Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : TRANSITIONS (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : Université de Vienne — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Uni Wien
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1714200.0 €

Endosymbiosis merges organisms and leads to evolutionary innovation. Hence endosymbiotic interactions play key roles in ecosystems and have shaped eukaryotic evolution, e.g., the formation of mitochondria and chloroplast organelles. The evolution of endosymbioses entails two key transitions: the transition from free-living to endosymbiont and from endosymbiont to organelle. These critical phases are difficult to study because extant relationships are often highly derived, and thus substantial knowledge gaps exist. Recent advances in technology make it now possible to employ valuable, but previously underutilised, protist systems in endosymbiosis research. This proposal will exploit the transitional nature of two protists: Paulinella chromatophora and the Paramecium bursaria–Chlorella association. First, I will combine partner-preference tests and single-cell approaches to study the mechanistic processes within an individual as it becomes endosymbiotic. Second, I will characterise metabolic integration during early-stage organelle formation using cutting-edge chemical imaging alongside a long-term evolution experiment. Finally, a year-long field survey will discover how changing environmental conditions influence the success of these partnerships in situ. My unique skillset of evolution experiments, single-cell genomics, metabolomics, and culturing these protists makes this ambitious proposal feasible. This project leverages transitional protists and pairs them with a powerful array of techniques to tackle fundamental questions underlying the key transitions within endosymbiosis. This original combination is at the forefront of endosymbiosis and plastid research. When completed, this proposal will provide unprecedented detail of the molecular mechanisms underpinning these transitions. As such it will fundamentally shift our perspective towards viewing these transitions as a gradient of processes rather than binary states, and will open up avenues for future research.

Mots-clés : endosymbiosis,plastid evolution,protists
Projet ERC : MicroStratDNA (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Université de Vienne — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Uni Wien
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1460604.0 €

Modern humans are defined and sustained by interactions and networks. In Paleolithic contexts, reconstructing interactions and networks is limited to inferences based on material culture or direct evidence of biological relatedness, but evidence on the latter in the form of human fossils is very rare. Still, archaeogenetic research can formulate supra-regional models for broad time periods based on only a few genomes by distinguishing ancient clades, but not to the level of interactions between human groups of particular cultural complexes. Recently, archaeological sediments and speleothems - karstic cave formations - have been revealed as a further genomic archive for past environments and past human populations initiating a new phase in archaeogenetic research. These new archives have the potential to greatly expand the archaeogenetic record as they stem from ubiquitous environmental sources and they do provide the spatial and temporal resolution to zoom into population dynamics at the group level. However, what this ancient DNA (aDNA) originates from and under what conditions it preserves over time are still open questions. I here suggest placing this paleogenomic data into a microstratigraphic framework, where individual depositional events are recorded in microscopic features, to overcome these problems and to provide high-resolution time series of population interactions. Using an interdisciplinary tool kit, I will (I) reconstruct the source, origin, and deposition of sedimentary and speleothem aDNA in archaeological contexts, (II) identify ideal preservation contexts for this type of aDNA with a focus on in-field assessments and (III) extract genomic time series from archaeological sediments and speleothems. I will apply this approach to Upper Paleolithic sites in Georgia to reconstruct the relatedness of the people using individual sites over time and across contemporaneous sites set against regional expressions of climate and paleoenvironment change.

Mots-clés : paleolithic,ancient dna,geoarchaeology,speleothems,microstratigraphy
Projet ERC : CHIMERA (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : Université de Vienne — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Uni Wien
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499899.0 €

Giant viruses appear to be ubiquitous in soil and aquatic environments, infecting a wide range of protist hosts. As lytic viruses, they are important regulators in nutrient and energy cycles and key influencers of microbial community composition. The recent discovery of giant viruses challenged previous assumptions and blurred the sharp division between viruses and cellular life. Besides large particle sizes, giant viruses possess complex "chimeric" genomes, including genes that were likely acquired from their hosts and bacteria that parasitise the same hosts. Unique is the presence of prokaryotic-like mobile genetic elements (MGEs) that are speculated to aid giant viruses in defence against the host immune system or in direct competition for resources with other viruses or bacteria. Contrarily, bacteria may use MGEs to help the hosts counteract viral infections. Our current knowledge on the factors promoting giant virus diversity and maintenance of the virus-host balance in nature, are largely unknown. In the proposed project, I will investigate the role of MGEs in the evolution and ecology of giant viruses. I postulate that the presence of MGEs plays a crucial role in the competition between giant viruses and other parasites infecting the same hosts. Using co-infection experiments, as well as cutting-edge molecular, microscopy, and sequencing techniques, I will investigate viral competitive fitness as well as physical and molecular interactions between selected partners. By developing a highly specific giant virus genome editing tool, I will rigorously test whether MGEs can provide giant viruses with higher fitness. Moreover, I will combine cell sorting with metagenome analysis of two selected habitats, to unravel how MGEs are distributed in a natural ecosystem. My overarching goal is to elucidate the molecular dialogue between viruses, bacteria, and their hosts, and to use MGEs as a tool to trace the evolutionary history of this unique group of viruses.

Mots-clés : virus evolution,giant viruses,virus interactions,mobile genetic elements,fitness competition and defence
Projet ERC : DEEP (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : NHH Norwegian School of Economics — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

A key goal of environmental policy is to ensure sustainable choices and investment. For the individual, revising choices and behavior might be necessary to avoid costs or obtain benefits introduced by policies. Though a growing literature has investigated how different environmental policies produce winners and losers through differences in costs and benefits between individuals, less is known about the causes of varying adaption to new policies. In the context of environmental policy, there are no studies of how the "hand of the past" determines the ability to adapt through choices that are not easily reversed, such as location, and exposure to wealth effects from revaluation through existing endowments at the individual or firm level. The goal of DEEP is to provide new knowledge of how existing differences interact with environmental policies in shaping choices, with consequences for policy effectiveness and the evolution of disparities among households and firms. The key to achieve this is the construction of novel and exceptionally ambitious models of decisions that affect outcomes over time, combined with data of unparalleled detail on choices, outcomes, income and assets of individuals, households and firms in settings featuring rich and highly relevant policy interventions. The results will contribute both to our understanding of how inequality develops under policy choices in interaction with preexisting disparities, and our understanding of the trade-offs between equity and effectiveness when designing policies. The project will center on two strategically important areas: 1) electrification of transportation, where existing vehicle, location and wealth of households influence policy impact, with implications for wealth and welfare over time; and 2) renewable energy subsidies, where existing capacities of firms influence policy impact on investments and capacity decisions, with implications for the evolution of market structure and market power.
Projet ERC : CAPELE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Université Comenius de Bratislava — Pays : Slovaquie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1547500.0 €

From the beginnings of the organic chemistry as a scientific discipline, the main task has been clear – how to perform organic reactions in an efficient and selective manner? How to activate our starting materials, without destroying them in the process? Catalysis, such as redox catalysis, can bring a solution to these questions. In the CAPELE project, we would like to harness the mechanical energy for activation of organic molecules. Piezoelectric materials upon impact undergo formation of separated electron-hole pairs, and can be used to initiate redox reactions. In our preliminary experiments, we have verified that extremely simple piezoelectric materials as sand (quartz) can be used as mechano-catalysts for redox reactions. The main objective of this project is to discover new mechano-redox transformations. I believe that development of new mechano-redox processes using cheap, durable, environmentally-friendly and easily removable piezoelectric materials as catalysts can have real impact on the synthetic community. Piezoelectric materials can be used in this manner to perform a simple E-/Z- bond isomerization. This simple reaction can be used to drive mechanically-switched molecular switches – a discovery, that has a huge potential impact on development of new mechanically-activated molecular devices. This project requires an accurate method of theoretical prediction of redox potentials to enable rational reaction design of redox reactions. We plan to develop such method using modern quantum-chemical computational tools. Impact of such model is well beyond the scope of this project, as it will give a powerful computational tool to the whole community of organic chemists involved in development of redox reactions. I have extensive experience in development of catalytic redox processes, computational chemistry, mechanistic investigations and organic physical chemistry and therefore I believe that I am a perfect match to lead such an interdisciplinary project.

Mots-clés : piezoelectricity redox reactions molecular switches single electron transfer
Projet ERC : ALTERBIOTIC (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Soci al World and Its Interactions
Entité participante : Université de Vienne — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Uni Wien
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499173.0 €

Modern antibiotics greatly contributed to fighting infectious diseases. However, today we face a resurgence of deadly drug-resistant microbes due the excessive use of antibiotics – a phenomenon known as antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR is not only a pressing public health problem, but a unique and fundamental crisis that profoundly challenges existing regimes of pharmaceutical innovation that have for long provided societies with powerful, easily available antibiotics. However, long-term solutions to AMR not only require new potent drugs, but also alternative scientific, economic and regulatory approaches in the development, distribution and deployment of antibiotic therapies – captured here by the term ‘alter-biotic innovation’. Yet, much-needed social science research on this complex innovation challenge is glaringly absent. ALTERBIOTIC will break new ground by developing the unique research perspective of ‘alter-biotic innovation’ to conceptualize and investigate how alternative approaches are being envisioned, negotiated and developed to overcome the limitations of existing antibiotic regimes. It will focus on the major antimicrobial partnership initiatives launched in response to AMR. In addition to product development, these initiatives drive a broader normative and political agenda: to radically rethink and alter regimes governing the development, valuation, regulation and use of antimicrobials in more sustainable and equitable ways. ALTERBIOTIC conducts a multi-sited analysis of alter-biotic innovation, based on qualitative-interpretive methodologies and ethnographic sensibility. It employs an ambitious case study design integrating ethnographic vignettes with in-depth case studies through a combination of document analysis, interviews and participant observation. This research not only provides a fresh perspective to the social studies of AMR, but also novel approaches to study ‘innovation societies’ amid the multiple sustainability crises they confront.

Mots-clés : sociology of pharmaceuticals,social studies of biomedicine and the life sciences critical innovation studies biopolitics,global health
Projet ERC : SHADOWS (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Université de Vienne — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Uni Wien
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499813.0 €

Caves played a vital role for Pleistocene human and carnivore populations, serving as shelters, scavenging sites, and feeding grounds. They remain the primary context preserving archeological and faunal remains in Europe. Carnivores competed with Pleistocene humans for resources and significantly contributed to cave bone accumulations and modification. Notably, evidence of carnivore behaviors largely derives from anthropogenic contexts, studied through an anthropo-centric lens. However, carnivore remains are often invisible in the archeological register, making it difficult to study them and draw precise conclusions about the level of interaction with humans and their extinction dates. Here, I hypothesize that many species of Pleistocene carnivores are present in Europe for much longer than what the fossil record indicates, that their presence can be assessed by revising the sediments and bones of archeological sites, and that the lasting populations show signs of genetic collapse linked to population contraction. Therefore, I propose to study Pleistocene carnivores in Europe, focusing on Iberia, during and after the Late Glacial Maximum, a period marked by human population decline and climatic refugia. The rich and complex archeological setting in the region will be used to identify, date, and delineate lasting carnivore populations. This information will improve the understanding of human-carnivore interactions. To do this, I have designed an innovative approach, uniting cutting-edge methods like high spatiotemporal precision sampling for sediment DNA and paleoproteomics, which combined with traditional zooarchaeological techniques overcomes the limitations of fossil availability. The research has the potential to: a) Improve the understanding and nature of the cooccurrence between Pleistocene humans and carnivores, and b) characterize the biological process of extinction helping us improve the conservation of current critically endangered fauna.

Mots-clés : carnivores,paleolithic,sedadna,genomics,zooarcheology
Projet ERC : BIG-5 (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Human Mobility, Environment, and Space
Entité participante : Université autonome de Barcelone — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1239325.0 €

Nature-experiences are on the decline, but does that mean environmental values are as well? — Where the decrease of experiences of nature is often cited as a cause for dwindling appreciation of nature and consequently less commitment to environmental stewardship, I argue that the internet is an overlooked factor in multiplying nature experiences, creating nature values, and fostering environmental stewardship, thus counteracting the ‘extinction of experiences’ of nature. With more than half of the global population already using social media, the BIG-5 project utilizes five of the world’s largest social media platforms to better understand the fostering of physical-virtual nature interactions that support sustainable global transitions in a rapidly changing world. The BIG-5 project introduces Digital Relational Values (DRVs) as fundamental and eudemonic values that are developed within virtual communities, triggered by indirect experiences of nature. It will trace these values across five landscape types, five large social media networks, and in five European languages through qualitative and quantitative (big data) approaches in an inductive-deductive manner. Furthermore, the BIG-5 project will develop and apply innovative empirical approaches that allow to (a) identify DRVs across different social media platforms, (b) understand how they spread across virtual communities, and (c) examine the relationship between virtually produced DRVs and physical environmental stewardship. BIG-5 will thereby challenge the assumption of an “extinction of experiences” and the consecutive decline of nature values and care for the environmental. It will further strengthen the importance of relational values as a foundation for environmental stewardship and contribute to a novel understanding of a physical-virtual continuum in the generation of nature values. Finally, BIG-5 will also advance on ethical consideration regarding the use of social media socio-environmental research.

Mots-clés : social media,relational values,environmental stewardship,nature experiences,physical virtual continuum
Projet ERC : ONLINE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials Engineering
Entité participante : Université de Tampere — Pays : Finlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1495500.0 €

ONLINE aims to develop new concepts of communication between inanimate materials.  What is meant by communication? In biological context, communication refers to interactive behaviour of one organism affecting the current or future behaviour of another. In the context of bioinspired materials, ONLINE will develop life-like material structures that communicate with each other via physical contact, fluidic medium, or optical beams. These inanimate materials will be coupled to form networks that communicate autonomously through light.  How to make them? The core concept behind the communicative materials is self-oscillatory (self-sustained) motions in light-responsive liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs). Self-oscillation is a responsive structure that can self-sustain its own mechanical motion in a constant energy field. It captures the key concepts of living organisms, i.e., functioning out of thermodynamic equilibrium and energy dissipation. My goal is to scale down the self-oscillator concepts to the micro-scale and realize soft material robots that can communicate.  Why is this important? There exists an increasing need for artificial materials that can interact, alike biological systems. However, all the dynamic features of state-of-the-art responsive materials are based on internal material properties, and making individual materials interact with each other is a huge challenge. ONLINE proposes three new model systems for material communication: (I) Microscopic walker swarm, in which the locomotion and patterns of interactions between individuals can be fully programmed; (II) Cilia array that move cooperatively and self-regulate the fluidics at low Reynolds numbers; (III) Homeostasis-like light-communicating coupled network that provides a full set of tunable parameters to mimic the complexity of biological oscillators.

Mots-clés : liquid crystal elastomer self sustained oscillation self oscillation micro robot soft robot light driven two photon laser fabrication stimuli responsive materials micro actuator direct laser writing
Projet ERC : Unleash-TDEs (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe Sciences
Entité participante : Université de Birmingham — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499853.0 €

Tidal disruption events (TDEs) have been known for decades as unique probes of otherwise quiescent supermassive black holes and their environment, in a mass range inaccessible by any other techniques. However, fulfilling this potential has so far been hindered by a crucial lack of understanding of the physics causing the emission. My program will solve this theoretical bottleneck and unleash the predictive power of TDEs at the dawn of an observational golden era provided by the Rubin Observatory.  A TDE occurs when a star is disrupted by a black hole, after which the stellar debris fuels the compact object, generating the detectable signal. While characterizing this emission has been prevented by the impossibility of simulating the entire gas evolution, I am pioneering a new computational approach that solves this long-standing impediment by dividing the evolution into interconnected phases. Relying on this technique, I will deliver the first paradigm for the TDE emission based on first-principles simulations.  Using this new knowledge, I will build theoretical lightcurves that directly depend on astrophysical system parameters, namely the black hole and stellar properties, and develop the first physically sound analysis toolkit for detected TDEs, which statistically compares these lightcurves to observed ones to infer system parameters. Applying this toolkit to the wealth of upcoming TDE detections, I will shed new light on some of the most pressing mysteries in astrophysics, including the formation and growth of supermassive black holes, the properties and interactions between the stars orbiting them, and the processes leading to relativistic jets and neutrino production.  My ambitious research program is designed to capitalize on the observational revolution brought about by the Rubin Observatory, setting the foundations for TDE science in the decade to come with far-reaching implications across fields from galaxy evolution to high-energy astrophysics.

Mots-clés : tidal disruption events,supermassive black holes,transient astrophysics,numerical simulations,hydrodynamics