Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Nanoscale water: A Quantum Understanding of Angstrom-scale transport (n-AQUA)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Synergy grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Germany,France,United Kingdom
Call: ERC Synergy Grants (ERC-2022-SYG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-04-01
End date: 2029-03-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 9982879.0
EU funding (EUR): 9982879.0
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

Water is a substance that needs no introduction: It shapes our blue planet, is life-enabling, and scientifically fascinating with a host of anomalous behaviours. Despite centuries of studies, breakthroughs in the last decade have shown that when wWater is an abundant, yet exceptional and life-enabling substance. The past decades have seen tremendous progress in our understanding of the many peculiarities of water, many of which can be traced to the nature of the interactions between water molecules. When confining water to nanometer-range pores and cavities, wholly new and unexpected phenomena appear: water flows differently in confinement, its phase diagram changes drastically, and conventional theories break down. This is exciting from a scientific perspective, but also of great technological importance: nanoscale water is fundamental to water purification and desalination, where water has to flow through nanopores, and for energy-related processes as a source of protons and hydrogen. Here, we aim for fundamental new scientific insights into water at key length- and time-scales by bringing together a critical mass of researchers with complementarity skillsets in nanofluidics, spectroscopy, and theory and simulation. We follow a radically new perspective for nanoscale water transport, envisioning confined water not only in terms of real-space confinement, but also in terms of its collective modes: how they couple and resonate with the confining material and its - quantum - excitations to affect global transport. Seeing water dynamics in both the real and Fourier worlds allows us to naturally address quantum couplings and light- matter interactions and their effect at nanoscales. This opens a new world of possibilities, e.g., by controlling water motion through fine-tuning of its excitations, quantum engineering of water transport is made possible. Such views have the potential to enable world-changing novel technologies in the water-energy nexus and related fields.

Keywords: water,molecular scale friction,transport control,in situ spectroscopy,nano fluidics,electronic structure
Targeting the Metabolic Dependencies of Metastatic Tumor Cells (METATARGET)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Panel description: Organ and tissue physiology, comparative physiology, physiology  of ageing , pathophysiology, inter - organ and tissue communication, endocrinology, nutrition,  metabolism, interaction with the microbiome, non -communicable diseases including cancer (and except disorders of the nervous system  and immunity -related diseases)
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2022-STG, 2022)
Start date: 2024-06-01
End date: 2029-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1493750.0
EU funding (EUR): 1493750.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Metastasis is responsible for over 90% of deaths that occur in patients with cancer. So far there are no therapies that precisely target a metastatic disease due to the limited number of efficient druggable targets. Recently, I discovered in melanoma: circulating tumor cells are depending on arginine for their survival. In addition, I revealed that liver metastases specifically upregulate their alanine metabolism during metastasis. Thus, metastatic cells at different stages have dependencies on unique amino acids (AA). While most research focuses on the primary stage, my proposal will focus on the missing gap aiming to prevent metastases formation. Based on these new paradigm-changing discoveries, I hypothesize that metastatic cells modulate their AA metabolism during metastatic progression, and targeting the unique AA dependencies will decrease their survival and metastatic potential. Using sophisticated in vivo metastasis assays both in mouse and in patient, cutting-edge mass spectrometry and in vivo isotope tracing technologies, I will identify metastasis-specific inhibitors by investigating the following questions. I. How does arginine support melanoma cell survival in circulation? By using metabolomics, stable isotope tracer analysis and transplantation assays both in mouse and human, I will uncover how we can use this unique AA dependency of CTCs as a novel target. II.How does metabolic heterogeneity in the circulating tumor cells support organotropism? To mechanically dissect metastatic organotropism, I will map metabolic differences in melanoma metastases and also examine how we can target alanine metabolism to block metastases. The understanding of AA adaptation of cancer cells is essential for the prevention of metastasis. My results will reveal new metabolic pathways that are required by metastasizing cells in vivo and therefore will fundamentally advance the ability to develop new targeted therapies for preventing early and late-stage metastatic cancer.

Keywords: cancer metabolism,cancer metastasis,melanoma,amino acids
SOCIAL SCIENCES FOR DEMOCRACY: A TRAINING PROGRAM FOR IMPROVING RESEARCH ON ILLIBERAL SYSTEMS AND FINDING WAYS TO BUILD MORE ROBUST DEMOCRACIES (SOS4democracy)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area
Programme: Widening participation and spreading excellence
Theme: Attracting and mobilising the best talents
Destination: Attracting and mobilising the best talents
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Slovenia,Italy,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Türkiye,Belgium
Call: Fostering balanced brain circulation – ERA Talents (HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS-03, 2022)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2714232.5
EU funding (EUR): 2714232.5
Participants: 11
Project status: SIGNED

The turn to illiberalism, often combined with anti-European rhetoric, represents a serious threat to the European Union. With most of the research focused on Poland and Hungary, the emergence of illiberal trends in other countries, including Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, and Italy, has often been neglected. To fill this gap, the SOS4democracy project aims to create an alliance of research and higher-education institutions, civil society associations, and a private news media organization to develop effective training programs for enhancing research on the recent turn to authoritarian systems in South-Eastern Europe. In line with the working program, the project will pursue three major objectives. Firstly, the project will strengthen cooperation and improve research and innovation ecosystems in academic and non-academic organizations by developing a training-through-research program to equip researchers, journalists, and civil society activists with the conceptual and methodological tools needed to explore the impact of illiberal measures in the participating countries. The training-through-research program will be carried out during secondments involving 31 staff members. Secondly, to ensure the transfer of know-how between the academic and non-academic sectors, the project will develop the following training programs: the academic sector will provide training on advanced research methods and practical skills, the news media organization will provide media training, while non-governmental organizations will provide training on civic monitoring mechanisms, public advocacy, and the use of new technology in civil society organizing. The extensive transfer of know how will be carried out on secondments, in-person networking events, and webinars. Thirdly, to improve the overall R&I capacity of all participating organizations, the project will organize a training program on research management, knowledge brokering, data stewardship, and knowledge transfer.

Keywords: democracy,human rights,fundamental freedoms,illiberal systems,resistance
Deciphering the microglia-neuron interactions in human Alzheimer's disease (XenoMicrogliaAD)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Panel description: Nervous system development, homeostasis and ageing , nervous system  function and dysfunction , systems neuroscience  and modelling , biological basis of cognitive processes and of behaviour, neurological and mental disorders – In humans and all other organisms
Countries involved: Belgium
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2021-STG, 2021)
Start date: 2023-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The goal of this project is to decipher the exact cellular and molecular mechanisms by which human microglia transduce toxicity to neurons in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Genetics revealed that microglia are one of the central players in the pathogenesis of AD. I and others have characterized the phenotypic response of microglia in AD using transcriptomic and epigenetic tools. Nevertheless, it is yet to be defined how microglia communicate with other cells in the brain, by which mechanism they lead to neuronal alterations, and what the particular role of different microglial activation states is in this process. I will investigate the two major functional outputs of microglia - namely physical interaction with synapses and release of inflammatory factors that induce neuronal dysfunction and degeneration - in AD. Determining the role of human microglia in AD comes with technical challenges, including lack of homology between mouse and humans, and limited expression of AD risk genes in mouse microglia. I will use a human microglia xenograft model I pioneered where iPSC-derived cells are transplanted into the mouse brain, and in which they adopt a brain resident phenotype and can be exposed to amyloid-b plaques. I plan to combine xenotransplantation of genetically engineered iPSC-derived microglia and neurons, with state-of-the-art strategies to define the human microglia-synapse protein interactome as well as the cell-specific proteome/secretome. I aim to 1) define the surface protein interactome between human microglia and mouse synapses in vivo, 2) co-transplant human microglia and human neurons in the mouse brain to explore human to human specific aspects of this interaction, and 3) investigate the human microglia specific secretome in AD. This project will be the first of its kind to directly study the role of human microglia in the AD brain at cellular and molecular levels, opening new avenues for the development of new therapeutics and biomarkers to tackle disease.

Keywords: microglia,xenotransplantation,alzheimer s disease
MID-INFRARED QUANTUM TECHNOLOGY FOR SENSING (MIRAQLS)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Digital, Industry and Space
Theme: Digital
Destination: Digital & Emerging Technologies for Competitiveness and Fit for the Green Deal
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Spain,Canada,United Kingdom,Italy,Germany,Switzerland,Poland
Call: International cooperation with Canada (RIA) (HORIZON-CL4-2021-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-10-01
End date: 2026-03-31
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1241347.5
EU funding (EUR): 1240097.5
Participants: 14
Project status: SIGNED

To increase our ability to sense the changes in the environment around us, we must understand how to control the quantum properties of light and matter at the fundamental limits of their interaction. As such, quantum sensing is poised to bring paradigm-shifting transformations to how precision measurements are performed. Given the central role that MIR spectroscopy plays on many of the pressing issues facing modern society, there is an urgent need for systematic investments into the innovation and development of MIR quantum technologies for sensing applications. MIRAQLS brings together an interdisciplinary team of Canadian and European researchers, together with industry partners, who share a long-term vision for the development of MIR quantum photonic technologies for sensing applications. Our team combines expertise in quantum photonics, materials science, optoelectronic component development, MIR laser science and spectroscopy, biophotonics, photonic inverse design, quantum optics theory, and quantum information science, and quantum technologies. MIRAQLS aims to tackle some of the biggest challenges that have hampered the development of MIR quantum technologies, while at the same time delivering concept demonstrators, such as quantum-enhanced Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (q-FTIR), quantum-enhanced optical coherence tomography (q-OCT) and SU(1,1) interferometry. By manipulation of quantum statistics of the input states, e.g. squeezing and entanglement operations, we aim to achieve better sensitivity bounds in comparison to the classical technology, limited to the operation at the standard quantum limit (SQL). Improvements in MIR sensing will directly translate to increased societal well-being, safety, and prosperity; it becomes indispensable in the context of the global fight against the looming climate crisis.

Keywords: quantum sensing,mid infrared,quantum spectroscopy,quantum information
Resolving the spacial distribution of TGN subdomains at super-resolution and deciphering their role in specific cargo sorting (TRACE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Postdoctoral Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: France
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2026-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 242260.56
EU funding (EUR): 242260.56
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The trans-Golgi network (TGN) serves as a central sorting station of membrane traffic standing at the intersection of secretory and endocytic pathways, a feature that is now proposed to be a common trait between plant, yeast and animal cells. The multi-identity of TGN relies on its partitioning in subdomains but, due to the lack of resolution in conventional microscopy, it is still poorly understood how TGN subdomains relate dynamically to each other, or acquire their identity, and how they achieve the sorting of a variety of cargo proteins to different destinations. The applicant previously identified of at least two subdomains, one labeled by the R-SNARE VAMP721 and the coat protein AP-1 and that is involved in secretory trafficking, and another labeled by VAMP727 and AP-4 and that is involved in vacuolar trafficking. The host lab previously demonstrated by lipidomic analyses that sphingolipids with very long chain fatty acid were enriched in Q-SNARE SYP61-labelled TGN compartments and were critical for polar sorting of the auxin carrier PIN2 to apical plasma membrane. The goal of this project is now to join forces, expertise and scientific networks to gain from each other and tackle the challenging questions of: 1) what is the exact structure of TGN, how are TGN subdomains spatially arranged between each other and how do they behave dynamically, this will be addressed by super-resolution microscopy, 2) what is the proteo-lipidic composition of TGN subdomains and what is the role of lipids in TGN partitioning, 3) how the identified subdomains are functionally important for cargo sorting and trafficking to different destination by employing a novel pulse-chase method. This project is timely, realistic, focused and represents a unique combination of expertise from the applicant in super-resolution 3D live imaging of TGN subdomains and the host lab in TGN-mediated trafficking, lipid analytical biochemistry and super-resolution imaging.

Keywords: plant,arabidopsis thaliana,membrane traffic,trans golgi network,organelle subdomain,super resolution imaging,lipidomics
Purposeful Intrinsically motivated Lifelong Learning Autonomous Robots (PILLAR-Robots)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Digital, Industry and Space
Theme: Digital
Destination: Digital & Emerging Technologies for Competitiveness and Fit for the Green Deal
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Partnership: AI-DATA-ROBOTICS (co-programmed)
Countries involved: Spain,Italy,France,Greece
Call: Pushing the limit of robotics cognition (AI, Data and Robotics Partnership) (RIA) (HORIZON-CL4-2021-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-10-01
End date: 2026-10-31
Duration (months): 49.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4990046.25
EU funding (EUR): 4990046.0
Participants: 8
Project status: SIGNED

PILLAR-Robots aims at developing a new generation of robots endowed with a higher level of autonomy, that are able to determine their own goals and establish their own strategies, creatively building on the experience acquired during their lifetime to fulfil the desires of their human designers/users in real-life application use-cases brought to TRL5. To this end, the project will operationalize the concept of Purpose, drawn from the cognitive sciences, to increase the autonomy and domain independence of robots during autonomous learning and, at the same time, to lead them to acquire knowledge and skills that are actually relevant for operating in target real applications. In particular, the project will develop algorithms for the acquisition of purpose by the robot, ways to bias the perceptual, motivational and decision systems of the robots’ cognitive architectures towards purposes, and strategies for learning representations, skills and models that allow the execution of purpose-related deliberative and reactive decision processes. Given the aim of reaching TRL5, PILLAR-Robots will implement and validate demonstrators of purposeful lifelong open-ended autonomy using the resulting Purposeful Intrinsically Motivated Cognitive Architecture within three different application fields characterized by different types and levels of variability: Agri-food, Edutainment, and unstructured Industrial/retail. PILLAR-Robots will perform a complete evaluation of the possibilities and impacts of purposeful lifelong open-ended autonomy in these realms from an operational perspective, but also from a market-oriented (with significant productivity gains) and societal (socio-economic, ethical and regulatory) perspective. Engagement of industry and SME players is also expected in order to prepare the ground for further large-scale demonstration.

Keywords: autonomous robots,open ended learning,lifelong learning,intrinsic motivations
Batteries Europe Secretariat (BEST)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Climate, Energy and Mobility
Theme: Energy
Destination: Cross-sectoral solutions for the climate transition
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Partnership: Batteries (co-programmed)
Countries involved: Netherlands,Belgium,Spain,Germany,Norway,Italy,Sweden
Call: Support for establishment of R&I ecosystem, developing strategic forward-looking orientations to ensure future skills development, knowledge and technological leadership for accelerated disruptive technology exploration and uptake (Batteries Partnership) (HORIZON-CL5-2021-D2-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-05-01
End date: 2025-04-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2999886.25
EU funding (EUR): 2999886.25
Participants: 17
Project status: CLOSED

Batteries Europe Secretariat (BEST) proposal aims to enrich, strengthen and extend the key role of Batteries Europe by gathering academia, industry and research expertise within the Secretariat to consolidate the Battery R&I community and assist the existing platform in the achievement of their ambitious goals. BEST consortium will engage in its experts working groups industry stakeholders, academia, policy makers, researchers and citizens from all the value chain, especially broadening involvement on underrepresented domains and countries. BEST will contribute to gain synergies among battery R&I stakeholders’ landscape, consolidate the workflow among the initiatives, facilitate free and inclusive access to information, strength industry-research collaboration to push technology developments to reduce time to market of new solutions, reinforce European talent attraction capacity and provide fact-based orientations to policy makers. The Secretariat will gather expertise to develop Strategic R&I agenda, design updated roadmaps, establish KPIs per application (transport, stationary, portable, etc.) to nurture the SET Plan, contribute to standards and reporting methodologies harmonization, promote education on battery fields and rise social awareness. The Secretariat will organize workshops per objectives, complemented with experts’ interviews, discussion forums, scientific papers review, etc. to confront current state of the art with future trends, considering international tendencies. BEST is formed by 11 partners and 4 affiliated entities, led by Innonergy, with ZABALA, CLERENS SINTEF, VDI/VDE INNOVATION, CICenergiGUNE INSTM (UNIMIB, UNIPV, POLITO), EERA, EASE and ENEA. The partners are promoters of main European initiatives related to batteries that has facilitated the establishment of collaboration flows to bring Batteries Europe Platform to next stage in 36 months, with a budget of 2.999.889 €.

Keywords: batteries technologies,energy storage,european batteries value chain,batteries research and innovation communities,electrification