Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : RARE (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
Entité participante : Universität Innsbruck — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1000000.0 €

Strongly magnetic rare-earth atoms are fantastic species to study few- and many-body dipolar quantum physics with ultracold gases. Their appeal leans on their spectacular properties (many stable isotopes, large dipole moment, unconventional interactions, and a rich atomic spectrum). In 2012 my group created the first Bose-Einstein condensate of erbium and shortly thereafter the first degenerate Fermi gas. My pioneering studies, together with the result on dysprosium by the Lev´s group, have triggered an intense research activity in our community on these exotic species. The RARE project aims at converting complexity into opportunity by exploiting the newly emerged opportunity provided by magnetic rare-earth atoms to access fascinating, yet rather unexplored, quantum regimes. It roots into two innate properties of magnetic lanthanides, namely their large and permanent magnetic dipole moment, and their many valence electrons. With these properties in mind, my proposal targets to obtain groundbreaking insights into dipolar quantum physics and multi-electron ultracold Rydberg gasses: 1) Realization of the first dipolar quantum mixtures, by combining Er and Dy. With this powerful system, we aim to study exotic states of matter under the influence of the strong anisotropic and long-range dipole-dipole interaction, such as anisotropic Cooper pairing and superfluidity, and weakly-bound polar ErDy molecules. 2) Study of non-polarized dipoles at zero and ultra-weak polarizing (magnetic) fields, where the atomic dipole are free to orient. In this special setting, we plan to demonstrate new quantum phases, such as spin-orbit coupled, spinor, and nematic phases. 3) Creation of multi-electron ultracold Rydberg gases, in which the Rydberg and core electrons can be separately controlled and manipulated. This innovative project goes far beyond the state of the art and promises to capture truly new scientific horizons of quantum physics with ultracold atoms. for later
Projet ERC : MetaboDevo (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Cellular, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
Entité participante : Max Planck Society — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : MPG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Studies on developmental biology have traditionally focused on deciphering the signaling and regulatory networks that control cellular differentiation. However, it remains unclear how the interplay between developmental regulatory circuits and housekeeping metabolism contributes to the determination of cell fate. Here, I aim to provide a comprehensive analysis of the role of housekeeping metabolic functions during endospore formation in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. Sporulation is a simple developmental pathway that entails the interaction between two cells arising from a single cell division: the forespore, which becomes the metabolically dormant spore, and the mother cell, which dies after sporulation. The mother cell and forespore activate different genetic programs, leading to the production of sporulation-specific structural proteins necessary for proper spore development. However, little is known about how essential housekeeping functions contribute to the process of sporulation. I have developed a system to degrade proteins catalyzing key metabolic reactions in a cell- and developmental stage-specific manner during sporulation. Here, I will use this system to perform a genome-wide study to evaluate the role that housekeeping metabolism plays in spore development. My preliminary results provide evidence for metabolic differentiation between the mother cell and the forespore, metabolic dependency of the forespore on metabolic precursors synthesized in the mother cell, and bidirectional transport of phospholipids between the mother cell and forespore membranes. I will use a combination of cutting edge genetic, cell biology and chemical biology techniques to reveal the metabolic transactions that underlie this unique, syntrophic relationship. The successful completion of this project will provide the first exhaustive metabolic description of a developmental process.

Mots-clés : bacillus subtilis,sporulation,metabolism,development
Projet ERC : DEEP-trigger (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : Université Grenoble Alpes — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UGA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1776030.0 €

Subduction zones host the world’s largest earthquakes and tsunamis. Understanding how such earthquakes initiate and interact is a first-order challenge in earth sciences. A puzzling and unexplained observation is that megathrust earthquakes seem to be clustering at the scale of the plate boundary. This suggests that the subducting slab plays an important role, albeit downplayed, in the triggering of megathrust earthquakes. I propose to study subduction zones recently affected by megathrust events or earthquakes sequences, with an enlarged perspective, considering the mechanisms of deformation in the larger subduction system, including the slab, and their potential role in pushing the megathrust to failure: - At the scale of the seismic asperity, how aseismic slip can trigger earthquakes and how this triggering depends on depth, duration, migration, periodicity, and amplitude will be examined, notably by integrating new observations of small, short or long-lived slow slip events. - At the scale of the subduction zone, how distant changes transfer into large-scale deformation, potentially initiate slow slip and eventual rupture on the plate interface will be analyzed. The role of metamorphic fluids in the softening of the mantle surrounding the slab, which may contribute to distant triggering of earthquakes, and recently observed deep-shallow interactions will be explored. Multi-scale observations of deformation and seismicity will be extracted from the great amount of geophysical data available in South America, Japan and Sumatra, complemented by in-situ GPS monitoring at a promising area in south Peru. Machine Learning will serve to systematize these complementary observables, to characterize how their empirical relationships evolve with time and space, and to isolate the key processes hidden in these large datasets. Physical mechanisms driving the plate interface destabilization will be explored through mechanical and fluid modeling, and tested against the data.

Mots-clés : subduction,earthquakes,slow slip events,geodesy,seismology,machine learning,fluids,plate tectonics
Projet ERC : EU-rhythmy (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : University of Pavia — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNIPV
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1334029.0 €

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is a leading cause of death in western countries: coronary artery disease is the major cause of SCD in older subjects while inherited arrhythmogenic diseases are the leading cause of SCD in younger individuals. After 25 years dedicated to research of the molecular bases of heritable arrhythmias, the PI of this proposal now intends to pioneer gene therapy for prevention of SCD: a virtually unexplored field. The development of molecular therapies for rhythm disturbances is a high risk effort however, if successful, it will be highly rewarding. The PI has envisioned an ambitious and comprehensive project to target two severe inherited arrhythmogenic diseases: dominant catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) and Long QT syndrome type 8 (LQT8). The availability of a clinically relevant model is critical to ensure clinical translation of results: the team will exploit an existing CPVT model and will engineer a knock-in pig to model LQT8. The PI and her team will investigate innovative strategies of gene-delivery, gene-silencing and gene-editing to the heart comparing efficacy of different constructs and promoters. The team will also carefully engineer novel gene-therapy approaches to avoid the development of regional inhomogeneity in protein expression that may facilitate proarrhythmic events. Such a comprehensive approach will provide a most valuable core of knowledge on the comparative efficacy of a broad range of molecular strategies on the electrical milieu of the heart. It is expected that these results will not only benefit CPVT and LQT8 but rather they will foster development of gene therapy for other inherited and acquired arrhythmias.

Mots-clés : arrhythmias,sudden cardiac death,inherited diseases,genetics,electrophysiology
Projet ERC : Des.solve (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : University of Minho — Pays : Portugal — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 7876.06 €

Sugars, aminoacids or organic acids are typically solid at room temperature. Nonetheless when combined at a particular molar fraction they present a high melting point depression, becoming liquids at room temperature. These are called Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents – NADES. NADES are envisaged to play a major role on different chemical engineering processes in the future. Nonetheless, there is a significant lack of knowledge on fundamental and basic research on NADES, which is hindering their industrial applications. For this reason it is important to extend the knowledge on these systems, boosting their application development. NADES applications go beyond chemical or materials engineering and cover a wide range of fields from biocatalysis, extraction, electrochemistry, carbon dioxide capture or biomedical applications. Des.solve encompasses four major themes of research: 1 – Development of NADES and therapeutic deep eutectic solvents – THEDES; 2 – Characterization of the obtained mixtures and computer simulation of NADES/THEDES properties; 3 – Phase behaviour of binary/ternary systems NADES/THEDES + carbon dioxide and thermodynamic modelling 4 – Application development. Starting from the development of novel NADES/THEDES which, by different characterization techniques, will be deeply studied and characterized, the essential raw-materials will be produced for the subsequent research activities. The envisaged research involves modelling and molecular simulations. Des.solve will be deeply engaged in application development, particularly in extraction, biocatalysis and pharmaceutical/biomedical applications. The knowledge that will be created in this proposal is expected not only to have a major impact in the scientific community, but also in society, economy and industry.

Mots-clés : green chemistry,deep eutectic solvents,supercritical fluids,extraction,biocatalysis,pharmaceutics,biomaterials
Projet ERC : Des.solve (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : Universidade Nova de Lisboa — Pays : Portugal — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : NOVA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1869129.94 €

Sugars, aminoacids or organic acids are typically solid at room temperature. Nonetheless when combined at a particular molar fraction they present a high melting point depression, becoming liquids at room temperature. These are called Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents – NADES. NADES are envisaged to play a major role on different chemical engineering processes in the future. Nonetheless, there is a significant lack of knowledge on fundamental and basic research on NADES, which is hindering their industrial applications. For this reason it is important to extend the knowledge on these systems, boosting their application development. NADES applications go beyond chemical or materials engineering and cover a wide range of fields from biocatalysis, extraction, electrochemistry, carbon dioxide capture or biomedical applications. Des.solve encompasses four major themes of research: 1 – Development of NADES and therapeutic deep eutectic solvents – THEDES; 2 – Characterization of the obtained mixtures and computer simulation of NADES/THEDES properties; 3 – Phase behaviour of binary/ternary systems NADES/THEDES + carbon dioxide and thermodynamic modelling 4 – Application development. Starting from the development of novel NADES/THEDES which, by different characterization techniques, will be deeply studied and characterized, the essential raw-materials will be produced for the subsequent research activities. The envisaged research involves modelling and molecular simulations. Des.solve will be deeply engaged in application development, particularly in extraction, biocatalysis and pharmaceutical/biomedical applications. The knowledge that will be created in this proposal is expected not only to have a major impact in the scientific community, but also in society, economy and industry.

Mots-clés : green chemistry,deep eutectic solvents,supercritical fluids,extraction,biocatalysis,pharmaceutics,biomaterials
Projet ERC : DAIRYCULTURES (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : Max Planck Society — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : MPG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499988.0 €

Summary: Dairy products are nutritional resources of global economic importance, and their emergence in prehistory marks a major shift in human dietary ecology. However, basic questions regarding the origins and role of dairying in early human societies remain poorly understood. It is now known that adult hypolactasia (the inability to digest milk sugar) is an ancestral human trait, and that relatively few human populations have genetic variants that allow continued milk digestion into adulthood, a trait known as lactase persistence (LP). The rise of LP has been regarded as a classic example of gene-culture evolution; however, the association between LP and lactose intolerance phenotypes is variable, and LP genotypes do not consistently appear in the archaeological record until more than 5,000 years after the origins of dairying. This has left archaeologists with a puzzling problem, a “milk paradox” regarding how and why ancient peoples developed milk into a dietary resource, how the Bronze Age steppe migrations contributed to the spread of dairying across Eurasia, and what other factors besides LP may have been involved this process. There is now a growing body of evidence that microbes have played important, yet overlooked, roles in the successful establishment of prehistoric dairying economies. This study seeks to answer fundamental questions about the prehistory of dairying by focusing on Mongolia, a country where as much as 80% of the rural diet derives from dairy products, and where dairying has been practiced for more than 3,500 years. Specifically, cutting-edge genomics techniques will be used to identify the origins of Mongolian dairy livestock, proteomics techniques will be used to refine methods for detecting milk proteins in archaeological Mongolian dental calculus, and metagenomics techniques will be used to test hypotheses regarding the relationship between the gut microbiome, lactose digestion, and LP genotypes in nomadic Mongolian dairy herders.

Mots-clés : ancient dna,paleodiet,human microbiome,dairy livestock,mongolia
Projet ERC : Light-DYNAMO (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Italian Institute of Technology — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Sunlight is an intermittent energy source coupled to the availability of the sun. Light-DYNAMO aims for an innovative solution to directly store the solar energy. The challenge is to implement solution-processable light-driven nanocrystal capacitors (NCCs), such as doped metal oxides. They show high charge-storage capacity accumulating multiple delocalized electrons after light absorption. This was to date shown in solution only with the additional drawback of reducing the hole with a sacrificial hole scavenger. The innovative aspect of Light-DYNAMO is to use 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDCs), such as MoS2 or WS2, as efficient hole acceptors in a solid state structure. The sensitivity of the TMDCs’ spatial electronic landscape to the local environment (i.e. strain, defects or doping) serves as driving force for energetically driven hole relocation within the TMDC. The electrons instead remain in the NCCs. This results in long-lasting and efficient charge separation and opens novel design principles. In optimized device structures, such stored carriers are extracted. The working principle of the suggested NC/TMDC hybrid device is based on several challenges: first, the absorption and charge storage capacity of the NCCs will be enhanced by exploring novel materials. Second, the TMDC’s sensitivity to the surrounding will be extracted to a high level of control over the 2D energy level distribution. Third, the intentional design of the energy landscape (e.g. through strain manipulation) in the optimized hybrid geometry will be introduced to control carrier redistribution after charge transfer within the TMDC. Finally, appropriate devices for carrier extraction will be structured. The proposal embarks on a pioneering study by the PI on optical control over carrier density in NCC/TMDC hybrids, advancing such novel systems to a level in which the incoming sunlight is harnessed, converted, stored as charges and released on demand to power an electric circuit.

Mots-clés : doped metal oxides,photodoping,transition metal dichalcogenides,layered two dimensional materials,hybrid nanostructures,charge transfer,light energy storage
Projet ERC : NCUscan (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : University of Nottingham — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2718.75 €

Surface defect detection and characterization is a safety-critical non-destructive testing (NDT) process for many regulated industries, including railway networks, oil and gas, energy generation, aerospace, automotive, and civil infrastructure. The cost of repairing and replacing defective or old components can be extremely high, both in terms of the costs of the components and the related economical costs of a system shut-down. There are several NDT approaches in common use, but these have a number of operational drawbacks that impact adversely on in-situ examination cycle times, and can lead to the requirement for destructive testing. Through NonContactUltrasonic (Starting Grant, 202735) we have shown the promise of surface-wave ultrasonics for characterizing surface-breaking defects in metals. We have shown that the geometry of the defects has a significant effect on the scattered waves, and developed theory and industrially viable techniques for characterising individual defects. All measurements have used non-contact ultrasonic techniques, giving the potential for a fast and simple measurement system, removing the need for visual testing or removal of parts from service, and which could operate in hazardous environments. The concept has been tested successfully in the lab and a Proof of Concept unit is now needed to combine the processes for analysing various crack formations into a single device. This project will develop a demonstrator unit using electromagnetic acoustic transducers and laser ultrasound – testing and adopting industrially viable detection methods in place of the lab-based system used previously. This will lead to a simple, on-line measuring system for industry, with the potential for productivity improvements of up to 50% over competing radiographic methods, and with substantially lower capital costs, with the potential to measure even in the presence of thin coatings without requiring their removal prior to testing.

Mots-clés : ultrasound,non destructive testing,surface acoustic waves
Projet ERC : MAIN (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions
Entité participante : Utrecht University — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Surface-attached proteins establish cell-to-cell contacts and generate signals to control development and function of tissues. It is not clear how protein structure and interactions organize into intercellular assemblies to regulate signalling and adhesion. Using a hybrid approach and focusing on two cell-signalling systems critical for nervous system function, I will determine how protein conformation, interaction and spatial arrangement form cis and trans assemblies to control intercellular adhesion and signalling. In the mammalian nervous system where intricate intercellular connections are highly abundant, two protein interaction systems play essential roles and have been studied extensively on a cellular and in vivo level: 1. Notch receptors with Jagged and Delta-like ligands in neurogenesis and neuronal plasticity 2. Contactins with Casprs, Neurofascin and Amyloid Precursor Protein in formation and maintenance of the nervous system. In addition, Notch signalling triggered by Contactins promotes cell maturation and interlinks these two signalling systems. The detailed molecular-level structures and interactions, however, remain largely unresolved and, consequently, our understanding of how Notch and Contactin conformational and oligomeric changes trigger cell signalling and adhesion is limited. The overall aim is to resolve the extracellular interactions of adhesion and the molecular mechanisms underlying signalling in the Notch and Contactin systems. I will combine X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM to determine structures of proteins, complexes and higher-order assemblies in the pre- and post-intercellular state, and use biophysical and cellular methods to probe cis and trans multivalent interactions. This will provide the molecular basis of intercellular communication and a stepping stone for the development of therapeutics to treat Notch and Contactin associated neurological disorders and cancers.

Mots-clés : protein interactions,intercellular signalling,adhesion