Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Natural Integration of Bionic Limbs via Spinal Interfacing (Natural BionicS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Synergy grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Austria,Italy,United Kingdom
Call: ERC Synergy Grant (ERC-2018-SyG, 2018)
Start date: 2019-06-01
End date: 2025-05-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 9984021.25
EU funding (EUR): 9984021.0
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

Missing a limb leads to dramatic impairments in the capacity to move and interact with the environment and to a substantial worsening in quality of life. This deficiency is also associated with a large portion of the sensory-motor cortex facing neural deafness. Missing or damaged limbs can in principle be substituted by robotic limbs, connected to humans with neural interfacing. Despite massive research efforts, however, the bionic reconstruction of limbs currently faces important translational challenges. We aim at filling this gap between academic research and clinical impact with a patient-centric approach that synergistically combines breakthroughs in surgery (Aszmann), neural interfacing (Farina), and robotics (Bicchi). We propose to surgically create bio-connectors (compacted in a bio-hub) to access the spinal cord circuitries by using biological pathways of encoding and decoding neural information. Neural interfacing with the bio-hub will determine an input/output information flow with the spinal cord by decoding the activity of spinal neural cells (output) and stimulating transplanted biological afferent organs (input). The sensory-motor image of the missing limb emerging from this interfacing will be projected in soft robotic arms/legs that will embed kinematic synergies and tactile-proprioceptive functions, intimately matched with the neural sensory-motor synergies extracted from the bio-hub. In this way, Natural BionicS aims at creating a fully integrated, symbiotic replacement of human limbs with robotic parts that the user will feel and command as part of the body. This aim will be achieved with clinical translation aided by the establishment of a Bionic Clinical Board of the three PIs. Here the options of bionic reconstruction will be explored for each patient on a bi-monthly basis, the engineering solutions will be adapted to the clinical challenges, and patients will be identified who best profit from the radical new developments of Natural BionicS.

Keywords: prosthetics,neural interfacing,rehabilitation engineering,reconstructive surgery,bionic medicine,soft robotics,sensory motor integration
Liquid biopesticide for integrated and effective pest control (FUNGISEI)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy
Theme: Sustainable agriculture and forestry
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Spain
Call: Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for sustainable and competitive agriculture, forestry, agri-food and bio-based sectors (H2020-SMEINST-1-2016-2017, 2016)
Start date: 2017-03-01
End date: 2017-08-31
Duration (months): 6.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Biopesticides which are derived from natural sources such as plants and microorganisms are inherently less toxic than conventional pesticides. However, competing with established pesticides will prove to be too difficult for many smaller developers, both in terms of demonstrating the efficacy of biopesticides and in convincing growers to convert from their tried-and-trusted methods to new and relatively unproven products. Finally, the majority of biocontrol options require frequent, repetitive applications for optimal efficacy. The added labour and expense of these applications is often a deterrent, inhibiting the growth of the biopesticide industry. SEIPASA, is a leading Spanish company in treatments for Zero Residue agriculture, which is present in Europe, America, North Africa and Asia. Since 2000, we have researched, manufactured and marketed inputs and biopesticides for environmentally responsible agriculture. We have patented a chemical biocide-free preparation that is used as a carrier for aqueous microbial-based biopesticides. The main growth barriers for biopesticides that we will overcome with FUNGISEI are the low price of traditional pesticides; the relatively early stage of development, technological robustness and the incomplete scientific and practical understanding of the application of other similar solutions like FUNGISEI . -FUNGISEI has been formulated without chemical biocides while providing adequate microbial stability and has a shelf life of 2 years, as demanded for phytosanitary products. -FUNGISEI offers the market a unique and innovative product which is able to meet “ZERO RESIDUE” criteria and “ORGANIC AGRICULTURE” requirements (Regulation EC No. 834/2007). -It is formulated in liquid form, which makes it easier for farmers to apply and more effective. -Our product is cost-effective: A FUNGISEI dose is 4 times smaller for each application in comparison with our direct competitors thus reducing treatment costs.

Keywords: biopesticide,pesticide,agriculture,food safety
Microgel-based high-performance smart filtration membranes for liquid nuclear waste treatment (M4WASTE)

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: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2021-01-04
End date: 2024-02-06
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 162806.4
EU funding (EUR): 162806.4
Participants: 1
Project status: TERMINATED

The release of radioactive isotopes, with caesium (e.g. 137Cs+) being the most abundant species, are polluting a large quantity of water, substantially threatening human health, while the remediation remains challenging. Membrane separation is a good technology for water treatment thanks to its flexibility and easy up-scalability. However, the use of conventional membranes in nuclear industry is greatly limited due to their low adsorption capacity/selectivity to Cs+ and the fixed pore size that allows only retention of solid wastes but with the contaminated water remained untreated. Hexacyanoferrates (HCFs) nanoparticles(NPs) are among the most superior adsorbents of Cs+, but haven’t been combined with filtration membranes for nuclear water waste remediation due to the difficulty of NPs immobilization onto membrane and their relatively slower adsorption kinetics compared to water permeation rate. This proposed action aims to develop a new generation of smart membrane technology that can recover Cs+ straightforwardly and efficiently from aqueous nuclear wastes, by effectively integrating HCF into filtration membranes to enhance its Cs+ adsorption capacity/selectivity and by introducing a smart water gating function modulated by Cs+ adsorption to automatically control membrane water permeation. Microgel, being assembled in membrane pores, enables achieving the objectives with HCF NPs in situ grown in the microgel and with a Cs+ responsiveness designed for its size deformation. The action involves an experienced researcher, Dr Huagui Zhang, from Newcastle University in UK visiting the Institute of Physical Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University in Germany, under the supervision of Prof. Walter Richtering for 24 months to work on the project “Microgel-based high-performance smart filtration membranes for liquid nuclear waste treatment” (M4WASTE). The action will provide a leap forward in the area of water treatment with membrane technology in nuclear industry and beyond.

Keywords: microgel,water treatment,nuclear waste,membrane technology
Using microalgae bioreactor technology to deliver the world’s most cost-effective, energy-efficient and adaptable system for the treatment of toxic industrial and landfill wastewater (ALGAMATER)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Climate action, environment,  resource efficiency and raw materials
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Portugal
Call: Boosting the potential of small businesses in the areas of climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials (H2020-SMEINST-2-2016-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2017-06-01
End date: 2021-03-31
Duration (months): 46.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2906000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2034200.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Bluemater CEO Nuno Gomes conceived this project inspired by the words of the inventor and author Buckminster Fuller: “Nature has no pollution. This is a word coined in human ignorance regarding the presence of the right chemicals being released in the wrong places…” While high concentrations of compounds such as ammonium, phosphates and sulphates can be deadly for aquatic ecosystems and their inhabitants, they are nutrients for algae and plants. This project harnesses components found in highly concentrated wastewaters to feed microalgae, which grow especially quickly by transforming ammonium and phosphates into proteins and other organic matter. Since 2008 we have been developing this challenging concept into a viable commercial system for wastewater treatment at landfills and in industry. Following extensive testing at diverse wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and guided by feedback from target clients, our breakthrough microalgae technology – the first of its kind - was integrated with Bluemater’s next-generation wastewater management systems in its current configuration. In these pilot tests, Algamater demonstrated decreased energy costs in wastewater treatment by more than 60% and lowered operational costs by more than 40% compared to traditional wastewater treatment plants. We are proud to introduce the Algamater Wastewater Treatment Plant: the world’s most robust, flexible, cost-effective, and eco-friendly wastewater treatment system. Algamater is currently at a prototype stage (TRL7). In this project we will upgrade, scale up and integrate the Algamater components into a full-scale wastewater treatment plant capable of demonstrating our game-changing technology at an industrial level. With the commercialization of Algamater we forecast strong, consistent growth for Bluemater, notable employment creation both inside our company and out, and significantly reduced environmental hazards in the wastewater treatment sector.

Keywords: wastewater treatment plant,microalgae,biological treatment processes
Feasibility study of a fully automated, integrated and standardized computer aided semen analyzer system (SEMENIZER)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Health, demographic change and wellbeing
Theme: Active ageing and self-management of health
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Spain
Call: Accelerating market introduction of ICT solutions for Health, Well-Being and Ageing Well (H2020-SMEINST-1-2016-2017, 2016)
Start date: 2016-08-01
End date: 2017-01-31
Duration (months): 6.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The objective of SEMENIZER is to draw the feasibility study of a fully automated, integrated and standardized computer aided semen analyzer system. Based on that, it will be developed a complete business plan in order to get as much as possible information about the market and, thus, obtain a powerful tool to design the best commercialization strategy. Infertility is considered a heavy social problem of our century related to industrialization and changes on lifestyle, associated with stress, climate change, air pollution, contamination, among others. It has been demonstrated that the incidence of infertility has been increasing in industrial countries from 7%-8% in 1960 to 20-35% nowadays. Thus, decreasing infertility rate is a top priority for the World Health Organization (WHO). Half of the infertility cases are of a man side, associated to sperm quality problems. SEMENIZER solves the problem generated by the lack of fully automatic and standardized computer - aided semen analyzer systems capable to measure the sperm characteristics objectively, qualitatively and quantitatively, as a powerful tool for: a) Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) specialists (hospitals, fertility laboratories, bank sperms, etc) in decision making process, b) Meta-analysis studies on determining the influence of different factors on a fertility of a man and c) Research field by getting the most complete, accurate and comparable intra and inter laboratories results. Moreover, will introduces to clinical laboratories a new tool for routine sperm analysis, changing the rules of sperm analyzer markets.

Keywords: semen analyzer
Haptic micromanipulation system for low cost autonomous microinjection tasks (HapticCell)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: United States,United Kingdom
Call: ERC-Proof of Concept-2016 (ERC-2016-PoC, 2016)
Start date: 2017-02-01
End date: 2018-01-31
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 149982.0
EU funding (EUR): 128016.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The ability to handle and operate on cells is an emerging technology that will accelerate the development of novel cell-based therapies. By being able to modify donor cells in-vitro to fight disease more effectively and in volume will have paradigm shifting advances in a wide range of fields such as biotechnology, pharmacology, agriculture, oncology, genetics and embryology. As highlighted by the Innovate UK Cell Therapy Catapult, by 2017 the cell-based therapy manufacturing industry will be worth more than €4.5billion. To realise this opportunity, it is vital clinicians and manufacturers have access to efficient tools that are also repeatable. Several methods exist that enable the manual manipulation of cells, amongst which microinjection tasks is the most common. However, current techniques are labour intensive, vary in quality, and lack the measurement of force between the tools used and the cell needed to reduce damage during contact. Moreover, as these processes are not automated and can only be performed one cell at a time, it is prohibitively expensive to produce new cell-based therapies at the volumes needed for clinical trials. To address these unmet needs, we present ‘HapticCell’, a robotic micromanipulation platform for low cost autonomous microinjection tasks. In this ERC-PoC project, we will extend our ERC research in telehaptic micromanipulation to support schemes for automation and establish its technical feasibility in performing repeatable microinjection tasks in volume appropriate for clinical needs. Further, in collaboration with spin out company Yantric, UCL Business and identified first customers, we will conduct the necessary commercial activities to translate HapticCell into the real world. To start, we envisage HapticCell to be an indispensable tool for achieving higher throughput in the in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) market, which will then act as a stepping stone into the broader single cell manipulation domain and cell-therapy production.

Keywords: single cell manipulation
European early warning system for systemic risk. (EARLINESS.eu)

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: Economic Sciences
Countries involved: Germany
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-06-01
End date: 2018-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 171460.8
EU funding (EUR): 171460.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

EARLINESS.eu proposes a new European early warning system (EWS), able to identify and signal economic vulnerabilities in order to allow policy makers to intervene in a timely manner. The ongoing European financial crisis poses a serious challenge to the stability of the euro area and growth prospects in Europe. The aim of the EARLINESS.eu project is to implement a EWS for systemic risk to prevent and mitigate financial instability by exploiting the linkages among the financial markets and the real economy. Given the potentially high and unsustainable costs caused by systemic crises, it is of fundamental importance to establish a comprehensive system of early warning signals and indicators to monitor them. Recent studies suggest that empirical analysis should focus on the macroeconomic and financial shocks transmission across countries, allowing for nonlinear propagation of these shocks. The innovative purpose of EARLINESS is to fill this gap by modelling nonlinear interactions between the financial market and the macroeconomic system. The main challenge is the realization of a comprehensive system able to detect and measure each marginal change in the sources of systemic risk by developing an innovative building block structure. A novel Dynamic Quantile Factors model is introduced to extract the latent signal of systemic risks at micro and macro level from a panel of institutions belonging to the European area and partner countries. The project uses state-of-the-art systemic risk measures and integrates new methodologies in financial econometrics, systemic risk measurement and big data analysis tools. According to the Macroprudential Research Network of the ECB, the implementation of macroprudential policy is still at an early stage and much effort is needed to support policymakers in designing mechanisms for prudential tools. The EARLINESS project can deliver an important contribution to this.

Keywords: early warning system,systemic risk measures,financial stability,macro financial linkages,network,sparsity,dynamic quantiles
Innovative Statistical modelling for a better Understanding of Longitudinal multivariate responses in relation to Omic datasets (ISULO)

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: Mathematics
Countries involved: France,United States
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2020-03-01
End date: 2023-08-03
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 275619.84
EU funding (EUR): 275619.84
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

In medicine and agronomy, there is a growing interest in identifying biological mechanisms involved in the evolution of traits along time. Nowadays, this challenging objective is achieved through the acquisition of high-dimensional –omic datasets from various biological levels, and with the collection of phenotype measures along time on the same individuals, so-called longitudinal data. A new research focus is emerging with the objective to analyze jointly these two types of data. In this project, we propose to develop innovative statistical methods to simultaneously analyze these types of data and to deal with their respective characteristics. Novel methodologies will be developed by combining statistical concepts from linear mixed model and variable selection in a Bayesian framework, and by incorporating or inferring biological relationships. The first aim will focus on the analysis of one or more longitudinal outcomes with one –omic data. Flexible modeling for approximating time-varying covariate effects combined with variable selection approaches will be proposed. Thus, a better understanding of the relationships along time between the outcomes and the relevant covariates will be reached. The second objective is to investigate the integration of multiple –omic datasets for explaining one univariate outcome, then one longitudinal response variable, and finally multivariate longitudinal outcomes. Bayesian hierarchical modeling with prior distributions allowing to capture relationships among –omic datasets will be investigated and new relationships among –omic datasets will be explored. The developments and findings of this project research will greatly contribute to the statistical and biological domains. New generic statistical methods will be developed and will be available for transversal applications in various fields. Finally, this project will highlight the added value brought by a collaborative and interdisciplinary work with experienced researchers.

Keywords: bayesian inference,integrative omic,longitudinal data,multivariate phenotypes,variable selection
RetinDR: The first topical ophthalmic formulation (eye drops) that effectively prevents and/or treats the retinal neurodegeneration induced by diabetes (diabetic retinopathy) and/or aging (RetinDR)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Innovation in SMEs
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Spain
Call: SME instrument (H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1, 2019)
Start date: 2019-08-01
End date: 2020-01-31
Duration (months): 6.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of blindness among working-aged adults. About 93 million people worldwide and 3%-4.1% of Europeans suffer this disease. The early stages of DR usually have no symptoms, however when the disease progresses it affects vision: blurred vision, seeing double, difficulty reading, spots or floaters in the field of vision, and loss of peripheral vision. Current treatments are quite aggressive, are only indicated in advanced stages of the disease, have significant side effects and their effectiveness is limited. RetinDR is a topical ophthalmic formulation (eye drops) that effectively prevents and/or treats the retinal neurodegeneration induced by diabetes (diabetic retinopathy) and/or aging. The pharmaceutical development of RetinDR is based on the repurposing of the drug substance bosentan (endothelin receptor antagonist, currently indicated for the pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment) for the prevention and treatment of DR. The global DR market accounted for $5.81B in 2016 and is forecast to grow at 6.3%. CAGR till 2025. We estimate a market share of 0.115% 5 years after commercialisation, equalling revenues of 52M€. Our main business model will focus on sales and distribution of RetinDR in Europe through a distribution agreement with the parent company Medical Mix S.L. and co-development or licensing agreements with strategic industrial partners in markets outside of Europe where we will receive royalties. With this model and the successful completion of the SME Phase 1 and 2 we estimate an EBITDA of over 55M€ in 5 years after commercialization an IRR of 98% and NPV of over 21M€ considering a WACC of 15%, creating 22 new jobs by 2025. The Feasibility Study for this project will take 6 months and focus on an in-depth market study, technical testing and the development of final business plan to take us to market.

Keywords: endocrinology,ophthalmology,diabetic retinopathy,eye drops,repurposing drug,diabetes,blindness,non invasive