Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
The primate precursors of human consonants and vowels (THE VERBAL APE)

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: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2017-04-01
End date: 2019-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 195454.8
EU funding (EUR): 195454.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Speech is a human diagnosing feature but its evolution is problematic. While great apes – our closest relatives – seem incapable of learning to produce new calls, speech is essentially learned anew each generation. Based on the largest call database ever assembled from of any great ape (namely, orangutans) and pioneering empirical tests to be conducted in the wild and captivity, this project envisions addressing the puzzle of speech evolution conclusively. Namely, this project will assess the hypothesis that human consonants and vowels stem from articulatory and acoustic homologues present in great apes – voiceless and voiced calls, respectively. Objective 1 will investigate whether great ape voiceless and voiced calls exhibit different evolutionary trajectories and rates as observed between consonant and vowels in humans. Objective 2 will analyze, via playback experiments in great ape territory, how the evolutionary ecology of human paleoforms affected the use of consonant-like voiceless calls and vowel-like voiced calls, potentially explaining why these two basis linguistic elements started to be combined for the first time in our lineage. Objective 3 is set up to uncover, via human-ape match tests in captivity, the precise range of articulatory control that great apes exert over vocal production, ultimately indicating the sounds that constituted the first words to be uttered by early human ancestors. Altogether, this project brings a new basal pillar into the theoretic edifice of speech evolution and brings the topic back to the forefront of European and worldwide scientific inquiry. The project has gathered the best hosting conditions conceivable within the field of primate cognition research and is to be conducted in the prestigious School of Psychology and Neuroscience of University of St. Andrews, UK, and to be co-supervised by the prominent and prolific authors Prof. Josep Call and Prof. Klaus Zuberbühler.

Keywords: great apes,orangutans,chimpanzees,speech evolution,language evolution,vowels,consonants,vocalizations,ecological adaptation,motor control,vocal learning
Hybrid Membranes Incorporating Metal-Organic Frameworks (MemMOFs)

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 Kingdom
Call: ERC Proof of Concept Grant (ERC-2014-PoC, 2014)
Start date: 2015-12-01
End date: 2017-11-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 147963.75
EU funding (EUR): 147963.75
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Research undertaken on ERC Advanced Grant 226593 (COORDSPACE) has delivered a new exciting range of metal organic frameworks (MOFs). These substances show ultra-high porosity and this makes them ideal for many high value commercial applications, including gas separations. Of specific interest is NOTT-300, a unique, porous solid with exceptional, selective, CO2 and SO2 uptake properties and remarkable acetylene vs ethylene, ethylene vs ethane, and CO2 vs CH4 separation abilities. We now target the incorporation of NOTT-300 into gas separation media to impart these systems with the extraordinary properties of NOTT-300 to fulfil an urgent unmet need within a range of industries. This project will develop and deliver a market-ready mixed matrix membrane (MMM) incorporating NOTT-300

Keywords: membranes,gas separation,metal organic frameworks,polymer materials
Evolution of artificial enzymes for light-driven reactions by implementing unnatural cofactors in protein scaffolds (LightZymes)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Panel description: Biotechnology using all organisms, biotechnology for environment and food applications, applied plant and animal sciences, bioengineering and synthetic biology, biomass and biofuels, biohazards
Countries involved: Germany,Germany
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2017-STG, 2017)
Start date: 2018-02-01
End date: 2024-01-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1498749.0
EU funding (EUR): 195874.0
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

The LightZymes project aims to create artificial enzymes (LightZymes) catalyzing selective light-driven conversions of small organic molecules. Enzyme catalysis has a large potential in the development of a sustainable, bio-based economy and is increasingly applied on industrial scale. Nature’s repertoire of enzymatic reactions is huge, but for many reactions developed by chemists, no natural enzyme is available. I envision expanding the chemical diversity of enzymes to photoredox catalysis. Chemists perform this type of reactions by employing photo(organo) redox catalysts (PC). However, achieving regio- and stereoselectivities is challenging, because radical intermediates generated during the reaction are difficult to control. To solve this problem, I will combine the strength of bio- and photocatalysis: organic PCs as artificial cofactors provide new reactivities, and the proteins will be evolved to render the reactions highly selective. This approach differs from artificial photosynthesis: instead converting light energy in high-energy cofactors (NADPH, ATP), light will directly enable selective synthesis reactions. Efficient directed evolution requires an easy assembly of the catalyst, preferentially inside the cell. I propose to apply genetic code engineering and to supply the PC in the form of non-canonical amino acids (ncAA). Engineered amino acyl tRNA synthetases will incorporate the PC directly during ribosomal synthesis. This will facilitate–for the first time–the assembly of hybrid catalysts in the cytoplasm without needing further modifications or purifications. This opens the door for applying high-throughput screening based on mass spectrometry and FACS to generate highly selective variants. By bridging the concepts of photoorganocatalysis and biocatalysis, LightZymes will substantially expand the chemical repertoire of naturally evolved enzymes. This paves the way to directly using light as energy source to drive biocatalytic asymmetric reactions.

Keywords: artificial hybrid enzymes,protein engineering,photoredox catalysis
Mobilizing Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem: Representations of the Islamic Holy Sites in the Ottoman Empire (MOBILESITES)

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: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Germany,United States
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2021-08-23
End date: 2024-08-22
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 246669.12
EU funding (EUR): 246669.12
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

MOBILESITES comprises my ‘mobility’ training programme for the next three years and my research project, entitled ‘Mobilising Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem: Representations of the Islamic Holy Sites in the Ottoman Empire’. This training programme would immensely improve my career development through a reciprocal transfer of knowledge, and this research project would provide me with time and resources to expand and amplify a chapter and certain sections of my doctoral dissertation into a scholarly book. Furthermore, the MSCA-IF-GF would help me build upon my teaching and research experience by working at outstanding institutions and with prominent supervisors. During the outgoing phase of the MSCA-IF-GF, I will spend 24 months at the University of Michigan’s (U-M) Department of History of Art under the supervision of Prof. Dr Christiane Gruber. During the incoming phase, I will spend 12 months at Universität Hamburg’s (UHH) Asien-Afrika-Institut, Geschichte und Kultur des Vorderen Orients under the supervision of Prof. Dr Stefan Heidemann. Furthermore, the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin (ISL) and Prof. Dr Stefan Weber will host my intersectoral secondment during months 22–24. The three work packages (summarised in the Gantt Chart), Towards Publications (WP1), Towards Teaching (WP2), and Towards Curating (WP3), make up my distinct yet related three-year action plan. WP1 not only includes the work required for my book project but also the research and preparation for conference/symposium presentations, peer-reviewed articles, and workshops. WP2 consists of the preparations for lectures and active teaching itself, as well as improving my e-teaching, linguistic, codicological, and epigraphic skills. And finally, WP3 covers the curatorial training that I would like to gain in a museum environment and converting my research into displays and content that are accessible to a larger public.

Keywords: image and image and text and image relations,functional diversity,media change,islamic pilgrimage and visitation
Apoptotic foci: composition, structure and dynamics (APOSITE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Cellular, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
Panel description: Structure and function of the cell, cell-cell communication, embryogenesis, tissue differentiation, organogenesis, growth, development, evolution of development, organoids, stem cells, regeneration, therapeutic approaches
Countries involved: Germany,Germany
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2018-COG, 2018)
Start date: 2019-04-01
End date: 2025-09-30
Duration (months): 78.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1910421.92
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Apoptotic cell death is essential for development, immune function or tissue homeostasis, and it is often deregulated in disease. Mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) is central for apoptosis execution and plays a key role in its inflammatory outcome. Knowing the architecture of the macromolecular machineries mediating MOMP is crucial for understanding their function and for the clinical use of apoptosis. Our recent work reveals that Bax and Bak dimers form distinct line, arc and ring assemblies at specific apoptotic foci to mediate MOMP. However, the molecular structure and mechanisms controlling the spatiotemporal formation and range of action of the apoptotic foci are missing. To address this fundamental gap in our knowledge, we aim to unravel the composition, dynamics and structure of apoptotic foci and to understand how they are integrated to orchestrate function. We will reach this goal by building on our expertise in cell death and cutting-edge imaging and by developing a new analytical pipeline to: 1) Identify the composition of apoptotic foci using in situ proximity-dependent labeling and extraction of near-native Bax/Bak membrane complexes coupled to mass spectrometry. 2) Define their contribution to apoptosis and its immunogenicity and establish their assembly dynamics to correlate it with apoptosis progression by live cell imaging. 3) Determine the stoichiometry and structural organization of the apoptotic foci by combining single molecule fluorescence and advanced electron microscopies. This multidisciplinary approach offers high chances to solve the long-standing question of how Bax and Bak mediate MOMP. APOSITE will provide textbook knowledge of the mitochondrial contribution to cell death and inflammation. The implementation of this new analytical framework will open novel research avenues in membrane and organelle biology. Ultimately, understanding of Bax and Bak structure/function will help develop apoptosis modulators for medicine.
Assessment and capacity building on innovation management for potential- and successful proposers of the HORIZON 2020 SME calls (THURINN)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Innovation in SMEs
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Germany
Call: INNOSUP (H2020-Adhoc-2014-20, 2014)
Start date: 2014-07-01
End date: 2014-12-31
Duration (months): 6.0
Total project cost (EUR): 26250.0
EU funding (EUR): 21000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research Thuringia ("STIFT") is single applicant from Thuringia participating in this Call with the project proposal THURINN. Unter this action STIFT will provide services to enhance the innovation management capacity of SME´s in the region, in order to improve their competitiveness and ensure the best economic exploitation of their innovation activities and projects. This shall be achieved by a systematic analysis of the companie´s innovation management capacity to be conducted by STIFT´s experienced senior consultants and leading to an appropriate support offer or detailled recommendations for a strategy, how to properly address the identified needs or gaps.

Keywords: innovation management system,coaching,monitoring
Discovery of mevalonate and UBIAD1 inhibitors as novel drugs targeting melanoma skin cancer (MELASTOP)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Panel description: Organ and tissue physiology, comparative physiology, physiology of ageing, pathophysiology, interorgan 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: Italy
Call: Call for proposals for ERC Proof of Concept Grant (ERC-2020-PoC, 2020)
Start date: 2021-07-01
End date: 2024-06-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Melanoma is the most aggressive skin tumor, extremely difficult to treat and with high mortality rate. Overcoming reduced sensitivity and acquired resistance to targeted therapy is a major goal of current melanoma research. Therefore, there is an urgent need for development of novel drugs that can cure and prolong the survival of melanoma patients. Molecular targeted therapy by using a drug that reduces the growth and spread of cancer cells via inhibition of specific protein or pathway is a milestone of precise medicine and treatment. Recent observations demonstrate that BRAF and MEK inhibitors induce increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) in melanoma and as a consequence tumor cells activate adaptive antioxidant mechanisms to keep their cellular redox state below a deadly threshold. Thus, it has been proposed that removal of antioxidant could be exploited for therapeutic benefits. In our ERC Consolidator grant RENDOX we have characterized the mevalonate metabolic pathway and discovered that this metabolic pathway as well as its enzyme, UBIAD1, have antioxidant properties and are critical caretakers of oxidative stress and ferroptosis in pathological conditions, such as melanoma progression. The MELASTOP project is grounded on the validation and repositioning of pre-existing inhibitors, such as statins and parabens derivatives (UBIAD1i) as novel therapeutic drugs to treat melanoma resistance, which represents an extraordinary opportunity to improve the current limitation. The current ERC PoC proposal aims at lead optimization, preclinical validation, IPR positioning, marker assessment and other commercial activities including go to market strategy and dialogue with potential collaborators of these mevalonate and UBIAD1 inhibitors. We envision that this PoC represents a unique medical and commercial opportunity to treat and cure BRAF-resistant melanoma patients in urgent need of new treatment options.

Keywords: ubiad1,antioxidant,cancer progression,statins,melanoma
Development of non-invasive imaging methodology for improving embryo implantation prediction, via hyper-spectral metabolic profiling (HSMe-ImPredict)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Reintegration panel
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Physics
Countries involved: Spain
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2023-01-01
End date: 2025-07-12
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 172932.48
EU funding (EUR): 172932.48
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

In vIn vitro fertilization (IVF) is currently widely applied to address the demographic challenge of our society. Unfortunately, only 30% of the IVF transferred embryos implant and develop to term. As IVF procedures have a stressful physical, emotional, and economic impact on families, especially on women, the field is in need of a methodology, capable to reliably assess embryo implantation potential. Metabolism is playing a crucial role in successful embryo development and implantation. Yet, current metabolic measurements are either indirect or invasive and lack clinical translation capacity. In this proposal, we innovate into the development of an optical methodology based on hyper-spectral imaging of native metabolic autofluorescence and subsequent phasor analysis, for measurement and quantification of mouse embryo metabolism in a fast, direct, non-invasive way. The proposed method has unparalleled advantage in discriminating large number of metabolites (at least 6) in low signal-to-noise conditions, allowing non-invasive imaging and providing direct insight to the embryo viability and implantation potential. We will build extensive metabolic profile libraries and correlate them with the respective in vivo/ ex vivo embryo implantation capacity to determine a metabolic fingerprint characteristic for implantation success. We will consolidate the study into a user-friendly software toolbox, capable to predict the implantation success of a previously unseen embryo. We envision that in the future, this new methodology can be translated beyond mouse model, becoming a valuable IVF clinical tool. The strong embryology and translational expertise of the host group and their clinical and tech-transfer partners , together with the advanced data processing expertise of the secondment group, will complement my know-how in optical microscopy and image analysis and help me to develop a fully-rounded skill-set of an independent translational bio-tech scientist through MSCA.

Keywords: fluorescence microscopy,hyper spectral microscopy,phasor analysis,embryo implantation,metabolics,reproduction
The Electrolytic Revolution: Harnessing Coulomb Physics and Soft Matter Chemistry to Design Electrolyte Materials (ELECTROLYTE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Panel description: Analytical chemistry, chemical theory, physical chemistry/chemical physics
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2020-COG, 2020)
Start date: 2021-10-01
End date: 2026-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1996357.0
EU funding (EUR): 1996357.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Electrolytes fill our natural environment and are crucial to many areas of modern technology. Animals and plants are made up of electrolyte and our oceans are enormous reservoirs of electrolyte covering 2/3 of the surface of the Earth. Energy storage and conversion technologies, such as batteries and fuel cells, incorporate electrolyte as a central and essential ingredient. Despite this enormous ubiquity and importance of electrolytes, these fluids are often relegated to the ‘background’, considered simply as a solvating environment or conduits for charge transfer, sufficiently well defined by a few general parameters. Recently, a new perspective has begun to emerge: of electrolytes as a complex, central player: A vast library of different chemistries are being discovered including molecular ions, eutectic mixtures, self-assembling liquid salts, and oligomeric solvents. This diversity brings an unexplored jungle of nano-architectures and dynamic heterogeneities, relevant across many orders of magnitude in time and space. The overall vision of the ELECTROLYTE project is to explore and understand molecular interactions in complex and high-concentration electrolytes. The philosophy and methodology of the project involves drawing on theories and predictions from far-separated disciplines of Coulomb physics, ionic liquid chemistry, soft matter, and the biology of halophiles and electric fish. From these foundations, a series of hypotheses will be tested through experimental investigations of the structure, dynamics, electrochemical, mechanical and confinement properties of a wide range of electrolytic materials. This will lead to deep insight into the properties of concentrated electrolytes, and demonstrations of radically new electrolytic materials with properties outside of what is currently possible. Ultimately, the project will bring new mindsets for understanding and innovating electrolyte materials for future technologies.

Keywords: electrolytes,soft matter,liquids,electrostatics,coulomb fluids,ionic liquids,self assembly,electrical double layer,screening,conductivity,capacitance,supercapacitors
Organo-Catalytic Nanoparticles for Organic Synthesis (OCN4OS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Research and innovation staff exchange
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Chemistry
Countries involved: Italy,Ireland,United Kingdom
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-06-01
End date: 2017-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 351000.0
EU funding (EUR): 351000.0
Participants: 3
Project status: CLOSED

The objective of this proposal is the development of a platform of recyclable organocatalysts that could be employed in the preparation of drugs or intermediates thereof. In order to achieve this objective the proposal brings together 3 partners with complementary skills: an expert in Phase Transfer Catalysis, Organo-Catalysis and synthesis (RCSI), an expert in development of DNA based catalysis and DNA elaboration (University of Nottingham) and an expert in the manufacture of polymer bound biomolecules and drug intermediates (Prigen). The relevance of the platform will be demonstrated by the their application to the preparation of unnatural aminoacids, intermediates of synthesis for active pharmaceutical ingredient Pregabalin, a new estrogen-b-receptor modulator and anti-HIV Efavirenz.

Keywords: organocatalysis,api manufacture,amino acids