Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : AMICAS (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : Université de Gand — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UGent
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1927325.0 €

A major challenge in anesthesia is to adapt the drug infusion rates from observed patient response to surgical stimuli. The patient models are based on nominal population characteristic response and lack specific surgical effects. In major surgery (e.g. cardiac, transplant, obese patients) modelling uncertainty stems from significant blood losses, anomalous drug diffusion, drug effect synergy/antagonism, anesthetic-hemodynamic interactions, etc. This complex optimisation problem requires superhuman abilities of the anesthesiologist. Computer controlled anesthesia holds the answer to be the game changer for best surgery outcomes. Although few, clinical studies report that computer based anesthesia for one or two drugs outperforms manual management. In reality, clinical practice mitigates a multi-drug optimization problem while accommodating large patient model uncertainty. The anesthesiologist makes decisions based on future surgeon actions and expected patient response. This is a predictive control strategy, a mature methodology in systems and control engineering with potential to faster recovery times and lower risk of complications. The goal of this proposal is to advance the scope and clinical use of computer based constrained optimization of multi-drug infusion rates for anesthesia with strong effects on hemodynamics. I plan to identify multivariable models and minimize the large uncertainties in patient response. With adaptation mechanisms from nominal to individual patient models, we design multivariable optimal predictive control methodologies to manage strongly coupled dynamics. To maximize performance of the closed loop, we model the surgical stimulus as a known disturbance signal and additional bolus infusions from anesthesiologist as known inputs. I am convinced that integration of human expertise with computer optimization is a successful solution for breakthrough into clinical practice.

Mots-clés : multivariable control,model uncertainty,convolutional neural networks,predictive control,interaction,anomalous diffusion,drug effect,general anesthesia,cardiac surgery,human expertise
Projet ERC : MIXOTROPH (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : Naturalis Biodiversity Center — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1986701.25 €

Plants need light to grow. They use energy from sunlight to produce organic carbon. However, new findings – including my own work – now hint that up to 35% of all plant species can also obtain carbon from root-associated fungi when light availability is insufficient for growth. This calls into question much of what we thought we knew about how plants survive in the understory. The goal of this project is to determine the frequency and magnitude of this newly discovered form of ‘mixotrophy’ in our terrestrial ecosystems. I will achieve this exciting goal by working at the intersection of physiology, ecology, evolutionary and molecular biology. The vast majority of land plants transfer part of the organic carbon they produce by photosynthesis to root-associated ‘arbuscular mycorrhizal’ (AM) fungi, which help plants to take up nutrients and water from the soil. My previous findings demonstrate that this carbon can be subsequently taken up by rare non-green plants that tap into the same fungal network. This paved the way for the discovery of AM mixotrophy, in which common green plants take up carbon from AM fungi. However, the plant and fungal diversity involved in AM mixotrophy are unknown. Likewise, the environmental drivers that influence carbon uptake have never been measured, nor do we know about its evolution and geographic distribution. This is problematic because we are unable to quantify or understand the role of AM mixotrophy in our natural world. With field studies, laboratory experiments, and genetic screening of natural history collections, I will (1) identify AM mixotrophic plants and their habitats; (2) reveal environmental drivers that regulate carbon uptake; (3) expose fungal networks that sustain AM mixotrophs; and (4) measure the magnitude of AM mixotrophy across evolutionary and geographic scales. This will lead to a fundamental shift in our understanding of carbon uptake by plants, with profound effects for carbon cycling models and conservation.

Mots-clés : carbon transfer,mycoheterotrophy,mycorrhiza,plant distribution,plant diversity
Projet ERC : PLEIOTROPY (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : École normale supérieure de Lyon — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ENS de Lyon
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1798211.25 €

Pleiotropy is the phenomenon of one gene affecting several phenotypic traits, such as different organs. Mutations advantageous in one organ often have antagonistic effects in others. Recent theoretical and empirical data suggest adaptation proceeds with such pleiotropic mutations if they are compensated during development. I think that pleiotropy may promote the fast divergence of developmental gene expression and cis-regulatory regions while selecting for such compensations. To test this, my lab’s model, the upper and lower molars in rodents, will be ideal to: -Link variation in genes, development and shape, and track compensations in developmental processes. -Focus on a tractable case of pleiotropy with two organs. -Compare the evolution for different pleiotropy constraints. We have established a collection of rodents and methods to compare their genomes and developing molars.PLEIOTROPY’s originality is to contrast 3 types of species: Ancestor-like molars (controls), and derived molars that evolved either in line with pleiotropy constraints (higher crowns in both molars), or against them (extra cusps only in the upper molar). Our hypothesis implies that gene expression and cis-regulatory regions evolve faster in the latter case. We will: 1) Compare how developmental gene expression in tooth germs evolve, and search for compensatory changes in developmental mechanisms. We will scan gene expression at spatial resolution in 7 focal species. 2) Survey how regulatory regions evolve, and test compensatory mutations. We will annotate regulatory regions from epigenomic data and infer their phylogenetic history in 67 species. We will screen and validate compensatory mutations. 3) Model the joint evolution of upper and lower molars development to predict rates of genome evolution and compensatory mutations.PLEIOTROPY exploits my unique expertise, examining genome evolution in connection with developmental evolution, to tackle the puzzling question of pleiotropy in evolution

Mots-clés : comparative transcriptomics and genomics evo devo integrative biology
Projet ERC : ArtiMinDev (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : École normale supérieure de Lyon — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ENS de Lyon
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1522748.0 €

The adoption of green energy technologies worldwide is going to have significant consequences for mineral demand in a near future. The booming sector of artisanal and small-scale mines (ASM) that employs around 40 million people, represents about 20% of the global gold and diamond supply, 25% of tantalum and tin, and up to 80% of sapphire. Those numbers make the ASM sector a pivotal actor in the energy transition. The aim of ArtiMinDev project is to analyze the economic and social impacts of ASM in sub-Saharan African countries. Up until now, the absence of exhaustive time-varying information on the location of ASM has prevented researchers in social sciences from precisely quantifying the contribution of this activity to economic development. The ambition of this project is twofold. First, I intend to map the opening/closing of ASM in sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2000-2020 with exact information on location (GPS coordinates). Two other crucial information are also collected: the size and the mineral extracted from each ASM. I will use machine learning techniques and satellite image time series to identify sediment and open pit-mining activities. Second, equipped with this ground-breaking dataset, I aim to provide systematic and large-scale evidence of the impact of ASM on violence and conflict; environmental degradation and health; and internal migration. The proposal’s objectives, grounded in quantitative economics, are spanning several literatures from a wide variety of disciplines, by combining state-of-the-art machine learning techniques and remote sensing data. I expect the methodologies and the results to push the research frontier in several dimensions. Moreover, the conclusions drawn from the project would be highly relevant for policy-makers and NGOs aiming to improve the monitoring of those mining activities and their impacts on conflict, health and environmental degradation.

Mots-clés : development economics,natural resources,conflict,environment,health,migration
Projet ERC : NanoPLOT (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Université de Stuttgart — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2976479.0 €

Next generation solar cells based on metal halide perovskite (MHP) materials promise cheaper and more energy-efficient photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices compared to current silicon-based technologies. To further advance MHP technology, however, will require fundamental understanding of processes leading to energy losses, unstable operation conditions and premature aging. The macroscopic properties of optoelectronic MHP devices are the result of the complicated interplay between structure and function. Thus, the key to understanding MHP materials is to look at the many nano- and microscale structures, from sub-granular twin domains, over grain boundaries and interfaces to lateral variations in crystal orientations and facets. The aim of this project is to reveal fundamental nanoscale processes and explore the connections to the macroscopic properties of MHP materials. Therefore, we will develop NanoPLOT, an innovative microscopy platform combining the lateral resolution of state-of-the-art atomic force microscopy (AFM) with the high temporal and spectral resolution of ultrafast optical spectroscopy. NanoPLOT will not only allow spatially correlated mapping of, e.g., the local electron dynamics or photoemission spectra together with the nanoscale surface photovoltage, photocurrent or ion dynamics. The most exciting possibilities will come from entirely new imaging methods based on combinations of the available scanning probe and optical methods. Using the 2-10 nm wide AFM tip, we will address and excite individual nanostructures, enabling the characterization of optoelectronic properties at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. The new experimental capabilities will enable addressing some key challenges of MHP research, such as phase segregation and degradation effects, interface heterogeneity and strain effects, enabling a deeper understanding of loss mechanisms and intrinsic instabilities that will enable more efficient and stable MHP solar cells.

Mots-clés : metal halide perovskites,perovskite solar cells,scanning probe microscopy,kelvin probe force microscopy,optical spectroscopy,time resolved photoluminescence
Projet ERC : coralINT (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : Université de Lisbonne — Pays : Portugal — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 363435.15 €

Idea: CoralINT aims to deliver the ability to predict spatio-temporal change in biodiversity and the consequences of this change for ecosystem function. To achieve this aim, I will develop an Integrated Niche Theory linking three niche concepts: Grinnell’s niche (what a species needs), Elton’s niche (what a species does) and niche construction (how the species function changes the environment). The key to this integration lies in how species are sorted along each of the niche axes (environmental gradients, functional rates and niche construction rates). I will map the dynamic implications of different types of bivariate sorting to the development of positive and negative feedback loops. This new theory will allow predicting the indirect consequences of selection on one axis to change along the other two axes. I will test INT with environmental, compositional, and functional data extracted from 3D maps of coral reefs and its coral inhabitants. Ground breaking features: CoralINT sits at the interface between theory development and cutting-edge empirical data. I anticipate coralINT will produce 3D maps for a total area of >26,600 m2 with mm scale resolution, distributed among 100 sites along a 2,000 km latitudinal gradient. Within these maps we will follow >100,000 coral colonies through time, measuring and inferring structural and demographic rates across >200 species and environmental variation in space and time. Working at organismal and ecosystem scales will enable coralINT to develop mechanistic understanding of the processes connecting environmental, compositional and functional change. Objectives: develop a new Integrated Niche Theory; quantify the effects of the environment on corals’ distribution and functional rates; determine if function can be predicted from coral and reef structural traits; quantify the prevalence and evolutionary implications of coral niche construction. Feasibility:We have collected proof of concept data for each data type.

Mots-clés : theoretical macroecology,reef corals,community ecology,functional ecology
Projet ERC : CAPITALEAST (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : University College Dublin — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UCD
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999750.0 €

The Middle East is rarely associated with global capitalism. And yet, capitalist expansion had a substantial impact on its modern history. While previous works address issues such as ‘dependency’ and ‘coloniality’, state building, human-environmental interaction and connectivity, there is little recognition of the influence of global capitalism on the socio-ecological transformation of the rural Middle East. CAPITALEAST therefore compares tribes of diverse origins, examining the ‘capitalization’ of their agriculture and the commercialization of their livestock. It adopts a translocal and global approach to reveal the connectedness of the diverse social entities to the wider world like the nomadic, semi-settled and settled tribes living in cultivable, desert, and mountainous ecologies. The project argues that intertwined processes such as commodification, the scientification of cultivation and animal breeding, mechanization of agriculture, ‘automobilization’, and new patterns of land ownerships resulted in an impressive repositioning of tribal agency in the physical environment and a noticeable increase in urban-rural and global-local relations. States, urban elites and tribal leaders, and global capitalists all emerged as active participants in the process. The project proposes an ambitious longitudinal enquiry, combining an analysis of digitized and published sources with extensive work in regional and central archives. This ground-breaking research will create an online database including interactive maps, network graphs, and structured data about spatial locations which offer multiple avenues of interpretation of the sources. In addition, 5 monographs, 2 conferences and 2 edited volumes will constitute the other major project outputs. This project promises to recast the field of the Middle East history, contribute to the extra-European story of capitalism and open new frontiers in studying the history, sociology, economy and anthropology of rural peoples.

Mots-clés : ottoman history,middle east history,syria,iraq
Projet ERC : MolStressH2O (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : University College Dublin — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UCD
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999845.0 €

Heat stress is a driver of current mass mortalities related to anthropogenic global warming. However, current approaches to study heat stress have not considered three major but little known aspects. These are (i) the ripple effect, which could amplify negative outcomes through propagating heat stress among organisms, (ii) heat stress as an evolutionary mutagen and (iii) genomic networks as filters for prezygotic selection, which together could speed up the process of evolutionary adaptation to rapidly changing environments. In this project, these properties of heat stress will be studied in vulnerable early life stages of three distinct aquatic ectotherms (a ragworm, a fish and a frog), to achieve an understanding of how universal these aspects of heat stress are among distinct, unrelated species. First this project will explore whether thermal stress can be propagated by means of chemical communication (stress metabolites) to naive receivers of different species. Outcomes on development will be compared with differential gene expression. We will then identify heat-induced stress metabolites and their molecular pathways of action, through RNAsequencing, Metabolomics and CRISPR-mediated gene editing. We will then test whether thermal stress and stress metabolites exposure induce higher mutation rates, through heat-induced transposon activity and reduced DNA repair capacity. gDNA sequencing will be combined with optical genome mapping to identify mutation rates and new structural variants. Lastly, we will identify the role of functional genomic network constraint in filtering such variants. We will sequence a reference genome, and explore through AI-led simulations whether networks with topological node constraints outperform those without constraint. Together, these objectives will transform our understanding of the mechanisms, and the extent to which organisms will respond to anthropogenic warming.

Mots-clés : ls2 1 genetics,ls2 2 gene editing,ls2 5 genomics,ls2 7 transcriptomics,ls2 9 metabolomics,ls2 11 bioinformatics and computational biology,ls2 13 systems biology
Projet ERC : EPIAROUSAL (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Lyon-I université — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Lyon I
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1130000.0 €

Both seizures and their complications are modulated by patients’ vigilance states. Several epilepsy complications are associated with sleep, including Sudden and Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). SUDEP primarily results from a fatal postictal central apnea after a nocturnal generalized convulsive seizures. While transient seizure-related respiratory dysfunction is frequent in patients, current hypotheses suggest that in some of them, repetition of seizures may induce a chronic alteration of respiratory regulation, increasing the risk of fatal apnea. Reducing the severity of postictal respiratory dysfunction has thus appeared as one of the most promising way to prevent SUDEP. However, no encouraging result has been reported yet, suggesting that epilepsy-related respiratory dysfunction may only be the tip of the iceberg. Given the numerous interconnections between the network that regulates arousal and sleep and the respiratory network, I make the hypothesis that some patients with drug-resistant epilepsy might combine this well-known seizure-related respiratory dysfunction with a chronic alteration of arousal regulation, resulting in abnormal asphyxia-induced arousal. Adenosine system is deeply implicated in the regulation of sleep and central respiratory control and is modulated by seizures. Epilepsy-related alteration of the brainstem adenosine pathway may play a key role in the development of arousal and respiratory co-dysfunction. Using both experimental and clinical studies, EPIAROUSAL will investigate the exact interplay between epilepsy-related respiratory dysfunction and arousal regulation on the one hand, and the relation between long-term repetition of seizures, brainstem adenosine pathway and the respiratory and arousal co-dysfunction on the other hand. The final objective is to validate that adenosine-targeted therapy can restore normal asphyxia-induced arousal in drug-resistant epilepsy, paving the way for a first a clinical trial of SUDEP prevention

Mots-clés : epilepsy,sudep,adenosine
Projet ERC : 4M8 (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Luxembourg Institute of Health — Pays : Luxembourg — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : LIH
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2000000.0 €

Mechanisms underlying cancer metastasis are poorly understood and context dependent. An essential feature of disseminating cancer cells is metabolic plasticity which allows cellular adaptation to changing environmental conditions along the metastatic cascade. I discovered in 2016 the phenomenon of formate overflow, an alternative pathway for serine catabolism via folate-mediated one-carbon (1C) cycle. Instead of using formate for nucleotide synthesis (to support proliferation), formate overflow is characterised by formate excretion from cancer cells. Furthermore, I have convincingly demonstrated that mitochondrial 1C metabolism and increased extracellular formate concentrations promote cancer metastasis in a growth-independent manner. However, it remains unknown which intermediates of 1C metabolism contribute to this phenotype, how formate controls metastasis and how it can be targeted therapeutically. To cross the current edge of knowledge, I will (1) take advantage of genetic and newly developed analytical methods to dissect how the formate-dependent effects are propagated in cells; (2) describe intrinsic mechanisms to explain how the formate signal is relayed to promote metastasis and (3) exploit formate overflow for cancer cell killing by directly targeting the formate molecule. 4M8 will explain a novel concept of how a mitochondrial metabolic signal drives cancer cells towards a pro-metastatic phenotype and how this knowledge can be translated into a signature to analyse the metabolic state in human tumour samples. Finally, we will develop a novel tool to target formate directly within cancer cells. In sum, our research will shed light on an unexplored field of cancer metabolism providing the foundation to develop novel treatment approaches against metastatic cancer, the primary cause of cancer death.

Mots-clés : serine,one carbon metabolism,invasion,metastasis,13c metabolomics,formate,cancer metabolism,metabolic plasticity