Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
POWERING THE WIRELESS REVOLUTION (MePower)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Innovation in SMEs
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Estonia
Call: SME instrument (H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1, 2019)
Start date: 2019-07-01
End date: 2019-11-30
Duration (months): 5.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Wireless power transmission is slowly gaining popularity owing to Qi-based solutions embedded in our smartphones. However, this technology is far from having its momentum – users still complain about longer charging time compared to traditional chargers, heat being generated by devices, and the need for precise alignment. The limited efficiency of power transmission reaching app. 65%, and constrained power output (10W) highly reduces the scope of potential applications. What if we could increase the efficiency above 95% and raise transmitted power bar beyond 10 000 W? We could then easily address various application in multiple sectors such as consumer electronics, smart homes, automotive and even industrial domain. Such solution could become a leader at the wireless power transmission market expected to be worth USD 11.27 billion by 2020 and growing at average CAGR of 23%. All this is possible with the breaking MePower solution from Meredot which already raised interest from global players. We developed a method for improving performance of magnetic resonant coupling which can be used to wirelessly supply power to any electric device with minimum power loss. By improving user experience and saving energy lost today by imperfect wireless charging solutions we aim to make life without cables truly possible. We have already demonstrated this with our IPR protected prototype charger capable of supplying power to consumer electronics surpassing all known standard based and proprietary solutions. Within the Phase 1 project we aim to evaluate technical and economic feasibility of matching our solution to the needs of mobile device end users, provide automotive sector with wireless EV charging, as well as industrial markets e.g. with ability to charge autonomous robots and drones. We also intend to extend our knowledge of the business environment in target markets, establish optimal revenue models, identify and seek for additional technological partners.

Keywords: wireless power transmission,charging,high efficiency,electrical vehicles,automotive,consumer,mobile magnetic resonant
Bacterial evolution of hypersensitivity and resistance against antimicrobial peptides (resistance evolution)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Panel description: Ecology, biodiversity, environmental change, evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, microbial ecology, marine biology, ecophysiology, theoretical developments and modelling
Countries involved: Hungary
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2014-CoG, 2014)
Start date: 2015-10-01
End date: 2022-03-31
Duration (months): 78.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1846250.0
EU funding (EUR): 1846250.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Evolution of resistance towards a single drug simultaneously increases (cross-resistance) or decreases (collateral sensitivity) fitness to multiple other antimicrobial agents. The molecular mechanisms driving cross-resistance are relatively well described, but it remains largely unclear how frequently does genetic adaptation to a single drug increase the sensitivity to others and what the underlying molecular mechanisms of collateral sensitivity are. This proposal focuses on studying the bacterial evolution of resistance and collateral sensitivity against antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Beyond their modulatory roles in the immune system, these naturally occurring peptides provide protection against pathogenic microbes, and are considered as promising novel alternatives to traditional antibiotics. However, there are concerns that evolution against therapeutic AMPs can readily develop and as a by-product this might compromise natural immunity. Our knowledge of these issues is limited due to the shortage of systematic evolutionary studies. Therefore, the three central questions we address are: Do bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics become hypersensitive to certain antimicrobial peptides? What are the evolutionary mechanisms leading to AMP resistance and to what extent does this process induce cross-resistance/collateral sensitivity against other drugs? Last, are these evolutionary trade-offs predictable based on chemical and functional peptide properties? To investigate these issues rigorously, we integrate tools of laboratory evolution, high-throughput phenotypic assays, functional genomics, and computational systems biology. Our project will provide an insight into the evolutionary mechanisms that drive cross-resistance and collateral sensitivities with the aim to explore the vulnerable points of resistant bacteria. Another goal is to provide guidelines for the future design of antimicrobial peptides with desirable properties against bacterial pathogens.
The involvement of epidermal stem cells in spatiotemporal ERK activity propagation (SKINFRET)

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: United Kingdom
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-06-27
End date: 2018-06-26
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 195454.8
EU funding (EUR): 195454.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Stem cells are central to maintenance of mammalian epidermis. This proposal focuses on how stem cells communicate with their microenvironment by intercellular propagation of growth signal. I will investigate the involvement of epidermal stem cells in a novel growth signal propagation pattern I found in my PhD research. In this research, I visualized extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) activity in the skin of living mice by FRET-based observation of transgenic mouse expressing a sensitive biosensor for ERK. By this approach, I found a novel pattern of intercellular ERK activity propagation, which we named SPREAD. In SPREAD, bursts of localized ERK activation concentrically propagated to their surrounding 100 -300 cells. The timing and location of SPREAD emergence suggested the involvement of epidermal stem cells. To test this possibility I will combine my expertise of FRET imaging with in vivo and in vitro systems for mouse and human keratinocytes in the host laboratory. By crossing ERK biosensor mice with various mouse strains that marks Lgr5+, Lgr6+, or Lrig1+ stem cells, I will observe whether the centre cells of SPREADs are epidermal stem cells in vivo. In addition, I will culture keratinocytes expressing the ERK FRET biosensor on an artificially engineered substrate to recapitulate SPREAD in vitro. To study whether SPREADs are also seen in human skin, I will exploit a skin reconstruction system, called organotopic culture. The method allows culture of keratinocytes on collagen matrices embedded with various fibroblast populations with various densities. The significance of the features of SPREAD (shape, size, amplitude etc.) will be addressed by generating various types of ERK activity propagation by using light-induced ERK activation system. This approach will bring fresh insights into how stem cells control their local tissue structures via intercellular propagation of growth signal and how microenviromental factors effect on the propagation pattern.

Keywords: epidermal stem cells,fret imaging,erk activity propagation,micropatterned,substrate,organotopic culture
Comparative Phylogeography of a Megadiverse Fauna across the Mediterranean (CO-PHY-MED)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Global Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: Spain,United States
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-GF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2016-11-01
End date: 2019-10-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 239191.2
EU funding (EUR): 239191.2
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of this project is to investigate the mechanisms and processes that drive divergence and speciation, and shape the biogeographical history of organisms. Using the Mediterranean, a natural laboratory for phylogeographic investigations, we propose a novel large-scale approach in comparative phylogeography: a time-saving and cost-efficient one that includes multiple lines of evidence in a single analysis and exploits modern Next Generation Sequencing methods and advances in phylogenomics. We will (1) collect genomic data for co-distributed species of an entire vertebrate order (squamate reptiles) applying sequence-capture protocols, (2) reconstruct a time-calibrated, fully resolved phylogenetic tree merging between- and within-species relations, (3) compare biogeographical and speciation patterns and (4) identify the major barriers that influenced the formation and evolution of biodiversity. Tackling this innovative and challenging project and hosted in institutions of international reputation by leading experts in their field, will contribute to his professional academic development and put him at the forefront of his field. The applicant is an early-career promising scientist and the participating institutes and research-groups have the qualifications and complementarity, regarding infrastructure, research experience, capacity to manage grants and train researchers, for the successful outcome of the research and training aspects of the project. The approaches and results of the project will become a part of the state-of-the-art of future studies and promote EU excellence in evolutionary biology and phylogenomics, likely to be in great demand in the near future. Results will be announced in prestigious international conferences and published in high ranked journals, primary data will be submitted to freely accessible repositories, while outreach activities will communicate the proposed research to the non-specialist public.

Keywords: phylogeography,biogeography,evolution,speciation,diversification,phylogeny,phylogenetics,phylogenomics,next generation sequencing,sequence capture
Characterization of a novel mechanism restricting virus infection in reproductive tissues (RESTRIVIR)

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: France
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-04-01
End date: 2018-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 185076.0
EU funding (EUR): 185076.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Like mammals, insects are infected by many viruses. Among them, arthropod-borne viruses are an increasing worldwide health concern. Insects have potent innate antiviral defenses, of which RNA interference (RNAi) is the main and best studied. In the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, the siRNA pathway controls viral replication in somatic tissues. The piRNA pathway, another RNAi based response, acts specifically in the reproductive tract (germline and follicular cells (FC), a monolayer of somatic cells surrounding the germline), to protect the genome against transposon mobilization. Other innate immunity or stress pathways also contribute to the antiviral defense. The host laboratory obtained evidence for a new mechanism controlling viral replication in the FCs of Drosophila. Indeed, a viral replicon derived from Flock House Virus and expressing GFP (FHVΔB2-GFP) is completely derepressed in somatic tissues of mutants for the siRNA pathway, except in FCs, where derepression is partial. No piRNAs of viral origin can be detected in these cells. This viral replicon provides a unique system to decipher a novel pathway restricting viral replication. For this, I will use a combination of forward and reverse genetic screens. EMS mutagenesis, screening for GFP expression and genome resequencing will be used to uncover genes responsible for restricting the replicon in FCs. Next, I will use GFP expression to sort restrictive and permissive FCs in a siRNA pathway mutant followed by RNA sequencing to identify differentially expressed genes. The function of the identified genes will be tested in vivo, using shRNA Drosophila lines. Finally, OSS cells, an FC-derived cell line, will be transformed with the FHVΔB2-GFP replicon to evaluate candidate gene function ex vivo. The identification and characterization of genes involved in a novel viral restriction pathway will increase the knowledge about innate antiviral immunity, an important scientific topic with human health implications.

Keywords: drosophila,antiviral immunity,genetic screen
Building an Excellency Network for Heightening Agricultural ecoNomic researCh and Education in Romania (ENHANCE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Spreading excellence and widening participation
Programme: Widening participation and spreading excellence
Theme: Improved access to Excellence
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Austria,Germany,Switzerland,Romania
Call: Twinning (H2020-TWINN-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-01-01
End date: 2018-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1097020.0
EU funding (EUR): 1097020.0
Participants: 4
Project status: CLOSED

The project coordinator is among Romania’s most competitive agricultural universities, yet at international level and in the agricultural economics discipline still struggles to become fully competitive. Three extremely innovative and well-known Western institutions of agricultural economics research have agreed to deliver the necessary know-how to improve this situation. Mainly four important bricks have been designed in response to the call text of “Significantly strengthening a defined field of research in a particular knowledge institution by creating a link between this institution and internationally-leading research institutions”: 1. Institutional support is provided to implement internal review processes and to strengthen the motivation of the workforce 2. Quarterly training sessions on scientometrics, supply and demand analysis and modelling is going to support the scientific staff of the faculty to become more proficient in applying quantitative methods. 3. Summer schools will be held on game theory, full-cost-calculation and policy analysis in which students of the faculty, but also of other Romanian universities may train their handling of economic issues. 4. Three-months exchanges in both directions will stabilize the exchange of methods and theories and will provide opportunities for joint research and publication. Two groups will support the process: An International Advisory Board will evaluate the quality of the process from a scientific viewpoint after one year and at the end of the project. The Stakeholder Board has the objective of formulating local needs and to link them with the process of scientific development in the faculty. Intensive communication activities additionally contribute to inform the local and scientific public about the twinning project.

Keywords: agricultural economics,quantitative methods,summer schools,training,sessions,staff exchange
Innovative structured polysaccharides-based materials for recyclable and biodegradable flexible packaging (SHERPACK)

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: Research and Innovation actions
Partnership: BBI (Art-187)
Countries involved: Germany,Italy,Spain,Norway,France,France
Call: Advanced biomaterials for smart food packaging (H2020-BBI-JTI-2016, 2016)
Start date: 2017-06-01
End date: 2020-11-30
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2589095.0
EU funding (EUR): 1294445.0
Participants: 7
Project status: CLOSED

The flexible packaging materials’ market is forecast to grow at a three percent rate to 2020 – the main drivers including cost and sustainability – while being dominated mainly by PE and PP. The main drawbacks are that PE and PP are not biodegradable and films are difficult to recycle, not to mention multilayer materials. As an alternative, SHERPACK aims at developing an innovative high barrier, renewable, biodegradable and recyclable flexible paper‐based packaging material, that can be easily converted by heat‐sealing and folding, with improved stiffness and grip, in order to replace materials such as plastics or aluminium foil currently used on the market by an advanced biomaterial. The first market targeted is flexible packaging materials for dry food, evaluated at 1.6 million tons per year and 3.7 billion euros (Europe, 2020). A multidisciplinary and complementary consortium of six partners has been set-up for achieving the objectives, including three RTOs and three industrial groups from five European countries. An advisory group consisting of two major end-users, a retailer and a packaging machine manufacturer is also involved to help define requirements and ensure the relevance of the new material with the value chain. The new material relies on three major innovations that will be developed from TRL 3 up to TRL 5: (i) a wet-lamination process used to add a thin layer of fibre specialty on the cellulosic substrate to provide a superb barrier to contaminants and oxygen; (ii) the formulation of a biodegradable polymer waterborne emulsion and its subsequent coating on the substrate to provide excellent heat sealability and barrier to water vapour; (iii) the specific design and application of a grid to improve the specific stiffness and the grip. The three innovations will then be assembled to deliver two proofs-of-concept. Last but not least, all the developments will be assisted by a Life Cycle Assessment to prove their environmental benefit.

Keywords: flexible packaging material,biodegradable,recyclable,biobased,microfibrillated cellulose,polylactic acid,polycaprolactone,emulsion,paper,grid printing,starch,polysaccharide,formulation
Social politics in European borderlands: A comparative and transnational study, 1870s-1990s (SOCIOBORD)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: The study of the human past
Panel description: Archaeology, history and memory
Countries involved: Italy
Call: ERC Advanced Grant (ERC-2019-ADG, 2019)
Start date: 2020-09-01
End date: 2025-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499682.0
EU funding (EUR): 2499682.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

This project seeks to reframe the history of welfare and social care in modern Europe by restoring to view the contributions of local actors – primarily families and associations – to shaping welfare systems in three European borderlands: Galicia, the North-eastern Adriatic and the Franco/Belgian/German border regions. By focusing on the interactions among local actors and following developments from the late 19th century to the 1990s, this project turns our attention to the co-construction of welfare by public and private actors in highly mixed borderlands, where the reach of central states often fluctuated and a range of local welfare structures, based on national, but also non-national forms of identity/solidarity (e.g., occupation or religion) flourished. The focus on overlapping, and, at times, competing structures of social provision will allow me and my team to examine the interplays between inclusion and exclusion that have long shaped European welfare provision by zeroing in on those contexts where such competition was particularly visible. We will do this by placing intensively researched local studies in comparative and transnational frameworks, examining similarities and differences between north-western, eastern and south-eastern borderlands while tracing the circulation of ideas, people and practices. It is our conviction that the long-range historical study of local actors’ ideas and practices around social welfare in European borderlands has much to tell us about the development of welfare across Europe in general. Our comparative and transnational analysis of the three borderlands will thus enable us to contribute constructively to contemporary societal debates about welfare reform at a time when the social rights (or lack thereof) of populations in Europe are the subject of acrimonious, even violent debate.

Keywords: european borderlands,social welfare,voluntary welfare associations
Intra Erythrocyte Dexamethasone in the treatment of Ataxia Telangiectasia (IEDAT)

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,Israel,Italy,France,United States,United Kingdom
Call: New therapies for rare diseases (H2020-PHC-2015-two-stage, 2015)
Start date: 2016-01-01
End date: 2021-08-31
Duration (months): 68.0
Total project cost (EUR): 5871825.0
EU funding (EUR): 5871825.0
Participants: 9
Project status: CLOSED

The main objective of the project is to provide a treatment of the neurological symptoms of patients with Ataxia Telangiectasia (AT), a rare progressively disabling and life-shortening genetic disease for which no therapy is currently available. To achieve this, a pivotal Phase III study will be conducted, to allow regulatory filing to obtain market authorization in EU and USA by 2019. EryDex is an innovative product, developed by EryDel, used to administer dexamethasone sodium phosphate by ex-vivo encapsulation in autologous erythrocytes, which are infused into the patient. EryDex provides long-term delivery of low doses of dexamethasone without the typical steroid side effects and has reached a successful Phase II trial conducted in AT patients. The phase III trial will be an international, multi-center, 1 year, randomized, prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, designed to assess the effect of 2 dose ranges of EryDex, administered monthly by IV infusion, on neurological symptoms of AT patients. The protocol of the trial and the regulatory path to registration has already been agreed upon with EMA and FDA. An international patient registry will also be set with the aim of establishing and maintaining a comprehensive clinical database of patients with AT and closely related conditions, enabling the monitoring of AT epidemiology, the development of an evidence-based natural history of the condition, identification of biomarkers as well as development of clinical guidelines. The AT NEST, the first scale to assess symptoms specific to AT patients, coordinated by the AT centre at the John’s Hopkins University, will be tested in the study and if validated will represent the 1st scale assessing chief areas of impairment specific to AT. In parallel to the clinical trial, investigations into the molecular mechanisms of action of EryDex will be performed with the objective to provide the validation of a new biomarker predictive of treatment efficacy.

Keywords: ataxia telangiectasia,phase iii pivotal trial,rare diseases,drug delivery,new treatment,erythrocytes,at register,at new scale,dexamethasone