Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : BCINET (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Institut du cerveau — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : ICM
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 309500.0 €

Human-computer interfaces are increasingly explored to facilitate interaction with the external world. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), bypassing the skeletomuscular system, are particularly promising for assisting paralyzed people in control and communication, but also for boosting neuromotor rehabilitation. Despite their potential, the societal impact of BCIs is dramatically limited by the poor usability in real-life applications. While many solutions have been proposed - from the identification of the best classification algorithm to the type of sensory feedback - the accuracy is still highly variable across subjects and BCIs cannot be used by everyone. Critically, these approaches have implicitly assumed that the user’s intent could be decoded by examining the activity of single brain areas. Today, we know that this is not true as the brain functioning essentially depends on a complex network of interactions between differently specialized areas. The grand challenge of this project is to develop a novel generation of BCIs that integrate the user’s brain network information for enhancing accuracy and usability. Based on this approach, we will experiment innovative BCI prototypes to restore the lost motor functions in patients suffering from stroke. This project relies on a unifying framework that analyses and models brain networks by means of analytical tools derived from graph theory and complex systems science. By recruiting diverse neuroimaging and experimental methods, within a modern computational framework, we aim to i) identify new control features for enhancing BCI accuracy, ii) study the brain dynamics of human learning for improving adaptive BCI architectures, and iii) optimize brain stimulation techniques for boosting BCI skill acquisition. This project can significantly improve BCI usability as well as determining how brain lesions compromise brain functioning and which solutions are most effective to unlock motor restoration after stroke.

Mots-clés : brain computer interfaces,complex networks,stroke rehabilitation
Projet ERC : ANTHROPOID (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems
Entité participante : Roche (Switzerland) — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1038782.71 €

Humans diverged from our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and other great apes, 6-10 million years ago. Since this divergence, our ancestors acquired genetic changes that enhanced cognition, altered metabolism, and endowed our species with an adaptive capacity to colonize the entire planet and reshape the biosphere. Through genome comparisons between modern humans, Neandertals, chimpanzees and other apes we have identified genetic changes that likely contribute to innovations in human metabolic and cognitive physiology. However, it has been difficult to assess the functional effects of these genetic changes due to the lack of cell culture systems that recapitulate great ape organ complexity. Human and chimpanzee pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) can self-organize into three-dimensional (3D) tissues that recapitulate the morphology, function, and genetic programs controlling organ development. Our vision is to use organoids to study the changes that set modern humans apart from our closest evolutionary relatives as well as all other organisms on the planet. In ANTHROPOID we will generate a great ape developmental cell atlas using cortex, liver, and small intestine organoids. We will use single-cell transcriptomics and chromatin accessibility to identify cell type-specific features of transcriptome divergence at cellular resolution. We will dissect enhancer evolution using single-cell genomic screens and ancestralize human cells to resurrect pre-human cellular phenotypes. ANTHROPOID utilizes quantitative and state-of-the-art methods to explore exciting high-risk questions at multiple branches of the modern human lineage. This project is a ground breaking starting point to replay evolution and tackle the ancient question of what makes us uniquely human?

Mots-clés : single cell genomics,stem cell biology,3d organoids,human evolution
Projet ERC : MUSICSTREAM (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Cultures and cultural production
Entité participante : Jinan University — Pays : Chine — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : JNU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 46252.5 €

Hundreds of millions of people across the world now experience music via ‘streaming services’, which offer on-demand access, by means of internet or mobile telephony, to vast catalogues of music, either ‘free’ (advertising-supported) or via subscription. A controversial but poorly-understood new system of music production, distribution and consumption has developed around such services, yet there has been no sustained, integrated analysis of this system, the considerable international variations within it, nor its effects on musical culture. MUSICSTREAM provides such analysis, focusing on the UK and China, but also bringing together research from across the world via symposia and collaborative publication. The project therefore offers an ambitious empirical and theoretical analysis that will also contribute to understanding how culture, political economy and technology interact in the digital era. Undertaking such a project requires an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates analysis of the changing media industries, including new conditions for music creators, and changes in the way people ‘use’ music. The PI is especially suited for such a synthesis, having made significant contributions across all these areas. The aim of MUSICSTREAM is to understand how the role of music in the lives of producers and audiences – a subject the PI has researched extensively - is being reconfigured by developments over which these groups have little or no control. The University of Leeds is an ideal place in which to undertake such research, because it has strong specialisms in music, media and culture, and has a research infrastructure that strongly supports such interdisciplinary enquiry. The very nature of music as a cultural practice is changing across the world, and this project examines why and how this is happening, and the implications for the role of music in people’s lives.

Mots-clés : music culture,music streaming,sociology of music,music industries,music consumption,popular music,media and communication,cultural value,cultural studies,cultural platforms
Projet ERC : GET-UP BAT (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : University of Copenhagen — Pays : Danemark — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UCPH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149986.0 €

Hundreds of millions of people suffer from obesity and diabetes worldwide. These diseases diminish both life quality and expectancy and new treatment strategies are desperately needed. One possible approach is to target the calorie-burning and glucose-consuming functions of brown and beige adipose tissue (B/BAT). Previous attempts to harness the therapeutic potential of B/BAT have largely focused on the β-adrenergic class of G protein-coupled receptors (GCPRs). Unfortunately, these methods are hindered by adverse cardiovascular side effects linked to adrenergic activation. Therefore, uncovering non-adrenergic alternatives to exploit B/BAT for treating metabolic disease holds the potential for enormous societal and economic benefit. Here, we propose the activation of one such non-adrenergic GPCR on B/BAT as a means to treat obesity and diabetes. We identified this GPCR from a screen of B/BAT receptors performed in my ERC Starting Grant project, aCROBAT. We found that treating brown adipose cells with the peptide ligand for this GPCR increased oxygen consumption. We recognized the therapeutic potential after observing that ligand administration in vivo lowered bodyweight and improved insulin sensitivity in obese mice. However, the resources required to develop this discovery into a tangible innovation extend beyond the scope of aCROBAT. Consequently, I’m applying for an ERC PoC grant for critical support to take the initial steps to commercial application. Specifically, we seek to strengthen our IP position by developing patentable, longer-lived analogues of the ligand. Importantly, we will test these lead compounds head-to-head and in combination with current treatment options. We have assembled a team of experts to address key aspects from peptide design and pharmacology to IPR strategy and commercial development. Combined with our validated in vitro and in vivo testing platforms, we are ideally poised to maximize innovation potential.

Mots-clés : brown and beige adipose tissue,g protein coupled receptor,obesity and diabetes,peptide based therapeutics
Projet ERC : RareDiamond (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
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 : 2471513.0 €

Hybrid materials associate distinct components to achieve new functionalities. The key challenge in these composite systems is to harness new effects that cannot be obtained by a single material while preserving the necessary underlying properties of each component - a tremendously difficult task in materials science. The fantastic achievements of micro-electronics in this field have boosted similar developments in optics, and especially in the infrared range, where integrated optical chips combine a variety of functionalities like light sources, modulators, and detectors in circuits based on low-loss waveguides. In particular, silicon integrated optics have witnessed impressive scientific and technological progress as well as industrial production, since this architecture offers seamless integration between optics and electronics. Among optically active materials, NV- color centers in diamond and rare earth doped crystals have both exceptional properties that are separately used in, or investigated for, a broad range of applications such as lasers, lighting, fluorescence-based sensing and imaging, and quantum technologies like quantum processing, sensing and communications. In RareDiamond, I will design and grow hybrid materials in which rare earth ions and NV- centers can interact on the nanoscale while preserving their outstanding properties. This will be achieved using techniques allowing the growth of complex, high-quality structures with extreme localization of active centers, combined with advanced spectroscopy. These materials will enable interfacing diamond NV- centers with infrared light, a capability currently out of reach that I will exploit for innovative demonstrations in magnetometry, fluorescent imaging, and quantum light-matter interfacing. RareDiamond hybrid materials will open the way to diamond NV- integration with photonic chips and telecom fibers, for unprecedented functionalities in sensing, quantum processing, and quantum communications.

Mots-clés : light matter interface,luminescence,sensing,energy transfer,up conversion
Projet ERC : COMBINEPIC (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Mathematics
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 : 1242400.0 €

I am willing to solve several well-known models from combinatorics, probability theory and statistical mechanics: the Ising model on isoradial graphs, dimer models, spanning forests, random walks in cones, occupation time problems. Although completely unrelated a priori, these models have the common feature of being presumed “exactly solvable” models, for which surprising and spectacular formulas should exist for quantities of interest. This is captured by the title “Elliptic Combinatorics”, the wording elliptic referring to the use of special functions, in a broad sense: algebraic/differentially finite (or holonomic)/diagonals/(hyper)elliptic/ hypergeometric/etc. Besides the exciting nature of the models which we aim at solving, one main strength of our project lies in the variety of modern methods and fields that we cover: combinatorics, probability, algebra (representation theory), computer algebra, algebraic geometry, with a spectrum going from applied to pure mathematics. We propose in addition two major applications, in finance (Markovian order books) and in population biology (evolution of multitype populations). We plan to work in close collaborations with researchers from these fields, to eventually apply our results (study of extinction probabilities for self-incompatible flower populations, for instance).
Projet ERC : LOGOS (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Jožef Stefan Institute — Pays : Slovénie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IJS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1667975.0 €

I propose a revolutionary photonic technology based on self-assembled soft matter that is likely to evolve into currently unforeseen, futuristic technologies. The liquid nature and responsiveness of soft matter delivers the spontaneous self-assembly of tuneable liquid micro-lasers, liquid micro-fibres, liquid light switches, and tuneable optical micro-resonators with extremely smooth interfaces, low optical losses, elastic deformability and self-healing, all of which are difficult to obtain with hard matter. These photonic micro-devices operate exclusively on light and can be easily integrated into 3D photonic chips by micro-injection into a polymer scaffold or elastic binding via topological defect loops and points. LOGOS will create integrated and self-organized photonic chips with the focus on four specific challenges: (i) an all optically switchable spherical 3D Bragg-onion optical transistor made of chiral liquid crystals (LCs), (ii) logic micro-gates made of LCs that operate entirely on light, (iii) optically switchable Whispering-Gallery-Mode LC micro-resonators that redirect light, and (iv) soft-matter photonic integrated circuits in 3D assembled using topology. The validity of the approach will be demonstrated by AND and NAND logic gates, and an add-drop Whispering-Gallery-Mode filter, which will be assembled from soft matter and will use only light to perform the logic operation and optical signal gating and redirecting beyond the GHz range. This very high-risk, high-gain proposal challenges the mainstream photonic roadmaps by offering a disruptive technology that reduces production times, waste and energy, and enables light processing by light, all currently difficult to obtain in the solid state. LOGOS’s results will not only have a major impact on future data centres and optical networks, but could also revolutionize implantable, biocompatible and wearable photonics.

Mots-clés : soft matter,liquid crystals,photonics,logic circuits,microlasers
Projet ERC : PANDORA (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : IBEC;IBEC-CERCA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 300360.0 €

I propose here a research vision that aims to revolutionise the way we cure infections caused by intracellular pathogens, with the aim to find a universal therapy to infectious diseases that will also counteract the development of drug resistance. In PANDORA, I will specifically focus on eradicating human tuberculosis, one of the worst pandemics so far. To do this, I will first probe what are the molecular ‘bar-codes’ of infected cells, namely those specific membrane proteins that cells express upon infection. I will use this to reversely engineer a repertoire of super-selective polymeric nanoparticles - known as Polymersomes - that will carry ligands to recognise, bind, and selectively attack infected cells only, while leaving non-infected cells completely untouched. Such nanocarriers will access the infected cells and locally deliver their payload, which is the core technology of the therapy. Such technology will be inspired by what nature invented: I will reproduce the binding sequence of autolisins, proteins expressed by bacteriophages that specifically bind the wall of Mycobacteria species (the agent causing tuberculosis). I will thus create fusion antibodies (Ab) characterized by (i) the binding sequence of mycobacteriophages autolisins (for selective recognising intracellular Mycobacterial wall) and (ii) an effector region promoting bacterial clearance through either the macrophage-triggered phagocytosis or an ubiquitin-proteasome system. This therapy will represent a complete revolution in the field of new antimicrobial development, as it will combine complete bacterial eradication, development of memory immunity and fight against drug resistance, the three core pillars of this project. The super-selective polymersomes carrying the Abs-based universal therapy will be combined with the development of chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR-T) against infection. These T-cells will be designed to chase and eradicate circulating infected cells in model organism.

Mots-clés : intracellular pathogens,host pathogens interactions,fight drug resistance,precise nanomedicine,human,tuberculosis
Projet ERC : SuperMagnonics (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RPTU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2443437.52 €

I propose the opening of the new research field of room-temperature supercurrents formed in condensates of magnons. These supercurrents represent a novel type of macroscopic quantum phenomenon analogous to the low-temperature effects of superconductivity and superfluidity. They constitute the transport of angular momentum, which is driven by a phase gradient in the magnon-condensate wavefunction. The results I envision possess the potential to completely revolutionize information processing with minimum dissipation and in ambient conditions. Magnons are the quanta of spin waves, the dynamic eigen-excitations of a magnetically ordered body. Condensates of magnons relate to Bose-Einstein condensates, and they spontaneously form a spatially extended coherent ground state, which can be established independently of the magnon excitation mechanism and, most importantly, can be realized at room temperature. Magnon condensates and supercurrents will offer unprecedented opportunities to address novel, emergent, fundamental perspectives for the investigation of macroscopic quantum phenomena and their potential applications. SUPERMAGNONICS will pioneer the generation, processing and detection of magnonic supercurrents. I will specifically address the realization of magnonic Josephson junctions and the magnon version of the Aharonov-Casher effect where the phase of a magnon condensate and, thus, a persistent supercurrent, is controlled by an electric field. This approach will allow for fundamentally new means of magnon control. Experiments will be carried out using the unique technique of space-, phase- and time-resolved Brillouin Light Scattering spectroscopy for the imaging of the wavefunction of the condensates allowing for direct access to the supercurrent phenomena. In order to show the high potential for applications, I will demonstrate the functionality of a logic gate based on supercurrent wavefunction manipulation.

Mots-clés : magnetisation dynamics,magnonics,spin waves,information processing
Projet ERC : DAWNDINOS (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : University of London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : U. London
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2498718.76 €

I seek to unify evolutionary and biomechanical research by achieving a “functional synthesis” in evolution that causally links phenotypes (anatomy) to actual performance. Did early, bipedal dinosaurs evolve advantages in their locomotor performance over other Late Triassic archosaurs (“ruling reptiles”)? This “locomotor superiority” hypothesis was first proposed to explain what made dinosaurs distinct from other Triassic taxa, perhaps aiding their survival into the Jurassic. However, the hypothesis remains untested or unfairly dismissed. I will test this question for the first time, but first I need to develop the best tools to do so. Extant archosaurs (crocodiles and birds) allow us to experimentally measure key factors (3D skeletal motions and limb forces; muscle activations) optimizing performance in walking, running, jumping, standing up, and turning. We will then use biomechanical simulations to estimate performance determinants we cannot measure; e.g. muscle forces/lengths. This will refine our simulations by testing major assumptions and validate them for studying extinct animals, overcoming the obstacle that has long limited researchers to qualitative, subjective morphological inferences of performance. Next, we will use our simulation tools to predict how ten Late Triassic archosaurs may have moved, and to compare how their performance in the five behaviours related to locomotor traits, testing if the results fit expected patterns for “locomotor superiority.” My proposal pushes the frontiers of experimental and computational analysis of movement by combining the best measurements of performance with the best digital tools, to predict how form and function are coordinated to optimize performance. Our rigorous, integrative analyses will revolutionize evolutionary biomechanics, enabling new inquiries into how behaviour relates to underlying traits or even palaeoecology, environments, biogeography, biotic diversity, disparity or other metrics.

Mots-clés : dinosaur,biomechanics,locomotion,muscle,archosaur,triassic,mesozoic,phylogeny