Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : REGENERA MS (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université d'Helsinki — Pays : Finlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

REGENERA MS will assess the technical and commercial feasibility of a novel peptide as a superior treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS). Successful commercialization of our peptide could reduce the socioeconomic burden of MS, provide an early-therapy option to delay disease progression and thus extend and improve patients’ lives, with potential effectiveness in related neurodegenerative diseases. MS is a chronic inflammatory, autoimmune, and neurological disease without a cure, affecting the lives of 1.2M Europeans and causing significant economic costs to patients and society. Currently, there is no cure for MS. Approved disease-modifying treatments such as IFN-β1, glatiramer acetate and alemtuzumab are clinically effective but come with high costs, significant side-effects, and intrusive administration. Thus, a medical unmet need remains for novel MS therapies that can halt progression, promote myelin repair and limit complications. To improve on the current therapeutic regimen, we propose a next-generation neurotrophic factor (NTF) therapy that has curative potential by halting MS progression and regenerating demyelinated tissue. My group has discovered a novel peptide with neurotrophic properties and which, in contrast to classical NTFs, (i) has neurorestorative effects and can enhance remyelination (ii) penetrates the blood-brain barrier (BBB), (iii) can be subcutaneously administered, and (iv) can be inexpensively produced. In REGENERA MS, we will evaluate the pharmacokinetic properties and efficacy of a novel therapeutic peptide in organotypic brain cultures, human induced oligodendrocyte-like pluripotent stem cell-derived cells and in MS animal models. Subsequently, we will verify the IP position and strategy, perform an in-depth market and competitor analysis, and finally consolidate these findings into a business case to establish the best path to commercialization.
Projet ERC : MR-ACT (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Max Delbrück Center — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : MDC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The MR-ACT project will develop Thermal Magnetic Resonance-based Ablation Cancer Therapy, a groundbreaking non-invasive approach that eliminates the need for invasive needle electrodes or fibre optic Laser probes in cancer ablation procedures. Building upon innovations from our ERC Advanced Grant ThermalMR, we will advance our proprietary high-density radiofrequency (RF) applicator technology to achieve ablative temperatures (>60°C) for tumour tissue destruction while maintaining millimetre-precision targeting and comprehensive MRI-based monitoring. Current radiofrequency or laser ablation approaches require invasive needle or fibre optic probe insertion, causing collateral damage, risking tumour seeding, limiting treatment to accessible anatomical locations, and increasing healthcare costs through hospitalization requirements. MR-ACT addresses these limitations by integrating diagnostic imaging, thermal treatment, temperature measurement and therapy monitoring in a single device without physical penetration of the body. This 18-month project will systematically refine the RF applicator technology for ablation temperatures, validate performance in anthropomorphic phantoms mimicking clinical scenarios, develop comprehensive IP protection and regulatory strategies, analyse market opportunities, and create a detailed commercialization roadmap. The technology enables treatment of previously inaccessible tumours, reduces procedural complexity, potentially enables outpatient treatment workflows, and improves patient experience while reducing healthcare costs. MR-ACT represents a high-risk, high-gain opportunity to fundamentally transform cancer treatment approaches. Our innovative non-invasive ablation technology could expand treatment options for patients with limited alternatives, establish a new paradigm in interventional oncology, and create significant commercial opportunities through technology licensing or spin-off company formation.
Projet ERC : PQSCAR (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université du Luxembourg — Pays : Luxembourg — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

In the rapidly evolving digital age, the advent of quantum computing poses a significant threat to current cryptographic standards, leaving sensitive information vulnerable to quantum-based attacks. This project addresses the urgent need for resilient cryptographic solutions capable of withstanding quantum threats, focusing on developing and validating post-quantum cryptographic algorithms that are resistant to side-channel attacks. Our solution involves the creation of a robust framework for evaluating the resilience of cryptographic algorithms against quantum and side-channel attacks. By leveraging advanced mathematical models, simulation tools, and hardware implementations, we aim to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in existing cryptographic systems, ensuring a high level of security in the quantum computing era. Collaboration with industry partners and academic institutions will play a crucial role in validating the effectiveness of our solutions across different platforms and use cases. This project not only aims to advance the field of cryptography in response to quantum computing challenges but also to establish a set of standards and best practices for developing and implementing post-quantum cryptographic solutions, ensuring the long-term security of digital information.
Projet ERC : NEUROSHIELD (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université nouvelle de Lisbonne — Pays : Portugal — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects 8.5 million individuals worldwide according to WHO estimates. PD remains cureless and treatments are based on administration of dopamine precursors or analogues. Neuroinflammation is a central hallmark of PD, however, no molecule is present in the market to tackle neuroinflammation in PD patients. Neuroinflammation contributes to the exacerbation of the disease, as the release of inflammatory signals leads to reduced neuronal fitness driving to neuronal death. NEUROSHIELD will address this gap in PD treatment, to ensure an increased quality of life of PD patients, while exploiting this therapeutic market opportunity. The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in PD has been considered non-effective or raised long-term usage complications due to adverse side-effects. NEUROSHIELD will employ a novel small molecule tackling neuroinflammation through a yet unexplored pathway, different mechanism to the classic NSAID COX-2 inhibitors mechanism. We have identified a novel potent first-in-class small molecule that is a strong attenuator of neuroinflammation.  NEUROSHIELD aims to explore this new safe, brain-permeable molecule, addressing neuroinflammation in Parkinson’s disease through a novel pathway
Projet ERC : TRANSBIT (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université polytechnique de Valence — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Analog Programmable-Photonic Computation (APC) is a novel paradigm that exploits programmable integrated photonics (PIP) for high-performance optical computing and signal processing. The ERC-funded ANBIT project established APC’s foundation by defining the analog bit (anbit), introducing computational operations, and designing circuit implementations. However, a major challenge remains: the efficient generation and detection of anbits. Existing solutions rely on fixed optical components, making them susceptible to fabrication errors and operational drifts, limiting scalability and precision.  TRANSBIT addresses this challenge by introducing reconfigurable photonic transceivers for anbit encoding and detection. By replacing static beam combiners with tuneable basic units of PIP, TRANSBIT enables real-time adaptive error correction, ensuring stable and high-fidelity operation. This approach not only enhances APC’s computational capabilities, but also facilitates its scalability and practical deployment.  By overcoming a fundamental bottleneck, TRANSBIT paves the way for the transfer of APC technology to real-world applications. Its impact extends beyond computing, offering new opportunities in optical communications and neuromorphic photonic networks. This project marks a key step toward the integration of APC into next-generation photonic systems, unlocking its full potential for future technological advancements.
Projet ERC : Attitude-Maps-4-All (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Limerick — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Our ERC project developed a mathematical method to construct bipartite graphs directly from surveys of attitudes and opinions, providing a network representation of opinion-based groups. This approach reveals group structure, locates individuals in the space, allows the application of network methods to analyze their relations, and can detect ideological polarization, even without extremism. Like the invention of a new instrument for observing the physical world (e.g. a telescope), the method gives a new view on social attitudes and opinions, with huge value for detecting partisan dynamics in a wide range of disciplines interested in modelling attitudes and human behaviour. Understanding these processes is essential for tackling urgent social issues which require cross-partisan synchronization of core attitudes/opinions (e.g. climate change; vaccine hesitancy; cohesive democracy). Applying these methods currently requires high-level mathematics and coding skills. To realize the social value of the method we must get it into the hands of end-users in useable form. We will (1) prototype a robust software architecture; (2) prototype training resources; (3) implement end-user testing and evaluation of the prototype software and training; (4) build a community of early adopters and developers to test, validate and evaluate the method across a range of multidisciplinary applications; (5) explore synergistic commercialisation opportunities; and (6) determine the optimal IP strategy for maximizing the social value of the innovation. Our intention is to maximize the value of the advance already achieved in our ERC project by completing the groundwork to make the innovation maximally accessible to the interdisciplinary scientific community and to identify synergistic commercialization opportunities.
Projet ERC : NANODIAGNOSTIC (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de technologie d'Eindhoven — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

In the last decade, super-resolution microscopy techniques have emerged as powerful quantitative tools for biology. They have capabilities to visualize single molecules at the nanoscale opening the door to study biological processes at a level not accessible before. In the ERC StG NANOSTORM we showed the potential of these techniques providing new fundamental knowledge on the mechanism and design of new targeted therapies. However, some of the methods we developed have the potential to be translated into applied clinical diagnostic tools. In NANODIAGNOSTIC, we would offer a proof-of-concept of the application of super resolution microscopy and single-molecule imaging for cancer diagnostic, with a focus on patients stratification for immunotherapy. Novel advances in immunotherapies have brought the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) that re-activate the immune system against the tumor. Despite the high success of these therapies there is one main challenge: they are only effective on a limited portion of patients and current diagnostic approaches are not capable of stratifying patient successfully. NANODIAGNOSTIC will translate advance optical methods from an academic setting to the clinic and holds a great potential to provide new diagnostic methods to improve the outcome of immunotherapy.
Projet ERC : NeuroProtect (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université nationale d'Irlande à Galway — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a debilitating neural condition that affects millions of European cancer patients every year. It is considered by patients and oncologists to be the most significant long-term impact of cancer treatment and often results in devastating consequences for patients, including an inability to work or perform the basic tasks of daily living. With chemotherapy usage set to increase by 53% by 2040, CIPN remains a clear and urgent unmet patient need. CIPN is the loss of sensation and movement in the hands and feet induced by chemotherapy treatment and is often associated with chronic neuropathic pain. Chemotherapy drugs enter the blood-stream and target all fast-growing, rapidly multiplying cells – a known characteristic of cancerous cells. However, many cells of this nature occur naturally in the body, including peripheral nerve cells. Thus, a well-known side effect of chemotherapy is the demyelination of these peripheral nerves (i.e. the destruction of the protective coating of nerve cells). Localised Microvascular Compression Therapy (LMCT) is a concept developed by the PI focused on temporarily reducing blood flow and unwanted chemotherapy drug delivery at the peripheral nerve fibres during chemotherapy treatment. By applying a consistent low-level pressure (between 40 and 60 mmHg) across the skin surface of the hands and feet, the local micro-blood vessels (which deliver chemotherapy drugs to the nerve fibres) are temporarily occluded, causing local chemotherapy delivery to be drastically reduced, thus preventing destruction of long-chain myelin and maintaining neural function (note: short-term and controlled blood flow reductions have been shown to cause no tissue damage). In this way, the NeuroProtect project will deliver a safe and pain-free solution to prevent CIPN during chemotherapy treatment.
Projet ERC : GLOBEVAC (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université d'Helsinki — Pays : Finlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

With GLOBEVAC we present a novel solution to make vaccines thermostable, enabling global immunization by avoiding the need for cold chain logistics. Vaccines are one of the most successful public health interventions to reduce the morbidity and mortality of infectious diseases. To ensure the safety and effectiveness of a vaccine, the production and distribution of almost all vaccines require what is called a ‘cold chain’, where the vaccine is continuously kept below certain threshold temperatures, sometimes as low as – 80°C. The need for such a cold chain inhibits cost-efficient and rapid distribution of vaccines and significantly reduces immunization in low resource settings. Our GLOBEVAC approach consists of storing the vaccines in a novel formulation making them thermostable for weeks when kept at temperatures as high as 40°C. Preliminary in vitro data has shown that our GLOBEVAC solution can be applied for several classes of vaccines: GLOBEVAC formulated adenovirus-based vaccines and vaccines based on enveloped viruses, that were stored at 40°C, were as active and functional as the fresh ones kept at -80°C. In this ERC PoC we will technically validate our novel formulation for different classes of vaccines. Next to that, we will explore the commercial potential of GLOBEVAC by developing an intellectual property strategy and performing an extensive market analysis that will finally lead to the development of a tailored business strategy.
Projet ERC : ADJUPROBE (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The goal of ADJUPROBE is to build upon a major discovery made within the ERC-2016-STG-716878 project to validate and valorise our dual synthetic technological tool, moving it forward to boost vaccine efficacy from technical development to commercialisation. We will exploit our lead adjuvant in further preclinical settings in terms of scaled-up production, functional validation, and additional vaccine trials in mice with clinically relevant antigens. In parallel, we will confirm and advance the innovation of our technology towards commercial exploitation by implementing a multifaceted valorisation plan supporting the technical development. The plan includes consolidation of intellectual property (IP) rights and IP position, engagement of pharma/biotech partners and investors, as well as verification of the potential of spin-off creation. Our adjuvant technology based on a scalable semi-synthetic saponin has demonstrated its potential as a dual tool with superior performance to the approved, natural QS-21 adjuvant. These breakthroughs have been provisionally protected via a priority patent application and have also attracted the interest of important biotech/pharma companies. ADJUPROBE will provide decisive proof-of-concept for preclinical development and validation of our technological tool, including synthesis upscaling and confirmation of the superiority of our adjuvant lead in disease-related vaccines benchmarked against QS-21. Moreover, key valorisation outcomes based on successful implementation of our transference and commercialisation plan, such as advancing IPR protection and spin-off creation together with fruitful pharma and investor partnerships, will facilitate market entry and traction for ADJUPROBE in the near future.
Projet ERC : ADJUVACCINE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

ADJUVACCINE seeks to leverage a breakthrough made in the ERC-2016-STG-716878 project to validate a synthetic technological platform for the scalable production of identified optimised saponin adjuvants for improved cost-effective vaccines. We have developed in the laboratory potent, safe, stable, and streamlined adjuvant leads that surpass the QS-21 natural product adjuvant, leading to patent applications and the interest of Pharma. In this PoC project, we aim to exploit our synthetic saponin technology to produce adjuvant/vaccine candidates at scale that outperform existing products more cost-effectively, lowering the risk profile of the commercialisation potential, while also achieving valorisation outcomes for market entry. The goal is to demonstrate the scalability of our innovative adjuvant technology and select an optimal adjuvant candidate in advanced preclinical settings for entering the vaccine market via spin-off formation following proper IPR strategy implementation and attraction of key investors/partners. The breakthrough innovation potential of ADJUVACCINE lies in the exploitation of this adjuvant platform for large-scale production and selection of the best candidate lead for application in vaccines against various diseases, improving the available vaccine solutions. The high purity and excellent chemical control of our synthetic technology versus the heterogeneous natural product adjuvants, as well as its streamlined, scalable nature and low-cost profile are unique attributes of our platform that will be valorised herein, making it a potentially superior alternative to existing vaccine models with less structural definition and costlier timelines. The main objectives are 1) demonstrate our synthetic technology platform for the gram-scale production and selection of a candidate adjuvant lead; and 2) implement valorisation opportunities and verify the potential of spin-off creation by establishing an optimal IPR and public/private funding roadmap plan.
Projet ERC : FIH-IO (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

We plan to carry out a valorisation project for a series of novel small molecule inhibitors of Factor Inhibiting HIF (FIH) that we have developed for the treatment of lung cancer, as a next-generation therapeutic approach in the field of immuno-oncology. The valorisation plan will include: clarification of IP rights and strategy, establishing contacts with potential investors and pharma partners, and verification of the potential of start-up creation. Moreover, valorisation activities will include progression of hits against FIH into a lead optimisation campaign with the aim of designating a candidate drug.
Projet ERC : FELICE (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Groningue — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RUG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The rapid growth of AI demands efficient hardware solutions that enable real-time learning and decision-making in power-constrained edge applications, such as autonomous systems, medical diagnostics, and industrial monitoring. However, current AI hardware faces fundamental trade-offs between power consumption, processing efficiency, and accuracy, limiting its deployment at the edge. Traditional computing architectures separate memory and processing, leading to high energy costs associated with data movement, while existing neuromorphic and analog AI solutions often lack efficient on-chip learning capabilities. FELICE introduces a breakthrough approach to edge AI hardware by co-designing a novel computing architecture that integrates processing and memory within a single compact system. By leveraging ferroelectric leaky integrate-and-fire (FeLIF) neurons and FeFET-based non-volatile memory (NVM), FELICE enables efficient temporal information processing and real-time learning at significantly lower power and area requirements compared to conventional designs. This eliminates the need for external training, allowing AI models to adapt dynamically to changing conditions, a key advantage for edge applications operating in unpredictable environments. A core innovation of FELICE is its training methodology, which optimizes learning at different time scales, overcoming key limitations in temporal AI processing. Furthermore, the 28 nm technological node enhances energy efficiency, making FELICE a scalable and commercially viable solution. By integrating hardware and software co-optimization, FELICE extends the capabilities of current CMOS technology to enable energy-efficient AI deployment at the edge, offering a transformative step towards compact, adaptive, and real-time AI solutions in high-impact domains.