Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : SOPHIA (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : Graz University of Technology — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1964750.0 €

More than 15 years ago, several seminal publications showed that cryptographic keys can be revealed by analysing the power consumption or by inducing faults to devices like smart cards. The publication of these so-called physical attacks sparked off research on all kinds of attack techniques and countermeasures to secure implementations of cryptographic schemes. However, a system can still be attacked easily if only the execution of cryptographic schemes is secured. An attacker can for example induce a fault to bypass an authentication or to jump to a privileged function directly. The system might also leak the key before the execution of a cryptographic scheme starts. Today, there is almost no research on securing systems and software execution against physical attacks. Products like smart cards rely on proprietary best-practice countermeasures. Also countless devices of the Internet of Things are exposed to physical attacks and lack protection. Our goal is to close this fundamental gap in system security and to establish the scientific foundation for executing software securely and efficiently in the presence of physical attacks. We aim to address research questions that range from the modelling of the attacks at the hardware level up to system-level questions like how changing properties of programming languages can support achieving protection against physical attacks. This project brings together research on physical attacks, cryptography, system architectures, fault tolerant design as well as formal methods. Combining the fields, we pursue novel approaches to securing the control flow, CPU computations and memories. We in particular aim to find efficient methods in hardware and software that allow building systems where critical parts of the overall software can be secured against physical attacks without affecting or trusting the rest of the system. Our research also includes automated generation and verification techniques for the secured software.
Projet ERC : EMPOWER (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ETH Zurich
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2198145.0 €

More than a century ago, the invention of alternating current (AC) transformer has made AC the preferred choice over the direct current (DC) technologies. Line AC transformers are bulky but simple and reliable devices, made out of copper and iron, providing voltage adaptation and galvanic isolation in AC power systems. Currently, DC technology is increasing its presence in AC power systems, enabled by progress in semiconductor devices and power electronics based energy conversion. DC power distribution networks can effectively support energy transformation and high penetration of distributed energy resources and energy storage integration (both increasingly being DC by nature) in future energy systems. Despite this shift towards the DC power distribution networks, DC Transformer, offering AC transformer like features (and beyond) does not exist, either conceptually or practically. To enable the next (r)evolution in power systems, the EMPOWER project will develop the DC Transformer, a novel, flexible, highly efficient, compact, and reliable conversion principle for seamless energy routing in high-power DC distribution networks. Through a holistic approach, novel concepts, integration and optimization, we will demonstrate new design paradigms for galvanically-isolated power conversion. Our approach relies on resonant conversion utilizing high-voltage semiconductor devices in combination with high-frequency magnetic materials. We propose a new approach for the DC Transformer, avoiding active power flow control and instead utilizing control effort for the safety and protection. The DC Transformer will unify functions of a power converter and a protection device into a single power electronics system, improving drastically the conversion efficiency, reliability and power density in future DC power distribution networks. The success of this project will place Europe at the edge of reliable, efficient and safe energy distribution and transmission technologies.
Projet ERC : MetCAF (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Tel Aviv University — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TAU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1281958.75 €

Mortality from breast cancer is almost exclusively a result of tumor metastasis. Since advanced metastatic cancers are usually fatal, understanding the biology of tumor metastasis is the most significant challenge in cancer research today. It has become clear that the microenvironment of tumors is crucial in supporting tumor growth. Nevertheless, the role of the metastatic microenvironment in facilitating metastatic colonization is largely unknown. We recently uncovered a novel role for Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts (CAFs) in mediating tumor-promoting inflammation. However, the role of CAFs in the formation of a permissive metastatic niche that enables the growth of disseminated tumor cells is unresolved. I propose to systematically investigate, for the first time, the molecular changes in CAFs that facilitate metastases formation, which may lead to the discovery of novel targets for cancer therapeutics. To achieve this goal, I will integrate tumor biology knowledge and the unique expertise of my lab: we will combine novel mouse models of spontaneous lung metastasis of breast cancer, imitating the clinical setting, with multi-transgenic reporter mice that enable origin tracing and unbiased analysis of fibroblast sub-populations. By performing a comprehensive molecular and functional characterization of fibroblast co-evolution during metastases formation and analysis of breast cancer patient cohorts, we will uncover the dynamic changes in CAFs at the metastatic niche, identify the origin of metastatic CAFs, and elucidate the signaling pathways that govern their functional role in breast cancer metastasis. Molecular understanding of the early stages of tumor metastasis is an essential prerequisite for the discovery of novel therapeutic targets. Achievement of the proposed goals will shed light on a central conundrum in cancer biology and open new horizons for the development of novel therapeutics that will transform cancer into a chronic, yet manageable disease.

Mots-clés : cancer associated fibroblasts,breast cancer,metastasis,inflammation,microenvironment,fibrosis
Projet ERC : AQUACHIRAL (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Entité participante : Max Planck Society — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : MPG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2490250.0 €

Most chemical reactions in lifeforms take place in aqueous environments and probing biochemical molecules and their reactions in the aqueous phase is indispensable for advancing fundamental and applied science. Equally, intermolecular effects involving chiral complexes are highly relevant to life sciences, where hydration and chiral recognition are fundamental biochemical processes, typically occurring at aqueous interfaces. All of these processes are driven by electronic structure interactions with water molecules and are intimately connected with aqueous-phase electron binding energies. The prime experimental tool to access these properties is photoelectron spectroscopy (PES). With the recent invention of liquid-microjet-(LJ) PES, compatible with highly volatile liquid water and aqueous solutions, this technique has significantly contributed to modern water research, providing important insights into formerly elusive water properties, such as absolute energetics and solute interfacial distributions. I propose to explore chirality in aqueous solution using a novel aspect of photoelectron emission: photoelectron circular dichroism (PECD). It is site-specific and sensitive to chemical environment and structure. Furthermore, PECD exceeds absorption-based chiroptical signals by orders of magnitude, allowing application to dilute samples, potentially including interfacial layers, akin to PES. PECD has been demonstrated for isolated chiral molecules and clusters, and measurement of PECD effects in aqueous solution would mark a scientific breakthrough. The aim of AQUACHIRAL is to combine LJ-PES with PECD to (1) probe aqueous-phase chirality using enantioselective electronic-structure fingerprints of solutes and to (2) follow the stereochemistry of prominent chemical reactions in aqueous solution, e.g. slow glucose mutarotation. To achieve this, experimental technology must be extended, with novel liquid jets and electron detection systems being developed and optimized.

Mots-clés : physh  gas liquid interfaces,physh  chirality
Projet ERC : SelfDriving4DSR (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation — Pays : Portugal — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999905.0 €

Most fundamental biomedical discoveries are carried by indirect observation, due to our inability to follow molecular-level cellular processes non-invasively in living samples. There is a major need to develop the capacity to directly observe the molecular basis of cell regulation at relevant spatial and temporal scales. My work has focused on establishing Next-Generation Super-Resolution Microscopy able to accurately describe the nanoscale structure of living-cells, beyond the capacity of conventional imaging. Despite significant advancements, Super-Resolution Microscopy does not allow observations for more than a few minutes before damaging high-intensity illumination compromises cell behaviour. Better fluorophores and optics can partly address this problem; however, a fundamental limitation remains - humans drive imaging. In microscopy, researchers take educated guesses on how to observe a sample based on empirical criteria. Acquisition settings are then kept static, despite the diversity of spatiotemporal scales associated with cell behaviour in health and disease. This project will solve these challenges by establishing self-driving microscopes, able to adapt in real-time to the biological phenomenon under observation. Doing so, I will enable the capacity for unprecedented 4D imaging data optimised for content, resolution and quality while remaining non-invasive for long periods of time. To this end, I will bridge and evolve cutting-edge concepts in Computational Optical Microscopy and Machine Learning, effectively establishing Machine Learning Guided 4D Super-Resolution Microscopy. These approaches will enable 4D live-cell nanoscopic imaging over record periods and challenge the assumption that microscopy needs to obey homogeneous temporal sampling. Its enabling capacity will be demonstrated by visualising nanoscale cellular events previously unseen over hours, such as the molecular-level progression of viral infection.

Mots-clés : super resolution microscopy,optical development,machine learning,quantitative imaging,biological physics,viral infection,host pathogen interactions
Projet ERC : TimeMan (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : University of Antwerp — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : UAntwerp
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 515000.0 €

Most large-scale geological process such as plate tectonics or mantle convection involve plastic deformation of rocks. With most recent developments, constraining their rheological properties at natural strain-rates is something we can really achieve in the decade to come. Presently, these theological properties are described with empirical equations which are fitted on macroscopic, average properties, obtained in laboratory experiments performed at human timescales. Their extrapolation to Earth’s conditions over several orders of magnitude is highly questionable as demonstrated by recent comparison with surface geophysical observables. Strain rates couple space and time. We cannot expand time, but we can now reduce length scales. By using the new generation of nanomechanical testing machines in transmission electron microscopes, we can have access to elementary deformation mechanisms and, more importantly, we can measure the key physical parameters which control their dynamics. At this scale, we can have access to very slow mechanisms which were previously out of reach. This approach can be complemented by numerical modelling. By using the recent developments in modelling the so-called “rare events”, we will be able to model mechanisms in the same timescales as nanomechanical testing. By combining, nanomechanical testing and advanced numerical modelling of elementary processes I propose to elaborate a new generation of rheological laws, based on the physics of deformation, which will explicitly involve time (i.e. strain rate) and will require no extrapolation to be applied to natural processes. Applied to olivine, the main constituent of the upper mantle, this will provide the first robust, physics-based rheological laws for the lithospheric and asthenospheric mantle to be compared with surface observables and incorporated in geophysical convection models.

Mots-clés : rheology,olivine,mantle convection
Projet ERC : TimeMan (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : Université Catholique de Louvain — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : UCL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 200000.0 €

Most large-scale geological process such as plate tectonics or mantle convection involve plastic deformation of rocks. With most recent developments, constraining their rheological properties at natural strain-rates is something we can really achieve in the decade to come. Presently, these theological properties are described with empirical equations which are fitted on macroscopic, average properties, obtained in laboratory experiments performed at human timescales. Their extrapolation to Earth’s conditions over several orders of magnitude is highly questionable as demonstrated by recent comparison with surface geophysical observables. Strain rates couple space and time. We cannot expand time, but we can now reduce length scales. By using the new generation of nanomechanical testing machines in transmission electron microscopes, we can have access to elementary deformation mechanisms and, more importantly, we can measure the key physical parameters which control their dynamics. At this scale, we can have access to very slow mechanisms which were previously out of reach. This approach can be complemented by numerical modelling. By using the recent developments in modelling the so-called “rare events”, we will be able to model mechanisms in the same timescales as nanomechanical testing. By combining, nanomechanical testing and advanced numerical modelling of elementary processes I propose to elaborate a new generation of rheological laws, based on the physics of deformation, which will explicitly involve time (i.e. strain rate) and will require no extrapolation to be applied to natural processes. Applied to olivine, the main constituent of the upper mantle, this will provide the first robust, physics-based rheological laws for the lithospheric and asthenospheric mantle to be compared with surface observables and incorporated in geophysical convection models.

Mots-clés : rheology,olivine,mantle convection
Projet ERC : TimeMan (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : Université de Lille — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1784400.0 €

Most large-scale geological process such as plate tectonics or mantle convection involve plastic deformation of rocks. With most recent developments, constraining their rheological properties at natural strain-rates is something we can really achieve in the decade to come. Presently, these theological properties are described with empirical equations which are fitted on macroscopic, average properties, obtained in laboratory experiments performed at human timescales. Their extrapolation to Earth’s conditions over several orders of magnitude is highly questionable as demonstrated by recent comparison with surface geophysical observables. Strain rates couple space and time. We cannot expand time, but we can now reduce length scales. By using the new generation of nanomechanical testing machines in transmission electron microscopes, we can have access to elementary deformation mechanisms and, more importantly, we can measure the key physical parameters which control their dynamics. At this scale, we can have access to very slow mechanisms which were previously out of reach. This approach can be complemented by numerical modelling. By using the recent developments in modelling the so-called “rare events”, we will be able to model mechanisms in the same timescales as nanomechanical testing. By combining, nanomechanical testing and advanced numerical modelling of elementary processes I propose to elaborate a new generation of rheological laws, based on the physics of deformation, which will explicitly involve time (i.e. strain rate) and will require no extrapolation to be applied to natural processes. Applied to olivine, the main constituent of the upper mantle, this will provide the first robust, physics-based rheological laws for the lithospheric and asthenospheric mantle to be compared with surface observables and incorporated in geophysical convection models.

Mots-clés : rheology,olivine,mantle convection
Projet ERC : MiniBrain (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : Austrian Academy of Sciences — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : OAW
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2800000.0 €

Most of our knowledge on human development and physiology is derived from experiments done in animal models. While these experiments have led to a comprehensive understanding of the principles of neurogenesis, animal models often fall short of modelling many of the most common neurological disorders. Recent experiments have revealed characteristic striking differences in brain development between rodents and primates and may provide an explanation for this problem. The goal of this proposal is to use three dimensional organoid cultures derived from pluripotent human stem cells to reveal the human specific aspects of brain development and to analyse neurological disease mechanisms directly in human tissue. We have recently developed a 3D culture method allowing us to recapitulate human brain development during the first trimester of embryogenesis. Using this method, we will define the human specific brain patterning events in order to develop a culture system that can recapitulate essentially any part of the brain. Using a unique combination of cell type specific markers and mutagenic viruses, we will define the transcriptional networks defining specific neuronal subtypes. This will allow us to perform loss-of function genetics in human tissue to define transcription factors necessary for development of individual neuronal subtypes on a genome-wide level. Finally, we will apply the genome wide screening technology to human neurological disorders like microcephaly or schizophrenia to identify factors that can rescue disease phenotypes. This research proposal will provide fundamental insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms specifying various neuronal subclasses in the human brain and establish technology that can be applied to a variety of cell types and brain regions. The proposed experiments have the potential to yield fundamental insights into human neurological disease mechanisms that can currently not be derived from animal models.

Mots-clés : tissue culture models,organoids
Projet ERC : ONE (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced 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 : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : Inria
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 238387.5 €

Most of today’s computer interfaces are based on principles and conceptual models created in the late seventies. They are designed for a single user interacting with a closed application on a single device with a predefined set of tools to manipulate a single type of content. But one is not enough! We need flexible and extensible environments where multiple users can truly share content and manipulate it simultaneously, where applications can be distributed across multiple devices, where content and tools can migrate from one device to the next, and where users can freely choose, combine and even create tools to make their own digital workbench. The goal of ONE is to fundamentally re-think the basic principles and conceptual model of interactive systems to empower users by letting them appropriate their digital environment. The project will address this challenge through three interleaved strands: empirical studies to better understand interaction in both the physical and digital worlds, theoretical work to create a conceptual model of interaction and interactive systems, and prototype development to test these principles and concepts in the lab and in the field. Drawing inspiration from physics, biology and psychology, the conceptual model will combine substrates to manage digital information at various levels of abstraction and representation, instruments to manipulate substrates, and environments to organize substrates and instruments into digital workspaces. By identifying first principles of interaction, ONE will unify a wide variety of interaction styles and create more open and flexible interactive environments.