Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Neuroendocrine regulation of Phlebotomus perniciosus immunity and microbiota: fighting Leishmania infection (NEPHIMLEI)

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: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Czechia
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2025-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 166278.72
EU funding (EUR): 166278.72
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Vector-borne diseases create considerable risks to human health. Leishmaniases are a group of neglected vector-borne diseases caused by protists parasites from the Leishmania genus. Approximately 350 million people around the world are at risk of being infected with Leishmania, and clinical manifestations in humans vary from cutaneous to visceral types. Leishmania is transmitted to humans by hematophagous female sand flies (Diptera, Psychodidae, Phlebotominae). Here we focus on Phlebotomus perniciosus, the natural vector of Leishmania infantum (the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis) in the western region of the Mediterranean basin Europe. Leishmania cycle occurs in the sand fly midgut, where parasites must overcome natural barriers such as high activity levels of midgut digestive proteases, the competition with the native gut microbiota, and the activation of sand fly immune responses. Recently it was shown that insect immunity is under hormonal regulation; ecdysone hormone binds to its receptor (EcR) and triggers the expression of IMD immune signalling pathway-related genes. In sand flies gut, the IMD pathway controls Leishmania infection, but ecdysone's role in sand fly immunity and microbiota has never been studied. The NEPHIMLEI project, in a pioneering way, proposes manipulating P. perniciosus neuroendocrine system to affect sand fly gut immunity and microbiota intending the blockage of L. infantum development in the vector. Sand fly ecdysone function will be impaired by azadirachtin (an ecdysone inhibitor) oral treatment or silencing the EcR gene by RNAi. Also, sand fly immunity will be enhanced by suppressing repressor genes from both ecdysone and IMD pathways (Eip75B and caspar, respectively) using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. The altered ecdysone signalling could change P. perniciosus IMD-related immune responses, affecting microbiota and inducing sand fly resistance against L. infantum.

Keywords: medical entomology,parasite vector interaction,leishmania,sand fly,neuroendocrine system,ecdysone,immune signalling pathways,crispr cas9,rnai
Transferring Sustainable Manufacturing Knowledge to Up/Midstream Electronics Suppliers (TranSMKnow)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Staff Exchanges
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Economic Sciences
Countries involved: United Kingdom,Netherlands,Belgium,Viet Nam
Call: MSCA Staff Exchanges 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-SE-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-11-01
End date: 2029-10-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 359288.57
EU funding (EUR): 335670.0
Participants: 4
Project status: SIGNED

As EU environmental regulation tightens, many European electronics firms have prioritised sustainable manufacturing not just in their own products and processes, but increasingly for standard parts and components sourced from developing countries. Sourcing sustainable electronics from these nations, while hugely economically attractive, can be challenging. Small and medium-sized enterprises(SME’s) typically encounter constraints to accessing knowledge and information if they are distanced from an OEM or final manufacturer, and are unlikely to gain valuable sustainable manufacturing knowledge they can apply. In addition, many SME's producing standard electronics products, either lack incentive to move away from a ‘cost-effective products approach’, or simply do not possess the skills, resources or mindset to produce environmentally sustainable products. TranSMKnow seeks to address this by developing and exploiting a novel ground-up approach to incentivising distant suppliers in Vietnam's growing electronics sector, to learn and adopt ‘sustainable’ practices via informal 'downstream' knowledge transfer. To achieve this, TranSMKnow develops and facilitates a holistic approach including 'learning by doing' sustainable design and manufacturing practices relating to products and/or production processes, but also building mindset change. We focus our training around a few typical electronics parts, destined for the EU, with the idea that the worker can initially build skills around these products, and then apply their new knowledge, and develop confidence to transfer this training to other products that use similar machinery and technology. This project utilises AI to chart both the supply path and the environmental 'profile' of these typical products (i.e. repeated quality, repair and recyclability issues) identified downstream, to develop a package of tailored sustainable learning processes and tools. TranSMKnow training will be validated in a few Vietnamese SME's.

Keywords: sustainable design and manufacturing,extended global supply chains,knowledge transfer,training,ai
Microbiome-based diagnostics and therapeutics (BiomeDxRx)

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: Israel
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS (ERC-2023-POC, 2023)
Start date: 2023-10-01
End date: 2025-03-31
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The problem: Much effort has been directed to identifying disease risk factors and indeed, numerous genetic, lifestyle, anthropometric and clinical risk factors are routinely used for this task. However, the clinical utility of existing risk factors is limited and most of them appear when physiological derangements have already occurred. The gut microbiome plays a role in human physiology and health and as such, combining it with existing risk factors can lead to earlier and more robust disease detection. However, very few microbiome-based markers predictive of disease onset and progression were found to date and none are currently used by healthcare systems. The solution: In the ERC-funded project, we used our unique multi-omics and longitudinally profiled 10,000-person cohort and biobank to develop methods for metagenome-wide association studies. We found microbial genetic variation at the single nucleotide level and single bacterial genes level whose baseline levels were predictive of future disease onset. In this ERC-PoC, we propose to prioritize the bacteria found in the ERC-funded project (WP1) and use them within machine learning disease diagnostic models (WP2) that we will then license to diagnostic companies. We further propose to build a microbial biobank of the ERC-identified strains by isolating them from cohort participants, functionally characterizing them with metabolomics and combining them into bacterial consortiums (WP3). As these strains have therapeutic potential, we will license them to probiotic or pharmaceutical companies (WP4). Notably, we already validated this approach in two licensing agreements, one with a Japanese-based company who licensed bacteria that we found for treating Atopic Dermatitis, and another with a U.S. based probiotics company who licensed bacteria that we found for weight loss. If successful, our ERC-PoC may thus result in novel microbiome-based diagnostic and therapeutic products for various disease indications.
Surface Polarization, Evolution, and Reconstruction for CO2 Reduction (SuPERCO2)

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: Chemistry
Countries involved: Italy,Switzerland,Netherlands
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2024-03-01
End date: 2026-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 172750.08
EU funding (EUR): 172750.08
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

The exploitation of fossil fuels to sustain human activities have determined a steep increase in CO2 atmospheric concentration, thus leading to climate changes. While photovoltaic devices and wind power plants provide sustainable alternatives for energy supply, chemical commodities are still mainly produced from fossil fuels. The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide enables generation of chemicals from CO2, water, and renewable energy, concurring to reduce CO2 concentration and store excess renewable energy. In the SuPERCO2 project, I aim to manufacture electrochemical cells achieving high performance and stability for converting CO2 to ethanol, ethylene, and further C3+ hydrocarbons. In fact, Cu-based materials, the state-of-the-art catalysts for converting CO2 to multi-carbon molecules, suffer low performance and poor long-term stability at large electrode sizes, thus limiting the industrial uptake of the technology. Besides, the lack of effective data sharing platforms prevent parallel optimization of CO2 reduction catalysts by different stakeholders, whereas poor understanding of the many interdependent phenomena which affects the process further prevents its industrial scale up. To overcome these limitations, I will carry out three main tasks: the search for improved catalysts, the creation of an open-source database to store experimental data, and the development of a multi-scale platform to model the processes involved. Overall, SuPERCO2 will contribute in the short term to fundamental insights in the field of CO2 reduction, in the mid to long term to a fossil-free production of multi-carbon molecules within European Union. Besides, by including academic (Politecnico di Torino, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and industrial (Teijin Materials) stakeholders, the project will provide the researcher with an all-inclusive profile in the field of electrochemistry.

Keywords: carbon dioxide,multi carbon products,flow cell,gas diffusion electrode,electrolyte,high throughput screening,density functional theory,multiscale modeling
TFF2 production and molecular mechanism studies to support new therapeutic approaches for gut diseases. (TFF2IBDrug)

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: Chemistry
Countries involved: Austria
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-09-01
End date: 2026-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 199440.96
EU funding (EUR): 199440.96
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic gastrointestinal (GI) conditions, which affect approximately 1.3 and 2 million people in Europe and North America, respectively, with a growing number of incidences in Asia as well. Currently, existing therapies only alleviate the symptoms and suppress the inflammation, but don’t promote gut repair. The development of novel therapies is limited by a lack of understanding of the underlying processes of gut healing and repair. Although trefoil family factors (TFF) are major players in gut epithelium restitution and repair, very little is known about their molecular mechanisms and interaction partners. In this project, I will attempt to close this knowledge gap and will focus on trefoil family factor 2 (TFF2). The proposed project aims to identify TFF2 interaction partners (i), study their structure-activity relationships (ii) and produce TFF2-based peptidomimetics (iii). I will use chemical synthesis coupled with structure elucidation to design and produce TFF2 photoactivatable probes for the identification of TFF2 interaction partners. Then structure-activity relationship studies of TFF2 and identified partners will be carried out to define structural determinants of binding and activity. Based on this knowledge I will design novel TFF2-based peptidomimetics and study their stability, binding to TFF2 targets, and effect on epithelial restitution. The proposed project will deliver fundamental insights into molecular mechanisms of gut healing and yield a set of novel peptidomimetics, which could serve as leads for further development of therapies for IBD and GI conditions.

Keywords: inflammatory bowel diseases,trefoil family factors,peptidomimetics,nmr spectroscopy,target identification,photoactivatable cross linking
The potential contribution of skeletal muscle to TDP-43 associated ALS. (muscleTDP)

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: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-06-01
End date: 2026-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 203464.32
EU funding (EUR): 203464.32
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor neuron degeneration that leads to progressive muscle atrophy. Currently only a few FDA-approved drugs are available for ALS, which merely extend patients’ life by a few months. Thus, there is an urgent need for new and more effective disease-modifying treatments. Although ALS is characterized by selective motor neuron degeneration, extensive evidence indicates that other cell types contribute to both onset and progression of ALS. An unresolved question in the ALS field is whether skeletal muscle fibers are merely bystanders or rather active contributors to motor neuron degeneration in ALS, and if so, through which biological pathways. Previous and ongoing work by the host laboratory has demonstrated the contribution of skeletal muscle in FUS-ALS, (1-2% of ALS cases). As TDP-43 cytoplasmic inclusions are a universal feature in nearly all ALS patients, assessing whether mutant TDP-43 toxicity in muscle contributes to ALS may be relevant to the broad community of ALS patients. I hypothesize that TDP-43 toxicity in skeletal muscle contributes to motor neuron degeneration and ALS-related phenotypes through specific molecular programs. I will use genetic and viral approaches to modulate mutant TDP-43 levels specifically in skeletal muscle in a TDP-43-ALS mouse model, and assess the effects on ALS-related phenotypes. Moreover, I will use single-nucleus RNA sequencing, a cutting-edge technique that became recently available, to determine – for the first time – the biological function of TDP-43 in skeletal muscle in the context of ALS, and to potentially identify novel therapeutic targets. Indeed, if mutant TDP-43 expression in skeletal muscle would influence the age of disease onset and/or disease progression, this would imply that therapeutic strategies for ALS should not only target motor neurons but also skeletal muscles, potentially improving ALS treatment approaches.

Keywords: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,tdp 43,skeletal muscle,neurodegenetation,single nuclei rnaseq,mouse genetics,transcriptomics,molecular neuroscience
Higher Education Informal Diplomacy: the case of the European Universities Initiative (EUI) (HEIDI)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Postdoctoral Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Italy
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2025-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 164950.08
EU funding (EUR): 164950.08
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

In a world of shifting geopolitics and increasing societal and economic challenges, higher education institutions (HEIs) have become critical actors in promoting economic, social, and educational relations among nations. They also contribute to enhancing the global science-policy interface by providing knowledge and expertise during crises while pursuing Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, we know surprisingly little re how higher education institutions combine political agency with knowledge production and thus act as autonomous agents of informal diplomacy. A truly interdisciplinary project bringing theoretical, methodological and empirical innovations, HEIDI studies HEIs' nature and role as informal diplomatic actors. Focusing on the European Universities Initiative (EUI), HEIDI: 1): defines the concept of higher education informal diplomacy; (2) maps the nature, governance, and policy practices of HEIs as informal diplomatic actors; 3) traces how HEIs are advancing informal diplomacy by looking at the role of stakeholders in this process. HEIDI proposes a two-year fellowship at the School of Transnational Governance of the European University Institute in Florence. The expertise and facilities offered by the host and the supervisor (Prof. Stone), together with my existing experience and talent, mutually reinforce my development as an independent researcher during the fellowship. In addition, advanced training (e.g. statistics, grant writing, science communication) and two-way knowledge transfer will allow me to realize my long-term career goals after the fellowship. A customized dissemination and communication plan ensures that the project and its results are known well beyond the academic community. Altogether, HEIDI bridges a major scientific gap and represents cutting-edge research in a vital field for the future of Europe in enhancing awareness of the importance of higher education to foster international cooperation and solve global challenges.

Keywords: science diplomacy,higher education,internationalization,transnational governance,european union,knowledge,alliances,sustainable development goals,global challenges,eu foreign policy
Reducing Environmental Footprint through transformative Multi-scale Aviation Planning (REFMAP)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Climate, Energy and Mobility
Theme: Mobility
Destination: Clean and competitive solutions for all transport modes
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Sweden,United Kingdom,Netherlands,Czechia,Cyprus,Spain,Portugal,Greece
Call: Digital aviation technologies for new aviation business models, services, emerging global threats and industrial competitiveness (HORIZON-CL5-2022-D5-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-02-01
End date: 2026-01-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4034527.0
EU funding (EUR): 4034527.0
Participants: 11
Project status: SIGNED

The mission of RefMap is to develop a digital service aimed at quantifying the environmental footprints of air mobility for airliners and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) at a "multi-scale" level, where single-trajectories (micro) and the flow traffic of multiple vehicles (macro) are optimised to minimise their environmental impact in a wide range of communities. RefMap investigates how the aviation business models will be affected by the availability of environmental data for each type and route of air vehicle, as this will enable stricter evidence-based Green policy making in the sector. This will be achieved via the development of the RefMap analytics platform processing environmental and weather data such as wind, noise, CO2 and non-CO2 emissions for both U-space and ATM. This platform will rely on a number of technical solutions, including numerical simulation, predictive models, and deep-learning methods. The latter will be used to construct accurate non-intrusive prediction frameworks and to optimize the trajectories of the various vehicles given the predicted flow conditions via deep reinforcement learning (DRL). These will enable the development of a new aviation business models aligned with EU’s Green Agenda.

Keywords: sustainable aviation sustainable urban air mobility climate action deep learning simulations digital service air traffic management
MXENES AS THERMAL CATALYSTS. EXPLOITING THE IDEAL PROPERTIES OF CHAMELEONIC MATERIALS (DISCOVERY)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Panel description: Analytical chemistry, chemical theory, physical chemistry/chemical physics
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2023-ADG, 2023)
Start date: 2024-10-01
End date: 2029-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

MXenes were discovered in 2011 and, since then, have attracted attention as electro- and photocatalysts. In contrast, the ideal properties of MXenes as thermal catalysts remain almost unexplored, there being a very limited number of studies. The main reasons for this apparent lack of interest are: i) the shift in catalysis from heat as energy to overcome activation barriers to green electricity or sunlight, ii) the limited number of commercial MXenes and iii) the relative novelty of these materials. However, MXenes offer unique compositional range, structural flexibility and material properties that can make them disruptive catalysts. These properties include: i) prediction of the catalytic properties by DFT calculations, ii) possibility of metal alloying resulting in multimetallic MXenes, iii) absence or presence of surface terminal groups of various elements, including OH, -O- and halides, iv) control of lateral size from 2D to 0D forming MXene dots, v) strong metal support interaction making possible single atom catalysis. The aim of DISCOVERY is fill the current gap, applying MXenes to reactions in which their structure appears to be optimal according to the nature of active sites (Ti-OH or V=O) and DFT predictions (strong CO2 adsorption on surface-free MXenes). Specifically DISCOVERY will study two reaction types characteristic of some active sites such as titanol (alkene epoxidation) and vanadyl (CH4 oxidation to CH3OH and oxidative alkane dehydrogenation) or of metal nanoparticles (hydrogenation of CO2 and N2 and CH4 decomposition to H2 and carbon). DISCOVERY will not be a trial and error check of new catalysts, since it will be led be predictive DFT calculations and artificial intelligence tools. Extensive use of XAS (to monitor the changes in the metal elements during the reaction) and vibrational spectroscopy (detection of reaction intermediates) will shed light on the reaction mechanism.

Keywords: mxenes,alkene epoxidation,methane activation,oxidative dehydrogenation of alkanes,co2 hydrogenation to methanol,n2 hydrogenation,methane decompositionb