Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : ELECTRIC CHALLENGES (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Carlos III University of Madrid — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1422375.0 €

The fight against climate change is among Europe’s top policy priorities. In this research agenda, I propose to push out the frontier in the area of Energy and Environmental Economics by carrying out policy-relevant research on a pressing issue: how to design optimal regulatory and market-based solutions to achieve a least cost transition towards a low-carbon economy. The European experience provides unique natural experiments with which to test some of the most contentious issues that arise in the context of electricity markets, including the potential to change households’ demand patterns through dynamic pricing, the scope of renewables to mitigate market power and depress wholesale market prices, and the design and performance of the auctions for renewable support. While there is a body of policy work on these issues, it generally does not meet the required research standards. In this research, I will rely on cutting-edge theoretical, empirical, and simulation tools to disentangle these topics, while providing key economic insights that are relevant beyond electricity markets. On the theory front, I propose to develop new models that incorporate the intermittency of renewables to characterize optimal bidding as a key, broadly omitted ingredient in previous analysis. In turn, these models will provide a rigorous structure for the empirical and simulation analysis, which will rely both on traditional econometrics for casual inference as well as on state-of-the-art machine learning methods to construct counterfactual scenarios for policy analysis. While my focus is on energy and environmental issues, my research will also provide methodological contributions for other areas - particularly those related to policy design and policy evaluation. The conclusions of this research should prove valuable for academics, as well as to policy makers to assess the impact of environmental and energy policies and redefine them where necessary.

Mots-clés : electricity markets,renewables,market power,auctions,empirical industrial organization,regulation
Projet ERC : NSECPROBE (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CEA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

The fluctuation-dissipation theorem is a prominent milestone in Physics: It links the dissipative response of a physical system to its fluctuations, and provides a microscopic understanding of macroscopic irreversibility. Recent theoretical advances that have generalized the original fluctuation-dissipation theorem to non-linear quantum systems even far from equilibrium, ask for an experimental test, which is the aim of the project. We will measure the current fluctuations and dissipative response of driven quantum systems whose non-linearity arises from strong interactions. We will exploit the flexibility offered by nano-patterned high purity 2D electron gases in order to realize single electron channels in different regimes: 1/ interacting strongly with a single electromagnetic mode (Dynamical Coulomb Blockade of a quantum point contact), 2/ interacting with a single magnetic impurity (Kondo effect in quantum dots), 3/ driving the 2D gas in the fractional quantum Hall effect where current is carried by strongly correlated 1D channels prototypical of Luttinger liquids. Last, we will address a fundamental issue raised in the early days of quantum mechanics: how long does it take for a particle to cross a classically forbidden barrier? While Wigner-Smith’s theorem links the issue to the density fluctuations within the barrier, the fluctuation-dissipation theorem links it further to a quantum relaxation resistance. A full investigation of fluctuation-dissipation relations including quantum effects requires measurements at frequencies hf>k_BT. With the available dilution refrigeration techniques it implies measuring in the few GHz range. Since quantum conductors have an impedance h/e^2~25.8 kohm much larger than the 50ohm impedance of microwave components, new microwave methods able to deal with large impedance values will be developed. They will be based on the extension to finite magnetic field of the wide-band impedance matching methods recently developed by the PI.

Mots-clés : dynamical transport,fluctuation dissipation relations,ballistic transport,quantum dots  kondo,single electron effects  p e  theory,fractional quantum hall effect,ghz measurements,2degs
Projet ERC : SynarchiC (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems
Entité participante : Institut Pasteur — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1995557.0 €

The folding of eukaryotic and prokaryotic chromosomes consists of an assortment of intertwined structural features. The resulting complex networks of contacts is highly dynamic and interacts functionally with, or regulates metabolic processes ranging from gene expression to chromosome segregation. Some higher order structures involve evolutionary conserved molecular players, such as structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) proteins, while others depend on phylum specific proteins. The functional organization of yeast and bacteria chromosomes are actively investigated, with multiple folded structures uncovered in recent years. However, disambiguating the intermingled structures is a difficult task, limiting their functional characterization. In addition, current technologies are limited and are unable to track the genome-wide folding of duplicated sister chromatids (SC) molecules, limiting the study of genome folding during replication and mitosis. The overall aim of the SynarchiC project is to characterize, through innovative derivatives of the chromosome conformation capture technology combined with synthetic chromosomes, the folding patterns of microbial genomes during the entire cell cycle, including those of SCs. By reverse engineering chromosomes in bacteria and yeast, we will discriminate the different layers of topological structures and their associated molecular players. We will then investigate how these 3D structures affect SC folding, individualization, and segregation. Finally, we will investigate the interplay between a pathogen and its hosts during an infectious process. How the bacteria redirects its host chromosome metabolism in stressful environment will be addressed from the perspective of genome organization and segregation. Technologies and results from SynarchiC will provide fundamental insights on the cell cycle, and should appeal broadly to scientists working on various aspects genome functional organization in any clade.

Mots-clés : chromosome organization,chromosome segregation
Projet ERC : CAN-IT-BARRIERS (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases
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 : 2500000.0 €

The frontier in cancer therapy of orchestrating the immune system to attack tumors is producing unprecedented survival benefit in some patients. The corollary is lack of efficacy both in ostensibly responsive tumor types as well as others that are mostly non-responsive. The basis lies in pre-existing and adaptive resistance mechanisms that circumvent induction of tumor-reactive cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) capable of infiltrating solid tumors and eliminating cancer cells. A priori, cancers induced by expression of human papillomavirus oncogenes should be responsive to immunotherapy: these cancers encode immunogenic neo-antigens – the oncoproteins E6/7 – necessary for their manifestation. Rather, such tumors are poorly responsive to immunotherapies. Results from my lab and others using mouse models of HPV-induced cancer have established an actionable hypothesis: during tumorigenesis, such tumors erect multiple barriers to the induction, infiltration, and killing of cancer cells by tumor antigen-reactive CTLs. These include overarching systemic antigen-nonspecific immunosuppression mediated by expanded populations of myeloid cells in spleen and lymph nodes, complemented by immune response-impairing barriers operative in the tumor microenvironment. A spectrum of models will probe these barriers, genetically and pharmacologically, establishing their functional importance, alone and in concert. A major focus will be on how oncogene-expressing keratinocytes elicit a marked expansion of immunosuppressive myeloid cells in spleen and lymph nodes, and how these myeloid cells in turn inhibit development and activation of CD8 T cells and antigen-presenting dendritic cells. Then we’ll assess the therapeutic potential of barrier-breaking strategies combined with immuno-stimulatory modalities. This project will deliver new knowledge about multi-faceted barriers to immunotherapy in these refractory cancers, helping lay the groundwork for efficacious immunotherapy.

Mots-clés : immuno oncology,tumor resistance mechanisms to t cell immuno therapy,mechanism guided combinatoric pre clinical cancer trial designs,tumor microenvironment,systemic immuno suppression
Projet ERC : COS-OCS (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : Wageningen University & Research — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : WUR
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 927624.53 €

The future climate of our planet strongly depends on the capacity of the biosphere to sequester atmospheric CO2, and on the abundance of stratospheric sulphate aerosols (SSA). These aerosols form a layer that resides at about 16 km altitude that, contrary to CO2, has a cooling effect on climate. These two climate-regulating mechanisms are intricately linked to the atmospheric trace gas carbonyl sulphide (COS). COS is the most abundant sulphur compound in our atmosphere. The dominant COS source is biogenic activity in the ocean, while uptake by the terrestrial biosphere, and a small amount of destruction in the stratosphere, contribute to its removal. The COS loss to the biosphere could potentially be used to quantify photosynthetic CO2 uptake, while its stratospheric destruction is an important precursor for the formation of SSA. A deeper understanding of atmospheric COS variations would therefore signal a major step forward in our ability to diagnose CO2 uptake and SSA formation. With this research program, I aim to fundamentally improve our limited understanding of the COS budget. The program combines innovative modelling and measurements. I aim to collect samples from aircraft, ship cruises, and stations across all latitudes, on which highly challenging analyses of COS and its isotopologues will be performed. To characterise the important transition to the stratosphere, vertical COS profiles up to 30 km will be sampled with so-called “AirCores”. A larger spatial coverage will come from currently untapped satellite data of COS isotopologues. My program will integrate these measurements into the first multispecies and isotope-enabled inverse modelling framework for COS, building on techniques I developed during the past decade. The measurements and model together will allow breakthroughs in the coupled COS and CO2 budgets, and unlock the potential of COS as new climate diagnostic.

Mots-clés : isotopes carbonyl sulphide climate
Projet ERC : ImagePlanetFormDiscs (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe sciences
Entité participante : University of Exeter — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1648265.0 €

The gas and dust discs around young stars are thought to be the birthplace of planetary systems and are a key area to study if further progress is to be made on understanding the history of our solar system and our own origins. Once planets have formed in these discs, they dynamically sculpt their environment, for instance by opening tidally-cleared gaps or triggering spiral arms and disc warps. The late stages of this process are likely observed in the “transitional” discs, where regions spanning tens of astronomical units (AU) have been cleared. The aim of this project is to image the planet formation signatures both during the transitional disc and the earlier T Tauri or Herbig Ae/Be stars phase, where the protoplanetary bodies are just starting to carve gaps in the optically thick disc. For this purpose, we will employ the latest generation of near-infrared, mid-infrared, and sub-millimeter interferometric instruments that will allow us to trace a wide range of stellocentric radii, disc scale heights, and dust opacities. We will make use of recent revolutionary advancements in infrared detector technology and equip the CHARA/MIRC 6-telescope beam combiner with a low-read noise camera that will significantly increase the sensitivity of this instrument and enable us to image protoplanetary discs with 2.5 times higher resolution and much higher efficiency than ever before. These quick-look imaging capabilities will enable us to trace time-variable structures in the inner few AU and to investigate their relation to the commonly observed photometric and spectroscopic variability. Our interferometric observations in spectral lines aim to detect the accretion signatures of the young protoplanets themselves. Employing sophisticated radiation hydrodynamics simulations we will achieve an unprecedented global view on protoplanetary disc structure and obtain fundamentally new constraints on theoretical models of planet formation, planet-disc interaction, and disc evolution.

Mots-clés : interferometry,protoplanetary discs,planet formation,star formation,extrasolar planetary systems,vlti,chara,alma
Projet ERC : HYPHEN (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Karlsruhe Institute of Technology — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : KIT
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149875.0 €

The global explosion of data traffic and the migration of essential services to “the cloud” are combining to push current data-center infrastructures to their limits. This applies in particular to communication networks within and between data centers (DC), which limit scalability of computing and storage already today. Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission schemes are key to overcome these bottlenecks, increasing the throughput of inter-DC and intra-DC communication links by more than an order of magnitude. However, but there are currently no WDM systems in the market that fulfill the associated cost and performance requirements: Conventional systems based on discrete components such as SFP+ or CFP transceivers are far too bulky and too expensive, while monolithic photonic integration remains technologically challenging and constrained in performance. The fundamental question remains: How to flexibly combine photonic components of a variety of material systems to create cost- and performance-optimized solutions for data centers? The answer to this question will unlock multi-billion-Euro market opportunities connected with cloud networks. HYPHEN aims at exploring and verifying the commercial potential of a novel class of optical WDM engines that combine the benefits of a large-scale photonic integration with the design flexibility of discrete systems. The optical engines are based on hybrid multi-chip integration and exploit the technique of photonic wire bonding, which was established and elaborated in the framework of the ERC Stating Grant EnTeraPIC. HYPHEN comprises an in-depth analysis of market opportunities and competitive boundary conditions, the specification of technical product concepts that are geared towards the most important technology gap, as well as the associated IP strategy and risk analysis. The project shall result in a comprehensive business plan that allows to raise funds for the next phase of commercialization.

Mots-clés : optical communications,photonic integration,hybrid integration,photonic wire bonding,wavelength division multiplexing,data center,optical interconnects,silicon photonics
Projet ERC : UNITY (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Entité participante : University of East Anglia — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UEA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499631.0 €

The global nitrogen cycle is of fundamental importance for our climate as well as agriculture, and both are facing significant threats due to environmental change. Anthropogenic input of synthetic ammonia-based fertilisers has a profound impact on the nitrogen cycle. Most soil ecosystems globally are nitrogen limited, necessitating ammonia-based fertiliser to achieve sufficient crop yield to feed the world’s growing population. However, circa 70% of fertiliser is lost through the activity of ammonia oxidising microorganisms, which contribute to the emission of the extremely damaging greenhouse gas nitrous oxide – a molecule with a global warming potential 300 times that of CO2, and also the most important ozone-depleting gas. Ammonia oxidising microorganisms are ubiquitous, highly abundant organisms. Despite their ubiquity and major environmental importance, they are some of the least well-understood microorganisms in the global nitrogen cycle. Several challenges contribute to the lack of our understanding: (1) Ammonia oxidisers are difficult to cultivate, (2) the molecular mechanisms driving their adaptation to different environments are poorly characterised, and (3) links between their cellular and physiological traits and the rates of nitrogen turnover are not understood. Consequently, it is difficult to interpret the ecological and environmental significance of many research findings. This research programme will bridge the gaps in our understanding of terrestrial nitrogen cycling using a combination of highly innovative methods. My research programme aims to reveal functions of uncultivated ammonia oxidisers and determine the important but overlooked role of cellular traits in nitrogen cycling rates in terrestrial environments. This study will provide a holistic framework of terrestrial nitrogen cycling from molecules to ecosystems and will deliver a major advance towards balancing the global nitrogen cycle.

Mots-clés : environmental microbiology,biogeochemical cycles,microbial physiology and metabolism
Projet ERC : 2D-TOPSENSE (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Spanish National Research Council — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CSIC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1930437.0 €

The goal of 2D-TOPSENSE is to exploit the remarkable stretchability of two-dimensional semiconductors to fabricate optoelectronic devices where strain is used as an external knob to tune their properties. While bulk semiconductors tend to break under strains larger than 1.5%, 2D semiconductors (such as MoS2) can withstand deformations of up to 10-20% before rupture. This large breaking strength promises a great potential of 2D semiconductors as ‘straintronic’ materials, whose properties can be adjusted by applying a deformation to their lattice. In fact, recent theoretical works predicted an interesting physical phenomenon: a tensile strain-induced semiconductor-to-metal transition in 2D semiconductors. By tensioning single-layer MoS2 from 0% up to 10%, its electronic band structure is expected to undergo a continuous transition from a wide direct band-gap of 1.8 eV to a metallic behavior. This unprecedented large strain-tunability will undoubtedly have a strong impact in a wide range of optoelectronic applications such as photodetectors whose cut-off wavelength is tuned by varying the applied strain or atomically thin light modulators. To date, experimental works on strain engineering have been mostly focused on fundamental studies, demonstrating part of the potential of 2D semiconductors in straintronics, but they have failed to exploit strain engineering to add extra functionalities to optoelectronic devices. In 2D-TOPSENSE I will go beyond the state of the art in straintronics by designing and fabricating optoelectronic devices whose properties and performance can be tuned by means of applying strain. 2D-TOPSENSE will focus on photodetectors with a tunable bandwidth and detectivity, light emitting devices whose emission wavelength can be adjusted, light modulators based on 2D semiconductors such as transition metal dichalcogenides or black phosphorus and solar funnels capable of directing the photogenerated charge carriers towards a specific position.

Mots-clés : 2d materials,optoelectronics,strain engineering,mos2,black phosphorus,straintronics,photodetector,phototransistor,transition metal dichalcogenide,trichalcogenides,mechanical exfoliation