Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Two-Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy for the Exploration of Biomolecular Dynamics (2F4BIODYN)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physical and Analytical Chemical sciences
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2011-StG_20101014, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2017-12-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1462080.0
EU funding (EUR): 1462080.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The paradigm of the structure-function relationship in proteins is outdated. Biological macromolecules and supramolecular assemblies are highly dynamic objects. Evidence that their motions are of utmost importance to their functions is regularly identified. The understanding of the physical chemistry of biological processes at an atomic level has to rely not only on the description of structure but also on the characterization of molecular motions. The investigation of protein motions will be undertaken with a very innovative methodological approach in nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation. In order to widen the ranges of frequencies at which local motions in proteins are probed, we will first use and develop new techniques for a prototype shuttle system for the measurement of relaxation at low fields on a high-field NMR spectrometer. Second, we will develop a novel system: a set of low-field NMR spectrometers designed as accessories for high-field spectrometers. Used in conjunction with the shuttle, this system will offer (i) the sensitivity and resolution (i.e. atomic level information) of a high-field spectrometer (ii) the access to low fields of a relaxometer and (iii) the ability to measure a wide variety of relaxation rates with high accuracy. This system will benefit from the latest technology in homogeneous permanent magnet development to allow a control of spin systems identical to that of a high-resolution probe. This new apparatus will open the way to the use of NMR relaxation at low fields for the refinement of protein motions at an atomic scale. Applications of this novel approach will focus on the bright side of protein dynamics: (i) the largely unexplored dynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins, and (ii) domain motions in large proteins. In both cases, we will investigate a series of diverse protein systems with implications in development, cancer and immunity.

Keywords: nuclear magnetic resonance,nuclear magnetic relaxation,protein dynamics,atomic biology
Developing and Applying Structural Techniques for Combinatorial Objects (DASTCO)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Mathematical foundations
Countries involved: Italy
Call:  (ERC-2011-StG_20101014, 2011)
Start date: 2011-12-01
End date: 2017-09-30
Duration (months): 70.0
Total project cost (EUR): 850000.0
EU funding (EUR): 850000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed project will tackle a series of fundamental problems in discrete mathematics by studying labeled graphs, a generalization of graphs which readily apply to problems beyond graph theory. To achieve these goals will require both developing new graph theoretic tools and techniques as well as further expounding upon known methodologies. The specific problems to be studied can be grouped into a series of semi-independent projects. The first focuses on signed graphs with applications to a conjecture of Seymour concerning 1-flowing binary matroids and a related conjecture on the intregality of polyhedra defined by a class of binary matrices. The second proposes to develop a theory of minors for directed graphs. Finally, the project looks at topological questions arising from graphs embedding in a surface and the classic problem of efficiently identifying the trivial knot. The range of topics considered will lead to the development of tools and techniques applicable to questions in discrete mathematics beyond those under direct study. The project will create a research group incorporating graduate students and post doctoral researchers lead by the PI. Each area to be studied offers the potential for ground-breaking results at the same time offering numerous intermediate opportunities for scientific progress.

Keywords: graph theory,theory of algorithms,matroid theory,topological graph theory
Randomness and Computation (RAC)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Computer science and informatics
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2011-StG_20101014, 2011)
Start date: 2011-10-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1178839.2
EU funding (EUR): 1178839.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project is concerned with the necessity and availability of randomness in computation. This research area (often referred to as the "Theory of Derandomization'') is one of the most active and exciting areas in theoretical computer science. We intend to study some of the main questions of this area: In what setups can randomized algorithms be efficiently simulated by deterministic ones? In cases that randomness is essential, how can computers obtain random bits? More specifically, how can computers generate secret random keys for running secure cryptographic protocols? Furthermore, once random keys are generated, how can computers maintain the secrecy of their keys in the presence of side-channel attacks? These are important real-world problems and our research is intended to lay the theoretical foundation for achieving actual solutions. Our main approach for these problems is to design ``pseudorandom generators'' and ``randomness extractors'' that are efficient algorithms that manipulate randomness in various ways. The PI is one of the leading figures in this research area and many of the concrete research directions suggested in this proposal are related to and build on past work of the PI. The goals outlined in this proposal are important open problems in this area. Some of them (such as derandomizing bounded memory randomized algorithms and constructing 2-source extractors and dispersers for low min-entropy) are famous longstanding open problems and solving either of them will be a dramatic breakthrough in theoretical computer science. We suggest concrete (and we believe novel) approaches to attack these problems. Along the way we identify important and accessible intermediate goals. In addition to the development of the theory of derandomization, past work in this area (including work of the PI) had big impact on other areas of Computer Science and Mathematics such as Combinatorics, Cryptography, Coding Theory and Ramsey Theory.

Keywords: randomized algorithms,complexity theory,pseudorandomness,pseudorandom generators,derandomization,randomness extractors,ramsey graphs,coding theory,cryptography,side channel attacks
Towards real time multiscale simulation of cutting in non-linear materials with applications to surgical simulation and computer guided surgery (REALTCUT)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Products and process engineering
Countries involved: Luxembourg,United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2011-StG_20101014, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2016-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1343955.0
EU funding (EUR): 1343955.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Surgeons are trained as apprentices. Some conditions are rarely encountered and surgeons will only be trained in the specific skills associated with a given situation if they come across it. At the end of their residency, it is hoped that they will have faced sufficiently many cases to be competent. This can be dangerous to the patients. If we were able to reproduce faithfully, in a virtual environment, the audio, visual and haptic experience of a surgeon as they prod, pull and incise tissue, then, surgeons would not have to train on cadavers, phantoms, or on the patients themselves. Only a few researchers in the Computational Mechanics community have attacked the mechanical problems related to surgical simulation, so that mechanical faithfulness is not on par with audiovisual. This lack of fidelity in the reproduction of surgical acts such as cutting may explain why most surgeons who tested existing simulators report that the "sensation" fed back to them remains unrealistic. To date, the proposers are not aware of Computational Mechanics solutions addressing, at the same time, geometrical faithfulness, material realism, evolving cuts and quality control of the solution. The measurable objectives for this research are as follows: O1:Significantly alleviate the mesh generation and regeneration burden to represent organs’ geometries, underlying tissue microstructure and cuts with sufficient accuracy but minimal user intervention O2:Move away from simplistic coarse-scale material models by deducing tissue rupture at the organ level from constitutive (e.g. damage) and contact models designed at the meso and micro scales O3:Ensure real-time results through model order reduction coupled with the multi-scale fracture tools of O2 O4:Control solution accuracy and validate against a range of biomechanics problems including real-life brain surgery interventions with the available at our collaborators’

Keywords: computational mechanics,solid mechanics,simulation,modelling,fracture,moving discontinuities,parallel computing,mechanics of materials,modelling and simulation
Market Frictions in Mathematical Finance (MFMF)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Mathematical foundations
Countries involved: Ireland
Call:  (ERC-2011-StG_20101014, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2017-12-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

For the past twenty years, Mathematical Finance has grown from the perfect fit between martingale methods and models of frictionless markets. But in last two years, the limits of this theory have become painfully clear, with the widespread failure of the valuation and risk control systems in the financial industry. This proposal lays the groundwork for a new generation of models, which include nonlinear frictions such as transaction costs and liquidity as essential elements, not as extra features. This endeavor entails developing new notions of nonlinear stochastic integrals, and requires a theory that looks beyond the established setting of semimartingales. To become useful, this theory will need tools to solve related optimization problems, either explicitly, or with asymptotic methods. Convex duality and control theory will help develop such tools, together with partial differential equations techniques. The proposed research aims at (i) understanding the natural setting of frictions models from well-posedness principles, (ii) developing a consistent integration theory, and (iii) investigating implications for optimization problems. These steps are central to nurture a new class of financial models, which can eventually remedy the pitfalls of the current ones.

Keywords: mathematical finance
Investigating Functional Dynamics in Proteins by Novel Multidimensional Optical Spectroscopies in the Ultraviolet (FUNCTIONALDYNA)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physical and Analytical Chemical sciences
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (ERC-2011-StG_20101014, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2016-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1473600.0
EU funding (EUR): 1473600.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Proteins perform their biological function following specific sequences of events. During these dynamical paths, highly non-trivial cooperative interactions occur. Ultimately, this is the origin of the emerging collective behavior that makes proteins the most sophisticated existing molecular machines. This complex network of processes covers a wide range of timescales, from few fs to ms, and distances, from atoms to large protein domains. Even the most recent experimental techniques generally provide ns-to-us averaged structural and dynamical information, often in non-physiological conditions. To access simultaneously atomic time and length scales would unveil the elementary conformational steps constituting a functional event and their temporal evolution. I propose to extend emerging multidimensional ultrafast optical spectroscopic techniques to the deep ultraviolet. These techniques are the analogue of multidimensional Nuclear Magnetic Resonance methods and are able to provide structural information exploiting electric dipole couplings but with fs temporal resolution. The novel extension to ultraviolet, that I shall implement, will open the possibility to exploit the optical absorption of aromatic amino-acid residues with the great advantage of studying wild type proteins. In this way, all drawbacks due to artificial labeling will be ruled out. I will use this new technique to study dynamic-assisted long range electron transfer in copper proteins and enzyme regulation in hemoglobin. These two proteins of great importance from a biological point of view have been chosen because their functions are a clear manifestation of cooperative phenomena. On a long term prospective this methodology will be a universal tool applicable to any wild type protein containing aromatic amino acids.

Keywords: cooperativity,electron transfer,amino acids,molecular biology,2d-spectroscopy
The interplay between agglomeration and coating of nanoparticles in the gas phase (AGGLONANOCOAT)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Products and process engineering
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call:  (ERC-2011-StG_20101014, 2011)
Start date: 2011-12-01
End date: 2016-11-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1409952.0
EU funding (EUR): 1409952.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This proposal aims to develop a generic synthesis approach for core-shell nanoparticles by unravelling the relevant mechanisms. Core-shell nanoparticles have high potential in heterogeneous catalysis, energy storage, and medical applications. However, on a fundamental level there is currently a poor understanding of how to produce such nanostructured particles in a controllable and scalable manner. The main barriers to achieving this goal are understanding how nanoparticles agglomerate to loose dynamic clusters and controlling the agglomeration process in gas flows during coating, such that uniform coatings can be made. This is very challenging because of the two-way coupling between agglomeration and coating. During the coating we change the particle surfaces and thus the way the particles stick together. Correspondingly, the stickiness of particles determines how easy reactants can reach the surface. Innovatively the project will be the first systematic study into this multi-scale phenomenon with investigations at all relevant length scales. Current synthesis approaches – mostly carried out in the liquid phase – are typically developed case by case. I will coat nanoparticles in the gas phase with atomic layer deposition (ALD): a technique from the semi-conductor industry that can deposit a wide range of materials. ALD applied to flat substrates offers excellent control over layer thickness. I will investigate the modification of single particle surfaces, particle-particle interaction, the structure of agglomerates, and the flow behaviour of large number of agglomerates. To this end, I will apply a multidisciplinary approach, combining disciplines as physical chemistry, fluid dynamics, and reaction engineering.

Keywords: reaction engineering nanotechnology nanostructured particles coating agglomeration
Asymptotic and Numerical Analysis of MOdels of Resonant Physics Involving Structured Materials (ANAMORPHISM)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Products and process engineering
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2011-StG_20101014, 2011)
Start date: 2011-10-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1280391.0
EU funding (EUR): 1280391.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

One already available method to expand the range of material properties is to adjust the composition of materials at the molecular level using chemistry. We would like to develop the alternative approach of homogenization which broadens the definition of a material to include artificially structured media (fluids and solids) in which the effective electromagnetic, hydrodynamic or elastic responses result from a macroscopic patterning or arrangement of two or more distinct materials. This project will explore the latter avenue in order to markedly enhance control of surface water waves and elastodynamic waves propagating within artificially structured fluids and solid materials, thereafter called acoustic metamaterials. Pendry's perfect lens, the paradigm of electromagnetic metamaterials, is a slab of negative refractive index material that takes rays of light and causes them to converge with unprecedented resolution. This flat lens is a combination of periodically arranged resonant electric and magnetic elements. We will draw systematic analogies with resonant mechanical systems in order to achieve similar control of hydrodynamic and elastic waves. This will allow us to extend the design of metamaterials to acoustics to go beyond the scope of Snell-Descartes' laws of optics and Newton's laws of mechanics. Acoustic metamaterials allow the construction of invisibility cloaks for non-linear surface water waves (e.g. tsunamis) propagating in structured fluids, as well as seismic waves propagating in thin structured elastic plates. Maritime and civil engineering applications are in the protection of harbours, off-shore platforms and anti-earthquake passive systems. Acoustic cloaks for an enhanced control of pressure waves in fluids will be also designed for underwater camouflaging. Light and sound interplay will be finally analysed in order to design controllable metamaterials with a special emphasis on undetectable microstructured fibres (acoustic wormholes).

Keywords: metamaterials,negative refraction,super lenses,invisibility cloaks
Non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum fluids in one dimension (NEDFOQ)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Condensed matter physics
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2011-StG_20101014, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2014-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 679639.8
EU funding (EUR): 679639.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This research proposal addresses non-equilibrium processes occurring in one-dimensional quantum fluids. The interest to this area has surged in recent years due to the rapid development of fabrication and measurement techniques in nanophysics and physics of ultra-cold atomic gases. Nanoelectronics devices (such as quantum point contacts, nanotubes and organic nanowires) and ultracold gases in elongated optical traps are the experimental systems where one-dimensional quantum fluids are encountered. While the main focus of nanoelectronics has always been on the electrical and spin transport, with only limited access to other aspects of non-equilibrium dynamics, the amazing degree of control over atomic systems has transformed the physics of one-dimensional fluids into a rapidly expanding universe of non-equilibrium phenomena. Quantum quenches, explosions and collisions of atomic clouds, diffusion and drift of quantum impurities, motion and decay of solitary waves have been observed and mapped in real time measurements. The fundamental value of the research in this direction lies in the strongly correlated nature of one-dimensional quantum systems, which makes their kinetic theory a largely unexplored territory. For these systems, the application of traditional tools of the kinetic theory, such as the Boltzmann collision integral and non-linear equations of hydrodinamics meets with serious conceptual difficulties. Indeed, it is usually impossible to represent the low-energy excitations of a one-dimensional system as a collection of weakly interacting quasiparticles. It is also impossible to consistently quantize non-linear hydrodynamcis within the standard framework of perturbative quantum field theory. The main goal of this project is to develop methods bypassing these difficulties and to formulate a theoretical framework suitable for the description of non-equilibrium phenomena in one dimension.

Keywords: strongly correlated systems,non-equilibrium dynamcis,anharmonic luttinger liquids
Frontiers of Integrated Silicon Nanophotonics in Telecommunications (FISNT)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Systems and communication engineering
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2011-StG_20101014, 2011)
Start date: 2011-10-01
End date: 2017-09-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1917080.0
EU funding (EUR): 1917080.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In the last decade, Silicon Photonics has been a rapidly growing field fueled by the promise of highly scalable, ultra-low power, high bandwidth and low cost silicon based optical communication systems. The last few years have seen the emergence of several dedicated world-class research groups, a dedicated international conference, heavy investments by the semiconductor industry giants, multiple private equity funded start-ups, as well as dedicated multi-user foundry services. Nevertheless, several critical roadblocks remain that have so far prevented the field from displacing older optical technologies, the resolution of which presents extremely challenging scientific challenges, requiring highly innovative devices and system architectures as well as bleeding edge process development. In a nutshell, state-of-the-art Silicon Photonics remains marginally too expensive for ultra-short distance links, too low performance for long haul communications, and still has too high a power consumption to displace electrical interconnects at the circuit board level. It is the goal of this proposal to reach three key milestones that in the applicant’s opinion are critical enablers for the field on its path towards becoming a truly disruptive technology.

Keywords: optical communications,nanophotonic devices