Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : QFIELBS (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental Constituents of Matter
Entité participante : Université de Trente — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2431065.0 €

Our understanding of the physical world, from cosmological distances to subatomic scales, is based on field theories, with General Relativity and the Standard Model among the most validated descriptions of reality. Despite their history of success, the application of field theories, particularly in the quantum domain, is still characterized by a rich set of open questions related to processes in- and out-of-equilibrium.  A paradigmatic example of a process in which field theories are successfully applied is that of first-order phase transitions. In this case, the dynamics of a system far from equilibrium cannot simply be described in terms of a perturbation of a steady state, but instead require combined tools and concepts taken from statistical and quantum mechanics. The transition results from the dynamics between field values associated with local minima of the system's energy. In the quantum regime, these local minima correspond to the so-called vacuum state of the field, making the problem well-defined but, surprisingly, exactly solvable in only a few simple cases.  Relaxation dynamics between different vacua, commonly known as False Vacuum Decay (FVD), is a case study that has significant impacts in broad and interdisciplinary research areas. Models have been proposed to estimate the decay rate, entanglement generation at the beginning of the decay, the dynamics of decay products, and the generation of topological defects at the end of the relaxation process. However, our knowledge to date is limited by a substantial lack of experimental observations.  This project aims to experimentally realize FVD and other challenging quantum field theories, both in the perturbative and in the non-perturbative regimes, such as confinement physics, using ultracold atomic spin mixtures through proper mapping of the atomic wave function into a quantum field representation and a unique set-up that ensures extremely stable magnetic field conditions.

Mots-clés : quantum simulation of field theories,out of equilibrium phenomena,quantum magnetism,coherently coupled atomic mixtures,analog models of gravity
Projet ERC : Mel-Immune (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Institut Weizmann — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : WIS
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2500000.0 €

Immunotherapy, which has revolutionized cancer treatment, largely relies on the immune system’s recognition of neopeptides, degradation products of altered proteins specific to cancer cells presented on their surface. In particular, cancer vaccines targeting neopeptides have shown promising clinical results. Yet, to optimize their efficacy and broaden their application, we need to decipher the nature of the cancer peptide landscape (immunopeptidome) and delineate the neopeptide properties required to induce a potent immune response. The overarching goal of this proposal is to provide an unprecedented, thorough, multifaceted understanding of the mechanisms underlying aberrant peptide production, peptide-MHC presentation, and T-cell recognition in melanoma. We will do so by pursuing three key avenues: Systematic interrogation of the cancer immunopeptidome to identify novel canonical and non-canonical cancer antigens and quantify their presentation (Aim 1). Comprehensive functional assessment of the intrinsic qualities of actionable antigens by quantitatively charting the immunopeptidome in-vivo, while considering peptide presentation levels, clonality and cross-presentation; and delineating how these neoantigen qualities impact the immune response (Aim 2). Establish controlled in-vivo models to tease apart neoantigen qualities for the establishment of rational cancer vaccine modalities (Aim 3). In this effort, we will draw upon our pioneering tools and advanced mapping of the cancer peptidome in melanoma, which has already revealed novel antigenic sources. Our research approach combines comprehensive quantitative immunopeptidomics, novel imaging and computational approaches, advanced functional assays and novel mouse models. Our project will provide a fresh view of melanoma-immune interactions, new research tools and pipelines, cancer-specific antigen targets for immunotherapy and, more broadly, a paradigm for addressing similarly complex questions in other cancers.

Mots-clés : melanoma,cancer genetics,somatic mutation,neopeptide,neoantigen,cancer vaccine,immunotherapy,immunopeptidome,mhc class i
Projet ERC : QTM (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed Matter Physics
Entité participante : Institut Weizmann — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : WIS
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 3344995.0 €

In this work, we propose to build a radically new type of scanning probe microscope – the Quantum Twisting Microscope (QTM) – that will be the first capable of performing local quantum interference measurements at a twistable interface between two quantum materials. The concept, already established in preliminary experiments, is based on a unique tip made of an atomically-thin two-dimensional material. This tip allows electrons to coherently tunnel into a sample at many locations at once, making it a scanning electronic interferometer. With an extra twist degree of freedom, our microscope becomes a momentum-resolving local probe, providing powerful new ways to study the energy dispersions of interacting electrons in quantum materials. The same microscope, working in a second modality, will be the-first-of-its-kind platform for cryogenic assembly of interfaces between various van der Waals materials with full in-situ control over their twist angle. Finally, in a third modality, the QTM will make a dramatic jump, by two orders of magnitude, in the spatial resolution of electrostatic imaging. This will open a new world of interacting electron phenomena that were so far inaccessible to direct visualization. We have recently built a preliminary room temperature version of this microscope, and already observed striking quantum interference and promising results on all three fronts. By taking this new microscope to cryogenic temperatures, we expect to make multiple discoveries on a variety of fundamental questions in interacting quantum matter.

Mots-clés : graphene,magic angle twisted bilayer graphene,scanning probe microscopes
Projet ERC : AMYGVALBCI (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : Institut Weizmann — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : WIS
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2250000.0 €

The primate amygdala is a neural hub that processes computations for learning and memory, specifically when learning involves emotional, motivational, and reinforcement-based signals. This requires it to remain highly adaptive for changes in valence of environments and stimuli. Failures of such computations can lead to maladaptive behaviors and even psychopathologies such as PTSD and Anxiety. However, the core principles of amygdala function continue to elude the field. Recent studies suggest valence is processed in dedicated pathways, and we do not fully understand the mechanisms governing adaptive processing of valence and its reversal. Our overarching goal here is to elucidate the factors that underlie the dynamics of valence representation in amygdala circuits, and actively reverse valence to examine the impact on behavior. We develop a new framework using brain-computer-interface (BCI) and a closed-loop approach that allows us to guide changes in neural activity in the primate amygdala and modulatory networks. We test the hypothesis that coding properties of single amygdala neurons are dynamic, and examine how adaptive flexible coding is enabled by population activity. We unveil the parameters that govern this flexibility- timescales, directionality, population size, and its effective dimensionality. We then test how reversing representation of valence alters the animal response to learned stimuli, and use it to examine and manipulate aversive-biases in models of anxiety/trauma: generalization and exploration. Using high-density neural recordings in the primate amygdala, ACC, SI, with closed-loop behavioral paradigms and computational approaches, we will unveil a more direct (rather than correlative) role for the amygdala in the process of valence-based learning, and find the constraints that limit network adaptivity. Our findings in the primate brain will accelerate the design of closed-loop interventions to alleviate human psychopathologies.

Mots-clés : amygdala,valence,emotional learning,electrophysiology,closed loop,brain computer interface,neural representations,aversive,appetitive,anxiety,ptsd
Projet ERC : PHOTOZYME (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Université de Bologne — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2945000.0 €

One pressing challenge of chemical research is to develop new processes that responsibly use natural resources to produce added-value chiral molecules. PHOTOZYME seeks to provide solutions by combining photocatalysis, biocatalysis, and organocatalysis. These three modern strategies offer powerful tools for the sustainable preparation of chiral molecules. To date, however, they have remained largely unconnected. This proposal aims to bridge these fields in order to address major problems in asymmetric synthesis for which there is no general solution with established methods. Specifically, we will focus on native organocatalytic intermediates formed in the enzymes’ active sites, exploring their potential ability to reach an excited state upon visible light absorption and thus enable new-to-nature radical reactions. Here, light will be used to program entirely new mechanisms of catalysis within enzymes with an established ground-state reactivity, thus allowing them to catalyse completely different processes than those for which they evolved. The resulting photoenzymes will be powered by absorption of photons at each catalytic cycle and will serve to infer high enantioselectivity in important radical chemistries. Our artificial photoenzymes will be applied in four “challenge areas”, each representing crucial yet unsolved synthetic problems. We will develop methods to convert simple feedstock chemicals (e.g. fatty acids) into chiral building blocks. Additionally, our goal is to control the formation of multiple stereocentres in intermolecular radical processes and at remote positions of linear substrates, objectives that are exceptionally difficult to achieve with existing small-molecule systems. We also envision the design of biocatalytic radical cascades for the rapid synthesis of biorelevant chiral scaffolds directly from abundant substrates. Overall, we aim to provide new photobiocatalytic tools that drive the sustainable production of chiral molecules.

Mots-clés : asymmetric catalysis radical chemistry enzymatic catalysis photocatalysis organocatalysis
Projet ERC : PreBRCATx (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Université de Cambridge — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2499112.0 €

In this programme, we will leverage our understanding of the cellular and molecular changes that precede cancer in high-risk individuals to intercept and prevent the development of the disease. Despite significant advances in immune and targeted therapies, the molecular and cellular complexity of late-stage tumours continues to pose a major barrier to developing a definitive “cancer cure”. This underscores the urgency of identifying those at risk and intervening prophylactically to prevent tumour development. Early detection and interception can significantly enhance the long-term survival of patients. Over the past decade, we have utilised a combination of single-cell genomics, mouse models, and primary human samples to map cellular changes in the breast during homeostasis and tumour initiation. Building on this expertise, we aim to deepen our understanding of precancerous changes driven by BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 mutations, test the efficacy of approved and nearly approved drugs, and develop and test a preventative vaccine in pre-clinical models for these mutations. The PreBRCATx integrated approach is designed to deliver significant impacts for individuals at high risk of breast cancer and, if successful, could serve as a model for other types of hereditary cancers in the future. We aim to gather sufficient evidence to initiate clinical prevention trials, focusing on women with pathological variants of BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 and we anticipate setting up a window of opportunity trial by the end of the programme. The programme will also generate new tools, resources, and data, empowering others in the breast cancer field and benefiting researchers of other solid cancers. Early detection and prevention of cancer could significantly mitigate the socioeconomic impact of late-stage cancer diagnoses and treatments, aligning with the ambitions of policymakers and healthcare providers across Europe to promote a healthier and longer life.

Mots-clés : biology to prevention,therapeutic prevention,early cancer interception,cancer vaccines
Projet ERC : REACT (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CEA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1927500.0 €

Heterogeneous (electro-, photo-) catalysis is at the heart of our modern chemical industry, driving 90% of chemical manufacturing processes. Key challenges include measuring reaction kinetics, identifying intermediates and bridging the “pressure” and “materials” gaps. To study the behaviour of individual nanocatalysts involved in chemical reactions, I will develop new, faster structural and chemical characterisation systems and state-of-the-art in situ monitoring techniques to address catalytic problems. The REACT project will revolutionise our understanding of near-industrial catalysis by overcoming current limitations in pressure and materials science by integrating fast in situ non-invasive three-dimensional imaging of single catalysts with spectroscopy to achieve 3D nanospectroscopic imaging during catalysis. This innovative method will operate at high temperature, pressure and in complex environments, providing atomic resolution and high temporal precision. Taking advantage of 4th generation synchrotron sources, new revolutionary charge-integrating detectors and my recognised expertise in synchrotron coherent X-ray diffraction microscopy, the project will enable 3D study of both the chemistry and structure of nanocatalysts under realistic reaction conditions with unprecedented spatial, temporal and energy resolution, to identify reaction intermediates during catalysis for a deeper understanding of the phenomena critical to nanocatalysis: activity, selectivity, reusability and sustainability. Experiment is nothing without simulation. We will use state-of-the-art atomistic capabilities developed by AI to reveal the full dynamics of catalytic mechanisms, setting a new standard in the integration of computational and experimental sciences. My project will shed light on the most relevant unsolved issues (durability, activity, ...) that limit the efficiency of today's processes and will open new horizons with outstanding impact in catalytic research.

Mots-clés : synchrotron,bragg coherent diffraction imaging,spectroscopy,strain,defects,in situ,operando,co2 reduction,hydrogenation,ammonia oxidation,photocatalysis,
Projet ERC : SWIM (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe Sciences
Entité participante : Université de Rome III — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Roma Tre
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 3176790.0 €

In the near future a number of space missions will aim to study the icy Galilean satellites of Jupiter to detect subglacial liquid water, using radar sounders. To properly interpret the radar data, it is necessary to understand the dielectric properties of the icy shells of these bodies, as they control radar signal penetration and anomaly (i.e., water) detection. The current knowledge of these properties for the types of water ices believed to be present is limited, which would potentially produce incorrect interpretations of the radar data, thus risking the scientific goals of these missions. Based on extensive experience in characterizing the dielectric properties of planetary analogues, which led me and my group to discover the first extraterrestrial subglacial stable body of liquid water on Mars, we intend to develop new methodologies and protocols to create a groundbreaking knowledgebase that fills this critical gap. We will apply the first of its kind methodology for conducting dielectric measurements across a wide range of frequencies (including the challenging interval used by these radar systems) and temperatures representative of the different ice-forming environments, produce groundbreaking studies on the structural and chemical behavior of different ice types using CT microtomography and molecular dynamic modelling, and will create a wide-ranging dataset of the dielectric properties of non-terrestrial ices. Such pioneering and high gain research will allow to obtain the maximum benefit from missions such as JUICE and Europa CLIPPER. By the end of the project significant and fundamental progress will be made to properly perform dielectric measurements on icy planetary analogues, in the comprehension of the physics behind the dielectric behavior of water ice and icy materials, and in radar data modelling and interpretation. Moreover, the project’s results will serve as a critical knowledge base for present and future radar sounder planetary missions.

Mots-clés : dielectric properties,ice penetrating radar,ice shells
Projet ERC : DeepRibosome (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: B iological  Mechanisms , Structures  and Functions
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 : 2500000.0 €

Structure determination of dynamic macromolecular molecular machines and elucidating their conformational landscapes are fundamental tasks of structural biology. The ribosome as a paradigmatic macromolecular machine interacts with numerous ligands and factors throughout its functional cycles, which in turn are driven and regulated by various conformational modes. Project DeepRibosome proposes a new way to perform structural studies. It is based on our recent finding that E. coli ex-vivo derived polysomes carrying the translatome can be efficiently reactivated in the PURE in vitro translation system. Cryo-EM of actively translating ribosomes results in comprehensive structural landscapes. During steady state, all intermediates are expected to be present, including the short-lived ones. Supported by preliminary data, we estimate that applying multi-particle sorting of images we can resolve states with a lifetime in the one-digit millisecond range. This allows us to study under optimal conditions fast steps such as the GTPase factor-dependent reactions or peptidyl-transfer/accommodation without artificially stalling the reaction by antibiotics or non-cleavable GTP analogues. The structural studies will be accompanied by functional assays including Ribo-seq to monitor translation of the cell-derived translatome in a cell-free system. While, we will also conduct in situ structural analysis for comparison, the strength of our new approach is that we can track translation from an integrated structural and functional perspective, preserving/reconstituting many native features but under defined and controllable conditions. This will not only provide insights into the molecular mechanism of translation at the next level of understanding but also allow us to answer long-standing questions e.g. how exactly the physicochemical environment (temperature, ions) or auxiliary factors impact translation. It will also provide new means to study the inhibition mechanisms of antibiotics.

Mots-clés : cryo electron microscopy,ribosome,protein synthesis,free energy landscape,cell free translation
Projet ERC : LUCIOLE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials Engineering
Entité participante : Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : HZB
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2499960.0 €

Ferroelectric materials have been known, and their fascinating properties exploited for more than 100 years. Still, in recent years, exotic polar textures resembling those found in magnetic materials have been unraveled in nanoscale ferroelectric perovskite oxides, such as flux closure domains, curling polarization, vortices, and the groundbreaking discoveries of polar skyrmions and merons in 2019/2020. Polar textures hold huge promise for novel robust topological electronic devices such as ultra-compact (> Tbit/in2) memories. However, so far, nanoscale polar domains have only been studied on special oxide substrates (e.g. SrTiO3), which precludes practical applications. I propose to take a revolutionary approach to the field of topological polar textures by bringing them to the realm of the Si platform. Not only is this necessary to implement energy-efficient nanodevices, but Si material and advanced CMOS semiconductor technologies offer multiple unexplored ways to engineer mechanical and electrical boundary conditions in ultrathin films and nanostructures of transition metal oxides. With LUCIOLE, I will push the limits in the exploration and future harnessing of emergent states in ferroics with the following objectives: - Create monolithically-integrated topological polar textures on silicon by molecular beam epitaxy and atomic layer deposition of epitaxial and glass-composite nanoscale ferroelectrics using strain, confinement and frustration engineering. - Understand the polar textures created on silicon by combining advanced state-of-the-art correlative microscopies and spectroscopies at the nanoscale, including operando time-resolved methods. - Integrate ferroelectrics at the nanoscale at the front-end- and back-end-of-line of Si chips in sub-500 nm two- and three-terminal devices with tunable stress and study their manipulation under electric field by statistically screening their properties at the wafer scale to unveil potentially rich behavioral patterns.

Mots-clés : ferroelectrics,silicon,cmos technology,polar texture,strain,confinement,molecular beam epitaxy,atomic layer deposition,epitaxy,nanocomposites,4d stem,nanodevices