Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Regulation of Acinetobacter baumannii biofilm formation by c-di-GMP signaling (AB-Biofilm)

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: Denmark
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2023-03-01
End date: 2025-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 230774.4
EU funding (EUR): 230774.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In recent years, Acinetobacter baumannii has been recognized as a serious threat to human health due to its high rates of infection and resistance to various antibiotics. Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have announced A. baumannii as an urgent threat with a priority to find novel antimicrobials against it. Various diseases have been attributed to biofilms of A. baumannii, and since biofilms are inherently tolerant to antibiotics the treatment procedures are challenged. The nucleotide signaling molecule c-di-GMP has been shown to regulate biofilm formation in a variety of bacterial species. Previous studies have shown a role of c-di-GMP signaling in biofilm formation by A. baumannii, but the underlying mechanisms still remain unclear. Understanding the mechanisms of c-di-GMP signaling systems potentially contribute to identification of new drug targets. Therefore, this research proposal intends to obtain knowledge on how c-di-GMP signaling regulates key components involved in biofilm formation by A. baumannii through a multidisciplinary approach by employing biochemical, molecular and microbiological techniques. The project is in line with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) request and EU Action on antibacterial resistance. The proposed project will establish a research platform based on A. baumannii in the host institute. The candidate will gain knowledge about c-di-GMP signaling system and the methods needed to elucidate the function of proteins which are associated with specific microbial traits. The acquired techniques along with the transferable skills obtained during the implementation of this project will greatly increase the candidate’s competency to find a job in positions related to molecular and pharmaceutical microbiology.

Keywords: acinetobacter baumannii,c di gmp signaling,biofilm formation,adhesins,exopolysaccharides
The transcriptional response to oxidative stress (TranscriptStress)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Integrative B iology : from Genes and Genomes to S ystems
Panel description: For all organis ms: Genetics, epigenetics, genomics  and other ‘omics studies , bioinformatics, systems biology , genetic diseases , gene editing, innovative methods and modelling,  ‘omics for personalised  medicine
Countries involved: Denmark
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2022-STG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-07-01
End date: 2029-06-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Environmental stress triggers a cellular response to promote adaptation and survival, typically through activation of stress genes. What is less appreciated is that various types of cellular stress at the same time induce widespread transcriptional repression at most other genes. Although such transcriptional reprogramming is common to various kinds of cellular stress, recent evidence suggests it is governed by different stress-specific mechanisms. A brief exposure to oxidative stress leads to a rapid and transient global repression of transcription. However, our current knowledge about the oxidative stress response is extremely limited. Based on our preliminary results, I hypothesise that the transcriptional response to oxidative stress involves both regulation of transcription elongation as well as termination and that these are connected to post-translational modifications of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) itself. Here, I propose an ambitious approach to investigate the transcriptome-wide oxidative stress response in human cells and following physiologically induced oxidative stress in mice. To this end, we will use a combination of state-of-the art sequencing techniques coupled with time-resolved proteomics and a novel screening approach. Together, our work will provide important new knowledge about the transcriptional response to oxidative stress and the factors involved – in an area that is currently not well understood. Such knowledge is also crucial to understand the fundamental mechanisms allowing RNAPII to stop transcribing and restart again. Finally, we will investigate how factors involved in the transcriptional response influence transcription-associated genome instability and neuronal cell identity. This will be relevant for diseases in which oxidative stress has been implicated, such as neurological disorders and cancer.

Keywords: transcription,nascent transcription,rna polymerase ii,transcriptional elongation and termination,rnapii phosphorylation,co transcriptional processing,tt seq,stress response
Learning to Create Virtual Worlds (Gen3D)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Computer Science and Informatics
Panel description: Informatics and information systems, computer science, scientific computing, intelligent systems
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2024-COG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-02-01
End date: 2030-01-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2750000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2750000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

In recent years, we have seen a revolution of learning methods that generate highly-realistic images, such as generative adversarial neural networks, autoregressive methods, or diffusion models (e.g., DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, Runway, etc). Unfortunately, the vast majority of these methods are tailored towards the 2D image domain, while their respective 3D counterparts – 3D models that fuel computer graphics applications, and enable visually immersive experiences – remain in their infancy. In this proposal, we tackle the challenge of automatic generation of 3D content for virtual worlds. Such 3D generated content enables versatility, with flexible rendering from arbitrary viewpoints that match the visual fidelity of the real world. We focus on 3D content creation for visually immersive experiences for a much wider audience in myriad applications, such as video games, movies, AR/VR scenarios, CAD modeling, architectural & industrial design, and medical applications. We believe that the key towards automated, high-fidelity content creation lies in developing new machine learning techniques to transform 3D content generation. (A) We will develop 3D Generative Models that output 3D polygon meshes, along with their surface textures and material properties, highlighting generation of 3D content that can be directly consumed by modern graphics pipelines. (B) To train our 3D generative models to reflect the complexity and diversity of real data, we will devise methods for Supervision from Images and Videos. The key challenge here is that such collections of images and videos are by nature incomplete projections of the underlying 3D world, thus requiring learning paradigms that generalize across partial instances. (C) We will research techniques that provide Control and Editability through Conditional Generation. In particular, we will focus on conditional input from both novice (e.g., text-based editing) and expert (e.g., based on existing authoring tools) users alike.
Conceptual development: modulating and utilizing intrinsic reactivity (IntrinsicR)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Panel description: New materials and new synthetic approaches, structure -properties relations, solid state chemistry, molecular architecture, organic chemistry
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2025-STG, 2025)
Start date: 2026-01-01
End date: 2030-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1410000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1410000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

This project focuses on fundamental principles of organic reactivity. Achieving broad manipulable selectivity in catalysis is often hindered by limited understanding of the mechanistic generality across various systems. This concept-driven project will offer a new way of thinking, starting by revealing whether each selectivity pattern is incidental on its own or systematic across a family of reactions. Between competing pathways at the transition state (TS), a very under-explored aspect is that each pathway has a distinct sensitivity to changes in the kinetic-thermodynamic relationship—how much can a given change in reaction free energy impact reaction rates. Adjusting the thermodynamic driving force can alter the differences in energy discrimination at the TS between competing paths, thereby increasing and even switching selectivity. The difference in this sensitivity between competing pathways is crucial in determining how responsive the selectivity is to thermodynamic changes. This sensitivity has not been treated as an adjustable variable in targeted modulation, nor has it been utilized as a design principle in catalytic reactions. This project aims to develop a framework that systematically modulates such sensitivity. We work in both directions, simultaneously instantiating the overarching concepts with concrete examples of common organic reactions and deriving rational reaction designs from them, converging the two into a cohesive framework. The focused conceptual framework is relevant in a virtually unlimited number of chemical systems, which offers a "deductive" complementarity to many other research programs. The understanding gained could fundamentally alter strategies for selectivity manipulation in small-molecule catalysis and guide practical advancements in areas such as copolymerization. Though conceptually ambitious, the project uses established standard physical organic approaches, making it methodologically highly feasible.
Microscale enabled advanced flow and heat transfer technologies featuring high performance and low power consumption (Micro-FloTec)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Staff Exchanges
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Türkiye,Singapore,China,Korea, Republic of,United Kingdom,France,Portugal,Italy,Thailand,Canada
Call: MSCA Staff Exchanges 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-SE-01, 2021)
Start date: 2023-03-01
End date: 2027-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 448828.57
EU funding (EUR): 437000.0
Participants: 22
Project status: SIGNED

With the emergence of Industry 4.0, electronic and digital devices are incorporated into almost all high tech applications. There has also been a notable shift towards compact electronic devices, which requires more intense operating powers — leading to enormous heat dissipation. Thus, whilst devices are increasingly becoming portable and powerful, thermal management techniques are arguably not catching up at the same rate. Hence, continuous improvement and innovative approaches are needed. In this regard, microchannel-based techniques present innovative possibilities to tackle thermal management and cooling issues in modern appliances across various industries, aligning with the trend to adopt more sustainable approaches and the EU 2016 legislation for heating and cooling. Consequently, our 'Micro-FloTec' project adapts an international, multidisciplinary, and collaborative approach to exchange expertise from 17 research institutions and two industrial partners to trigger significant advancements and agile development for heat transfer and thermal management solutions. The consortium shares robust experience and skills related to heat transfer enhancement, large-scale electrical energy storage via thermal processes, new generation materials science, multi-phase flow, flow and heat transfer of high-temperature rotating parts, design and modelling for energy-efficient control systems, marketing and entrepreneurship skills, amongst others. Based on the appraisal of the current state-of-the-art literature and technologies, we aim to tackle problems within morphological optimization of multiphase heat transfer performance and flow resistance reduction, surface modification techniques, and application of multi-phase physics for performance prompting. Our project will hopefully achieve cost-effective and sustainable solutions, initiate future advancements and investigations, and contribute towards the EU's 2050 long-term strategy for climate and energy saving goals.

Keywords: microchannel,heat transfer,thermal management,microfluids,microtechnology,micro scale boiling,phase change process,
Quantum Synthesis (QuantumSynth)

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: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-04-01
End date: 2027-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 260347.92
EU funding (EUR): 260347.92
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Quantum circuits form the basic building blocks of quantum computers and algorithms. Current quantum algorithms are created and analysed manually and in an ad-hoc manner. We want to automatically synthesize correct circuits for given specifications, which is beyond current technologies. In this project we will develop new techniques for automated synthesis of quantum circuits. We will do this by advancing game-theoretical approaches for stochastic games and apply them to quantum synthesis problems. Specifically, we will study games with probabilistic finite automata (PFAs) as both specifications and winning strategies, extending these insights to games with quantum finite automata (QFA). QFAs, the quantum counterparts of PFAs, are the most basic models of quantum computation. We will develop specification languages capable of expressing temporal, geometric, and stochastic properties in quantum computation and study the trade-offs between their expressiveness and effectiveness of related verification problems. Finally, we will develop proof-of-concept tools to implement the methods derived from this project.

Keywords: verification,automata logics
INNOVATION PROCUREMENT OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES FOR SAFE REMOTE VEHICLE STOPPING BY LAW ENFORCEMENT (INTERCEPT)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Civil Security for Society
Theme: Civil Security for Society
Destination: Strengthened Security Research and Innovation
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Greece,Italy,Netherlands,Spain,United Kingdom,Poland,France,Finland,Slovakia
Call: Open grounds for pre-commercial procurement of innovative security technologies (HORIZON-CL3-2023-SSRI-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-09-01
End date: 2025-08-31
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1059519.74
EU funding (EUR): 957144.45
Participants: 15
Project status: SIGNED

INTERCEPT aims to strengthen the capabilities of law enforcement authorities in the EU and equip them with effective methods to remotely and safely stop vehicles posing imminent and high-security threats to citizens and society. This involves identifying technology gaps to address in order to minimize existing vulnerabilities and enhance security efficiency. This objective is endorsed from the outset by various stakeholders, particularly security practitioners. INTERCEPT involves eight end-users from eight EU countries (Belgium, Finland, France, Poland, Netherlands, Slovak Republic, Spain, and the United Kingdom), all of whom are also public buyers. Additionally, numerous other end-users will participate through the User Observatory Group (UOG). The project follows a progressive and iterative approach to collectively identify a common challenge that can be addressed with identified candidate technologies, laying the groundwork for future PCP, for which the buyer's group will be created during the project, through the continuous involvement of the UOG. Initially, at least six jointly defined common security use cases will comprehensively outline the gaps between available solutions, existing procedures, and identified requirements. Subsequently, technological experts will analyse these needs, considering legal, societal, ethical, and environmental factors, as well as state-of-the-art (SOTA) analysis and consultations with the open market. The outcomes will ultimately inform the definition of the common challenge and the development of the initial set of tender documents.
Evicting pathogenic type-2 resident memory T cells from the lungs of asthmatics (4GETasthma)

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: Belgium
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2026-09-01
End date: 2028-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200400.0
EU funding (EUR): 200400.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Asthma is the most common chronic lung disease. In most asthmatics, allergen-specific type-2 CD4 T cells orchestrate allergic airway inflammation by producing type-2 cytokines that ultimately drive asthma pathology. Studies suggest that a subset of long-lived memory Th2 cells that reside in the lung, known as tissue-resident memory Th2 cells (T2RM), play a significant role in driving asthma chronicity and persistence. Therapies aimed at depleting T2RM from the lung represent a novel approach to treating asthma, however factors that regulate the generation and persistence of lung-T2RMs remain poorly understood. I hypothesize that distinct and druggable molecular pathways control lung-T2RM survival and re-activation. This work aims to decipher molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate the maintenance and re-activation of T2RM within the asthmatic lung niche. The host lab has recently developed a novel TCR transgenic (Tg) mouse line (1DER-CD5), containing a monoclonal population of house dust mite (HDM) specific CD4 T cells with high T2RM differentiation potential, which has been confirmed in preliminary experiments performed since joining the host lab. In WP1, I will perform single cell transcriptomic and proteomic analysis on 1DER-CD5 T cells in the lungs of mice in the memory phases of HDM-induced asthma to predict molecular and cellular networks that regulate lung-T2RM. In WP2, I will utilize targeted spatial transcriptomics, paired with confocal microscopy, to define the lung-T2RM niche and validate molecular and cellular interactions predicted in WP1. In WP3, I will use an in vivo CRISPR-screening approach with Cas9+ 1DER-CD5 T cells to pinpoint key druggable pathways that regulate lung-T2RM survival and re-activation. This work is expected to identify molecular pathways critical in regulating the persistence and re-activation of lung-T2RM, potentially leading to the development of novel therapies to deplete pathogenic T2RM from the airways of asthmatics.

Keywords: tissue resident memory t cells,asthma,allergy,immunological niches
Cochlear implants and spatial hearing: Enabling access to the next dimension of hearing (CherISH)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Doctoral Networks
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Germany,France,Belgium,Hungary,United Kingdom,Italy,Austria
Call: MSCA Doctoral Networks 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-DN-01, 2022)
Start date: 2024-03-01
End date: 2028-02-29
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2742913.03
EU funding (EUR): 2630361.6
Participants: 12
Project status: SIGNED

The loss of inner hair cells in the cochlea causes deafness. Since the first trial of a cochlear implant in 1957, cochlear implants have been developed to the point where they can (re-)restore hearing and speech understanding in a large proportion of patients. Although spatial hearing is central to controlling and directing attention and to enabling speech understanding in noisy environments it has been largely neglected. In current implants, matching of binaural information, a basic prerequisite for spatial hearing, is not yet implemented. Furthermore, intensive rehabilitation programs are lacking. The here proposed interdisciplinary doctoral network in which physicians, psychologists and engineers collaborate, aims at the improvement of spatial hearing in cochlear implant users. In ten different interconnected projects spatial hearing will be improved by (1) applying machine learning algorithms to identify sounds sources and to provide the information to CI users through visual or tactile spatial cues, (2) examining physiological impairments of spatial hearing in CI users and matching the imbalance of the binaural inputs, and by (3) patient-centered training programs that make use of virtual environments. The doctoral training network will provide the next generation of researchers and engineers that will have a good understanding of the multifaceted problems of spatial hearing and that will be equipped with expertise and skills to come up with innovative solutions in this field. The collaboration between academia and the private sector enables the realisation of new solutions for spatial hearing with CIs, thus enabling deaf patients to substantially improve their hearing.

Keywords: otolaryngology,biomedical engineering,psychology,cochlear implants,spatial hearing,attention control,rehabilitation,plasticity,virtual reality,machine learning,neurophysiology,psychophysics