Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : RNPdynamics (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems
Entité participante : University of London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : U. London
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 359515.0 €

Ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) play many key regulatory roles in development. Moreover, mutations causing cancer or neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often occur in RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). These mutations are concentrated in the intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs), which play a central role in the control of RNP assembly and disassembly. RNP dynamics is often driven by multivalent interactions that are mediated by multiple elements within IDRs of RBPs, which can condense the RNP such that it separates from the surrounding liquid through the phenomenon of liquid-liquid phase separation. Transcriptomic insights into the physiological functions of such multivalent RNP assembly are needed to understand their regulation, or deregulation through disease-causing mutations. Here, we will build a framework of experimental and computational methods to study the mechanisms by which the dynamic multivalent interactions drive RNP remodelling, and how such RNP dynamics contributes to cellular transitions in development and disease. The first objective will be to identify the functions of specific RBPs in cell-state transitions during neuronal differentiation, and the mechanisms of IDR-mediated multivalent interactions in these functions. The next objective will be to establish new tools to manipulate RNP assembly through multivalent RNA binding sites and IDRs. Finally, the new insights and tools will be integrated with the goal to fine-tune the RNP assembly of ALS-mutant RBPs, and thereby ameliorate their toxicity.

Mots-clés : gbp  gfp binding protein  nanobody,idr  intrinsically disordered region,line  long interspersed nuclear element,llps  liquid liquid phase separation,rbp  rna binding protein,rnp  ribonucleoprotein complex,rte  retrotransposable element,slim  short linear motif
Projet ERC : PERFORMART (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Cultures and cultural production
Entité participante : École française de Rome — Pays : Italie — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : EFR
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1176000.0 €

Rome, centre of the Catholic Church and capital of the Papal States, strewn with churches and religious institutions, was also, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the scene of intense conflicts and rivalries between some twenty leading aristocratic families, highly adept at organising musical, theatrical and choreographic performances to display their political sympathies. The artistic life that animated the palaces and country villas of this elite has been far less studied than that of the papal court, the grand theatres or the principal churches of Rome. The PERFORMART project aims to enrich our understanding of the history of performing arts among the Roman nobility between 1644 and 1740 by exploiting the abundant documentation contained in the archives of eleven leading aristocratic families. The present proposal arises from the previous research of the principal investigator in the Orsini-Lante Archives. For the first time, PERFORMART will bring together specialised archivists and historians, all expert in different aspects of this micro-society, in a systematic collaboration between the history of the performing arts, choreographic studies, and art, music, social, and economic history. Via a relational database, this collaboration will bring to light original sources able to elucidate the social and artistic practices of Roman families, the motivations and conditions of patronage, the material framework of artistic productions, the status of the artist and his degree of dependence on his protectors, and, finally, the political, local and international impact of the involvement of these noble families on the artistic life of Rome.

Mots-clés : history of the performing arts,artistic practises,patronage,early modern rome,history of the professionalization of the performer,networks
Projet ERC : inCITe (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Radboud University Nijmegen — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Roughly 1% of the world’s population is affected by rheumatoid arthritis (RA); a devastating autoimmune disease causing cartilage destruction and bone erosion. Recent evidences suggest that dysregulation of Peptidyl Arginine Deiminase (PAD) levels are associated with the onset of the disease, leading to the production of antibodies targeting the citrullinated neoepitopes. The exact role of each of the PAD isotypes in these pathological processes is unknown and fundamental questions on the intracellular activation mechanism and substrate specificity remain unanswered. Moreover, isoform specific and high affinity enzyme inhibitors are lacking thereby not only hampering fundamental research towards each PAD isotype, but also excluding PAD as a potential therapeutic target for these diseases. This proposal is aimed at developing innovative chemical biology- and molecular tools to study PAD functioning and protein citrullination in health and disease. The work reflects my interdisciplinary experiences as well as my interest I have obtained over the last years in chemical immunology as well as my ambition to improve patients wellbeing. More detailed, I aim to 1) find unknown PAD modulators, 2) find PAD substrates, 3) find selective and high affinity PAD inhibitors using enzyme-templated inhibitor evolution as novel lead discovery strategy, 4) explore multifunctional targeted PAD ‘nanosponges’ as advanced avidity-based nanomedicine approach and 5) explore unprecedented citrulline ‘eraser’ enzymes by innovative chemical biology strategies. The workpackages described in this ambitious and highly interdisciplinary proposal deliver high-end molecules and methods that can be used to answer fundamental (conflicting) questions on citrullination and PAD biology. Moreover, possible molecular leads and advanced therapeutic insights are provided thereby centring PAD as therapeutic target for citrulline-mediated autoimmune diseases such as RA.

Mots-clés : chemical biology,chemical immunology,peptidyl arginine deiminase,citrullination,activity based probes,chemical proteomics
Projet ERC : ShapingRoughness (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : University of Freiburg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499101.0 €

Roughness on most natural and man-made surfaces shares a common fractal character from the atomic to the kilometer scale, but there is no agreed-upon understanding of its physical origin. Yet, roughness controls many aspects of engineered devices, such as friction, adhesion, wear and fatigue. Engineering roughness in surface finishing processes is costly and resource intensive. Eliminating finishing steps by controlling roughness in primary shaping or in subsequent wear processes could therefore revolutionize the way we manufacture, but this requires a deep understanding of the relevant processes that is presently lacking. Roughness emerges during mechanical deformation in processes such as folding, scratching or chipping that shape surfaces. Deformation occurs in the form of avalanches, individual bursts of irreversible motion of atoms. The central hypothesis of this project is that roughness is intrinsically linked to these deformation avalanches, which themselves are well-documented to be fractal objects. This hypothesis will be tested in large-scale atomic- and mesoscale simulations of plastic forming and fracture on state of the art high performance computing platforms. Results of these calculations will be used to develop process models for evolving the topography of large surface areas under the action of an external mechanical force, such as experienced in shaping, finishing or wear. In addition to these simulations, a public repository for sharing topography data will be build. This repository is the connection to experiments: It is a database of experimental topographies whose contents will be mined for features identified in simulations. Beyond the present project, this web-repository will advance sharing, visualization and analysis of topography data, and aid researchers to correlate surface topography with surface functionality and processing. Simulations and database lay the foundation for a rational design of surface functionality in manufacturing.

Mots-clés : surface topography,self affine roughness,deformation,avalanches
Projet ERC : RuMinimum (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Entité participante : Ben-Gurion University of the Negev — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BGU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2437500.0 €

Ruminants represent a paradigmatic case of obligatory host-microbiome relationships. These animals require complex microbial communities to digest plant fibers. Which functions are essential and how the assembly of these functions impacts host physiology remain unknown. My goal is to understand the underlying aspects that allow the host and its microbes to coexist and to identify the essential requirements of this microbial community to sustain the life of the host. This proposal aims to address this ambitious and fundamental challenge. These efforts build on a unique research platform involving germ-free ruminant animals, modeling, genomics, metabolomics, as well as animal and microbial physiology, developed over nine years of experience working with animal microbiomes. To do so, I propose to identify the minimum rumen community (RuMinimum) using top-down and bottom-up approaches that will complement each other. Once defined, the RuMinimum will serve as a platform for experimenting and understanding how the ecosystem functions and supports the life of the host, and how to modulate it. We will specifically augment and decrease functional redundancy and richness at different edges of the trophic network and measure their impact on ecosystem function and host physiology. These endeavors will allow us to learn how to modulate host physiology towards better feed efficiency or lower methane production, which will have an immense environmental and agricultural impact. The results of this project will be relevant not only to ruminants but also to other gut ecosystems and anaerobic, carbon-degrading communities in general. Our research efforts will lead to new paradigms and concepts vis-a-vis microbial community assembly, the design of synthetic microbial communities, and host-microbiome interactions, with strong scientific and applicative potential.

Mots-clés : microbial ecology,host microbiome,fiber degradation,rumen microbiome
Projet ERC : ActionContraThreat (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : University of London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : U. London
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1310393.55 €

Run away, sidestep, duck-and-cover, watch: when under threat, humans immediately choreograph a large repertoire of defensive actions. Understanding action-selection under threat is important for anybody wanting to explain why anxiety disorders imply some of these behaviours in harmless situations. Current concepts of human defensive behaviour are largely derived from rodent research and focus on a small number of broad, cross-species, action tendencies. This is likely to underestimate the complexity of the underlying action-selection mechanisms. This research programme will take decisive steps to understand these psychological mechanisms and elucidate their neural implementation. To elicit threat-related action in the laboratory, I will use virtual reality computer games with full body motion, and track actions with motion-capture technology. Based on a cognitive-computational framework, I will systematically characterise the space of actions under threat, investigate the psychological mechanisms by which actions are selected in different scenarios, and describe them with computational algorithms that allow quantitative predictions. To independently verify their neural implementation, I will use wearable magnetoencephalography (MEG) in freely moving subjects. This proposal fills a lacuna between defence system concepts based on rodent research, emotion psychology, and clinical accounts of anxiety disorders. By combining a stringent experimental approach with the formalism of cognitive-computational psychology, it furnishes a unique opportunity to understand the mechanisms of action-selection under threat, and how these are distinct from more general-purpose action-selection systems. Beyond its immediate scope, the proposal has a potential to lead to a better understanding of anxiety disorders, and to pave the way towards improved diagnostics and therapies.

Mots-clés : defensive behaviour,threat related processes,defensive systems theory,anxiety disorders
Projet ERC : SciFair (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Cultures and cultural production
Entité participante : University of Antwerp — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UAntwerp
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498857.0 €

SCIFAIR aims to conduct pioneering research on the role itinerant showpeople played in the transmission and popularisation of science and technology at Western European fairgrounds between 1850 and 1914. At a time when modern communication media were not yet in place and only a minority of the population could read, large groups of people were actually dependent on travelling performances and displays for information: in so-called anatomical cabinets, zoological and anthropological museums and scientific theatres, showpeople demonstrated ‘wonders of nature’ and spectacular scientific developments. The project advances the hypothesis that the fair in this period was not merely a local folk tradition, but a hub for international exchange in which itinerant entertainment played a pivotal and modernising role in the circulation and popularisation of science amongst people across the social spectrum, relying on efficient international networks. In order to test this hypothesis, the project will bring together a multilingual and multidisciplinary team of researchers that will combine methodologies from theatre and performance studies with perspectives from history of science, media studies and digital humanities to analyse practices of science performance across national boundaries and map transnational networks of Western European fairground theatres. SCIFAIR will not only study explicit didactic discourses but also analyse how implicit knowledge and social values of health, gender, nation, class or race were challenged or reinforced. By analysing the fair as a performative event, the project will advance a conceptual shift in media historiography to a historiography of media performance and thus contribute to our understanding of the social and cultural role of the fair in knowledge circulation. SCIFAIR will thus make a major contribution to media and performance history, as well as to the history of science and knowledge transfer.

Mots-clés : media archaeology,fairground history,history of popular performance,history of popular culture and media
Projet ERC : SEDAL (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : University of Valencia — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UV
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1716954.0 €

SEDAL is an interdisciplinary project that aims to develop novel statistical learning methods to analyze Earth Observation (EO) satellite data. In the last decade, machine learning models have helped to monitor land, oceans, and atmosphere through the analysis and estimation of climate and biophysical parameters. Current approaches, however, cannot deal efficiently with the particular characteristics of remote sensing data. In the coming few years, this problem will largely increase: several satellite missions, such as the operational EU Copernicus Sentinels, will be launched, and we will face the urgent need to process and understand huge amounts of complex, heterogeneous, multisource, and structured data to monitor the rapid changes already occurring in our Planet. SEDAL aims to develop the next generation of statistical inference methods for EO data analysis. We will develop advanced regression methods to improve efficiency, prediction accuracy and uncertainties, encode physical knowledge about the problem, and attain self-explanatory models learned from empirical data. Even more importantly, we will learn graphical causal models to explain the potentially complex interactions between key observed variables, and discover hidden essential drivers and confounding factors. This project will thus aboard the fundamental problem of moving from correlation to dependence and then to causation through EO data analysis. The theoretical developments will be guided by the challenging problems of estimating biophysical parameters and learning causal relations at both local and global planetary scales. The long-term vision of SEDAL is tied to open new frontiers and foster research towards algorithms capable of discovering knowledge from EO data, a stepping stone before the more ambitious far-end goal of machine reasoning of anthropogenic climate change.

Mots-clés : machine learning,regression,graphical models,causal inference,earth observation,remote sensing data processing
Projet ERC : SENSATE (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : CERCA Institution — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : CERCA;I-CERCA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 345825.0 €

SENSATE proposes ground breaking ideas and concepts combining very innovative low dimensional thin film materials and highly asymmetric selective contacts with dipoles, for the development of non-intrusive and universal solar energy harvester. Materials, processes and devices design innovations will be combined in a straightforward manner, in order to develop next generation of cost-efficient and highly-stable/optically-tuneable photovoltaic (PV) devices. For achieving this, SENSATE proposes exploiting for the first time the full optical and electrical potential of one-dimensional (1D) thin film wide bandgap materials, including chalcogenide, halide and mixed chalcogenide/halide compounds. The use of 1D semiconductors as PV absorbers will represent a breakthrough thanks to their unique capability to exhibit excellent electrical properties in very thin layers when correctly oriented, keeping at the same time tuneable optical properties to ensure good transparency (AT > 50%), and very competitive efficiencies (>20%). A wide range of wide bandgap 1D semiconductors will be developed (Eg between 1.50-2.70 eV), including strategies for their 1D texturing using annealing at high pressure and under magnetic fields. This will be combined with disruptive selective asymmetric contacts based on electron and hole transport metal oxide layers, enhanced with superficial organic and inorganic dipoles, to develop a ubiquitous solar harvester with customized transparency/efficiency. If succeed, SENSATE will have an unprecedented impact in our perception of PV energy, opening the possibility to applications that nowadays are considered marginal. Transparent, semi-transparent and coloured devices for advanced BIPV applications and electronics, as well as top cells for very high efficiency and low cost tandem/multi-junction devices will benefit from this technology, setting the basis required for a massive PV implementation and contributing to change our energy consumption model.

Mots-clés : solar energy,1d materials,thin film photovoltaics,selective asymmetric contacts,dipolar molecules,chalcogenides,halides,ubiquitous energy generation
Projet ERC : Clockstop (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : University of London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : U. London
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

SHORT SUMMARY ABSTRACT (2,000 characters max.) The widespread increase in Hearing Loss is one of the major threats to future well-being in ageing human societies. The World Health Organisation (WHO) expects that by 2050 more than 900 million people will suffer from disabling hearing loss (i.e. a hearing loss >40dB in the better hearing ear for adults and >30 dB for children, respectively). The corresponding global cost is estimated to be more than US$ 1 trillion per year. The associated societal costs however - and costs to individual well-being – exceed the monetary domain. Hearing loss threatens to erode the very core of human social cohesion, namely their ability to communicate by speech. Within the various forms of hearing loss, Age-related Hearing Loss (ARHL) carries the vast bulk of the global disease burden. Nearly 1 out of every 3 people over the age of 65 is affected by disabling ARHL. Urgent action – and faster progress – is required. We here offer a novel way how to expedite this effort. Based on preliminary data generated in an ERC-funded project on the interrelation between the auditory and circadian system, we devised an accelerated model of Age-related Hearing Loss (aARHL) in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. In this project we will (i) test, validate and apply the Drosophila aARHL model in order to identify novel compounds that can be used to counter-act ARHL in humans and (ii) add our novel experimental paradigm as a powerful new tool to the drug discovery pipeline dedicated to curing (or preventing) human deafness. Most crucially, we will closely interact with partners from pharma and biotechnological industry and the UCL Innovation & Enterprise teams, to tap the project’s full biomedical and commercial potential.

Mots-clés : hearing,deafness,drosophila,mouse,age related hearing loss,arhl,progressive hearing loss,drug discovery,drug repurposing,drug repositioning,homeostasis,circadian clock,kinase inhibitors,presbycusis