Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Doping Compensation in Thin Silicon Sensors: the pathway to Extreme Radiation Environments (CompleX)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Fundamental Constituents of Matter
Panel description: Particle, nuclear, plasma, atomic, molecular, gas, and optical physics
Countries involved: Italy
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2023-COG, 2023)
Start date: 2024-04-01
End date: 2029-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1800926.0
EU funding (EUR): 1800926.0
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

Silicon sensors have been extensively exploited in high-energy physics experiments in the past 40 years, from their first use in NA11 at the SPS (CERN) to their application in the present-day design of very large particle trackers. The capability of silicon sensors to work in environments with high radiation levels has been of utmost importance for experiments at accelerating machines with very energetic and intense particle beams. Presently available silicon sensors can operate efficiently up to particle fluences of 2E16/cm2, while future frontier accelerators envisage the use of silicon sensors in environments with fluences exceeding 5E17/cm2. If not overcome, this gap will prevent the use of silicon sensors in future hadron-collider experiments. CompleX aims at extending the range of operation of silicon detectors by more than one order of magnitude, up to a fluence of 5E17/cm2. The idea behind this unprecedented target in radiation tolerance relies on a novel understanding of the saturation of the radiation damage and on the advantages that compensated implants bring to radiation hardness. The application of these two breakthroughs to thin silicon sensors (20–40 microns) with an internal gain of 10–20 will allow the design of sensors able to operate up to the target fluence. I am the PI of three projects to develop silicon sensors for extreme fluences (eXFlu – INFN, eXFlu-innova – AIDAinnova, FLEX – UNITO), which represent preparatory developments for the CompleX proposal. In this context, I introduced the principle of doping compensation in silicon sensors to the detector community. My expertise in the design and testing of silicon sensors, my involvement in radiation hardness studies, and my experience in project coordination qualify me as a recognised expert in the development of sensors for extreme fluences and enable me, as PI, to target the CompleX goals.

Keywords: particle tracking,silicon sensors,extreme fluences,lgad
European coordination network and activities to embrace a sustainable and inclusive STEAM educational system: the blend of artistic and creative approaches in STEM education, research & innovation (STEAMbrace)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Culture, creativity and inclusive society
Theme: Culture, creativity and inclusive society
Destination: Innovative Research on the European Cultural Heritage and the Cultural and Creative Industries
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Spain,Sweden,Portugal,Romania,Croatia
Call: Cultural and creative approaches for gender-responsive STEAM education (HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2026-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3259227.5
EU funding (EUR): 2884085.75
Participants: 10
Project status: SIGNED

This project aims to bridge the current gender gap in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields by unlocking the potential of STEAM (STEM + Arts) education approach for future European innovators, especially women. Thus, this project will establish a coordination Alliance at European level and develop numerous networking and educational activities using a creative thinking and a scientific evidence-based approach. This will lead to broad, sustainable (environmental-responsible, social-inclusive & economically-balanced) and inclusive (gender, geodemographic and socioeconomic wide-ranging) STEAM education methodology that will positively influence in the transition towards a cultural and social cohesion of Europe. This EU interdisciplinary consortium will follow a multi-actor approach where cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are drivers of the cultural and creative-driven innovation ecosystems, combined with validation with 11-18 years old students, that will allow to better understand the gaps and limitations of STEM education regarding country, age, gender and other socio-cultural aspects and boost the change towards a sustainable, reproducible & inclusive European STE(A)M education. As a result, this CSA project will deliver a digital hub for participant networking (both students and stakeholders); missing information on STEAM level of implementation in Europe; numerous country-adapted training activities to boost integration of STEAM approaches in secondary and vocational training schools, with specific activities for young women and rural students; a pilot of the STEAM week at EU level and a roadmap for annual reproducibility; as well as follow-up training courses and guideline of minimum requirements for teachers and educational managers to ensure a STEAM education across Europe. Moreover, the project will extensively disseminate and communicate project’s events, results and findings, including the development of recommendations

Keywords: steam,gender responsive,coordination network,cultural and creative industries,secondary education,vocational education and training,civil society organization,digital framework
First-in-class beta-catenin inhibitor as treatment for colorectal cancer (proCOLON)

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 GRANTS1 (ERC-2022-POC1, 2022)
Start date: 2022-05-01
End date: 2023-10-31
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

With more than 1.9 million new cases and 935,000 related deaths in 2020, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in men and the second in women. While surgery is the main treatment option for lower grade CRC, patients with unresectable lesions are treated with chemotherapy. Related therapies are associated with severe drawbacks, such as systemic toxicity, low response rate, and unpredictable resistance. Molecular targeted therapies have emerged as a promising strategy to specifically target cancer cells. For CRC, the inhibition of the Wnt signalling pathway has moved into the focus of novel therapeutic approaches as it is hyperactivated in 80% of all cases. Within the pathway, the protein beta-catenin is considered a particularly attractive target. However, classic small molecule targeting strategies have failed to provide any approved drugs that inhibit beta-catenin so far. We have identified a family of peptidomimetic agents that bind beta-catenin and inhibit its interaction with the TCF/LEF transcription factors. For the first time, it was possible to obtain a crystal structure of a synthetic molecule bound to a therapeutically very attractive site on beta-catenin. In addition, we have confirmed cellular activity of these inhibitors verifying selective inhibition of the Wnt signalling pathway. These findings provide the ideal starting point for the development of novel therapeutics for Wnt-dependent cancers, in particular for CRC. These first-in-class inhibitors will provide the basis for the development of therapeutics that selectively inhibit oncogenic Wnt signalling thereby affecting the viability of corresponding cancer cells. This can enable targeted therapies for Wnt-dependent forms of CRC.
ENHANCE KNOWLEDGE ON COMPREHENSIVE ELECTROLYSERS TECHNOLOGIES DEGRADATION THROUGH MODELING, TESTING AND LIFETIME PREVISION, TOWARD INDUSTRIAL IMPLEMENTATION (ELECTROLIFE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Climate, Energy and Mobility
Theme: Public-private partnerships
Destination: Clean Hydrogen
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Partnership: CLEANH2 (JU-JTI)
Countries involved: Italy,Netherlands,Austria,Spain,Denmark,Germany,France,Estonia,Portugal
Call: Increasing the lifetime of electrolyser stacks (HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023-1, 2023)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2028-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 9995705.0
EU funding (EUR): 9995705.0
Participants: 17
Project status: SIGNED

The ELECTROLIFE project aims to be a booster to enable the use of green hydrogen technologies to support decarbonization of European global industry. Currently, electrolysis technologies suffer from limitations in terms of cost, efficiency, stability, scalability, and recyclability. This is mainly due to the lack of understanding and identification of electrolyzer degradation mechanisms and improvement of current cell performance. ELECTROLIFE aims to increase the efficiency performance of electrolyzers by reducing the use of critical materials and extending the useful life of these systems. These goals will be achieved through test campaigns to identify multiple degradation mechanisms on multiple scales, multiphysics simulations with superimposed degradation mechanisms, prototyping of cells and stack components, and construction of dedicated test benches. The type of testing will be harmonized through dedicated protocols, and test results will be processed and made available through dedicated online data centers. In addition, diagnostic and stack health models will be developed to reduce the degradation rate, enabling the implementation of predictive control systems. ELECTROLIFE will demonstrate the implementation of durable stacks using relevant experimental methods through the production of high-performance technologies with minimal CRM content, enabling scalability and recyclability. ELECTROLIFE is expected to reduce the average cost of ownership of the electrolyzers by 40% for AEL and PEMEL and by 70% for AEMEL and SOEL. These achievements will enable utilization of the innovations developed by ELECTROLIFE, reaching 15% of European production capacity (corresponding to about +3GW/a - IEA 2022).

Keywords: ael pemel aemel soel pccel durability multiphysic modelling soh diagnostic post mortem analysis operando analysis triple phase boundary ionomers catalyst membranes sealings tpls
Global Acoustic interaction and Psychoacoustic impact of the autonomous vehicles in interior and exterior NOISE (GAP_Noise)

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: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Spain,Belgium,France,Germany,Sweden,Austria
Call: MSCA Doctoral Networks 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-DN-01, 2021)
Start date: 2023-03-01
End date: 2027-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3061735.2
EU funding (EUR): 2617876.8
Participants: 14
Project status: SIGNED

Future urban mobility is envisioned with electrified vehicles (xEV) with driving assistance systems (such as autonomous vehicles, AV) coexisting with other road users like pedestrians and cyclists, resulting in smart and sustainable cities with less air and noise pollution. However, one of the most significant problems with xEV in urban areas is the lack of noise. The noise reduction of vehicles has been very welcomed by society but with the inherent risk of losing its detectability, with particular attention to vulnerable road users. Several studies reported that xEVs are more likely to have more accidents with cyclists and run over pedestrians (especially the most vulnerable ones like blind people). External noise is one of the perils facing the quietness of xEV, but the interior noise should also be addressed. The internal acoustic and vibration environment would help reduce monotony and increase awareness of drivers using automated driving modes (with still required human feedback), and contribute to the passengers' welfare. In xEV running at low speeds (urban areas), most internal and external noises are produced by the electric and electronic elements in the powertrain. The electrified powertrain offers the opportunity to create specific sounds following certain requirements and endorsing associations for increasing safety in road users, awareness of drivers, and comfort appreciation. The GAP_NOISE project aims to define a set of actions to fill the gap between the current knowledge and technology in xEV and human psychoacoustics, combining the engineering fields of electric motors, modelling methods, control strategies, in addition to the recognized interaction between perceived sound quality and vibration. Thus, establishing an ideal theoretical and practical arena for developing a technologically strong community of scientists, engineers and social stakeholders capable of boosting the acoustic integration of autonomous vehicles in future urban areas.

Keywords: electrified vehicles sound and vibration quality multi physics modelling digital twins electrical drives control engineering
The impact of human aged bone marrow niche on human hematopoietic stem cell function (MANAGE HSC)

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-2024-STG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-01-01
End date: 2029-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

In humans, aging of the hematopoietic system is associated with anaemia, impaired immune responses and increased frequency of myeloid malignancies. The hematopoietic system is maintained by hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). HSCs reside in the bone marrow (BM) within specialized niches, where they self-renew and differentiate to produce all blood and immune cells. In the clinical setting of BM transplantation, HSCs from older donors result in a reduced transplantation success, with a worse level of engraftment and higher overall mortality. This demonstrates that there is a reduction in the function of aged human HSCs (hHSCs). Causes of this impaired hHSC function with age still remain unclear. Therefore, it is of great importance to uncover and subsequently target factors that contribute to hHSC aging in order to attenuate impaired haematopoiesis in the elderly. Due to the lack of meaningful human BM (hBM) niche models in the aging field, the current understanding of how extrinsic changes (stemming from the aged hBM niche) contribute to the aging of hHSC is far less advanced compared to the knowledge of the contribution of cell-intrinsic changes. Thus, this proposal focuses on providing a significant understanding of age-associated changes within the hBM niche and their contribution to the aging of hHSCs using an aging-centred hBM niche model. Transplantation of young BM hHSCs into this advanced niche model revealed that an aged hBM niche confers aging on young hHSCs. To this end, the target of the proposal is to address the following questions: (i) How does aging affect the cellular and molecular composition of the hBM niche? (ii) To which extent does an aged hBM niche affect aging of hHSCs? (iii) What are the underlying mechanisms that confer an age-like function on hHSCs? MANAGE HSC addresses both technological and conceptual challenges in studying the role of the hBM niche in regulating hHSC function in the context of normal hematopoiesis and aging.

Keywords: human bone marrow niche,human hematopoietic stem cell ageing,bone organ engineering
Uncovering the structure, dynamics and impacts of humid HEATwaves across AFRIca under present and future climate (AFRIHEAT)

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: Belgium,Switzerland,Germany
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2024-09-01
End date: 2026-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 191760.0
EU funding (EUR): 191760.0
Participants: 4
Project status: SIGNED

Heatwaves, the occurrence of extremely high temperature over a prolonged period, have been identified to cause death, reduce educational performance, weaken worker productivity, increase the risk of wildfire, and affect crop productivity. The occurrence of heatwaves has been increasing both in frequency, intensity and duration in the recent past climate and a robust increase in heatwave frequency, intensity and duration is projected in future climate scenarios. When accompanied by moist air, heatwaves can be even more lethal. During such humid heatwave (HHW) events, the physiological mechanism that allows the human body to cool down through transpiration is impaired. Previous regional research on heat stress focused mainly on Europe, South Asia, and the Persian Gulf, even though global studies also identify sub-Saharan Africa as a hotspot for heatwave extremes. Consequently, very little is known about humid heatwave occurrence and impacts in Africa due to the lack of dense meteorological networks and a consistent reporting framework. This project aims to uncover the structure, dynamics and impacts of HHW across Africa under present and future climate, and to translate this knowledge into actionable information for disaster management agencies. To achieve this objective, I will join the BCLIMATE research group under the Department of Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering at the VUB. The host supervisor and the BCLIMATE research team have a world-leading reputation in climate extremes. Building on the tools of European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, the research outcomes will contribute to the forecasting of deadly heat stress across Africa and develop an early warning system to reduce HHW vulnerability. During my secondment at the UN office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in Brussels, I will develop an Early Warning System (EWS) to reduce on-the-ground HHW vulnerability.

Keywords: humid heatwaves,africa,climate change
4D Brain-Targeting Nanomedicines for Treating Neurodegeneration (Smart Nanoparticles)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Panel description: Medical technologies  and tools for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases, therapeutic approaches and interventions , pharmacology, preventative  medicine, epidemiology and public health , digital medicine
Countries involved: Israel
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2022-COG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-05-01
End date: 2028-04-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2000000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Aging, Aging, genetic, and environmental factors have increased the prevalence of patients with neurodegenerative brain conditions, with limited treatment modalities. One prerequisite for effective brain treatments is the ability to target next-generation medications, including RNA and protein drugs, to specific neurons and brain regions. Nanotechnology platforms offer new therapeutic avenues for targeting drugs to organs and cells; their implementation in neurodegenerative diseases is nascent. In this research program, we aim to advance far beyond the state-of-the-art and elucidate the molecular and structural characteristics for designing nanotechnology drugs that target and treat brain neurodegeneration. In preliminary studies, we show that the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) overexpresses disease-specific receptors during neurodegeneration, which enable targeted nanoparticles to cross the BBB and penetrate neurons. Albeit these findings, the magnitude, mechanism, and nanotechnological molecular pattern for brain targeting are lacking. To address this fundamental gap, we will use advanced computation and engineering concepts to develop 4D-brain-targeting nanoparticles, that cross the BBB intact to target specific neuronal populations and brain regions. Robotic synthesis, coupled with active learning algorithms will be used to construct nanoparticles with combinations of targeting moieties on their surface and evaluate their neuronal specificity. Supported microfluidic BBB apparatus will be used to screen the nanoparticles’ ability to target and cross the BBB. A track-and-seek radar system will locate the nanoparticles in the brain, directing localized robotic biopsy of the nanoparticles in the destination cells in the brain. To connect our findings to future clinical implementation, fMRI will be used to record the therapeutic activity of the nanoparticles in the brain. This program will provide the community with essential findings to allow brain-targeted therapeutics.

Keywords: nanotechnology brain targeting neurodegenerative diseases brood brain barrier