Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : AUTOCD (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Crète — Pays : Grèce — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Causal Discovery is desperately needed in both science and the industry, but it is largely inaccessible to non-experts. AutoCD proposes to create the first automated causal discovery software engine and explore its commercial exploitation. AutoCD will largely boost the productivity of experts as well as allow the application of causal discovery with minimal expertise. It will provide functionalities such as (a) induction of causal models and causal relations from data by automatically tuning the algorithmic causal discovery choices and their hyper-parameters, (b) inferences regarding the strength of causal effects and exploration of what-if scenarios of possible interventions. Such automation has only become recently possible due to research performed of the origin ERC named CAUSALPATH. We will work with two industrial partners, namely Gnosis Data Analysis and Huawei to validate AutoCD on real data and problems. Gnosis commercializes the JADBio product, which is a SaaS AutoML platform with obvious synergies to AutoCD. It has an expressed interest in AutoCD for a potential licensing deal (see letter of intent). AutoCD parallels the development of automated machine learning (AutoML) libraries and platforms that is growing to a $14bil industry. The project will create an MVP at TRL 5 and a business plan to commercialize the product. The research team (2 Profs, 1 Ph.D. student, 1 scientific programmer) have extensive collective experience not only inventing and designing novel causal discovery algorithms. In addition, the PI is also the co-founder of Gnosis with extensive experience in creating deep tech AutoML products and commercializing them. He will devote 70% of his research time to the project.
Projet ERC : EXPLOREYOURBRAIN2.0 (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université libre d'Amsterdam — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Adolescence is a period of sharp declines in school motivation and achievement, with negative consequences not only for the academic success and mental wellbeing of youth, but also for teachers and parents. An interesting target for intervention is adolescent’s implicit belief that their abilities are malleable (growth mindset), which has been shown to protect against declines in motivation and achievement, and to boost resilience in school and beyond. This PoC builds on the innovative growth mindset intervention Explore Your Brain (EYB), developed in the ERC StG BRAINBELIEFS. EYB uniquely combines theoretical information about brain plasticity with an experience of influence over one’s own brain, generated using neurofeedback. The results were very promising, but the technology is still in applied research status and not yet easily usable by teachers in the classroom. The main goal of this PoC is to drastically increase the impact that we can achieve on academic motivation, achievement and resilience of high school students by improving our prototype growth mindset intervention. The breakthrough of the innovation depends on increasing usability (Objective 1) and scalability (Objective 2), to maximize the number of adolescents who can profit from the innovation. To reach Objective 1, a Research & Development team including game designers and education specialists will iteratively develop and test Explore Your Brain 2.0 (EYB 2.0) adopting a users-as-designers approach. To reach Objective 2, a Business Development team will develop a business plan for financially and logistically feasible large-scale implementation of EYB 2.0.  After completing this project, we hope to implement EYB 2.0 nationally as well as internationally at a large scale, thereby protecting a maximum number of adolescents against declines in school motivation and achievements. This benefits society at large because of higher educational attainment and mental wellbeing of the next generation.

Mots-clés : mindset,education technology,motivation
Projet ERC : tRNADiagnostics (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Centro de Regulación Genómica — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CRG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are abundant, heavily-modified small non-coding RNAs that play a pivotal role in decoding genetic information, determining which transcripts are highly and poorly translated at a given moment. Dysregulation of tRNA abundances and tRNA modifications is a well-known feature in cancer cells, leading to enhanced translation of specific oncogenic proteins. Despite the well-established association between tRNA dysregulation and cancer progression and malignancy, tRNA abundances and their modifications are still not being used as diagnostic or prognostic markers for cancer detection or progression, mainly due to the lack of a simple, unbiased and cost-effective method to quantify tRNA abundances and their modifications. Our laboratory has recently established Nano-tRNAseq, a pioneering method that can accurately quantify both tRNA abundances and tRNA modifications using native tRNA nanopore sequencing, for a fraction of the cost of next-generation sequencing-based approaches. By employing a proprietary Nano-tRNAseq nanopore library preparation protocol coupled with deep learning algorithms that will rapidly classify the nanopore current signals, here we aim to establish a method that exploits tRNAs as novel biomarkers through the use of third generation sequencing technologies. We have initial evidence of how our approach can separate cancer from non-cancer samples and possibly be used to identify the tissue of origin. In this project, we will fully validate our technological platform for the differential analysis of low-input RNA amounts in liquid biopsy samples. We will initially apply our method in the cancer arena, expandable to many other indications, following the advice of key stakeholders contacted so far, with the goal of laying the basis for the transfer of our technology to the marketplace, including through the creation of a new start-up company.
Projet ERC : BioMiCap (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université technique du Danemark — Pays : Danemark — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : DTU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The increasing importance of the Internet of Things (IoT) for applications within e.g. climate monitoring for agriculture, water quality measurements or industrial process control drives the development of compact microelectronic systems for portable wireless sensors. In consequence, the demand for miniaturised energy storage systems is growing rapidly. In our ERC-funded research, we have invented a novel method for fabrication of biomass-derived 3D electrodes for electrochemical energy storage with custom-made dimensions and shape. Within BioMiCap, our objective is to transition from laboratory-scale single electrode studies with aqueous electrolytes into a commercially relevant encapsulated microsupercapacitor (µSC) device with thermally stable electrolytes. Compared to existing µSC, our electrodes are binder-free, without metal current collector and recyclable. The use of additive manufacturing technology allows for the fabrication of custom-made miniaturized energy storage devices for specific IoT applications. We will validate the biomass-derived µSC as a sustainable and green power source for IoT devices through field tests in collaboration with our industrial partners. The innovation process includes an analysis of commercial feasibility, a follow-up on the existing IP strategy and the development of a business strategy that enables the commercial exploitation of the µSC by a spin-off company.

Mots-clés : energy storage,supercapacitors,3d electrodes,pyrolysis
Projet ERC : NeoIDC (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Lund — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

In cancer, genetic mutations result in production of tumor neoantigens restrictively expressed in transformed cells and serve as ideal molecular targets for cancer vaccines and adoptive T cell therapies. However, available methods for the identification of clinically relevant neoantigens driving potent anti-tumor immunity are highly inefficient. Thus, there is an urgent need for innovative solutions to identify powerful immunogenic neoantigens to unlock the full potential of immunotherapy and treat currently untreatable cancers. The NeoIDC platform has the radical vision to use the type 1 conventional dendritic cell (cDC1) reprogramming technology, arising from the ERC-funded project TrojanDC, to directly identify highly immunogenic tumor neoantigens and neoantigen-specific T cell receptors (TCRs) for the development of powerful cancer vaccines and adoptive T cell therapies. To achieve this, we will firstly identify tumor peptides presented on MHC class I and II by cDC1-reprogrammed cancer cells and validate immunogenicity in vivo. Secondly, we will expand neoantigen-specific T cells by co-culture with reprogrammed cancer cells, sequence TCRs and link to cognate neoantigens. This will facilitate the generation of potent cancer vaccines and tumor-reactive T cells for adoptive transfer. Experimental activities with collaborators and clinicians will be coupled with exploitation plans including partnership with Asgard Therapeutics, ensuring commercialization by generation of novel IP, broad and targeted dissemination and a new start-up company. NeoIDC combines cDC1’s antigen processing and presenting abilities with the unique mutational profile of cancer cells to enable the direct identification of immunogenic neoantigens and cognate TCRs. Ultimately, this project will enable the development of the next generation of neoantigen-based vaccines and adoptive T cell therapies and will set the stage for a new era of safe, personalized and effective cancer immunotherapies.
Projet ERC : LOCOSCOPE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université technique du Danemark — Pays : Danemark — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : DTU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 15000.0 €

High-content screening is rapidly gaining traction across the biological sciences as a means to acquire more detailed data and test more hypotheses in an unprecedentedly rapid and systematic manner. However, a key issue identified by its users is that the instrumentation costs are too high, with systems typically costing from €150.000-800.000. This limits ownership of the instruments to well-funded research labs and, in doing so, excludes a significant portion of the multi- billion USD potential market. This project aims to target this unserved lower end of the market with a competitive high-content screening platform costing just €10.000.  To achieve this, we’ll employ a novel quantitative phase imaging method originally developed for x-ray imaging as part of an ERC Starting Grant. The method allows us to make microscopes much simpler and less expensive without sacrificing image quality. So far, we’ve successfully demonstrated that our new imaging approach is fast, robust and can be readily utilized in such a low-cost screening system. Moreover, our IP is novel, protectable and in the process of being patented. This project will take the next steps towards commercialization by developing our prototype into a minimum viable product, and by carrying out extensive research into the market and customer base to determine the optimum price point, develop a field-tested sales pipeline and revenue model, and create a robust business plan for the eventual spinout company.  Our decision to pursue the market for low-cost devices carries significant risk in that it necessitates high market penetration to achieve sufficient sales volume. However, should we successfully mitigate this risk (e.g. via focused development of the sales strategy), our endeavor will eliminate the main entry barrier to high-throughput life science research, empower a new demographic of users with cutting-edge research tools, and address the growing issue of inequality in research and healthcare.
Projet ERC : CorTrINVI (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université d'Anvers — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

At the moment, in the European Union, there is very little support and virtually no training for blind people. But there are very efficient modes of navigating one’s environment that blind people can learn and some of them can learn very easily, including: (1) Cone use, (2) Sensory substitution devices, (3) Echolocation. The problem is that the interpersonal variation in all these three techniques is huge. Some blind subjects pick up these techniques very quickly and use them efficiently, while others struggle even with the most rudimentary steps. The present Proof of Concept application aims to develop techniques for training blind people’s visual cortices that allow for more efficient spatial perception and navigation. Given the well-demonstrated plasticity of the brain, if a brain region is not used regularly, it is reallocated to do something else. More specifically, if blind subjects whose visual cortices are intact do not use these visual cortices, they get reallocated (to, for example auditory or olfactory processing). If they use their visual cortex, it works well, if they don’t, it will eventually stop. Crucially, all three of the techniques that help blind people navigate their environment rely heavily on the functioning of the early visual cortices. The key insight is that blind subjects can navigate their environment better if their visual cortices are in good condition. But how to achieve that? And this is where my own research on the way mental imagery utilizes early visual cortices can be a game changer. In short, we can keep the primary visual cortices of blind subjects in shape if we have them use their visual mental imagery. Active reliance on mental imagery prevents the early visual cortices of blind subjects from being reallocated to other brain functions and thereby allows them to make full use of navigation techniques like sensory substitution, cone use or echolocation.
Projet ERC : BLOODFLOW (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Lund — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

This project addresses the need for new tools to detect and monitor the disease progression in patients with metastatic cancer. Breast and prostate cancer are the most common malignant cancers in women and men, respectively. Metastasis is the main threat in these cancers since it turns a curable local disease into a chronic lethal disease. With emerging new targeting therapies, there is an unmet clinical need for improved prognostication, treatment prediction and treatment monitoring, where circulating tumor cells enumeration have potential to become a valuable tool. But circulating tumor cells are very rare and the background of other blood cells is vast which makes it extremely challenging to classify and count these cells. In the project, we will develop acoustic whole-blood cytometry. This will enable unbiased imaging and enumeration of circulating tumor cells through a panel of fluorescent antibodies with minimal pre-treatment. The vision is that the approach will become standard equipment in hospital labs in the transition to more personalized healthcare. The project will evaluate key technical challenges on the path to commercialization. The project has strong support from an industrial partner and from clinicians and pre-clinical researchers focused on breast and prostate cancer.
Projet ERC : LIQUIDITY (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Constance — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The problem: Lack of water-equivalent dosimeters for radiotherapy  Cancer is a global public health problem. Radiotherapy is generally used as an essential method of cancer treatment. Measuring the absorbed dose of radiation to ensure that the radiation delivered to the patient is accurate, is paramount and critical to patient safety, since tumor control and side-effects are highly sensitive to the applied dose. For this purpose, in-vivo dosimetry (IVD) can be performed as a patient-specific measure of quality control and safety during radiotherapy. Clinical experience and dose prescriptions in radiotherapy have historically been based on the absorbed dose to water. However, when a calibrated dosimeter as for today, which is not water equivalent, is used under non-reference conditions, direct determination of the correct absorbed dose to water is not possible and many detectors show an over-response. Water equivalent dosimeters are not available but particularly desirable in clinical applications. The solution: A small, water-equivalent, non-toxic and liquid dosimeter with electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy readout  This idea presents an innovative strategy for dose determination using a novel type of liquid, water-equivalent and non-toxic dosimeter with readout via electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. This novel liquid EPR dosimeter consists of a small (mm-dimensions) capsuled water-based liquid detector material that can be placed on the patient's skin or in body cavities to measure the delivered dose at relevant locations in clinical situations. The principle presented here is based on a dose-dependent EPR signal loss: Stable paramagnetic species dissolved in aqueous solution are transformed into diamagnetic products upon irradiation. The proposed solution is not an incremental improvement of an existing procedure but an innovative approach making IVD easier to use, cheaper, more accurate – and: water equivalent.
Projet ERC : PINNSim (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université technique du Danemark — Pays : Danemark — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : DTU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 134000.0 €

This proposal puts forward a first-of-its-kind power system dynamics simulator based on neural networks: PINNSim. PINNSim aims to deliver a highly modular and scalable tool that can be up to 100x faster than any commercial power system simulator. This means that PINNSim can perform a power system stability assessment in 30 minutes instead of 2 days. We witness a dramatic shift from few large scale generators to millions of converter-based resources, such as solar, wind, batteries, and electric vehicles. Capturing the dynamic behavior of such a system is no longer possible with the conventional approximations. In case of fault, phenomena propagate much faster and an ElectroMagnetic Transient (EMT) simulation is necessary to accurately capture them. However, EMT is slow and computationally intensive. Uncertainty from solar and wind and the increased number of components requires the assessment of millions of critical scenarios so that power system operators eliminate blackout risk, and manufacturers design appropriate controllers for the safe operation of their equipment.  PINNSim leverages physics-informed machine learning and GPU acceleration to model power system components. Its key novelty lies in the method it interconnects individual neural networks to form a “system of neural networks” that performs simulations at much higher speeds. Through this funding, we aim to scale PINNSim to handle larger, more complex power systems and incorporate a user interface, creating a user-friendly simulator capable of addressing a wide range of power system operation challenges.  Our goal is to create a tool that will disrupt the power system simulation software landscape. We envision a library of component models based on neural networks, which can then be used in a plug’n’play fashion in PINNSim, similar to conventional simulators. If successful, PINNSim can naturally extend to almost any non-linear dynamic system such as robotics and biological systems.

Mots-clés : physics informed neural networks,physics informed machine learning,power systems,electromagnetic transient simulations,power system dynamics,renewable energy,electric grids
Projet ERC : SPICE (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Paderborn — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Large-scale configurations of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are essential for quantum technologies such a photonic quantum computing, quantum communication and quantum sensing. Furthermore, spatial arrays of SNSPDs are ideally suited to light-starved applications such as deep-space optical communication (DSOC), single-photon imaging, microscopy, and spectroscopy. While SNSPDs offer near-unity efficiency, high timing resolution, and low noise, their potential is constrained by the lack of scalable photon-number-resolving (PNR) readout electronics. Indeed, the true bottleneck is not reliable detector fabrication but rather the wiring and signal processing required for large-scale SNSPD systems. This project will deliver in-situ cryogenic CMOS-based signal processing, enabling intrinsic PNR within each detector and signal processing from multiple detectors. By directly processing detection signals at cryogenic temperatures, we eliminate the need for individual high-bandwidth readout lines, drastically reducing footprint and heat load, thereby improving scalability. Furthermore, instead of traditional 50-ohm impedance matching, we leverage SNSPD signal transients and apply pre-programmed low-power processing to extract only the essential information from the detectors. This novel approach to data reduction at the point of detection has never been applied to SNSPD arrays but is a crucial step toward their widespread application. To achieve these goals, we leverage the research output of the ERC-StG project Quantum Engineering Superconducting Array Detectors in Low Light Applications (QuESADILLA) and a network of major European commercial and academic stakeholders. By addressing the core scalability limitations, this project will unlock the full potential of SNSPD arrays, paving the way for large-scale, energy-efficient single-photon detection systems tailored for next-generation quantum technologies and imaging solutions.