Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : MobiChrom (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : Université Christian Albrecht de Kiel — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499995.0 €

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has significantly shaped the evolution and biology of prokaryotes. In eukaryotes, however, the dynamics, mechanisms and consequences of HGT are less well understood, mostly due to its comparatively low frequency and especially the lack of experimental model systems. Recently, I described a model system for studying eukaryotic HGT, consisting of entomopathogenic fungi of the Metarhizium genus. In this taxon, HGT occurs frequently for entire accessory chromosomes. This massive transfer of genetic material is highly specific, always involving the same chromosome, and is likely regulated by the chromosome itself. Using this unique model system, the MobiChrom project addresses key knowledge gaps of HGT in general and horizontal chromosome transfer specifically: What are the evolutionary dynamics of horizontal chromosome transfer? What are the consequences for the recipient fungus's interaction with the insect host? And what are the mechanisms mediating this specific horizontal transfer? First, I will evaluate the distribution of accessory chromosomes across five co-existing Metarhizium species to understand their transfer frequencies and the involved evolutionary dynamics, while identifying candidate genes involved in HGT or host interactions. Next, I will examine how these acquired accessory chromosomes influence the recipient fungus's interaction with the host, functionally analysing how genes on these mobile chromosomes affect pathogenicity. Finally, I will investigate the genetic mechanisms underlying horizontal transfer, identifying the signals responsible for the specific transfer of the mobile chromosome and the genes that regulate this process. Through these complementary study approaches, the MobiChrom project will advance our understanding of the impact of HGT on the biology of organisms and yield fundamental knowledge on the processes, dynamics and functional relevance of the HGT of entire chromosomes in microbial eukaryotes.

Mots-clés : horizontal gene transfer hgt,horizontal chromosome transfer hct,fungal accessory chromosomes,mechanisms of hct and hgt in microbial eukaryotes,entomopathogenic fungi
Projet ERC : MATRICARD (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Université de la Sarre — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 518875.0 €

Cardiovascular diseases, as coronary artery disease (CAD) and its sequelae myocardial infarction (MI) and heart failure, represent the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in industrialized and developing countries. Atherosclerosis is the pathology causing CAD and MI; both are characterized by a sterile inflammation with a chronic and acute course of the disease, respectively. There is a plethora of cell types, as leukocytes, endothelial cells, vascular smooth muscle cells, platelets, fibroblasts, and cardiomyocytes, which play important roles in the initiation, propagation, and termination of the pathophysiological processes. Recent data from genetic studies found that genetic variation influencing extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins is associated with cardiovascular diseases. We found that such proteins which are secreted by one cell type influence phenotypes of other cell types via, e.g., silencing of inflammatory functions or modulation of ECM composition. The ECM hence not only represents a meshwork in which cells are organized but also a communication hub to transduce mechanical stimuli and cell-cell-interaction signals. Here, we aim to explore the ECM proteome in sterile inflammatory diseases as atherosclerosis and MI in an unprecedented depth. We aim to identify novel regulators which give insights into the underlying processes and we will study the molecular and cellular mechanisms modifying the course of the disease. This will lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets which might reshape our understanding of how these diseases occur and how we can prevent them, and to the development of novel, individualized treatment strategies. Finally, we aim to translate our findings to humans to get first insights on whether these strategies can be adapted and used in clinical trials. MATRICARD will go beyond technical boundaries and lead to a deep knowledge of ECM-mediated cell-cell-communication and reveal its translational potential.

Mots-clés : coronary artery disease myocardial infarction extracellular matrix cardiovascular inflammation
Projet ERC : DEAcool (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and Processes Engineering
Entité participante : Université de la Sarre — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499500.0 €

While the global demand for cooling is rising exponentially with growing data center capacities and space cooling demands in highly populated regions (China, India, Indonesia), there is no alternative to inefficient and environmentally harmful vapor-compression systems. The search for more efficient and sustainable cooling solutions has drawn attention to novel solid-state cooling technologies like magneto-, elasto-, or electrocalorics. Specifically, elastocalorics (EC) research is showing promising results with the development of new highly-efficient materials (material COPs over 30) and several functional system devices pushing achievable cooling powers, temperature spans and system efficiencies (COP: coefficient of performance). To drive EC cooling and heating systems, either hydraulic actuators or electrical motors are used, depending on the scale and target application. To reach maximum efficiency on system level, electrical drives show most promise, yet all available drive technologies today present a bottleneck regarding the cooling systems’ construction space and weight. For future mobile cooling applications like transportation of foods and medical products, size and weight critical applications like e-mobility and aerospace or visionary cooling (or heating) textiles and wearables, alternative drives for EC systems are needed. With this project, we will for the first time use electro-active-polymer (EAP) actuator technology in EC systems and lay a foundation for future lightweight and highly integrable efficient cooling solutions. To achieve this goal, we will 1) create base knowledge on the interaction between EAPs and EC materials, 2) develop new EC cooling system concepts using EAP actuators and 3) realize several proof-of-concept demonstrators for validation in a) applications demanding compact/lightweight cooling (medical, automotive/aerospace) and b) textile integrated systems. This project will push the frontiers of sustainable and efficient cooling.

Mots-clés : solid state cooling elastocaloric electro active polymer dielectric elastomer actuator
Projet ERC : LOCAL-HEAT (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials Engineering
Entité participante : Université de Stuttgart — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Solution-processed semiconductor thin-films have recently emerged as promising candidates for optoelectronic devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), sensors and solar cells. One example is hybrid perovskite films that are processed inexpensively by crystallization from a solution and have the disruptive potential for efficient energy production and consumption. However, current crystallization methods from solution often result in uncontrolled film growth with ragged, degradation-prone grain boundaries. The lack of quality materials with large, controlled grains holds back solution-based semiconductors.  The core hypothesis of LOCAL-HEAT is that controlling the fundamental crystallization kinetics of semiconductor films, when transitioning from the liquid precursor to the final solid-state, governs ultimate performance and long-term stability. This is key to creating materials that are: a) sustainable, b) stable and c) show highest performance.  To achieve this challenging goal, I will control the crystallization kinetics of liquid multicomponent semiconductor inks by turning light into localized heat packages to cause confined supersaturation. This will induce seeds to crystallize the liquid precursor into high-quality films.  Local heat will be realized by developing two methods: a) laser annealing by a tunable light pattern, projected on a liquid precursor film, and b) thermoplasmonic heating of plasmonic nanoparticles acting as antennas to turn incoming light into a localized heat nanobubble within a liquid ink.  Achieving sustainable materials with highest quality crystallization will enable perovskite solar cells with performances >26% and stabilities of >30 years. Consequently, it will also revolutionize solution-processed semiconductors in general. LOCAL-HEAT will thus enable key technological applications in optoelectronics, e.g., solar cells, LEDs and scintillation detectors, and beyond.

Mots-clés : crystallization,scalability,optoelectronics,solar cells,thin films
Projet ERC : DEUCE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer Science and Informatics
Entité participante : Université de la Ruhr à Bochum — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 763231.29 €

Reinforcement learning (RL) agents learn to behave optimally via trial and error, without the need to encode complicated behavior explicitly. However, RL generally lacks mechanisms to constantly ensure correct behavior regarding sophisticated task and safety specifications.  Formal verification (FV), and in particular model checking, provides formal guarantees on a system's correctness based on rigorous methods and precise specifications. Despite active development by researchers from all over the world, fundamental challenges obstruct the application of FV to RL so far.  We identify three key challenges that frame the objectives of this proposal. (1) Complex environments with large degrees of freedom induce large state and feature spaces. This curse of dimensionality poses a longstanding problem for verification. (2) Common approaches for the correctness of RL systems employ idealized discrete state spaces. However, realistic problems are often continuous. (3) Knowledge about real-world environments is inherently uncertain.  To ensure safety, correctness guarantees need to be robust against such imprecise knowledge about the environment.  The main objective of the DEUCE project is to develop novel and data-driven verification methods that tightly integrate with RL. To cope with the curse of dimensionality, we devise learning-based abstraction schemes that distill the system parts that are relevant for the correctness. We employ and define models whose expressiveness captures various types of uncertainty. These models are the basis for formal and data-driven abstractions of continuous spaces. We provide model-based FV mechanisms that ensure safe and correct exploration for RL agents. DEUCE will elevate the scalability and expressiveness of verification towards real-world deployment of reinforcement learning.

Mots-clés : formal verification,model checking,safe reinforcement learning,decision making under uncertainty,markov decision process
Projet ERC : CRYPTOSYSTEMS (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer Science and Informatics
Entité participante : Université de la Ruhr à Bochum — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1047738.24 €

Many of today’s criticaMany of today’s critical infrastructures such as power grids or cellular networks are distributed systems which are comprised of autonomous nodes connected over a network. To avoid single points of failure, a central goal in distributed systems is to implement such systems in a fault-tolerant manner. Fault-tolerant systems remain secure and available even if some minority of nodes crash or spread incorrect information. To improve robustness and scalability, cutting-edge systems frequently rely on cryptography. In spite of its benefits, careless use of cryptography can incur performance penalties or lead to vulnerabilities. Both of these aspects significantly complicate its use in practice. As a result, many real-world systems use cryptography sparingly and therefore lack both robustness and scalability. To improve this unsatisfying state of affairs, the objectives of CRYPTOSYSTEMS are as follows: • New Formal Models. Established formal models from cryptography and distributed systems pursue independent security goals and therefore lack compatibility. CRYPTOSYSTEMS will develop new, more appropriate formal models for analyzing the security of cryptographic distributed systems. • Efficient and Robust Distributed Algorithms. The use of cryptography is currently underexplored in distributed systems. CRYPTOSYSTEMS will present exciting new applications of cryptography that will lead to the development of more robust and scalable distributed systems. • Cryptography for Distributed Algorithms. Cryptography is seldom developed with distributed algorithms as its primary use-case in mind. This results in inefficient or unwieldy cryptography which hampers the efficiency of distributed algorithms. To counteract this, CRYPTOSYSTEMS will develop cutting-edge cryptography such as compact signatures and communication efficient distributed randomness generation routines. Importantly, these tools will be specifically geared toward use in distributed algorithms.
Projet ERC : QED-Spin (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Université de Pérouse — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UniPG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499754.0 €

The goal of QED-Spin is to build novel ab initio techniques to reveal effects induced by quantum fields on the spin properties of molecules. Quantum computing and spectroscopic techniques are just two of the main fields that stand to benefit significantly from advancements in spin engineering; a field that is currently at the science frontier both for experiments and quantum many body theory. In this project I will propose new strategies based on strong light-matter coupling to manipulate static and dynamical spin properties of molecules. The mission of QED-Spin is to explore, using advanced theoretical techniques, the phenomena that arise when quantum fields interact with the electronic and nuclear spins of molecular systems and their implications in chemistry, spectroscopy and spintronics. In particular the proposed techniques will represent a significant step forward toward a better manipulation of molecular spin qubits used in quantum information and energy and memory storage. They will also increase our current possibilities of control on the photochemistry of molecular systems. The effects induced on the nuclear spins will bring to the formulation of a novel and more selective nuclear magnetic resonance technique. The developed theoretical and computational techniques will provide, differently from the previously applied model treatments, new tools to quantitatively simulate spin properties of molecules. Combination of cavity quantum electrodynamics and accurate quantum chemistry methodologies will form the basis for the development of novel tools to interpret and design spin properties. Coupled cluster theory, configuration interaction and density matrix renormalization group approaches will be used. I believe that the results of QED-Spin will build the foundations for a new field of research -- cavity spintronics.

Mots-clés : molecular spin polaritons,cavity quantum electrodynamics,coupled cluster theory,density matrix renormalisation group,strong coupling,quantum cavity
Projet ERC : GUT-CHECK (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Immunity, Infection and I mmunotherapy
Entité participante : Université de Wurtzbourg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1302360.15 €

Our intestinal tract offers an attractive environment for bacteria. The beneficial bacteria of our microbiota feast on undigested foods and provide numerous health benefits. Enteric pathogens see this environment as an entry point for infection. Both groups influence each other, creating a tripartite interaction with us, the host. Understanding this interaction represents an emerging research area to combat infections poised to improve human health. Bacteroides are key commensals in these triangular interactions, as they produce diffusible intermediates as part of their metabolism that are utilized by pathogens and the host. These metabolites arise from the action of ~100 polysaccharide utilization loci (PUL) that have been a major focus, from biochemistry to gene regulation. While the field has focused mostly on transcriptional PUL control, recent work from my group and others demonstrated that Bacteroides employ noncoding RNAs to regulate metabolic genes. These insights raise the questions: what is the mechanism by which noncoding RNAs regulate PUL, and how do these mechanisms fit within the tripartite interaction between Bacteroides, the host, and pathogens? In GUT-CHECK, I hypothesize that PUL regulation integrates transcriptional and RNA-mediated post-transcriptional control, which in turn shape the outcome of host-pathogen interactions. To test this hypothesis, I will answer three specific questions: 1) How is PUL expression regulated? 2) How does PUL regulation impact interactions with pathogens and the host? 3) To what extent can PUL regulation be manipulated to thwart pathogen invasion? The proposed work will incorporate a three-way model for Bacteroides, host tissue, and a pathogen along with modern techniques such as CRISPR-based screens and Triple RNA-seq. The functional insights gained will establish fundamental understanding of host-microbiota-pathogen interaction and may lead to novel RNA-based treatments for intestinal infections.

Mots-clés : rna bacteroides thetaiotaomicron host pathogen interaction rna seq microbiota polysaccharide utilization colon tissue model rna therapeutics
Projet ERC : Isl-Traits (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Entité participante : Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : MLU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499805.0 €

Global change is altering vegetation, with climate zones shifting poleward and species distributions changing. Rising sea levels, land-use change, and invasive species further modify natural vegetation, leading to the reassembly of native communities. However, the rates and patterns of community changes across different vegetation types, along with their consequences for biodiversity, remain unclear. This proposal explores the effects of global change on coastal islands and mainland habitat fragments using resampled vegetation data. Islands, which support unique biodiversity and are particularly threatened by rising sea levels and invasive species, serve as models for understanding the effects of fragmentation on the mainland. The overarching aims of this proposal are to: (i) advance island biogeography by characterizing plant ecological strategies on islands through functional traits, focusing on immigration and extinction dynamics; (ii) describing potential futures under global warming; (iii) compare assemblage dynamics on islands with those in fragmented mainland habitats; and (iv) synthesise findings towards effective conservation strategies for coastal island vegetation. The strengths of this proposal include its focus on islands as simplified systems, the use of a unique dataset with resurveyed vegetation, and the synthesis of findings from both island and mainland habitats. Understanding differences between island and mainland assemblages will be key to predicting the future of island ecosystems.

Mots-clés : global change biology,functional ecology,island biogeography,plant ecology
Projet ERC : INHERIT (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth System Science
Entité participante : Université de Padoue — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UniPd
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499758.0 €

The origin Earth's water is still an unsolved mystery in Earth Sciences. Yet, answering this question is paramount in order to validate planetary accretion models and determine the conditions for life-sustainable planets to form. Comparing Earth's original deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio (D/H) with those of Solar system objects such as meteorites, comets and the solar nebula can constrain on the provenance of water. However, while D/H is precisely determined for extra-terrestrial objects, the exact value for Earth is not known, due to the fact that Earth's primordial D/H got lost since its formation following surface and mantle geological processes. In fact, current estimates from mantle-derived lavas are challenged by the ability of these samples to retain pristine values, indicating the need for a pristine reservoir that remained unaffected over geological time to be found. Diamonds from the Earth's mantle may be key as they contain trace amounts of hydrogen and are inert and robust time capsules able to survive over several billion years. The overarching goal of this project is to determine Earth's primordial D/H by investigating the hydrogen content and isotopic composition of a unique set of worldwide, natural diamonds dating 3.5 to 0.09 billion years ago using newly-developed, high-precision and high-efficiency isotope ratio mass spectrometry. The isotopic data will be complemented by atomistic state-of-the-art ab initio simulations to understand the atomic and diffusion behaviour of hydrogen in natural diamonds. The new results will be fundamental to pinpoint Earth's water origin with long-term implications for understanding planet habitability. In a time where international space agencies are actively searching for potentially habitable planets and extra-terrestrial life, the new knowledge will be fundamental to understanding the geological and biological evolution of planets in our Solar System and beyond.

Mots-clés : water origin diamonds hydrogen isotopes earth s mantle habitability