Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : SulFex (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Wurtzbourg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring KEAP1 mutations is associated with a poor prognosis and resistance to conventional therapies. However, KEAP1/NRF2 dysregulation induces metabolic reprogramming, which can be exploited for therapeutic benefit. Our research has uncovered that these cells produce and accumulate high levels of sulfur-containing compounds, a metabolic vulnerability in these cancer cells. To maintain cellular homeostasis and survival, these cells rely on the active export of the toxic metabolite sulfite, presenting a unique therapeutic opportunity. During our ERC Consolidator project, we identified the solute carrier protein SLC26A6 as a transporter of selenite and related anions, including sulfite. We then developed SulfExstatin1, a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor that effectively inhibits human SLC26A6 and blocks sulfite export. By targeting this essential detoxification mechanism, SulfExstatin1 selectively impairs the growth and survival of KEAP1-mutant NSCLC cells while sparing normal cells, thereby minimizing off-target toxicity. Our preliminary studies demonstrate strong efficacy in cell culture, underscoring the potential of this approach as a novel treatment strategy for this aggressive cancer type. Building on these findings, we propose to establish an innovative approach targeting sulfite metabolism in KEAP1-mutant NSCLC and other cancer subtypes with similar metabolic dependencies. This project will involve optimizing SulfExstatin1 and related inhibitors, characterizing their mechanisms of action, and evaluating their efficacy in biochemical assays and in vivo models. Furthermore, we plan to establish a patent framework to protect the intellectual property arising from this project. Ultimately, our goal is to translate this metabolic-targeting strategy into clinical applications, offering new hope for patients with this treatment-resistant lung cancer.
Projet ERC : RNhale (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université Louis-et-Maximilien de Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : LMU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

RNhale aims to establish technical and commercial proof-of-concept for our existing and protected protocols to be transformed into a platform technology with the long-term goal of licensing agreements with large pharmaceutical companies which are equipped for continuous manufacturing of large scales of dry powder RNA formulations. RNhale will assess the commercial positioning of a platform technology for spray-drying RNA nanoparticles (NPs). While RNA medicines have revolutionized how we can address a pandemic, RNA therapeutics have not yet broadly changed patient outcomes but are specifically used for very limited indications due to two main reasons: (i) the high immunogenicity and poor stability of RNA; and (ii) the accumulation of nano-encapsulated RNA in the liver and resulting poor targetability of other organs with RNA-loaded NPs. These shortcomings have been addressed in my current ERC project “Novel Asthma Therapy” by spray-drying polymer-based RNA NPs. RNhale will refine existing protocols for spray-drying RNA NPs made with diverse RNA NPs to overcome current challenges by: 1) improving storage and transport conditions of spray-dried RNA medicines in general; and 2) gaining access to delivery beyond the liver via inhalation delivery to the lung.
Projet ERC : STAR (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is escalating due to multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria and a dwindling antibiotic pipeline and is projected to cause up to 10 million deaths annually by 2050. Lipid-targeting (LT) antibiotics such as daptomycin and polymyxins combat MDR infections by disrupting bacterial membranes, yet their mechanisms remain unclear due to major technical challenges for structural biology. This knowledge gap hinders the development of next-generation LT-antibiotics with improved efficacy and safety profiles.  STAR will positively impact structural biology capabilities by channeling the potential of Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (ssNMR) spectroscopy to provide atomic-level insights into LT-antibiotic interactions under physiologically relevant conditions. By optimizing the scaled production of pure, 13C/15N-labeled phospholipids, STAR will overcome key technical hurdles that have constrained ssNMR’s application in antibiotic research, dramatically boosting ssNMR sensitivity and enabling selective detection of specific lipid interactions in complex membranes. This breakthrough will allow high-resolution visualization of drug-lipid interactions of antibiotics, enabling a transformative platform to elucidate the mechanism of action (MoA) of LT-antibiotics and guide the development of potent new derivatives.  To bridge a critical knowledge gap in antibiotic research, STAR will optimize the scalable bacterial production of 13C/15N-labeled phospholipids for higher yields and refine purification techniques to enhance ssNMR signal sensitivity at larger scales. Additionally, STAR will evaluate commercial feasibility and intellectual property strategies to facilitate ssNMR’s market entry. By enabling deeper molecular insights into LT-antibiotics, STAR will accelerate antibiotic research and discovery, addressing the urgent threat of AMR.
Projet ERC : CXA (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Maastricht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Advanced circularity strategies including sufficiency (reuse, refuse) and regeneration have not yet scaled up in business practice. More support is needed to accelerate this transition. The goal of the Circular X Accelerator (CXA) is to develop and scale advanced circular business models. Such business models have the potential to achieve significant environmental impact improvements compared to simply selling products. ERC Circular X pioneered research on experimentation with advanced circular business models. The project developed 3 open access databases covering over 300 business examples, focused on (1) circular business model experimentation, (2) sufficiency and (3) regeneration in business, plus several circular business tools tested and used by business, such as the “Circular Experimentation Workbench”, “Road Ahead Tool” and “Circular Rebound Tool”. These tools and databases are brought together into a “circular business experimentation lab approach”. Advancing the lab idea, the aim of this Proof of Concept (PoC) project is to develop the CXA as an ongoing entity, to be tested in the PoC. The CXA aims to accelerate the uptake of advanced circular business models in business practice, which includes regenerative and sufficiency-oriented business approaches and scaled up approaches. The PoC project will therefore investigate, test and validate the CXA approach in different settings with 5 Work Packages: 1. Investigate the appetite for advanced circular business tools with different user groups in different context 2. Investigate the best knowledge transfer strategy for advanced circular business innovation approaches. 3. Identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the CXA 4. Clarify the competitive positioning of the CXA 5. Determine the best form and potential partnerships for the CXA. Advanced circular business innovations are not sufficiently scaled. The CXA will be scrutinised as a vehicle to accelerate these topics in practice.
Projet ERC : Respond2Hate (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université Louis-et-Maximilien de Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : LMU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Hate speech is a worldwide phenomenon that is increasingly pervading online spaces, creating an unsafe environment for users. While tech companies address this problem by server-side filtering using machine learning models trained on large datasets, these automatic methods cannot be applied to most languages due to lack of available training data.  Based on recent results of the PI's ERC project on multilingual representation models in low-resource settings, Respond2Hate aims at developing a pilot browser extension that allows users to locally remove hateful content from their social media feeds themselves, without having to rely on the support of tech companies.  Since hate speech is highly dependent on cultural context, responsive classifiers are needed that adapt to the individual environment. Commercial efforts focus on large-scale, general-purpose models which are often burdened with representation and bias problems, and therefore cope poorly with swiftly changing targets or information shift between regional contexts. In contrast, we seek to develop lightweight, adaptive models that require only a small dataset for initial fine-tuning by continuously enhancing model capabilities over time.  This is achieved by applying state-of-the-art Natural Language Processing (NLP) and deep learning techniques for pre-trained language models like low-resource transfer of hate speech representations from high-resource languages and few-shot learning based on limited user feedback. We have already successfully applied these methods in low-resource multilingual settings, and will now validate their use for hate speech filtering.  By making hate speech detection and reduction available in "low-resource" countries with little representation in current training datasets, which are currently not served well by governments, industry and NGOs, Respond2Hate will empower users to self-control their exposure to hate speech, fostering a healthier and safer online environment.
Projet ERC : T2Lead (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université Louis-et-Maximilien de Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : LMU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 0.0 €

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a disease with a poor prognosis, especially for such patients either failing initial treatment or relapsing thereafter. In AML, specific immune cells such as T cells have been proven to bear curative potential in the context of stem cell transplantation but toxicity and therapy failure are frequent. The use of T cells modified for specificity with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) has changed the landscape of several blood-borne cancer of the B cell lineage. In AML, however, ongoing development of CAR T cells is associated with severe toxicities, limiting dosing and efficacy because of poor specificity of used targets for AML blasts. In my ERC funded research, I have identified unique AML targets which are not shared with healthy hematopoesis or other relevant healthy organs. Developing CAR against these, I could demonstrate the potential of my strategy. To enable clinical development and exploitation, T2LEAD will identify and develop lead CAR candidates for further translation. T2LEAD will explore the medical and commercial potential of lead CAR and route exploitation towards licensing or spin out or both. T2LEAD will be supported by a strong network of advisors from academia, industry and regulation frame work. Ultimately T2LEAD will help advancing the treatment landscape in AML to the benefit of AML patients.
Projet ERC : Treat-PRYSM (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 80000.0 €

Rupture of intracranial aneurysms (IA) results in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH), an often fatal type of stroke. Invasive IA treatment to prevent aSAH is a high-risk procedure, limiting its use and leaving most IA patients untreated. Thus, there is an urgent need for non-invasive drugs preventing aSAH, but these are lacking as our understanding of the causal disease pathways is poor. The considerable female predominance in IA and aSAH suggests the existence of sex-specific regulation of these pathways. In the ERC PRYSM StG we identified candidate drugs lisinopril, amlodipine, tamsulosin, simvastatin and metformin associated with a reduced risk of aSAH. These targets have an inhibitory effect on the Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGF-β) pathway, a potent inducer of Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal transition (EndMT), a driver of vascular disease. The Treat-PRYSM team’s main aim is to transition the research from the ERC PRYSM StG into innovation by performing the following activities: 1) Confirm and validate our 5 candidate drugs—lisinopril, amlodipine, tamsulosin, simvastatin and metformin—as effective drugs in reducing aSAH incidence, by employing the principle of drug repurposing and triangulating evidence from epidemiological and genetic data. 2) Find genetic evidence that the EndMT and TGF-β pathways are involved in IA pathogenesis, thereby identifying these pathways as potential therapeutic targets for the candidate drugs, using a large-scale genomics approach. 3) Determine whether the mode of action of the candidate drugs and EndMT/TGF-β pathways is influenced by sex. 4) Evaluate the opportunities for a clinical trial of the most promising candidate drug to assess its ability to inhibit growth of IAs, serving as a surrogate marker for rupture. This approach will ultimately provide a non-invasive, cost-effective drug to prevent aSAH in patients with unruptured IAs and will significantly enhance our understanding of the disease's causal pathways.
Projet ERC : SALAMI (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 143500.0 €

Extreme conditions, i.e. high pressures, high temperature (HP/HT) or harsh chemical environments are extremely difficult to study and to observe undisturbed in the field and to replicate in the laboratory. This critically slows down the rate of discoveries both for several industrial processes or in environmental sciences. New types of transparent reactors are needed to implement fast-screening to speed up experimentations in harsh conditions. While microfluidics could address these limitations, current solutions do not propose simultaneously high pressure / high temperature capability, chemical inertness and transparency. A new microfabrication technology developed in the ERC CoG BIG MAC project, allowed the development of an innovative microfluidics platform made out of sapphire for pioneered applications in HP microbiology and bioprocesses (in-situ characterisation of geo- and HP- bioprocesses over a broad range of pressures (< 300 bar) and temperatures (<200°C). In the ERC PoC SALAMI project, I aim to extend this concept to a new family of microfluidic devices based on sapphire and diamond to meet the actual needs of potential end-users (kbar, > 700°C). These microfluidic reactors will be highly disruptive because they are both uniquely transparent and resistant to harsh pressure, temperature and chemical conditions. The ERC PoC SALAMI project will extend the frontiers of microfluidics with market-ready extreme conditions plug-and-play and user-friendly lab-on-a-chip for lab-scale and field-based non-specialist applications. It will enable measurements in extreme environments in multiple areas that do not currently benefit from microfluidics, thus opening new lines of questioning for research and simplified and cost effective diagnostic tools for industry, while HP/HT technologies miniaturisation and fast screening capability can greatly reduce costs for process optimisation.
Projet ERC : SECRET-DOCK (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de médecine de Vienne — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Stress is the foremost consequence of human life and became a pressing societal burden through the many sensory and societal pressures that have evolved during the past decades. Severe stress induces maladaptive changes in the brain that clinically manifest as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite ~4% of the population presenting PTSD, only symptomatic therapies are available. In the ’SECRET-CELLS’ ERC award, we have identified a multimodal neurocircuit that induces brain-wide sensitization to stress through the sequential recruitment of hypothalamic, midbrain and then cortical neuronal circuits. Particularly, we identified protein targets that can simultaneously affect hormone and neurotransmitter release within this circuit and whose knock-out makes mice stress resilient. Therefore, we used unbiased proteomics to select protein interactors that participate in the related signaling cascades, determined the biochemical parameters of any such interaction and the X-ray structures of the relevant protein complexes. Moreso, a high-throughput screen was established to identify inhibitors. Here, we will apply this knowledge to use interacting proteins as templates for small-molecule inhibitor discovery and hit optimization. Subsequently, we will profile the pharmacology and cytotoxicity of the candidates in vitro. Thus, we will take critical steps towards developing a ‘circuit breaker’ that can inactivate the neuronal contingents that are causal to the development of PTSD. Thereby, we will offer a fundamentally novel framework for pharmacotherapy.
Projet ERC : CUSHOSP (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Organisation des Nations unies pour l'éducation, la science et la culture — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Unesco
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer due to climate change, is having an enormous impact on human society and economic development. In this Proof of Concept (PoC), we focus on a preventative measure for the rising cases of skin cancer induced by the increase in harmful exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, a factor that is having profound consequences at all levels of the economic sector. The most common measure used in the industry to protect the skin from UV rays, is through the application of sunscreens. The safety of the key chemical components of these sunscreens on both humans and marine life, are recurrently a matter of concern and debate in our society.  The CUSHOSP PoC seeks to explore, through state-of-the-art generative artificial intelligence, the design of organic assemblies that will form the building blocks of next- generation eco-friendly sunscreens. The radical idea behind CUSHOSP involves the re- purposing of hydrogen-bonding networks (HBNs) into sunscreens to capture UV light and subsequently prevent skin damage. The PoC leverages the expertise and promising preliminary results that have been amassed through the ERC Consolidator Grant, on the chemical physics and spectroscopy of HBNs as optical probes that can emit visible light. Through an interdisciplinary team involving partnerships between computational and experimental scientists along with industry consultants, the PoC has the ambition to create a chemical formulation that will serve as a lead candidate for an organic eco-friendly sunscreen.  The potential for technology transfer could create a completely new commercial market for sustainable, eco-friendly, and socio-economically accessible skin protection solutions with impact in both the skin protection and cosmetics industry. This, in turn, would enable more effective long-term planning to address the challenges posed by climate change in the coming decades.
Projet ERC : EPISELECT (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Bodø — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Aquaculture, the process of controlled fish and shellfish cultivation, is a sustainable alternative to fisheries. The sector has seen tremendous growth and Nile tilapia is one of the most important commercially farmed species worldwide. To date, the optimization of production yields is limited to traditional selective breeding programs, that exclusively focus on genetic markers. As a result, unknown variability in growth selection remains, which may be diminished through epigenetic selection.  Prof. Jorge Fernandes’ group has found evidence for the direct involvement of multiple categories of epigenetic markers in growth rate and size of Nile tilapia. During the ERC Consolidator project EPIFISH (#683210), Fernandes’ group observed important differences in expression levels of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs): full-sibling groups of Nile tilapia with distinct growth rates expressed different sets of ncRNAs in muscle, despite being reared under the same environmental conditions.  EPISELECT will explore the technical and commercial feasibility of a multi-panel for the assessment of epigenetic markers for fish growth optimization. This multi-panel will assess the newly discovered ncRNAs in combination with the previously identified DNA modification markers. As a result, EPISELECT may improve selective breeding programs, leading to higher profitability and increased sustainability of the aquaculture sector.  To reach the proof-of-concept stage, we will: 1) Explore ncRNA markers for growth prediction and validate the multi-panel of epimarkers; 2) Define an IPR position and strategy; 3a) Assess the market size, added value, cost analysis, and commercialisation route of the novel multi-panel of epigenetic markers; 3b) Establish connections with aquaculture industry and embed the project for commercialisation.