Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
First Biodegradable Biocatalytic VascularTherapeutic Implants (BTVI)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Products and Processes Engineering
Countries involved: Denmark
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2019-09-30
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1996126.0
EU funding (EUR): 1996126.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

We aim to perform academic development of a novel biomedical opportunity: localized synthesis of drugs within biocatalytic therapeutic vascular implants (BVI) for site-specific drug delivery to target organs and tissues. Primary envisioned targets for therapeutic intervention using BVI are atherosclerosis, viral hepatitis, and hepatocellular carcinoma: three of the most prevalent and debilitating conditions which affect hundreds of millions worldwide and which continue to increase in their importance in the era of increasingly aging population. For hepatic applications, we aim to develop drug eluting beads which are equipped with tools of enzyme-prodrug therapy (EPT) and are administered to the liver via trans-arterial catheter embolization. Therein, the beads perform localized synthesis of drugs and imaging reagents for anticancer combination therapy and theranostics, antiviral and anti-inflammatory agents for the treatment of hepatitis. Further, we conceive vascular therapeutic inserts (VTI) as a novel type of implantable biomaterials for treatment of atherosclerosis and re-endothelialization of vascular stents and grafts. Using EPT, inserts will tame “the guardian of cardiovascular grafts”, nitric oxide, for which localized, site specific synthesis and delivery spell success of therapeutic intervention and/or aided tissue regeneration. This proposal is positioned on the forefront of biomedical engineering and its success requires excellence in polymer chemistry, materials design, medicinal chemistry, and translational medicine. Each part of this proposal - design of novel types of vascular implants, engineering novel biomaterials, developing innovative fabrication and characterization techniques – is of high value for fundamental biomedical sciences. The project is target-oriented and once successful, will be of highest practical value and contribute to increased quality of life of millions of people worldwide.

Keywords: implantable biomaterials,enzyme-prodrug therapy,controlled drug release
microRNAs confer robustness to adult beta–cell identity (MIRNABETAIDENTITY)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physiology, Pathophysiology and Endocrinology
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2019-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2000000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Normal physiology depends on defined functional output of differentiated cells. A century of Developmental–Biology studies revealed diverse mechanisms for differentiation, however once ‘terminally’ differentiated, cells are thought to naïvely stay put. However differentiated cells are surprisingly fragile, for example, phenotypic collapse and de–differentiation of β–cells was recently discovered in pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. These discoveries necessitate investigations of key questions: How is cell–type identity robustly maintained for decades in the adult organism? What are the genetic mechanisms for continuous maintenance of differentiation and identity? microRNAs, are known to impart robustness to differentiation. Do they play important roles in maintenance of adult β–cell identity? Our overarching objective is to explore the exciting hypotheses that (i) Networks of microRNA and protein–coding genes are required to maintain adult cell identity. (ii) microRNAs confer robustness to adult β–cell identity by repressing disallowed genes that are deleterious to β–cells. (iii) Dysregulated microRNA disrupt cell identity and is a likely vector of pathology. Our planned research has the potential of producing conceptual breakthroughs including: (1) Revolutionary view of microRNAs as agents of adult cell identity and discoveries of specific microRNAs that are crucial for maintaining β–cell identity (2) Experimental discovery of targets and networks involved in adult β–cell de-differentiation. (3) In–vivo evidence for combinatorial action of multiple microRNAs in control of β–cell identity. (4) Uncovering new links from de–differentiation and into metabolic diseases that may drive future medical innovation through usage of small RNAs to reinforce β–cell differentiation.

Keywords: mirna,microrna,beta cell,islet,robustness,cell identity,de-differentiation
Detection and understanding of landslides by observing and modelling gravitational flows and generated earthquakes (SLIDEQUAKE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Earth System Science
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-05-01
End date: 2020-04-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1999240.8
EU funding (EUR): 1999240.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The goal of the project is to take a major step in improving the detection and understanding of landslides and their modelling at the field scale through the analysis of generated seismic waves. The seismic signal generated by landslides (i. e. landquakes) provides a unique tool to estimate the properties of the flow and its dynamics. Indeed, the stress applied by the landslide to the ground, which generates seismic waves, is highly sensitive to the flow history and therefore to the physical properties during mass emplacement. The strategy will be to combine a very accurate description of the landslide source, and the simulation and measurements of landquakes from the laboratory to the natural scale, by leading an ambitious interdisciplinary project involving numerical modelling, laboratory experiments and observation. The methodology will be to (1) develop thin layer models for granular flows over a complex 3D topography to alleviate the high computational costs related to the description of the real topography, taking into account the static/flowing transition and the fluid/grains mixture, both playing a key role in natural flows; (2) simulate the generated seismic waves by coupling landslide models to state-of-the-art wave propagation models. An ambitious objective will be to develop efficient coupling methods; (3) develop laboratory experiments of seismic emissions generated by granular flows to test the models and understand the physical processes at work; (4) analyse, simulate and invert natural landquakes making use of underexploited high-quality seismic and geomorphological data, in particular on volcanoes. An ultimate objective will be to design a new generation of landslides models, reliable methods and operational tools for detection of gravitational flows, and interpretation of seismic data in terms of landslide properties. This tools will be transferred to the scientific community and to the observatories in charge of monitoring landslide activity.

Keywords: landslide,gravitational flows,erosion,two-phase flows,granular flows,mathematical and numerical modelling,laboratory experiments,seismic wave propagation,volcanoes,natural hazards
Extremely Thin Absorbers for Solar Energy Conversion and Storage (ETASECS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Products and Processes Engineering
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-09-01
End date: 2020-08-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

ETASECS aims at making a breakthrough in the development of photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells for solar-powered water splitting that can be readily integrated with PV cells to provide storage capacity in the form of hydrogen. It builds upon our recent invention for resonant light trapping in ultrathin films of iron oxide (a-Fe2O3), which enables overcoming the deleterious trade-off between light absorption and charge carrier collection efficiency. Although we recently broke the water photo-oxidation record by any a-Fe2O3 photoanode reported to date, the losses are still high and there is plenty of room for further improvements that will lead to a remakable enhancement in the performance of our photoanodes, reaching quantum efficiency level similar to state-of-the-art PV cells. ETASECS aims at reaching this ambitious goal, which is essential for demonstrating the competitiveness of PEC+PV tandem systems for solar energy conversion and storage. Towards this end WP1 will combine theory, modelling and simulations, state-of-the-art experimental methods and advanced diagnostic techniques in order to identify and quantify the different losses in our devices. This work will guide the optimization work in WP2 that will suppress the losses at the photoanode and insure optimal electrical and optical coupling of the PEC and PV cells. We will also explore advanced photon management schemes that will go beyond our current light trapping scheme by combining synergic optical and nanophotonics effects. WP3 will integrate the PEC and PV cells and test their properties and performance. WP4 will disseminate our progress and achievements in professional and public forums. The innovations that will emerge from this frontier research will be further pursued in proof of concept follow up investigations that will demonstrate the feasibility of this technology. Success along these lines holds exciting promises for ground breaking progress towards large scale deployment of solar energy.

Keywords: photoelectrochemical cells,photovoltaic cells,water splitting,tandem cells,light trapping,extremely thin absorbers,solar hydrogen,solar fuels,hematite,solar energy conversion and storage
An integrative approach towards the understanding of an adaptive radiation of East African cichlid fishes (CICHLIDX)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Evolutionary, Population and Environmental Biology
Countries involved: Switzerland,Norway
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2019-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1999238.2
EU funding (EUR): 1999238.2
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

More than 150 years after the publication of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species, the identification of the processes that govern the emergence of novel species remains a fundamental problem to biology. Why is it that some groups have diversified in a seemingly explosive manner, while others have lingered unvaried over millions of years? What are the external factors and environmental conditions that promote organismal diversity? And what is the molecular basis of adaptation and diversification? A key to these and related questions is the comparative study of exceptionally diverse yet relatively recent species assemblages such as Darwin’s finches, the Caribbean anole lizards, or the hundreds of endemic species of cichlid fishes in the East African Great Lakes, which are at the center of this proposal. More specifically, I intend to conduct the so far most thorough examination of a large adaptive radiation, combining in-depth eco-morphological assessments and whole genome sequencing of all members of a cichlid species flock. To this end, I plan to (i) sequence the genomes and transcriptomes of several specimens of each cichlid species from Lake Tanganyika to examine genetic and transcriptional diversity; (ii) apply stable-isotope and stomach-content analyses in combination with underwater transplant experiments and transect surveys to quantitate feeding performances, habitat preferences and natural-history parameters; (iii) use X-ray computed tomography to study phenotypic variation in 3D; and (iv) examine fossils from existing and forthcoming drilling cores to implement a time line of diversification in a cichlid adaptive radiation. This project, thus, offers the unique opportunity to test recent theory- and data-based predictions on speciation and adaptive radiation within an entire biological system – in this case the adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika.

Keywords: speciation,adaptive radiation
Adaptation, Dispersals and Phenotype: understanding the roles of climate, natural selection and energetics in shaping global hunter-gatherer adaptability. (ADAPT)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: The Study of the Human Past
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-07-01
End date: 2020-06-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1911485.0
EU funding (EUR): 1911485.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Relative to other species, humans are characterised by considerable biological diversity despite genetic homogeneity. This diversity is reflected in skeletal variation, but we lack sufficient understanding of the underlying mechanisms to adequately interpret the archaeological record. The proposed research will address problems in our current understanding of the origins of human variation in the past by: 1) documenting and interpreting the pattern of global hunter-gatherer variation relative to genetic phylogenies and climatic variation; 2) testing the relationship between environmental and skeletal variation among genetically related hunter-gatherers from different environments; 3) examining the adaptability of living humans to different environments, through the study of energetic expenditure and life history trade-offs associated with locomotion; and 4) investigating the relationship between muscle and skeletal variation associated with locomotion in diverse environments. This will be achieved by linking: a) detailed study of the global pattern of hunter-gatherer variation in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene with; b) ground-breaking experimental research which tests the relationship between energetic stress, muscle function, and bone variation in living humans. The first component tests the correspondence between skeletal variation and both genetic and climatic history, to infer mechanisms driving variation. The second component integrates this skeletal variation with experimental studies of living humans to, for the first time, directly test adaptive implications of skeletal variation observed in the past. ADaPt will provide the first links between prehistoric hunter-gatherer variation and the evolutionary parameters of life history and energetics that may have shaped our success as a species. It will lead to breakthroughs necessary to interpret variation in the archaeological record, relative to human dispersals and adaptation in the past.

Keywords: palaeolithic,mesolithic,human dispersals,foragers,climate,adaptation,genetics,energetics,morphology,biomechanics,prehistory,ecology,life history,osteometrics,cross-sectional geometry
Transfer Learning within and between brains (TRANSFER-LEARNING)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: The Human Mind and its Complexity
Countries involved: Italy
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-08-01
End date: 2020-01-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1999998.0
EU funding (EUR): 1999998.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The neural bases of adaptive behavior in social environments are far from being understood. We propose to use both computational and neuroscientific methodologies to provide new and more accurate models of learning in interactive settings. The long-term objective is to develop a neural theory of learning: a mathematical framework that describes the computations mediating social learning in terms of neural signals, structures and plasticity. We plan to develop a model of adaptive learning based on three basic principles: (1) the observation of the outcome of un-chosen options improves the decisions taken in the learning process, (2) learning can be transferred from one domain to another, and (3) learning can be transferred from one agent to another (i.e. social learning). In all three cases, humans appear able to construct and transfer knowledge from sources other than their own direct experience, an underappreciated though we believe critical aspect of learning. Our approach will combine neural and behavioral data with computational models of learning. The hypotheses will be formalized into machine learning algorithms and neural networks of “regret” learning, to quantify the evolution of the learning computations on a trial-by-trial basis from the sequence of stimuli, choices and outcomes. The existence and accuracy of the predicted computations will be then tested on neural signals recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The potential findings of this project could lead us to suggest general principles of social learning, and we will be able to measure and model neural activation to show those general principles in action. In addition, our results could have important implications into policy-making - by revealing what type of information agents are naturally inclined to better learn from - and clinical practice - by outlining potential diagnostic procedures and behavioral therapies for disorders affecting social behavior.

Keywords: neuroeconomics,thinking and learning,counterfactual learning,tranfer learning,fmri
Sparse Signal Coding for Interference-based Imaging Modalities (INTERFERE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Systems and Communication Engineering
Countries involved: Belgium
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-06-01
End date: 2019-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1992614.8
EU funding (EUR): 1992614.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Since its invention in 1948 by Dennis Gabor holography has held the promise to empower full parallax 3D visualisation. Though the trajectory has been significantly longer than expected, recent developments in photonics, microelectronics and computer engineering have led to the prospective to realize within a decade dynamic full parallax holography with acceptable rendering quality and viewing angle. Unfortunately projections – based on the current state-of-the-art and expected evolution in the underlying “hardware” technologies – still predict exascale computing power and terabytes-per-second data rates. Since dynamic digital holography requires huge amounts of pixels to be sensed, transmitted and represented, sparse signal representations hold a great promise reducing the computational complexity and bandwidth usage. INTERFERE will design a generic source coding methodology and architecture to facilitate the exploitation of sparse signal representations for dynamic, full parallax, large viewing angle digital holography and more generic, interference-based modalities, with the ambition to reduce the signal processing tailbacks while exploiting simultaneously human visual system characteristics. Realizing these research objectives – with a strong focus on advanced signal representations, associated source coding methodologies and visual quality modelling – will provide a breakthrough with respect to the complexity reduction and thus realisation of full-parallax, wide viewing angle dynamic digital holography and benefit the earlier mentioned adjacent scientific fields. Intermediate results or components will have serendipic effects on other scientific disciplines and open new horizons for markets such as – but not limited to – medical imaging, biophotonics, life sciences, public safety, digital holographic microscopy, holographic biomedical sensors, data storage and metrology, illustrating the high-gain potential of INTERFERE.

Keywords: digital holography sparse signal approximations wavelet theory source coding visual quality assessment video coding image coding
Chemistry of the Quantum Kind (QUCC)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-01-01
End date: 2018-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1982908.0
EU funding (EUR): 1982908.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

There has been a long-standing quest to observe chemical reactions at low temperatures where reaction rates and pathways are governed by quantum mechanical effects. So far this field of Quantum Chemistry has been dominated by theory. The difficulty has been to realize in the laboratory low enough collisional velocities between neutral reactants, such that the quantum wave nature could be observed. Recently we have demonstrated a new way of studying cold reactive collisions by magnetically merging two fast neutral supersonic beams. After 40 years where the reactive scattering temperature was limited to above 5 K we were able to continuously tune collision energies from hundreds of Kelvin down to 10 mK temperature, a reduction of almost three orders of magnitude [A. B. Henson et. al, Science 338, 234, 2012]. Importantly, we were able to show that at low temperatures quantum effects start dominating reactive dynamics with the first observation of orbiting resonances in a reactive collision. We propose to extend our novel method to study chemical reactions in the regime of Cold Chemistry where the reactants’s de Broglie wavelength becomes larger compared to the characteristic interaction range. Theoretical predictions at low temperatures are extremely sensitive to the parameters used, routinely differing by orders of magnitude leading to contradictions waiting to be settled by experiment. Our ability to reach low enough collision energies and resolve scattering resonances will be used to bring a radical change to transient species spectroscopy. We believe that our work will not only test the central tenets of Quantum Chemistry, but will also provide valuable information to other fields, such as Astrochemistry helping to understand the synthesis of various molecules in interstellar space at temperatures 10 K and below.

Keywords: cold reactions,cold chemistry,interstellar chemistry