Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : STOIKOS (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : CERCA Institution — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CERCA;I-CERCA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1405394.0 €

Life on Earth, as we have known it for millennia, is at stake. Human activities are putting all kinds of ecosystems under increased stress because of land-use change and the alteration of the biogeochemical cycles of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and carbon (C), thus inducing climate warming. Functionally diverse ecosystems are more productive and stable than less diverse ones, and biogeochemical changes affect both biodiversity and the elemental composition of organisms (their elementome), changing how they and their ecosystems function. It is, therefore, imperative to provide evidence about how the interactions between elementomes, biodiversity, and climate drive ecosystem functioning if we are to avoid the serious threat of reducing essential resources for life within the context of global change. STOIKOS will achieve an in-depth understanding of the interaction between elementomes and biodiversity in determining ecosystem functioning by introducing the concept of elemental diversity, and moving functional ecology from using functional traits to elementomes, an easy and universal way to compare all sort of organisms. STOIKOS will particularly test the hypothesis that community-weighted elementomes and elemental diversity explain ecosystem functioning better than functional traits and their diversity. STOIKOS will integrate data from observations (field campaigns), long-term monitoring sites, microcosm experiments and theoretical modelling to provide synergies amongst their outputs to build the foundations of an elemental-based ecology. This will allow STOIKOS’ hypotheses to be tested at the individual, species and community/ecosystem scales using new and game-changing methodologies and study systems. The cutting-edge science of STOIKOS will not only provide the foundations of an elemental-based ecology, but will also deliver new ecological theory and methodological tools that will help us predict the future of ecosystems and assess the fragility of our biosphere.

Mots-clés : macronutrients,trace elements,competition,niche partitioning,ecosystem functioning
Projet ERC : STEP-RL (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer Science and Informatics
Entité participante : Fondazione Bruno Kessler — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : FBK
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1493750.0 €

Planning - devising a strategy to achieve a desired objective - is one of the basic forms of intelligence. Temporal planning studies the automated synthesis of strategies when time and temporal constraints matter. Temporal planning is one of the most strategic fields of Artificial Intelligence, with applications in autonomous robotics, logistics, flexible production, and many other fields.  Historically, the research on temporal planning follows a general-purpose framework: a generic engine searches for the strategy by reasoning on the problem statement (i.e. the starting condition and the desired objective), as well as on a formal model of the domain (i.e. the possible actions). Despite substantial progress in the recent years, domain-independent temporal planning still suffers from scalability issues, and fails to deal with real-word problems. The alternative is to devise ad-hoc, domain-specific solutions that, although efficient, are costly to develop, rigid to maintain, and often inapplicable in non-nominal situations.  STEP-RL will study the foundations of a new approach to Temporal Planning, that is domain-independent and efficient at the same time. The idea is to adopt a framework based on Reinforcement Learning, where a domain-independent temporal planner is specialized with respect to the domain at hand. STEP-RL continuously improves its ability to solve temporal planning problems by learning from experience, thus becoming increasingly efficient by means of self-adaptation.  STEP-RL will advance the state of the art in temporal planning beyond the "efficiency vs flexibility" dilemma, that I had to personally face in the many industrial projects I worked on.

Mots-clés : automated planning,planning and scheduling,automated decision making
Projet ERC : EDDYNCHOICE (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Université Toulouse Capitole — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : UT1
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 437500.0 €

The diversity of educational opportunities has the potential to improve the situation of everyone by providing an environment, adapted to the needs and goals of all. Letting parents or students choose their trajectory can improve welfare as it allows them to sort into the right program, using their private information on comparative advantages and preferences. However, personal choices are not necessarily in line with society’s objectives because of externalities. Apart from financial externalities that are inevitable in subsidized educational systems, peer effects are crucial in this context as the student composition of an educational program affects its quality. Furthermore, from an individual perspective, the right choice is difficult to make, and behavioral biases (or “internalities”) are common. As a result, such choices are often restricted. Targeted vouchers open up spots for some groups of children at the cost of others, grading standards prevent students from attending certain tracks or courses in high school, and college admissions prevent completely free access. However, there is little guidance for policymakers in knowing and realizing the optimal size and composition of different options. What is the right balance between choice, ability and diversity requirements in school choice and tracking? Are seats in college programs optimally provided according to society’s needs? How to incentivize students to align their choices with a societal optimum? This project aims to develop a methodology to empirically analyze the optimal provision of choice using novel dynamic discrete choice models that take into account externalities and internalities. The objective is to apply this methodology to rich micro-data from the three main levels of education: school competition in primary education, tracking in secondary education, and admission and graduation in college.

Mots-clés : education economics,labor economics,structural modeling,dynamic discrete choice,peer effects,school matching,early tracking,production function
Projet ERC : JAM2PRINT (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials 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 : 1867500.0 €

Many of nature’s materials have exceptional properties because their structural organization resulted from the on-demand processing of compartmentalized materials. I want to translate this principle to extrusion-based 3D printing (EBP). EBP is a booming fabrication approach in tissue engineering, as it provides control over material deposition in the submillimetre range in a cost-effective manner. However, due to the many requirements for printable (bio)materials (called inks), only a limited number of chemistries can be effectively used, and typically homogeneous network compositions are obtained even though biomedical and other applications require highly controlled inhomogeneities. Approaches providing high control over local material structure and composition are lacking.  To provide a solution, I will develop a new class of microgel-based materials that jam due to the on-demand induced microgel swelling and undergo secondary crosslinking, both in the flow, resulting in a one-step printing of stable heterogeneous scaffolds with locally varying properties and compositions, relevant for mimicking real tissues. Importantly, the approach eliminates jamming steps before printing, yields unprecedented control over local material composition and structure in the flow, down to the sub-micrometre range, and does not require post-printing crosslinking steps to stabilize the printed structures.  Inspired by nature’s compartmentalized materials and supported by preliminary measurements, my microgels will serve not just as pre-defined building blocks but also as material reservoirs during printing. The approach will be generalizable to different material systems and chemistries and, as such, holds great promise for a new generation of hydrogels and advanced inks with structural and functional properties precisely controlled during and via the printing process. This will impact fields from tissue engineering to soft robotics, agriculture, food and cosmetics.

Mots-clés : bioprinting,extrusion,microgels,jamming,scaffolds,stiffness,structural heterogeneity,shear,tumour
Projet ERC : MyTissue (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Immunity, Infection and I mmunotherapy
Entité participante : Institut de recherche en biomédecine — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IRB
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499500.0 €

Myeloid cells, such as dendritic cells (DCs) and neutrophils, reside in various organs to respond to insults and are key to control immunity and inflammation. However, their aberrant activities in the elderly can cause immunosenecence and inflammaging. Different tissues comprise highly distinct milieus that impose context-dependent biochemical challenges on their resident cells, which further change when tissues age. Yet, it is not known how DCs and neutrophils survive in their different homing organs and maintain their functionality. I hypothesize that DCs and neutrophils have to adjust their metabolism to the distinct environments of their tissues of residence. This is important, because metabolic changes upon stimulation were shown to affect the functions of those cells in vitro. Given their power to orchestrate immune responses, it is now vital to reveal the precise metabolic adaptions of DCs and neutrophils to their distinct homing organs and to determine how that affects their activities. This pioneering knowledge will expose organ-dependent metabolic vulnerabilities of DCs and neutrophils to uphold their homeostatic and immune functions, which I envisage to cause their dysfunction in aging. I will uncover the metabolic adaptions of DCs and neutrophils to >10 healthy and aged tissues using independent innovative approaches and adapted cutting-edge techniques. I will reveal the relevance of such tissue-dependent metabolic adjustments for their presence and functions in organs, and dissect the underlying molecular mechanisms. I will expose the tissue-specificity of DC and neutrophil dysfunction in aging and the role of their metabolism. The discovery of tissue-dependent metabolic adaptions by DCs and neutrophils that impact their functions will transform translational immunology research to integrate the tissue-context and reveal novel organ-specific therapeutic strategies to combat immune dysfunction in aging and beyond.

Mots-clés : tissue context,dendritic cells,neutrophils,metabolism
Projet ERC : ARCVIR (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: B iological  Mechanisms , Structures  and Functions
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 €

Archaea are ubiquitous microorganisms that are found in numerous surroundings ranging from extreme environments to the ocean and the human gut and skin. Marine archaea have a huge impact on biogeochemical cycles and the climate, while archaea in the gut influence the human microbiome and health. Archaea can be infected by unusual viruses that are structurally very diverse and have unique infection mechanisms. As viruses are the major predator of archaea, they shape archaeal communities. This project will visualize the mechanisms that viruses use to fight each other to gain access to host cells. This knowledge of viral mechanisms can, for example, be applied to control archaeal populations to increase human gut health or to reduce the production of the harmful greenhouse gas methane by gut archaea of ruminants. Viruses by far outnumber cells and there is an ongoing arms race for survival. Recently, it was observed that in nature half of the microbial cells are infected by viruses at any given time, and this number is even higher for archaea. Thus, viruses often encounter cells that are already infected. Yet, it is unknown what happens in cells when a second virus infects them and how certain viruses are able to inhibit infection by a subsequent virus. With the exception of some well-studied bacteriophages, the molecular mechanisms underlying this process are poorly understood. My project aims to explore the conditions under which exclusion between viruses is induced and which mechanisms underlie this exclusion. I will study this process using viruses from extreme environments (e.g. salt lakes and hot springs) and use novel molecular biology and imaging tools for these models, which allow for the exploration of archaeal viral biology at an unprecedented depth. The outcome will be of lasting impact in the field of microbial virology, and application of this knowledge will enable innovations that stimulate human health, fight global warming and fuel biotechnology.

Mots-clés : archaea,archaeal virus,viral entry,pilus,archaellum,archaeal cell surface,superinfection exclusion,microbial virus
Projet ERC : NOBIAS (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : Biopixs limited — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : BIOPIXS
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 381296.3 €

During COVID-19, skin color bias in Optical Biomarkers Sensing (OBS) devices (e.g., pulse oximeter) was suspected to have contributed to the loss of lives in darkly pigmented people. The Continuous Wave (CW) technology used in these devices is limited in accuracy and results are biased by skin color and light scattering in tissue. NOBIAS aims to break through frontiers to create foundational multilayer fast Time Domain Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy (TDDOS) to eliminate color bias and inaccuracy shortcomings of current CW technology and revolutionize the future of bias-free, accurate optical biomarker sensing. To achieve this ambition, NOBIAS will create a multilayer TDDOS dynamic skin tissue model based on Monte Carlo to investigate the effect of skin type and anatomy on color bias, to optimize the concept, device and probe design to compensate and eliminate color bias and inaccuracies (WP1, Obj.1). 2 groundbreaking approaches (i) intermediate hybrid CW-TDDOS fusion approach (phase 1) is envisioned to compensate for skin color bias, followed by (ii) an ambitious new frontier fast TDDOS approach (phase 2) to eliminate color bias (WP2, Obj.2) and provide faster (100-250X), real time measurements at wearable footprint (100X). A first-of-a-kind compensation algorithm based on real-time instrument response function (IRF), and phantom arm aims to deliver groundbreaking accuracy (14X) (WP3, Obj.3). Early benchtop testing and feedback across work packages will mitigate risks of ambitious objectives. NOBIAS paradigm device/algorithm will be validated on tissue-mimicking phantoms and bias-free sensing will be demonstrated on blood biomarkers (haemoglobin (Hb, HbO), oxygen saturation (StO2, SpO2)) sensing at wrist location on healthy i) adults ii) infants (WP4, Obj.4). NOBIAS breakthrough lays the foundation for the world’s first bias-free and accurate OBS devices and sets its legacy to be the gold standard for bias-free clinical and personal biomarkers sensing applications

Mots-clés : time domain diffuse optical spectroscopy,near infrared spectroscopy,tissue optics,biomedical optics,biophotonics
Projet ERC : FORAGINGCORTEX (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Entité participante : Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Inserm
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1652950.0 €

Being able to make adaptive decisions and follow through is crucial for animals and humans alike. While some simplifications of real life environments are necessary for laboratory settings, past studies have often removed essential complexity. Specifically, a common reductionist approach toward decision making focuses exclusively on a neuro-economic framing. However, this neglects that in the real world, behaviour is often a sequence of choices, requiring planning and sustained motivation to reach our goals. Only by examining cognition and behaviour embedded in these sequences can we gain a full understanding of prefrontal cortex function in general and its cognitive, computational and neural role in sequential behaviours in particular. To answer this challenge, over the last couple of years, I have been at the forefront of developing a new neuro-ethological approach enabled by advances in computational modeling, experimental designs, brain recording annd stimulation techniques. In the proposal, I have identified key cognitive processes linked to challenges the prefrontal cortex has evolved to solve. For prefrontal cortex, this means sequential and selfdetermined behaviours. To make the complexity tractable, I take inspiration from multiple disciplines including ecology, biology, psychology and neuroscience. This way, I can identify the essential elements for achieving adaptive complex behaviour as a response to real-life challenges and build unifying computational models around those processes.

Mots-clés : motivation,neural basis of decision making,anterior cingulate cortex,orbitofrontal corteex
Projet ERC : D-MAP (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Immunity, Infection and I mmunotherapy
Entité participante : Sanquin — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 112500.0 €

Numerous mucosal vaccines and IgA-based monoclonal antibodies aimed at a robust immunity within the respiratory tract are in development to combat viral endemics and pandemics. However, investigations into humoral immunity have predominantly focused on circulating antibodies, particularly those of the IgG isotype. This has left a significant void in our understanding of the role of mucosal IgA proteoforms in conveying effective immune protection. This crucial knowledge gap deprives vaccine and antibody development of crucial determinants or immune characteristics to replicate.  In response to this, we will conduct in-depth investigations of mucosal IgA including in vitro and in vivo functional evaluations. We will capitalize on recent advances in liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry-based approaches for the detailed characterization of mucosal IgA clonal repertoires and glycosylation profiles, a field that has remained completely unexplored until now, B-cell receptor sequencing, monoclonal IgA glycoengineering and in vitro functional assays. We will take advantage of our unparalleled biobank of human nasal secretion samples with clear documentations of infection outcomes on an individual level. What sets our approach apart is thereby the unprecedented molecular-level characterization of IgA, directly linked to their in vitro functionality and pre-defined clinical outcomes, which clearly surpasses current state-of-the-art.  By harnessing our in-depth characterization of mucosal IgA coupled to functional traits, we will generate IgA templates with enhanced binding and neutralization capabilities as well as functionally advantageous Fc effector potencies. Our overarching aim is to provide molecular-level blueprints for protective monoclonal IgA-antibodies, enabling the fine-tuning of vaccine formulations and monoclonal antibody generation with a higher degree of accuracy, ultimately enhancing their efficacy and safety.

Mots-clés : mucosal immunity,iga clonal repertoire,iga glycosylation
Projet ERC : Privacy4FMs (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer Science and Informatics
Entité participante : Helmholtz Center for Information Security — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CISPA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499973.0 €

Novel foundation models (FMs) like GPT, LLaMA, and Stable Diffusion are achieving exceptional performance across diverse tasks, generating high-quality text, images, and audio, and driving industry innovations. This progress stems from a shift in machine learning paradigm: instead of training task-specific models on curated datasets, FMs are first pretrained on vast, uncurated data to become strong general-purpose models, then adapted on smaller, domain-specific datasets for specific tasks.  However, FMs leak information from their training data. For example, recent studies reveal that they can re-create individual data points from their pretraining and adaptation datasets. This poses serious privacy risks when private data is involved. Preventing exposure requires developing methods to ensure privacy-preservation throughout FMs' lifecycle, from pretraining to deployment. To achieve this, our project will identify sources of privacy leakage, provide privacy guarantees over both pretraining and adaptation, and audit FMs to detect privacy violations. Therefore, we must overcome three major challenges: the limited understanding of privacy risks in FM pretraining, the lack of formal joint privacy guarantees for pretraining and adaptation, and the ineffectiveness of current privacy auditing methods.  The solution that we propose will establish a novel theoretical framework for privacy guarantees in FMs under the pretrain-adapt paradigm. Our fundamental innovations rely on the insight that, due to complex interdependencies between pretraining and adaptation data, different data points require individual levels of protection to prevent leakage. Advancing methods for identifying, achieving, and accounting for such individual guarantees will enable us to formally bound privacy leakage over both training stages and to detect violations. These innovations will allow society to benefit from technological advancements through FMs without compromising individuals' privacy.

Mots-clés : privacy,differential privacy,foundation models,privacy auditing