Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : RetinalRepurposing (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : Weizmann Institute of Science — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1494000.0 €

Visual processing begins in the retina, with ~30 types of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), each encodes a specific visual modality, such as edges or motion. A major challenge for deciphering the visual code is mapping the connections between each RGC and its target neurons, such as in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and, via the LGN, the visual cortex. Recently, this challenge became even greater, as we and others revealed that the modality encoded by RGCs—traditionally considered a fixed hardwired property of each RGC type—can be altered. Direction selective RGCs reorient their directional tuning following visual adaptation, and other RGCs change their polarity preference (On/Off) as light level changes. These newly discovered dramatic changes in the core computations of RGCs depart from the known retinal adaptation which results in gain adjustments but no modality changes. We term them repurposing. The discovery of repurposing contrasts the widely-held notion that the retina provides a stable representation of the visual scene for downstream processing. This newly exposed level of complexity in the retinal code raises a critical question for our understanding of vision: How do retinal targets interpret the dynamic retinal code and how, despite such dynamics, a consistent representation of the visual scene emerges? We will use state-of-the-art electrophysiology and imaging techniques, and pioneer an approach for simultaneous retinal imaging and LGN recordings, to reveal how the mouse early visual system processes the changing visual information. We will elucidate the subtypes of repurposed RGCs, triggers for repurposing and their mechanisms. We will resolve, for the first time, the precise functional connectivity between subtypes of RGCs and LGN neurons, and determine how the LGN decodes retinal repurposing. Our groundbreaking research will pave the path for understanding how visual processing in a constantly changing world gives rise to a consistent perception.

Mots-clés : retina,retinal ganglion cells,two photon imaging,electrophysiology
Projet ERC : B6VitaStat (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Technical University of Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TUM
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Vitamin B6 is an essential nutrient and part of a well-balanced diet. However, B6 deficiency is often observed in elderly people, diabetes patients and alcoholics and associated with higher rates of cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer. All these risk populations need a stringent and continuous monitoring of B6 levels. At present B6 detection systems suffer from limited speed, scope, convenience and reliability. These tests require a medical doctor as well as external laboratories with expensive and specialized equipment for analysis increasing the overall costs. We here develop a customized assay for vitamin B6 detection with a desired application as reliable, cheap and easy-to-use point-of-care device. This assay system, termed B6VitaStat, is based on the direct monitoring of cofactor binding into diverse enzyme active sites which will be performed in erythrocytes drawn from blood. Key to B6VitaStat is a tailored probe which mimics the structure of the cofactor. This probe is equipped with a recognition tag allowing to visualize binding to B6-dependent enzymes. The less B6 is bound, the stronger the signal, the higher the overall deficiency. This principle will be incorporated in an easy-to-use device that is based on an antibody printed microarray hallmarked by its cheap and reproducible production. The robust array can be used world-wide including developing countries with less pronounced medical infrastructure. The B6VitaStat team combines complementary expertise including chemistry, engineering and entrepreneurship, which will provide a basis for the envisioned commercialization. Given that B6VitaStat will be the first device of this class we estimate a significant cost reduction compared to current clinical procedures. Overall, we aim to introduce a new device for constant monitoring B6 vitamin status in risk patients and provide a cheap, easy-to-use and reliable method suited for all kinds of applications including those in less-developed countries.

Mots-clés : point of care device,vitamin b6 determination,microarray,fluorescent probe
Projet ERC : IMAGINE (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : University of Cambridge — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : U. Cambridge
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1437933.0 €

Volcanoes can be cultural symbols, a source of fear, of fascination and of scientific study and a practical problem for civil protection: they involve complex social, cultural and political dynamics, and often have multi-scalar, trans-border impacts. Yet the management of volcanic risk tends to be strongly dependent on uncertain information from physical scientists about volcanic activity, with social scientific studies concentrating on social vulnerability and communication, and there is a relative dearth of studies that address the cultural and (geo)political contexts of scientific knowledge production in particular places. Geographers have explored the role of “geographical imaginations” in scientific discourses in other fields such as climate change: people, including scientists, imagine the social and physical landscapes around them. This project seeks to combine science studies, human geography and disaster risk reduction to provide a holistic approach to volcanic risk, and inform ongoing discussions about scientific advice in disasters more broadly, through a consideration of the geographical imaginations of scientists and populations. It focuses on understanding volcanic and disaster risk as a consequence of complex interactions and relationships between landscape, community, science and politics that blur the boundaries between society and nature. It combines methods from the social and physical sciences in Latin America and East Africa to investigate: (i) the ways in which scientists and people who live on volcanoes interpret and live with their environment; (ii) the interaction of national authorities with these modes of living, and how national borders affect them; (iii) the power dynamics of warnings within these contexts and across them; (iv) the implications of this approach for disaster risk reduction more broadly. Outcomes will include two books, several sets of scientific papers and three international meetings.

Mots-clés : geography of science,geographical imaginations,disaster risk reduction,society and space,volcanic risk
Projet ERC : FastVolt (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : Helmholtz Center for Information Security — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CISPA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 3855.0 €

Voltage droops are unpredicted drops in the supply voltage of computer chips, which often occur as a result of nearby bursts of high intensity circuit activity. This proposal is concerned with fast voltage droops, where voltage drops within a few clock cycles. This means that any dynamic response must take place within one or at most two clock cycles. A promising direction for combining the advantages of a stable reference clock with a small response time are mixed-signal control loops, in which voltage measurements are digitized and control decisions are taken by digital logic. However, digitally measuring a dynamically changing voltage may cause metastability of the sampling circuit. Conventional approaches employ synchronizers to make the probability of metastable upsets negligible, which costs 2-3 clock cycles of additional delay. Based on results of the ERC starting grant project "A Theory of Reliable Hardware,'' we provide a simple, compact circuit that guarantees the desired behavior without incurring synchronizer delay. This yields a practical method for adaptive response to fast droops, which bears the promise of increasing computational efficiency. Conservative estimates suggest performance improvements of at least 5%, which would be of substantial economical interest. The main obstacle to commercialization is a gap between theory and practice: Without an existing implementation, it takes a long time to develop a product and the associated risks are high. In this project, we will overcome this hurdle by developing, producing, and evaluating an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) demonstrator for our approach. We complement this primary goal by tasks aiming at maximizing impact: publication of results in high-profile scientific venues, patent protection to facilitate commercialization, and outreach to potential industry partners for developing products.

Mots-clés : metastability containment,voltage droops,mixed signal control loops
Projet ERC : FirmIneq (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
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 : 1392166.0 €

Wage inequality in industrialised countries has increased sharply over the past decades, and much of this increase has occurred between rather than within firms. Furthermore, substantial inequality between men and women persists in all industrialised countries, and a large part of the gender gaps observed today is attributable to the arrival of children. In this proposal, we put firms at the centre of the analysis and ask the following questions: First, which market forces can (partly) explain the increasing wage inequality between firms? Second, how do government policies alter the wage structure? And third, how do firm policies and the firm environment impact on gender inequality? All projects draw on four decades of German social security records comprising the near universe of workers and establishments, which we augment with survey and administrative data on firms. In Project A, we investigate how two important market forces, increased product market competition and routine-biased technological change, contributed to the increasing wage inequality between firms, by changing which firms operate in the market (selection) and how employment is distributed across low and high productivity firms (reallocation), and by differentially affecting wage growth across firm types (differential wage growth). In Project B, we study how two prominent government policies, the introduction of a minimum wage and changes in business tax rates, affect wage dispersion between firms through selection, reallocation and differential growth effects. In Project C, we first analyse whether firm provided family-friendly policies, most notably flexible working times and child care facilities, can be effective at reducing gender inequality. We then investigate how the firm environment, specifically the presence of co-workers who are likely to have a working mother and hold more egalitarian gender attitudes, shapes mothers’ return-to-work decisions and earnings trajectories after childbirth.

Mots-clés : j16  economics of gender,j24  human capital,skills,labor productivity,j31  wage level and structure,wage differentials,e24  employment,unemployment,wages,o33  technological change
Projet ERC : SolReGen (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Entité participante : University of Cambridge — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : U. Cambridge
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Waste disposal leads to environmental pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and a loss of chemical and energy-rich resources. Photoreforming is a sunlight-driven technology that recaptures the value in waste while simultaneously contributing to renewable energy production by transforming biomass, food and plastic waste into hydrogen. However, our current photoreforming process relies on corrosive acids or bases in order to solubilise waste and enhance hydrogen generation, which raises sustainability and economic concerns. In the proposed SolReGen project, we will couple our patented photoreforming process with a benign enzymatic waste pre-treatment in order to enhance its commercialisation potential. This will be achieved through four key objectives: (i) optimisation of an enzyme immobilisation strategy for facile recycling and low-cost deployment, (ii) integration of enzymatic pre-treatment with photoreforming, (iii) scaling of the overall system to one square meter under rooftop sunlight, and (iv) development of a sustainable business model for commercialisation. By achieving these innovations and patenting where necessary, photoreforming will become a hybrid technology for waste management and renewable energy production that is faster, less expensive, more environmentally-friendly, and increasingly desirable to commercial partners.

Mots-clés : photocatalysis,solar fuels,hydrogen,waste management,plastic
Projet ERC : NICEDROPS (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
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 : 1908624.0 €

Water freezing (icing) and condensation are ubiquitous in our life. Preventing undesirable icing on surfaces with minimal energy and chemical use, and improving the efficiency of condensation heat exchangers has broad societal value. Thus, I aim to use fundamental insights to offer energy-efficient solutions for undesirable ice formation and promoting dropwise condensation using novel and robust nanoengineered surfaces. My objectives are: i) to realise thermodynamically guided metallic surfaces with precise (<10 nm) morphology and controlled superficial stiffness for energy-efficient icing prevention and sustaining dropwise flow condensation ii) to rationally intercalate polymers and/or suspensions into surface nanotextures and exploit nanomechanics in order to enable robust and smart nanoengineered surfaces for high speed impact, abrasion and chemical resistance; stable icephobicity (delaying freezing); and sustained dropwise condensation. iii) to develop new fundamental insights to: a) prevent icing due to high speed (~100 m/s) supercooled droplet/ice crystal impact; b) realise icephobicity down to -30 degrees Celsius; c) minimise ice-surface adhesion; and d) sustain dropwise condensation at high (50-100 m/s) vapour speeds. The proposal emphasis on energy efficiency is aligned with the EU's 20/20/20 Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan. To exemplify their salient impact, the proposed smart nanoengineered surfaces offer a passive solution for airplane icing (and related accidents) and will delay evaporator icing on air source heat pumps and refrigerators, thereby helping to lower the energy use in buildings and cold storages. The latter are tied to the global food storage and distribution challenges. Similarly, sustained dropwise condensation will make condensers in process industry and steam power plants compact and efficient. Optimally, only ~1 micron of the surface depth will require treatment – this will minimize chemical use and promote sustainability.

Mots-clés : icephobic surfaces,flow condensation,nanoengineered surfaces
Projet ERC : SOFTWATER (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : Sapienza University of Rome — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 820944.21 €

Water is the most common and yet least understood material on Earth. Despite its simplicity, the structure of the water molecule is responsible for a vast array of properties that are unlike those of other fluids. Water anomalies, like the density maximum at 4 degrees Celsius, play a fundamental role in determining the Earth's climate, and ultimately the very existence of life. From an anthropic viewpoint, the properties of water are as if they were fine-tuned. It is this uniqueness that hinders our understanding of how water behaves in many natural systems and technological applications; for example, our inability to predict the stability limit of water in supercooled clouds, and the rates of ice crystallization, is credited as being one of the biggest unknowns in models of Climate Change, where the scattering of energy from suspended ice droplets in the clouds plays a central role in determining Earth's radiation budget. In this proposal, we attempt an entirely novel route to understand what makes a fluid behave like water. Starting from the observation that the properties of water seem to appear fine-tuned, we are going to "untune" water's interactions. This means that we are going to consider the interactions of water as one point in a higher dimensional space of possible interactions, and we are going to study how the properties of water change going from “real” water to models which behave like other simple liquids. This continuous change will allow us not only to understand the unique properties that are found in water, but will also provide a route to the potential discovery of new behaviour that cannot be captured with conventional approaches. The process of gradually changing the interactions in water produces a family of models that we call "Soft Water", and in this research proposal we are going to show how this new approach has the potential to solve the mysteries that real water is still hiding from us.

Mots-clés : water,supercooled liquids,molecular simulations,crystallization,glasses,coarse grained models,self assembly,complex fluids
Projet ERC : SOFTWATER (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : University of Bristol — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 131616.79 €

Water is the most common and yet least understood material on Earth. Despite its simplicity, the structure of the water molecule is responsible for a vast array of properties that are unlike those of other fluids. Water anomalies, like the density maximum at 4 degrees Celsius, play a fundamental role in determining the Earth's climate, and ultimately the very existence of life. From an anthropic viewpoint, the properties of water are as if they were fine-tuned. It is this uniqueness that hinders our understanding of how water behaves in many natural systems and technological applications; for example, our inability to predict the stability limit of water in supercooled clouds, and the rates of ice crystallization, is credited as being one of the biggest unknowns in models of Climate Change, where the scattering of energy from suspended ice droplets in the clouds plays a central role in determining Earth's radiation budget. In this proposal, we attempt an entirely novel route to understand what makes a fluid behave like water. Starting from the observation that the properties of water seem to appear fine-tuned, we are going to "untune" water's interactions. This means that we are going to consider the interactions of water as one point in a higher dimensional space of possible interactions, and we are going to study how the properties of water change going from “real” water to models which behave like other simple liquids. This continuous change will allow us not only to understand the unique properties that are found in water, but will also provide a route to the potential discovery of new behaviour that cannot be captured with conventional approaches. The process of gradually changing the interactions in water produces a family of models that we call "Soft Water", and in this research proposal we are going to show how this new approach has the potential to solve the mysteries that real water is still hiding from us.

Mots-clés : water,supercooled liquids,molecular simulations,crystallization,glasses,coarse grained models,self assembly,complex fluids
Projet ERC : HyArchi (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2139637.5 €

Water is the most limiting environmental factor for agricultural production worldwide and climate change exacerbates this threat. The HyArchi project will address this issue from a plant biology perspective and proposes new strategies to improve crop tolerance to drought. The main objective is to optimize water uptake and transport in cereals affected by drought. HyArchi will target maize, a major crop and a foundational model in plant genetics and water relations that is grown in irrigation or rain-fed conditions. HyArchi will consider three root traits: root system architecture, generated through continuous growth and branching; water transport; and environmental signalling. The first two traits yield the root hydraulic architecture. HyArchi will investigate how this architecture evolves in time and space by integrating local and systemic signals that communicate water availability. HyArchi proposes two innovative molecular discovery approaches recently validated by my group in model plants. Genome-wide association studies will be used to uncover novel genes, with signalling functions acting on root hydraulics. Transcriptomic analyses of an experimental split-root system will be used to identify molecules (e.g. hormones, miRNAs) involved in systemic signalling and governing root growth and hydraulics. These studies will be supported by key methodological developments. A semi-automated set of pressure chambers will be constructed to measure root hydraulics in multiple genotypes under highly controlled local root environments. Improved root image analyses will be coupled to mathematical modelling to represent local and systemic effects of water on root hydraulic architecture. Ultimately, HyArchi will deliver enhanced knowledge on root water transport and its control by a set of new genes, with a description of their natural variation and impact on whole-plant drought responses. Importantly, this will allow introducing beneficial alleles into elite cultivars.

Mots-clés : maize,plant genetics,phenotyping,root,water