Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : FastTBItest (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, 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 €

Latent tuberculosis infection (TBI) occurs when someone is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis but does not have active TB disease. Those with TBI are at risk of developing active TB, with 8–10% progressing without antibiotic treatment, causing significant societal and economic impacts. Testing higher-risk groups, including immunocompromised individuals (e.g., those on immunosuppressive therapy, HIV-positive), close contacts with active TB cases, healthcare workers, and people from high TB prevalence countries (e.g., refugees), is crucial for TB control. The interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) is a primary TBI test, detecting T cell immune responses to M. tuberculosis in blood. However, IGRA is technically challenging, requires long incubation times (24–48 hours), and incurs high costs (>100 EUR/test). These factors hinder the widespread screening of high-risk populations recommended by the WHO.  We have developed a new technique, ProliSpot (patent pending), which detects antigen-specific T cell responses within several hours after collecting a blood sample and potentially overcomes the limitations of IGRA. This project's goal is to determine ProliSpot's in vitro diagnostic (IVD) potential for TBI testing.  To achieve this, we will assess clinical feasibility by testing blood samples from TB patients and control subjects and compare the results with IGRA. Moreover, we will identify the subsequent steps needed for clinical development, particularly for the Investigational Medical Device Dossier (IMDD) and other requirements of the EU in vitro diagnostics regulations (IVDR). We will also perform pre-commercialization studies and define funding and networking strategies. Given that TBI testing is crucial for TB control, tens of thousands are screened annually in Europe, there is a societal need for increased TBI screening, and improved TBI testing methods are needed, the project's societal and economic impact is expected to be significant.
Projet ERC : iVSEAL (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 €

Intravenous (IV) infusion therapy is a widely used procedure in hospitals, with over a billion infusions administered annually globally. Despite its prevalence, IV infusions pose significant risks, with up to 60% experiencing incorrect flow rates, leading to adverse events for vulnerable patient groups such as preterm babies and critically ill individuals. To solve this problem, we developed a patented innovative aerosol jet printed micro-electromechanical-systems (MEMS) flow monitoring technology that measures IV flow rates in real-time and alerts clinicians instantly when a flow discrepancy is detected. The technology stands apart from its competitors due to its accuracy in measuring true flows, compact size, exceptional sensitivity, and cost-effectiveness, heralding a new era in IV patient safety protocols. Through the iVSEAL project, we propose to use these printed MEMS flow sensors in IV infusion monitoring by developing them into a fully-functional medical device (‘works-like’ prototype). Technical validation of the flow monitoring system will involve rigorous in-vitro testing in diverse critical infusion fluids. In addition to technical and pre-clinical validation studies, we will also conduct interviews with the customers, stake-holders and understand the regulatory pathways, and create a business plan.
Projet ERC : CATSYNEX (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : École polytechnique de Milan — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : PoliMi
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 120000.0 €

The CATSYNEX project, born from the ERC-StG SAC_2.0 project, addresses the pressing need for scalable production of single-atom catalysts to revolutionize industrial catalysis.  While homogeneous catalysts dominate pharmaceutical synthesis due to their precision, they suffer from recovery, instability, and cost issues. Heterogeneous catalysts offer easier separation but struggle with lower degree of selectivity and activity when used in pharmaceutical reactions.  Single-atom catalysts bridge this gap, offering atomically precise control during catalyst formulation, enhanced catalyst stability, higher turnover frequencies, and reduced material costs. However, current synthesis methods limit single-atom catalysts to laboratory scale. CATSYNEX aims to change this by developing scalable SAC production methods.  The scientific validation involves optimizing SAC synthesis for uniform dispersion and high catalytic activity, ensuring reproducibility across batches and scaling to industrial quantities. Catalytic performance will be tested against traditional catalysts to showcase SAC superiority at different scales (from mg to kg), and over multiple catalytic cycles. Business validation includes analyzing IP landscape, regulatory framework, market appeal, and manufacturing economics.  Through CATSYNEX, SACs are poised to become valuable tools for various chemical industries, driving innovation by making pharmaceutical synthesis more efficient, more sustainable, and cost-effective, and addressing some of the pressing critical challenges of the 21st-century manufacturing processes.
Projet ERC : SHANNON (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : École polytechnique de Milan — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : PoliMi
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Over the recent years, the explosive growth of digital technologies allowed to implement disruptive business models driven by data collection and processing. In particular, the internet of things (IoT) opens unprecedented opportunities for consumers (smart society), organisations/companies (industry 4.0/ smart factories) and governments (smart nations). However, as every adoption of new technologies involves some risks, security attacks are amongst the most severe challenges for IoT: only in 2021, the inflicted damages have been valued $6 trillion globally and 1,097 organizations were hit by ransomware attacks. Secure IoT is generally enabled by the physical unclonable function (PUF), namely a hardware function which is embedded in the chip and capable of generating a random, unique response to a given challenge. Improvements in attack methods over the years have recently moved the field of PUFs from the conventional, silicon-based CMOS technology, toward emerging non-volatile memories (NVMs). The latter allows for high density, low cost, highly scalable PUF with the capability of reconfiguration. Currently a truly tamper-resistant and reliable weak PUF leveraging stochastic switching of NVMs for secure IoT is still missing and highly requested by the market. Within the ERC-COG project RESCUE (2015-2020), a novel method for true random number generation (TRNG) based on NVMs was developed and patented. The TRNG scheme allows for iPUF (invisible PUF), namely a digital, highly reliable PUF, which is 100% robust to physical attacks. Within the SHANNON project, we will address the technical and commercial feasibility of iPUF, validating the concept with industry grade embedded NVMs and elevating its technology readiness level via experimental tests and simulations. New architecture and algorithms will be developed to strengthen the IP position of iPUF as a scalable security primitive for IoT systems.
Projet ERC : SENSE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : École polytechnique de Milan — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : PoliMi
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The “space revolution” is expected to become the biggest industry in history. During the last decades, space exploration has contributed to the development of various technologies (i.e., GPS, weather predictions, solar cells, reliable power grid, Earth observation services) that feedback into the economy and improve our lives. In 2020, the global space economy was valued at about $ 446.9 B. With the advent of deep-space CubeSats, nanosatellites that disrupted this industry, space agencies are planning to launch tens of CubeSat in deep space per single launch. The number of deep-space probes is bound to thrive, yet their growth is unsustainable with current practice. Human-in-the-loop operations are particularly relevant for flight-related procedures in cruise phase: the spacecraft position is determined from ground, with a consistent involvement of resources and assets. It is acknowledged that a sustainable deep-space exploration requires enabling self-driving spacecraft. The SENSE project forges an autonomous navigation sensor for the self-positioning of spacecraft in the solar system. The project stems from the ERC-funded project EXTREMA (ERC-CoG-2019). SENSE aims to elevate the celestial triangulation method conceived in EXTREMA to a proof-of-concept sensor at TRL 4. Our autonomous navigation sensor, nanoSENSE, is a disruptive innovation that will change the modus operandi for spacecraft navigation. SENSE will revolutionize the way spacecraft travel in space, by cutting the cost of ground control of the whole cruise phase and unlocking the new space mission concept. The project follows a suitably devised pathway to cover technical validation activities and assessment of exploitation opportunities. SENSE has raised the interest of leading sectoral players (see Letters of Interest).
Projet ERC : PANTANI (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : École polytechnique de Milan — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : PoliMi
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The main goal of the PANTANI project is to complete the design of an innovative laser-driven radiation source suitable for applications in materials science, inspection and treatment, as well as the development of some of its key components. Accelerators are exploited to produce particles and radiation needed for applications of high industrial and social relevance, like analysis of objects of historical, artistic and environmental interest, sterilisation of medical instrumentation, inspection of cargos and goods. Large-scale diffusion of these applications is prevented by the intrinsic limits of the available particle sources in terms of costs, dimensions and flexibility. In this frame, laser-driven particle sources represent an appealing solution to overcome these limitations. They are potentially cheaper and more compact compared to conventional accelerators. Moreover, they can provide several kinds of particles to perform multiple applications with the same source. These novel sources are subject to active research, but no industrial applications are currently available. Starting from the results obtained with the ERC CoG ENSURE and ERC PoC INTER projects, PANTANI aims to address key aspects, never considered before, to develop a laser-driven particle source dedicated for the applications: 1) the development of an application-oriented design of the entire acceleration system; 2) the identification of commercial laser solutions compatible with the source requirements; 3) the production and test of a prototype radiation detector; 4) radiation protection assessment of the designed system, also from the legislative point of view. All these results achieved by exploiting the expertise from both academy (Politecnico di Milano, Host Institution) and industry (the RayLAB and SourceLAB partners) will allow bridging the gap between fundamental research and the development of a realistic, multi-purpose laser-driven particle source suitable for applications.
Projet ERC : NICHILD (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : École polytechnique de Milan — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : PoliMi
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 80000.0 €

Despite their astonishing clinical success on adults, there are still no mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based products approved for paediatric use. Preclinical studies support a potential beneficial role of MSC therapy to prevent progression in diseases called childhood interstitial lung disease (ChILD). However, MSCs still suffer from the cost of culturing and storage facilities and a lack of standardization of cell populations, their quality and quantity, donor-related factors, protocols for isolation, in vitro expansion cell delivery and dosing. Our goal is to standardize and automatize the production of MSC secretome and validate it for its translation to paediatric use to treat ChILD. We will explore the feasibility of a “secretome factory” based on (1) isolation of MSCs from donor bone marrow, (2) expansion of MSCs in a micro scaffold called nichoid and (3) long-term culture of MSC for secretome production in an optically monitored bioreactor called MOAB-nichoid. To achieve these goals, in this PoC we will validate the main key performance indicators of the production process and prepare a go-to-market strategy for the secretome biodrug. Our outcomes will be 1) a MOAB-nichoid production line, with total costs compatible with its industrial production and marketing by a pharmaceutical company; 2) standard operating procedures (SOP) for the production process in full compliance with the GMPs in the sector of cell and tissue therapy products (PTC); 3) secretome quality parameters obtained through a comprehensive characterization; and 4) demonstration in vitro of the safety and therapeutic efficacy in the pathologies studied. The outcome of this project will provide a national and international reference point for the industrial production of MSC secretome to treat ChILD and then extending this approach to other pathologies, also affecting adult patients, including chronic intestinal disease and osteoarticular diseases.
Projet ERC : e-Hawk (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Malaga — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

While electricity is a basic commodity that underpins industrialization, progress and the quality of life of human beings, its production, storage and transmission is strongly constrained by physical laws and its demand is utterly inelastic. All of this together exacerbates the vulnerability of a sector that is vital to modern societies. A critical and vulnerable sector is not only easily affected by external supply shocks, but also susceptible to manipulation and abuse. Spurred by the conviction that Science must serve the people, in this project we plan to develop and demonstrate the efficacy and usefulness of a tool to automatically alert about atypical distortions in the supply-side of electricity markets, such as those caused by the exercise of market power by energy companies with a dominant position. The tool combines such features that make it unique and the only one of its kind: it runs online and automatically, is purely data-driven, only fed with publicly available information, computationally cheap and able to learn and explain the context under which the distortion is more likely to occur. The scientific heart of the tool is Functional Statistics, and to build it, we will exploit novel notions and techniques for the identification of functional outliers that we developed within the framework of the ERC-STG project FlexAnalytics – Advanced Analytics to Empower the Small Flexible Consumers of Electricity. Our ambition is to equip market regulators and operators with a powerful instrument that not only brings benefits in terms of money saved for consumers, reduced time and effort in supervision and monitoring, and shorter delays in detecting potential offenders, but also and above all, allows regulators to fulfill their most sacred obligation more effectively and efficiently: to protect the weak.
Projet ERC : ARIEL (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Institute of Photonic Sciences — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ICFO
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

ARIEL (scaling sustainable Anodes for efficIent water ElectroLysis) seeks to demonstrate and validate a scalable process for the synthesis, activation, and implementation of non-platinum-group catalysts for water electrolysis – a bottleneck on the path to the projected gigawatt deployment of this technology that is needed to meet carbon emission targets. We have previously demonstrated, at the lab-scale, the feasibility and potential of cobalt-based anodes as alternative to iridium in proton-exchange membrane water electrolysers (PEMWE), achieving activity and stability at PEMWE-relevant current densities (Science 384, 1373, 2024). ARIEL aims to build on these results translating original, non-scalable synthesis and manufacturing protocols into scalable processes that retain catalytic activity and stability. The aim is to demonstrate a process compatible with kg-synthesis and activation, prototyping electrodes up to 400 cm2; and externally validating these, as a prelude to the potential commercial exploitation of this invention. ARIEL will further assess the sensitivity of the different parts of the process on reliability, and perform scale-informed technoeconomic and lifecycle analysis to evaluate different exploitation schemes.
Projet ERC : SPARXS (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de technologie de Delft — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU Delft
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The binding kinetics of an affinity probe–the speed and duration with which it attaches to a target molecule–must be precisely tuned for numerous applications in therapeutics, super-resolution microscopy, and biochemical assays. The current methods of development lack the capability to specify these binding kinetics during probe design, resulting in the potential for effective drugs and relevant biological properties to remain undiscovered. Here, I introduce a game-changing solution: Single-molecule Parallel Analysis for Rapid eXploration of Sequence space (SPARXS). SPARXS harnesses the power of single-molecule observations and subsequent high-throughput sequencing to simultaneously reveal the binding kinetics and sequences of millions of aptamers (affinity probes composed of nucleic acids). This process enables the tailored design of probes with the desired binding behavior for various applications.  This technology originated from my ERC Consolidator Grant project as a research tool, and its application can fulfill multiple practical demands. As SPARXS provides a particularly excellent fit for aptamer development, I have decided to enhance the platform with aptamer-specific features. Furthermore, I will conduct market research to understand the specific demands of users seeking defined-kinetic probes, which will facilitate commercialization of SPARXS-based aptamer design upon completion of the project.  In summary, SPARXS signifies a disruptive advancement in aptamer development and will revolutionize affinity probe design across the biotech industry. With minimal adaptations to the core technology, I anticipate a high potential for swift commercialization as a dedicated development platform.

Mots-clés : high throughput development platform oligonucleotide aptamers single molecule analysis super resolution microscopy
Projet ERC : CryoChip (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de technologie de Delft — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU Delft
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a technique for high-resolution imaging of radiation-sensitive biological macromolecules under near-native conditions. Cryo-EM sample preparation techniques rely on rapid cooling of an aqueous suspension of biological macromolecules to obtain a thin layer of amorphous ice containing the solute. Problems associated with current implementations are considered a major bottleneck to realizing the full potential of cryo-EM: excessive sample consumption, the difficulty to reproducibly obtain ice conditions suitable for high-resolution imaging and the extensive contact of solute molecules with a large air-water interface result in only a small fraction of the imaged molecules contributing useful information for the final 3D reconstruction. Poor time resolution of these methods furthermore precludes the visualization of dynamic structural changes that provide critical biological insight. In our laboratory we have developed technology to design nanofluidic MEMS devices suitable for cryo-EM imaging. We here propose to explore product development of a nanofluidic chip for reproducible sample preparation with picoliter volumes. The sample is contained in nanochannels formed between membranes of an electron-transparent material, thereby controlling ice thickness and avoiding formation of an air-water-interface. This method has all features to push cryo-EM to new frontiers: it requires minute amounts of sample, robustly provides uniform and customizable thickness gradients across the sampling area at a time resolution that is limited only by the vitrification process itself. Our CryoChip will provide entirely new opportunities for time-resolved cryo-EM imaging and high-throughput applications in structure-based drug design for pharmaceutical industry. We will liaise with an industrial partner experienced in MEMS probe fabrication to explore processoptimization and viability of larger-scale production.