Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : BRAINAMICS (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : Italian Institute of Technology — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1791875.0 €

Spontaneous brain activity, the most expensive metabolic process of the human brain, is highly dynamic and continually evolves over timescales of seconds. Human neuroimaging has made it possible to map dynamic patterns of spontaneous network activity with increasing precision. However, our understanding of the origin, function and organization of this phenomenon remains alarmingly limited. This project aims to elucidate the physiological mechanisms and operational principles that govern spontaneous network dynamics (termed here "brain network dynamics" - BND). To achieve these goals, I will establish an integrated research platform that combines advanced manipulations and recordings of BND in the awake mouse brain. To comprehensively probe the mechanisms that operate BND, I will carry out two complementary sets of causal manipulations that are conceptualized as exogenous or endogenous neuromodulation, depending on whether they encompass synthetic (optogenetically generated, Aim 1) or intrinsic (neurotransmitter related, Aim 2) modulatory mechanisms, respectively. Using this approach, I will (a) uncover the rhythms that causally sustain BND, and establish how BND causally responds to (and can be controlled by) mechanistically-precise exogenous neuromodulation; (b) empirically test the hypothesis that cholinergic and noradrenergic transmission cooperatively control the intrinsic organization of BND, as well the selective engagement of higher-order cortical systems relevant for attention and cognition. Crucially, multiscale network activity will be theoretically linked to dynamical regimes (brain states) of translational relevance via quantitative analyses. This research will address fundamental questions regarding the neural mechanisms governing BND and the possibility of controlling its organization via targeted exogenous modulation, with important implications for basic, theoretical and translational neuroscience.

Mots-clés : resting state fmri connectomics neuromodulation default mode network,large scale modelling brain stimulation,spontaneous brain activity meg
Projet ERC : EVA (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Italian Institute of Technology — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1996889.0 €

Advanced functional devices require integration of distinct materials (polymers, ceramics, metals) with different properties to achieve high performance in aerospace, biomedicine, electronic, and automotive. A major structural challenge is associated with localized (mechanical, thermal, electrical) stresses due to property mismatch at different scales, thus causing premature malfunction and failure. Research has focussed on compositional or structural material gradients (in at least one spatial direction) to enable fabrication of “in-one” body parts (mostly inorganics) with exceptional properties. Examples at rather macroscale include AlGaAs with graded bandgap for solar cells, or Al2O3/Ti with graded mechanical stiffness for bioimplants. However, in light of miniaturization technology, there is a need to translate this concept to nanomaterials. The EVA project aims to establish scientific principles to design and fabricate pioneering organic-inorganic 2D layered nanomaterials with functional gradients and continuous interfaces. My approach to designing such innovative nanomaterials is based on their compositional engineering by using correlations to perform an extended mapping of combinations and properties. I will explore self-assembly techniques in solution and translate them into automated processes to hierarchically build robust components with nm-layered thicknesses and mechanical and optoelectronic gradients. EVA will also demonstrate their use as advanced interfaces for soft bio-tissue coupling and flexible lighting nanosystems, providing answers from the nanoscale to key drivers in these fields: reliability, robustness, and durability. Through this interdisciplinary approach (physics, chemistry, mechanics, biology, and materials science), the envisioned atomically designed hybrids will be a hallmark for frontiers in fields such as energy, health, robotics, and digital technologies.

Mots-clés : 2d nanomaterials,functional graded materials,layered structures,organic inorganic nanostructures,nanotechnology
Projet ERC : TerraForm (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Université de Milan — Pays : Italie — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 236250.0 €

Human-modified landscapes modulate the effects of climate change on human societies. For example, concrete surfaces increase flood risks and dense cities exacerbate the effects of warming. However, urbanisation is not the only major form of landscape modification. Agricultural terraces represent one of the largest-scale human modifications of the planet, and have many positive effects for cultivation, soil retention, carbon and water storage, and biodiversity. Despite their profound importance for soil modification and a sustainable future, the causes, chronology, and consequences of terracing are all poorly understood, as is the impact of their growing abandonment. This limits our ability to understand how climate change will impact human societies, and the extent to which terraces can help build resilience and sustainability. Pilot research suggests that terracing may have had a uniquely early development on the Maltese Islands, which ultimately became one of the most heavily terraced landscapes on Earth. TerraForm will therefore use Malta as a model system for understanding the evolution and consequences of terracing, from inception to abandonment, alongside societal feedbacks over time. Through its small size, remote location, and limited soil development, Malta offers controlled conditions for such a study. As Malta sits at the front line of climate change, understanding terracing here also has urgent implications for soil erosion, food security, and flooding - both regionally and in areas facing analogous futures. Finally, many of Malta’s terraces have recently been abandoned and are rapidly collapsing, resulting in the loss of an important archive for climate mitigation. Using Malta as a model system is therefore timely, and as the most intensive single-locus study of terracing ever conducted, TerraForm will generate multidisciplinary data and transferable methodologies to ultimately inform sustainable land use policies and improve planetary health.

Mots-clés : anthropocene archaeology archaeology of climate change mediterranean history mediterranean prehistory archaeology of terracing geoarchaeology island archaeology
Projet ERC : MOTORHEAD (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
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 : 1991725.0 €

Decision-making behaviors often occur in the absence of clear instruction to guide action. Instead, theories and experiments have predicted that the brain must compute a decision-value based on past experience to select the best action. This implies that the action with the highest subjective value should always be chosen. However, behavior is often stochastic with variability from trial-to-trial. To resolve this long-standing paradox, MOTORHEAD will take full advantage of state-of-the-art in vivo neuronal recordings and computational methods in behaving rodent to bridge for the first time the gap between deterministic decision-signal and stochastic motor commands, achieving thus an unprecedented level of understanding of these “unpredictable” behaviors. Indeed, despite decade of intensive work, key questions remain unexplored: i) How such a deterministic decision signal is maintained without necessarily causing movement? ii) And how it is then converted to a final motor command with trial-by-trial variability? Here, we hypothesize that these two operations occur in higher-order motor areas, and more particularly across recurrent cortical layers of the secondary motor cortex of rodents. Specifically, we posit that: i) Distinct populations of layer (L) 5 pyramidal neurons (PNs) generate specific movement according to the decision statistics provided by L2/3 PNs. Specific attractor architectures, with different stability to noise perturbation, could cause the system to behave more or less randomly. ii) This top-down excitation could be dynamically gated by bottom-up plasticity forces from reward-related structures, which modulate decision-value to account for past choice outcome, notably when the action no longer generates the expected outcome. To achieve this breakthrough, we propose an ambitious system neuroscience approach, at high spatial and temporal resolution, to illuminate the cellular principles underlying the control and transformation of decision variable.

Mots-clés : decision value motor control reward dependent synaptic plasticity dendritic integration multiphoton imaging in behaving rodent
Projet ERC : DISPERSAL (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth System Science
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 : 1999773.0 €

Recent studies show that the distribution of many modern terrestrial species can be explained by a handful amount of large-scale dispersals and that these episodes will likely become more numerous under climatic stress. However, the underlying mechanisms governing these dispersals remain nebulous. Long-distance dispersals across marine barriers, often referred to sweepstakes dispersals, have always been assumed to be an unpredictable process in which taxa overcome a geographic barrier in a random manner. Yet, there are many instances of dispersals across marine barriers that appear coordinated and non-random. New paleontological findings show that during a short time period marked by intense climate variations, 40 to 35 million years ago, Asian anthropoid primates and rodents crossed 500 km of Tethys Sea to reach Africa and 800 km of South Atlantic Ocean to reach South America. This proposal aims to build an empirical and theoretical basis for the origins and mechanisms of long-distance dispersals by resolving: how did primates and other mammals disperse across two major seaways? What are the external forcing mechanisms that make transoceanic dispersals non-random? This project proposes a combination of paleoclimatic, paleogeographic, and paleontological approaches to evaluate the mechanisms of species dispersal and diversification in deep time, applied to the early dispersal of anthropoid primates. This research will set the founding steps of a holistic method to evaluate the mechanisms of all dispersal events in deep time, allowing new interpretations about the modern, past and future distribution of species; it will additionally solve one of the biggest mysteries in paleontology, as this episode ranks among the most pivotal events during all of primate evolutionary history.

Mots-clés : biogeography,primate evolution,paleoclimate,tectonics
Projet ERC : sCiSsoRS (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator 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 : 2432705.0 €

The gold-standard for cancer diagnosis is the pathological examination of Hematoxylin & Eosin (HE) stained tissue. Though well adopted worldwide for the coloration of large numbers of cancer sections, the classical HE-staining procedure is unable to provide a fast-feedback to surgeons within less than 30min. This latency compromises the efficiency and accuracy of any tumor resection with numerous negative impacts for the success of the surgery and patient’s health prospect. Recently, the chemical-bond-specific image contrast provided by stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) was shown to be suitable for the generation of HE-like images. However, the SRS signal fundamentally propagates forward and is absorbed in thick biopsies rending a SRS-based diagnosis impossible. Furthermore, the SRS imaging speed is still too slow for the real-time determination of cancer borders in large specimen. Here, I want to resolve these obstacles by combining the non-linear optical contrast Coherent Stokes Raman Scattering (CSRS) with high illumination angles. CSRS will permit for the HE-like image generation, but will direct the signal photons into the backward direction as a result of a unique momentum conservation law. Backward CSRS will allow for the investigation of thick cancer samples and will enable technical solutions to boost the imaging speed that were never an option before. Thus, the development of CSRS is not only a scientific breakthrough that circumvents the fundamental dogma of always forward scattered light but will provide HE-like images of thick samples as a real-time feedback to improve the success rate and time-efficiency of cancer surgery.

Mots-clés : coherent raman spectroscopy,coherent raman histology,wide field coherent raman microscopy,non linear multi focus microscopy
Projet ERC : Multimech (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials Engineering
Entité participante : Université de Milan — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 952785.0 €

Based on recent conceptual and theoretical advances in the lattice dynamics of real solids, I aim to develop a new generation of computational methods that will revolutionize the way we predict and describe the mechanical response of complex materials. State-of-the-art computational methods to simulate materials and their mechanical behaviour are based on molecular dynamics (MD) with atomistic force-fields. These methods provide an excellent description of the thermodynamically stable phases of materials with arbitrary chemical and microstructural complexity. However, simulating the mechanical deformation behaviour of materials at the atomistic level remains an open challenge. The main bottleneck is represented by the inevitably short time scale of time integration (1-2 femtoseconds) in atomistic MD methods. This limitation makes it impossible to simulate the dynamical deformation of materials on long time scales encountered in experiments, i.e. for deformation rates lower than ~10 Gigahertz (at best). This fundamental time-scale bridging problem is currently unsolved and prevents the computational prediction of materials mechanics in the regimes that are experimentally accessible in standard mechanical tests and rheology. In this project, I build on my expertise and recent scientific breakthroughs in the lattice dynamics and atomistic viscoelasticity of real complex materials. I propose to develop a fully predictive and atomistic computational framework for the viscoelastic response (i.e. viscoelastic moduli) of real materials (polymers, glasses, microstructured crystalline materials) that can work across the whole spectrum of deformation rates/frequencies and for large systems (millions of atoms or more). This cannot be done with the current state-of-art methodologies. Furthermore, I propose to develop a predictive lattice-dynamics-based framework for the plasticity and yielding of complex materials including amorphous materials.

Mots-clés : computational materials,soft materials,polymer glasses,metallic glasses
Projet ERC : PROFTH (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Needleye robotics srl — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 110000.0 €

The PROFTH project aims at developing the robotics and AI technologies to enable focal therapies for prostate cancer (PCa) using the robotic positioned developed during the ERC-PoC PROST. PCa therapy is lagging about 10 years from e.g. kidney and breast therapies, that has shifted from invasive surgery to percutaneous ablation of the tumour. Several trials are acquiring the clinical evidence to support the shift from radical prostatectomy to PCa focal therapy, considering the multifocal aspect of PCa and the need to preserve the surrounding anatomical structures. Key to focal therapies is the ability to accurately and repeatably positioning the ablation device in the PCa area and to achieve the minimal tissue removal that satisfies the safety margins around the tumor and leaves the other structures untouched. The problem of accurately positioning a biopsy needle in the PCa area has been solved by the PROST project, thus we want to build on this capability to set the basis of PCa focal therapy. To achieve this goal, PROFTH will address three main objectives: 1. definition of the joint requirements between clinical needs, capabilities of the current ablation devices and positioning accuracy of PROST; 2. development of the digital twin of the pelvic area to integrate the medical information of the patient; and 3. develop a planning algorithm that will compute the position of the ablation devices in the patient PCa. We will test the developed algorithms with laboratory and ex-vivo experiments using the ablation systems available at the University Hospital of Verona.
Projet ERC : REALCRYPT (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : University of Wuppertal — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BUW
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Cryptography is the foundation of modern communication: privacy, critical infrastructure, and the digitization of industry, economy, and healthcare depend on it. The transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) introduces both opportunities and challenges. Advancements in the design of post-quantum primitives have been significant, their concrete deployment in protocols remains challenged by real-world implementation constraints, security concerns, and interoperability challenges.  This project builds on the ERC-funded REWOCRYPT project, which focused on bridging the gap between theoretical cryptographic security analysis and real-world applications. To extend these findings into practice, this PoC project focuses on protocol-level hybridization, leveraging the Rosenpass protocol as a research platform. Unlike traditional approaches that integrate PQC at the primitive level, protocol-level hybridization may provide post-quantum security without requiring extensive modifications to widely deployed cryptographic systems.  The project will develop, analyze, and implement secure cryptographic combiners that allow for the integration of PQ and classical protocols. A key objective is to evaluate whether hybrid security guarantees hold in real-world deployment scenarios and whether protocol combiners provide an effective approach for a smooth post-quantum transition. The research will include a formal security analysis, practical implementation, and testing within the Rosenpass-WireGuard ecosystem. We will assess security properties under both classical and quantum adversarial models, ensuring cryptographic agility to be able to address future algorithmic improvements or attacks.  Beyond technical innovation, this PoC aligns with European cybersecurity and digital sovereignty goals. Open-source implementation and collaboration with the non-profit organization Rosenpass e.V. ensure rapid practical impact, while casting a foundation for future research and standardization.
Projet ERC : CryoET-CryoCloud (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) has revolutionized biomolecular research. It enables structure determination of proteins and their complexes at near-atomic resolution, informing on their mechanism of action and their role in disease. Importantly, it also assists the development of novel therapeutics. Cryo-electron tomography (cryoET) is an emerging cryoEM modality, which has demonstrated the potential of to determine protein structures at near-atomic resolution in their near-native environment. Importantly, cryoET provides snapshots of macromolecules during their function, allowing to capture different stages of biochemical reactions in the cell and inferring their temporal order. However, cryoET relies on extensive computational data analysis. Current analysis pipelines require extensive computational resources, various software packages, and a high degree of expertise to build and execute workflows for data analysis. Building on my previous research from the ERC Consolidator project BENDER project, I propose to create a cloud-based workflow for standardized and automated high-throughput cryoET data analysis (CryoET-CryoCloud). This solution will not only reduce analysis time from months to days, but it will also make the method accessible to a broad community by eliminating the need for investment into expensive computational infrastructure, and their maintenance through scarce qualified personnel. My proposed workflow will both enable and democratize high-content data analysis of cellular tomograms, thus dramatically increasing our knowledge of the molecular machinery inside the cell. To perform this work and reach market rapidly, I will perform CryoET-CryoCloud in very close collaboration with a team of people from the startup company CryoCloud, which emerged from my research group.
Projet ERC : SOPRANO (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Soniq — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 30000.0 €

With urbanization accelerating on a global scale, airborne and impact sound insulation have become key performance quantities of building elements. Unfortunately, acoustic requirements do not naturally align with structural and thermal requirements. Achieving good sound insulation is difficult, especially for innovative, more sustainable building systems which are typically lightweight. There is an urgent need in the construction sector for adequate sound insulation design prediction software. In the ERC Starting Grant VirBAcous, new, dedicated numerical methods for sound insulation prediction have been developed that possess the required combination of a high prediction accuracy and a high computational efficiency. By doing so, they open up the possibility of reliable model-based design optimization. The aim of this ERC Proof of Concept project is to bridge the gap between the fundamental numerical methods from VirBAcous and the construction sector.