Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : STICKY SUGARS (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Université de Groningue — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RUG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499251.0 €

With bacteria increasingly resistant to current antibiotics, new strategies to fight infection are needed. Bacterial adhesin proteins, which play an important role in the establishment of infection, appear to be promising targets for novel therapies. Adhesins enable the first contact between bacteria and host cells. We know that some adhesins are modified with highly unique sugars that are important for adhesin stability and adherence. However, we do not know how widespread this modification is, and whether it constitutes a good target for antibacterial strategies. A lack of suitable methods for the detection of bacterial adhesin sugars has impeded the detailed study of these sugars, blocking further efforts to develop antibacterial strategies against bacterial adhesin sugars. In this project, I aim to revolutionize our understanding of adhesin sugars, in terms of timing and prevalence of the modification, which is crucial information to start targeting adhesin sugars. To this end, I have designed an innovative approach that combines the strengths of carbohydrate chemistry, enzymology, microbiology and molecular dynamics to 1) establish straightforward methods to selectively visualize and quantify the adhesin sugars directly on the surface of bacterial cells; 2) detect the presence of adhesin sugars under changing growth conditions and in relevant clinical isolates; and 3) develop a computational method to predict the presence of sugars on adhesins that have not yet been identified. Recent findings from my team on the process of adhesin modification underscore the uniqueness of adhesin sugars, and this experience puts me in an ideal position to start this project. The overarching goal of STICKY SUGARS is to lay the foundation for the exploitation of adhesin sugars as antibacterial targets. By visualizing adhesin sugars directly on bacteria, we can observe their response to antibacterial treatments and pave the way toward clinical applications in the future.

Mots-clés : glycobiology,carbohydrate chemistry,glycosyltransferase,bacteria,adhesin
Projet ERC : IntensifiedCO2 (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and Processes Engineering
Entité participante : Université de Groningue — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RUG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Developing intensified catalytic processes for CO2 conversion may drive their implementation at CO2-producing sites, counteracting current practices of emitting CO2 and waste gases. Converting CO2 to synthetic fuels is a win-win scenario as they are used as sustainable aviation fuel. A leading technology to convert CO2 to synthetic fuels proceeds indirectly via Reverse Water Gas Shift (RWGS) and Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS). CO2 is first reduced to CO via RWGS and then converted to hydrocarbons via FTS. Based on current chemical engineering practices, four unit operations (two reactors and two intermediate separations) are required. The ambition of the IntensifiedCO2 technology is to intensify the current practice through the reduction of unit operations, without compromising on selectivity towards synthetic fuels. The objectives are to eliminate two separation units for CO2 and H2O and to consolidate two reactors into a single bifunctional (RWGS and FTS) reactor. As such, the IntensifiedCO2 technology will be the first demonstration of metallic cobalt catalysts ‘converting’ CO2 to synthetic fuels in a single reactor. Metallic cobalt catalysts are industrial FTS catalysts, but produce mainly methane from CO2. Attempts thus far on tuning cobalt phases to attain synthetic fuels are unsuccessful, signalling the need for a radical strategy as proposed in IntensifiedCO2. My innovative approach involves coaxing a metallic cobalt FTS catalyst to disregard the presence of CO2 and H2O within the reactor, ensuring its catalytic performance mirrors that of synthesis gas (a mixture of CO and H2) conditions. Ideally, undesired species stay in the reactor's mass transfer zone, while desired species interact in the catalyst's adsorption/reaction/desorption zone. This concept of customising the catalyst’s environment in the reactor stands in stark contrast to the common approaches of tailoring catalyst material and active sites, signifying a paradigm shift in catalysis research.
Projet ERC : IDENTIKIT (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Université Vie-Santé Saint-Raphaël — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1292500.0 €

Understanding what makes our cells prone to develop cancer is key for identifying effective strategies of tumor prevention. By analyzing the genome of normal human cells, I obtained compelling evidence that the pattern of somatic mutations can be used to identify the cell-of-origin of kidney cancer. Although every cell accumulates somatic mutations during a lifetime, some are exposed to a specific mutational process that leave a detectable mark in their genome. Kidney cancers and their cell-of-origin show the same genetic mark, consisting of excess somatic point mutations with unique characteristics and unknown origin. We plan to use this mutational signature to track cancer-prone cells in human kidneys and a) follow their population dynamics; b) study their genome and transcriptome at a single cell level; c) understand the underlying causes of excessive mutation. Having already established a non-invasive assay to detect cancer-prone cells in urine samples, we can now analyse numerous donors, longitudinally and without biopsies. Our preliminary analyses point to adaptation to low-oxygen conditions (hypoxia) as the likely cause of excessive mutation in kidney cells and suggest defects in specific DNA repair pathways as a mechanism. We will test whether overactivation of hypoxia signalling, caused by either a genetic syndrome or exposure to renal ischemia, induces the kidney-specific mutational signature in humans. We will then dissect the molecular mechanism by functional experiments in vitro and in mouse models. Finally, we will test whether and how the diet contributes to the expansion of the mutation-prone cell subset in mouse kidneys. Overall, this study will provide unprecedented resolution of early events leading to kidney cancer initiation and will determine whether hypoxic stress is mutagenic and cancer-promoting. Further, this project will pursue the novel idea that cells can be tracked and possibly arrested before cancer initiation.

Mots-clés : kidney,dna repair,metabolism,nutrition,genetic diseases,hypoxia,vhl,oncometabolites,
Projet ERC : BEFOREtheFLOOD (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Université de Haïfa — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498938.0 €

Coastal societies hold a vital place in Mediterranean history; many of their earliest trajectories, however, are archaeologically obscure due to a rise in sea levels since the last Ice Age. BEFOREtheFLOOD is based on an observation that before it was inundated, the Mediterranean littoral was extremely dynamic (e.g., formation/retreat of marshes, increased soil salinity, rapidly rising sea levels), necessitating constant reactions by its inhabitants. This project aims to study how Neolithic coastal societies in the Eastern Mediterranean pioneered cultural responses to environmental changes, and how these enabled the development of Mediterranean complex societies. The earliest known Mediterranean coastal settlements and their paleo-landscapes, now situated offshore along the Carmel Coast, Israel, will be studied by drilling sediment cores and through underwater excavations, followed by microscopic and chemical analysis in the laboratory that will integrate geoarchaeology, bioarchaeology and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. The project?s novelty lies in its approach, which will generate a high-resolution diachronic model of how hyper-localised environmental dynamics are directly related to archaeological evidence of adaptive solutions. The project will test how Neolithic coastal communities constantly readapted to dynamic environmental processes over time by modifying their environment, and developing new technologies and social interactions (i.e., negotiations with inland farmers) that fostered the establishment of a unique Mediterranean coastal society. BEFOREtheFLOOD will elucidate an important and as-yet unread chapter of a world now lost beneath the sea; one that will help to rewrite the early story of the Eastern Mediterranean coast as the springboard for innovation, adaptation, and connectivity that set the scene for the development of later Mediterranean complex societies.

Mots-clés : geoarchaeology neolithic southern levant human environment relations
Projet ERC : NASCENT (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials Engineering
Entité participante : Institute of Photonic Sciences — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ICFO
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1944060.0 €

The transformation of CO2 into fuels and chemicals is one promising route to revert global warming, enabling sustainable circular economies. CO2 electroreduction (CO2E) offers a pathway to generate globally used chemicals using renewable electricity. The performance of CO2E towards key chemicals such as ethylene, ethanol (C2) and higher energy-density molecules increasing number of carbon atoms (e.g. C3 and beyond) is today far from its technoeconomic viability. Product selectivity, energy efficiency, stability, and carbon utilization are, when combined at scale, insufficient.  Further advances in CO2R performance are precluded by the yet limited understanding of reaction pathways, mass-transport and reactant competition; the scarce knowledge of the catalyst and its environment during reaction; and the lack of ability to control these, accurately, at the catalyst metal/liquid interface.  NASCENT tackles these challenges exploring an innovative catalyst design materials platform to address the catalyst interface through the atomic-, nano-, and micro-scales. NASCENT exploits a family of metal and polymer precursors and engineers their assembly into metal/polymer interfaces with specific configurations tailored for CO2E. This is informed by a suite of complementary operando spectroscopies, designed and orchestrated to resolve the unanswered questions of CO2E interfaces at relevant operating conditions: Involving high current density, abrupt potentials, and a highly dynamic water/ion environment. This will enable the rational design of metal/polymer CO2E interfaces that achieve, and exploit, control over composition, reactants, ion, charges, and electric fields, across the needed spatial and temporal scales. NASCENT will help answer key fundamental questions in CO2E leading to transformative advances: Its ultimate goal is the viable, clean electrosynthesis of most important C2 chemicals and a path to generate so far elusive C3+ molecules efficiently.

Mots-clés : co2 electroreduction,solution processed materials
Projet ERC : CIRCE (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe Sciences
Entité participante : Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Inria
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 972875.0 €

Modeling magnetic field generation by dynamo instability in stellar objects is a long-standing challenge with far-reaching implications for stellar evolution theory. Underlying motivations are exemplified by the need to understand stellar spin-down and accretion rates in protostellar discs, which are known to be dynamically impacted by magnetic fields. The interest sparked by recurring discrepancies between predictive evolution models and rapidly-progressing observations drives the current research into the characterization of dynamo mechanisms in stellar objects. This important challenge cannot be solved analytically due to the strong nonlinearities of the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations. Solving it therefore requires the development of innovative numerical approaches. In many astrophysical flows, infinitesimal magnetic seeds cannot be amplified by the flow, whereas finite-amplitude magnetic seeds with a favourable spatial structure can drive, through the Lorentz force nonlinear feedback, the very flow motions on which they subsequently feed by subcritical dynamo instability. This situation is particularly relevant for radiative stellar layers or for the innermost regions of protostellar discs, where the history of perturbations can thus define the magnetic fate of the object. Yet, classical stability methods fail to systematically characterize subcritical dynamo solutions and identify their critical dynamo seeds. The CIRCE project will tackle this theoretical obstacle by developing the recent mathematical tools of nonlinear stability analysis, based on adjoint-based optimal control, for MHD flows. The aim of CIRCE is to identify the least-energy perturbations that can trigger subcritical dynamos and transition to MHD turbulence in models of (a) radiative zones and (b) protostellar discs, and to predict how the resulting transitions determine rotational dynamics and accretion rates.

Mots-clés : dynamo theory,nonlinear stability,optimal control,stellar mhd flows,turbulent transport,rotational dynamics
Projet ERC : PhotoSwim (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials Engineering
Entité participante : Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ICIQ
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

The realization of smart nanoswimmers capable of moving and performing desired tasks in an aqueous environment is a technological challenge due to the viscous and thermal forces exerted upon them. While various types of external stimulus can be used to activate their autonomous motion, light is the easiest to operate and most flexible, due to the opportunities that it offers for motion modulation through intensity, wavelength, and direction. However, such optical control is affected by the properties of the aqueous media, limiting the applicability of light-driven nanoswimmers to non-scattering environments. The novel approach of this project (PhotoSwim) is the design of hybrid nanoswimmers that consist not only of photocatalytic but also persistent luminescent materials in order to provide triple light-responsive, light-storage, and light-emissive properties at the material level. This project will explore the potential of these innovative photoactivated swimmers to: (1) store and emit sufficient light energy to maintain motion in the absence of external irradiation, (2) exhibit long-term luminescence for tracking purposes, (3) move and interact with their surroundings at high speeds due to efficient charge pair separation and (4) achieve a major control over their motion by wavelength tunability. The knowledge obtained will then be used to expand the applicability of these hybrid nanoswimmers in scenarios of limited light penetrability. Specifically, their capabilities to maintain their photoactivity in the presence of chemical and biological interferences, along with real-time monitoring of their location by the emitted luminescence, will be tested. In this way, the potential of advanced multi-functioning nanoswimmers to keep moving and interacting with the surroundings in scenarios where the light supply is not fully available will be demonstrated.

Mots-clés : micro nanoswimmers,persistent luminescence,heterostructures,photocatalysis
Projet ERC : ReSCALE (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer Science and Informatics
Entité participante : Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Inria
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1488988.0 €

Symmetric cryptography is finding new uses because of the emergence of novel and more complex (e.g. distributed) computing environments.  These are based on sophisticated zero-knowledge and Multi-Party Computation (MPC) protocols, and they aim to provide strong security guarantees of types that were unthinkable before. In particular, they make it theoretically possible to prove that a computation was done as claimed by those performing it without revealing its inputs or outputs. This would make it possible e.g. for e-governance algorithms to prove that they are run honestly; and overall would increase the trust we can have in various automated processes.  The security techniques providing these guarantees are sequences of operations in a large finite field GF(q), where typically q>2^64. However, these procedures also rely on hash functions and other "symmetric" cryptographic algorithms that are defined over GF(2}={0,1}. But encoding GF(2) operations using GF(q) operations is very costly: relying on standard hash functions leads to significant performance overhead, to the point were the protocols mentioned before are unusable in practice.  In order to alleviate this bottleneck, it is necessary to devise symmetric algorithms that are natively described in GF(q). This change requires great care: some hash functions described in GF(q) have already been presented, and subsequently exhibited significant flaws. The inherent structural differences between GF(2) and GF(q) are the cause behind these problems: our understanding of the construction of symmetric primitives in GF(2) does not carry over to GF(q).  With this project, I will bring symmetric cryptography into GF(q) in a safe and efficient way. To this end, I will rebuild the analysis tools and methods that are used both by designers and attackers. This project will naturally lead to the design of new algorithms whose adoption will be simplified by the efficient and easy-to-use software libraries we will provide.

Mots-clés : symmetric cryptography,zero knowledge protocols,arithmetization friendly,hash function,cryptanalysis
Projet ERC : MAGNIFY (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Sorbonne Université — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Sorbonne U
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1340375.0 €

Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are porous materials with many societally relevant potential applications, such as carbon capture, removal of environmental toxins and drug-delivery. Despite the progress in the field, synthesizing a MOF currently requires tens to hundreds costly and time-consuming trial-and-error synthesis experiments because our ability to correlate the synthesis conditions with the desired MOF structure is very limited. To overcome this, we need to decode the mechanisms underlying MOF self-assembly, a highly complex non-equilibrium process covering a wide range of time- and length-scales, from the formation of the building units to nucleation and growth. In MAGNIFY, my team and I will develop a multi-scale computational methodology that will decode the mechanisms underlying MOF self-assembly and predict synthesis conditions-structure relationships. This ambitious interdisciplinary project combines state-of-the-art multi-scale modelling techniques (enhanced sampling techniques, ab initio, atomistic and coarse-graining modelling), with machine-learning approaches to data analysis (dimensionality reduction and data clustering techniques) trained on new chemical descriptors. We will develop and validate our models in tandem with synthesis experiments. We will test our methodology by applying it to two central problems in MOF rational design: (i) determining how synthesis conditions (temperature, solvent, reactants, metal-to-ligand ratio, additives) drive the resulting MOF material's topology and point defects, as well as to (ii) tackling the very challenging task of predicting the synthesis conditions for producing brand new MOFs. This high-risk high-gain project will produce a breakthrough in the MOF field by enabling fast and resource-efficient MOF rational design and will open new research avenues in investigating the self-assembly of other materials and other complex processes happening through a large span of time- and length-scales.

Mots-clés : multi scale modelling,enhanced sampling,self assembly,molecular dynamics,machine learning,coarse graining,metal organic frameworks,experiment modelling synergy,nucleation and growth,mechanisms,synthesis conditions structure relationships,rational design,synthesis of metal organic frameworks,crystal growth,in situ and ex situ characterisation
Projet ERC : OMEGA (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Université Louis-et-Maximilien de Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : LMU
Type d'entité : Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 380113.0 €

Progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a debilitating and incurable disease. Scaring of the lung leads to respiratory failure and 50% of patients die 3-5 years after diagnosis. Our understanding of the pathophysiology of PF is unfortunately limited to established and advanced stages when the extensive lung scaring is irreversible. OMEGA is designed to explore new mechanisms underlying PF progression, from early to advanced disease and propose therapies that timely target the disease, prior to becoming permanent. Two lines of evidence are at the core of OMEGA. First, I was among the first to show that circulating monocytes are strongly linked to PF pathology. Which subtypes are important and what roles they play in PF etiology, however, is still unknown. Second, interstitial lung abnormalities or ILA are the only detectable features characterizing earlier stages of PF and can be identified in people without clinical suspicion of disease. Studying ILA provides the unique opportunity to identify early targets that would prevent progression to PF. OMEGA will first provide a detailed phenotype definition of human monocyte subtypes from early to advanced PF. Second, it will probe mechanistically how and where the monocytes acquire a pathogenic phenotype as they journey from the bone marrow to the blood and differentiate in the fibrotic lung. I will use human and mouse material and state-of-the-art methodology to answer these questions. My current standing ensures direct and ample access to patient samples, clinical data, multi-disciplinary interactions, and a team of consultants/collaborators that will make possible identifying how monocytes and their progenitors are involved in the progression of PF, and what pathways we can target, as early as disease starts, and as early as monocytes egress the bone marrow, to end the progression of this deadly disease.

Mots-clés : pulmonary fibrosis monocytes lung