Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Early detection and screening of hematological malignancies (SANGUINE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Mission
Theme: Cancer
Destination: Cancer
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Israel,Belgium,Germany,Czechia,Lithuania,Spain,Greece
Call: Develop new methods and technologies for cancer screening and early detection (HORIZON-MISS-2021-CANCER-02, 2021)
Start date: 2023-01-01
End date: 2026-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 8478000.0
EU funding (EUR): 8478000.0
Participants: 11
Project status: SIGNED

Project SANGUINE addresses the objectives raised by the Cancer Mission Call, which emerged from the growing societal challenge faced by European citizens. According to the European Cancer Information System (ECIS), each year, 2.7 million people in the EU are diagnosed with cancer. The SANGUINE project focuses on hematological malignancies, which account for 10% of those cases, and aims to target the four objectives of the Cancer Mission: (1) understanding, (2) prevention, including screening and early detection, (3) diagnosis, and (4) quality of life improvement of the patients and their relatives. The project introduces a novel minimally-invasive blood test that detects and classifies a set of hematological malignancies. The test is based on detecting a combination of epigenetic biomarkers in DNA from peripheral blood cells and in cell-free DNA. The SANGUINE test will provide superior sensitivity at low-cost which is ideal for screening purposes. This is enabled by direct fluorescent labeling of epigenetic marks in patient DNA and its analysis on a custom designed microarray – the HemaChip. SANGUINE team consists of a comprehensive and strong team of expert that will address medical, technological and social aspects of the developed diagnostic test. Expertise from the medical field includes clinical research, technology development and access to patients. This will enable optimization of the test for hematological malignancies following a user-centric approach and experiencing its implementation in “real-life” clinical settings. The social part of the team includes researchers and patient organization that will promote accessibility of the test to patients and individuals at-risk for screening, early detection and disease management, in combination with a study aiming to increase the screening rates. Ultimately, our project will provide validated reagents, HemaChips and data analysis software ready for large scale screening and early stage commercialization.

Keywords: epigenetics,hematological malignancies,cancer,early detection,screening microarray,methylation,5mc,hydroxymethylation,5hmc
Yuman, improving future care with autonomous mobile robots (Yuman)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: European innovation ecosystems
Theme: Elevating the scalability potential of European business
Destination: Elevating the scalability potential of European business
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Denmark
Call: Women TechEU (HORIZON-EIE-2022-SCALEUP-02, 2022)
Start date: 2023-07-01
End date: 2024-06-30
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 107142.86
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Yuman is a deep-tech Danish startup developing healthcare-centred mobile robots, unique in the global market, specifically designed to assist nurses by automating the transport of small items in hospital wards, like food, laundry, or medical equipment. Unlike other robots, we are creating a practical solution around the nurses’ needs, combined with state-of-the-art AI algorithms that allow our robots to be intelligent and assist nurses in a very diversified variety of transport tasks. Our research shows that on average, nurses spend 37% of their time transporting food, medicine, and laundry. This causes them a lot of stress and work pressure. Our goal is to free up nurses from these simple, but time-consuming routine tasks, so they can spend more time with their patients. Yuman was founded by Sara Lopez (CEO), Honours Computer Scientist, experienced in software engineering, AI, human-robot interaction, and computer vision. Sara is a young woman entrepreneur driven by integrating robotic technology into the healthcare systems. Sara thrives on solving the global shortage of nurses using state-of-the-start robot technology together with her team of dedicated and experienced engineers at Yuman. The Women TechEU grant of EUR 75.000 will help us build our MVP and create a robust technical foundation. It will allow us to conduct hospital tests and mature our technology from TRL 4 to TRL 7. With the successful test in hospitals, the Women TechEU grant would have helped us prove its commercial feasibility and product market fit.

Keywords: healthcare robotics
Benchmarking AI to predict mutagenicity by combing chemical structure and genome-wide mutation data (MUTAPREDICT)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS (ERC-2024-POC, 2024)
Start date: 2024-10-01
End date: 2026-03-31
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Assessing mutagenicity, the capacity of a substance to cause permanent and potentially harmful changes to an organism's DNA, is a pivotal concern in drug development. This assessment is crucial because it helps to predict the carcinogenic potential of new pharmaceuticals, ensuring that they are safe for human use. The importance of evaluating mutagenicity in drug development cannot be overstated. Drugs are designed to interact with biological systems to treat or prevent diseases, but they must do so without causing harmful genetic alterations. The process of developing a new drug involves a complex, time-consuming, and costly sequence of research and testing to ensure efficacy and safety. If mutagenicity is not accurately assessed, the consequences can be severe. Addressing the complexities and limitations associated with assessing mutagenicity in drug development, an innovative approach utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and whole genome sequencing (WGS) data presents a promising solution. MUTAPREDICT introduces an innovative AI-driven platform designed to revolutionize the field of drug development by accurately predicting the mutagenic potential of new chemical compounds. This platform is set to address the ethical, economic, and temporal challenges associated with conventional animal testing and in vitro analyses, promoting a more humane, cost-effective, and efficient approach to drug safety assessments. Leveraging advanced WGS data, our solution significantly accelerates the drug development process, ensuring both safety and efficacy. Our value proposition encompasses ethical and sustainable drug development by offering a viable alternative to animal testing, thus meeting the growing demands for ethical research practices.
Magnetic neural Network for predictive maintenance (MAG.NET)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EIC Transition
Destination: Challenges
Action type: EIC actions
Countries involved: France
Call: EIC Transition Challenge: Green digital devices for the future (HORIZON-EIC-2022-TRANSITION-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-05-01
End date: 2026-04-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499999.0
EU funding (EUR): 2499999.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Golana Computing is a new start-up company, spin-off from Spintec-CNRS, exploiting a recent scientific and technological breakthrough in the design and fabrication of bio-mimicking magnetic neurons. Breakthrough: Studying new magnetization reversal schemes, we have inadvertently discovered that domain wall depinning from geometrical traps imitates in many regards the spiking of biological neurons. Based on this, we designed, fabricated and tested magnetic neurons able to complete bio-mimicking tasks. Our magnetic neural network performs speech recognition and speaker identification in real-time, without any prior feature extraction. The audio is simply transformed into spikes by a mechanism inspired from the mammalian ear. Our Goal is to develop a technology and fabricate a prototype that extends this unique ability to other types of analog signals, and apply it for predictive maintenance in the manufacturing industry. The present solutions based on mainstream artificial intelligence (AI) struggle, because the problems at hand are too fragmented: the training data is too scarce and the model engineering relies on very specific expert knowledge. Our Solution, frugal in terms of data and resources, based on a “task-agnostic” generic device, is able to identify unusual patterns in the analog signals. Our bio-mimicking approach should imitate the ability of human technicians, which assess the state of their machines by the sound. On the long term, our technology could be adapted for a variety of AI applications requiring low energy consumption or full privacy. The EIC Transition call corresponds exactly to our present needs: accelerate the development and the market readiness of our technology. Moreover, we address explicitly the requirements for Green Digital Devices. By working “on the edge”, our device reduces the energy and resources required for data transfer and, by imitating the biological neurons, it also reduces the energy required for the computation.

Keywords: magnetic domain wall motion spiking neurons predictive maintenance
Nature Pluralism: Consequences of the Ontological Turn in Anthropology for Western Rationality. (PlONat)

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: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Italy,Mexico
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-10-01
End date: 2027-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 193643.28
EU funding (EUR): 193643.28
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

The Nature Pluralism (PlONat) project seeks to contribute to a transformation of the Western concept of nature by philosophically engaging with the Ontological Turn in Anthropology. It aims to challenge long-standing assumptions about nature —such as its uniformity, universality and separation from culture— by exploring anthropological debates about ontology from the past two decades, integrating their hypotheses, frameworks, and findings into philosophical discourse. The primary goal is to develop a pluralist concept of nature that accommodates alternative ontologies described by anthropologists worldwide. Building on a deconstructive analysis of the onto-anthropological literature that includes the study of two extensively researched animist ontologies from the Americas (Achuar and Wixárika), PlONat will uncover the non-universal aspect of the Western concept of nature and challenge the foundational assumptions of its naturalist ontology. To achieve this, PlONat will pioneer a new method of philosophical inquiry: instead of conforming indigenous perspectives to existing Western representations of reality and knowledge, it will treat these perspectives as fully valid metaphysical viewpoints, not producible by Western philosophy nor obtainable through other means. This approach will enable the construction of a pluralist concept of nature, supporting its hypothesis that a diversity of ontological perspectives can offer a more comprehensive and inclusive understanding of reality.

Keywords: ontology,metaphysics,epistemology of human sciences,philosophy of anthropology,environmental studies
Touch-induced brain network signatures for social processing and stress reduction (TOUCHNET)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: The Soci al World and Its Interactions
Panel description: Sociology, social psychology, education  sciences , communication  studies
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2024-COG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-06-01
End date: 2030-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1994571.0
EU funding (EUR): 1994571.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

As the digital nature of society increases, the frequency of human contact decreases. This seemingly inevitable relationship has potentially devastating consequences for the mental and emotional health of billions of people. Clear understanding and appropriate action are the only path to mitigating this looming crisis. Currently, the field of interpersonal touch research is a patchwork of theoretical frameworks and, worse still, lacks robust, ecologically valid experimental data. Objective One of TOUCHNET is to build a large database centered around interpersonal touch behavior: its frequency, triggers, and effects. A multi-center, ecological momentary assessment approach, will provide over 100000 individual touch events, connected to, in sub-sets, autonomous nervous system activity, questionnaires, social factors, and health (i.e. stress reduction). The TOUCHNET database itself will be a significant contribution to the field. Objective Two will leverage this database to probe the mechanisms by which touch has its effects. Merging concepts and assumptions across affective touch and social brain theories, I will examine touch-generated networks (neural signatures) associated with social processing and stress reduction. Ultra-high field, touch-no-touch, imaging experiments will compare connectivity and the functional input-output relation within social and allostatic-interoceptive brain networks. Further the direct effect of touch on communication, namely synchronicity, will be examined through fNIRS hyper-scanning. TOUCHNET will help clarify the role touch plays in society. A much-needed database of touch events will allow ecologically valid assessment across the field while detailed lab-based studies will advance our understanding of the interaction between touch, sociality, and stress. Finally, in an increasingly digital world, where touch substitutes may unfortunately be necessary, this work will take initial steps toward positive distance communication.

Keywords: touch,interpersonal,nonverbal behavior,human,social
African Literary Metadata (ALMEDA)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Texts and Concepts
Panel description: Literary studies , literature,  philosophy
Countries involved: Sweden,Netherlands,Ireland
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2022-ADG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2028-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2317848.0
EU funding (EUR): 2317848.0
Participants: 4
Project status: SIGNED

Recent years have seen something of a renaissance in African literature, with African novelists becoming global best-sellers and achieving the world’s highest literary accolades. But published novels are restrictively expensive in Africa itself and the novel form is ill-suited to African everyday life, where people are more likely to spend their leisure time engaging with informal, ephemeral and not-for-profit literary and oratory cultural forms, such as spoken-word poetry, street theatre, and a variety of online genres. These informal African literatures are rarely catalogued and therefore exist outside of any structured metadata system. The consequence is that formally published English and French African novels are hyper-visible globally, while the rich literary and oratory cultures of the continent itself are caught in a perpetual state of structural ephemerality. The ALMEDA project addresses this problem in three ways. First, by providing the first history of literary metadata on the African continent, the project will provide a diachronic understanding of how colonial cataloguing systems came to construct the idea of the ‘literary work’ as book-based and thus dismissive of Africa’s oral cultures. Secondly, ALMEDA aims to develop and publish a metadata scheme specifically designed for these informal literary materials. This scheme will be multilingual, which will enable a unique descriptive model that allows African-language genres to inhabit their own categories, rather than having to be forced into European literary ontologies. Thirdly, the project will develop a linked open metadata repository, populated via an interface that allows non-specialist entry of metadata on literary materials. By creating and linking metadata on this body of work, this repository will constitute a major intervention in African literature by making these literatures searchable and their records enduring, thereby opening up entirely new possibilities for scholarship.

Keywords: african literature,literary metadata,bibliographic metadata,informal literature
Quantifying nitrogen fixation by moss-cyanobacteria associations from community to global scale by developing a novel process-based modelling approach (GoNiS)

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: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: Denmark
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): 247553.28
EU funding (EUR): 247553.28
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Nitrogen (N) fixation by moss-cyanobacteria associations is crucial for N input and productivity in pristine ecosystems. Despite its importance, substantial knowledge gaps exist. Current regional and global estimates of moss-associated N2 fixation are uncertain due to limited sampling and species coverage, leaving the global pattern of moss-associated N2 fixation unresolved. Additionally, the mechanisms driving large variation in N2 fixation across different moss species remain unraveled. This project aims to address the critical knowledge gaps by (1) collecting comprehensive data on N2 fixation from moss-cyanobacteria associations across climate zones under controlled abiotic factors; (2) quantifying the relationship between N2 fixation and abiotic factors in different climate zones; (3) developing a process-based model (LiBry-CyBac) that includes N2 fixation to quantify the impact of the interactions between cyanobacteria and moss on variation in N2 fixation across moss species; (4) applying this model to identify global moss-associated N2 fixation pattern and its implication for ecosystem productivity. Combining my expertise in moss modelling with the host’s expertise in moss-cyanobacteria N2 fixation, this project takes an interdisciplinary approach involving biogeochemistry, ecophysiology, and symbiosis research. The expected high-quality publications, training in experimental design, laboratory measurements and analyses such as gas chromatography, model development, and other professional skills (e.g., grant application writing, student supervision, teaching, and project management) will greatly benefit my career development. The effective dissemination of research results will enhance public awareness of important moss functions (i.e., N2 fixation) and the impact of abiotic factors like warming, promoting public support for the European Commission's climate neutrality goals for 2050 and guiding policymakers on effective management and conservation strategies

Keywords: nitrogen fixation,moss cyanobacteria symbiosis,bryophytes,dynamic global vegetation model,global change
Mercenarism and the Accountability Void: Finding routes to accountability and remedy for the victims of human rights abuses perpetrated by mercenaries (MERCURY)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Panel description: Political science, international relations, law
Countries involved: Denmark
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2023-COG, 2023)
Start date: 2024-05-01
End date: 2029-04-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1999993.0
EU funding (EUR): 1999993.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The recent increasing use of mercenaries in armed conflicts such as in Libya, Central African Republic, Nagorno-Karabakh, Mali, and Ukraine has focused attention on some of the problems arising from the deployment of these private actors. Their involvement in proxy wars, predatory recruitment, and asymmetric warfare, which internationalise, exacerbate, and prolong armed conflicts, creates space for grave human rights abuses and war crimes. Millions of people are directly negatively impacted by mercenaries globally, but accountability is rare, and so these actors operate with impunity, their victims denied access to justice and redress. In essence, mercenaries operate in an accountability void. Academic attention until now has focused on the anti-mercenary norm, definitions of mercenary, and treatment of mercenaries, but there is little research on how accountability and remedy is ensured for victims of mercenarism. MERCURY focuses on this accountability void, combining cutting-edge, data-driven mapping and analysis of mercenary operations with thorough legal and qualitative analysis. The mapping will provide a novel understanding of mercenaries to underpin ground-breaking legal analysis of the shortcomings and weaknesses of national and international frameworks when it comes to remedies for victims. Via legal and qualitative analysis, MERCURY will evaluate routes to accountability and remedy via international and national human rights courts, tribunals, mechanisms, and transitional justice processes, and propose potential pathways to justice for victims. PI MacLeod is internationally recognised for her expertise on mercenaries and human rights. Together with the MERCURY team, she will offer pioneering scholarly insights into routes to accountability and remedy. The richer understanding derived from MERCURY will help inform stakeholders on how they can better prevent abuses perpetrated by mercenaries, or failing that, ensure accountability and redress for victims.

Keywords: mercenaries,private military companies,private military and security companies,proxy wars,armed conflicts,human rights,international humanitarian law,asymmetric warfare,accountability,remedy,redress,justice