Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : OxytocINspace (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Central Institute of Mental Health — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : CO-PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CIMH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2350000.0 €

Orienting in space recruits brain mechanisms well conserved across mammalian species. Within the entorhinal-hippocampal network, a core system of spatially-selective cells supports spatial geometry computations. Yet, when navigating familiar surroundings, neural computations of space usually escape our attention. Instead, we parse space into socially meaningful territories. Territorial boundaries are social in nature since they capture the location of utilities available to individuals tied to group hierarchy and affiliation. How does our brain integrate geometry and territory? We propose that this process is regulated by the oxytocin (OT) system, acting on the entorhinal-hippocampal regions. OT, a hypothalamic neuropeptide known for its pro-social effects in mammals, modulates neural activity in the hippocampal formation, but its potential role in territorial representations has not yet been studied. Here, experts in complementary fields – social behaviors, spatial navigation, neurophysiology, anatomy, and cell signaling – will study brain similarities and differences of socio-territorial strategies in five mammalian species: bats, mice, rats, marmosets, and macaques. Our central goal is to investigate how neurons coding for space (e.g. place cells, boundary cells, grid cells) respond to perceived socio-spatial parameters of ownership, utility, and social hierarchies. We expect spatial cells to be sensitive to territorial manipulations (ownership, proximity, intrusion), regulated by OT in a context-dependent manner. OT inhibition may enhance territorial defense when territories are challenged (e.g., conspecific approaches or transgresses borders) and may sharpen territorial boundary representations. Conversely, OT stimulation could blur the boundaries of territorial perception. Our cross-species perspective will be the first to provide information on possible species-specific vs. shared neural mechanisms for territorial maps and OT-induced hippocampal plasticity.

Mots-clés : oxytocin,oxytocin receptors,entorhinal cortex,hippocampus,place cells,territorial behavior,rodents,bats,non human primates,social behavior
Projet ERC : CeLEARN (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université rhénane Frédéric-Guillaume de Bonn — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2495990.0 €

Cells continuously sense and interpret the external signals coming from their time-varying environments to generate context-dependent responses. This is true for the entire tree of life, ranging from bacteria and unicellular eukaryotes to neurons forming networks in the developing brain. Identifying the fundamental principles and underlying mechanisms that enable cells to interpret their complex natural surroundings and adequately respond remains one of the fundamental questions in biology. Conceptual views so far have been mainly guided by molecular biology descriptions, suggesting that cells are controlled by a genomic program executing a pre-scripted plan. Our goal is to develop an alternative conceptual framework: cells generate internal representations of their external ‘world’, which they utilise to actively infer information about it and predict changes, in order to determine their response. We will formalise this concept in a theory of single-cell learning, by combining information theory concepts to quantify the predictive information from the internal cell representations, with dynamical systems theory to explain how these encodings are realised. We will interrogate experimentally systems across all scales of biological organization: bacteria (B. subtilis), single-cell organisms (Paramecium, Tetrahymena) and neuronal cell culture models. By studying them in a comparative manner, we aim at identifying generic molecular mechanisms through which single-cell learning is realised. The acquired understanding will enable us to address in vivo how single neurons during D. melanogaster development learn to form, stabilize or eliminate axonal branches, to generate stereotyped synaptic patterning under highly-variable conditions. We argue that providing a broader and generic definition of learning will serve as a unifying framework, linking disparate areas and scales of biology, and offering a basis for addressing fundamental biological questions.

Mots-clés : cell learning and memory,information theory,synaptic targeting,recurrent networks,transient dynamics,aneural systems
Projet ERC : UNIVERSE PLUS (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Institute for advanced study - louis bamberger and mrs felix fuld foundation corporation — Pays : Etats-Unis — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IAS
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2500000.0 €

There are strong indications from physics at both infinitesimal and cosmic distances that our current understanding of the laws of nature is only approximate, and must be replaced by deeper principles. The UNIVERSE+ project seeks a new foundation for fundamental physics, ranging from elementary particles to the Big Bang, revealing a hidden world of ideas beyond quantum mechanics and spacetime. Novel geometric objects recently discovered in theoretical physics hint at new mathematical structures. Combinatorics, algebra and geometry have been connected to particle physics and cosmology in an entirely unexpected way. Leveraging these advances, we will launch the field of Positive Geometry, as a new mathematical framework for describing the laws of physics. To this end, we bring together the necessary expertise in particle physics (Arkani-Hamed, Henn), cosmology (Baumann) and mathematics (Sturmfels). This is the first collaboration of its kind, made possible by a recent confluence of critical insights in both mathematics and physics, which are now so closely aligned as to propel us forward on a clear trajectory. Our goals are fiercely ambitious: we aim to create a new mathematical language for describing physical phenomena at all scales, from the interactions of elementary particles to the large-scale structure of the universe.

Mots-clés : scattering amplitudes,primordial cosmology,quantum field theory,feynman integrals,computational algebraic geometry,positive grassmannian
Projet ERC : GravNet (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université rhénane Frédéric-Guillaume de Bonn — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : CO-PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2439442.0 €

The overarching goal of the GravNet project is to develop, test and deploy a novel experimental platform that could enable the first detection of gravitational waves (GWs) in the frequency range of MHz to GHz, thereby providing a new and unique window into astrophysical processes that have so far eluded observation. The first detection of gravitational waves by LIGO in 2015 ushered in a new era of fundamental physics. Since then, a network of ground-based GW interferometers has probed the frequency range from 10 Hz to 10 kHz, detecting nearly a hundred mergers of black-hole and neutron-star binaries. In 2023, a signal at much lower frequency, in the nHz band, was detected by timing radio signals from pulsars. The race is now on to explore other bands. Of particular interest in this context is access to the MHz-GHz range, as in this range signals may be generated copiously by events such as primordial-black-hole-merger, by the dynamics of ultra-light dark matter overdensities or violent phenomena in primordial cosmological times - all processes related to some of the most pressing open questions about our Universe.  The use of cavities in strong magnetic fields has been identified as one of the most promising techniques to search for high-frequency gravitational waves. So far, efforts were focused on cavities with small volumes that are tuned to search for axion-like particles. By contrast, the GravNet scheme is based on combining different technologies and methodological approaches to measure synchronously cavity signals from multiple devices in magnetic fields operated as a network across Europe, increasing the sensitivity to high frequency GWs (HFGWs) by several orders of magnitude compared to current approaches. In this way, GravNet will open up a new, vast parameter space for gravitational-wave searches and might be the enabling step towards the first detection of HFGWs - with the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the Universe.

Mots-clés : high frequency gravitational waves,electromagnetic cavities,quantum sensors,sensor network,machine learning
Projet ERC : Photopharm (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : University of Groningen — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RUG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

''Photopharmacology: from academia toward the clinic'' aims at the development of our platform technology from an academically emerging field towards a technology which has proven clinical applicability. Within this project novel photopharmacological targets will be evaluated and investigated. Additionally, in vivo proof of concept will be generated to make our technology ready for further clinical validation.

Mots-clés : photopharmacology,drug development,photoswitches,molecular motors,light,azobenzene,cancer,antimicrobials,synthetic chemistry
Projet ERC : GR-GATE (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : National Centre of Scientific Research "Demokritos" — Pays : Grèce — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : NCSR;NCSR-D
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

'The GR-GATE project proposes a novel negative quantum capacitance field effect transistor (NQCFET) with steep subthreshold characteristics which enables operation at low power supply voltages (Vdd). The technology can be combined with state of the art Si device architectures such as FDSOI or more mature steep slope switches such as the tunneling field effect transistor (TFET) functioning as technology booster to improve low power /high performance operation characteristics of transistors. The later can have an impact on energy efficient nanoelectronics. NQCFET has competitive advantages against rival emerging steep slope switch technologies and complements rather than competes with mainstream Si devices, therefore showing a high potential for non-disruptive innovation and a prospect for fast and smooth entry to large volume production. The GR-GATE project will produce prototype transistor arrays at TRL 4 to show that the NQCFET technology is scalable to larger area wafers with acceptable device yield having reduced gate lengths and lower gate dielectric thickness in compliance with scaling trends and technological requirements as adopted by the industry. This will demonstrate that the technology has a commercial value calling for IP protection through an international patent filing. In addition, technology valorisation is planned in order to assess the manufacturability and viability of the NQCFET technology and identify further advanced development steps that need to be taken in order to bring the technology to maturity (TRL 8-9). It is expected that large European technology development laboratories will have a crucial role in validating the technology but also promoting it to their industrial affiliates targeting a licence agreement with key chip manufacturers to enable volume production. '

Mots-clés : steep slope switching,low subthreshold slope,low power,energy efficient nanoelectronics,negative quantum capacitance field effect transistors,graphene based nanolectronic devices,the internet o
Projet ERC : NEEDS (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : Utrecht University — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499902.5 €

19% of the Dutch population suffer from depression and people affected by depression have a significantly higher suicide risk. Although the World Health Organization attributes modifiable environmental factors including urban environments (i.e. the built, natural and social environments) to health outcomes, they are largely disregarded as either stressors or buffers in scientific debates on depression and suicide. A limitation of current studies is that urban environmental features are often restricted to the neighbourhoods within which people live. This may result in incorrect conclusions about health-influencing factors and inappropriate policies. Human life ultimately unfolds over space-time; people are exposed to multiple urban environments not only during daily life but also over the course of their lives. It is this, not yet assessed spatiotemporal interplay of urban exposures that might revolutionize health assessments. This research aims to understand the interactions between urban environments, depression and suicide in the Netherlands. The scientific breakthrough will be dynamic health geographies embedded in space-time by two innovative case studies. We will investigate the following research questions: What are the associations between depression and the built, natural and social urban environments along people’s daily space-time paths? And what are the associations between suicide and the built, natural and social urban environments of previous residential locations? A multidisciplinary approach combining health, geographic information science and urban geography will lead to this breakthrough. It will be grounded on cutting-edge smartphone-based human tracking, health register data and spatiotemporal modelling. Knowledge about dynamic urban exposures is key to revealing disease aetiologies, advancing health preventions and formulating policies supporting a healthier urban living.

Mots-clés : urban environmental exposures,depression,suicide,time geography
Projet ERC : SpoilsofWAR (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : Bocconi University — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498798.0 €

2018 will be a momentous year in Central Europe. It will mark the centenary of the end of World War I and the collapse of the Habsburg Empire. Political disintegration has long been blamed for the economic troubles of the successor states, but these consequences have not been subjected to sufficient examination, nor were they distinguished from the economic consequences of the Great War. My ambition is to fill this knowledge gap. I will measure systematically how the war changed (i) industrial structure, (ii) business performance, and (iii) living standards in the regions of the Habsburg Empire. I will explain, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, the mechanisms that drove these changes. I will compare real wages, the spatial distribution of industry, and the performance of industrial corporations between the prewar and postwar periods. I will directly account for the impact of the war on industrial development, independent from the outcomes of postwar disintegration, using abundant, yet understudied, primary data on war spending in the Habsburg Empire. I will detect how the reallocation of resources during the war affected changes in economic conditions (i-iii) and their regional variation. In addition, my project will prepare case studies on key industries to demonstrate how they perceived these changes and what strategies they developed to address them. SpoilsofWAR will set a new standard in the economic history of the world wars. It will generate vast volumes of new statistical evidence at the regional and micro level. Methodologically, it will break through traditional boundaries between economic and business history and integrate the analytical tools of both disciplines. It will shift focus in the recent economic history of the wars from the Second to the First World War and will improve our understanding of the economic consequences of the war using newly developed methods from both historical economic geography and comparative business history.

Mots-clés : real wages,regional economies,regional development,historical economic geography,comparative business history,industrial development,war economy,economics of war
Projet ERC : GUT3D-PLATE (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IBEC;IBEC-CERCA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

3D cell culture models are considered the next-generation in vitro models. Several efforts are being devoted to better mimic human physiology and predict drug efficacy. In case of the intestinal tissue models, the 3D architecture of the intestinal tissue and the soft mechanical properties have been identified as key factors to obtain models with improved predictive capacities. However, there is a lack of low-cost and ease-to-use intestinal tissue models that encompass both elements. In the COMIET ERC project, we developed 3D cell culture scaffolds that accurately mimic the villus and crypt morphologies of the human intestine using soft materials. We used an innovative light-based approach to fabricate hydrogel scaffolds with the proper dimensions and mechanical properties of the tissue, in a reproducible manner. This ERC PoC GUT3D-PLATE will develop further the technology and customize a 3D low cost printing device to be able to fabricate ready-to-commercialize 3D cell culture substrates mimicking the intestinal physiology. These substrates will be provided as ready-to-use cell culture inserts, compatible with conventional assays and without the need of specialized equipment. The scaffolds support the growth of conventional intestinal cell lines and primary-derived cells and can be used as platforms for drug screening, disease modeling and microbiome interactions. GUT3D-PLATE will also explore the commercial feasibility of the product by protecting the IPR, analyzing the market, and designing a business plan that provides the roadmap to attract investors. The intestinal 3D culture models will be attractive not only to the biomedical research community, but also to the pharma industry and CROs as they are increasingly investing in tools that better predict drug treatment efficacy and toxicity at early stages of the drug development process. This will reduce significantly the need for animal models and the overall cost, generating a major societal benefit.

Mots-clés : cell culture plates,3d in vitro models,drug discovery,toxicology,adme,precise medicine,disease modelling,epithelial tissue
Projet ERC : 4-OCEANS (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Norwegian University of Science and Technology — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : NTNU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2659088.25 €

4-OCEANS aims to assess the importance of marine life for human societies during the last two millennia. We contend that the harvest of marine resources played a critical, but as yet underappreciated and poorly understood, role in global history. To bridge this gap in our understanding, the four PIs will form an interdisciplinary team combining expertise in marine environmental history, climate history, natural history, geography, historical ecology and zooarchaeology. We will examine when and where marine exploitation was of significance to human society; how selected major socio-economic, cultural, and environmental forces variously constrained and enabled marine exploitation; and identify the consequences of marine resource exploitation for societal development. Through these objectives we will discover how marine resources as novel wealth altered societies throughout history. How might marine wealth have enabled some societies to escape food shortages? How did it trigger long-term socio-economic impacts and ecological consequences? How were marine resources valued, consumed, and energetically transformed? Revealing this history will open a new window on human-nature dynamics of profound importance for understanding developmental trajectories of human societies. 4-OCEANS will transcend the binary distinctions of East and West, global-north and global-south, indigenous and colonial, resource exploitation and wildlife conservation, nature and culture. In doing so, 4-OCEANS will uncover and chart historical trajectories towards sustainable and unsustainable food security and resource extraction, identifying their complex underlying drivers.

Mots-clés : marine environmental history,environmental archaeology,climate history
Projet ERC : 4-OCEANS (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : The University of Texas System — Pays : Etats-Unis — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : UT System
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 107775.0 €

4-OCEANS aims to assess the importance of marine life for human societies during the last two millennia. We contend that the harvest of marine resources played a critical, but as yet underappreciated and poorly understood, role in global history. To bridge this gap in our understanding, the four PIs will form an interdisciplinary team combining expertise in marine environmental history, climate history, natural history, geography, historical ecology and zooarchaeology. We will examine when and where marine exploitation was of significance to human society; how selected major socio-economic, cultural, and environmental forces variously constrained and enabled marine exploitation; and identify the consequences of marine resource exploitation for societal development. Through these objectives we will discover how marine resources as novel wealth altered societies throughout history. How might marine wealth have enabled some societies to escape food shortages? How did it trigger long-term socio-economic impacts and ecological consequences? How were marine resources valued, consumed, and energetically transformed? Revealing this history will open a new window on human-nature dynamics of profound importance for understanding developmental trajectories of human societies. 4-OCEANS will transcend the binary distinctions of East and West, global-north and global-south, indigenous and colonial, resource exploitation and wildlife conservation, nature and culture. In doing so, 4-OCEANS will uncover and chart historical trajectories towards sustainable and unsustainable food security and resource extraction, identifying their complex underlying drivers.

Mots-clés : marine environmental history,environmental archaeology,climate history