Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : IPV_Tanzania (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Social World and Its Diversity
Entité participante : Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology — Pays : Tanzanie — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : COSTECH
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 401825.99 €

This study proposes a major advance in research on intimate partner violence (IPV), a prominent public health and human rights issue. Worldwide, it is estimated that one in three women experience physical and/or sexual violence by a partner in their lifetime, with even higher rates reported in sub-Saharan Africa (WHO 2013). Cross-sectional surveys have documented the adverse health impacts of IPV and the factors that increase risk of female victimisation and male perpetration. Nonetheless, theoretical and programmatic development has stalled due to lack of clarity on the temporality of identified associations: do documented associations represent risk factors for violence or do they reflect the consequences of abuse? This deficit of understanding is especially pressing in low and middle income countries (LMICs) where few longitudinal cohort studies with IPV as an outcome exist. This study seeks to address this gap by following forward in time a cohort of 1200 Tanzanian women, using state of the art methods to measure violence, encourage disclosure and ensure participant safety. Both quantitative and qualitative data will be collected at 4 discrete time points over 5 years, making this the largest longitudinal study of IPV ever undertaken in the developing world. In addition, an in-depth study of 40 men and a cross-sectional survey of 600 men will be conducted. The goal of the research is to advance our understanding of the predictors and consequences of IPV to better inform the design of interventions to reduce violence in LMICs. Specifically the study aims to: 1) advance the theoretical frameworks of intimate partner violence; 2) investigate the temporality of key factors linked to IPV; 3) map the dynamics of partner violence over time; 4) and investigate pathways leading to intimate partner violence. This research is of immediate necessity to address a vital public health challenge of our time and has the strong potential to have a long lasting impact on shaping the research agenda on intimate partner violence.

Mots-clés : violence against women
Projet ERC : GENOMIA (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : University of Antwerp — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UAntwerp
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1987860.0 €

Thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection (TAAD) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the western world. As 20% of all affected individuals have a positive family history, the genetic contribution to the development of TAAD is significant. Over the last decade dozens of genes were identified underlying syndromic and non-syndromic forms of TAAD. Although mutations in these disease culprits do not yet explain all cases, their identification and functional characterization were essential in deciphering three key aortic aneurysm/dissection patho-mechanisms: disturbed extracellular matrix homeostasis, dysregulated TGFbeta signaling and altered aortic smooth muscle cell contractility. Owing to the recent advent of next-generation sequencing technologies, I anticipate that the identification of additional genetic TAAD causes will remain quite straightforward in the coming years. Importantly, in many syndromic and non-syndromic families, significant non-penetrance and both inter- and intra-familial clinical variation are observed. So, although the primary genetic underlying mutation is identical in all these family members, the clinical spectrum varies widely from completely asymptomatic to sudden death due to aortic dissection at young age. The precise mechanisms underlying this variability remain largely elusive. Consequently, a better understanding of the functional effects of the primary mutation is highly needed and the identification of genetic variation that modifies these effects is becoming increasingly important. In this project, I carefully selected four different innovative strategies to discover mother nature’s own modifying capabilities in human and mouse aortopathy. The identification of these genetic modifiers will advance the knowledge significantly beyond the current understanding, individualize current treatment protocols to deliver true precision medicine and offer promising new leads to novel therapeutic strategies.

Mots-clés : modifier,thoracic aortic aneurysm,dissection
Projet ERC : ROSA (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Social World and Its Diversity
Entité participante : University of Zurich — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : UZH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 391214.8 €

Those who question or do not conform to dominant local religious tradition(s) and/or religion as such have, of course, faced serious problems and difficulties in a number of different historical periods and locations. This project examines the forms in which individuals and communities raise, in the open or in more hidden transcripts, questions over the dominant religious norms in South Asia. This project is also interested in how such people are being targeted as distinct minorities by various religious and political groups. However, the effects of these encounters extend beyond this region: a significant number of community members now seek asylum in European countries. In consequence, these countries are now debating whether, or to what extent, varieties of religious non-conformism can be legitimate reasons for granting asylum. While much recent academic work has focused on religious revivalism and reformist movements, critical engagement and sceptical attitudes towards dominant religious norms in South Asia are so far under-researched. A key aim of this study is to correct this absence and thereby to transform our understanding of the kinds of positions, individuals and communities that flourish but also, and critically, face challenges and provoke social contentions in South Asia. It will provide three national ‘deep contextualisations’ of debates and criticism faced by secularists and religious sceptics in South Asia, asking: What are the specific circumstances in which criticism targeting these communities and positions evolve? This study also investigates the assumptions that inform European countries’ responses to cases in which asylum is sought on the basis of claimants’ religious nonconformism, and also those informing advocacy work performed by global secular networks on their behalf. Thus, while this project is ethnographically grounded in South Asia, it also extends beyond this region to examine global implications of critical debates and actions that are taking place there.
Projet ERC : ROSA (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Social World and Its Diversity
Entité participante : University of Edinburgh — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 101650.29 €

Those who question or do not conform to dominant local religious tradition(s) and/or religion as such have, of course, faced serious problems and difficulties in a number of different historical periods and locations. This project examines the forms in which individuals and communities raise, in the open or in more hidden transcripts, questions over the dominant religious norms in South Asia. This project is also interested in how such people are being targeted as distinct minorities by various religious and political groups. However, the effects of these encounters extend beyond this region: a significant number of community members now seek asylum in European countries. In consequence, these countries are now debating whether, or to what extent, varieties of religious non-conformism can be legitimate reasons for granting asylum. While much recent academic work has focused on religious revivalism and reformist movements, critical engagement and sceptical attitudes towards dominant religious norms in South Asia are so far under-researched. A key aim of this study is to correct this absence and thereby to transform our understanding of the kinds of positions, individuals and communities that flourish but also, and critically, face challenges and provoke social contentions in South Asia. It will provide three national ‘deep contextualisations’ of debates and criticism faced by secularists and religious sceptics in South Asia, asking: What are the specific circumstances in which criticism targeting these communities and positions evolve? This study also investigates the assumptions that inform European countries’ responses to cases in which asylum is sought on the basis of claimants’ religious nonconformism, and also those informing advocacy work performed by global secular networks on their behalf. Thus, while this project is ethnographically grounded in South Asia, it also extends beyond this region to examine global implications of critical debates and actions that are taking place there.
Projet ERC : PLEIO-RANK (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Spanish National Cancer Research Centre — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNIO
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1164268.13 €

Thousands of cancer patients worldwide are taking RANKL inhibitors for the management of bone metastasis, based on the key role of RANKL and its receptor, RANK, in osteoclasts. RANK signaling has multiple divergent effects in immunity and inflammation, both in the generation of active immune responses, as well as in the induction of tolerance. We showed that RANK overexpression induces stemness and interferes with differentiation in non transformed mammary epithelial cells and promotes mammary tumorigenesis, acting as a paracrine mediator of progesterone. However, the therapeutic potential of inhibiting RANK signaling once tumors develop and its effects on tumor immunity remain unexplored. Our proposal tackles novel concepts: Is RANK a better therapeutic target than RANKL? Does RANK induce "stemness" in other epithelia and solid tumors and how? Does RANK regulate the tumor-immune cell crosstalk? Would inhibition of RANK signaling in tumor and immune cells result in synergistic or opposing effects on tumor outcome? We hypotesize that RANK activation in solid tumors expands the cancer stem cells pool and induces an immnunosuppressive environment leading to tumor recurrence and metastasis. In PLEIO-RANK we aim to: 1. Define the contribution of RANK to the epithelial hierarchy in mammary, skin and colon, during homeostasis and tumorigenesis, undertaking lineage tracing approaches. 2. Dissect the impact of RANK loss in the epithelial or the immune compartment in tumor outcome, exploiting tissue inducible models, in breast cancer and solid tumors driven by chronic inflammation. 3. Validate the clinical implications of our findings using patient derived xenografts and human tumor samples. Based on the results of our proposal RANK inhibition could become a unique targeted therapy able to reduce metastasis and mortality in solid tumors for its pleiotropic antitumor effects in cancer stem cells, immune cells and their crosstalk.

Mots-clés : mammary gland development,breast cancer,tumor immunology,rank,therapy,cancer stem cells
Projet ERC : DOUBLE-TROUBLE (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Entité participante : Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : VIB
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2500000.0 €

Thousands of species are polyploid. However, the long-term establishment of organisms that have undergone ancient whole genome duplications (WGDs) has been exceedingly rare and when we analyse the genomes of plants and animals, we can, at most, find evidence for a very limited number of WGDs that survived on the longer term. The paucity of (established) ancient genome duplications and the existence of so many species that are currently polyploid provides a fascinating paradox. There is growing evidence that the majority of ancient WGDs were established at specific times in evolution, for instance during periods of environmental change and periods of mass-extinction. The reason for this ‘stress’-polyploidy relationship has been the subject of considerable speculation and several hypotheses have been put forward to explain this observation: (a) stressful conditions promote polyploid formation; (b) polyploidisation causes a niche shift allowing polyploids to grow in conditions that are unsuitable for their non-polyploid ancestors; and (c) polyploids have an increased evolvability and consequently adapt faster to a changing environment. Here, we want to unravel the mechanistic underpinnings of why and how polyploids can outcompete non-polyploids. We will address these questions by replaying the ‘genome duplication tape of life’ in two different model systems, namely Chlamydomonas and Spirodela. We will run long-term evolutionary (and resequencing) experiments. We will complement these experiments with in-silico experiments based on so-called digital organisms running on artificial genomes. Complementary modelling approaches will also be employed to study the effects of polyploidy from an eco-evolutionary dynamics perspective. By integrating the results obtained from these in vivo and in silico experiments, we will obtain important novel insights in the adaptive potential of polyploids under stressful conditions or during times of environmental and/or climate change.

Mots-clés : polyploidy,whole genome duplication,evolutionary experiments,ngs sequencing,artificial evolution
Projet ERC : 3DNANOMAG (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : TU Wien — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TUW
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1828558.19 €

Three-dimensional (3D) nanomagnets, with unconventional spin and topological properties, are very promising systems for the future development of greener, more capable, multi-functional technologies. However, the significant experimental challenges associated with the fabrication and probing of 3D nanoscale geometries and spin configurations, have restricted most studies to date in this field, to either computational and theoretical works, or experiments in simple 3D geometries that do not fully exploit the potential of moving to three dimensions. Making use of recently-developed 3D nano-printing and magneto-optical tools, the 3DNANOMAG project will carry out first experimental investigations in ultra-advanced nanomagnetic systems with a variety of complex 3D geometries, multi-layered materials and chiral spin configurations. These techniques will be combined with state-of-the-art magnetic microscopy and simulations, in collaboration with worldwide experts. The project will study 3D nanowire conduits, where the magnetic state and propagation properties of domain walls and skyrmionic textures will be tailored via symmetry-breaking nano-curvature effects, leading to ground-breaking investigations in 3D spintronic devices. In addition, new types of topologically non-trivial spin textures and localised magnetic defects will be realised via the pioneering exploitation of 3D geometrical effects in multi-strand nanowires with strong interwire coupling. To carry out the project, 2.6M€ are requested, which will be employed to form a research team working for 60 months, use of microscopy facilities and the purchase of nanofabrication equipment specially designed for the investigation of 3D nanostructures.

Mots-clés : nanotechnology,nanomagnetism,spintronics,magneto optics,3d nanofabrication,electron microscopy,x ray,microscopy
Projet ERC : GEOCOG (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : Max Planck Society — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : MPG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 0.0 €

Through smart technology, we are overwhelmed with new information. Does this unlimited access to knowledge make us smarter? One of the key challenges for modern societies is to understand how the brain assembles our rich inventory of knowledge. Here, I will test the hypothesis that newly acquired knowledge is represented in the hippocampal formation in neural concept spaces, which are based on the coding principles and representational structures of the neural machinery involved in spatial navigation. The key idea is that the brain’s navigation system provides the building blocks of a neural metric for knowledge. In this groundbreaking cognitive neuroscience framework, I will bridge and integrate principles from Nobel Prize awarded neurophysiology and concepts from cognitive science and philosophy. Partly building on my ERC-StG project in which I discovered the core neural mechanisms underlying reconfiguration, integration and scaling of memory networks, the aim of my proposal is two-fold: 1. I seek to decipher neural concept spaces and unravel the neural codes of a cognitive geometry for knowledge and its deformations. 2. I will provide a proof-of-principle framework for next-generation neurocognitive technology and neural user models for cognitive enhancement to edit memories and engineer knowledge. Novel ‘Wikipedia’ learning tasks will be combined with state-of-the-art pattern analyses of space-resolved fMRI and time-resolved MEG to map and quantify representational structures. I will further develop AI-inspired analyses and closed loop brain-computer interfaces to perturb and edit neural concept space. The integrative mission of my program, from cells to systems-level involvement in cognition and to technology, opens up the exciting possibility to lay the ground for redefining cognitive neuroscience of knowledge by unravelling the fundamental neural principles of a cognitive topography and to make critical translations to empower smart brains in a smart society.

Mots-clés : hippocampus,fmri,cognitive neuroscience,entorhinal cortex,space,navigation
Projet ERC : EMPhAsIS (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Collège de France — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 12422.5 €

Throughout history, the Li-ion battery technology has relied on cationic redox reactions as the sole source of energy storage capacity. This is no longer true since 2013, where our group had demonstrated that Li-driven reversible formation of (O2)n peroxo-groups in new layered oxides led to extraordinary increases in energy storage capacity. To fully exploit this discovery we were granted in 2015 an advanced ERC grant entitled "Anionic redox processes: A transformational approach for advanced energy materials (ARPEMA)", the goal being to rationalize the fundamental science underpinning this new concept. This calls for new paradigms in characterization techniques to fully track among others the stability of these new compounds as well as the side reactions that they could generate at both electrodes during cycling together with their transport and kinetic properties. To address this critical need we developed a new design test system which enables for monitoring potential, current, temperature, pressure as well as the nature and composition of the released gases together with the impedance built-up at each electrode. Owing to the relative simplicity, high versatility and great reliability of such a new-patented multi-function testing device we anticipate its rapid implementation to various battery technologies. The goal of this project is to develop a proof of concept prototype and a small series production, as well as performing an extensive market analysis and budgeting suppliers, all for establishing an accurate business proposition. This information will be consolidated in a business plan and will be used in the creation of a company together with potential investors. We believe that this device will enable a rapid development of the next generation of high energy density batteries and consists in a global market commercial opportunity.

Mots-clés : energy storage,battery materials,randd,testing tools,prototype,market analysis,marketing,commercialization
Projet ERC : TIMECODE (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : Hebrew University of Jerusalem — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : HUJI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499875.0 €

Time underlies each and every activity and perception. And yet our knowledge about time perception remains limited. It is hindered by a division between psychological and behavioral findings on the one hand, and neuroscience findings on the other hand. The former rarely address biological constraints, while the latter rarely informs a unified theory for timing. Theories on time perception have centred on the modular nature of time perception. Is time sensed through the operation of central mechanisms serving all sensory and motor systems? Or is time sensed locally, within different sensory and motor systems? TIMECODE entertains a third possibility for time perception in the brain and overcomes the gap between psychological theories and physiological manifestations of time by assuming a hierarchy of time that entails both a local level of analysis and a domain-general level of analysis. I identify three dimensions that need to be investigated in order to substantiate this possibility. First, local representations of time need to be identified within sensory (and motor) systems. Second, network dynamics that support the propagation of such representations need to be investigated. Brain rhythms play an important role in both local and inter-areal computations. Thus, the role of brain rhythms will be assessed for both levels of analysis. Finally, a brain-wide assessment of selectivity to time needs to be explored. TIMECODE investigates the initial local code for time, global code for time, and the inter-areal dynamics between them by combining human physiology (invasive and non-invasive) with illusions of time perception (in behavior). It investigates brain-wide selectivity to time by applying computational tools to intracranial data from human and non-human primates. Combining behavioral, systems neuroscience, and computational tools is imperative in order to offer a far-reaching theory of timing in the brain and allow a leap forward in understanding cognition.