Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : PhotoMod (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Glasgow — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Cyber- and motion sickness are debilitating for many people, limiting both travel opportunities, and the use of new technologies such as virtual and augmented reality. These forms of sickness are due to nauseogenic sensory mismatch (NSM). Cybersickness affects up to 50% of people use who AR and VR headsets. Motion sickness affects 30% of travellers in all forms of transport, with even more getting sick if they use AR or VR as a passenger. To mitigate the effects of NSM, the PhotoMod project will demonstrate the efficacy of a novel transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) technique using near-infrared light. This is delivered by LEDs on the scalp shining invisible light into the brain, focused on the human vestibular network (HVN) to create neural entrainment.  Our novel method extends work on the ERC ViAjeRo project which used transcranial alternating current stimulation to create entrainment in the HVN. We use this to synchronize the phase information of endogenous neural oscillations associated with NSM in the HVN to an external phase stimulus generated by tACS, which mirrors healthy phase information. We have found very significant benefits for NSM with this method. However, tACS has many drawbacks for commercial application. tPBM overcomes all of these as it is: more precise, safer, more comfortable and cheaper. In PhotoMod, we will develop new hardware and software to deliver tPBM in a commercial form, then test it as a mitigation for cybersickness at home and for motion sickness on the road. The final result will be a commercialisable wearable system that can mitigate the effects of cyber and motion sickness across a wide area of applications.
Projet ERC : AntiVirFish (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : The Norwegian Veterinary Institute — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 4000.0 €

In the last decades aquaculture seems to be the only real alternative for global fish food supply. At present, the aquaculture world production has reached 82.1 million tons worldwide representing the fastest growing animal production sector in the world. Among aquaculture species, salmonid aquaculture, trout and salmon species, are the highest-value species for global and European aquaculture. The biggest global constraint to aquaculture production is disease with an estimate of a 10% of all cultured aquatic animals lost because of infectious diseases, amounting to >10 billion USD in losses annually on a global scale. Among infectious diseases, viral outbreaks are a serious concern, since they are an impediment to the development, productivity, and profitability of fish farms. Intensive fish farming amplifies diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites, resulting in severe losses. Few vaccines are available for viral diseases in aquaculture and they are not completely effective. Moreover, up to date there are not antiviral therapeutic treatments to mitigate the outbreaks in unvaccinated fish or to diminish the percentage of losses do not covered by prophylactics vaccines. During my ERC Starting Grant our group identified a number of antiviral proteins in rainbow trout nucleated red blood cells (RBCs) implicated in halting viral infections. The OBJECTIVE of this project is to perform a Proof of Concept of the antiviral molecules previosuly identified. We will evaluate the new business opportunity of introducing a new antiviral therapeutic that decreases viral infection and related economic loss in aquaculture.
Projet ERC : AdaptiveTarget (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Stockholm — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Genetic variation at resistance loci is crucial for sustained crop yield, given the challenges and increased pest and pathogen pressures resulting from a warming climate. Despite recent advances in massively parallel sequencing, disease resistance loci and other complex genomic regions of great practical, economical and scientific importance remain challenging to study. The severe limitations of current methods pose a major problem for fully understanding and harnessing genetic variation for crop improvement. We will develop AdaptiveTarget as a bioinformatic method based on targeted long-read sequencing, that will allow researchers and breeders to quickly, efficiently and inexpensively obtain population-level haplotype information for complex genomic regions such as resistance genes and self-incompatibility loci in plants. To explore the innovation potential of our ERC-funded research we will first undertake research to test and validate the project idea. Validation will benefit from known haplotype data for the complex S-locus supergene, produced in the ERC-funded project SuperGenE. To demonstrate the general utility of the method we will apply it to real-world examples consisting of complex loci of agronomic importance. Once the method is validated, we will investigate options for patenting and licensing the method. Our AdaptiveTarget method for fast and efficient targeted sequencing of complex genomic regions could greatly facilitate assessment of genetic variation at complex genomic regions of outstanding scientific, practical and economic interest. Therefore, our method could help drive innovation in several ways, by allowing the development of more efficient methods to conduct precision breeding for disease and pest resistance.
Projet ERC : AI-warning (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Institut de recherche pour le développement — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IRD
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Earthquakes caused nearly one million fatalities in the last two decades and billions of euros of economic loss. In our current state of knowledge, these hazardous events remain unpredictable. Early Warning Systems (EWS) exist in some countries at risk, but they only send alerts once the earthquake has started, leveraging information recorded close to the epicenter before the most destructive seismic waves reach more distant populated areas. These systems provide – in the best-case scenarios – only a few seconds of warning before the strongest shakings. Moreover, for fundamental reasons, they systematically underestimate the magnitude of large events, which results in dramatic underestimation of potential subsequent tsunamis, which typically cause most of the fatalities and damage. Therefore, making EWS faster and more accurate is crucial to mitigate the hazard associated with these catastrophic events. In the framework of the ERC StG project EARLI, we developed prototype Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms providing faster and more accurate theoretical estimates of the location and magnitude of large earthquakes than state-of-the-art EWS. We propose to implement these AI algorithms in the operational EWS of Peru, with the objective of transforming the theoretical developments of the ERC StG EARLI (Licciardi et al., Nature, 2022; Lara et al., JGR, 2023) into concrete operational improvements in EWS performance. The algorithms we developed use short records of traditional seismic waves and light-speed gravity signals. We will complement these two algorithms by a third AI-based one using GNSS, allowing the implemented EWS to leverage complementary real-time data, and making it the first operational multi-messenger AI-based EWS. The system will rapidly benefit millions of people at high risk from earthquakes in Peru, and serve as a Proof-of-Concept for every region exposed to earthquake and tsunami hazard worldwide.

Mots-clés : earthquakes,tsunamis,early warning,ai,prompt elasto gravity signals,gps
Projet ERC : HybridSeed (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Inrae
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The food security on the planet is still a challenge. Experts predict that we will need to double food production in order to feed a population projected to reach 9,2 billion by 2050. Crop improvement should not only focus on species such as maize, wheat and soybean. Many other crops contribute to food security. The Cucurbitaceae family is positioned in front list of plant families for the number of species used as human food and for cultural, medicinal, and botanical significance. According to FAO estimate, despite a large growing area improving yield of many Cucurbitaceae crops could significantly add to food security. F1 hybrid cultivars have made a significant contribution to the world's food supply. Yet, one of the continuing challenges of plant breeding is still to master production of F1 hybrid seeds in many crops. The production of F1 hybrid seeds requires controlled pollination to ensure that the seed descent is indeed resulting from a crossing and not from a self-fertilization. Most of cultivated Cucurbitaceae species are monoecious or andromonoecious. The use of these two sexual morphs for F1 hybrid production requires hand emasculation and hand pollination of the female parental line. Furthermore, monoecious and andromonoecious sexual morphs are usually hurdles for yield improvement and yield stability. HybridSeed project aims to engineer plant prototypes with the goal to (i) reduce the cost of F1 hybrid seed production, (ii) improve yields of F1 hybrid plants, and (iii) simplify the itinerary of the crops, from the seed companies to the producers. HybridSeed technology is built on the knowledge of the genes controlling the development of unisexual and hermaphrodite flowers and their use to engineer sexual types that do not exist in nature, or more stable than those currently existing. The produced plant prototypes will be grown in conditions approaching seed companies and producer conditions and evaluated for yield and yield stability.
Projet ERC : SUPROTECT (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Leyde — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The SUPROTECT proof-of-concept project seeks to apply our squaramide-based (SQ) supramolecular materials to prepare microcapsules for the culture of pluripotent stem cells. Building on earlier demonstration of bioactive hydrogel synthesis and in vitro culture of iPSCs in 3D cell culture under static conditions, we will synthesize the necessary amount of material for iPSC culture studies, develop protocols to prepare microcapsules with and without iPSCs, and evaluate the feasibility of the different microcapsules for the culture of iPSCs and their release, ranking the approaches on iPSC number and quality for further downstream application. In parallel with these activities, we will perform detailed market research studies on microfabricated polymer materials for culture of various cell types, protecting our intellectual property (IP) position and consolidating our findings in a package for product licensing with the appropriate party.
Projet ERC : TIGER (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Leyde — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Immune therapies have caused a paradigm shift in the treatment of melanoma and leukemias. However, the broad Immune therapies have caused a paradigm shift in the treatment of melanoma and leukemias. However, the broad application of these immune therapies to all cancers has not worked. One of the major reason for this failure is the presence of innate immune suppressive cell types in many tumour types, such as macrophages, NK-, dendritic, and myeloid cells. Tumour selective reactivation of these cells is considered one of the holy grails for the future of immune therapy. Most endeavours in achieving this are severely hampered by the toxicity of innate immune activators: they cause strong off-site-on-target systemic immune activation, which can lead sepsis-like symptoms and death. Developing innate immune activating therapies that are both powerful and safe are therefore key to applying immune therapies across the cancer landscape. As part of my ERC-CoG-Grant I have developed innnate immune activators that are chemically blocked, but that can be reactivated locally to offer. This approach can potentially serve as exactly the safe and potent innate activator required. By targeting the innate activators to the tumour and only activating them once they have accumulated there, we can decouple the therapeutic activity from the systemic toxicity that plagues these approaches. In this proposal, we aim to evaluate the first such a caged innate immune activator in a pre-clinical cancer model. We will validate its potency, pharmacokinetics and caging/decaging behaviour. In addition, we will broaden the scope of the innate activators, antibodies and uncaging chemistries that can be applied. We will also perform market research to determine the optimal tumour-immune activator-antibody combination to take forward into clinical development and begin to take the necessary steps to spin out a company based on this work to bring these non-toxic innate activators to the clinic.
Projet ERC : S-CAM (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IRCCS
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

This PoC project aims to advance the development of next-generation direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) against hepatitis B virus (HBV), namely capsid assembly modulators (CAMs) with a novel spirocyclic scaffold chemotype described in our proprietary patent (WO2021/160617). The identification of next-generation spirocyclic CAMs (S-CAMs) during the funding period of ERC CoG 725038 (FATE) represents a potentially important step towards the cure of chronic HBV infection, one of the major uncontrolled medical challenges of our time with a huge economic and social burden worldwide. The novel spirocyclic scaffold represents a major advantage for the progression towards the clinic, thanks to its greatly improved synthetic process and excellent stability in mouse and human hepatocytes. Fewer synthetic steps and a reduced need for costly and hard-to-find intermediates provide a price-competitive production process compared to any other CAM, such as our previous generation non-spirocyclic series (patent WO2020/234483) sold to a US-based biotech company. In addition, our novel S-CAMs have an effective dose in the lower pM range, making these new molecules ultrapotent. In this project we will confirm the technical and commercial viability of the ultrapotent novel S-CAMs that are called to out-compete previous generation non-spirocyclic series still in preclinical and first clinical phases as follows: 1) evaluate the pharmacological properties of the best candidates in normal inbred mice and assess their safety, efficacy and immunostimulatory potential in HBV-replicating transgenic mice; 2) perform a comparative analysis of the main competing CAM solutions; 3) establish the IP strategy and stakeholder mapping; 4) prepare a business plan and commercialization roadmap for in-licensing to a spin-off and mid-term out-licensing to potential strategic partners to bring the best ultrapotent S-CAMs candidates to the market.
Projet ERC : UniCardioMab (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IRCCS
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 115000.0 €

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the second most common cause of heart failure, currently treated with drugs that delay progress towards heart transplantation. There are currently many attempts to treat DC with stem cells or their extracellular vesicles or AAV vectors: none reached efficacy so far. The applicant has a long track record in cell and gene therapy for muscular dystrophy. He pioneered systemic intra-arterial transplantation of mesoangioblasts (blood vessel-derived progenitors) and, thanks to a previous ERC grant, succeeded in creating immortal, universal donor mesoangioblasts. Edited cells do not activate an immune response in vitro or in vivo. Muscular dystrophy also affects the heart causing a DCM, but a simple extension of this strategy is problematic since the existence of resident cardiac stem cells is controversial and cardiac mesoangioblasts do not spontaneously differ-entiate into cardiomyocytes. iPS cell-derived cardiac progenitors are promising but until now for lo-calised lesions such as myocardial infarcts. To address this problem we will produce immortal, im-mune privileged cardiac mesoangioblasts and will convert them to cardioblasts, in vitro expression of cardiac transcription factors. Since conversion takes about two weeks, we will test different settings to allow cells so that they would home and differentiate in vivo in the areas of damage, characterized by inflammation. The applicant is in the unique position to test feasibility of this project for future translation into a novel clinical protocol.
Projet ERC : NextTPD (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université Bar-Ilan — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BIU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is crucial for maintaining diverse cellular functions through the selective degradation of proteins. Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD) has emerged as an innovative therapeutic strategy that harnesses the UPS to selectively degrade disease-causing proteins. A major advancement in TPD is the use of proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs), small molecules that bind both an E3 ligase (E3) and the target protein, to induce ubiquitination and subsequent degradation of the target. While PROTACs have shown promise, their reliance on E3s poses challenges, including tissue-specific expression of E3s, the requirement for accessible ubiquitination sites on target proteins, and potential resistance mechanisms due to E3 mutations. Furthermore, only a small subset of E3s has been successfully utilized for TPD.  To address these challenges, this ERC PoC project explores an alternative approach: direct targeting of proteins to the proteasome for degradation, bypassing the need for ubiquitination. This strategy eliminates reliance on specific E3s and provides a broader, universal approach for proteolysis. During our ERC StG project, using cutting-edge proteomics technology, we identified short peptide motifs that when fused to target proteins, can promote their ubiquitin-independent proteasomal degradation (UbInPD). These findings present a novel opportunity to design PROTACs that directly recruit targets to the proteasome, bypassing the traditional limitations of E3-based systems.  Here, we aim to develop PROTACs incorporating UbInPD short peptide motifs to enhance TPD of model disease-associated proteins, such as the androgen receptor and BRD proteins, for cancer treatment. This approach could significantly broaden the scope of targetable proteins, opening up new avenues for drug discovery. Successful outcomes could lead to groundbreaking therapeutic applications and establish novel, ubiquitin-independent TPD strategies in precision medicine.
Projet ERC : Pi4NoRM (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CSIC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 100000.0 €

The relentless demand to increase data rates, traffic, and connected devices in our mobile communications has prompted a paradigm shift in wireless technology. 5G and the forthcoming 6G will use mm-waves and miniaturized antenna systems that need to be low-cost and energetically efficient. An unresolved challenge of this transition is the miniaturization of non-reciprocal devices above 100 GHz. Pi4NoRM envisions an on-chip integration of miniaturized self-biased non-reciprocal magnetic components for the forecasted 6G evolution. Those passive devices are significant components fulfilling three critical functions within RF systems: decoupling amplifiers, protecting the systems against mismatched impedances or electromagnetic aggression and enabling the Full-Duplex operation of antennas. Pi4NorM aims to fill the gap between materials science and mm-wave engineering to develop sub-THz, ultra-compact, self-biased non-reciprocal elements. The success of Pi4NoRM could open an expansive innovation roadmap toward more capable RF systems and radar. For this reason, a strategic transfer strategy is also implemented in Pi4NoRM.
Projet ERC : MucusIBD (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université Bar-Ilan — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BIU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, are chronic, debilitating conditions affecting millions worldwide. There is currently no cure for IBD, only treatments aimed at inducing long lasting remission. These treatment options act mainly by inhibiting the patient’s immune system, leaving patients immunocompromised, and come with a high annual direct cost. Even with advanced treatment, most IBD patients will require surgery during their lifetimes. Thus, more affordable treatment option which are not focused on immune suppression are needed. While the etiology of IBDs is not clear, it is thought that breakdown of gut barrier function is a major driver of chronic intestinal inflammation. Indeed, penetrance of luminal microbes into the mucus layer which covers the intestinal epithelium is a hallmark of IBDs. This penetrance and contact of microbes with the host’s immune system drives a proinflammatory response and prevents tissue healing. While performing our ERC-funded research project we found a way to induce excess intestinal mucus secretion in mice. We found this excess mucus secretion protected mice from development of colitis in a model of IBD. We also uncovered the mechanism which controls intestinal mucus secretion and discovered a cheap and reproducible way to pharmacologically induce excess mucus secretion using a bile acid.  Our goal is to determine whether pharmacologically inducing intestinal mucus production in preclinical mouse models of IBD can induce and sustain remission. The project's methodology encompasses preclinical trials utilizing three distinct mouse models to rigorously test the efficacy and safety of our innovation. A comprehensive market analysis, informed by stakeholders including healthcare professionals and patient advocacy groups, will guide the development process, ensuring the therapeutic approach meets the real-world needs of IBD patients.