Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Tropical forest patches under pressure: Dynamics, functions and sustainable management in agricultural landscapes of the West African forest and savannah zones (SUSTAINFORESTS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Panel description: Political science, international relations, law
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2020-COG, 2020)
Start date: 2021-06-01
End date: 2026-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1998512.0
EU funding (EUR): 1998512.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Tropical forest patches in agricultural landscapes are largely the survivors of a hard-to-reverse deforestation process. Yet, these patches, which are spread over West Africa, still provide crucial ecological functions, serve as habitats for biodiversity, contribute globally to carbon sinks, and are important for the livelihoods of local populations. Given their persistent degradation, identifying pathways to safeguard or even increase their contribution to ecological function and thus to sustainable development is crucial. While existing theories of agricultural expansion, intensification, and forest transition explain agriculture-induced deforestation well, they do not explain the persistence of forest patches in a context of agricultural expansion. Little or no research has analysed forest patches in the highly fragmented agricultural landscapes of the rainforest and savannah zones of West Africa. This project will analyse the interactive roles of forest patches in the agricultural landscapes of these zones in Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and Cameroon. In addition, it will investigate conditions under which various biophysical, socio-cultural, economic, and institutional factors, including decision-making and land users’ behaviour and interests, interact with and affect forest patches and their sustainable use, management, and governance. Focussing on forest patches in West Africa thus closes theoretical and empirical gaps. The project will apply an iterative landscape- and people-centred approach that integrates data from remote sensing, social surveys, and participatory modelling. It will employ content analysis, multivariate statistics, and spatial analysis methods. Results will clarify the theories underpinning forest patches and open new research avenues in the sustainability sciences. Insights gained from the project will inform and trigger region-wide efforts to preserve forest patches and help initiate transformative actions on sustainable land and forest management.

Keywords: tropical forest patches,agricultural landscapes,land use,sustainable land management,ecosystem services,stakeholders,governance,participatory,system dynamics modelling,spatiotemporal analysis
Individual variation in tolerance of hypoxia and high temperatures in teleost fish: mechanisms and implications (INDITOL)

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: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: France
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2019-04-15
End date: 2021-04-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 184707.84
EU funding (EUR): 184707.84
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Episodes of hypoxia and acute warming can be major environmental stressors for coastal marine fishes, that will increase in frequency and severity with global change. Hypoxia and warming share a common physiological mode of action in fishes, both challenge the animal's capacity to provide sufficient O2 to respiring tissues. Within fish populations, individuals may vary in tolerance of these stressors; the existence of such variation can define the ability of populations to persist in a more stressful world. Moreover, when individuals vary in tolerance, underlying physiological mechanisms for variation can be explored. Understanding of mechanisms is very valuable because the persistence of variation in tolerance, within populations, may indicate that there are functional trade-offs, whereby being tolerant is not systematically advantageous but has costs. Using controlled experiments on European sea bass, an emblematic coastal species, my aims are to: 1) document variation in sub-lethal tolerance of hypoxia and acute warming in a population of 200 juveniles, and reveal cross-tolerance; 2) demonstrate that relative tolerance depends upon each individual’s intrinsic respiratory physiology; 3) investigate how tolerance relates to underlying mitochondrial efficiency, and 4) evaluate whether tolerance trades-off against important individual traits, as growth rate and tendency to suffer from oxidative stress. The experiments comprise innovative state-of-the-art techniques of sea bass husbandry; in-vivo respirometry and exercise performance; sub-lethal tolerance endpoints based upon cardiorespiratory performance, and assays of mitochondrial function in fresh tissues. Data will be analyzed to reveal trait correlations and dependencies, and existence of functional trade-offs. These multiple level studies, to reveal functional trade-offs of tolerance to hypoxia and warming, will provide novel and important insights into the nature of fish populations in a more stressful world.

Keywords: acute warming,environmental physiology,fish,hypoxia,global change,individual variation,respiratory metabolism,tolerance
Array-tagged single cell gene expression by parallel linear RNA amplification and sequencing (ARRAY SEQ)

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: Israel
Call: ERC Proof of Concept Grant (ERC-2015-PoC, 2015)
Start date: 2015-09-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In many biomedical research and clinical applications it would be tremendously useful to know the gene expression profile of each and every cell in a sample, be it a blood sample or tumor. At present, the most advanced single-cell technologies are limited to a few thousand cells by a laborious and expensive approach. We have invented a method allowing the determination of the transcriptomes of millions of cells in parallel, using array-based technique for tagging single cells. The protocol combines our previously published protocol for single cell transcriptomics – CEL-Seq – with a new membrane based system for capturing single cells and a DNA microarray for differentially tagging each cell in the membrane. If further developed into a commercial platform, our method could have tremendous impact on clinical and research transcriptomics. Our method requires no expensive equipment, low amounts of reagents and little hands-on, making it unlike any available protocol for single cell analysis. Our method also has great versatility as it can be used for analyzing up to a million cells, but can also be easily scaled down to several hundreds, promising to make it the state of the art protocol for any lab interested in single cell biology. Our method thus represents a game-changer because it completely reinvents the scale under which cells can be examined – affordably and without a need for expensive instruments – by at least three orders of magnitude. The aim of this project is to establish a user-friendly platform for our method that could be commercially available in the coming years. The developed platform will facilitate a large-scale ability to query cells; the breadth of possible research and personal medicine applications is unimaginable at present.

Keywords: single cell transcriptomics,massively parallel cell analysis,micro pore membrane,cancer,therapeutics,blood sample diagnostics
Charge Carrier Transport in Soft Matter: From Fundamentals to High-Performance Materials (SOFTCHARGE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Panel description: Analytical chemistry, chemical theory, physical chemistry/chemical physics
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2015-CoG, 2015)
Start date: 2016-10-01
End date: 2022-03-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1989988.0
EU funding (EUR): 1989988.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Charge transport (CT) in soft condensed matter is at the heart of many exciting and potentially revolutionising technologies ranging from organic photovoltaic cells to nanobioelectronic transistors. Tremendous progress has been made on these research frontiers over the last twenty years. Yet, our fundamental understanding of CT in organic and biological semiconductors (OBS) that could rationalise experimental observations and guide further advances in the field is still very limited. These materials are characterised by strong, anharmonic thermal fluctuations and small energy barriers for CT, which renders standard theories such as band theory or activated electron hopping in many cases entirely inadequate. Here, I propose the development of a disruptive computational method‚ based on non-adiabatic molecular dynamics (NAMD), that will open the door for ground-breaking new insight into this problem. The method will be able to access length and time scales that are presently unreachable with existing NAMD methods through an ultrafast yet error-controlled estimation of Hamiltonian matrix elements and derivatives. Applications will focus on (1) ultrapure single crystalline organic semiconductors (OS) to help uncover the true nature of charge carriers and their transport mechanism (2) structurally heterogeneous OS containing crystalline/amorphous interfaces to establish structure-charge mobility relationships (3) Ti-modified OS to aid the design of high dielectric-high mobility hybrid inorganic/organic semiconducting materials for next-generation photovoltaic devices (4) bacterial nanowire proteins to support the development of future bionanoelectronic devices. The work will (i) result in a user-friendly open software tool freely available for the scientific community (ii) yield important guidelines informing the development of high-performance OBS materials that have the potential to transform emerging technologies of the 21st century.

Keywords: electron transfer,molecular dynamics,density functional theory,non adiabatic dynamics,organic semiconductors,redox proteins
Translational studies of HEAD and neck cancer in South America and Europe (HEADSpAcE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Health, demographic change and wellbeing
Theme: Treating and managing disease
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Italy,Iran, Islamic Republic of,Argentina,Uruguay,Germany,Spain,Colombia,France,Czechia,United States,Brazil,United Kingdom,United Kingdom
Call: Translational collaborative cancer research between Europe and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) (H2020-SC1-2018-Single-Stage-RTD, 2018)
Start date: 2019-01-01
End date: 2024-06-30
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4097233.75
EU funding (EUR): 3153447.5
Participants: 19
Project status: SIGNED

Worldwide, more than 550,000 new cases of head and neck cancer (HNC) occur each year, resulting in approximately 300,000 deaths annually. It is the 6th most common cancer in both Europe and South America. A major reason for the high mortality rate for this cancer is the late stage of diagnosis for many patients. Accurate assessment of the prognosis of HNC cases also allows for appropriate treatment decisions. HEADSpAcE will bring together a consortium of 18 partners with a long and successful record of collaboration in HNC. The impact of HEADSpAcE will be to understand reasons for late diagnosis and reduce the proportion of HNC that are diagnosed at a very late stage. It will identify the most appropriate fashion for diagnosis cancer caused by human papilloma virus, and also provide genomic evidence of strong predictors of prognosis that will have the potential to improve care and reduce treatment related morbidity. We will also develop guidelines for implementation into clinical care.

Keywords: head and neck cancer,survival,genetics
Printable Inks Made of Conductive 2D Materials Beyond Graphene for Micro-Electrochemical Devices (PIC2D)

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: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2020-09-01
End date: 2023-04-05
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 212933.76
EU funding (EUR): 212933.76
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

In the framework of Internet of Things (IoTs), sensors able to monitor biochemical compounds are extremely important. Electrochemical sensors (ECSs) are the most promising tools to provide analytical information. Current challenge of ECS is the fabrication requirement changing from traditional rigid and planar substrates to flexible/wearable substrates for integrated portable devices, as well as the electrochemical reactor shift from conventional three electrodes to micro-fluidic system in order to make sensors smaller. Inkjet printing is a cost-effectiveness technology to create micro-ECS on versatile substrates with noncontact and precisely patterning. Despite various advantages of this technique, challenges remain in the development of printable ink formulations with suitable properties for target devices. Two dimensional (2D) materials are attracting increasing interest because of their maximally exposed active sites and small diffusion paths within ultrathin nanosheets, which effectively facilitate charge transfer in the electrochemical sensing activities. 1T phase transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and conductive layered Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have been demonstrated to have distinct electrochemical and electronic properties, while they have not yet received attentions for use in printed devices. The various metal sites, diverse structure and tuneable nature of these materials have great potential for high selective and sensitive monitor. This project aims at developing printable ink formulations based on 1T TMDs and conductive 2D MOFs to fabricate micro-electrochemical sensors on flexible substrates for biometric parameters determination. Highly selective, efficient and low cost devices are supposed to be achieved. This research ranges from material development and device fabrication to proof-of-concept applications, hence the results are expected to raise strong interest from both research community and industry.

Keywords: electrochemical sensor,conductive 2d materials beyond graphene,metal organic framework,inkjet printing technology,ink development,transition metal dichalcogenides,flexible substrates
Reconstructing wiring rules of in vivo neural networks using simultaneous single-cell connectomics and transcriptomics (TYPEWIRE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems
Panel description: Genetics, epigenetics, genomics and other ‘omics studies, bioinformatics, systems biology, genetic diseases, gene editing, innovative methods and modelling, ‘omics for personalised medicine
Countries involved: Israel
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2019-STG, 2019)
Start date: 2020-01-01
End date: 2024-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1590000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1590000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The brain performs sophisticated functions and complex behaviours, orchestrated by highly specialized cells. Neurons are at the core of the nervous system’s computational capabilities. In recent years, we and others have advanced single-cell RNAseq to reveal their extraordinary molecular diversity in transcriptome-based cell-type taxonomies. It is the unique combinations of circuits that these different neuronal types form – within a practically unlimited space of possible implementations – that encode the large functional repertoire of the nervous system. Although critical, little is known about the basic organizational principles of cells within the circuits – the ‘wiring rules’. This highlights the conceptual challenge to measure connectivity on a systematic and synaptic, single-cell level. What is the topology of networks? What is the relation between network topology and function? How do cell types and gene expression determine wiring? Answering these questions will help resolve nervous system computation at the level of its cellular building blocks. The vision of this proposal is to provide and apply a novel approach that will allow us to investigate neuronal connectivity at large-scale. Two key requirements for such measurements are the ability to measure true synaptic connections, and obtain tens of thousands of datapoints. Further, the concept of cell types is crucial for addressing the connectivity problem, as it allows us to distinguish the network elements and thus assemble a global picture even from fragmented, partial measurements. For this purpose, we will combine transcriptomics and connectomics measurements at the single cell level. The proposed project has enormous potential to systematically (re)address basic functional questions in neuroscience. It can expand our understanding of neural circuits to an unprecedented resolution, with conceivable impact on computational research, such as in vivo inspired neural networks and artificial intelligence.

Keywords: connectomics,molecular neurobiology,single cell rnaseq
Revalorisation of vegetable processing industry remnants into high-value functional proteins and other food ingredients (GreenProtein)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy
Theme: Public-private partnerships
Destination: Bio-based Industries
Action type: Innovation actions
Partnership: BBI (Art-187)
Countries involved: Spain,Spain,Hungary,Serbia,France,France,Netherlands,Netherlands,Netherlands,Netherlands
Call: Valorisation of agricultural residues and side streams from the agro-food industry (H2020-BBI-PPP-2015-2-1, 2015)
Start date: 2016-09-01
End date: 2021-05-31
Duration (months): 57.0
Total project cost (EUR): 5572234.38
EU funding (EUR): 4227361.37
Participants: 16
Project status: CLOSED

The EU28 imports 77% of the protein it requires, for food or feed, representing an important vulnerability for our economy, risking our self-sufficiency and food security. GreenProtein aims at a major innovation by producing high-added value, food-grade and fully functional proteins and other ingredients, out of vegetal residues mainly from sugar beet. The main outcome will be the valorisation of 4,000 tons of agricultural residue /yearly into a high quality dried RuBisCo powder ready to enter into food industry production chains as an alternative of the widely extended egg white preparations or whey protein. We are the first team worldwide, covering the whole food chain, to design an extraction system of functional RuBisCO. The project will design and implement specific equipment to establish a demonstration plant with capacity of 1,500 kg/hour of vegetal residue input, rendering 28 Kg of dry RuBisCO and 82 Kg of dry dietary fibre (25-30% dry matter). The obtained protein has top valuable functionalities required in food industry, such as gelling, foaming or emulsifying. The outcomes have excellent market projection due to their application in growing consumer needs like high-protein foodstuff, vegan, halal, etc. Establishing this DEMO plant will allow fine-tuning the extraction process at industrial scale in order to define the optimal conditions for industrial manufacture. It will be built in a compact design, ready to be “plugged” to the production line, an easily replicable system with a high spreading projection in whole EU.

Keywords: vegetal protein,rubisco,biorefinery process,valorisation,side streams,food waste,food security
Freight Auction, reinvented (CargoList)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Smart, green and integrated transport
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Romania
Call: Small business innovation research for Transport (H2020-SMEINST-1-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-01-01
End date: 2016-06-30
Duration (months): 6.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Cargo List is a real time auctioning platform for the Road Freight Transport Industry, where transport providers and transport clients trade shipping requests and offers. Central to our vision is to introduce modern auctioning and communication technology to the freight road transport industry, to the point that phone communications became obsolete (redundant). Freight Auction is build around 2 major innovations: 1. Technology for Online Offer Submission System. 2. Technology for Real-time Location-enabled Freight Search Mechanism. (Patent pending) The Real-time Location Freight Search Mechanism is a very promising technology, and it works like this: When a truck is only part-loaded, this mechanism performs automatic freight searches along the route of the truck, while the truck is moving towards its main destination, aiming to find additional loads that are compatible with the space that is still available and with the route and time constrains of the main-freight that is already in the truck. To do this, the system processes information from 3 sources: truck’s tachograph, truck’s GPS unit, and online freight database) Both of these technologies are designed to make return loads (back-loads) more available and to increase the loading level of trucks on the road, which will dramatically improve the efficiency of the road freight transport industry.

Keywords: cargo list,freight auction