Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : Hot Milk (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe sciences
Entité participante : National Institute for Astrophysics — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : INAF
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1264375.0 €

We are less than one year away from the beginning of a revolution in our understanding of the hot, X-ray emitting, plasma of the Milky Way. The growth of galaxies in the local Universe critically depends on the interplay (via outflows and re-condensation) between the hot plasma with the other phases of the interstellar medium (ISM). As a prototype for typical spiral galaxies, the Milky Way offers the unique opportunity to capture the important details of such feedback all the way from sub-parsec to galactic scales. In the 90's, the ROSAT all-sky X-ray maps confirmed the existence of a hot component of the ISM, the Galactic corona. However, because of strong obscuration in the soft X-ray energy band, those maps have a limited horizon of ~1 kpc in the Galactic plane. Therefore, despite the fundamental role of the hot ISM phase, its properties are still basically unknown outside the Solar neighbourhood. My XMM surveys of the Galactic centre (GC) demonstrate that the hot ISM phase can be traced throughout the disc in the harder X-ray band, confirming the feasibility of this ERC project and the strong connection between GC activity and the Galactic corona. Additionally, the hot plasma is a plausible candidate for containing the missing Galactic baryons and a key ingredient for galaxy evolution. However, so far only less than 0.03% of the Milky Way has been covered by the narrow fields of view of current X-ray imaging telescopes. The eROSITA all-sky survey will rectify this state of affairs. Should this ERC proposal be approved, we will trace the connection and feedback between the Galactic corona and halo with the energetic activity at the GC (e.g., due to cosmic rays, stellar and AGN outflows). This will represent one to two orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity and/or coverage, compared to current surveys. Our sensitive X-ray maps will represent an invaluable legacy for future multi-wavelength studies with current and next generation array instruments.

Mots-clés : x rays,galactic center,galactic corona and halo,stellar and agn feedback,outflows,interstellar medium,galaxy evolution,cosmic rays,missing baryons
Projet ERC : MAGIC-SWITCH (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : Autonomous University of Barcelona — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UAB
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

We are living in a world that is increasingly driven by data. Governments, healthcare facilities, commercial businesses and individuals are all storing information in electronic form. This has led to the emergence of digital and cloud-based technologies. The ability to use information more efficiently has resulted in a rapid increase of the value of information. However, with the Big Data revolution, information is facing new challenges. Energy efficiency during writing of magnetic information needs to be improved. Thus, enhancing robustness in data storage systems is one of the major challenges in our modern society. Our vision for the near future is to turn the scientific output of the ERC Consolidator SPIN-PORICS into a new type of storage memory. MAGIC-SWITCH will deliver the prototype and business case for a new type of compact storage memory, at an industrial-relevant scale. The specific goal of this PoC project is to take the initial steps towards this vision by building a prototype (moving from Technology Readiness Level TRL 3 to 5), standardizing its manufacturing process and creating a business case for its commercial exploitation (including a pitch that can be used to close new partnerships or in fund-raising).

Mots-clés : data security,secure data storage device,magneto ionics,ferromagnetic antiferromagnetic coupling,magnetoelectric phenomena
Projet ERC : WhiteMech (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : Sapienza University of Rome — Pays : Italie — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1880200.9 €

We are witnessing an increasing availability of mechanisms that operate in nondeterministic (uncertain) environments and offer some form of programmability. These include manufacturing devices, smart objects and spaces, intelligent robots, dynamic business process management systems, and many others. All these mechanisms are currently being revolutionized by advancements in sensing (vision, language understanding) and actuation components (autonomous mobile manipulators, automated storage and retrieval systems). However, such mechanisms are held back by the fact that their logic is still based on hard-wired rules encoded in hand-crafted programs. WhiteMech aims at developing the science and the tools for a new generation of mechanisms to emerge: mechanisms that are able to program themselves, automatically tailor their behavior so as to achieve desired goals, maintain themselves within safe boundaries in a changing environment, and follow regulations and conventions that evolve over time. Crucially, empowering mechanisms with self-programming carries significant risks and therefore we must be able to balance power with safety. For this reason WhiteMech intends to realize mechanisms that are white-box, that is, whose behavior is at any moment fully analyzable and comprehensible in human terms, and guarded by human oversight. Remarkable recent discoveries by the applicant in Reasoning about Action and Generalized Planning in Artificial Intelligence, and their connections to Verification and Synthesis in Formal Methods, and Data-Aware Processes in Databases, chart an unanticipated novel path to produce a breakthrough in realizing powerful self-programming mechanisms, while keeping them human- comprehensible and safe by design. WhiteMech will ground its scientific results upon three driving applications: smart manufacturing (Industry 4.0), smart spaces (IoT) and business process management systems (BPM).

Mots-clés : knowledge representation,reasoning about action and generalized planning in artificial intelligence,verification and synthesis in formal methods,data aware processes in databases
Projet ERC : SUPERSONIC (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
Entité participante : Bilkent University — Pays : Turquie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

We have recently demonstrated a new laser-material processing regime, known as the ablation-cooled laser-material removal, which proved to be 10 times more efficient using 100 thousand times lower pulse energies than traditional ultrafast processing. We have recently demonstrated a new laser-material processing regime, known as the ablation-cooled laser-material removal, which proved to be 10 times more efficient using 100 thousand times lower pulse energies than traditional ultrafast processing. In this novel regime, the repetition rate of the laser pulses are increased to such high levels that the target material at laser focus does not have sufficient time to cool appreciably between subsequent pulses. The radical reduction of required pulse energy makes possible to build extremely low-cost ultrafast lasers using the parts used in mass-produced nanosecond fibre lasers. This project aims to demonstrate a laser prototype thats costs 10-times less than its ultrafast competitors, while simultaneously achieving 10-times higher throughput. The planned laser prototype will scale our top results attained at 100 GHz repetition rate up to ~1 THz, where our experiments and theoretical model herald the existence of the new regime of supersonic ablation. As the material is ablated, the remaining top surface of the target recedes from the laser beam at a speed given by the ablation depth per pulse times the repetition rate. Scaling from our existing results, we anticipate to exceed the speed of sound at ~1 THz repetition rates, where the efficiency is expected to increase and pulse energy requirements to decrease further. The results will be validated in collaboration with potential industrial customers. Commercialisation will be based on the value proposition of offering the excellent material processing qualities of ultrafast laser at nanosecond laser prices. These activities will be supported and guided by a comprehensive business model and market research to be undertaken.

Mots-clés : laser material processing,ultrafast laser material ablation,femtosecond pulses,fiber lasers
Projet ERC : Cancer-Targeted PolyIC (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Hebrew University of Jerusalem — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : HUJI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

We have recently shown that application of EGFR targeted synthetic dsRNA: Poly Iosine/Poly Cytosine (pIC) is highly efficient and selective against deadly cancers overexpressing EGFR, like glioblastoma (U87MGwtEGFR), breast cancer (MDA-MB-468) and adenocarcinoma (A431). Double-stranded RNA, frequently expressed in cells infected with viruses, activates a number of pro-apoptotic processes simultaneously. These dsRNA-induced mechanisms efficiently kill infected cells and induce expression of anti-proliferative cytokines from the interferon (IFN) family, thereby preventing spread of the virus. pIC delivered with Melittin-polyethylenimine-polyethyleneglycol-EGF (MPPE) eliminated orthotropic and subcutaneous tumors of the above cancers. Heterogeneous glioblastoma models where only half of the cells overexpress wtEGFR are also eliminated by local application, most likely due to a bystander antiproliferative effects, at least partially mediated by interferons (Shir et al., 2006). Systemic application of EGFR targeted pIC is also highly effective against breast and adenocarcinoma disseminated cancer models resembling metastatic cancers (Shir et al., 2011). During the last two years we have improved the vectors homing to EGFR to entities that can now be translated into clinical agents (Shaffert, 2011; Shir 2011, Abourbeh 2012). The impressive results with these more simplified vectors, make this project ready for clinical development, which requires fund raising from a Company/Venture capitalist. Commercialization of the therapy will be detailed in the proposal.

Mots-clés : cancer,dsrna,egfr,cancer therapy,immune system
Projet ERC : CWASI (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Social World and Its Diversity
Entité participante : Polytechnic University of Turin — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1222500.0 €

We intend to set up a new globalized perspective to tackle water and food security in the 21st century. This issue is intrinsically global as the international trade of massive amounts of food makes societies less reliant on locally available water, and entails large-scale transfers of virtual water (defined as the water needed to produce a given amount of a food commodity). The network of virtual water trade connects a large portion of the global population, with 2800 km3 of virtual water moved around the globe in a year. We provide here definitive indications on the effects of the globalization of (virtual) water on the vulnerability to a water crisis of the global water system. More specifically, we formulate the following research hypotheses: 1) The globalization of (virtual) water resources is a short-term solution to malnourishment, famine, and conflicts, but it also has relevant negative implications for human societies. 2) The virtual water dynamics provide the suitable framework in order to quantitatively relate water-crises occurrence to environmental and socio-economic factors. 3) The risk of catastrophic, global-scale, water crises will increase in the next decades. To test these hypotheses, we will capitalize on the tremendous amount of information embedded in nearly 50 years of available food and virtual water trade data. We will adopt an innovative research approach based on the use of: advanced statistical tools for data verification and uncertainty modeling; methods borrowed from the complex network theory, aimed at analyzing the propagation of failures through the network; multivariate nonlinear analyses, to reproduce the dependence of virtual water on time and on external drivers; multi-state stochastic modeling, to study the effect on the global water system of random fluctuations of the external drivers; and scenario analysis, to predict the future probability of occurrence of water crises.
Projet ERC : WHOLE SUN (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : IAC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 990000.0 €

We live around an active magnetic star, our Sun, that has a direct impact on our technological society through its variability and eruptive behaviour. Despite decades of intense research, fundamental questions such as How does the Sun work? Why does it possess a magnetic cycle and a dynamic hot atmosphere and how they are interrelated? remain mostly unanswered. In the Whole Sun project, we aim at tackling these key questions as a coherent whole for the first time. For too many years, the Sun has been split into internal and external solar physics topics lacking a global integrated view of its complex plasma dynamics. For instance, dynamo simulations seeking to answer the origin of the magnetic field and of its cyclic behaviour neglect surface physics and the existence of sunspots and likewise surface models often assume the magnetic field as a given input without the detailed knowledge of the nonlinear interplay between convection, rotation and magnetic fields in the Sun’s outer envelope. The time has come to gather European world leading solar/stellar physicists to build a deeper understanding of our star and to extend it to its twins. To do so many bottlenecks must be addressed: highly disparate spatial and temporal scales, physical interfaces of all solar layers, complex microphysics and global effects, strong dynamics and how parameters such as star’s metallicity, mass and rotation influence the outcome. By gathering physicists from each side of the solar surface we aim at tackling these challenging, beyond the state-of-the-art problems, by developing a deep theoretical understanding of our star and of its analogues and by building the most advanced multi-resolution solar code in order to jointly address global/macrophysics and local/microphysics aspects of the solar dynamics. The advent of Exa-scale computers makes such a challenge within our reach as do modern analysis methods to interpret observations and 4-D data cube that the project will produce or access.

Mots-clés : solar physics,dynamo,magnetohydrodynamics  mhd,plasma physics,solar activity,solar stellar connection
Projet ERC : RELATE (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : James Hutton Institute — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 54290.63 €

We live in a time of profound environmental change. Phenomena such as urbanisation and agricultural intensification have led to ecosystem degradation and species extinctions, and thus a reduction in biodiversity. Yet, while it is now widely asserted in the research, policy and practice arenas that interacting with nature is fundamental to human wellbeing, there is a paucity of evidence characterising how biodiversity, the living component of nature, plays a role in this accepted truth. With RELATE, I will pioneer a completely novel approach to investigating this challenging problem, innovating through interdisciplinary (human geography, environmental psychology, economics and ecology) integration and the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods. As such, RELATE will initiate a step-change in our understanding of how nature underpins human wellbeing. Three objectives will be met: (1) explore how people relate to different biodiversity attributes (particular morphologies, sounds, smells, textures, behaviours and/or cultural meanings associated with species), positively and negatively, across all classes of cultural ecosystem service and types of human-nature experience (intentional, incidental, indirect, thereness); (2) quantify variation in how people value, or not, different biodiversity attributes using a range of monetary and non-monetary valuation techniques, including new subjective wellbeing measures; (3) understand how co-occurrence between biodiversity and people may alter across space/time (both seasonal and inter-decadal), and the impact this may have on human-biodiversity relationships. The crucial trade-offs decision-makers tasked with managing environmental spaces have to make between multiple biodiversity, individual and societal deliverables cannot be optimised until we understand human-biodiversity relationships specifically. Consequently, RELATE will deliver a timely, rich and holistic evidence-base, supported by transformative science.

Mots-clés : biodiversity,cultural ecosystem services,human wellbeing,human wildlife interactions,green space,seasonality,species traits,urbanisation
Projet ERC : Organoid (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Cellular, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
Entité participante : Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : KNAW
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 3062438.0 €

We pioneered the essential role of Wnt signals in adult stem cells, i.e. in intestinal crypts. We also found that loss of the APC gene activates the Wnt pathway and causes colorectal cancer (CRC). We then identified a Wnt target gene, Lgr5, which allowed us to define the crypt stem cells. In a previous ERC grant based on these findings, we identified novel Lgr5 stem cells in multiple organs, and defined in vitro culture conditions to grow epithelial organoids from single Lgr5 stem cells. Crucial in this was our identification of the Wnt agonistic R-spondins as the Lgr5 ligands. Cultured 'mini-guts' display all characteristics of normal gut, can be expanded for years, transplanted, and remain genetically stable. Here, I propose a reductionist, ‘mini-gut’-based approach to two exciting research fields that currently mostly focus at the organismal/patient level: Microbiome research leans on deep-sequencing of complex microbial communities in health and disease; and immune checkpoint research in cancer rests largely on clinical trials of checkpoint-blocking antibodies. While many insights exist into the gut microbiome and -immune system, the epithelium is often treated as a neutral player. ‘Mini-gut’ technology allows us to dissect interactions of the gut microbiome with healthy and diseased epithelium, and of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) with CRC 'mini-guts' (tumoroids). To this end, we will describe/study 1) All immune receptors, -regulators and -effectors in the individual epithelial cell types. 2) 'Mini-guts' recombined with individual bacterial species, 3) CRC tumoroids recombined with their cultured TILs and subjected to immune checkpoint manipulation. Using advanced molecular and imaging technologies, we will chart the molecular mechanisms that underlie the interactions from the ‘epithelial perspective’. Ultimately, this program will provide molecular detail to the effects of the microbiome and immune system on our gut, in health and disease.

Mots-clés : intestine,microbiome,organoid,immune checkpoint
Projet ERC : PSAP (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
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 : 1980917.0 €

We propose a productive and efficient programming model to overcome the challenges posed by the end of Moore’s law. Our model bases on a fundamentally new spatial viewpoint that considers the computational structure of applications. The growth of the computing industry as well as the development of society at large has relied for 50 years on an exponential scaling law that is now coming to an end. The combination of multiple specialized components into a fundamentally heterogeneous system is one of the most promising approaches that drives the IT industry. Latest advances in computer architecture and silicon design enable cost-effective specialized accelerators. Those range from single-purpose designs, such as deep neural network chips, to general purpose graphics processing units and are combined into complex systems. However, programming these heterogeneous spatial systems that range from single systems on chip to million-core supercomputers is a fundamental challenge of our time. Prevalent parallel programming abstractions largely ignore the structure of the computation and guide programmers to design threads of execution that are scheduled to the machine. We depart from this temporal model to a spatial formulation where we express programs as parametric graphs that are mapped as first-class objects by a human-guided compilation system. We ensure productivity by designing a Python-based frontend and integrate the system with modern web technology. Our programming, compilation, and tuning system will substantially advance the state of the art in computing by supporting the graphical mapping of program graphs to spatial accelerators. We will demonstrate our methods on three challenging real-world applications in important domains. We strongly believe that, without holistic spatial programming, the growing complexity and inefficiency of heterogeneous programming will create a scaling wall that will severely limit our future computational capabilities.

Mots-clés : high performance computing