Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : PhotoDefect (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1895956.0 €

Photoelectrochemistry can revolutionise our way of life by harnessing sunlight to produce renewable fuels and chemicals and by helping us preserve the planet for future generations. However, enhancing the efficiency and selectivity of photoelectrochemical (PEC) reactions remains a challenge, especially for the photo-transformation of organic compounds required in industry. The problem stems from the difficulty of characterising the catalytic interface of heterogenous systems under working conditions. This prevents us from elucidating the reaction mechanisms and, so far, has dramatically limited our ability to control reactivity in a similar way to what can be achieved with homogeneous molecular catalysis. A particular challenge of solids is that they are prone to form defects during catalysis. However, how defects and lattice distortions impact the steps of the catalytic cycle remains unknown. Such mechanistic understanding is critical to redesign new materials and boost catalytic efficiencies.  PhotoDefect will address this gap in our understanding by applying new methodologies to the study of oxidation reactions at metal oxide photoelectrodes. Our approach is to combine operando mass spectrometry and electrochemistry with optical and X-ray lasers to provide unprecedented insights into the polarised interface. Our strategy is to detect, in situ, the formation of reactive intermediates, defects and catalytic products in order to map out reaction mechanisms and establish ways to control them on demand.  We will use cutting-edge methodologies to establish whether defects and photoinduced structural distortions or polarons participate in the steps of the catalytic mechanisms. Most importantly, if successful, our results will reveal new ways to tune the yield and selectivity of PEC reactions by controlling defects and polarons. These results will influence the way we synthesise PEC materials and the theoretical models we use to understand reaction mechanisms.

Mots-clés : photoelectrochemistry,defect,oxygen vacancies,polarons,reactivity
Projet ERC : RECLESS (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université de Göteborg — Pays : Suède — Rôle : CO-PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 3208182.0 €

RECLESS will predict how ongoing ocean deoxygenation impacts microbial nitrogen transformations and thereby the future availability of nitrogen to support oceanic primary production and carbon sequestration. Microbial conversions of bioavailable nitrogen to dinitrogen in oxygen-depleted waters currently account for ~30% of the marine nitrogen loss, despite oxygen-depleted waters making up just 0.1% of the ocean volume. Models predict accelerating expansion of oxygen depletion, which entails increased nitrogen loss with negative impacts on ecosystem function and oceanic carbon sequestration, as well as an associated production of greenhouse-forcing nitrous oxide. However, biogeochemical ocean models currently fail to reproduce fundamental aspects of the microbial nitrogen transformations observed experimentally, including how nitrogen is either recycled or lost in oxygen-depleted waters. This reflects fundamental knowledge gaps concerning the environmental controls on growth, mortality, and activity of microbial populations, which preclude robust model predictions. RECLESS breaks new ground by synergistically integrating innovative oceanographic, biogeochemical, ecophysiological, and model-based investigations to close these gaps. With unprecedented in situ ecophysiological experiments using novel custom-made instrumentation as a cornerstone, RECLESS will identify key organisms, quantify their response to environmental controls, and construct the first comprehensive global microbial ecosystem model for oxygen-depleted marine systems. This model will enable robust predictions of how ocean deoxygenation affects nitrogen cycling and loss, greenhouse gas production, and interactions with the carbon cycle. Thus, RECLESS will transform our understanding of the present and future marine nitrogen cycle and its climate interactions, and set new standards for the integration of microbial processes in global biogeochemical analyses.

Mots-clés : marine nitrogen cycle,ocean deoxygenation,microbial ecophysiology,single cell activity,ecosystem modelling,ocean modelling
Projet ERC : PROTOS (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Naturalis Biodiversity Center — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2000312.5 €

All information humankind has of the ancient past of our planet comes from analyzing the geological record encoded in rocks. There is, however, no rock record of the first 600 million years of Earth’s history. Unlocking the secrets of this earliest period –the Hadean– is a fundamental task for science, as it is key to understanding how the planet became habitable, when the first forms of metabolism and self-replication developed, and life appeared. The lack of a geological record has led scientists to use computational modeling to make inferences about the conditions in Early Earth’s environments. Less common are laboratory experiments specifically targeted to simulating Hadean conditions. Based on ubiquitous carbonaceous chert deposits in the oldest rock record, it is widely accepted that many early Archean aquatic settings were reducing and rich in silica and some basic carbon-based molecules. We reason that such aquatic conditions were already established during the early Hadean, and inevitably led to the existence of a large-scale factory of simple and complex organic compounds, many of them relevant to prebiotic chemistry and to the route to biomimetic hybrid microstructures able to self-organize and catalyze prebiotic reactions relevant to the origin of life. Our project is aimed at understanding the crucial role of silica in directing the geochemical and protobiological processes, creating habitats for early life, and preserving early biomass on Earth’s surface during the first billion years of its history. PROTOS will use an array of laboratory experiments (the Hadean Simulator) to systematically study ab-initio reactions of water and gases with the earliest rock types in order to determine compositions of aquatic habitats and subsequent silica precipitation mechanisms, organic synthesis processes on silica/iron surfaces, and the preservation of the first remnants of life. PROTOS will change our view of the infancy of the planet.

Mots-clés : hadean,early earth,mineral self organization,serpentinization,silica,self organization,prebiotic,chemistry,life detection,origin of life
Projet ERC : DarkQuantum (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université Aalto — Pays : Finlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1977120.0 €

The unresolved nature of the Dark Matter permeating our Universe is one of the most pressing questions of modern science. It is connected to our very understanding of reality at the most fundamental level. The axion DM paradigm has recently emerged as one of the most compelling hypothesis to solve this question: Dark Matter would be composed by very light and very feebly interacting axions. This paradigm is strongly motivated by theory, and predicts a clear signal in terrestrial experiments called axion haloscopes. Pioneering experiments have reached enough sensitivity to test some realistic axion models in limited mass ranges, so far without a positive signal. However, there is still a large viable axion parameter space to be explored. The methods used to date will be inefficient to perform such a challenging task. Here our DarkQuantum consortium proposes a new way of addressing this gap using quantum sensing technologies and hybrid quantum systems. Specifically, we will combine quantum technologies and well established particle physics environments at CERN or DESY devoted to the detection of axions in the galactic halo. Building quantum-enhanced setups in particle physics environments is extremely challenging and needs expertise from very different fields of physics. Our consortium brings together experts from quantum circuits, very-low temperature cryogenics, quantum measurements and particle physics, to build two quantum-enhanced haloscopes with unprecedented sensitivity and mass scanning range. The novel sensing strategies of the DarkQuantum project could lead to the experimental detection of axions for the first time. Such a fundamental discovery in connection with the long-standing DM problem would lead to a breakthrough in Physics

Mots-clés : axions dark matter axion haloscope axion like particle photon counter qubit transmon high temperature superconductor low background techniques underground physics machine learning
Projet ERC : MiniLife (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Parmenides Foundation — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : CO-PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2232211.0 €

The de novo creation of living systems is a long-standing dream of humanity. To realise this dream, we need a clear conceptualisation of the goal and the experimental means to put it to practice. We think now, time is ripe to make a serious attempt. There is emerging consensus that a minimal living system should be out-of-equilibrium and self-sustaining, have metabolism, an inheritance system, a boundary to keep the constituents together and that a population of such systems should be able to undergo Darwinian evolution. The aim of this proposal is to develop, for the first time, synthetic chemical systems with all of these features. Due to its very nature MiniLife is standing on two, equally strong feet: chemistry and biology. The strongest link between them is autocatalysis, which allows reproduction. Our approach to creating the first artificial chemical living system takes the following steps: (1) Identification of new, and development of existing, autocatalytic (super)systems that function as chemical (and informational) replicators. (2) Coupling of metabolism with chemical replicators. (3) Coupling of autocatalysis to compartment growth and division. (4) Synthesis of a chemical supersystem comprising all three components (replication, metabolism and compartmentalisation). (5) Demonstrating minimal Darwinian evolution upon subjecting the systems synthesized in 1-3 to out-of-equilibrium selection regimes. (6) Approaching a minimal living system by enhancing of the evolvability of the triple systems developed in 4. We have assembled a strong consortium that brings together PIs of previous ERC Advanced Grants in three key areas to be integrated: Ashkenasy and Otto bring expertise in synthetic chemical self-replicating systems; Griffiths brings expertise on compartmentalisation using microfluidics, and Szathmáry is a leading expert on theory of replicator evolution and computational modelling. Success would constitute a landmark achievement in basic science.

Mots-clés : systems chemistry evolvability autocatalysis infrabiological systems microfluidics error threshold reaction network
Projet ERC : RESYDE (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université de Cambridge — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2237859.0 €

Scientists have long sought to understand how complex multicellular organisms generate their final form. Yet despite considerable progress, demonstrating predictive knowledge sufficient to re-engineer development according to design, remains a grand challenge. Addressing this challenge is not only fundamentally important, but also critical to the future of regenerative medicine and agriculture. Development depends on coordinated symmetry breaking events resulting from diverse mechanisms, ranging from the asymmetric localisation of molecules and stochastic processes within cells to the formation of morphogen gradients across a tissue. A mechanistic understanding of complex patterning processes therefore requires gaining knowledge on the molecular basis of multiple types of symmetry breaking events occurring at different scales. RESYDE will address this challenge by integrating information from diverse approaches into a virtual, dynamic cellular template. Predictive modelling will then be used to explain symmetry breaking at different scales sufficient to re-engineer the system by design. We will use the Arabidopsis flower as a model system and apply an interdisciplinary approach that utilises fine-scale perturbation techniques together with in vivo live-imaging of key regulators along with spatially mapped multi omics data, hormonal gradients and tissue mechanics to monitor responses at multiple scales. To leverage these data we will establish a 4D virtual cell template together with multiscale models to generate and simulate hypotheses in silico on the precise molecular origins of symmetry breaking events within the flower. We will apply our knowledge using a re-engineering approach to alter multiple floral symmetry breaking processes to better understand evolutionary floral architectural changes. Ultimately, RESYDE will provide a fundamental step change in our understanding of concerted symmetry breaking events across scales in complex multicellular contexts.

Mots-clés : flower development,meristem patterning,organ polarity,evo devo
Projet ERC : n-AQUA (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université de Cambridge — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 3330700.0 €

Water is a substance that needs no introduction: It shapes our blue planet, is life-enabling, and scientifically fascinating with a host of anomalous behaviours. Despite centuries of studies, breakthroughs in the last decade have shown that when wWater is an abundant, yet exceptional and life-enabling substance. The past decades have seen tremendous progress in our understanding of the many peculiarities of water, many of which can be traced to the nature of the interactions between water molecules. When confining water to nanometer-range pores and cavities, wholly new and unexpected phenomena appear: water flows differently in confinement, its phase diagram changes drastically, and conventional theories break down. This is exciting from a scientific perspective, but also of great technological importance: nanoscale water is fundamental to water purification and desalination, where water has to flow through nanopores, and for energy-related processes as a source of protons and hydrogen. Here, we aim for fundamental new scientific insights into water at key length- and time-scales by bringing together a critical mass of researchers with complementarity skillsets in nanofluidics, spectroscopy, and theory and simulation. We follow a radically new perspective for nanoscale water transport, envisioning confined water not only in terms of real-space confinement, but also in terms of its collective modes: how they couple and resonate with the confining material and its - quantum - excitations to affect global transport. Seeing water dynamics in both the real and Fourier worlds allows us to naturally address quantum couplings and light- matter interactions and their effect at nanoscales. This opens a new world of possibilities, e.g., by controlling water motion through fine-tuning of its excitations, quantum engineering of water transport is made possible. Such views have the potential to enable world-changing novel technologies in the water-energy nexus and related fields.

Mots-clés : water,molecular scale friction,transport control,in situ spectroscopy,nano fluidics,electronic structure
Projet ERC : GWSky (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : École internationale supérieure d'études avancées — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : SISSA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2835524.25 €

General Relativity (GR) is more than a century old, but is still our best macroscopic description of gravity. Key GR predictions are black holes (BHs) and gravitational waves (GWs), whose spectacular confirmation led to two recent physics Nobel Prizes. The future of GW astronomy, however, is even brighter, since detectors will observe BHs at cosmic dawn and probe their enigmatic event horizon, where GR clashes with quantum mechanics in the information loss paradox. These experiments will measure signals hundreds of times smaller than today, necessarily discovering anomalies and deviations from current predictions, e.g., due to the astrophysical environment. On the fundamental side, precision GW astronomy will open countless possibilities for understanding the standard model of particle physics (and its extensions), gravity and cosmology. By itself, however, precision is not knowledge. To harness the power of these measurements, a groundbreaking framework is urgently needed to solve the very nonlinear equations of GR and develop waveform models to unprecedented accuracy, and to convert these results into concrete interpretation tools. GWSky will leverage the world-leading expertise of its PIs in astrophysics, GW-source modeling, particle physics and GR, and recent paradigm shifts to build an overarching framework answering a fundamental question: When, inevitably, an anomaly in a GW signal is identified, what is it? A gravitational effect not predicted by GR? The influence of nearby matter? Or merely an imprecise calculation of the expected signal? Even tiny deviations from GR would shake physics to its core, but to claim a deviation from it, one needs to filter out first the contributions from the astrophysical environment, instrumental artifacts and systematic modeling uncertainties. GWSky will provide tools to disentangle these contributions, enabling precision GW astronomy with upcoming observational runs, and new facilities on the ground and in space.

Mots-clés : the two body problem in general relativity
Projet ERC : STARMORPH (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université de Cambridge — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2201712.0 €

STARMORPH is a ground-breaking endeavour with the ambitious goal of understanding plant organ morphogenesis, which will pave the way to engineering plant growth. This is of paramount importance for enhancing agricultural and forestry yields and hence contributing to global food security and environmental sustainability. Plant organ morphogenesis involves differential growth, where various organ parts expand at different rates to create specific structures. A significant challenge lies in understanding these differential growth programs while considering the mechanical constraints imposed by the tissues. The plant hormone auxin plays a central role in differential growth. It forms concentration gradients within tissues, dictating the direction and rate of cell expansion. Mechanistically, auxin can either repress or promote growth in a tissue and concentration-dependent manner, but this biphasic behaviour remains largely unexplained. The extracellular space, cytosol, and nucleus have distinct auxin perception mechanisms and hence STARMORPH pitches an "auxin signature" concept, considering nuanced auxin levels in each compartment specifying an ensemble signal with quantitative and qualitative cell responses for morphogenesis. Currently, auxin subcellular compartmentalisation is poorly understood, and a key focus of the project is to provide a subcellular map of auxin dynamics within a growing organ to uncover how tissue mechanics interact with auxin-dependent growth processes, which will be pivotal for understanding plant morphogenesis. The STARMORPH project leverages a unique combination of plant, cell and synthetic biology, genetics, biophysics and organic chemistry expertise. This interdisciplinary collaboration aims to dissect plant morphogenesis from molecular to organ scales and has the potential to revolutionise our understanding of plant growth and development, with applications in biotechnology and plant engineering.

Mots-clés : morphogenesis,plants,auxin signature,cell wall,mechanochemical constraints,organelles,multiscale biology,hormone quantification,biosensor engineering,developmental plasticity,differential growth,signal integration,apical hook,interdisciplinary
Projet ERC : SUBNORDICA (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université de York — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 134951.25 €

The landscapes that extended for millions of square kilometres offshore of the world’s coastlines due to low sea-level during the last glaciation and were then drowned by sea-level rise, are known to preserve valuable archives of landscapes, palaeoclimatic change and stratified archaeological remains, with the potential to transform understanding of human history in this period of dramatic change. The absence of archaeological sites across much of this vast area prevents realisation of this potential. In SUBNORDICA we propose a systematic approach to develop new methods for recreating the submerged landscapes and human settlement of NW Europe and assess the impact of postglacial sea-level rise. We will address two questions: (1) What changes to the topography and environment of the submerged landscape were brought about by rising sea level and climate change? (2) How was the distribution of archaeological settlements and other traces of cultural activity impacted by this changing palaeolandscape, and can we recover them in sufficient detail to investigate human impact and human response? Combining information from 4 regions in the southern North Sea and the southern Baltic, we will use artificial intelligence to develop machine-learning routines to (a) integrate existing and newly acquired geophysical and geological data to map key areas of the changing landscape, and (b) combine this information with data from known underwater archaeological sites to identify new targets of archaeological potential for more detailed investigation. Investigating these targets will use high-resolution geophysical methods, sediment coring, archaeological excavation, and geochronological, palaeoenvironmental, sedimentological and biological analyses of recovered deposits. We will reveal a new chapter in human prehistory, provide a world-leading model for the investigation of submerged landscapes, and offer improved policy guidance for underwater cultural heritage management.

Mots-clés : submerged landscape archaeology