Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : Retina-Seal (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Trinity College — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible central blindness in the world. The number of people with AMD is predicted to be 288 million by 2040, with an estimated 1 in 10 people over the age of 55 already showing early signs of the condition.  At the inner blood retina barrier (iBRB), claudin-5 is the most enriched component of the tight junctions of endothelial cells, regulating the paracellular diffusion of molecules into and out of the retina. As part of the on-going ERC Consolidator grant Retina-Rhythm, we now have a very large body of data suggesting “leaky” or “CLDN-5 depleted” retinal vasculature drives the accumulation of waste material known as drusen, the hallmark diagnostic feature of AMD. Therefore, methods aimed at enhancing CLDN-5 expression can potentially stabilize vascular integrity and prevent the onset of AMD (both dry and wet AMD). Here, we will develop novel adeno-associated viruses (AAV) that will directly regulate the expression of 2 novel target genes and effectively "seal" the blood retina barrier and stabilise disease progression.
Projet ERC : iSPEAK (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Trinity College — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 105740.0 €

Up to one fifth of young people report that they have experienced unusual perceptual experiences, thoughts or beliefs. These experiences (which we call Psychotic Experiences or PE) can take the form of hearing voices or seeing visions or feeling paranoid or believing things that are not true. As part of my ERC Consolidator Award (iHEAR), I and my team have learned a great deal more about these experiences and what they mean for young people. We know that these experiences can be transitory in most cases but that in some young people they recur throughout adolescence and adulthood. We know that, for some young people, these experiences can be associated with poor functioning and poorer mental health but for others they are not pathological. We have identified the need for an instrument that can differentiate between pathological and non-pathological psychotic experiences. This will support early risk screening and development of interventions among those who experience PE. We propose to search for natural language patterns within self-reported PE that are associated with high and low levels of mental ill-health. Our hypothesis is that young people’s first person account of their experiences are likely to contain natural language phrases that could be used to differentiate between PEs that occur in the context of mental ill-health are likely to require intervention and those that do not. Knowledge of natural language patterns for PE would be a valuable step in improving assessment tools in clinical practice. Additionally this could be a valuable new resource for digital tools and e-Health which is a growing area for mental health.
Projet ERC : TargetRANK (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Centre National de Recherches Oncologiques — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNIO
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among females in the western world, resulting in nearly half a million deaths annually, mainly due to metastatic disease. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for almost 15–20% of all breast cancers (300.000 women diagnosed worldwide per year) and is commonly diagnosed in women younger than age 40. TNBC remains a clinical challenge due to high rate of relapse, a propensity to form visceral metastasis and limited targeted therapies. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify novel targeted therapies for the treatment of the TNBC. TargetRANK is based on the innovative idea of generating novel drugs targeting RANK receptor – instead of its ligand RANKL – for the treatment of TNBC, as well as a new panel of anti-RANK human antibodies – for research and diagnostic purposes. Small molecule inhibitors generated during the project could plausibly be positioned as a novel targeted therapy for TNBC and anti-RANK antibodies commercialized for research applications due to the lack of specific antibodies on the market. The most important benefits of TargetRANK are based on the unmet need to improve the treatment of TNBC patients, and the economic burden for public health systems generated by standard non-selected and ineffective cancer treatments. In addition, if drugs against RANK prove to be efficient, TargetRANK derived assets could also clinically benefit most of the patients suffering bone metastasis that are currently treated with bone resorption drugs, denosumab and bisphosphonates. Although our products are aimed for breast cancer, they may be therapeutically relevant for other tumors expressing RANK as non-small cell lung cancer. RANK antibodies will allow to stratify patients that might benefit from RANK blocking molecules, improving the existing treatments for skeletal-related events and reducing the main complications associated with life-altering morbidity affecting several types of prevalent cancers.
Projet ERC : EVOLUTE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Trinity College — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

By 2050, the European Union aims to become climate-neutral, developing into an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. This objective is considered both an urgent challenge (at the heart of the European Green Deal) and an opportunity to improve society . To achieve this ambitious objective, we need to develop and implement new technologies that target the largest energy consumer in the EU: buildings. Collectively, buildings in the EU (homes, workplaces, hospitals, schools) account for 40% of the total energy consumption and generate 36% of GHG at the different stages of their lifetime (construction, usage, renovation, demolition ). Within the ERC Proof of Concept EVOLUTE, we will develop a software platform that enables the optimisation of various geometrical shapes and sizes of luminescent solar (LS) devices, which is expected to have several advantages. a) It has the potential to improve the efficiency and functionality of building-integrated photovoltaics, b) visually appealing photovoltaic panels at lower costs than today’s state of the art, c) better and efficient utilisation of solar energy, d) simplified and minimise the cost of LS devices fabrication. e) develop a comprehensive and efficient light management technology, f) more comprehensive and broadened applications of LS technology. EVOLUTE aims to synchronise technical development and feasibility with commercial viability and to ensure that the unique selling points of our software are fully aligned with the market requirements. The project plan is designed optimally to achieve Technology Readiness Level 5 (from 2/3 currently) and enable us to continue its development within for example an EIC Transition.
Projet ERC : UNIINK (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IBEC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Type 1 Diabetes (T1DM) results from autoimmune destruction of pancreatic insulin-producing β-cells. Nowadays, insulin injections remain the leading therapeutic option. However, injection treatment fails to emulate the highly dynamic insulin release that β-cells provide. During the last years, 3D cell-laden microspheres have been proposed as a major platform for bioengineering insulin-secreting constructs for tissue graft implantation and a model for in vitro drug screening platforms. Current microsphere fabrication technologies have several drawbacks: the need for an oil phase containing surfactants, diameter inconsistency of the microspheres, and high time-consuming processes, among others. These technologies have widely used alginate for its rapid gelation, high processability, and low cost. However, its low biocompatible properties do not provide effective cell attachment. To overcome these limitations, Uniink proposes a high-throughput 3D bioprinting methodology that employs an ECM-like microenvironment for effective cell-laden microsphere production. Crosslinking the resulting microspheres with tannic acid (TA) prevents collagenase degradation and enhances spherical structural consistency while allowing the diffusion of nutrients and oxygen. In addition, the approach allows customization of microsphere diameter with extremely low variability. In conclusion, we will develop in Uniink a novel bio-printing procedure to fabricate large amounts of reproducible microspheres capable of secreting insulin in response to extracellular glucose stimuli. We expect that Uniink will represent a valid alternative to islet transplantation in T1DM patients, thus bringing cell therapy closer to the application in humans.
Projet ERC : AntiVirFish (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université Miguel-Hernández — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 140000.0 €

In the last decades aquaculture seems to be the only real alternative for global fish food supply. At present, the aquaculture world production has reached 82.1 million tons worldwide representing the fastest growing animal production sector in the world. Among aquaculture species, salmonid aquaculture, trout and salmon species, are the highest-value species for global and European aquaculture. The biggest global constraint to aquaculture production is disease with an estimate of a 10% of all cultured aquatic animals lost because of infectious diseases, amounting to >10 billion USD in losses annually on a global scale. Among infectious diseases, viral outbreaks are a serious concern, since they are an impediment to the development, productivity, and profitability of fish farms. Intensive fish farming amplifies diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites, resulting in severe losses. Few vaccines are available for viral diseases in aquaculture and they are not completely effective. Moreover, up to date there are not antiviral therapeutic treatments to mitigate the outbreaks in unvaccinated fish or to diminish the percentage of losses do not covered by prophylactics vaccines. During my ERC Starting Grant our group identified a number of antiviral proteins in rainbow trout nucleated red blood cells (RBCs) implicated in halting viral infections. The OBJECTIVE of this project is to perform a Proof of Concept of the antiviral molecules previosuly identified. We will evaluate the new business opportunity of introducing a new antiviral therapeutic that decreases viral infection and related economic loss in aquaculture.
Projet ERC : ImproVITA (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université nouvelle de Lisbonne — Pays : Portugal — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Food processing industries face great pressure to increase the shelf life of goods decreasing the tons of waste generated every year. At the same time consumers are becoming more conscious about their choices and more critical about the use of synthetic preservatives. The most common group of chemical compounds used to preserve the freshness of food are vitamins, also known as antioxidants. Antioxidants are compounds capable to inhibit oxidation which is a chemical reaction that leads to the production of free radicals, involving the possible damage the cells. Antioxidants, such as vitamins (vitamin C - ascorbic acid or vitamin E - tocopherol) end these chain reactions. For that reason, many food supplements and cosmetics are constituted by these vitamins. To prevent their early degradation is of maximum interest and it is the objective of this project to disclose the use of deep eutectic systems (DES) to increase the shelf-time of these compounds. DES are mixtures of two solid species that at particular molar ratio form a new compound with different properties. The team has demonstrated already that the use of this technology enhances the antioxidant activity up to 5 days, and prevents fruit oxidation up to 48 hours, contrarily to what happens with conventional methods which only prevent food oxidation up a couple of hours. Within this proof of concept, the team intends to validate the product in terms of its technical features but also validate the market and evaluate the commercial potential of our solution.
Projet ERC : CryoDES (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université nouvelle de Lisbonne — Pays : Portugal — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Cell therapies are foreseen as the next generation therapeutics for some of the chronic diseases with highest global economic and social burden. The market for human cell therapies has been estimated to be 8 B€ in 2021 with an expected annual growth rate of 26% until 2028. The key aspect for the success of a cell therapy is the preservation of cells. Currently, cells must be cryopreserved using a cryoprotectant agent (CPA) at -196ºC, in a liquid nitrogen tank. The gold standard CPA is a chemical organic compound, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) highly toxic. Despite this it has high success rates and continues to be the industry gold standard CPA. Inspired by Nature, CryoDES was developed. CryoDES is a cryoprotectant agent, non-toxic and composed of generally regarded as safe components. These systems have proven to be able to replace the gold standard CPA, presenting the same or better performance indicators. One of the major advantages of these systems is the fact that it allows the storage of cells at -20 ºC, in a conventional freezer, vastly outperforming DMSO. The CryoDES team is composed of researchers and entrepreneurs who are passionate about science. Together, the CryoDES team has been working on this technology for the four years and envisage now to bring it to the next level towards a commercialization strategy. To achieve this, in this PoC the team intends to perform technical feasibility studies of the product; evaluate the commercial value of the product; perform a market assessment study and draft the plan for commercialization.. Albeit projects and results related to Life Sciences and Biopharmaceuticals require time to become a reality due to the need of the respective pre-clinical and clinical trials, this PoC Action will have as immediate outcome the creation of a start-up able to commercialize CryoDES for research purposes, for which there is also a large market. With CryoDES we will allow cleaner and safer cell therapies for all.
Projet ERC : LeukoScreen (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Mlli gmbh — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 15000.0 €

Acute promyelocytic leukemia is an extremely aggressive blood cancer where immediate diagnosis can determine life or death. The diagnostic state of the art is manual inspection of a patient’s blood smear under the microscope by trained cytologists. It is prone to human error and time consuming - a risk factor in notoriously understaffed laboratories. Supporting clinical decisions with AI will drastically increase diagnostic speed and accuracy, benefit patient survival, and free up valuable expert time. This is particularly important for cytological and histological analysis, whose market size is expected to rise by a compounded annual growth rate of 14.7% in coming years. Yet, so far, the proof of concept that AI can be effectively employed for leukemia detection in routine diagnostics is missing.  I will leverage the methodological advancements in deep learning and explainable AI, the skills of my ERC CoG funded research group, and the expertise and data of the Munich Leukemia Laboratory (MLL), the largest leukemia laboratory in Europe and my long standing industry partner. Together, we will develop and implement LeukoScreen, an AI-based software to automatically identify and flag up acute leukemia cases from MLL’s routine laboratory input. This will decrease the diagnosis to treatment time of critical leukemia cases at reduced costs and staffing. Specifically, we will (i) deploy a real-world dataset from the routine input of the MLL, (ii) train and evaluate our algorithm for transparent decision making on routine diagnostic blood smears, (iii) quantify the gain in sensitivity, specificity, and speed by comparing LeukoScreen with the currently used manual workflow at MLL, and (iv) jointly develop a commercialization strategy for the exploitation of results.  This AI approach to support disease detection will save patients’ lives, change the paradigm of cytologic workflows, and create capacities in overburdened diagnostics.
Projet ERC : DNACryp (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de technologie d'Eindhoven — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Current technologies for digital data storage (e.g., tapes and hard disc drives) have hit various sustainability limits. A significant share of new data is not stored beyond the short term, and conventional storage media do not have the longevity, data density or cost efficiency to meet global demand. Longer-term projections forecast that the overall demand for digital storage will exceed supply by up to three orders of magnitude by 2040. DNA data storage has several advantages compared to magnetic or optical data storage, such as extremely high data densities, high stability, and limited energy needs. Considerable effort has been devoted to developing efficient encoding algorithms and methods for DNA storage and retrieval. However, a complete data storage solution also requires the stored information to be protected from unwanted data access. In DNA Encryption of Compartmentalized DNA Files (DNACryp), we will develop a novel molecular-level encryption method for data stored on compartmentalized DNA files based on a revolutionary PCR-based random-access readout strategy that our lab has recently developed. In contrast to digital encryption methods, molecular-level encryption is resistant to automated, computer-based attacks. To achieve this goal, DNA files are co-encapsulated with locker DNA templates that disrupt random-access readout. Using a unique, sequence specific “key” strand, locker templates can be removed, and PCR-based readout restored. Specifically, we will develop (i) an encoding pipeline for data-encoding DNA strands allowing for encryption, (ii) proof-of-principle experiments showing the validity of the locker/key concept, (iii) molecular-level encryption of a 1MB book. DNACryp methodology is highly interdisciplinary building on expertise in computer science, engineering, chemistry, and material science. DNACryp impact spans applications and technology domains and will be disseminated and exploited to benefit European society and industry.
Projet ERC : SOCIAbLE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université nationale d'Irlande à Galway — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The affective and cognitive consequences of childhood trauma are experienced across the life span, and are associated with poorer mental and physical health outcomes in those affected. While trauma-focused psychological therapies successfully address the affective consequences of childhood trauma, the cognitive consequences have been poorly understood and managed despite being highly predictive of poorer social and occupational outcomes. SOCIAbLE is a novel psychosocial intervention that targets the cognitive difficulties associated with childhood trauma. It consists of a social cognitive skills program delivered in a virtual reality (VR) environment. VR based interventions represent a low cost and scalable method of simulating activities of daily life in a clinical setting. This project will establish whether SOCIAbLE, as a novel VR-based intervention targeting trauma-related cognitive difficulties, is feasible and beneficial to everyday function, based on data from individuals with a history of childhood trauma. Gathering and analysing this data will represent a crucial first stage in knowledge translation, forming the basis for establishing future definitive clinical trials to validate the effectiveness of this approach in patients with mental health disorders. By addressing a major untreated cause of disability, SOCIAbLE has the potential to add substantially to current clinical solutions (e.g. trauma-informed CBT targeting anxiety).
Projet ERC : STANDBYCOMMS (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université d'Aarhus — Pays : Danemark — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

While user-generated content and functionalities that enable users to engage in discussions on social media hold significant democratic potential, online hostility, such as incivility, discrimination and hate speech diminishes the quality of such deliberation. As social media providers are unable to police social media content and be present to moderate discussions effectively, we need to ‘democratize’ the solution to online hostility by relying more on ordinary citizens who take part in online discussions to react and intervene as ‘bystanders’ when they witness hostile behavior. However, to realize the potential of pro-social bystander reactions to online hostility, we need to overcome the tendency for diffusion of responsibility and bystander apathy in situations of online hostility. We need behavior change away from the current norm of passivity. This requires encouragement of pro-social bystander reactions through interventions providing guidance and motivation. Building on an extensive behavioral analysis of bystander behavior in response to online hostility carried out within the ERC-CoG STANDBY-project, we have developed and pilot-tested such a guidance message – the ‘Speak up, Report, Support’-intervention – which has proven effective in mobilizing pro-social bystander reactions to online hostility. The aim of the STANDBYCOMMS-project is to: 1) further improve this intervention through collaboration with world-leading experts in behavior change interventions on social media and end-user engagement (media corporations, NGOs, political parties, individual politicians etc. who are providers of comment sections on social media platforms), 2) field test the intervention at scale, and 3) build and market an online library facilitating mass-dissemination of the intervention free-of-charge to end-users. The intervention will be made available in multiple languages and adaptations for different platforms along with implementation guides.