Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Mapping the synaptic circuits for salience (SALIENSY)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Neurosciences and neural disorders
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2020-02-29
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

An unpredicted salient event – rewarding or aversive – triggers a rapid emotional reaction that has profound impact in making a future choice. The early neurobiological processes behind it are matter of intense study. However, the hierarchical anatomical and functional organization as well as the cellular mechanisms underlying acute perception of reward and aversive events remains unknown. Intriguingly, salience experience alters the activity in the medial globus pallidus of the basal ganglia and the lateral habenula (LHb) as well as in dopamine and serotonin neurons. Here, I hypothesize that rewarding and aversive experiences require the medial globus pallidus-LHb pathway, and rapid cellular adaptations in LHb to orchestrate dopamine and serotonin systems. To test this my specific aims are: 1 - Anatomical-functional circuit dissection to map LHb inputs from the medial globus pallidus, and LHb outputs to the midbrain using viral-based mapping 2 – Assess the effect of salience (reward, aversion) on the LHb using synaptic physiology and optogenetics and 3 - Causally link LHb activity with behaviours modelling reward/aversion to probe LHb function at the network level using in vivo electrophysiology and optogenetics. I propose to unravel early cellular processes fundamental to “pursue a reward, escape a danger”, which is relevant for encoding rewarding and aversive stimuli in health and neuropsychiatry (i.e. addiction, depression, post-traumatic stress disorders).

Keywords: synapses,glutamate,gaba,salience,neuromodulators,reward,aversion,electrophysiology,optogenetics
Structure-Aware Geometry Processing (SMARTGEOMETRY)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Computer science and informatics
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-11-01
End date: 2019-10-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499130.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499130.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Geometric data is now ubiquitous. Such 3D content is either acquired using LiDAR scans, MRI scans, etc., or created using 3D modelers, or obtained as output of simulation processes. The data, however, come in low-level representations (e.g., points, polygons, voxel grids) and begets little understanding of the underlying objects or processes. This is unfortunate since such data have significant redundancies as they often measure related entities (e.g., humans in different poses, same room across multiple configurations, or chairs having different styles). While the data can potentially reveal significant self-similarities among objects and correlations across related objects, we are missing critically-needed tools for such analysis. Hence, I propose to develop mathematical frameworks and computational tools to extract, represent, manipulate, and utilize relations among 3D model collections. Essentially, I propose to factorize model collections into consistent structures (i.e., relations among parts in and across multiple objects) and low-dimensional variations, with local geometric details playing a subordinate role. Jointly analyzing model collections can further reveal relationships between form and their functions (e.g., chairs typically will have consistent back-seat relations, even if at the level of vertices the underlying models can be very different). This requires solving two coupled problems: (i) jointly analyzing large model collections to decouple consistent structure from dominant modes of variations, and (ii) using the information towards next generation form-finding possibilities. The grand goal is to lay the foundations of structure-aware geometry processing where computationally extracted geometric relations and constraints are automatically conformed to with potentially far-reaching implications in a range of disciplines like science, engineering, medicine, and product design.

Keywords: relations,geometric analysis,shape space,large datasets,3d content,form-finding
Studying Pathogen Phage Host Interactions (PATHOPHAGEHOST)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Immunity and infection
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2019-09-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1490400.0
EU funding (EUR): 1490400.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The DNA uptake competence system of the intracellular bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes was considered non-functional. There are no known conditions for DNA transformation and the competence master activator gene, comK, is interrupted by a temperate (lysogenic) prophage. We have shown recently that the L. monocytogenes competence system is required during infection to promote bacterial escape from macrophage phagosomes, in a manner that is independent of DNA uptake. Remarkably, we found that regulation of the competence system relies on the formation of a functional comK gene via a controlled process of prophage excision. Prophage excision was specifically induced during intracellular growth, primarily within phagosomes, yet, unlike classic prophage induction, progeny virions were not produced and bacterial lysis did not occur. This study revealed a unique adaptation of a prophage to the intracellular life style of its host, whereby the prophage serves as a genetic switch to modulate the virulence of its host. In the proposed project we aim to investigate this phenomenon and study the give-and-take interactions between the L. monocytogenes 10403S strain and its ϕ10403S-prophage during mammalian infection. We will study the prophage determinants and mechanisms that control intracellular excision and maintenance as well as the mechanisms that prevent its virions production and bacterial lysis. We will explore the crosstalk between phage and bacterial regulatory factors and characterize the mammalian host signals/conditions that trigger this unique prophage response. Lastly, we will investigate the unexpected function of the competence system in phagosomal escape. In particular, we will explore the possibility that the competence system serves as an auxiliary secretion system, which secretes proteins that promote phagosomal escape.

Keywords: prophage,lysogeny,competence system,intracellular bacterial pathogen
Quantitative methods in stochastic homogenization (QUANTHOM)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Mathematical foundations
Countries involved: Belgium,France
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-02-01
End date: 2019-08-31
Duration (months): 67.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1043172.0
EU funding (EUR): 1043172.0
Participants: 4
Project status: CLOSED

This proposal deals with the development of quantitative tools in stochastic homogenization, and their applications to materials science. Three main challenges will be addressed. First, a complete quantitative theory of stochastic homogenization of linear elliptic equations will be developed starting from results I recently obtained on the subject combining tools originally introduced for statistical physics, such as spectral gap and logarithmic Sobolev inequalities, with elliptic regularity theory. The ultimate goal is to prove a central limit theorem for solutions to elliptic PDEs with random coefficients. The second challenge consists in developing an adaptive multiscale numerical method for diffusion in inhomogeneous media. Many powerful numerical methods were introduced in the last few years, and analyzed in the case of periodic coefficients. Relying on my recent results on quantitative stochastic homogenization, I have made a sharp numerical analysis of these methods, and introduced more efficient variants, so that the three academic examples of periodic, quasi-periodic, and random stationary diffusion coefficients can be dealt with efficiently. The emphasis of this challenge is put on the adaptivity with respect to the local structure of the diffusion coefficients, in order to deal with more complex examples of interest to practitioners. The last and larger objective is to make a rigorous connection between the continuum theory of nonlinear elastic materials and polymer-chain physics through stochastic homogenization of nonlinear problems and random graphs. Analytic and numerical preliminary results show the potential of this approach. I plan to derive explicit constitutive laws for rubber from polymer chain properties, using the insight of the first two challenges. This requires a good understanding of polymer physics in addition to qualitative and quantitative stochastic homogenization.

Keywords: stochastic homogenization,nonlinear elasticity,statistical mechanics,multiscale method
Function of Chemosensory Circuits (CHEMOSENSORYCIRCUITS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Neurosciences and neural disorders
Countries involved: Norway,Belgium
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2019-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499471.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499471.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Smell and taste are the least studied of all senses. Very little is known about chemosensory information processing beyond the level of receptor neurons. Every morning we enjoy our coffee thanks to our brains ability to combine and process multiple sensory modalities. Meanwhile, we can still review a document on our desk by adjusting the weights of numerous sensory inputs that constantly bombard our brains. Yet, the smell of our coffee may remind us that pleasant weekend breakfast through associative learning and memory. In the proposed project we will explore the function and the architecture of neural circuits that are involved in olfactory and gustatory information processing, namely habenula and brainstem. Moreover we will investigate the fundamental principles underlying multimodal sensory integration and the neural basis of behavior in these highly conserved brain areas. To achieve these goals we will take an innovative approach by combining two-photon calcium imaging, optogenetics and electrophysiology with the expanding genetic toolbox of a small vertebrate, the zebrafish. This pioneering approach will enable us to design new types of experiments that were unthinkable only a few years ago. Using this unique combination of methods, we will monitor and perturb the activity of functionally distinct elements of habenular and brainstem circuits, in vivo. The habenula and brainstem are important in mediating stress/anxiety and eating habits respectively. Therefore, understanding the neural computations in these brain regions is important for comprehending the neural mechanisms underlying psychological conditions related to anxiety and eating disorders. We anticipate that our results will go beyond chemical senses and contribute new insights to the understanding of how brain circuits work and interact with the sensory world to shape neural activity and behavioral outputs of animals.

Keywords: zebrafish,calcium imaging,neural circuits
Interplay between metamorphism and deformation in the Earth’s lithosphere (MADE-IN-EARTH)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Earth system science
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2018-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499820.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499820.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

A key to understanding the processes operating in the outer part of the Earth is to look at the metamorphic rocks produced in orogenic belts. These rocks now exhumed to the Earth’s surface provide a record of what they experienced, if only they can be correctly interpreted. The recent use of high resolution devices has revealed the three-dimensional size, shape, composition and distribution of microstructural features in metamorphic rocks down to the nanometre-scale. The new observations show that mechanically maintained pressure variations can be significant (~1 GPa) even on a micro-scale. However, there is currently no satisfactory thermodynamic methodology for a quantitative interpretation of systems with such pressure variations in metamorphic rocks. Ignoring such pressure variations in petrological analysis can lead to errors in depth estimates that are comparable to the typical thickness of the whole continental crust. Such an error may then significantly influence the quality of geodynamic reconstructions. Here, I propose to develop a revolutionary theoretical and computational method to understand microstructures that reflect pressure variations, based on the chemical and mechanical properties of their constituent minerals. Using the novel theoretical approach, I and my team will perform 3D numerical simulations and give the criteria to correctly understand the key microstructures. This emerging multi-disciplinary research will provide a quantitative and physically-based framework for interpreting common microstructures in metamorphic rocks. Furthermore, the new approach will not only make a critical contribution to understanding the interplay between metamorphic processes and deformation on the grain scale, but it will also form the basis for a new generation of models for application to large-scale geological scenarios. The results of the project will thus significantly increase our understanding of key processes in the Earth’s lithosphere.
Polariton networks: from honeycomb lattices to artificial gauge fields (HONEYPOL)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Condensed matter physics
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2018-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499950.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499950.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Boson gases confined in lattices present fundamental properties which strongly depart from their 3D counterparts. A notorious example is the honeycomb lattice, whose geometry results in massless Dirac-like states. By engineering the phase picked by the particles when tunneling from site to site, lattices also allow for the generation of artificial gauge fields. They result in very strong effective magnetic fields, opening the way to the observation of new quantum Hall regimes in neutral particles. In this context, polaritons appear as an excellent platform for the study of boson fluid effects in confined geometries. Polaritons are two-dimensional half-light/half-matter quasi-particles arising from the strong coupling between quantum well excitons and photons confined in a semiconductor microcavity. They are fully accessible by optical means and present strong non-linear properties. In this project, I will fabricate polariton microsstructures to study mesoscopic physics in 2D lattics. I will start by studying the non-linear Josephson dynamics in coupled micropillars, and engineer a double tunneling structure showing single polariton blockade. I will then fabricate a graphene-like honeycomb lattice, where I will study transport phenomena such as anomalous (Klein) tunneling and antilocalisation in the presence of disorder, phenomena originating from the Dirac-cone characteristic of honeycomb lattices. In the high density regime, I will investigate non-linear effects, and address the question of superfluidity of massless Dirac particles. Finally, I will undertake the realization of artificial gauge fields for polaritons. I will adapt to the polariton case a recent theoretical proposal to create artificial gauges in photons using coupled microdisks. Our results will have strong impact on current studies on the transport properties of graphene, of boson gases in atomic condensates, and also on the design of photonic systems with topological protection from disorder.

Keywords: semiconductors: optical properties,microcavity polaritons
Neurovascular Interactions and Pathfinding in the Spinal Motor System (NEVAI)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Neurosciences and neural disorders
Countries involved: Italy
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2015-01-01
End date: 2020-12-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1653000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1653000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Neurons and blood vessels rely on common guidance signals to wire into elaborate neural and vascular networks that are closely juxtaposed and interdependent: vascular supply of oxygen and nutrients is essential to sustain the high metabolic rate of the nervous system, and conversely neural control of vascular tone is crucial for circulatory homeostasis. However, it remains unclear how the nervous and vascular systems establish an intimate physical and functional relationship. This proposal seeks to reveal the developmental mechanisms that link neuronal connectivity and vascularization of the nervous system, focusing on the interactions between vascular endothelial cells and spinal motor neurons that control locomotion, respiration and autonomic responses. Motor neuron diseases and a variety of other neurodegenerative conditions are precipitated by vascular abnormalities. Thus, understanding the molecular basis of neurovascular crosstalk may offer novel therapeutic opportunities. My group will use mutagenesis-based forward genetics in reporter mice combined with gene profiling of motor neurons and endothelial cells to screen for novel regulators of neurovascular interactions and pathfinding. Candidate genes will be further characterized using in vivo mouse and chick models, in addition to in vitro studies to uncover the mechanisms of action. Through this multi-disciplinary approach, the proposal will address these fundamental questions: (i) Do neurovascular interactions instruct the assembly of neural and vascular networks? (ii) What signaling pathways connect region-specific vascularization of the CNS to the local metabolic and functional demand of neuronal tissues? (iii) What mechanisms account for specificity, spatiotemporal control and integration of guidance signaling? In addition, this research plan will generate comprehensive transcriptional/proteomic datasets and novel mouse mutants for future studies of neurovascular communication and patterning.

Keywords: axon guidance,motor neuron,neurovascular interactions,nervous system vascularization,forward and reverse mouse genetics,mutagenesis screen in the mouse,transcriptional profiling,rna-sequencing
Enhanced Modeling and Optimization of Batteries Incorporating Lithium-ion Elements (E-MOBILE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Systems and communication engineering
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2018-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1492800.0
EU funding (EUR): 1492800.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Developing rechargeable batteries with larger storage capacity, higher output power, faster charge/discharge time, and longer calendar lifetime could significantly impact the economical and environmental future of the European Union. New generations of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) based on nanostructured electrodes are perfect candidates to supply all-electrical vehicles and favor the usage of renewable energies instead of fossil fuels. Hence, the global LIB revenue is expected to expand from $11 billion in 2011 up to $50 billion in 2020. The goal of this project is therefore to provide an advanced simulation and optimization platform to design LIBs with improved performance and increase the competitiveness of Europe in this domain. The proposed computer aided design (CAD) tool must satisfy three key requirements in order to reach this ambitious objective: (i) computational efficiency, (ii) results accuracy, and (iii) automated predictability. Massively parallel computing has been identified as the enabling technology to handle the first requirement. The second one will be addressed by implementing a state-of-the-art device operation model relying on a multi-scale resolution of the battery electrodes, a detailed description of the electron and ion motions, a material parametrization derived from ab-initio quantum transport techniques, and a validation of the approach through comparisons with experimental measurements. Finally, to meet the last requirement, the operation model will be coupled to a genetic algorithm optimizer capable of automatically predicting the LIB configuration that best matches pre-defined performance targets. The resulting CAD tool will be released as an open source package so that the entire battery community can benefit from it.

Keywords: multi-scale modeling of li-ion batteries