Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Quantum Nonlinear Optics in Atomic Arrays (QUANLUX)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Physics
Countries involved: Spain
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2020-09-01
End date: 2022-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 172932.48
EU funding (EUR): 172932.48
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Nonlinear optical processes are at the foundation of many applications in modern science and engineering. The emerging field of Quantum Technologies is now demanding that we push these processes into the realm of Quantum Nonlinear Optics (QNLO) where nonlinear effects occur at the level of individual photons. Achieving such a regime would allow the generation and manipulation of non-classical states of light and would open exciting new scenarios involving quantum many-body physics of light. Despite the great efforts that have been invested along this line of research, significant improvements are still necessary to fully achieve the QNLO regime. QUANLUX aims to tackle this challenge by proposing a novel light-matter interface consisting of ordered atomic arrays as an ideal platform to implement QNLO processes. The ultimate objectives consist in identifying new strategies for QNLO protocols that can possibly surpass previously established performance bounds as well as investigating the complex emergent behaviour of strongly interacting photons. To tackle and solve these demanding problems the fellow will make use of advanced numerical and theoretical techniques developed in condensed matter and many-body physics (e.g. tensor networks and diagrammatic approaches) that will be acquired through dedicated training visits to experts in the field. The proposed dissemination and outreach program will progressively spread the outcome of the action to the scientific community and to the general public reinforcing the impact of the research’s results. The originality and multidisciplinary nature of the proposal have the potential to revolutionize the major paradigms currently used to implement QNLO processes and drive a technological innovation in the construction of light-matter interfaces. The action will be conducted by Giuseppe Calajò who will join the Theoretical Quantum Nanophotonics group lead by Prof. Darrick Chang at ICFO, Spain.

Keywords: quantum nonlinear optics,atomic arrays,quantum nanophotonics,light matter interactions,waveguide qed,quantum technologies,quantum many body physics of light,rydberg eit
Discovering the signalling pathways and physiology of active rhomboid proteases in the brain (NeuroRhomboid)

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-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-04-07
End date: 2017-04-06
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183454.8
EU funding (EUR): 183454.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Proteases control major pathways in the nervous system and aberrant proteolysis underlies many neurobiological disorders and diseases e.g. Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Signal generation and release is tightly regulated by protease activity, as many key signalling factors are synthesised as transmembrane precursors that require cleavage to liberate their active ectodomains. The largest family of intramembrane proteases are the newly discovered rhomboids, which are found in all kingdoms of life. To date, their physiological significance in mammals is largely unknown, as is the substrate-selectivity of most mammalian rhomboids. I have exciting preliminary data that two uncharacterised mammalian rhomboids, RHBDL1 and RHBDL3, are specifically highly expressed in primary neurons in the CNS. Unlike the well-studied RHBDL2 and Drosophila rhomboids 1-3, they do not have activity against EGF-like growth factors, so they are likely to cleave a novel substrate. A major limitation in protease research has been the lack of unbiased and systematic screens for their substrates. Addressing this deficiency, first, I aim to identify RHBDL1/3-dependent substrates in primary neurons, by adapting recently developed biochemical assays, such as SPECS and BioID. My second aim is the mechanistic validation of these substrates. Third, I will be the first to study the physiological role for active rhomboids, using CRISPR-mediated knock-out neurons and mice. By discovering the role and function of RHBDL1/3 in the brain, I will make an important contribution towards the elucidation of the physiological and medical significance of rhomboid proteases in mammals.

Keywords: protease,signalling,rhomboid,neuron,bioid,specs,crispr,knock out mice
Advanced Forecasting System for Proactive Airport Passenger Flow Management (AERFOR)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Smart, green and integrated transport
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Germany,Romania
Call: Small business innovation research for Transport and Smart Cities Mobility (H2020-SMEINST-2-2016-2017, 2016)
Start date: 2016-11-01
End date: 2019-01-31
Duration (months): 27.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2090000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1463000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Amorph Systems has developed AMORPH.aero, a solution able to provide continuous, accurate, near-term forecasts of passenger flows. Unlike competitors using process flow-oriented models based on static mathematical values, the solution supports dynamic calculations based on the actual demand of passengers compared with the available resources. This is critical for airport operations to get always accurate information based on the current availability and schedule of staff and the results of operational actions regarding the passenger flow. The business case developed for Frankfurt Airport showed that the solution can increase maximum passenger capacity by 15% and passenger average throughput by 10%, leading to a 28% reduction in infrastructure expansion costs. In addition, the solution showed it can decrease passenger processing time by up to 20%, thus increasing retail dwelling time, retail spending and passenger satisfaction. The accuracy of the prototype was verified at 90% for the nearest 2 hours, allowing operations management to avoid forecasted problems in time. A phase 1 market feasibility study conducted in 2015 identified 3 airports that will deploy a large-scale trial of the solution (Stuttgart, Milan and Manchester) in phase 2. In addition, SITA, the leading airport IT system integrator, will integrate the solution into its business intelligence portal and manage one of the trials with the aim to become a distributor for the solution worldwide, supporting a revenue forecast of €9M by 2020, 3 years after market launch. The project has a duration of 24 months and a requested EC contribution of €1.5M

Keywords: airport,capacity,forecasting,flow management
Crowdsourcing for the control of Invasive Alien Flora Species (WILDTHING)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Europe in a changing world - inclusive, innovative and reflective societies
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Spain
Call: New business models for inclusive, innovative and reflective societies (H2020-SMEINST-1-2016-2017, 2016)
Start date: 2016-11-01
End date: 2017-04-30
Duration (months): 6.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

We are about to deploy into the market WILDTHING, a citizen collaboration-based multiplatform application for the control of Invasive Alien Flora Species. Provided flora species populations are dynamic entities, WILDTHING is designed for the creation and maintenance in real time of a global vision of the spatial distribution of Invasive Alien Flora Species. Following the Regulation 1143/2014 recommendations, WILDTHING allows citizen participation, since they are, along with civil servants, the actors in the field for the detection and reporting of new locations of Invasive Alien Species (IAS). Afterwards, the reported locations are validated by experts in order to avoid false detections. WILDTHING will integrate gamification techniques to engage and motivate citizens to use the platform. WIDTHING provides a great variety of management tools to environmental managers in order to monitor the invasive species populations and develop effective and efficient control plans.

Keywords: biodiversity,invasive alien species,on line,crowdsourcing,management,control,gamification
Personalized liposomal cancer vaccines within days by rapid formulation screening (Need2immune)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Society and Enterprise panel
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Germany
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2019-09-01
End date: 2021-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 162806.4
EU funding (EUR): 162806.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Cancer immunotherapy, defined as the ability to mobilise the host’s own immune system to kill cancer, has recently within the last 5 years, taken a central role within mainstream oncology. This period has seen the field rapidly accelerate towards unprecedented clinical responses in patients, and the development of novel classes of immunotherapeutic drugs. One approach has been to design more personalised immunotherapies along with new methods in delivering the therapeutic cargo. It is anticipated that this will play a defining role for cancer immunotherapy in terms of how to better achieve sustained remissions or complete eradication. One of the challenges in the future will be to understand how to administer these molecules since the current approach of systemic administration harbours the risk of causing serious toxicity and/or autoimmunity. This could drastically lower the serum levels of immune reagents needed with a decrease in adverse effects and lower risk of autoimmune reactions, without losing systemic efficacy. Currently, cancer immunotherapies are injected into the bloodstream but systemic injections have many drawbacks. It could be more effective therefore to inject this kind of therapy locally and directly to target tumour cells. This proposal will be to implement a more direct approach, where the immunotherapy's effects could be more easily controlled, with also the possibility for lower doses to be administered. Recently, microneedles have been attracting attention as new drug delivery tools. The microneedle has already been shown to be a highly effective intradermal and transdermal vaccine delivery method due to its mechanism of action, painlessness and ease of use. The goal is therefore to use microneedles to deliver localised doses of combination immunotherapies, e.g. vaccine with checkpoint modulators, in nanoparticles, as the focus of a novel approach to developing new strategies for the trackable delivery of onco-immunotherapeutic agents.

Keywords: personalized cancer vaccines,high throughput formulation screening,liposomes,neo antigens,synthetic long peptides
AmplificatioN Free Identification of cancer and viral biomarkers via plasmonic nanoparticles and liquid BIOpsy (ANFIBIO)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Panel description: New materials and new synthetic approaches, structure-properties relations, solid state chemistry, molecular architecture, organic chemistry
Countries involved: Italy
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2019-COG, 2019)
Start date: 2021-06-01
End date: 2026-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2725510.0
EU funding (EUR): 2725510.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The detection of circulating disease biomarkers in bodily fluids, also known as liquid biopsy, has taken important strides toward the implementation of personalized medicine. However, it still suffers from low sensitivity and high costs, which render its clinical implementation not practical or affordable. In particular, the identification and quantification of oligonucleotide biomarkers is hampered by the need to employ long- and short-read sequencing tools that are expensive, require highly trained personnel, and are prone to error. Nonetheless, the recent clinical breakthroughs demonstrating the importance of detecting cancerous or viral biomarker to susceptibility, onset, and aggressiveness of the disease, motivate the need for further research that could render their detection simpler, cheaper, and thus more widely available. By leveraging the intrinsic amplification capability of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), in ANFIBIO I will address the issues of low sensitivity and high costs by combining plasmonic nanoparticles synthesized ad hoc to maximize SERS signal amplification with direct SERS sensing and machine learning tools for the rapid analysis of the complex spectral responses obtained by screening bodily fluids for specific target biomarkers. I will focus in particular on prostate cancer (PCa) DNA and influenza A viral (IAV) RNA in blood, urine, and saliva, to quantify and correlate their amounts to those detected in tissues and cells. At completion, the proposed work will deliver a breakthrough sensing technology capable of detecting and quantifying cancerous and viral biomarkers in bodily fluids, with minimal sample pretreatment, no target amplification, and that uses SERS as novel and reliable transduction mechanism with distinct advantages over those currently employed. Furthermore, the fundamental insight garnered will likely assess the feasibility of using direct SERS sensing to develop beyond-third generation sequencing technologies.

Keywords: surface enhanced raman scattering,gold nanoparticles,biomarkers,prostate cancer,influenza a virus,liquid biopsy,data driven science
Mechanistic studies of prokaryotic genome defense mechanisms (MSOPGDM)

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: Switzerland
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2019-04-01
End date: 2021-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 191149.44
EU funding (EUR): 191149.44
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The constant biological arms race between prokaryotic organisms and invading mobile genetic elements has resulted in the evolution of sophisticated genome defense mechanisms. The genes encoding for immunity commonly reside in genomic clusters known as defense islands that are in the vicinity of other host-defense loci. Recent studies of defense islands have uncovered ten novel host defense mechanisms whose molecular mechanisms remain elusive at present. The proposed project aims to provide a mechanistic basis for genetic immunity in two novel host defense systems: Druantia and Shedu. These systems contain genes encoding nucleases, ATPases and helicases, which strongly suggests that they provide immunity by directly targeting invading nucleic acids. To unravel the molecular mechanisms that underpin immunity in these systems, I will apply a highly interdisciplinary approach by using biochemical and state-of-the-art structural biology techniques, including high-throughput X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM and crosslink-coupled mass spectrometry. Understanding these mechanisms will provide fundamentally new insights into prokaryotic biology and the evolution of host-virus defense systems. Furthermore, these studies might uncover novel molecular activities that may be exploited for use as genetic engineering tools.

Keywords: prokaryotes,structural biology,biochemistry,genome editing,genome defense
Development of a World-Level Neuroengineering Research Centre by European Twinning (BrainTwin)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Spreading excellence and widening participation
Programme: Widening participation and spreading excellence
Theme: Improved access to Excellence
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Spain,Germany,Austria,Germany,Romania
Call: Twinning (H2020-WIDESPREAD-2020-5, 2020)
Start date: 2020-09-01
End date: 2023-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 900000.0
EU funding (EUR): 900000.0
Participants: 5
Project status: SIGNED

The project BrainTwin will enhance networking activities and strengthen the research collaboration in the field of Neuroengineering between leading research institutions in Romania, Germany and Spain with the support of knowledge transfer organisations from Austria and Germany. Neuroengineering is a discipline with high potential for the future that uses engineering techniques to study, restore, replace, or enhance neural systems. It comprises the application of engineering principles and techniques to the field of neuroscience. Bringing together research departments from medical sciences and engineering fields have the potential to achieve further significant progress e.g. in the comprehension and care of neurodegenerative diseases, as well as in the development of brain-connected prosthetics. The city of Iasi in the North-East of Romania is a strong research and higher education hotspot . The Technical University Gheorghe Asachi of Iasi (TUIASI) is an excellent university in engineering fields and is part of the North East Regional Innovative Cluster for Structural and Molecular Imaging (the only medical imaging cluster in Romania). For this reason, TUIASI have the strategy to develop a new centre for research and education in the field of Neuroengineering and will need the strong support of internationally-leading counterparts in Germany and Spain. This twinning exercise will enhance the scientific and technological capacity by knowledge exchange with a focus on early stage researchers, strengthen the research management skills and visibility of Romanian Neuroengineering Research in order to compete at international level and widen scientific excellence and innovation capacity of all the Partners. The development of an International Projects Support Centre for proposal preparation and project management/administration, as well as joint workshops and summer schools, short-term staff exchanges and expert twinning visits will permit to achieve these objectives.

Keywords: early detection of progressive neurodegenerative disorders,cooperative robotic diagnostic and therapeutic procedures,e instruments for life quality improvement of the patients
Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Mediated Liver Gene Therapy for Crigler-Najjar Syndrome (CureCN)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Health, demographic change and wellbeing
Theme: Treating and managing disease
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Italy,Italy,Austria,Germany,France,France,France,Netherlands,United Kingdom
Call: New therapies for rare diseases (H2020-SC1-2017-Two-Stage-RTD, 2017)
Start date: 2018-01-01
End date: 2023-12-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 6249103.75
EU funding (EUR): 6249103.75
Participants: 12
Project status: SIGNED

Crigler-Najjar syndrome (CN) is a rare recessive disorder caused by mutations in the uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase 1A1(UGT1A1) gene. CN is a life-threatening disease with no cure which constitutes a severe burden for the patients, their families, and the society. CureCN has the objective of developing a curative gene therapy for CN syndrome based on liver gene transfer with and adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector expressing the UGT1A1 transgene. Additional goals of CureCN are to develop strategies to allow for vector re-administration and to address the issue of pre-existing anti-AAV neutralizing antibodies (NAbs), which prevent large proportion of seropositive patients from receiving AAV mediated gene therapy. Proof-of-concept studies of AAV8-UGT1A1 gene transfer provide a strong rationale for the safety and efficacy of gene therapy for CN. CureCN proposes to carry out an open-label, multicenter clinical trial of AAV8-UGT1A1 gene transfer to prove the safety and efficacy of the therapy in severe CN patients, and file for marketing authorization in Europe at the end of the study. CureCN will also produce enabling data for the clinical translation of a groundbreaking immunomodulatory strategy to allow for vector administration. Additionally, a technology for the selective removal of anti-AAV NAbs from the bloodstream of seropositive patients will be developed. The goal of these studies is to ultimately allow all CN patients to access AAV8-UGT1A1 gene therapy. CureCN is a patient-driven initiative that gathers top clinicians and scientists; it also includes small medium enterprises in its partners, to foster economic growth and valorization of intellectual property. CureCN sets itself in the ambitious goal set by the IRDiRC by 2020 by developing a curative treatment for CN syndrome. Importantly, it validates technologies that will broaden the scope of gene therapy, thus will have an impact on the development of treatments for several other rare diseases.

Keywords: crigler najjar syndrome,clinical trial,adeno associated virus aav vector,in vivo gene therapy,liver metabolic disease,vector readministration,anti aav neutralizing antibodies