Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : CeleBH (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental Constituents of Matter
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 : 969334.0 €

Black holes are at the root of the most striking puzzles that arise when attempting to combine quantum mechanics and general relativity; they are therefore thought to be key to a formulation of a theory of quantum gravity. In recent years, progress in our understanding of the elusive quantum nature of black holes has been made thanks to the so-called holographic correspondence, which has provided theoretical physicists with a powerful tool to study quantum gravity. However, these methods are so far only fully developed for anti-de Sitter spacetimes, whereas understanding realistic black holes would require to develop a holographic correspondence for asymptotically flat spacetimes.  The aim of this project is to make major steps towards a holographic description of quantum gravity in asymptotically flat spacetimes, and to address some of the unresolved key issues in black hole physics, especially in understanding the mysterious origin of their vast entropy. To do so, I propose to combine two novel emergent ideas: The first is a new approach to holography in flat spacetimes called celestial holography, which proposes that quantum gravity in flat space can be described by a celestial conformal field theory living on the sphere at infinity. The second is based on the recent discovery, in my previous works, of the existence of intriguing infinite-dimensional symmetries that appear close to black holes’ event horizon. The infinite set of asymptotic conservation laws in the presence of horizons is awaiting to be unraveled, as it will reveal unexplored constraints on information flow for black holes in flat spacetimes.  Thanks to this unique combination of powerful approaches based on symmetry principles, my research project aims at addressing the challenge of a holographic formulation of spacetimes that include realistic black holes, such as the ones we observe in the sky.

Mots-clés : holographic correspondence,black holes,asymptotic symmetries
Projet ERC : FLEXIN (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
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 : 1544651.0 €

Avoiding danger and approaching food are essential and highly conserved behaviours. To ensure an animal’s survival, such innate reactions need to be fast and reliable. However, in an everchanging environment, not only reliability, but also flexibility is required. How brain circuits are organized to allow for context-specific, flexible behaviour remains an open fundamental question. Here I propose experiments that dissect how brain circuits mediate context-specific reactions to survival-critical cues including threat and prey. A unique combination of viral tools, high-throughput neural recording techniques, and quantification of behaviour in different rodent species, will reveal how neural circuits can encode changes in the animal’s context and adjust to different situations. The strengths of this proposal are twofold: First, this research will make use of the reliable framework of innate behaviours that do not require learning, and which can be elicited with simple visual stimuli to assess flexibility. Second, I will compare the impact of three different contexts on these behaviours and their underlying circuits: How does ambient light affect innate reactions? How do animals respond to threat at different times of the day? How have species that evolved in different ecological niches developed distinct avoidance behaviours? Comparing the impact of these internal and external, transient and permanent contexts on the same, well-defined circuits and behaviours will, first, reveal general principles of context-specific flexibility; second, dissect whether neural circuits that underly similar behaviours are conserved across species; and third, determine which parts of the brain are most likely to adjust when changes in the environment requires behavioural flexibility. Together, this work will reveal how flexible behaviours are created in the brain and may provide a framework to assess cause and treatment of lack of such flexibility, e.g. in anxiety disorders.

Mots-clés : visuo motor processing,behavioural flexibility,evolution,innate behaviour,circuit dissection
Projet ERC : FungalPath (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative B iology : from Genes and Genomes to S ystems
Entité participante : Hôpital universitaire de la Charité de Berlin — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Charité
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1478047.0 €

Fungal infections pose a serious medical threat, especially when they invade the bloodstream. The most common cause of fungal bloodstream infections is invasive candidemia, primarily attributed to a small group of pathogens, including Candida albicans, Nakaseomyces glabratus, Candida tropicalis, and Candida parapsilosis. Such infections are associated with crude mortality rates nearing 40%. Increasing numbers of very closely related yet non-pathogenic species have been sequenced and identified. However, a functional understanding of what differentiates them from their pathogenic counterparts is lacking. As fungal pathogenicity is a multifactorial trait that is influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, it is hard to explain directly from genomic data. This proposal aims to address these challenges by integrating molecular data with physiological contexts across a broad set of species with varying pathogenicity. By leveraging recent advances in mass spectrometry-based analytics that allow for large-scale molecular profiling of both microbial pathogens and human biofluids, combined with high-throughput methods for deep phenotyping of microbial isolates, and by using and identifying scalable yet physiologically relevant growth conditions and infection-relevant phenotypes, we aim to (1) identify adaptations required for pathogenicity and their molecular basis; (2) identify infection-relevant phenotypes and metabolic differences that distinguish pathogenic from non-pathogenic species; and (3) obtain a quantitative understanding of host-pathogen physiology and their interactions. Thus, we aim to uncover traits, phenotypes, and conditions that enable and intersect with pathogenicity. These breakthroughs will be critical for managing and combating these life-threatening infections and predicting the future emergence of human fungal pathogens.

Mots-clés : mass spectrometry,host pathogen interactions,systems biology,metabolism,fungal infections and pathogenicity
Projet ERC : StringScat (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental Constituents of Matter
Entité participante : Université d'Amsterdam — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UvA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1449500.0 €

String Theory is currently the only known theoretical framework that unifies the concepts of quantum mechanics and gravity in a consistent way. As such, it makes concrete quantitative predictions for the interaction of gravitons in the form of scattering amplitudes. Unfortunately, the technical complexity of the theory is staggering, and most attempts to directly compute such scattering amplitudes beyond the leading orders have been stifled by technical difficulties.  This project aims to overcome these difficulties by applying three new and unconventional tools to the problem. StringScats's three-pronged strategy leverages numerical techniques, saddle-point approximation, and exact evaluation techniques such as the Hardy-Littlewood circle method. It seeks to crack the necessary hard computations in string perturbation theory and obtain a long-sought glimpse into the quantum properties of gravity. Among the numerous potential rewards we would, for example, for the first time ever get a direct handle on the analytic structure of a quantum gravity amplitude and understand the very high energy behaviour of String Theory and how it interacts with the UV-finiteness of the theory. StringScat will also have ramifications in neighboring fields such as black hole physics, S-matrix bootstrap, number theory and the geometry of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces that features prominently in the calculation. Scattering amplitudes represent one of the handful of accessible windows into quantum gravity and hence offer great potential for tangible progress in the subject. Despite the enormous importance of this topic in physics, it has received far too little attention. Recent advances in the understanding of formal aspects of the string perturbation theory, developments of numerical methods, and the increasing synthesis of the subject with mathematics, now permit us to attack the problem in earnest.

Mots-clés : scattering amplitudes,string theory,quantum gravity
Projet ERC : KOLOR SPCCT IMAGING (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Lyon-I université — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Lyon I
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1603750.0 €

Computed tomography (CT) is the mainstay of lung imaging because of its higher spatial resolution, convenience, availability and faster time of acquisition in comparison with other imaging methods such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear imaging. However, CT’s lack of specificity and absolute quantitative capabilities limits the comprehensive guidance of therapeutic strategies based on imaging assessment of oncologic, inflammatory, and fibrotic pathophysiology processes. Spectral photon-counting CT is an emerging CT technology that not only capitalises on all CT’s advantages but also offers a cutting-edge method of imaging, called Color K-edge imaging. This method allows the specific and quantitative identification of one or multiple atoms concomitantly within a tissue, enabling the simultaneous imaging of independent or interacting pathways. However, K-edge imaging is still limited by its low sensitivity and the scarce availability of contrast agents for potential Human translation, and therefore has not been translated yet to practice. Addressing these issues would be extremely beneficial to the diagnostic and theragnostic evaluation of lung diseases in general and more specifically, lung fibrosis and cancer. Therefore, the goal of this proposal is to develop a framework of SPCCT Color K-edge imaging to provide high-resolution specific and quantitative imaging for non-targeting and targeting agents’ candidates, mainly from the nanobiotechnology field. We will carry out preclinical studies to evaluate the contribution in combination with the contrast agents using different routes of injection, either by intravenous injection or inhalation, on key lung applications: cancer and fibrosis. This will open to the concomitant imaging of lung ventilation and perfusion for monitoring the inflammation and pulmonary agent delivery in animal models.

Mots-clés : color k edge imaging ventilation perfusion lung imaging spectral photon counting computed tomography lung disease diagnostic
Projet ERC : AFfacts (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Soci al World and Its Interactions
Entité participante : Université d'Amsterdam — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UvA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Fact-based media production such as journalism and documentary filmmaking depend on truthfulness, reliability, and accuracy. Traditionally, their epistemologies set objectivity, rationality, and mind against subjectivity, emotionality, and bodily experience. Recently, media studies have seen an emotional turn: a rapid increase in scholarly attention to the role of emotions, affect, and bodily sensations in media production, content, and consumption. Yet, the epistemic value of emotions and bodies – how they limit and enable what media professionals know – is yet to be seriously considered. Furthermore, the rational/emotional dichotomy mindset has contributed to a professional culture that suppresses feelings, leaving media industries unable to adequately respond to emotion-related challenges of media labour, such as media professionals’ mental well-being or the disconnect between media and their audiences. This project’s vision is to empirically (O1), theoretically (O2), and practically (O3) integrate emotions as embodied knowledge in fact-based media epistemologies. Based on ethnographic research among media professionals working in three production “nodes” – journalism and documentary filmmaking about politics, conflicts, and culture, located in six Central-Eastern European countries – the project first seeks to understand the epistemic value of emotions and bodily experiences in journalism and documentary filmmaking. Second, the project aims to comprehensively theorize the epistemic value of emotions and bodies in fact-based media production by developing and elaborating the concepts of affective epistemology and the epistemic affordances of emotions. Third, the project experiments with a series of nature retreats for media professionals, to test whether and how ecotherapy can enhance journalists’ and documentary filmmakers’ emotional literacy and mental well-being and help practically integrate emotions and bodily experiences into fact-based media production.

Mots-clés : journalism,documentary filmmaking,epistemology,emotions,bodies,media labour,mental well being,emotional literacy,ecotherapy,nature retreats,ethnography,experiment
Projet ERC : GenDrug (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Hôpital universitaire de la Charité de Berlin — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Charité
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498089.0 €

There are thousands of common non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that lack safe and effective drugs despite accounting for most health care expenses and years lived with disability. Me and my team will address this unmet clinical need by developing innovative algorithms that generate and integrate evidence from massive scale genomic studies with real-world data based on millions of patients from electronic health records (EHRs) to identify potent drug targets and opportunities for drug repurposing. To achieve this aim, we will 1) harness ethnically diverse biobanks (>500,000 participants) with whole-exome/genome sequencing and EHR linkage powered by deep learning models to gain new insights into the aetiology of neglected NCDs that are needed for rational drug design, 2) create a genetically anchored biomedical knowledge graph that incorporates rich functional genomic data from single-cell studies with drug characteristics to predict promising drug targets using deep graph neural networks, and 3) establish convergence of genetic and real-world evidence of proposed drug targets by emulating clinical trials in multiple large EHR datasets (>50 million patients). Unique access to diverse hospital cohorts and a clinical trial unit at one of the largest European hospitals, the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, will further accelerate clinical translation for selected examples. With GenDrug, we aim to build a community resource to enable and accelerate drug development using ‘big data’ for hundreds to thousands of diseases that currently lack safe and effective treatments.

Mots-clés : causal inference,electronic health records,drug repurposing
Projet ERC : TB-QUEST (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : CERCA Institution — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CERCA;I-CERCA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1462200.0 €

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality around the world. The majority of TB control policies rely on the binary paradigm of TB, which focus on interventions tackling ‘latent’ TB infection and ‘active’ TB disease stages. However, recent evidence disputes this longstanding conceptualization of TB natural history, demonstrating that TB exists on a continuous spectrum of bacterial and immunological responses. Several active case-finding studies have shown that around 50% of the cases in whom Mycobacterium tuberculosis was isolated in sputum were asymptomatic. Subclinical (asymptomatic) TB has lately attracted increased scientific interest since it could play an important role in TB transmission, despite the absence of cough. However, beyond limited evidence on TB transmission based on modelling studies using retrospective data collection, there is not a single field study showing a direct transmission from an index subclinical TB case to a secondary laboratory-confirmed case. If subclinical TB does spread the disease, the consequences for global TB control and research are of paramount importance. I propose to characterize the subclinical TB stage within the natural history of TB and to understand its role in spreading the disease. I have designed a field epidemiological study (TB-QUEST) with the potential to show evidence of effective transmission from subclinical TB cases to close contacts, using pathogen genome sequencing. Additionally, by using innovative wearable technology, I will assess whether objective tools to measure classical TB symptoms match the self-reported absence of symptoms. Thus, I might challenge the current definition of subclinical TB and the usefulness of current TB screening algorithms. Lastly, I will study the clinical trajectory of subclinical TB in order to improve our understanding of its natural history, duration of infectiousness, and factors associated with self-clearance or progression to symptomatic disease.

Mots-clés : tuberculosis epidemiology infectious diseases global health subclinical
Projet ERC : EnviroFlash (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe Sciences
Entité participante : Université d'Amsterdam — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UvA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2125000.0 €

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are luminous impulses of radio waves, lasting only a fraction of a second, and observable over extragalactic distances. I have been a core member of the CHIME/FRB experiment that has revolutionized the field by having so far detected 5,000+ FRBs (~90% of all known FRBs), over fifty repeating FRB sources and an FRB from a previously known object: an extremely magnetized stellar remnant called a magnetar. I established observed differences in the “fingerprints” of bursts from repeating sources and apparent non-repeaters, which hints at the two classes coming from different source types and/or physical processes. I furthermore detected the lowest-frequency FRBs using the LOFAR telescope, which has opened a new observational window that is especially sensitive to interactions of FRBs with the material they have travelled through. In EnviroFlash, we will tackle three of the leading questions in the field: 1) Are there multiple distinct classes of FRBs coming from different source types and/or physical processes? 2) What is the structure and magnetization of the local environment of the compact objects that produce FRBs? 3) How does the activity of FRBs relate to other burst and source properties? The local environments of FRBs are the key to answering these questions. My team will capitalize on the “Outriggers” upgrade to CHIME/FRB and the 2.0 upgrade to LOFAR. With the much better localised sources and associated redshift (distance) measurements from Outriggers we can isolate the local contributions to dispersion, scattering and Faraday rotation and link them to the galactic neighbourhoods of FRBs. With LOFAR observations we can precisely monitor any local environment variations of nearby repeating sources and anchor detailed FRB models.  In addition to directly addressing the open questions posed before, this project will make FRBs much more sensitive and precise probes of the density and magnetization of the Universe.

Mots-clés : fast radio bursts,radio astronomy
Projet ERC : PRIMAZINC (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and R egeneration
Entité participante : Leibniz-Gemeinschaft — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : WLG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

The neocortex is a fascinating brain structure, as it is the seat of mammalian, and notably primate, higher cognitive abilities. In the primate lineage, different neocortex morphology, in form of size and folding differences, has evolved. The development of the neocortex, and particularly of the different neocortex morphology, depends primarily on the precise regulation of the activity and behavior of cortical neural stem and progenitor cells (cNPCs), a regulation that is primarily mediated by transcription factors. One of the largest transcription factor families is the C2H2 zinc finger transcription factors (C2H2-ZFTFs), which also significantly expanded during primate evolution. Previous studies suggest that these transcription factors could be important regulators of primate neocortex development and evolution. Here, I propose that differential expression of these C2H2-ZFTFs is one essential cause of the differences in neocortex morphology between different primate species. To address this hypothesis, I plan to first identify expression differences of C2H2-ZFTFs in cNPCs of different primate species by transcriptome analysis of fetal human, macaque, and marmoset neocortex. These differences will then be tested for a functional role in cNPCs using electroporation and stable genetic modification of brain organoids. Finally, for C2H2-ZFTFs with a functional role in cNPCs, the downstream gene regulatory network will be uncovered by identification of the indirect and direct targets using RNAseq and ChIP-exo of in vitro differentiated neural progenitor cells. This will lead to a better understanding of the role of C2H2-ZFTFs in the regulation of cNPCs, while also identifying their contribution to primate neocortex development and evolution that has led to different primate neocortex morphology. This is also likely to provide novel insights into the formation of cortical malformations (e.g., microcephaly or lissencephaly).

Mots-clés : neocortex evolution,neocortex development,neural stem cells,primates