Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : SYNSEMBL (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems E ngineering
Entité participante : Université technique de Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Compartmentalization is a defining characteristic of life and has the potential to enable and improve engineered manufacturing routes in biotechnology. Many biomolecules like proteins and RNA have the ability to spontaneously cluster in molecularly dense, phase-separated liquid-like assemblies, termed biomolecular condensates. Biomolecular condensates are promising as synthetic compartments in cell-free reactions and living cells because they could provide programmable, self-assembled spatial organization and rapidly appear or dissolve on demand. However, we are still lacking key engineering and characterization tools, a fundamental understanding of how the unique material properties influence internal biochemistry, and strategies to regulate these dynamic molecular assemblies. I have recently discovered that different condensate-forming proteins can be synthesized and assemble into liquid-like droplets in cell-free transcription and translation reactions run in a custom-designed microfluidic device. This project will pioneer cell-free synthesis for the engineering and characterization of biomolecular condensates, and engineer new synthetic compartmentalization strategies for cell-free systems and living cells. First, developing and taking advantage of a highly controlled microfluidic cell-free environment we will generate and characterize new synthetic compartments with tailored properties. Secondly, we will specifically target molecules and reactions into the condensate phase and systematically study how condensate properties influence biological functions. Finally, we will implement dynamic feedback control mechanisms that can autonomously adjust presence and functions of synthetic compartments in cell-free systems and in cells. SYNSEMBL will break new grounds for applications of biomolecular condensates in material science and synthetic biology.

Mots-clés : cell free synthetic biology,coacervate compartments,biomolecular condensates
Projet ERC : DOS (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer Science and Informatics
Entité participante : Université technique de Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1491838.0 €

The DOS project targets the challenge of developing and deploying distributed applications on large-scale decentralized computing infrastructures (DCIs) such that their dependability properties, e.g., safety and security, can be enforced by the foundational layers of the system stack in a policy-compliant manner.  While it is possible today to construct distributed applications, it is challenging to ensure that their dependability properties are preserved end-to-end in a DCI consisting of a diversified set of compute nodes hosted in multiple administrative jurisdictions. This situation is primarily caused by the limitations of existing system stack foundations: (a) hardware: DCIs expose heterogeneous compute nodes that lack a unified interface to access, isolate, and manage them; (b) OS: current OSes lack mechanisms for resource management in a safe and secure manner for heterogeneous nodes operating across multiple trust domains. As a result, programmers rely on ad-hoc programming and deployment mechanisms, which are not only prohibitively expensive to develop and error-prone but also cannot ensure compliance with the dependability requirements.  The DOS project seeks to bridge this gap by pursuing a radically new hardware/OS co-design by introducing  1. a pluggable hardware component called Isolation Control Unit (ICU) that abstracts out the hardware heterogeneity while providing a minimalistic interface for resource management, isolation, communication, and trust establishment.  2. a microkernel-based Decentralized Operating System (DOS) that builds on ICUs to manage DCIs as a unified dependable system substrate to enable policy-compliant application deployment.  Overall, our work aims to empower programmers by providing a generic distributed programming framework on top of DOS to concisely specify the dependability policies along with the application logic, while our system stack transparently enforces these policies in decentralized environments.

Mots-clés : operating systems,distributed systems,dependability,security,hardware software co design,programming model,policy compliance deployment,reliability
Projet ERC : SuPerSilk (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : Université de Greifswald — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1788003.0 €

Many organisms assemble biological materials into architectures and tools that add and extend biological functions - with profound ecological effects, and inspiring human technologies. However, there is no general concept of how evolutionary bio-material innovation arises from both the physiological and the behavioural recombination of compounds. SuPerSilk aims to understand how mechanical super-performance evolves by disentangling the concerted effects of both physiological and behavioural factors on structure-function relationships, utilizing spiders and their silk products as a model system. Specifically, SuPerSilk will (1) determine if the diversification into different types of silk glands facilitated the evolvability of spider silk performance, (2) test if the behavioural combination of different spider silks into compound threads provides a fast track for the evolution of thread performance and an extension of performance limits, (3) test whether similar thread functions evolved via repeated or alternative pathways, and (4) establish a roadmap for the targeted bioprospecting of silk compounds with specific properties. Being the first project that will jointly track the evolution of base materials and their behaviourally assembled compound products, SuPerSilk will address a timely question in evolutionary biology: if and how the evolvability of physical traits can be modified by the evolution of novel behaviours and vice versa. The outcome will be a precedent for the integrative study of animal products that will establish a new line of research: evolutionary materials. In addition, by probing the structure-function relationship of behaviourally assembled silk composites, SuPerSilk will reinvigorate efforts to develop super-tough biofibres for industrial applications, a field that has stagnated in recent years, and enable the engineering of bio-fabrics with tailorable properties.

Mots-clés : mechanical properties of biological materials
Projet ERC : SINGAMBI (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Université technique de Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499943.75 €

The addition of ammonia to alkenes, which could produce amines in a 100% atom efficient process, has never been achieved by a molecular catalytic system and stands as a modern Holy Grail for the synthetic chemist. Alkyl amines, a major chemical commodity, are typically accessed through stoichiometric methods, even employing toxic N1 feedstocks such as hydrogen cyanide. The fundamental barrier to utilizing ammonia as an N1 feedstock lies in its activation, with a high N-H bond energy and a preference for acting as a neutral donor ligand in organometallic systems. In order to employ ammonia in catalytic transformations, new bond-activation concepts which address these fundamental pitfalls are essential.  The SINGAMBI project overcomes these challenges through the Single-Centre Ambiphile (SCA) ligand concept. Drawing inspiration from cooperative activation protocols at play in enzymes and bimetallic complexes, this concept defines non-innocent ligand systems which utilise highly reactive ambiphilic species from the forefront of low-valent main group chemistry. In combination with reactive transition metal (TM) centres, SCA ligands provide a platform for cooperative bond scission via yet unexplored mechanistic pathways. This can drive facile ammonia activation, directing N-H bond cleavage towards the formation of TM hydride complexes, key in overcoming previous shortfalls in the hydroamination of alkenes with this abundant small molecule. Ultimately, we will expand this concept towards universal systems for waste-free alkene functionalisation catalysis, through forming a deep understanding of the unique mechanistic pathways accessible through the SCA ligand concept. In designing, developing and understanding numerous SCA-TM systems, the SINGAMBI project will develop a breadth of unique chemical tools for the promotion of cooperative bond activation and sustainable catalysis, framed by the activation and utilisation of ammonia for waste-free access to commodity amines.

Mots-clés : main group chemistry low valent chemistry earth abundant catalysis small molecule activation
Projet ERC : ROTOR (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth System Science
Entité participante : Université d'Hambourg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499768.0 €

Our climate fundamentally depends on the abundance and behaviour of its smallest clouds: shallow trade cumulus clouds. Their response to climate change is a major uncertainty in climate projections, with the most pressing but least understood question being: What is the role of mesoscale convective organization in trade cumulus feedbacks? Rain affects convective organization through its re-evaporation, which triggers downdrafts and cold pools. Cold pools can create large ‘cloud holes’ surrounded by cloud arcs. But how the size and lifetime of cold pools link to the initial rain evaporation and downdrafts, and how they influence cloud cover and thus the radiative budget is unclear. Critical reasons for these knowledge gaps are a lack of rain process observations and the fascinating range of scales involved.  ROTOЯ is driven by the opportunity for ground-breaking advances in observing, simulating, and understanding organized precipitating shallow convection to elucidate the role of rain and cold pools for climate. My goal is to answer three questions: (i) What is the impact of evaporation, downdrafts, and cold pools on the trade-wind layer equilibrium state? (ii) Under what conditions do cold pools organize or disorganize shallow convection? (iii) Do cold pools increase or decrease total cloud cover in the trades? To answer these questions, I will create a unique multi-year dataset of rain evaporation, downdrafts and cold pools by applying new remote sensing retrieval techniques to existing trade cumulus observations. Combined with cutting-edge numerical simulations using super-droplet microphysics, the project promises to fundamentally improve our understanding of how organized shallow clouds may change with warming and the implications this has for the hydrological cycle. ROTOЯ is a unique opportunity for me to focus my broad expertise in observing and modeling clouds to answer three critical questions of tropical meteorology and climate science.

Mots-clés : trade cumulus clouds,rain,convective organization,remote sensing,field campaign data,numerical simulations,microphysics,large eddy simulation
Projet ERC : KoOpeRaDE (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : Université de Dortmund — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499000.0 €

An unprecedented energy crisis is looming over us. In order to transition to a greener and more energy-efficient society, existing technologies need to be improved and novel techniques such as nuclear fusion developed. This requires the stabilization of aerodynamics, heat transfer or combustion and fusion processes and thus, the development of efficient control strategies for large-scale dynamical systems. In recent years, reinforcement learning (RL) has emerged as a highly promising data-driven technique. Unfortunately, we cannot trust RL to handle our most important and complex systems, since the resulting controllers do not possess performance guarantees. Certifiable RL approaches such as linear or kernel methods tend to scale poorly, such that their applicability is limited to toy examples. In contrast to other application areas, this is a complete show-stopper for safety-critical engineering. Moreover, the training is extremely data hungry and costly, due to which RL itself contributes to the energy crisis. The vision of this project is to develop new foundational methods to equip RL controllers for large-scale engineering systems with performance guarantees by exploiting system knowledge and systematically reducing the complexity. To achieve this, I will target three major breakthroughs, consisting of (A) global linearization of the dynamics via the Koopman operator framework, (B) the extension of certified Q-learning to continuous action spaces via control quantization, and (C) the detection and exploitation of symmetries in the system dynamics. The project requires significant joint advancements in several challenging areas such as control, approximation theory and machine learning. In the case of success, the resulting controllers will provide a massive advancement of RL towards safety-critical engineering applications and significantly contribute to the challenge of meeting the future energy demands of our society.

Mots-clés : reinforcement learning,koopman operator,partial differential equations
Projet ERC : NAMPify (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: B iological  Mechanisms , Structures  and Functions
Entité participante : Université de Zurich — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UZH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1524383.0 €

Protein–nucleic acid (NA) interactions are fundamental to many cellular processes, and their disruption can lead to diseases such as autoimmune disorders and cancer. However, targeting NA-binding proteins with small molecules is difficult due to the “undruggable” nature of their interfaces. Recent advancements in computational protein design and deep learning have created new opportunities for the development of protein-based therapeutics. However, current methods struggle to design proteins that can effectively modulate or mimic the intricate protein-NA interactions directly. While some NA-aware models have been developed, they often underperform due to our limited understanding of protein-NA interactions and the scarcity of diverse structural training data. To overcome these challenges, I propose to pioneer the design of NA-mimicking proteins (NAMPs) capable of directly modulating protein-NA interactions with high specificity and adaptable functionality. I will develop computational methods that incorporate the structural and chemical features of NAs, and create NAMPs tailored to engage therapeutically relevant NA-binding proteins and regulate their activity. In addition, I will develop approaches to expand the structural data on protein-NA complexes using accelerated structure determination methods to refine NA-aware models. This will enable the design of NA-binding proteins with sequence- and shape-specific recognition. Lastly, to create molecular machines with complex functionalities, I will develop new methodologies for the de novo design of multi-domain proteins capable of adopting multiple, defined conformations—long considered a “holy grail” in protein design. By integrating these approaches, I aim to overcome the current limitations in studying and designing protein-NA interactions, paving the way for the creation of sophisticated molecular tools with vast applications in synthetic biology, biotechnology, and medicine.

Mots-clés : protein nucleic acid interactions,mimicry,cryoem,deep learning,molecular machines,binder,multi domain protein
Projet ERC : LIFT-UP (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Université Bocconi — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1445656.0 €

Minimum wages and taxes and transfers are prominent examples of pre and redistributive policies in the area of low pay in Europe and the U.S.  Despite their pervasive coexistence and extensive research on their effects, the two have been mostly studied in isolation. This has limited our ability to evaluate their interplay in the labor market and identify joint design options to effectively support the working poor. With these goals, our first contribution is to examine the pre and redistributive components of low-income support jointly. We will develop an empirically grounded model of the low-wage labor market, which can be used to evaluate the impact of alternative joint designs of minimum wages and taxes on labor market equilibrium in a realistic way. This requires new empirical evidence on how the two interact and on the fundamental features of the market environment in which they operate.  Minimum wages are widely popular, although according to standard normative theory their existence is not justified if governments can redistribute with taxes. Why, then, are minimum wages so socially and politically successful? Our second contribution is to uncover what drives support for pre and redistribution to the working poor. Besides enriching our knowledge of the political feasibility of reforms in this area, evidence on policy preferences will be central to characterizing an optimal redistribution policy based on a new notion of welfare desirability, which considers not only the material interest of individuals as market participants, but also their policy preferences as citizens.  Academically, this is groundbreaking since it overcomes multiple empirical and theoretical divides in both positive and normative analysis, with the end goal of characterizing the optimal configuration of low-income support policies. Practically, it will provide guidance for concrete reform actions, highlighting their economic and distributional implications and their political feasibility.

Mots-clés : public economics,labor economics,social economics,labor market inequality,minimum wage,taxes and transfers
Projet ERC : AFROEUROPECYBERSPACE (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Texts and Concepts
Entité participante : Université de Brême — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499864.0 €

This project explores how Afrodiasporic communities in Europe rise above the public silencing of their perspectives by using the internet to re-appropriate the discourse of who they are, what contexts they relate to and why. Recently, we have seen a notable increase of websites coordinated by people of African descent. Research so far has only investigated isolated cases, ignoring synergies and networks. My project fills this gap by exploring how individuals and collectives that identify as African/Afrodescendant use the internet to establish alternative public spheres. It will provide seminal answers to the following questions: How do Afrodiasporic communities deal with racialization on the internet? Do they successfully create a space online to articulate their own (self-)images, participate in knowledge production and gain agency? How do they position themselves as members of a (transnationally connected) African diaspora? What challenges do they face? The project’s geographical frame is Romance-speaking Europe, but it also includes sources from the Americas and Caribbean to unveil transnational similarities and local peculiarities. Exploring rhetorical and poetic strategies, the project studies not only what is said but also how it is said. It places major focus on investigating the shared textual and visual language used to deal with racialization and to establish a vision of collectivity. Building on my experience, I combine postcolonial and (digital) media studies with suitable literary/cultural studies’ methods to unravel the ‘textures’ and decode the imaginaries of websites (ranging from texts to auditive/visual elements). The project’s impact lies in helping us understand the cultural narratives that shape emerging Afrodiasporic subjectivities. It also provides seminal insights for the ongoing sociopolitical debate on migration to, and structural racism in Western societies that tend to only speak about these communities without listening to what they say.

Mots-clés : digital media studies,digital diaspora,afroeuropean studies,african european studies,diaspora studies,postcolonial studies,romance literary and cultural studies,
Projet ERC : MarCyano (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe Sciences
Entité participante : Université de Brême — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1563750.0 €

The world’s major space agencies share a goal of sending humans to Mars within the next few decades. A sustainable human presence there, akin to today’s presence in Antarctica, could generate paradigm-shifting knowledge at an unprecedented pace. One major challenge lies in providing the food, oxygen and other necessary consumables: these cannot be shipped from the Earth over the long term. They should instead be produced on site and for this, Nostocaceae cyanobacteria can be instrumental: fed with materials available in the Martian ground and atmosphere, they could provide feedstock for a range of bioprocesses which, in turn, could produce a wide range of consumables. However, fundamental knowledge is lacking to turn this concept into practical solutions: the physiology of cyanobacteria in the foreseen cultivation conditions is poorly understood. These conditions combine low total pressures, low partial pressures of dinitrogen, interactions with a basaltic substrate from which nutrients are leached, and high concentrations of chaotropic salts. In the proposed project, I will enable a deep understanding of cyanobacterial physiology in these conditions. For this I will employ a unique approach combining cultivation assays in unique hardware previously developed by my team, adaptive laboratory evolution, cutting-edge omics technologies, the development of a mathematical model which can predict the productivity and efficiency of cyanobacterium cultivation from Martian resources, and the construction of a testbed for the experimental validation of this model. I will use the generated knowledge and tools to design, characterize and demonstrate the viability of bioprocesses which dramatically improve the odds that Mars exploration is done in a sustainable way. Finally, I will adapt the concepts developed for bioproduction on Mars to open new avenues for sustainability on Earth, which I plan to follow up by applying for an ERC Proof of Concept Grant.

Mots-clés : microbiology human space exploration