Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : ReThink (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Immunity, Infection and I mmunotherapy
Entité participante : Université d'Oxford — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 46747.0 €

All recent viral pandemics originated following human adaptation of zoonotic viruses. Our front-line antiviral defences are a major barrier to these viruses. Specifically, our cells encode antiviral proteins -that can be species-specific-, and directly inhibit viral entry, replication, and spread, thus influencing the outcome of infection. Current dogma states that antiviral proteins induced by interferon signalling, named interferon stimulated genes (ISGs), are the most significant front-line of defence. However, as ISGs are induced upon recognition of an already replicating virus, I hypothesize that an array of proteins that are constitutively expressed act to contain the initial wave of viral infection before the more specific and potent ISGs are expressed, thus providing a critical first-line of defence that influences pathogenesis and interspecies transmission. Supporting this hypothesis, my recent genome-wide multi-OMICs investigation of dengue (DENV) and influenza virus (IAV) restriction revealed that 75% of the proteins that inhibited viral infection are non-ISGs. Integrative analysis of these proteins revealed enrichment in general cellular pathways, -many not previously linked to viral restriction-, with significant enrichment in homeostasis maintenance. Moreover, depletion of one single of these proteins resulted in 100% mortality in infected mice, confirming their role in pathogenesis. Using DENV as a model of emergent WHO-priority virus, I will now characterize how these proteins inhibit DENV and other related (west Nile and zika) and unrelated viruses (IAV) (Objective 1). I will investigate their impact on DENV pathogenesis using attenuated and virulent clinical isolates (Objective 2) and as barriers of interspecies transmission using ex vivo models (Objective 3). Overall, this work will shift our understanding of antiviral defences, opening a new area of research that offers signatures of pathogenesis, surveillance, and broad-acting antiviral targets.

Mots-clés : pandemic viruses,host defences,emergent viruses
Projet ERC : avataResponsibility (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Texts and Concepts
Entité participante : Université de Bucarest — Pays : Roumanie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1494688.0 €

This project investigates how avatar agency impacts practices of ascribing moral responsibility in emergent avatar communities (Metaverse, augmented Metaverse, and Human-Cybernetic Avatar societies). These communities challenge traditional frameworks of agency and moral responsibility. The unprecedented persistent and continuous use of multiple avatars by both humans and organisations, has the potential to permeate prior boundaries of the physical, the augmented and the virtual world. We propose a dynamic normative framework of ascribing moral responsibility that is grounded in a philosophical conceptualisation of avatar agency. This framework considers the way interactions between avatars, individuals, and organisations generate intertwined and mutual ascriptions of moral responsibility, potentially enhancing or, on the contrary, diminishing human agency and responsibility in emergent avatar communities. We construct our approach along five main objectives: 1) to clarify avatar agency and related responsibility pertaining to individual, organisational, and artificial members of emergent avatar communities; 2) to delineate the way avatar agency enhances or restrains individual agency and responsibility; 3) to correlate the way interactions between social entities in avatar communities generate mutually enhancing (or perhaps decreasing) ascriptions of moral responsibility to all participants; 4) to evaluate the extent in which the ethical characteristics of the community environment can generate normative attributions of responsibility; 5) to project normative evaluations of blaming and praising practices in avatar communities. The successful delivery of this ethical framework is an original contribution to the problem of moral responsibility and bears direct implications for future regulation, impacting societal moral practices of accountability and blaming.

Mots-clés : agency,moral responsibility,avatar,organizations,collective responsibility,human enhancement,normative ethics
Projet ERC : Micro-SHIFT (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : Université de Tromsø — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UiT
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2499169.0 €

Unprecedented warming in the Arctic is threatening microorganisms of the sea ice biome that support life in the marine ecosystem and influence atmosphere-ocean interactions of climate relevant gases, like CO2. Yet, characterisation of sea ice biodiversity, an index of system susceptibility to environmental change, and its productivity, are dangerously incomplete. These shortcomings largely stem from the biome’s complexity, which is a dynamic relation of several microhabitats, and an oversimplified focus on photosynthetic activity in only a subset of all microhabitats present. My pilot research indicates these deficiencies likely misrepresent the biome’s resilience to warming and its function as an autotrophic carbon source in the Arctic Ocean.  Micro-SHIFT tests this hypothesis by targeting critical knowledge gaps on microbial diversity and production for the range of microhabitats truly comprising the sea ice biome. In doing so, it defines the contribution of sea ice to Arctic marine biodiversity and production, and addresses uncertainties highlighted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The multidisciplinary project traverses microbiology, geography, and biogeochemistry. It uses novel innovations for sampling microhabitats in targeted field campaigns and laboratory experiments to identify the biome’s resiliency. Together, these breakthroughs enable modelling that completely accounts for biome productivity, now and in the future. Micro-SHIFT would be the first holistic project considering all sea ice microhabitats together. It is an ambitious task, but one that I am ideally suited for with 10+ years of sea ice experience. In this time, I have laid the foundations to accomplish project objectives: developing essential O2-based approaches and completing pilot studies that build best practices. Project outcomes will transform our view of the sea ice biome, revealing how we can expect this fragile system to change as the Arctic continues to warm.

Mots-clés : sea ice biome,arctic ocean,primary production,biogeochemical modelling,biotoxin
Projet ERC : INTERCHAIN (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Université technique de Vienne — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU Wien
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499103.0 €

INTERCHAIN aims to develop and investigate a ground-breaking new molecular design concept for conjugated polymers. The concept is expected to enable the occurrence of stacked-ring aromaticity between polymer chains, drastically advancing our fundamental understanding of stacked-ring aromaticity and introducing a route to exploit this effect for the development of conjugated polymers with excellent charge transport properties.  For conjugated polymers with excellent charge transport properties, strong intermolecular interactions are needed, which is difficult to achieve without compromising processability. However, as an emerging class of organic molecules, conjugated macrocycles provide an exciting playing field for the discovery of effects and properties that cannot usually be achieved. In contrast to other molecules, conjugated macrocycles can sustain global aromatic or antiaromatic ring currents, offering exciting prospects to enhance the properties of conjugated materials by enabling exceptionally strong intermolecular interactions. If the macrocycles used are antiaromatic, the interactions between two macrocycles can even result in stacked-ring aromaticity. Integrated into the backbone of conjugated polymers, such macrocycles may enable interchain stacked-ring aromaticity and interchain π‐electron delocalisation, in addition to intrachain π‐electron delocalisation. However, the inherent instability of the required antiaromatic molecules poses a tremendous challenge for the investigation of stacked-ring aromaticity and prevents the development of polymers that exploit this effect.  INTERCHAIN proposes a ground-breaking new molecular design concept that overcomes this challenge by eliminating the need for antiaromatic molecules to achieve stacked-ring aromaticity. The project will drastically advance our fundamental understanding of stacked-ring aromaticity, but it will also yield highly stable conjugated polymers with excellent properties for applications.

Mots-clés : conjugated polymers,conjugated macrocycles,molecular design of organic materials,stacked ring aromaticity,structure property relationships,organic polymer semiconductors
Projet ERC : Time2SWITCH (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Université technique de Vienne — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU Wien
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1496795.0 €

I envision a new drug delivery system capable spatiotemporal release with electronic precision. This technology is based on; Biontronic Chemistry (BC) which combines Bioorthogonal Release (BR) and Iontronic transport to overcome the drawbacks of each individual technology and combine their unique advantages. An electronic ion pump (IP) will enable programable electrophoretic transport of chemical triggers without liquid flow or moving mechanical parts to initiate the ultrafast & selective bioorthogonal release (BR) of drugs at the target site to generate previously unobtainable dynamic concentration-time profiles. Hence, BC translates electrical stimuli, of arbitrary frequencies and amplitudes, into tailor-made bio-chemical concentration/time profiles. By incorporating surface release functionalities and orthogonal bioorthogonal chemistries I will further expand the concept and demonstrate choreographed cascade releases to afford individually programmable release of multiple compounds with distinct concentration/time profiles. We will map out this large parameter space using a combination of rational chemical design, computationally aided device physics and engineering, fluorescent model systems and finally evaluation in cell models. T2S will lay the foundation for new directions in science and offer unprecedented opportunities for various therapies wherein choreographed, spatiotemporal control of multiple drug release is key (e.g. cancer; nerve regeneration and aging). My hypothesis is that if we combine local drug delivery and chronotherapy, we can dramatically increase treatment efficacy and reduce (if not completely) eliminate side effects. My overarching goal is to create a Switch that elevates medicine to the 5th dimension (5D) thus paving the way towards a paradigm shift in drug delivery and our understanding/ability to manipulate biological-spacetime by delivering the right dose (1D) at the right place (3D) at the right time (1D).

Mots-clés : bioorthogonal reactions,click chemistry,iontronic devices,chronotherapy,bioelectronics
Projet ERC : bioTARGET (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Université technique de Vienne — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU Wien
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1479321.0 €

Bioorthogonal chemistries cross the boundaries between static chemical connectivity and the dynamic physiologic regulation of molecular state, enabling powerful tools for molecular control in complex biological environments. In combination with ligand-directed drug delivery, safe and selective chemical reactions that perform efficiently in vivo can fuel the design of new therapeutic strategies. Despite significant progress in the field of drug targeting, it remains challenging to shuttle therapeutic agents to the desired tissue, reaching the necessary cellular and even sub-cellular level, all while avoiding collateral damage. To engage this challenge, I aim to develop the concept of bioorthogonal cascade-targeting to direct the recognition, activation, and intracellular delivery of therapeutic constructs with molecular precision. We will develop next-level chemical tools for bioorthogonal bond-cleavage with exceptional reaction performance and the unique capability of tunable sequential release events (‘tandem release’). These innovations will enable us to design bioorthogonally activatable ligands for multiple therapeutic approaches that open new ground, most notably in escalating the complexity of (bio)chemical choreography. In particular, I propose cascade-processes, triggered by a single biocompatible click event, that can achieve: (i) the ‘bridging’ of non-internalizing cell-surface receptors to forward therapeutics into cells; (ii) the ‘hopping’ of drug conjugates from one target to another, or from one cell to another; and (iii) kinetically preprogrammed ‘escape’ of drugs from the endosomal compartment of cells entered via cascade-targeting. This will allow us to spatially and temporally control the movement and release of therapeutics in a (sub)cellular environment, and ultimately to establish bioorthogonal cascades as unique strategies that shift the paradigm of biologically controlled drug delivery.

Mots-clés : bioorthogonal chemistry click chemistry bioorthogonal bond cleavage reactions drug targeting cellular uptake
Projet ERC : TREE-RING GENOMICS (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative B iology : from Genes and Genomes to S ystems
Entité participante : Université suédoise des sciences agricoles — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : SLU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1360684.2 €

Economically important and ecologically dominant conifers are succumbing to drought, disease, early-budding and other challenges globally because mature trees are no longer adapted to their current environment under climate change. If we can understand how individual trees respond to different environments, we can match seed sources to an appropriate environment. Existing approaches for understanding adaptive responses to variable environment are effective but agronomic approaches are limited by both long generation times and the genetic diversity they can evaluate and significant variants discovered in environmental GWAS in natural populations are often associated both with adaptation but also demographic structure, confounding inference. We propose a system for quickly estimating adaptive responses for any forest tree. Focusing on annual growth measurements, measured from increment core samples, provides replication of a given genotype across hundreds of experienced year-environments. This allows us to partition growth variation into generalizable environmental responses for years with historical weather or biotic information, using quantitative genomic and ecological approaches to control for correlated responses. We focus on the economically and ecologically important conifer Norway spruce (Picea abies) to 1) develop models and infrastructure to understand the fraction of annual growth that can be attributed to genotype, environment and genotype-by-environment interactions (GxE), 2) map the genetic basis of adaptive response using estimates for GxE as a response in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and 3) predict genetic responses to novel environments. This approach will enable estimation of the genetic basis of adaptive responses in any population, providing the means to evaluate a tree’s performance in any modelled environment. As environments shift under climate change, this will provide a powerful tool to select parents for healthy, resilient forests.
Projet ERC : MAG-TOOL (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials Engineering
Entité participante : Université de technologie de Darmstadt — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499876.0 €

Nd-Fe-B magnets are central to both green mobility and the generation of electricity from renewable resources. But the need to incorporate heavy rare earths like Tb and Dy –highly critical raw materials– to operate these magnets above 100 °C (required for electric vehicles and wind turbines) makes them very costly, environmentally damaging, and with a very fragile value chain. And despite four decades of effort, no practical alternative to Nd-Fe-B has been found. SmFe12-based compounds have superior intrinsic magnetic properties, actually surpassing those of benchmark Nd-Fe-B and, without the need for additional heavy rare earths. The challenge with SmFe12 is phase instability in the bulk form and creating a microstructure that will convert the large intrinsic anisotropy field into a usable coercivity. What we know so far is that the solution lies in combining multiple alloying elements, each one impacting differently. In Sm(Fe,M,X,Z)12, for example, 20 alloying elements results in around ≈10^8 combinations (“experiments”), if each element varies from 1 to 15 at.% in quinary compositions. MAG-TOOL will create a cutting-edge toolbox that combines experimental techniques with state-of-the-art machine-learning algorithms, eliminating the need for trial-and-error. This breakthrough approach drastically reduces the number of experiments from a daunting ≈10^8 down to a manageable ≈10^2. MAG-TOOL will achieve that by breaking the multi-element complexity, starting to predict the compounds with useful phases using only three elements. This knowledge will be transferred to multi-element situations and combined with robust experiments to deliver superior magnetic properties in powders and melt-spun ribbons. MAG-TOOL will also include a laser-deposition, additive-manufacturing system for rapidly creating many compositions within the same bulk samples through compositional gradients. The outcome of the project will be the new medium- and high-performance sustainable magnet.

Mots-clés : permanent magnets,machine learning,powder processing,phase diagrams,additive manufacturing,magnetic properties,microstructure
Projet ERC : LogiNet (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : Université de technologie de Darmstadt — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have achieved great breakthroughs in many fields. However, DNNs require massive multiply-accumulate (MAC) operations and their execution on digital hardware causes formidable energy consumption. State-of-the-art solutions are still focusing on simply accelerating MAC operations in DNNs instead of examining their actual logic functions after training. The blind execution of massive MAC operations in inference, however, poses critical risks to performance and energy sustainability of AI systems. It also misses the opportunity of examining internal decision-making processes of DNNs for their verification in reliability-critical systems. To address these challenges, LogiNet explores a new perspective to study the execution of DNNs on hardware with their logic representations and high-level expressions, thus opening a new door for design methodologies to realize high-performance and low-energy DNN computing for a wide range of scenarios from edge devices to data centers. The high-level expressions of DNNs can also be used to analyze the properties of DNNs and thus contribute to the understanding of their actual functions. Specifically, LogiNet extracts logic representations of DNNs by embedding pretrained weights into the circuits of MAC operations to reduce data movement and computational complexity. This also constructs a bridge between MAC operations and their high-level expressions, which can be compiled and executed by CPUs and thus enable a flexible scheduling of DNN operations in modern heterogeneous computing systems. Furthermore, LogiNet explores the analysis of DNN properties such as hardware reliability and fairness in decision-making using high-level expressions. In short, LogiNet not only develops new solutions for green AI to benefit economy and environment but also lays the foundation for new directions such as logic-based DNN validation in the era of large-scale models that have started to influence our society fundamentally.

Mots-clés : design methodologies for digital hardware acceleration of neural network inference efficient inference of neural networks on digital hardware digital logic circuits of neural networks