Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Targeting iNKT cell and adipocyte crosstalk for control of metabolism and body weight (FAT NKT)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy
Panel description: The immune system, related disorders and their mechanisms, biology of infectious agents and infection, biological basis of prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, innovative immunological tools and approaches, including therapies
Countries involved: Ireland
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2015-STG, 2015)
Start date: 2016-09-01
End date: 2022-08-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1804052.0
EU funding (EUR): 1804052.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally. At least 2.8 million people die each year as a result of being overweight or obese, the biggest burden being obesity-related diseases. It is now clear that inflammation is an underlying cause or contributor to many of these diseases, including type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, and cancer. Recognition that the immune system can regulate metabolic pathways has prompted a new way of thinking about diabetes and weight management. Despite much recent progress, most immunometabolic pathways, and how to target them, are currently unknown. One such pathway is the cross-talk between invariant natural killer (iNKT) cells and neighboring adipocytes. iNKT cells are the innate lipid-sensing arm of the immune system. Since our discovery that mammalian adipose tissue is enriched for iNKT cells, we have identified a critical role for iNKT cells in regulating adipose inflammation and body weight. The goal of this project is to use a multi-disciplinary approach to identify key signals and molecules used by iNKT cells to induce metabolic control and weight loss in obesity. Using immunological assays and multi-photon intravital microscopy, cells and pathways that control the unique regulatory functions of adipose iNKT cells will be identified and characterised. Novel lipid antigens in adipose tissue will be identified using a biochemical approach, perhaps explaining iNKT cell conservation in adipose depots, and providing safe tools for iNKT cell manipulation in vivo. Finally, using proteomics and whole body metabolic analysis in vivo, novel ‘weight-loss inducing’ factors produced by adipose iNKT cells will be identified. This ambitious and high impact project has the potential to yield major insights into immunometabolic interactions at steady state and in obesity. The ability to activate or induce adipose iNKT cells holds remarkable potential as an entirely new therapeutic direction for treating obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Blockchain: a new framework for swarm RObotic Systems (BROS)

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: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Belgium,United States
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2016, 2016)
Start date: 2017-09-01
End date: 2020-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 258530.4
EU funding (EUR): 258530.4
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Swarms of robots will revolutionize many industrial applications, from targeted material delivery to precision farming. However, the characteristics that make them ideal for certain future applications —robot autonomy, decentralized control, collective emergent behavior, etc.— can also be an obstacle when transferring this technology from academic institutions to real-world problems. Blockchain, an emerging technology originating in the Bitcoin field, demonstrates that by combining peer-to-peer networks with cryptographic algorithms a group of agents can reach an agreement on a particular state of affairs without the need for a controlling authority. Using a novel combination of blockchain technology and swarm robotics systems, BROS will generate new models to address three fundamental issues by using the robots as nodes in a network and encapsulating their transactions in blocks: First, new security models and methods can be implemented in order to give data confidentiality and entity validation to robot swarms, therefore making them suitable for trust-sensitive applications. Second, distributed decision-making and collaborative missions can be easily designed, implemented, and carried out by using special transactions in the blockchain, which enable robotic agents to vote and reach agreements. Third, robots may be able to function in diverse and changing environments without any change in their control algorithm, if their operation corresponds to different blockchains that use different parameters. In the initial stage, blockchain technology will be used as a main control plane in combination with novel large-scale robot simulation tools such as ARGoS. Finally, the feasibility of the models obtained under the previous objective will be validated in real-robot swarms, outputting a prototypical system that can serve as initial step towards transferring the proposed techniques from the academia into the industry.

Keywords: swarm robotics,blockchain,distributed systems,decentralized systems,multi agent systems
Interfaces in Turbulent Premixed Flames (ITPF) (ITPF)

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: Germany
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-12-01
End date: 2018-11-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 159460.8
EU funding (EUR): 159460.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project, "Interfaces in Turbulent Premixed Flames" (ITPF), aims at improving the physical understanding of the entrainment of hot products in annular co-flows of turbulent premixed flames into jets of fresh reactants. This research will characterize the entrainment processes through the study and comparison of Turbulent/Non-Turbulent (T/NT) and scalar interfaces in turbulent premixed flames. This is an essential point in combusting turbulent free shear flows, because a better knowledge of the dynamics of T/NT and scalar interfaces would lead to better predictions of flame instabilities and field structures. Moreover, the insight gained by this analysis will, in turn, be used to propose more physically sound and accurate turbulent mixing models. The entrainment mechanisms have been studied for the past decades. However, the description and quantification of the importance of small and large scales contributing to it is still unsolved. Thus, this research will use methodologies to locally characterize small-scale scalar structures and flow topologies, as well as, to scrutinize how large and medium size vortices influence and drive the entrainment processes. Therefore, this research requires high resolution simulations to investigate the structure of the enstrophy and scalar interfaces; this proposal intends to develop a Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of a turbulent premixed flame and analyze its results, in conjunction with Large Eddy Simulations (LES). A smart combination of DNS and LES will permit to unveil contributions of large and small structures to the entrainment process, to better comprehend physical mechanisms and to formulate sound and accurate mixing and combustion models. In summary, this proposal will directly address the cross-cutting priority of sustainable development in Information Science and Engineering established by the H2020 Work Programme and will reinforce the already large European competitiveness in turbulent combustion research.

Keywords: turbulent combustion,turbulent entrainment,enstrophy,vorticity,turbulent,non turbulent interfaces,turbulence theory,small scale flow topologies,scalar iso surfaces,curvatures
Financing Energy Saving Solutions for SMEs (FINESSS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Secure, clean and efficient energy
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for a low carbon energy system (H2020-SMEINST-1-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-03-01
End date: 2016-11-30
Duration (months): 9.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The EU wishes to improve energy efficiency (EE) by 20% in 2020. SMEs represent 40% of EUs economy, but they invest too little in EE, because it’s not their core business and they lack suitable financing options. 70% of SMEs indicate that they would consider investing if finance was available. It is Volgroen's ambition to become SMEs largest provider of financed Energy Efficiency measures. Through partners (equipment providers, contractors, EE consultants) Volgroen offers finance to SME customers who can now directly benefit from energy savings without hassle and without having to make direct investments. By aggregating small-scale EE investments through its scalable partner network, Volgroen enables financial markets to invest in these small scale energy saving measures. Volgroen intends to perform a quick scan in 15 different EU countries and seek detailed market information on three questions: What are legislative aspects, what are financing and refinancing possibilities and what are the market aspects for each country. The results from the quick scan will be validated in detail for 3 to 4 countries. A business plan ‘Volgroen European expansion’ is elaborated with focus on the 3 to 4 scanned and validated countries. Volgroen has innovative web-based back-office processes, procedures, systems and databases, allowing them to offer financing starting at €2.000 to SMEs for EE investments. SMEs start paying less for their energy on day 1. On average they save €4 for each invested Euro. Their partners may use Volgroen’s infrastructure to change from selling technology to providing energy savings. This paradigm shift has proven increased sales of EE measures by the partners in the Netherlands, Volgroen’s home market and through pilots in Germany and Belgium. Now Volgroen wishes to expand their scalable and replicable business model for small scale energy saving measures for SMEs to other countries and create a €500 million fund by 2020.

Keywords: energy efficiency,lease
Next generation Compact Lightsource And Spectrometer Systems (xCLASS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Innovative Training Networks (ITN)-European Industrial Doctorates
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Physics
Countries involved: Belgium,Netherlands
Call: Innovative Training Networks (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2017-09-01
End date: 2021-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1011868.56
EU funding (EUR): 1011868.56
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Increasing health and environmental awareness of European citizens has led to an urgent demand for spectral analysis of matter. However, what is missing are novel and cost-effective methods to sense the desired analytes with high sensitivity and high reliability using small and portable devices. Moreover, there is a severe shortage in the European spectroscopy industry of graduates and PhDs with the right expertise along the complete technology supply chain for the development of such micro-spectrometer systems. Training and education in all its aspects, namely in optical modeling and design, fabrication and prototyping, measurements and characterization, sensor readout and data analysis towards proof-of concept demonstration up to industrial valorisation of the micro-spectrometer systems is crucial, but to our knowledge not offered today as a whole. In response, xCLASS sets up a training through research programme, provided by a consortium of a leading academic centre (VUB) and a leading industrial partner (Anteryon), in which four ESRs will work on a disruptive compact high-performance micro-spectrometer concept, broadly applicable in various application domains. All ESRs will be enrolled in the PhD programme at VUB, the academic partner of xCLASS. The recruited researchers will be exposed to an integrated highly collaborative and interdisciplinary research environment where VUB and Anteryon together cover the complete supply chain. The combination of a broad and in-depth education and training in the complete technology supply chain of optical spectrometer systems and the extensive training in transferable skills that the ESRs will experience in xCLASS will optimally prepare them for a successful career as photonic scientists in European academy and the photonics industry. Beyond the impact on the structural training programme, xCLASS will result in a significant societal and economic impact in healthcare, environmental and food safety sectors for whole Europe.

Keywords: photonics,photonic sensors,optical spectroscopy,miniaturization and assembly,advanced signal processing
RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE TRAINING PLUS (RItrainPlus)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Research Infrastructures
Theme: Research infrastructures
Destination: Support and infrastructures
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Austria,Spain,Italy,Italy,Italy,Germany,Spain,Poland,Slovenia,Sweden,Norway,Switzerland,Norway,Finland,France,France
Call: Strengthening the human capital of research infrastructures (H2020-INFRASUPP-2020-2, 2020)
Start date: 2021-04-01
End date: 2025-03-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2000000.0
Participants: 19
Project status: SIGNED

Research Infrastructures (RI) are standing pillars for excellence in science and a vital element for the realization of the European Union as a knowledge-based society. Together with Core Facilities (CF)- existing in many universities, academic research centres and national nodes of distributed RI- RI are also major actors in the implementation of the EU Open Science and Open Innovation strategy and a major factor for its success. As RI and CF increase in importance, questions about how to organize, maintain, manage and finance them have become a major topic for funding and research organisations. This proposal brings together, for the first time, RI, CF and European universities, in a new innovative concept to transform the access and empowerment of human resources for national and international scientific facilities in Europe. The overarching goal of RItrainPlus is to design and deliver a training programme to fulfill the competency requirements for the current and future managers of European RI and CF. RItrain Plus will: i) drive excellence, operational improvements and long-term sustainability of European RI and CF by developing: formal learning activities: executive post-graduate courses; learning on the job: staff exchange, with a short-term mobility programme at different RI/CF locations; peer learning: a Community of Practice, within all RI and CF, able to promote existing excellence and experience, and share knowledge; ii) create a foundation for the long-term provision of highly qualified personnel for managing RI and CF by developing Learning Activities embedded in existing university programs and a certifiable European Longitudinal Learning Track; iii) establish a permanent and self-sustainable European School for Management of Research Infrastructures. In the four-year project all the required steps will be performed, with extended involvement of ERICs, EIROforum members, national agencies, and other relevant stakeholders in the design process.

Keywords: research infrastructure,core facility,human resources,executive education,academic programmes,school of management,community of practice
A computational framework to interpret the chemical language of the microbiome (DECIPHER)

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: Netherlands
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2020-STG, 2020)
Start date: 2020-12-01
End date: 2025-11-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499965.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499965.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Humans, animals and plants are covered in microbes. Such microbiomes have a major impact on the health of their hosts and have been linked to traits like growth promotion, stress resilience, and diseases. However, the mechanisms underlying microbiome-host interactions remain poorly understood. Recent studies have shown that microbiome-associated phenotypes are often mediated by specific molecules, a ‘chemical language’ that enables microbes to interact with each other and with the host. The biosynthesis of these molecules is encoded in metabolic gene clusters (MGCs) that are subject to frequent horizontal transfer and are therefore highly strain-specific. Current computational methods for analysing microbiomes largely focus on comparative taxonomic analyses and generic metabolism, and overlook this complex "chemical dialog". Indeed, no adequate methods are available to systematically study the roles of MGCs in microbiomes. At the same time, metabolomics data from microbiomes are full of ‘dark matter’: unknown molecules that cannot be traced to their producers. Here, I propose to develop the first comprehensive computational framework to study the chemical language of the microbiome. In the past years, I have developed technologies that lay the foundation for this ERC project, including automated identification of MGCs, grouping them into families and annotating them using reference data. With DECIPHER, I will move my research to the next level, by developing new algorithms to link MGCs to their metabolic products and to predict their molecular and ecological functions in microbiomes. I will then apply this new framework in a systematic study of microbiome- associated phenotypes in plants and humans. Together, the innovations proposed here will fill a key gap in the analysis of microbiome function and pave the way toward precision-engineering of microbiomes with specific metabolic capabilities for designer soils and microbiome-based therapies.

Keywords: microbiome,specialized metabolism,natural products,biosynthetic gene cluster
Emulsions in Plant-based Edible Cellulose Microfibril Gels: Structure, Texture and Stability (PlantEmulGel)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Society and Enterprise panel
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Physics
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-12-01
End date: 2020-11-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 165598.8
EU funding (EUR): 165598.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project aims to develop a new consumer acceptable all plant based solutions for stabilisation of edible emulsions, whose design is based on the fundamental understanding of the structure-stabilisation-flow properties of cellulose microfibril (MFC)-containing hybrid systems that are naturally found in plant cells. While there is much empirical knowledge about emulsion rheology and stability, the microscopic physical mechanisms that govern emulsion behaviour are still poorly understood, and in this particular case, for emulsions with a complexity that goes beyond the standard oil/water/surfactant systems. This lack of understanding greatly hampers the rational design of all plant structured emulsion-based products. To bridge this gap, we bring together a team of industrial and academic research groups with different, complementary expertise. By using high energy density processes for efficient deagglomeration of the CMF and proposing a new structuring approach through the continuous phase of the plant based emulsion, we will control emulsion stability. By combining macroscopic rheology and tribology with novel microfluidic tools and imaging techniques, we will establish the relation between the macroscopic flow behaviour and stability of the emulsions and the microscopic structure and interactions, and thereby increase our understanding of flowing emulsions beyond the current empirical models. It will help us to move further and provide a special focus on the mouthfeel of all plant structured emulsions. The prediction of mouthfeel texture attributes from rheology is crucial for the food industry to take a more systematic approach towards product design and optimization in order to meet consumers' preference is for natural, simple and flexible diets and other plant-focused formulations as closely as possible. The results of the project are translatable to other industries where emulsion formulation is required.

Keywords: plant structured emulsions,cellulose microfibrils,nanofibrils,hybrid polymer networks,hybrid gels,structuring,mouthfeel,texture attributes,thickness,rheology,confined complex flow,stability