Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : MecMy (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : Technical University of Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : TUM
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 761845.0 €

Nervous system function requires precise communication between myriads of neurons and glia to generate and maintain a functional organ. Most axons are eventually surrounded with myelin, an insulating structure produced by specialized oligodendroglia. This cellular interaction enables fast signal transmission, ensures long-term axon survival, and is involved in regulating learning and memory formation. The formation of new myelin during lifelong development and after myelin damage requires differentiation of oligodendroglial precursors. Although these cells are an abundant population, myelin repair is often inefficient and eventually fails. It is known that oligodendroglial precursors have diverse properties, but whether this diversity is at any level a regulatory factor for normal myelination, or causal to failure of myelin repair is unclear. Here, I will elucidate the diversity of oligodendroglial precursors by carrying out the first global analysis of their population dynamics in the whole animal from specification to myelination. I will investigate how differentiation properties change over time, reveal whether this is due to intrinsic or extrinsic factors, and identify the underlying molecular mechanisms. To achieve these goals I will use zebrafish, an ideally suited model organism for in vivo live cell imaging and genetic manipulation. I will carry out a clonal analysis of oligodendroglial precursor population dynamics during myelinated tract formation and after myelin damage. I will analyse the molecular signature of cells with different properties to identify crucial mediators. Lastly, I will investigate whether individual cells can show diversity at the subcellular mechanistic level of local axon-glial interactions. My work will provide fundamentally new insights into the principles of the heterogeneity of oligodendroglial precursors and may help to device new strategies of how to employ these cells to form new myelin in development and disease.
Projet ERC : NEUROMICRONICA (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : SISSA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Neurological disorders, particularly dementia, constitute arguably the greatest socioeconomic challenge to the aging European continent. There is growing realization that rodents can serve as models not just for basic neurobiological processes (e.g. synaptic transmission) but also for remarkably complex, primate-like and even human-like cognitive operations such as perception, memory, economics, social interaction, and decision making. Better rodent models for cognition are necessary to test theories on the molecular basis of neurological disorders and to test therapies: only through rodent behavioral neuroscience can the circuits that give rise to cognitive operations be examined and dissected, probed and manipulated. The aim of ERC Advanced Project ‘CONCEPT’ is to understand the neuronal bases of perception, memory and decision making. To achieve this aim, we have developed innovative instrumentation incorporating the following elements: (i) awake rodent interacting with its environment, (ii) precisely controlled sensory stimuli, (iii) imaging of animal’s action, (iv) electrophysiology with moveable microelectrode arrays, (v) optogenetics, (vi) integration and management of all incoming and outgoing signals. Here, we present our plan for bringing these instruments to a stage where they can constitute the initial product line for a spin-off named NeuroMicronica. The community’s interest in NeuroMicronica is already testified by the commercialization of the electrode drive in agreement with a prestigious USA company, by NeuroMicronica’s selection in a technology startup competition, and by the enthusiastic and constructive feedback from collaborators now employing beta versions. The expected outcome of NeuroMicronica will be to make this lab’s longstanding experience in instrumentation available to the community, allowing investigators to better exploit rodent behavioral neuroscience as a model for normal and pathological human cognition.

Mots-clés : behavioral neuroscience,instrumentation,neurophysiology,optogenetics,sensors,computerized control
Projet ERC : NeuroLang (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Inria
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1497045.0 €

Neuroscience is at an inflection point. The 150-year old cortical specialization paradigm, in which cortical brain areas have a distinct set of functions, is experiencing an unprecedented momentum with over 1000 articles being published every year. However, this paradigm is reaching its limits. Recent studies show that current approaches to atlas brain areas, like relative location, cellular population type, or connectivity, are not enough on their own to characterize a cortical area and its function unequivocally. This hinders the reproducibility and advancement of neuroscience. Neuroscience is thus in dire need of a universal standard to specify neuroanatomy and function: a novel formal language allowing neuroscientists to simultaneously specify tissue characteristics, relative location, known function and connectional topology for the unequivocal identification of a given brain region. The vision of NeuroLang is that a unified formal language for neuroanatomy will boost our understanding of the brain. By defining brain regions, networks, and cognitive tasks through a set of formal criteria, researchers will be able to synthesize and integrate data within and across diverse studies. NeuroLang will accelerate the development of neuroscience by providing a way to evaluate anatomical specificity, test current theories, and develop new hypotheses. NeuroLang will lead to a new generation of computational tools for neuroscience research. In doing so, we will be shedding a novel light onto neurological research and possibly disease treatment and palliative care. Our project complements current developments in large multimodal studies across different databases. This project will bring the power of Domain Specific Languages to neuroscience research, driving the field towards a new paradigm articulating classical neuroanatomy with current statistical and machine learning-based approaches.

Mots-clés : computational neuroanatomy,domain specific language,brain connectivity,diffusion mri,functional mri
Projet ERC : NURE (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
Entité participante : University of Catania — Pays : Italie — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 362187.5 €

Neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) is considered the best potential resource to determine the absolute neutrino mass scale. Moreover, if observed, it will signal that the total lepton number is not conserved and neutrinos are Majorana particles. Presently, this physics case is one of the most important research “beyond the Standard Model” and might guide the way towards a Grand Unified Theory of fundamental interactions. Since the ββ decay process involves nuclei, its analysis necessarily implies nuclear structure issues. The 0νββ decay rate can be expressed as a product of independent factors: the phase-space factors, the nuclear matrix elements (NME) and a function of the masses of the neutrino species.Thus the knowledge of the NME can give information on the neutrino mass, if the 0νββ decay rate is measured. The novel idea of NURE is to use nuclear reactions of double charge-exchange (DCE) as a tool to determine the ββ NME. In DCE reactions and ββ decay, the initial and final nuclear states are the same and the transition operators have the same spin-isospin structure. Thus, even if the two processes are mediated by different interactions, the NME are connected and the determination of the DCE cross-sections can give crucial information on ββ matrix elements. NURE plans to carry out a campaign of experiments using accelerated beams on different targets candidates for 0νββ decay. The DCE channel will be populated using (18O,18Ne) and (20Ne,20O) reactions by the innovative MAGNEX large acceptance spectrometer, which is unique in the world to measure very suppressed reaction channels at high resolution. The complete net involving the single charge-exchange and multi-step transfers characterized by the same initial and final nuclei will be also measured to study the reaction mechanism. The absolute cross-sections will be extracted. The comparison with microscopic state-of-the-art calculations will give access to the NMEs.

Mots-clés : neutrinoless double beta decay,magnetic spectrometers
Projet ERC : OPTIMA (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : Ghent University — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UGent
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1995000.0 €

New manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing have the potential to drastically transform the chemical industry. Novel, complex, integrated reactor designs can now be created, that will allow to unlock alternative chemical routes, such as for methane activation. Driven by process intensification and the power of high performance computing, this project will enhance heat and mass transfer in advanced chemical reactors by multiscale modelling and experimentation. OPTIMA aims to: (1) develop in silico novel 3D reactor technologies and concepts with significantly improved selectivity and heat transfer by the use of additive manufacturing; (2) generate new fundamental understanding of kinetics, heat transfer and mass transfer by using advanced measuring techniques for processes of both current and future importance; (3) demonstrate the practical applicability of an open-source multiscale large eddy simulation (LES) platform in combination with finite rate chemistry for turbulent reacting flows; (4) transform the chemical industry by valorising methane and converting it to a platform molecule through oxidative coupling of methane. OPTIMA will focus on two olefin production processes of industrial and social importance in Europe, the exothermal oxidative coupling of methane and the endothermic steam cracking, demonstrating the universality of the proposed new paradigm. Starting from fundamental experiments and kinetic modelling (WP1), detailed chemistry will be implemented in an open-source LES multiscale modelling framework (WP2) generating in silico novel 3D reactor technologies with significantly improved selectivity (WP3). The power of the approach will be ultimately demonstrated in a novel, 3D integrated reactor, in which the studied exothermic and endothermic processes are cleverly combined (WP4). OPTIMA will pave the way for designing the 3D reactors of tomorrow and promote the new techniques and tools that will be driving innovation in the next decades.

Mots-clés : oxidative coupling of methane revolution,rotor reactor,turbulator reactor,olefin production
Projet ERC : 3DPartForm (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : Leibniz Association — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : LG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1162338.06 €

New polymer materials are necessary to match the demand for highly integrated, multifunctional, responsive systems for sensing, information processing, soft robotics or multi-parametric implants. Both established material design concepts based on lithography, and emerging engineering efforts based on additive manufacturing (AM) are currently not able to fully address the need for topologically complex, multifunctional and stimuli-responsive polymer materials. This proposal aims at establishing a radically new approach for polymer material design, rethinking AM on both material and process level. Here, functionality will be already embedded at the building block level to emerge into larger scales. The exact methodology relies on polymer microparticles as a novel material basis with arbitrary geometry, function, mechanics and responsiveness. These microparticulate formulations will serve as predefined, voxel-like building blocks in AM yielding hierarchical assemblies with spatially defined voxel position and programmable, adaptive properties, which clearly go beyond existing functional material classes. With that, 3DPartForm will address the current lack of additive manufacturing providing multifunctional, stimuli-responsive materials, in which not only strongly different, but most importantly functional building blocks with intrinsic time axis will be processed into true 4D-polymer multimaterials. Products emerging from this approach will reach a previously unknown level of system integration, where optical transparency, electric and thermal conductivity as well as diffusivity and mechanical rigidity will become spatiotemporally tunable at single-voxel level. Coupled sensing and actuation operations will be realized by processing, transforming and manipulating single or combined input stimuli within these materials in the focus of 3DPartform, and platforms for biomimetics and cell-free biotechnology will be implemented as a long-term goal.

Mots-clés : microfluidics,polymer gels,4d materials,additive manufacturing,hierarchical assembly,stimuli responsiveness
Projet ERC : DYNACOTINE (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions
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 : 2282105.0 €

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) mediate neuronal synaptic transmission and modulation. They contribute to higher brain functions such as cognition and reward and are important drug targets. Recent studies have revealed that these acetylcholine-gated ion channels display an unanticipated conformational plasticity, adopting multiple allosteric states that shape the time course of their electrophysiological response. To date, a single nAChR structure has been solved at high resolution, and our understanding of the conformational transitions remains so far elusive. To address this challenge, we propose to develop a top-down approach starting from the study of the conformational transitions of nAChRs functionally expressed in cells, and then dissecting the molecular mechanisms on purified proteins. In WP1, we will develop an innovative fluorescence quenching approach to follow the protein motions concomitant with channel opening at the cell membrane. In WP2, we will further exploit this technique on purified proteins, to study the role/requirement of lipids, and their pharmacological crosstalk with allosteric modulators acting at the transmembrane domain. In WP3, the gained knowledge will open original routes to solve 3D structures of nAChRs, in novel conformations and in complex with allosteric modulators. The research will be centered on the major brain nAChRs, primarily the homomeric α7 and also the heteromeric α4β2 nAChRs that are major physiological players and key potential therapeutic targets. This multidisciplinary project combines electrophysiology, fluorescence, pharmacology, membrane protein biochemistry and structural biology, together with in silico modeling, molecular dynamics and ligand docking. The results will provide fundamental insights into the allosteric mechanisms underlying both nAChR function and its modulation by allosteric modulators that hold promises in therapeutics.

Mots-clés : ligand gated ion channel,pharmacology,allostery
Projet ERC : MigrationRhythms (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : Peace Research Institute Oslo — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : PRIO
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499725.0 €

Ninety percent of the global increase in the size of middle classes is occurring in Asia. What is driving this tremendous middle-class expansion and how is it related to the unprecedented levels of internal and international migration in that region? Specifically, what roles does migration play in Asian families’ trajectories into middle-classness over time? MigrationRhythms will investigate this question, discerning whether the roles of migration in trajectories of upward social mobility into middle-classness differ, and if so, how and why. The variation in distances and durations of migration among individuals in a family, over time, are described as migration rhythms. MigrationRhythms will produce a typology of different migration rhythms associated with specific trajectories of upward social mobility into the middle classes, which will enable a comprehensive theorization of the interaction of migration and social mobility of universal applicability, based on the unique data-rich Asian context. The combination of two distinct approaches will enable achieving MigrationRhythms’ objective of evaluating the roles of migration in trajectories of upward social mobility: First, the project employs a mixed-methods research design, encompassing family history interviews and quasi-longitudinal survey data from four Asian cities: Hanoi, Karachi, Manila and Mumbai. Second, it applies rhythmanalysis, as part of an inductive process-tracing framework, across the qualitative and quantitative data sets. This dual approach will enable the PI and two postdocs to identify the relative prevalence of different migration rhythms in families’ trajectories of upward social mobility into middle-classness. The PI will build on these analyses of migration rhythms to theorize the roles of spatial mobility (and immobility) in producing social mobility outcomes over the long-term, promising scientific advances in geography and migration studies, of relevance for research on social mobility.

Mots-clés : migration and social change,spatial and social mobility,new middle classes in asia,migration research in human geography,migration and mobility,migration and urbanization,mixed methods,family history interviews,quasi longitudinal survey methods,retrospective longitudinal methods
Projet ERC : NEBULAR (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : University of Manchester — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 987348.44 €

Nitrogen-containing compounds underpin every aspect of our daily life as they form the structural basis of almost all pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, food additives and materials. The invention of methods for the formation of bonds between C and N atoms is of strategic importance for the discovery and evolution of molecules with direct implications on the quality of our lives. Despite this fundamental relevance, forming C–N bonds is still a very challenging task. This proposal aims to deliver transformative advances for the development of new efficient and selective strategies for the synthesis of N-containing molecules by harnessing visible-light as inexpensive and sustainable source of energy. I aim to challenge preconceptions about the field of organic chemistry and to develop innovative methods to control, modulate and transform the reactivity of nitrogen-centered radicals (NCRs), an entire class of reactive intermediates for which there are only limited applications in modern organic chemistry. My research group has developed two novel visible-light-mediated ways of generating NCRs, and I aim to: (1) Harness and explore the unique features of visible-light-mediated transformations to provide novel multicomponent reactions of NCRs. (2) Establish NCRs as viable partners in asymmetric photoredox catalysis and use them for the easy construction of complex molecules with defined 3D shapes. (3) Merge the visible-light generation of NCRs with organocatalysis to enable novel dual catalytic asymmetric protocols. (4) Combine the NCRs with transition metal catalysis and discover unprecedented transformations that go beyond photoredox catalysis and transition metal catalysis alone. This cohesive and innovative approach will develop new tools essential for the assembly of complex molecules with biological, therapeutic and agrochemical properties. Overall this project will transform the way C–N bonds are forged and how N-containing molecules are assembled.

Mots-clés : photoredox catalysis,visible light,electron tranfer,nitrogen containing molecules,c n bond formation
Projet ERC : NSETHIO (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : University of Antwerp — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UAntwerp
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2224931.49 €

Nodding syndrome (NS) is a neurological, incurable syndrome, currently affecting mainly children between 5 and 15 years of age in South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. Since 1950, when NS was first described, its cause has remained a mystery. NS is characterized by head-nodding (an atonic form of epilepsy), often followed by clonic - tonic seizures, developmental retardation and faltering growth. In the affected regions, NS is a major public health problem associated with severe socio-economic consequences. After exploratory missions to South Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), we gathered epidemiological evidence that supports the hypothesis that NS is a disease caused by a pathogen transmitted by blackflies, the vectors that transmit the parasitic worm that causes onchocerciasis. This pathogen could be an unknown neurotropic virus or another pathogen that is transmitted either independently or as a symbiont of the worm. We postulate that this pathogen is able to cause typical NS, but also other forms of epidemic epilepsy. We hypothesise that the same disease is also endemic in other onchocerciasis hyper-endemic regions e.g. in the Mbam valley, Cameroon and the Orientale Province, DRC (where it is referred to as “river epilepsy”). In this project we aim to investigate our hypotheses in South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Cameroon and the DRC with a trans-disciplinary approach including clinical-epidemiological, post-mortem, eco-entomological, and metagenomic studies. We will study the effect of vector control methods and ivermectin distribution on the incidence of river epilepsy. So far a multi-country study on NS was never done and nearly all previous studies were cross-sectional, carried out during short country visits. With this long term research plan we hope to finally discover the cause of NS and detect effective control strategies to decrease the incidence of epilepsy in onchocerciasis endemic areas.

Mots-clés : vector born diseases,onchocerciasis