Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : ASTEC (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed Matter Physics
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 229003.75 €

In three dimensional systems, elementary particles are divided exclusively between fermions (which exclude each others) and bosons (which bunch together) according to the phase acquired by the wavefunction when two particles are exchanged. The situation is different in two-dimensional systems which can host new particles called anyons, for which the exchange phase can take any value, and which obey partial exclusion, between fermions and bosons. Interestingly, these quasiparticles keep a memory of the exchanges between them that is protected from local perturbations of their trajectories: one speaks of topological protection. This protection is at the heart of the interest for anyons, as specific types of anyons called non-abelian are the building blocks of topological quantum computing that would be protected from decoherence. The existence of these quasiparticles was predicted forty years ago in two-dimensional conductors in the fractional quantum Hall regime. However, despite intense experimental and theoretical efforts, direct signatures of their fractional statistics have only been observed recently, offering only now the possibility to characterize fractional statistics and to exploit it for new functionalities.  The purpose of this project is to quantitatively investigate the statistics of anyons by probing their tendency to bunch together or exclude each others in a nanoscale collider. The different phases of the fractional quantum Hall effect offer a very vast and almost completely unexplored variety of anyons. I will characterize the differences between different statistics, including the most interesting non-abelian case. I will also investigate the robustness of the signatures of fractional statistics and to which extent they can be considered as topologically protected. Finally, I will probe anyon statistics in the time-domain regime, where anyon emission is dynamically controlled, which is a necessary condition for quantum information perspectives.

Mots-clés : quantum noise,anyons,collider,two particle interferences,time dependent transport
Projet ERC : HotCores (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth System Science
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 63140.0 €

The Earth’s inner-core (IC) is 1220 km radius planet within the Earth, made of solid iron (Fe) crystallizing from the outer core (OC) as the Earth cools down. The IC affects our life at the surface; its growth provides a major source of energy for maintaining the Earth’s magnetic field. One may view the IC as a freezing ball of Fe floating at the center of the OC, but seismic exploration reveal structures of increasing complexity, raising fundamental questions on the history and internal dynamics of the IC. Geophysical observations unearth the IC as it is today. Understanding the history of the IC and the effect of the IC on the global Earth dynamics, however, requires a reconstruction based on today’s observations and knowledge of the physical properties of the IC Fe alloy, how they could affect IC dynamics, and their relation with present-day geophysical observables. There are significant knowledge gaps and outdated principles regarding the underlying physical properties of the IC Fe alloy. The IC temperature is close to melting, and the IC might even be partially molten. How does temperature affect of the mechanical properties of the IC Fe alloy? What is the effect of temperature and partial melting on seismic observables such as wave travel time and attenuation? This is poorly known and it hinders our interpretation capability of the ever-growing body of geophysical observations. In HotCores, advanced high pressure and/or high temperature experiments will be performed on Fe alloys and analogues. I propose to reenact key events of the history of the IC in the laboratory, as Fe crystallizes at the inner-outer-core boundary, as the IC grows and dynamically evolves to its present state, and as we see it today through the lenses of geophysical exploration. What is the structure and dynamics of the IC? How will the IC evolve in the future? HotCores aims at providing the mineralogical foundation that will help solving these mysteries.

Mots-clés : iron,earth core,viscoelasticity,high pressure,deformation,plasticity,anisotropy,extreme conditions
Projet ERC : HOTIMAGE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative B iology : from Genes and Genomes to S ystems
Entité participante : Institut Curie — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 832500.0 €

Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile DNA sequences that have massively colonized mammalian genomes. Host genomes and TEs are engaged in ambiguous trade-offs, whereby TEs can be co-opted for genomic upgrades over evolutionary timescales, but they should also be suppressed to protect genome stability and function. Effective and multi-layered surveillance is primordial: TE reactivation is associated with various dysfunctional states, including infertility, ageing, cancer or neurological disorders, involving both transposition-dependent or -independent routes. Understanding the two-way relationship between host genomes and their TE integrants is an essential and fascinating topic, with far-reaching impact on development, evolution and disease.  Here I propose to uncover and functionally challenge the molecular arrangements that genomes and TEs came upon for the sake of germline development and fertility. The germline is a highly relevant context, as this is where host-TE interests are the most conflicting, and from their outcome depend reproductive success and species fitness. I will specifically question how TE transcription is transiently tolerated during germline reprogramming and whether it could be purposely used for the early germline program. Using the mouse model, we will deploy innovative and ambitious approaches including in vivo epigenome editing of TE activity, single-cell multimodal profiling, and advanced molecular profiling and microscopy to investigate i) the molecular bases of mutualistic relationships between germ cells and TEs, ii) the dynamic coordination of host-TE interactions within germ cell nuclei, iii) the consequences of dysfunctional host-TE interactions on meiosis. By harnessing our unique expertise and tools and by going beyond correlations, we expect to reveal groundbreaking insights into the molecular transactions in which TEs and host genomes are engaged, and how unbalanced host-TE interactions can lead to disease.

Mots-clés : transposable elements nuclear organization chromatin genome stability mouse development fertility
Projet ERC : COSMOS (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Entité participante : Université de Tel Aviv — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TAU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2484375.0 €

Inter-subject variability in learning and hence plasticity is fundamental in behavioral research. Neuroplasticity is studied either by exploring biological aspects of the synapse or regional brain activity. Lacking from these is a network, holistic and integrated view of the brain as an inter-connected organ. The connectome, the wiring diagram of the brain, is one of the greatest promises of neuroscience. The only methodology that allows the exploration of the human brain connectome in-vivo, is MRI via diffusion or resting state fMRI. This project will explore and model the connectomes of subjects before and after skill learning compared to skilled-controls. I hypothesize that the brain connectome alters its details in response to skill learning. I anticipate that the baseline individual connectome will predict the ability of the brain to change in relation to specific task. I suggest that balancing mechanisms of the connectome underlie network rewiring in response to learning and may predict the behavioral outcome. We have recently revealed a connectome efficiency conservation law across mammals driving the premises of this project. The outcome of this project is to bridge the gap between neuropsychology and neurobiology views of neuroplasticity. The indication that the connectome is a key feature in plasticity will lead to a paradigm shift in the field and provide cognitive neuroscientists new empirical tools to explore the relations between brain and behavior. Finally, as I anticipate that the connectome predisposes the capacity to rewire, the suggested predictive modelling framework could be the bases to simulate individual ability to learns, rehabilitates or develop degenerative processes. Learning, memory, decision-making and other cognitive process happen at the whole organ level. We have invested a lot of effort to explore brain plasticity in a segregated manner – it is high time for a more global, network view of the neuroplasticity.

Mots-clés : connectome,dti,brain network,functional connectivity,structural connectivity,plasticity,network dynamics,skill learning
Projet ERC : FemSMed (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Université de Tel Aviv — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TAU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2488125.0 €

More than one million, and perhaps as many as two million individuals were enslaved in the Catholic regions of the early modern Mediterranean. Despite evidence of the prevalence of female slavery and of the fact that women constituted the bulk of the enslaved population in some areas, scholarship on bondage in Mediterranean Europe from 1500 to 1800 retains a strong androcentric bias. Transcending national historiographic traditions, FemSMed will break new ground by providing, for the first time, a comprehensive investigation of women’s enslavement and its wide-ranging implications during the pivotal period in European history that encompassed the Renaissance, the Reformations, the onset of European colonialism, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment. Whereas extant scholarship emphasizes religious, political, and economic aspects, FemSMed’s goal is to uncover the sexual, familial, and broader social contexts of these aspects. By elucidating the long-term consequences of women’s enslavement, it further aims to reveal the gendered mechanisms of racialization and ethnicization, and raise awareness of Europe’s multiethnic and multireligious heritage. This will be done by exploring 1) typologies of slave women’s abuse and their implications for perceptions of illicit sexuality and gender-based violence; 2) how the birth of children under slavery bore on the creation of categories of difference; 3) the impact of domestic female slavery on slaveholders’ family life and on conceptualizations of consanguineal and affinal kinship; 4) how the enslavement of minority women shaped collective identities and intercommunal relations. Informed by theoretical advances in the sociological and anthropological study of slavery, FemSMed employs methodologies from social and religious history as well as from art history and the study of material culture, combining a transcultural approach with a gender analysis of a vast array of archival, printed, visual, and material sources.

Mots-clés : female slavery interreligious encounters in the mediterranean forced baptisms in the early modern era refugees in the age of reformations
Projet ERC : HA-FRONTIER (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : London School of Economics and Political Science — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : LSE
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2498431.0 €

One of the key developments in macroeconomics research over the last three decades has been the incorporation of explicit heterogeneity into models of the macroeconomy. But one of the all-time biggest questions in macroeconomics has so far been out of reach for this approach: why do developed economies experience infrequent but large economic crises? This is due to a problematic feature of current heterogeneous agent (HA) models: the assumption of rational expectations means that agents forecast prices by forecasting distributions resulting in the entire cross-sectional distribution entering their decision problem. This extreme version of the curse of dimensionality hugely increases the models’ computational complexity.  HA-FRONTIER aims to overcome this problem by developing alternative approaches to the rational expectations assumption. I will adapt ideas from the literature on reinforcement learning in psychology and computer science (temporal difference learning) to better model how agents form expectations about future prices. I will incorporate key empirical evidence on expectations formation, e.g. from the large literature on survey expectations. Departing from rational expectations thus “kills two birds with one stone”: it makes HA models with aggregate risk operational while, at the same time, making them more realistic. Finally, I will put this methodology to use to develop an empirically grounded macroeconomic theory of infrequent but large economic crises that incorporates asset-price booms driven by individuals reallocating their portfolios toward bubbly assets and crashes driven by the reverse movement.  To disseminate the ideas developed by HA-FRONTIER, I will write a PhD-level textbook on heterogeneous-agent macroeconomics. Such a textbook is currently missing, thereby creating unnecessary entry barriers for junior researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.

Mots-clés : heterogeneous agents,inequality and macro,non rational expectations,reinforcement learning,survey expectations,economic crises,booms and busts
Projet ERC : EXPAND IT (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : VIB
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2500000.0 €

Cancer immunotherapy using immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has revolutionized the treatment of advanced-stage cancers. One of the major limitations of ICB is that durable responses are observed only in a subset of patients and in some specific cancer types. We recently analyzed tumor biopsies from breast cancer patients collected during ICB and indeed observed only in a subset of patients that tumor-infiltrating T-cells undergo rapid expansion when exposed to ICB. We characterized the gene expression programs underlying this expansion at single-cell level and realized that - although these expanding T-cells are the main executors of therapeutic response to ICB - several key questions regarding their function remain unanswered. First, we lack accurate knowledge about where in the heterogeneous tumor microenvironment (TME) and in which metabolic niches T-cell expansion occurs. Secondly, based on their TCR sequence we cannot predict upfront which T-cells will expand (or rather act as bystander T-cells), nor can we say to which tumor antigens these expanding T-cells are directed. Thirdly, it is not known which molecular events underlie the generation of the tumor antigens regulating T-cell expansion. Fourthly, we also observed an expansion of the B-cell repertoire and were left with similar questions as for expanding T-cells. For instance, where are expanding B-cells located, how do they interact with expanding T-cells, and do they perhaps even recognize the same tumor antigens. In EXPAND IT, we will use several innovative (single-cell) technologies to provide answers to these questions. These insights will much better characterize the mechanisms driving response to ICB, but will also provide important answers on how to sensitize patients not responding to ICB. Our findings could also contribute to the discovery of high-avidity anti-tumor TCRs that can be used in novel TCR-based cellular therapies.

Mots-clés : single cell profiling spatial transcriptomics,spatial metabolomics,tumor microenvironment,antigen discovery,modelling of the t and b cell repertoire
Projet ERC : GlycoCAR (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : VIB
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2498435.0 €

Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy uniquely can provide life-long protection against tumor re-emergence upon clearance of even advanced-stage leukemia. However, for the more frequent solid tumor types (carcinomas, lymphomas), clearance of advanced-stage tumors, and especially the subsequent long-term protection, is only rarely achieved. The main reason for this is the multi-pathway immunosuppressive environment that these tumors evolve to overcome the selective pressure imposed by the patient’s immune system. This both hampers the initial attack by CAR-Ts, and often leads to low numbers of long-term persisting CAR-T cells, which tend to be in a state of functional exhaustion. Most attempts at overcoming this, target particular CAR-T cell proteins involved in individual pathways of immunosuppression. However, it is clear from early-stage clinical trials with such engineered CAR-T cells that multiple pathways will need to be tackled at the same time. Inspired by this challenge, I have chosen a radically different path: we are targeting the CAR-T cell glycocalyx, i.e. the assembly of glycosylated structures that forms the outer layer of the cell. The unique property of glycosylation pathways is that they often modulate a large range of cell surface receptor biology at the same time. Excitingly, this new research line has now generated the first highly promising results with the discovery of a single CAR-T glycogene inactivation that results in robust clearance of a benchmark highly immunosuppressive carcinoma rechallenge, in mice that were CAR-T cured from their primary tumor months earlier. Encouraged by these exciting results that demonstrate strong long-term functional persistence of these glyco-engineered CAR-T cells, we have defined a programme to build on this finding and to explore a candidate set of further glycosylation engineering concepts in CAR-T cells, to further improve CAR-T therapy of solid tumors.

Mots-clés : glycosylation,glyco engineering,immunotherapy,inducible gene expression knockout overexpression
Projet ERC : Materia (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Université de Londres — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UoL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2497781.0 €

New Christian Materiality, 1450-1750. The New Christian trading elite, descending from Jewish communities forced to convert between 1391 and 1498 in Iberia, was at the forefront of intercontinental trade from the late fifteenth to the early eighteenth centuries. They became experts on material culture, sourced commodities from different continents, and developed markets. This project will answer the question: how did New Christian expertise in material culture influence patterns of consumption where they lived and traded? This question addresses a historiographical gap between material culture, consumption, and social agents involved in intercontinental trade. The hypothesis that undergirds this project is that the liminal condition in which the New Christians were placed – forced to convert but never fully integrated under constant suspicion and prosecution from the Inquisition – favoured their diaspora, resilient networks, and innovative behaviour across continents. The four pathways framed by the key orientations of this project will be: a) commodities and expertise; b) agents and markets; c) environment; and d) gender. It is a global project, based on extensive archival research, that will identify how expertise was built, links between production and trade were established, gendered consumption developed, and houses were built and decorated for enhanced status and marketing. It will place social and individual agency at the core of research. It will bring together economic, social, and art history, geography, gender studies, environmental studies, and the sociology of inequality. The focus will be on New Christian materiality and its influence on consumption, keeping a critical view on environmental impact and the inequality the New Christians reacted to but also produced. It is ultimately a transformative project: for the first time, an ethnic group will be the object of a global project of research concerning material culture and patterns of consumption.

Mots-clés : material culture,new christians,consumption,networks,trade,global expertise,gendered diaspora,social inequality,environmental impact