Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : BioLure (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Université d'Helsinki — Pays : Finlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1488074.0 €

Intracellular delivery of membrane-impermeable biomacromolecules is essential for a broad spectrum of life sciences, ranging from fundamental biological studies to applied biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences. Despite the great efforts in developing new intracellular delivery nanocarriers in the recent 20 years, simple, high-throughput, and accurate intracellular delivery quantification in live cells is still technically challenging. In BioLure, I propose an unconventional approach to quantify intracellular delivery and endosomal escape by a bioorthogonal luminescent reaction in live cells. Instead of a bulky fluorophore, I will label the molecule of interest (MOI) to be delivered with a single amino acid tag, which causes minimal changes in MOI’s physicochemical properties and functions. The tag will generate luciferase substrate inside live cells upon successful translocation into the cytoplasm by bioorthogonal reactions with chemoselectivity, rapid kinetics, biocompatibility, and high efficiency. The quantification strategy will initially be applied to the intracellular delivery of proteins via physical membrane disruption and validated by complementary methods. It will then be expanded to nanocarrier-mediated endosomal escape with different MOIs, including therapeutic siRNAs. The successful endosomal escape quantification will allow further nanoparticle screening for siRNA delivery.  I envision that BioLure will lead to a paradigm shift in the intracellular delivery field, facilitating the transformation from qualitative routine fluorescence imaging to high-throughput real-time quantification. The high sensitivity and low background make it an appealing tool for biologists to study endosomal escape and for material scientists to develop potent next-generation non-viral intracellular nanocarriers. Eventually, it will facilitate the design and screening of endosomal escape carriers and future nanomedicine formulations.

Mots-clés : bioorthogonal reaction intracellular drug delivery endosomal escape
Projet ERC : EpiTransformers (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Université Johann Wolfgang Goethe de Francfort-sur-le-Main — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1495188.0 €

A major gap in knowledge exists relating to the mechanisms via which a normal hematopoietic stem cell attains a fully transformed state via preleukemic intermediates. It is now accepted that a key player in this transition is epigenetic plasticity. Identifying the epigenetic mechanisms regulating the transformation of normal to leukemic stem cells will open new avenues for the identification of therapeutics at different stages of disease. A characteristic stem cell-like gene expression pattern is a hallmark of aggressive acute myeloid leukemia. Intriguingly, most of these patients harbour mutations in epigenetic modifiers that directly regulate stemness. What is fundamentally missing is a comprehensive understanding of which chromatin factors are involved in maintaining normal stem cell programs and how they are modulated during leukemic transformation. I recently uncovered a novel epigenetic mechanism of transition to the leukemic-state, mediated by direct chromatin binding of mutant NPM1 and transcriptional regulation of a specific set of stem-cell genes. This discovery, together with cutting-edge ultra-low-input chromatin technologies and our recently developed in vivo models of preleukemia, will serve as the springboard to address these fundamental questions: 1) How are normal hematopoietic stem cell programs regulated at the epigenetic level? 2) What are the epigenetic landscape alterations that govern tumorigenicity? 3) How can we exploit epigenetic dependencies to pharmacologically target the premalignant and/or malignant state? EpiTransformers will delve into the largely unexplored epigenome during the leukemic transformation of rare stem cell populations using cutting-edge epigenetic profiling technologies and sophisticated in vivo models to deconvolute different steps of leukemogenesis and identify cancer specific vulnerabilities. The goal of EpiTransformers is to develop new therapeutic approaches by specific targeting of premalignant leukemic states.

Mots-clés : epigenetics,preleukemia,preventation
Projet ERC : NEW-CONTRAST-MRI (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : Technion - Institut de technologie d'Israël — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1812500.0 €

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is crucial to healthcare for its radiation-free, high-quality scans, but its high cost leaves 70% of the global population without access. Emerging low-field MRI technology offers affordable, portable systems with transformative potential, but faces critical challenges: long scan times, low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and poor tissue contrast, which makes some tissues indistinguishable. Although contrast agents help, they add risks. Early studies showed that low-field MRI can detect cancer without contrast agents using unique pulse sequences, but those are manually designed and slow. Recently, AI has been adopted for clinical high-field MRI, but AI pulse-sequence optimization relies on supervised learning, limiting discovery, AI theory is scarce, and simulations do not fully capture MRI’s complex spin dynamics. Moreover, AI use in low-field MRI remains mostly focused on image post-processing, while pulse sequence design, sampling, and reconstruction remain traditional and suboptimal.  I propose to develop a foundational AI framework that will transform low-field MRI into a rapid, high-quality modality. To break the barriers posed by supervised AI and simulations, my key innovation is an integrated AI-MRI framework, where on-the-fly MRI measurements guide a self-supervised AI search through the parameter space. Leveraging AI foundations I have recently developed, the framework will jointly optimize pulse sequences, sampling, and reconstruction to revolutionize imaging. Specific aims: (1) speed up MRI by an order of magnitude; (2) establish AI theory; (3) build the framework and develop cutting-edge sequences for optimal tissue contrast; and (4) demonstrate these in human scans with my lab’s low-field MRI. Preliminary results support the feasibility of our design aims. This project will transform low-field MRI into a fast, affordable, contrast-agent-free tool with broad clinical applications, particularly in low-income regions.

Mots-clés : mri,machine learning,contrast,pulse sequence,contrast agent free,contrast mechanisms,mri in the loop
Projet ERC : NaNoLens (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : École polytechnique de Varsovie — Pays : Pologne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Optical nanoscopy has changed the “seeing is believing” paradigm. This was achieved within a limited field of view (FOV~100µm2) and required fluorescent markers. Large-FOV high-throughput live unimpaired cell imaging is crucial for biology and biomedicine. Hence, improving the space bandwidth product (SBP) using time-consuming scanning stitching is not a good solution. Lensless holographic microscopy (LHM) inherently bypasses FOV limitations by using full sensor-size hologram reconstruction for label-free object information retrieval. Its major limitation, not yet addressed, is its low lateral (~1µm) and axial (~3µm) resolution. I will overcome this fundamental problem by pioneering deep UV (DUV) lensless holotomographic nanoscopy (LHN) as a simple and compact device easily operated inside the cell chamber or outside the laboratory (in contrast to lens-based systems). Owing to DNA damage, DUV is used to sterilize and never image bio-samples. This paradigm will be shifted to provide a breakthrough 10 giga pixel SBP via a low-dose DUV optical-elements-free (no cost, no radiation loss) lensless setup with a worlds-first full-angle tomographic scenario, numerical aperture > 1, and a new class of reconstruction algorithms to decrease the effective pixel (to 100 nm) and remove background noise. I will use LHN to enable the discovery of a new mechanistic understanding of extracellular vesicles expression and intake within large live cell cultures with single-vesicle resolution. EVs, nanosized lipid spheres released by virtually every cell type, are currently emerging as novel disease biomarkers and drug nanovehicles. LHN is a new research field that inherently makes this a high-risk project, but the potential gains are also high as a new era of simple ultrahigh SBP nanoimaging might be opened. The proposed multidisciplinary project calls for near-unique expertise in computational microscopy and digital holography, which I acquired in cooperation with international leaders.
Projet ERC : SELFORG (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and R egeneration
Entité participante : Université d'Aberdeen — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1488736.0 €

Developing embryos display a remarkable capacity for self-organization, generating diverse shapes, patterns and structures de novo. First conceived in the 1950s, Turing’s reaction-diffusion hypothesis proposes that this self-organization is driven by interacting and diffusing signalling molecules. Indeed, mathematical Turing models recapitulate patterning in silico. However, key limitations cast doubt on the relevance of Turing models in vivo. First, current models are highly simplified and extremely fragile, at odds with the highly reproducible nature of embryonic development. Second, Turing mechanisms form repetitive patterns (e.g., fingers), whereas many in vivo patterns do not repeat. Third, Turing patterns do not scale with tissue size unlike most embryos and tissues. We propose that these limitations arise because current models are too simple to capture the molecular complexity operating in vivo. Turing models thus represent only a small subset of the much larger class of in vivo reaction-diffusion mechanisms. Here, we will build biologically-aligned mathematical models to investigate reaction-diffusion systems with unprecedented levels of complexity and biological realism. Aided by new computational tools (Aim 1), we seek novel self-organizing mechanisms that are: highly robust (Aim 2); do not repeat (Aim 3); and scale to tissue size (Aim 4). Our pilot data already indicates that this will reveal new paradigms for pattern formation beyond Turing’s original hypothesis. Our models will be challenged by data from various biological systems, including published datasets as well as close collaborations with experimentalists, taking advantage of the increasing availability of high-resolution quantitative data. Our unique blend of expertise spans theoretical physics, experimental embryology, and computational biology, ideally positioning us to discover conceptually new mechanisms of pattern formation that allow embryos, tissues and organoids to self-organize.

Mots-clés : mathematical modelling turing s reaction diffusion hypothesis theory led developmental biology symmetry breaking in developing tissues nonlinear dynamics
Projet ERC : CRITCASTE (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Human Mobility, Environment, and Space
Entité participante : Université de Londres — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UoL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499277.5 €

The South Asian diaspora in the UK and USA is estimated to be 10 million strong. The dominant images that represent this diverse community are those of “high-skilled” professionals in IT, medicine, and engineering, with a rising profile of the “model minority” diasporic South Asian politician. These images obscure a dark underbelly of the global circulation of South Asian labour facilitated by the centuries old caste system. While the persistence of caste in shaping labour relations within the subcontinent is well-documented, the continued relevance of caste in diasporic labour relations is starkly understudied. In the past decade, a growing number of instances have come to light wherein the legal regimes of host countries have come into conflict with caste(d) labour practices, thereby bringing locally situated questions of caste oppression into direct conversation with globally legible rights-based frameworks. This research project will investigate the caste dimensions of diasporic labour migrations in three sectors – construction, domestic work, and commercial kitchens - across the UK and USA, and assess their impact on socio-spatial mobility at home. Through this, the project will map the intersections of law, labour, and mobilities to construct a critical global geography of caste.RQs: How does caste shape the global circulation of South Asian labour? How do these labour relations relate to legal regimes in the host countries? How do caste(d) labour migrations relate to socio-spatial mobility at home? The objectives of the project are: • To document the role of caste in diasporic labour practices • To investigate how these labour practices relate to extant legal protections in host countries • To explore how social mobility is facilitated and/or impeded by these caste(d) labour practices • To archive the diasporic life of caste and disrupt dominant narratives of the SA diaspora • To compile a manifesto for anti-caste jurisprudence and fair labour practices

Mots-clés : caste,south asia,diaspora,labour,mobilities,legal protections
Projet ERC : CO-TRANS-NET (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Université de Rome « Tor Vergata » — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499750.0 €

WHY: The heterogeneity of tumors often makes their diagnosis and treatment a very hard task. A single tumor can have many different diagnostically-relevant molecular markers which can also be used to monitor the efficacy of treatment. Innovative, simple, cost-effective, and quantitative analytical tools for diagnostic and therapeutic applications are urgently needed to ensure rapid and appropriate patient care. WHAT: CO-TRANS-NET project addresses this need by developing synthetic nucleic acid units that can respond to a wide range of tumor biomarkers and can provide innovative tools for biosensing and therapeutics through cell-free in-vitro transcription. HOW: The ground-breaking idea of CO-TRANS-NET is to harness the high programmability of synthetic nucleic acids together with the high sensitivity and versatility of cell-free systems to develop co-transcriptional networks that, in one pot, through nature-inspired recognition mechanisms, can respond to a variety of targets including proteins, small molecules and antibodies and trigger in-vitro transcription of functional RNA. The transcribed RNA can provide a measurable signal or produce a therapeutic drug. CO-TRANS-NET aims to develop single theranostic nanodevices in which cancer diagnosis and theraphy can be simultaneously achieved- This goes beyond the state of the art and represents a breakthrough in the field of diagnostics, biosensing, synthetic biology and nucleic acid-based therapeutics.

Mots-clés : dna nanotechnology,analytical diagnostic tools,cell free systems,synthetic biology,rna binding aptamers,co transcriptional networks,rna based therapeutics
Projet ERC : SCRAMBLE (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and Processes Engineering
Entité participante : Université polytechnique de Catalogne — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1487500.0 €

The technological opportunities enabled by understanding and controlling the microscale world have not yet been capitalized to disruptively improve energy processes, especially heat transfer and power generation. This is mainly due to the laminar flows typically encountered in microdevices resulting in low mixing and transfer rates. This is a central unsolved problem in the thermal-fluid sciences, in what some researchers refer to as lab-on-a-chip and energy - the microfluidic frontier. Therefore, the overarching goal of the SCRAMBLE project is to overcome this long-standing frontier by (i) discovering the fundamentals of inducing turbulent flow in microchips by means of utilizing high-pressure supercritical fluids, (ii) finding the critical conditions to drastically enhance and control mixing and transfer processes, and (iii) designing, fabricating and testing a disruptive first-ever series of turbulence-on-a-chip prototypes for transferring energy with a hundredfold performance improvement with respect to standard microsystems.  Achieving microconfined turbulence has deep scientific and engineering implications for disruptively advancing microfluidic-intensive applications, like for example in chemistry and biomedicine, and to open a new research avenue to develop and apply groundbreaking turbulent flow solutions to microfluidic energy conversion and power generation technologies (these consume an aggregated 70% of the European Union?s energy). In the medium- to long-term future, the technology proposed could enable (i) the efficient miniaturization of thermodynamic cycles for power generation, (ii) reconceptualization of the next-generation of computer processors based on remarkably powerful microfluidic-based cooling, and (iii) the adoption of novel microfluidic solutions in fuel cells for transportation and propulsion. These advances, together with many other potential breakthroughs, could help drive the transition toward a greener energy economy.

Mots-clés : microfluidics,supercritical fluids,turbulence
Projet ERC : WINC (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : Université polytechnique de Catalogne — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1494889.0 €

Computing systems are ubiquitous in our daily life and have transformed the way we learn, work, or communicate with each other, to the point that progress is intimately tied to the improvements brought by new generations of the processors that lie at the heart of these systems. A common trait of current computing systems is that their internal data communication has become a fundamental bottleneck. The anticipated death of Moore’s Law has forced computer scientists and architects to find new ways to build faster processors, which include massive parallelization, specialized accelerator design, and disruptive technologies such as quantum computing. These trends cause an exponential increase in the volume and variability of data transfers within computing systems, rendering traditional interconnects insufficient and threatening to halt progress unless fast and versatile communication alternatives are developed.  In this context, the WINC project envisions a revolution in computer architecture enabled by the integration of wireless networks within computing systems. The main hypothesis is that wireless terahertz technology will lead to at least a tenfold improvement in the speed, efficiency, and scalability of both non-quantum and quantum systems. With a cross-cutting approach, WINC aims to validate the hypothesis by (i) revealing the fundamental limits of wireless communications within computing packages, (ii) developing antennas and protocols that operate close to those limits while complying with the stringent constraints of the scenario, and (iii) developing radically novel architectures that translate the unique benefits of the wireless vision into order-of-magnitude improvements at the system level. If successful, WINC will be the seed of a new generation of non-quantum and quantum systems and foster progress in the computing field for the decades to come.

Mots-clés : wireless chip scale communications network on chip network in package
Projet ERC : QuantMol (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Université de Varsovie — Pays : Pologne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499125.0 €

Ultracold atoms have been successfully used in quantum simulations and precision measurements. Molecules possess a richer internal structure promising new applications. However, only relatively simple molecules have been produced and employed at ultralow temperatures. This project aims to understand and harness the increasing complexity of ultracold polyatomic molecules to probe the fundamentals of chemistry and physics.  We will extend the range of ultracold polyatomic molecules and their applications in controlled chemistry and precision spectroscopy. We will propose and theoretically investigate two paths: 1) association of ultracold deeply-bound diatomic molecules into ultracold weakly-bound polyatomic molecules and 2) direct cooling deeply-bound polyatomic molecules carefully selected and manipulated with electromagnetic fields. The first approach will build on established atomic techniques, which we will extend to molecular systems. The second one will employ strong fields, short pulses, and structural modifications to engineer closed transitions suitable for laser cooling. We will combine and develop novel electronic structure and quantum scattering methods enhanced by machine learning and high-performance computing. Next, we will study new applications exploiting features emerging from single-molecule and coherent control, conical intersections, and non-trivial electronic states and geometries absent in simpler systems. Applications will range from quantum-controlled chemical reactions and molecular dynamics to precision measurements of fundamental constants and their spatio-temporal variation. The realization of the project will push cold chemistry into the quantum realm and bring unprecedented complexity to ultracold physics, thus, give new insights into the physical basis of chemistry and the fundamental laws of nature. A unique experience of the PI in both quantum chemistry and ultracold atomic physics will be instrumental in achieving these goals.

Mots-clés : ultracold molecules,ultracold collisions,quantum molecular dynamics,quantum control,intermolecular interactions,electronic structure,precision measurements