Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
decipheriNg Oncogenic SIgnalling patterns to break CAncer drug Resistance (NOSCAR)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Career Restart panel
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2020-09-01
End date: 2023-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 304724.16
EU funding (EUR): 304724.16
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Despite significant progress in drug therapies for breast cancer, about one fourth of patients still do not survive the disease. Modern, targeted therapies have been proposed to cure the more advanced and aggressive cases of breast cancer. However, non-genetic and genetic mechanisms of drug resistance currently limit the promise of targeted therapy. NOSCAR aims to define the oncogenic Ras/Erk and PI3K/Akt signalling states relevant to breast cancer oncogenic mutations, and delineate the mechanisms which enable development of cancer resistance to targeted therapies. NOSCAR’s objectives are: Using a quantitative cell biology framework that combines a multiplexed biosensor system that reports on Erk/Akt dynamics at single cell level, computer vision, and statistical modelling, I will: (1) produce an atlas of single-cell Erk/Akt dynamic signalling patterns that are associated with a compendium of clinically-relevant breast cancer mutations; (2) measure the signalling states in cells perturbed with clinically-relevant drugs that target different components of the Ras/Erk and PI3K/Akt pathways to evaluate how the oncogenic signalling network is rewired by drug treatment; (3) measure signalling dynamics in 3D spheroid cultures and patient-derived organoids to explore how a self-organizing cellular ecosystem can spatially control signalling at the single cell level to locally control fate decisions, and how the latter process is compromised by an oncogenic mutation. This will provide new insights about tumor heterogeneity and signaling network structures that confer robustness against drug perturbations. We expect to identify vulnerabilities that might be efficiently targeted by drug combinations, providing new avenues to treat breast cancer. The planned research together with training and mentoring that I will receive thanks to the fellowship, will enable to successfully restart my career in research and will significantly benefit my further academic career prospects.

Keywords: biosensors,spatiotemporal signalling,breast cancer,targeted therapies
Decoding Context-Dependent Genetic Networks in vivo (DECODE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Synergy grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC Synergy Grant (ERC-2018-SyG, 2018)
Start date: 2019-07-01
End date: 2025-06-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 10625000.0
EU funding (EUR): 10625000.0
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

The evolutionary success of multicellular organisms is based on the division of labor between cells. While some of the molecular determinants for cell fate specification have been identified, a fundamental understanding of which genetic activities are required in each cell of a developing tissue is still outstanding. The DECODE project will develop and apply leading-edge system genetics methods to Arabidopsis and Drosophila, two major model systems from the plant and animal kingdoms to decode context-dependent genetic networks in vivo. To achieve this, DECODE will bring together experimental and theoretical groups with complementary expertise in model organism genetics and cellular phenotyping, single-cell genomics, statistics and computational biology. Building on our combined expertise, we will create functional genetic maps using conditional CRISPR/Cas9-based single- and higher order knockout perturbations in vivo combined with single-cell expression profiling and imaging. Coupled with powerful computational analysis, this project will not only define, predict and rigorously test the unique genetic repertoire of each cell, but also unravel how genetic networks adapt their topology and function across cell types and external stimuli. With more than thousand conditional knockouts, characterized by several million single-cell transcriptome profiles and high-resolution imaging this project will create the largest single-cell perturbation map in any model organism and will provide fundamental insights into the genetic architecture of complex tissues. Analyzing two tissues with divergent organization and regulatory repertoire will enable us to uncover general principles in the genetic circuits controlling context dependent cell behavior. Consequently, we expect that the DECODE project in model organisms will lay the conceptual and methodological foundation for perturbation-based functional atlases in other tissues or species.

Keywords: systems genetics,single cell transcriptomics,genetic networks,cell identity,cell states
Formal Causation: Rivals and Extensions (FCRE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2021-09-01
End date: 2023-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 212933.76
EU funding (EUR): 212933.76
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Causation is a basic feature of the structure of nature and thus in the centre of much research. Hitherto, however, the distinctive role and applicability of formal causation has been underappreciated. Formal causation is at play whenever a thing has a certain essential property because it is of a certain kind. E.g., that a particle has negative charge because it is an electron. Such kind-based explanations are ubiquitous across the sciences, and references to kinds are often indispensable. More controversially, such kind-based explanations point towards a specific variant of causation. During Formal Causation I (funded by DFG), I developed a mature theory of formal causation that would justify its applicability to contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of science. (1) I reconstructed Aristotle’s account, especially the non-hylomorphic variant with fewer ontological commitments found in his Posterior Analytics. (2) I applied the account of formal causation to topics of contemporary interest. Especially, (i) developed the non-modal account of essence such that it is able to deal with exceptions, (ii) discovered that in a case of formal causation the form is a full immediate ground, (iii) defended an account of laws of nature. Further work remains, both on the relation to possible rivals of formal causation, and on extensions. This project will investigate (1) Aristotle’s originally intended scope of the formal cause and his thoughts on the relations between the four causes distinguished by him; (2) the application of formal causation to occurrent entities like processes and events; (3) whether hylomorphic compounds can be thought of as mereological compounds of different parts, and if so what the relation to formal causation is; (4) whether formal causation should be thought of as a variety of downward causation and relate this to the debate about mechanistic explanations; and (5) formal causation as a type of metaphysical explanation.

Keywords: aristotle,form,causation,essence,occurrants,processes,hylomorphism,downward causation,new mechanists,metaphysical explanation
Exploring the Plurality of New Worlds: Their Origins, Climate and Habitability (EXO-ATMOS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Universe sciences
Panel description: Astro-physics/-chemistry/-biology; solar system; planetary systems; stellar, galactic and extragalactic astronomy; cosmology; space sciences; astronomical instrumentation and data
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2015-STG, 2015)
Start date: 2016-03-01
End date: 2023-02-28
Duration (months): 84.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2000000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Recent surveys have revealed an amazing, and yet unexplained, diversity of planets orbiting other stars. The key to understanding and exploiting this diversity is to study their atmospheres. This is because exoplanets’ atmospheres are unique laboratories that hold the potential to transform our understanding of planet formation, physics, and habitability. This is a new opportunity to place the Solar System and the Earth’s ecosystem in a broader context; one of the main goals of modern astrophysics. The aim of this proposal is to leverage exoplanet detections, as well as observational capabilities and theoretical frameworks, to deepen and broaden our understanding of planetary physics. This project will transform the field of exoplanet atmospheres by contributing to three major advances. We will: i) push exoplanet characterization new frontiers by providing the largest in-depth study of atmospheres through the measurements of precise spectra, and the retrieval of their composition, in order to constrain their origins; ii) reveal for the first time global exo-climate through a novel method to probe atmospheric structure and dynamics; and iii) pioneer an innovative approach that uses robotic small telescopes to estimate the impact of stellar radiation on atmospheres, with a particular focus on their habitability. Theses objectives will be achieved via an ambitious portfolio of cutting-edge observations, combined with state-of-the-art modelling for their interpretation. Their accomplishment would be a major breakthrough, culminating in a comprehensive comparative exoplanetology, which in turn will open up new key discoveries in planetary formation and evolution. Our expertise will also enable predictions on conditions for habitability and direct the search atmospheric biosignatures with upcoming capabilities. The impact of our discoveries will go well beyond the scientific community since the quest of our origins is of interest to mankind.

Keywords: exoplanet atmospheres,exoplanets
Enhancing Digital Security, Privacy and TRUST in softWARE (TRUST aWARE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Secure societies - protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens
Theme: Improve cyber security
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Italy,Spain,Ireland,Spain,Romania,Finland,Switzerland,France,United Kingdom
Call: Digital Security and privacy for citizens and Small and Medium Enterprises and Micro Enterprises (H2020-SU-DS-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2021-06-01
End date: 2024-05-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 5244997.5
EU funding (EUR): 4645031.25
Participants: 13
Project status: SIGNED

Users often get exposed to security and privacy (S&P) threats when they use digital services for social networking, entertainment, banking, education, health, or home security. The factors behind digital S&P threats are numerous and interconnected, as a combined result of inappropriate software practices, bad user habits, and lack of regulatory enforcement and certification methods, among others. To define effective digital S&P policies and to establish a long-term vision, it is needed to have data, information, and a body of knowledge on privacy, data protection and the associated ethical, legal and socio-economic aspects. TRUST aWARE aims to address this situation by providing actionable intelligence and tools for the different connected stakeholders, to offer effective mechanisms to protect the freedom, security, and privacy of citizens, enhancing TRUST on SoftWARE, cybersafety, and EU’s market position. TRUST aWARE will facilitate this by delivering: - User-friendly tools to protect consumers against S&P cyberthreats (attacks, abusive practices, inappropriate behaviours of digital services) to enable them to better understand, control, detect and respond to S&P threats in a timely manner, and configuring their own S&P protection settings. - Collective intelligence for CERTs and Authorities in collaboration with citizens, CISOs and DPOs to ensure and audit that digital products and their S&P practices are transparent, secure and compliant with regulation. - Knowledge to foster S&P-by-design in software engineering by supporting developers and operators with standards and certification methods for compliance with S&P regulations. By providing tools for key stakeholders along the whole cycle (TRUST aWARE virtuous cycle), and supporting cooperation and intelligence sharing, TRUST aWARE will minimize the impact of cyberthreats, empowering users, promoting collective awareness, and encouraging trustworthy S&P-preserving digital products in compliance with regulation.

Keywords: software,certification,audit
Network models for the computational design of proficient enzymes (NetMoDEzyme)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Panel description: Analytical chemistry, chemical theory, physical chemistry/chemical physics
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2015-STG, 2015)
Start date: 2016-05-01
End date: 2022-12-31
Duration (months): 80.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1445587.5
EU funding (EUR): 1445587.5
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Billions of years of evolution have made enzymes superb catalysts capable of accelerating reactions by several orders of magnitude. The underlying physical principles of their extraordinary catalytic power still remains highly debated, which makes the alteration of natural enzyme activities towards synthetically useful targets a tremendous challenge for modern chemical biology. The routine design of enzymes will, however, have large socio-economic benefits, as because of the enzymatic advantages the production costs of many drugs will be reduced and will allow industries to use environmentally friendly alternatives. The goal of this project is to make the routine design of proficient enzymes possible. Current computational and experimental approaches are able to confer natural enzymes new functionalities but are economically unviable and the catalytic efficiencies lag far behind their natural counterparts. The groundbreaking nature of NetMoDEzyme relies on the application of network models to reduce the complexity of the enzyme design paradigm and completely reformulate previous computational design approaches. The new protocol proposed accurately characterizes the enzyme conformational dynamics and customizes the included mutations by exploiting the correlated movement of the enzyme active site residues with distal regions. The guidelines for mutation are withdrawn from the costly directed evolution experimental technique, and the most proficient enzymes are easily identified via chemoinformatic models. The new strategy will be applied to develop proficient enzymes for the synthesis of enantiomerically pure β-blocker drugs for treating cardiovascular problems at a reduced cost. The experimental assays of our computational predictions will finally elucidate the potential of this genuinely new approach for mimicking Nature’s rules of evolution.

Keywords: network models,markov state models,biocatalysis,computational enzyme design,molecular dynamics simulations,quantum mechanics,theozyme,inside out protocol,directed evolution
Effective practices in education, mental health and psychosocial support for the integration of refugee children (REFUGE-ED)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Europe in a changing world - inclusive, innovative and reflective societies
Theme: Inclusive societies
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Italy,Ireland,Italy,Spain,Greece,Sweden,Sweden,Bulgaria,Denmark
Call: Mapping and overcoming integration challenges for migrant children (H2020-SC6-MIGRATION-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2021-01-01
End date: 2023-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2997830.0
EU funding (EUR): 2997830.0
Participants: 10
Project status: SIGNED

REFUGE-ED will create the Brokering Knowledge Platform of Effective Practices (BKP), which will host and promote innovative high-quality solutions tailored for the dynamic integration of migrant and refugee children in schools and more broadly in society. In so doing, REFUGE-ED will identify, implement, and evaluate existing evidence-based practices in education and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) that have shown to promote the educational success, well-being and sense of belonging of children (0 to 18 years old - ISCED 0-3) from recent migration cohorts, including refugees and asylum seekers, and unaccompanied minors. The ground breaking nature of the BKP is two-folded: on the one hand, it will rely jointly on education and MHPSS; on the other, it will feature dialogic co-creation with children, families, teachers, policy-makers, practitioners working on the ground and other relevant stakeholders. REFUGE-ED will capitalise on the social impacts of prior EU research in the field of MHPSS and education, using the Supportive Process for the Inclusion of Children’s Experience (SPICE) under the communicative methodology of research for the co-creation of knowledge and implementation of results. The REFUGE-ED project will carry out 3 multisite pilot actions across 6 countries (Sweden, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria), in a total of 33 Communities of Learning and Practice, that is, hot spots/reception identification centres, inclusive school environments and non-formal and informal social and learning environments, and institutional care (including unaccompanied minors). Informed by these pilots, the final co-created BKP will provide tools, solutions and recommendations, including guidelines and criteria on capacity building training, solution adaptation and community engagement in easy to use off-line package, in different formats, to support the implementation, reuse and scalability of the piloted actions, and of other practices identified as successful.

Keywords: unaccompanied minors,migrant,refugee,asylum seekers children,education success,mhpss,formal,non formal and informal education,reception centers,hotspots,integration,social belonging
Responding or not responding to training; prediction of balance rehabilitation outcome from structural and functional brain networks in Cerebral Palsy. (CP-RehOP)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2016-03-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 177598.8
EU funding (EUR): 177598.8
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

When an injury occurs to the developing brain, as in Cerebral Palsy (CP), these children typically experience sensorimotor disorders such as muscle weakness, abnormal muscle activity, and ataxia. Poor balance control is a primary deficit in CP, which has a large impact on a child’s daily life, since it is crucial for independent mobility and greatly affects the risk of falls. CP is the most common developmental cause of physical disability in the world, with a prevalence of 2-3 in 1000 live births. To improve their quality of life, adequate treatment is essential. However, studies investigating the effectiveness of balance rehabilitation in CP have revealed mixed results. This is due to two reasons. First, due to the various clinical scales and experimental measures available, each measuring different components of balance, it is very complex to diagnose balance control in CP. Second, it is currently unknown which are the underlying neural causes of poor balance control in CP. Since the success of well-targeted treatment depends on this basic knowledge, a novel experiment is suggested that provides fundamental insights in both areas. I will investigate whether balance training can promote postural and gait balance control in CP children. Clinical and experimental measures will be combined to allow for the determination of the best diagnostic tool for imbalance in CP. Using diffusion kurtosis imaging and resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging, I will examine the structural and functional brain networks involved in balance control in CP and whether advances in balance control are supported by neuroplastic changes. As some children will be less responsive to training, it is hypothesized that this innovative combination of behavioral and neurological assessments allows for the identification of the underlying causes of responsiveness, and, most importantly, the prediction of individual responsiveness based on medical brain images, using machine learning.

Keywords: cerebral palsy,rehabilitation,balance,structural brain network,functional brain network,prediction,machine learning
Multilingual work spaces for sign language users – An online portal driving social innovation (SIGNSPACE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Hungary,United Kingdom
Call: ERC-Proof of Concept-2016 (ERC-2016-PoC, 2016)
Start date: 2017-04-01
End date: 2018-09-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 149723.0
EU funding (EUR): 107660.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

This project aims to pilot a social innovation by translating some of the findings of the ERC-funded MULTISIGN project (“Multilingual behaviours in sign language users”) into an online portal which promotes and facilitates transnational communication by deaf people through sign languages. The portal provides activities to users that increase their meta-linguistic awareness about the bi- and multilingual use of sign languages. Specifically, we will exploit research data and analyses by translating them into a resource with educational units that support upskilling of deaf people in order to communicate remotely with signers of other sign languages. The MULTSIGN project had demonstrated that sign language users have a unique enhanced potential, compared to spoken languages, to communicate across language boundaries, and the project will enable signers to exploit this potential. The portal also provides a service for setting up flexibly adaptable bi- and multilingual online work spaces for transnational groups of sign language users, with an integrated tool for sign-to-sign-translation between different sign languages. This will enable disadvantaged deaf communities, who are largely isolated from international contact, to access developments and resources already available elsewhere among international deaf communities but not linguistically accessible. The project is a collaboration between an academic partner, the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in the UK and a private company with special expertise in the relevant area, Dolphio Technologies, in Hungary. Our joint team will develop the design and test the technical infrastructure for the project. We will conduct demonstration, training and piloting workshops in several countries, and develop a business plan for further development and sustainability of the portal based on its marketable potential.

Keywords: multilingualism,sign language,deaf,meta linguistic awareness,multilingual ict,slack software,south south collaboration