Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Generation of human steroid-producing organoids: a new approach to treat adrenal insufficiency (GHSO)

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: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Germany,United States
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2019-06-01
End date: 2022-05-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 246669.12
EU funding (EUR): 246669.12
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The adrenal cortex is essential for life; it is the primary site of steroid synthesis, producing glucocorticoids, which affect carbohydrate metabolism and mediate the mammalian stress response and mineralocorticoids, which control blood volume and salt homeostasis. Adrenal insufficiency (AI), which can be life threatening, is cause by a number of adrenal disorders, and lifelong management of these patients with exogenous steroids can be challenging. No drug suitably mimics the diurnal pattern of cortisol noted in healthy individuals, and objective variables to measure hormonal replacement therapy quality are lacking. The ability to generate steroid-producing cells from pluripotent stem cells through cell reprogramming, a process where a specialized cell type is induced to transform into a different cell, offers a new paradigm for functional studies, modelling human disease and drug testing and eventually can be used as a cell source for cellular therapies for patients suffering from adrenal conditions. This proposal aims to develop methodologies to generate adrenal-like organoids from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), which have not been generated so far, without requiring overexpression of exogenous transcription factors and test them in in vivo models of adrenal insufficiency. Because small molecules provide several distinct advantages in controlling protein functions (e.g., temporally controllable, reversible, tunable and tractable) I will utilize them for a faster, more efficient, and directed cellular reprogramming. CRISPR-Cas9 genome engineered steroid-producing organoids harbouring common mutations found in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), the most common type of AI, will be generated and used as a disease modelling platform to study CAH. This proposal aims to accelerate the translation of this promising bench research to patients affected by adrenal insufficiency over the next 10 years.

Keywords: adrenal insufficiency,steroidogenesis,cellular therapy,organoids,reprogramming,crispr,cas9,human embryonic stem cells
Circular DNA in diagnosis and disease models (CIRCULAR VISION)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Future and Emerging Technologies (FET)
Theme: EIC Pathfinder
Destination: Novel ideas for radically new technologies
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Italy,Spain,Italy,Switzerland,United States,Denmark,Denmark,Denmark
Call: FET-Open Challenging Current Thinking (H2020-FETOPEN-2018-2019-2020-01, 2019)
Start date: 2020-10-01
End date: 2024-03-31
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4195697.5
EU funding (EUR): 3998822.5
Participants: 9
Project status: SIGNED

Many human diseases, including cancers and inflammatory disorders, are associated with the production of ‘circular DNA’ from chromosomes. These molecules have potential as biomarkers, and in the case of cancers are potential drivers of disease progression. However, the technology for detecting circular DNA and for creating disease models is lacking, meaning we cannot explore their potential use in diagnostics. CIRCULAR VISIONs goal is to explore the new opportunities circular DNA creates in early diagnosis and monitoring of disease, particularly screening, and to create an experimental system to understand the link between disease and circular DNA. CIRCULAR VISION will explore this brand new territory by creating highly sensitive whole genome screens for circular DNA that correlate with disease, using lung cancer (LC) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as model examples. We develop and combine novel methods in molecular biology, microfluidics, DNA sequencing and bioinformatics in order to identify new diagnostic markers. Such markers for IBD and LC will then be adapted to clinical diagnosis and prognosis using advanced image analysis and cytometry methods. Finally, CIRCULAR VISION will show the causal link between circular DNA and cancer, by producing disease models with oncogenes on circular DNA. CIRCULAR VISION assembles key pioneers in the emerging field of circular DNA with leading clinical experts and key commercial players in cytometry and genomics. We are convinced that our technology has broad applications in early noninvasive diagnosis of cancer and monitoring of inflammatory diseases. We believe our technology will lay the foundation for future research into circular DNA biology and spur future drug development.

Keywords: lung cancer,circular dna,eccdna,crispr cas,inflammatory bowel disease,lab on a chip,microfluidics
Tailoring Ylidic Compounds as Ligands for Organometallic Chemistry (YlideLigands)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — 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,Germany
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2015-STG, 2015)
Start date: 2016-07-01
End date: 2021-12-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Lewis bases are a fundamental class of compounds that are of utmost importance in almost any chemical transformation. According to the HSAB concept, they determine important properties such as the stability or solubility of compounds or the selectivity of reactions. Yet, Lewis bases are used far beyond simple acid-base pairs. In coordination chemistry they act as efficient σ-donor ligands, which crucially affect the electronics of the metal and thus its reactivity. Additionally, bulky Lewis bases as part of Frustrated Lewis Pairs are applicable in bond activation reactions and also in catalysis. Typical Lewis bases are neutral compounds with a free pair of electrons, such as amines or phosphines. In contrast, carbon-centred Lewis bases such as carbenes have long been underestimated due to their usually high reactivity and sensitivity. Yet, the last decades have revealed a revolution in this context. Carbenes in particular have proven to be powerful reagents not only as ligands, but also in organocatalysis and bond activation chemistry. Bisylides and their dianionic congeners (methandiides) with formally two electron pairs at carbon are further classes of carbon bases that have started to find applications, but which are still profoundly underdeveloped. This project takes aim at the development and application of novel ylidic, carbon-centred Lewis bases. By means of a smart molecular design, systems with unusual electronic properties and donor capacities will be prepared and their reactivity towards main group element compounds and transition metal complexes will be explored. Employing experimental and computational methods a fundamental understanding of the electronic structure and its influencing factors will be provided. This will allow a manipulation and tailoring of the properties and reactivities and thus open applications such as in bond activation reactions or their use as electronically flexible ligands in catalytically active metal complexes.

Keywords: ligand design,s block metal,ylide compounds
Converging broadcast and user generated content for interactive ultra-high definition services (COGNITUS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Greece,France,France,United Kingdom,Portugal,United Kingdom
Call: Technologies for creative industries, social media and convergence (H2020-ICT-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-01-01
End date: 2018-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4068691.25
EU funding (EUR): 3643018.26
Participants: 8
Project status: CLOSED

COGNITUS will deliver innovative ultra-high definition (UHD) broadcasting technologies that allow the joint creation of UHD media exploiting the knowledge of professional producers, the ubiquity of user generated content (UGC), and the power of interactive networked social creativity in a synergistic multimedia production approach. The project will provide a proof of concept to cement the viability of interactive UHD content production and exploitation, through use case demonstrators at large events of converging broadcast and user generated content for interactive UHD services. The envisaged demonstrators will be based on two different use cases drawn from real-life events. These use cases are in turn single examples of the fascinating and potentially unlimited new services that could be unleashed by the un-avoidable confluence of UHD broadcasting technology and smart social mobile UGC brought by COGNITUS. Building on recent technological advances, in UHD broadcasting and mobile social multimedia sharing coupled together with over fifty years of research and development in multimedia systems technology, mean that the time is now ripe for integrating research outputs towards solutions that support high-quality, user sourced, on demand media to enrich the conventional broadcasting experience. COGNITUS vision is to deliver a compelling proof of concept for the validity, effectiveness and innovative power of this integrated approach. As a consequence, over 36 months the project will demonstrate the ability to bring a new range of dedicated media services into the European broadcasting sector, adding critical value to both media and creativity sectors.

Keywords: videos,ultra high definition,user generated content,event broadcasting,high quality experience,convergence,field trials,social media,search technologies,user context
Cavity-enhanced optical microscope (COM)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Condensed matter physics
Panel description: Structure, electronic properties, fluids, nanosciences, biological physics
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC Proof of Concept Grant (ERC-2018-PoC, 2018)
Start date: 2019-03-01
End date: 2020-08-31
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 149875.0
EU funding (EUR): 149875.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Visualization of material objects is instrumental for our perception and understanding of nature. Nanoscale matter, however, escapes direct visualization by optical imaging due to weak interaction with light. Thus, studies of nanoparticles and molecules with common light absorption or emission microscopes are predominantly limited to macroscopic samples. Our recent developments of cavity-enhanced light-matter coupling provide means to boost the sensitivity of optical microscopy to the level of single nanoparticles and molecules. Our innovative technology enables detection, spectroscopy and label-free imaging of individual nano-objects that are instrumental for the development of novel functional materials and devices. In contrast to most alternative techniques of sensitive visualization, it operates with versatile and affordable light sources and detectors. Moreover, the technological platform is not limited to specific materials or sophisticated sample preconditioning and thus is applicable to fields as diverse as quantum physics and medicine. It capitalizes on the enhancement of light-matter coupling by an optical cavity to enable direct and quantitative optical absorption imaging of nanoscale matter. This ERC Proof of Concept project aims at leveraging the vast potential of our innovative technology towards its commercialization with the ultimate goal to create a consistent product concept and to advance our highly sensitive cavity-enhanced optical microscope into an affordable and widely spread enabling analytic tool.

Keywords: optical microscopy instrumentation,cavity enhanced absorption and emission,imaging of nanoparticles and molecules
CHAlleNging Gender (In)Equality in science and research (CHANGE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Science with and for Society
Programme: Promote gender equality in particular by supporting structural change in the organisation of research institutions and in the content and design of research activities
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Germany,Israel,Germany,Austria,Slovakia,Slovenia,Portugal
Call: Support to research organisations to implement gender equality plans (H2020-SwafS-2017-1, 2017)
Start date: 2018-05-01
End date: 2022-10-31
Duration (months): 54.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2026381.25
EU funding (EUR): 2026381.25
Participants: 7
Project status: CLOSED

The main aim of CHANGE – “CHAlleNging Gender (In)Equality in science and research” is it to support research organisations to implement gender equality plans, this will be achieved by involving key actors, called transfer agents, within each organisation who will together with the core consortium partners transmit the co-produced gender equality knowledge inside their institution. This innovative approach will ensure the promotion and sustainable institutionalization of the gender equality plans (GEPs) beyond the project duration. Through mutual learning and networking CHANGE will enable partners to become resource centres skilled to provide knowledge and expertise to individuals or departments that will be available for experience exchange, support and mentorship in the country and region after the project is finished. Regular inclusion and exchange with national and European stakeholders (policy makers, researchers, ministries etc.) ensures a spill-over effect of CHANGE results to other research performing organisations (RPOs) and research funding organisations (RFOs) in their respective countries as well as with other ministries in the whole European area. Thus CHANGE contributes to the advancement of gender equality in the European Research Area by stimulating institutional cultural change towards gender equal work environments in RPOs and fostering the importance of gender dimension inclusive research and innovation programmes in RFOs.

Keywords: gender in equality,research ogranisations,gender equality action plans,transfer agents
Emerging Visual Expectation in the Brain (EXPECTATION)

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: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Netherlands,United States
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2016, 2016)
Start date: 2018-01-01
End date: 2021-04-04
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 260929.8
EU funding (EUR): 260929.8
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Falling raindrops will likely move downwards; red brake lights up ahead will predict a car slowing down. While perception of the world around us feels rich in detail, our brains lack the capacity to analyze every ‘pixel’ at every time-point. Instead, the brain relies on expectations to compress the total amount of sensory information from the environment. A failure to rely on expectations about visual inputs would lead to catastrophic consequences. For example, an air traffic controller without the ability to predict the likely trajectories of two planes coming in for landing would spell certain disaster. Remarkably, despite the obvious role in adaptively guiding behavior, the cognitive and neural mechanisms supporting perceptual expectations remain poorly understood. I will concurrently measure human behavior and neural responses to address two fundamental, yet outstanding questions: How are expectations about visual input acquired, and what is the impact of behavioral relevance? I anticipate mechanisms of expectation to change with learning and behavioral relevance. For example, driving in the rain, expectations about break lights could amplify this immediately relevant information. Expectations about falling rain, on the other hand, could support the equally important task of suppressing this irrelevant information so you may return home safely.

Keywords: attention,expectation,visual expertise
StoreHero: An AI (Artificial Intelligence) Virtual Business Coach for Physical Retailers (StoreHero)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Ireland
Call: Open Disruptive Innovation Scheme (H2020-SMEINST-1-2016-2017, 2016)
Start date: 2016-11-01
End date: 2017-04-30
Duration (months): 6.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

90% of total retail sales are still generated by offline retailers, yet but most physical retailers find it hard to make sense of all the data that is available to them and use that intelligence to drive their decision making and compete with online. They are sinking in data from POS systems, intranets, and internal processes, and aren’t equipped to absorb complex analytics. In order to solve these problems, Measurence has developed and will launch StoreHero. StoreHero is an AI-based virtual business coach for physical retailers. It helps store owners and operators grow their business. Thanks to data collected through a variety of sources, it sends text-messages and notifications with insights and recommendations on how to improve the retail business, based on the intelligence generated by our proprietary platform of interconnected and remotely-managed plug-and-play sensors. It helps shop owners, for example, to run more effective promotions by informing ahead of time when and how it's the best time to advertise to capture most customers. It can help to optimize store opening hours by monitoring events outside of a store. StoreHero serves as a business guru for our clients, allowing simple interaction and providing insights after analysing hundreds of gigabyte of raw data very quickly, simply and effectively. From store managers to executives, everyone will have access to information in an immediate format, with the ability to easily share it and make cross-store comparisons. During this project, we will enhance our IoT platform as well as our machine learning software. We will estimate the growth potential of clients for next 5 years. We will also analyse the customer requirement, IPR protection strategy, competing technology and promotional activity in this study. All this information generated after the study will help us to scale up and redesign the platform that will address the needs of more physical retailers, to ensure wider market access at the earliest.

Keywords: retail analytics,physical retailers,iot platforms,decision support,business analytics,artificial intelligence
Conducting Liquid crystal Elastomer ActuatoRs (CLEAR)

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: Physics
Countries involved: Finland
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2022-01-01
End date: 2025-08-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 202680.96
EU funding (EUR): 202680.96
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The overall goal of this cross-disciplinary project is to combine stretchable electronics with soft robotics in order to build up a novel materials platform that possesses multifunctional electronic control, sensing, and signaling coupled with actuation in response to environmental stimuli, such as electricity, heat, and light. In recent years the transformation of electronics into soft and stretchable organic systems has opened up a wide range of novel applications, including healthcare monitoring with ultrathin skin-like flexible devices, whereas actuators composed of soft active materials possess characteristics for microrobotics that are nearly impossible to achieve with conventional rigid systems, most notably mechanical compatibility with biological tissue. In this project interpenetrating conducting polymer networks will be fabricated in an actuator composed of a liquid crystal elastomer, a class of materials that has undergone rapid development within the past decade and is considered one of the best candidates for microscale soft robotics. The stimuli-response of the actuator brings about possibilities towards autonomous action, where it can sense the environment and act accordingly, representing multifunctional materials where the matrix has an active role in functionality. The unique combination of properties and functionalities promises coupled sensing and actuation that could have a transformative impact on the use of liquid crystal elastomers in soft matter applications. I envision that the conducting actuators have future applications as wearable sensors for heart rate detection and electrical nerve stimulation, with the reversible shape change enabling them to smoothly envelop around the target tissue.

Keywords: liquid crystal elastomers,soft robotics,conducting polymers,stretchable electronics
Convergence of Information from Separate Brain Areas to Orchestrate Orienting Movements (CISBOOM)

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: Life Sciences
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2021-01-01
End date: 2023-02-25
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 224933.76
EU funding (EUR): 224933.76
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

To interact with our environment, we identify, locate and move towards objects of interest. This recruits multiple brain areas, handling separate aspects. Indeed, perception alone engages several cortical and subcortical areas, processing specific features or sensory modalities. How this information is then merged to create a unified percept is a fundamental question, known as the binding problem. Here, we address this question by studying the superior colliculus, a midbrain area essential for orienting. Inside this structure, a neuronal subpopulation forms segregated patches, which elicit precise head rotations, and receive sensory-, motor- and attentional-related inputs. These anatomical sites seem well poised to bring together information from similar locations or objects, to induce orienting towards them. To test this hypothesis, I will probe how coherent these converging inputs are, in terms of feature tuning and receptive field coordinates. To investigate if inputs convey filtered information, I will assess the functional diversity of afferent neurons in each brain area. I will then examine whether this content varies across recipient patches, to determine whether stimuli at distinctive positions trigger head rotations. To label and record presynaptic partners, I will employ monosynaptically restricted trans-synaptic viruses, combined with two photon calcium imaging in awake mice. This project will reveal how animals create a representation of space in order to execute target-oriented movements. Because the superior colliculus is an ancient and conserved structure, this is potentially evolution’s first attempt to bind coherent processes to guide movement, animal’s main concern.

Keywords: superior colliculus,multimodal integration,orienting,space encoding,perception