regulation to precisely chart the intimate roles the UPS plays in coordinating plant immune gene expression. Importantly, these findings will provide novel chemical and genetic targets that can be harnessed in future crop improvement strategies.

Mots-clés : salicylic acid,plant immunity,gene expression,ubiquitin,proteasome,redox
Projet ERC : GAtransport (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Cellular, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
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 : 1500000.0 €

Plants evolved a unique molecular mechanism that spatially regulate auxin, forming finely tuned gradients and local maxima of auxin that inform and direct developmental patterning and adaptive growth processes. Recent findings call into question the uniqueness of polar auxin transport in the sense that more plant hormones seem to be actively transported. Although still lacking many mechanistic details, as well as comprehensive functional connotations, these findings warrant a more thorough investigation into the prospect of a broader scope for plants spatial regulation capacity in the context of additional hormones. Critically, we lack an effective set of tools to directly investigate and dissect the particulars of plant hormones mobility at the molecular level. My long-term goal is to provide a molecular and mechanistic understanding of plant hormones dynamics that will augment our evolving model of how they are regulated and how they convey information. Here, I hypothesize that GA mobility in plants is controlled and directed by an active transport mechanism to form distinct distribution patterns that affect signaling. I will test my hypothesis with a multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary approach, combining: fluorescent labeling of key gibberellins to map their accumulation sites in whole plants and at the sub-cellular level; chemical-biology strategies that facilitate manipulation of GA “origin point” in planta to map and quantify GA flow pathways; probe-based genetic screens and un-biased photo-affinity labeling to identify proteins affecting GA mobility; and genetic and molecular biology techniques to characterize identified proteins’ functions. I expect to offer an exceptional, detailed view into the inner workings of gibberellins dynamics in planta and into the mechanisms driving it. I further anticipate that the strategies developed here to specifically address gibberellins could be straightforwardly re-tailored to investigate additional plant hormones.

Mots-clés : plant hormone,phytohormone,gibberellin,transport,transporter,fluorescence,fluorescent probe,imaging,photochemistry,caging,proteins isolation