Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : FLUFLUX (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : Forschungsverbund Berlin — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : FVB
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 765349.8 €

Fluvial ecosystems are an important element in the global carbon cycle metabolizing large amounts of terrigenous organic matter (tOM). This contributes to CO2 evasion fluxes that are under continuous reevaluation at the global scale. In contrast, research on the underlying processes is concentrated at the local ecosystem scale. This scale-gap seriously hampers process understanding across scales, limits upscaling accuracy, and reduces our scope of reaction strategies. Here, I suggest ground-breaking research on ecological processes at the intermediate ‘regional’ scale of the ‘fluvial network‘ to create a deeper mechanistic understanding of biogeochemically relevant carbon fluxes. My starting point is trifold: (1) detrital tOM has extremely high molecular-level diversity that requires consumers of equally high biodiversity for efficient respiration; (2) exactly this biodiversity of heterotrophic microbes, fungi and insects is constrained by metacommunity dynamics unfolding at a larger regional scale; and (3) the rules by which the conspicuously dendritic structure of the fluvial network shapes a metacommunity differ fundamentally from those governing regional diversity patterns of tOM resources. I hypothesize regional carbon dissimilation in ‘fluvial metaecosystems’ to be the interactive product of spatially partitioned resource and consumer diversities. I posit that this coupling of metacommunity structure to metaecosystem function is influenced by fluvial network topology, anthropogenic network fragmentation, and terrestrial matrix variation. Research will combine experiments in innovative lab-scale metaecosystems, spatially explicit modelling using cellular automata, and field studies spanning gradients of regional anthropogenic impact in real fluvial networks. I expect this cross-disciplinary research at the crucial landscape scale to generate novel mechanistic process understanding behind fluvial carbon fluxes in a world changing at ever faster pace.

Mots-clés : metacommunity,metaecosystem,limnology,biodiversity,spatial ecology
Projet ERC : FAIRFISH (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : Lancaster University — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1493605.0 €

Food Security is a grand challenge of our time, but three factors inhibit our ability to meet global targets. First, interdisciplinary approaches incorporating ecological, social, and health sciences are fundamental, but lacking. Second, a disproportionate focus on food quantity overlooks ‘hidden hunger’, or micronutrient deficiencies, which are implicated in over a million deaths annually. Third, small-scale fisheries (SSF) reach 100s of millions of people in the developing world, hold potential for achieving food security, but remain ‘forgotten food’ in global discourse. Consequently, an interdisciplinary approach that tackles hidden hunger within SSF is a critical frontier for food security research. Fish are particularly high in many micronutrients, but a systematic understanding of which species have the greatest concentrations of key nutrients is needed. Inadequate access to nutritious food is one of the most significant problems of the modern age, which can be illuminated through analyses of power. The failure to realise the tremendous potential for improving food security through fisheries stems from a lack of understanding of how social drivers exacerbate or ameliorate nutritional inequalities. Consequently, an in-depth analysis that quantifies how key social drivers impact nutritional inequality, is essential. FAIRFISH will address these gaps to uncover the ecological and socio-cultural determinants of the contributions SSF make to human health: 1. Establish the ecological and environmental determinants of nutrient availability among fish species using a traits based approach. 2. Advance social practice theory, by integrating an analysis of power, to determine what power relations enable or constrain access to nutritious food. 3. Progress interdisciplinary science, by integrating findings from 1 and 2, to quantify the impact of key social drivers on nutritional inequality, and uncover opportunities to meet nutritional needs.

Mots-clés : small scale fisheries,food security,development,power,access,social ecological systems,interdisciplinarity
Projet ERC : SENSOILS (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Entité participante : Tecnalia — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 347405.78 €

Food production is predicated on the application of nitrogen fertilisers, which can contribute significantly to the production of greenhouse gasses and eutrophication of agroecosystems. The use of nitrogen fertilisers must, therefore, be optimised. The recent development of transparent soils in my group gives great scope to unravel the processes involved in the reactive transport of nutrients in soil and their interaction with the soil biota. My team will combine principles of optics, chemical engineering, the physics, chemistry, and biology of soils, and plant biology to image and characterise nitrogen movement in soil at the micro-scale. We will develop a new generation of transparent soil analogues that measure the biological and chemical status of soils. This will enable, for the first time, to characterise transport at the surface of soil particles and to elucidate the role of root–particle–particle contacts, exudation and microbial transformation on the bioavailability of nitrate and ammonium. The legacy of the research will be knowledge, concepts, model soil systems and imaging approaches to understand and predict nutrient bioavailability in soil with an emphasis on nitrification as a model for nitrogen movement in soil. Transparent soils and imaging technologies will be patented and could pave the way for 3D chemical sensors, and have application in crop breeding and precision phenotyping. Understanding of nutrient movements in soil will lead to substantial progress in the development of more efficient fertilisers. New model soil systems could be used to better understand the spread of soil-borne diseases, the bio-remediation of contaminated soils and the mechanisms underlying soil biodiversity and activity.

Mots-clés : nitrification,rhizosphere,soil,root,imaging,barley,model
Projet ERC : NanoHighSpeed (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : University of Erlangen-Nuremberg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : FAU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 334932.69 €

For a sustainable economy, it is paramount to create robust, durable products. In the case of mobile phone displays, cutting tools and other products subjected to impact loading, this means finding ways to avoid brittle failure at high stain rates. This is currently difficult, since little to no fundamental understanding of the deformation mechanisms at high strain rates exists. This is largely owing to the fact that no methods are available for nanoscale investigations. By developing nanoindentation into a new tool for high strain rate testing, we will achieve a groundbreaking improvement of the spatial resolution of high strain rate mechanical testing by 10^6. This extraordinary improvement will be possible through simultaneous advances in hardware and experimental methods. This new nanoscale approach will enable a breakthrough in the fundamental understanding of the mechanical behavior of materials at high strain rates down to their constituent microstructural elements. We will isolate single grain boundaries and measure their individual contribution to strength and embrittlement as a function of strain rate, crystal structure and grain boundary energy. The local resistance to dislocation transmission, migration and fracture will be correlated to the overall Hall-Petch strengthening behavior of the polycrystal. The payoff will be a better understanding and predictability of embrittlement events at high strain rates. A second breakthrough will be made possible in understanding the interplay between plasticity and brittle fracture at high strain rates in some of the technologically most important hard coatings, including toughened glass used in mobile phone screens and TiAlN based coatings, commonly used in tooling. We will examine the recent hypothesis of a possible regain in ductility and systematically investigate the influence of the microstructure and residual stress. This will open up new paths for optimizing the durability of future coating systems.

Mots-clés : nanoindentation,high strain rates,deformation mechanisms,coatings
Projet ERC : NanoHighSpeed (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : University of Kassel — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1426370.31 €

For a sustainable economy, it is paramount to create robust, durable products. In the case of mobile phone displays, cutting tools and other products subjected to impact loading, this means finding ways to avoid brittle failure at high stain rates. This is currently difficult, since little to no fundamental understanding of the deformation mechanisms at high strain rates exists. This is largely owing to the fact that no methods are available for nanoscale investigations. By developing nanoindentation into a new tool for high strain rate testing, we will achieve a groundbreaking improvement of the spatial resolution of high strain rate mechanical testing by 10^6. This extraordinary improvement will be possible through simultaneous advances in hardware and experimental methods. This new nanoscale approach will enable a breakthrough in the fundamental understanding of the mechanical behavior of materials at high strain rates down to their constituent microstructural elements. We will isolate single grain boundaries and measure their individual contribution to strength and embrittlement as a function of strain rate, crystal structure and grain boundary energy. The local resistance to dislocation transmission, migration and fracture will be correlated to the overall Hall-Petch strengthening behavior of the polycrystal. The payoff will be a better understanding and predictability of embrittlement events at high strain rates. A second breakthrough will be made possible in understanding the interplay between plasticity and brittle fracture at high strain rates in some of the technologically most important hard coatings, including toughened glass used in mobile phone screens and TiAlN based coatings, commonly used in tooling. We will examine the recent hypothesis of a possible regain in ductility and systematically investigate the influence of the microstructure and residual stress. This will open up new paths for optimizing the durability of future coating systems.

Mots-clés : nanoindentation,high strain rates,deformation mechanisms,coatings
Projet ERC : NewHuman (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : TU Wien — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : TUW
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 241250.0 €

For almost 100 years, the evolution of humans has been summarized as a transition from small-brained bipeds with an ape-like body plan (referred to as australopiths), to large-brained striding bipeds with a human-like body plan (members of the genus Homo). This characterisation dominates popular perception of human evolution in the public sphere. However, three newly discovered fossil human (hominin) species (H. naledi, H. floresiensis and Australopithecus sediba) do not fit this simple transitional model in either morphology or time (the former two surviving contemporaneously with modern humans), and have re-ignited debate about the origin of the Homo lineage, including perceptions of the earliest putative Homo species, H. habilis. These new fossils raise fundamental questions about the ecological niches occupied by hominins and the inferred transitions between niches throughout human evolution. With NewHuman, I will pioneer a novel, interdisciplinary and holistic approach using cutting-edge analyses of internal structures of fossil hominin teeth and bones to reconstruct the adaptive niche of these enigmatic species and test whether there is an unrecognized adaptive branch on the human family tree. Specifically, NewHuman will employ ground-breaking imaging techniques and analytical tools to reveal never-before-examined tooth and bone structures in these hominins. In doing so, it will 1) characterize the behaviour of these enigmatic species and place them more firmly into their ecological environment; and 2) elucidate the adaptive strategy that was likely the transition from australopith-like hominin species to later Homo, but which also represents a highly successful lifeway that persisted for over 2 million years alongside the evolving human lineage. By achieving these ambitious aims, NewHuman will have a significant impact on hypotheses about human evolution, and could result in a paradigm shift that overturns current views on human evolutionary history.

Mots-clés : human evolutionary history,micro computed tomography,biomechanics,adaptive niche,fossil excavations
Projet ERC : MY-CUBE (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CEA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2734139.0 €

For integrated circuits to be able to leverage the future “data deluge” coming from the cloud and cyber-physical systems, the historical scaling of Complementary-Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) devices is no longer the corner stone. At system-level, computing performance is now strongly power-limited and the main part of this power budget is consumed by data transfers between logic and memory circuit blocks in widespread Von-Neumann design architectures. An emerging computing paradigm solution overcoming this “memory wall” consists in processing the information in-situ, owing to In-Memory-Computing (IMC). However, today’s existing memory technologies are ineffective to In-Memory compute billions of data items, as it is the case in the brain. Things may change with the emergence of three key enabling technologies: non-volatile resistive memory, new energy-efficient nanowire transistors and 3D-monolithic. My-CUBE will leverage them towards a functionality-enhanced system with a tight entangling of logic and memory. Only such a technology can support the scalability of the IMC concept. Following a holistic approach from the system to the material, My-CUBE unique solution relies on a new class of nano-technology, mixing at the fine-grain level a high capacity of non-volatile resistive memory coupled with new junctionless nanowire transistors 3D-interconnected at low-temperature, to perform data-centric computations. A 3D IMC accelerator circuit will be designed, manufactured and measured, targeting a 20x reduction in (Energy x Delay) Product vs. Von-Neumann systems. This technology that adds smartness to memory/storage will not only be a game changer for artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics or any data-abundant computing systems but it will also be, more broadly, a key computational kernel for next low-power, energy-efficient European integrated circuits.

Mots-clés : nano technology,cmos,transistor,memory,computing system,circuit design
Projet ERC : Corruption Roots (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : University of Amsterdam — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UvA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

For many years, human cooperation has been praised as beneficial in organizational and personal settings. Indeed, cooperation allows people to develop trust, build meaningful relationships, achieve mutually beneficial outcomes, and strengthen bonding with one's group members. However, while the benefits of cooperation are clear, very little is known about its possible negative aspects. Such negative aspects include the potential emergence of unethical conduct among cooperating partners, or as termed here – corrupt collaboration. Such joint unethical efforts, benefiting (directly or indirectly) one or more of the involved parties, occur in business, sports, and even academia. Corrupt collaboration emerges when one party bends ethical rules (here: lie) to set the stage for another party to further bend ethical rules and get the job done, that is, secure personal profit based on joint unethical acts. We propose that corrupt collaborations most commonly occur when all involved parties gain from the corrupt behavior. The current proposal is aimed at unfolding the roots and nature of corrupt collaborations; their existence, the psychological and biological processes underlying them, and the settings most likely to make corrupt collaboration emerge and spread. Accordingly, the information gathered in the current proposal has the potential to change the commonly held conceptions regarding the unidimensional – positive – nature of cooperation. It will help create a comprehensive understanding of cooperation and, specifically, when it should be encouraged or, alternatively, monitored.

Mots-clés : cooperation,ethical decision making,decision making,moral psychology
Projet ERC : 20SComplexity (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions
Entité participante : Weizmann Institute of Science — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

For many years, the ubiquitin-26S proteasome degradation pathway was considered the primary route for proteasomal degradation. However, it is now becoming clear that proteins can also be targeted for degradation by a ubiquitin-independent mechanism mediated by the core 20S proteasome itself. Although initially believed to be limited to rare exceptions, degradation by the 20S proteasome is now understood to have a wide range of substrates, many of which are key regulatory proteins. Despite its importance, little is known about the mechanisms that control 20S proteasomal degradation, unlike the extensive knowledge acquired over the years concerning degradation by the 26S proteasome. Our overall aim is to reveal the multiple regulatory levels that coordinate the 20S proteasome degradation route. To achieve this goal we will carry out a comprehensive research program characterizing three distinct levels of 20S proteasome regulation: Intra-molecular regulation- Revealing the intrinsic molecular switch that activates the latent 20S proteasome. Inter-molecular regulation- Identifying novel proteins that bind the 20S proteasome to regulate its activity and characterizing their mechanism of function. Cellular regulatory networks- Unraveling the cellular cues and multiple pathways that influence 20S proteasome activity using a novel systematic and unbiased screening approach. Our experimental strategy involves the combination of biochemical approaches with native mass spectrometry, cross-linking and fluorescence measurements, complemented by cell biology analyses and high-throughput screening. Such a multidisciplinary approach, integrating in vitro and in vivo findings, will likely provide the much needed knowledge on the 20S proteasome degradation route. When completed, we anticipate that this work will be part of a new paradigm – no longer perceiving the 20S proteasome mediated degradation as a simple and passive event but rather a tightly regulated and coordinated process.

Mots-clés : 20s proteasome,protein degradation,macromolecular complexes,native mass spectrometry
Projet ERC : GRASP (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Entité participante : Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : SLU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499902.0 €

For millennia, people have cut and joined together different plants through a process known as grafting. Plants tissues from different genotypes fuse, vasculature connects and a chimeric organism forms that combines desirable characteristics from different plants such as high yields or disease resistance. However, plants can only be grafted to closely related species and in some instances, they cannot be grafted to themselves. This phenomenon is referred to as graft incompatibility and the mechanistic basis is completely unknown. Our previous work on graft formation in Arabidopsis thaliana has uncovered genes that rapidly activate in grafted tissues to signal the presence of adjoining tissue and initiate a vascular reconnection process. These genes activate around the cut only during graft formation and present a powerful tool to screen large numbers of chemicals and genes that could promote tissue perception and vascular formation. With these sensors and our previously established grafting tools in the model plant Arabidopsis, we can address fundamental questions about grafting biology that have direct relevance to improving graft formation through: 1. Identifying genes required for the recognition response using forward and reverse genetic screens. 2. Determining and characterising signals that activate vascular induction using a chemical genetics screen. 3. Characterising the transcriptional basis for compatibility and incompatibility by analysing tissues and species that graft and comparing these to tissues and species that do not graft. 4. Overcoming graft incompatibility and improving graft formation by applying the knowledge obtained from the three previous objectives. We thus aim to broaden our fundamental understanding of the processes associated with grafting including wound healing, vascular formation and tissue regeneration, while at the same time, use this information to improve graft formation and expand the range of grafted species.

Mots-clés : plant grafting,vascular formation,developmental biology,arabidopsis thaliana,tomato,maize,self,non self recognition