Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Unravelling unsteady fluid flows in porous media with 3D X-ray micro-velocimetry (FLOWSCOPY)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Products and Processes Engineering
Panel description: Product and process design, chemical, civil, environmental, mechanical, vehicle engineering, energy processes and relevant computational methods
Countries involved: Belgium
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2023-STG, 2023)
Start date: 2023-12-01
End date: 2028-11-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Models of fluid flows in porous materials commonly fall short because they fail to capture the effects of the puzzling underlying microscopic dynamics. These flows are very common: examples range from groundwater flow and H2 storage in underground rocks to water discharge in fuel cells. The fluctuating, microscopic dynamics are poorly understood because they have so far been inaccessible in the 3D labyrinths formed by pore geometries, hampered by the optical opacity of the materials. In FLOWSCOPY, I will cause a paradigm shift by resolving this inaccessibility, enabling the measurement of unsteady 3D flows inside opaque porous materials. First, I will enable the inspection of flow fields in all their µm-scale complexity by creating a method that tracks tracer particles flowing through the pores with 3D X-ray imaging. To achieve the required millisecond imaging times - up to 3 orders of magnitude faster than my state-of-the-art preliminary results – the new approach will retrieve tracer locations in each of the many radiographs that conventionally make up a single tomographic time frame. Then, I will untangle the upscaling problem, building the first method that can measure flow maps averaged on a sliding scale from nano- to centimetres. Finally, I will apply the methods’ transformative capabilities to two pertinent problems in arguably some of the most complex porous media: geological materials. First, I will investigate how two fluids, such as water and H2, displace each other in porous rocks, lifting the veil on capillary fluctuations that deviate from current models. Second, I will unriddle flows of viscoelastic fluids, such as those to clean up polluted sediments, which exhibit a poorly understood transition from steady to chaotic dynamics. Beyond this, the new techniques will be applicable to a wide range of natural and engineered microstructures, from arteries to building materials.

Keywords: fluid flow in porous media,x ray micro computed tomography,pore scale imaging,multi scale pore network models
A Rosetta Stone for Robust Observables of Topological States from Symmetry Group Theory (TopoRosetta)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Condensed Matter Physics
Panel description: Structure, electronic properties, fluids, nanosciences, biological physics
Countries involved: France
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2023-STG, 2023)
Start date: 2023-11-01
End date: 2028-10-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499804.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499804.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Solid-state materials hosting topological insulating (TI) states have been intensely studied following predictions that their bulk and surface features may serve as robust platforms for spintronics, quantum computing, and magnetoelectric responses. 3D topological crystalline insulator (TCI) states protected by crystal symmetries have also been predicted, and through first-principles (DFT) calculations, thousands of candidate TIs and TCIs have been identified, including correlated charge-density-wave and magnetic variants. Though topological materials can readily be mathematically classified, we still do not know the bulk experimental signatures and advantageous properties of most topological states, limiting their practical applicability in chemistry, materials science, and quantum devices. To unlock the immense promise of solid-state TIs and TCIs, I propose to leverage the group theory of crystal symmetries to produce a “Rosetta Stone” to translate the mathematical topological classification into robust and intuitive experimental observables, such as the spin and charge trapped by defects and new electromagnetic responses. First, we will devise theories of topological spin-, orbital- (valley-), and layer-resolved bulk, surface, and crystal defect responses in 3D TCIs and introduce numerical methods for their identification in real materials. Next, we will for the first time construct a position-space, symmetry-based methodology for systematically enumerating and analyzing superconducting (SC) TCIs, which may host excitations advantageous to the storage and manipulation of quantum information. We will introduce the fundamentally new notion of SC symmetry groups to characterize SC TCIs by exploiting tension between their position- and momentum-space descriptions. This will uniquely allow us to side-step specifying the mechanism or strength of the SC order. For both lines of inquiry, we will apply data mining and DFT to identify and characterize material candidates.

Keywords: topological phases of matter,topological materials
Reconstructing Infant Development and Maternal Adaptations in Western Mediterranean Early Bronze Age through dental bioarchaeology (WEANED-AWAY)

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,Poland
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2026-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 193643.28
EU funding (EUR): 193643.28
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

The success of societies is intrinsically linked to the health and well-being of mothers and their children, with breastfeeding and weaning practices playing critical roles in early childhood development. By comparing two contemporaneous populations —one from the hierarchical El Argar Culture in a resource-abundant environment and the other in a resource-scarce setting in the Balearic Islands—, the WEANED-AWAY project embarks on a pioneering exploration of how Early Bronze Age populations in the Western Mediterranean adapted to environmental and social stressors imposed by extreme climatic conditions and emerging social complexities. This project stands at the forefront of bioarchaeological research, employing high-resolution analyses on human teeth to reconstruct the biological histories of individuals from infancy to adulthood, providing a unique window into the physiological responses of women and infants during this transformative period. The project’s innovative, multidisciplinary approach integrates dental histomorphometry, paleoproteomic, trace element analysis, and dental microwear studies to address three key research objectives: 1) to understand how women and infants responded to environmental and social stressors; 2) to determine the timing and influences of weaning practices; and 3) to analyze adult dietary adaptations. Thus, WEANED-AWAY not only seeks to deepen our understanding of early-life adversities and adult life history in prehistoric societies, but also aims to provide novel tools for interpreting the dynamics of interaction, formation, and development of emerging complex societies in the Mediterranean. The Early Bronze Age groups are ideally suited for exploring these phenomena, offering critical insights into human adaptability and resilience facing changing climates and societal transformations.

Keywords: weaning diet and growth social structure resilience early bronze age western mediterranean dental histology dental micowear paleoproteomics enamel elemental composition
Deconstructing the protective immunity of yellow fever virus 17D to inform flavivirus vaccine design (Yellow4FLAVI)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Health
Theme: Health
Destination: Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: France,Germany,Netherlands,Belgium,Italy,Colombia,Finland,Malta
Call: Pandemic preparedness and response: Understanding vaccine induced-immunity (HORIZON-HLTH-2023-DISEASE-03, 2023)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2028-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 8544780.75
EU funding (EUR): 8544780.75
Participants: 14
Project status: SIGNED

While endemic to the tropics, flaviviruses like Zika, dengue, West Nile or yellow fever virus are re-emerging pathogens of global health concern. Climate change and urbanization have largely contributed to the dissemination of their mosquito vector and Europe has in recent years been regularly confronted with autochthonous cases. Few vaccines are licensed to prevent flavivirus disease, but the yellow fever 17D (YF17D) vaccine has a unique track record of efficiency and safety. Intriguingly, despite its success, how YF17D induces immunity remains poorly understood. The YELLOW4FLAVI consortium aims to fill the gaps in our understanding of the mechanism of action of this vaccine by linking the structure of the viral particle to the resulting host immune response, in order to learn about optimal vaccine design for flaviviruses in general. Since social acceptance of vaccines is critical for their success, we will also develop optimal communication methods. This will provide us with the tools to tailor vaccine design not only to achieve optimal immune protection, but also to facilitate actual implementation.We are molecular and structural virologists, cell biologists, immunologists, computational scientists, clinicians, and social scientists assembled in a tight collaborative network. To pursue our goal of obtaining a blueprint for determinants of long-lasting immunity for flavivirus vaccine candidates, we will use cutting-edge technologies like cryo-EM, super resolution microscopy, spatial transcriptomics, high-dimensional spectral flow cytometry, single-cell RNA sequencing, advanced cell engineering, small animal models, and clinical studies. In a unique manner, the consortium thereby follows a thread of events from the early response at the site of vaccine injection to the population perception of vaccination, harnessing an enhanced understanding of one of the most successful vaccines of mankind for the development of novel lines of defense against new and old threats.

Keywords: flavivirus,virus endocytosis,antigen presentation,dendritic cells,antibody response,b cell epitopes,cross reactivity t cell epitopes,t cell quality,immunological memory
Maximizing the use of a first clinically viable MYC inhibitor (MYCiMAX)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Panel description: Medical technologies  and tools for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases, therapeutic approaches and interventions , pharmacology, preventative  medicine, epidemiology and public health , digital medicine
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2023-ADG, 2023)
Start date: 2024-05-01
End date: 2029-04-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499904.0
EU funding (EUR): 2499904.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Even though the MYC oncogene is a “most-wanted” target in cancer therapy, no MYC inhibitor has yet reached clinical approval. The applicant has developed Omomyc, the first MYC-inhibiting mini-protein to have successfully completed a Phase Ia clinical trial. The goal of this proposal is to maximise the use of this compound, as both a therapeutic and study tool, opening new lines of research in different aspects of MYC biology. To start with, since Omomyc cannot efficiently cross the blood brain barrier, excluding it from use in brain malignancies or brain metastases, in Aim 1, we propose to validate its efficacy when delivered intracranially by different means, including osmotic pumps and hydrogels, as well as to test its delivery by intracarotid injection, in glioblastoma and brain metastases. Then, in Aim 2 and 3, we will explore its combination with personalized medicine, namely PARPi and KRASi, respectively. These 2 aims are derived from two pillars of MYC biology: its role in DNA damage response and the paradigm of oncogene cooperation. Aim 2 will allow us to shed light on the role of MYC in homologous recombination and resistance to PARPi, while Aim 3 will deliver on the molecular mechanisms underlying the cooperation of RAS and MYC in multiple tumour types, where their combined inhibition could represent an unprecedented therapeutic opportunity. Finally, Aim 4 will focus on the characterisation of cancers such as Small Cell Lung Cancer and Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours that have the peculiarity of being defective for MAX – MYC’s natural partner – but that recapitulate a MYC-dependent tumour phenotype, likely driven by other members of the MYC network, whose function could also be hindered by Omomyc treatment. Notably, each of the aims explores new aspects of MYC biology, tracing new lines of research around the most deregulated oncogene in human tumours as well as having immediate translational applicability in upcoming clinical trials of Omomyc.

Keywords: myc,dna damage,glioblastoma,kras,max,sclc,gist,parp
Government Intervention and the Macroeconomy: Micro-evidence on the Transmission of Government Procurement (fromMicroGtoY)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Panel description: Economics, finance , management
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2023-COG, 2023)
Start date: 2025-01-01
End date: 2030-03-31
Duration (months): 63.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1464062.0
EU funding (EUR): 1464062.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Depending on the country and year, governments spend between 10% and 20% of GDP on public procurement. I collect data on millions of public procurement contracts awarded in many countries. I have detailed information about the contracts (value, awarding institution, etc.), and merge this information with firm-level balance sheet and firm-to-firm transaction data. This allows me to study the transmission mechanisms from government procurement to the aggregate economy. The aim is to investigate the particular economic channels through which outcomes in public procurement permeate to the rest of the economy, and to identify the sources of inefficiencies in the process. My proposal is divided into three blocks that aim to answer crucial questions about the role that public procurement plays in determining macroeconomic outcomes. 1. How costly is governments’ home-bias (i.e., governments buy disproportionally and unpredictably more from local firms) for aggregate productivity and welfare in Europe? 2. What are the effects of corruption in procurement on firms’ dynamics? 3. What are the factors determining the aggregate price at which governments buy goods and services? What are the implications for consumers’ welfare? The novelty of the data and the complex interactions between public procurement outcomes, economic distortions and firms’ decisions make this research proposal ambitious and place it at the research frontier.

Keywords: government procurement,home bias,misallocation,total factor productivity
Deep-level modeling of novel germanium-based superconductive quantum devices (GeSuperQuant)

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: Physics
Countries involved: Denmark
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-04-01
End date: 2027-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 263393.28
EU funding (EUR): 263393.28
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

A great scientific and technical challenges of our time is to engineer a scalable quantum computer, and proximity-induced superconductivity is one of the most important ingredients in many quantum devices. Proximitized III-V semiconductors can host a hard superconducting gap and have been vastly studied in super-semi quantum devices. Nevertheless, these material compounds are not suitable for spin-based qubits due to their large hyperfine interaction and are hence not ideal for use in hybrid devices. One of the most promising, but so far unexplored researched materials to use in such hybrid quantum devices is germanium: it is a potentially ideal host for proximity-induced superconductivity, and exhibits a hard superconducting gap, but can also be used for spin-based qubits since it has suppressed hyperfine interaction and can be isotope purified to be nearly nuclear-spin free. Additionally, it has an exceptionally large hole mobility, strong intrinsic spin-orbit coupling, as well as tunable g-factors, making it an ideal material to use in quantum devices. However, the mechanism for the superconducting proximity effect in germanium is still unknown. In this project I will develop band models based on atomistic orbitals (kp theory), and combine them with T-matrix methods from Greens function theory, to show what mechanisms are responsible for proximity induced superconductivity in the hole bands of germanium. I will apply the results to g-factor dependent Andreev spin qubits and phase- and gate-tunable long-range spin-qubit couplers. I will predict effective spin-orbit coupling and g-factors in these superconducting quantum devices, using effective low-energy models (discretized on a lattice) to predict outcomes of future experiments on germanium-based quantum information devices. This will open up a new avenue of research, through the development of a new type of qubit.

Keywords: germanium,quantum devices,qubits,spin,proximity induced superconductivity,electronic structure,andreev qubits,spin qubits
NATURE-INSPIRED PROPHYLACTIC LUBRICANTS AGAINST HIV-1 AND HSV-2 (NatProLub)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EIC Pathfinder
Destination: Open to supporting projects in all areas of science, technology,...
Action type: EIC actions
Countries involved: Sweden,Germany,Italy,France,Denmark,Portugal
Call: EIC Pathfinder Open (HORIZON-EIC-2023-PATHFINDEROPEN-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3597556.25
EU funding (EUR): 3597556.25
Participants: 8
Project status: SIGNED

Currently, there are no vaccines against HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and HSV (herpes simplex virus) infections. Condom, when used properly, are the most effective means of prophylaxis against viral transmission. However, there is a significant gender imbalance in condom use because women are not always in control over their use. In addition, women are at least twice as likely as men to contract sexually transmitted infections (STIs) from infected partners. Several STIs, including HIV, are underdiagnosed due to asymptomatic infections and/or lack of testing facilities. This is particularly problematic for women from African countries, who are at high risk of contracting STIs but have poor access to testing facilities. Alternatives to condoms that use established antivirals for HIV prophylaxis come with issues such as antimicrobial resistance and low adherence in practice in high-risk groups. There are also no means other than condoms for prophylaxis against HSV. Co-infection with HIV/HSV results in a vicious cycle of mutual facilitation, as individuals who are carriers of HSV have a three- to fourfold increased risk of contracting HIV. Inspired by nature, NatProLub develops a radically novel prophylactic approach to HIV and HSV prophylaxis through the use of lubricants. By targeting women, who are particularly at risk, NatProLub has a clear vision for a user-friendly, prophylactic product that can redress the gender imbalance in sexual health while offering a low risk of side effects and avoiding the risk of developing antimicrobial resistance. The members of the NatProLub consortium have very strong backgrounds in relevant but complementary scientific disciplines that will contribute to the development of prophylactic lubricants for end users and have previous successful experience in managing large scientific projects, the creation of spin-off companies, and maintaining well-developed professional networks in academia, industry, and healthcare.

Keywords: synthetic mucus like gel,lubrication,anti hiv 1 dipeptides,anti virals,immunology,hiv 1,hsv 2,microfluidic,organ on a chip,in vitro,in vivo,and macaques
The Plurality of Fontenelle's Worlds. Translations, Transfers of Knowledge and Natural Philosophy in Europe (1687-1788) (PLURIFONT)

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: Austria
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2026-09-01
End date: 2028-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 214344.72
EU funding (EUR): 214344.72
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

PLURIFONT focuses on the single greatest astronomical bestseller of the eighteenth century: Bernard de Fontenelle’s Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes (1686), and its Italian, German and English translations as one interconnected case study, to be addressed from a transnational European perspective. I seek to appraise the several versions of the Entretiens over a timespan going from 1686 to circa 1780 as interventions in cross-linguistic and cross-cultural conversations on natural philosophy, while recovering the agency and voices of translators mostly unknown to present historiography. By addressing the wider topic of the production of translations as means of transmission of knowledge in the long eighteenth century, my main purpose is to examine some of the debates on natural philosophy at the core of the Enlightenment period in an innovative way: by reconsidering the traditional approaches employed within the interdisciplinary field of translation studies. My working hypothesis contends that the Entretiens constituted an open, flexible and porous ‘site of knowledge’ that travelled temporally and geographically across Europe, providing fertile ground for its many translators to revise the scientific ideas of the ‘source’ text through a wide range of paratextual devices and to adapt them to the debates of their times. As a result, these translations became conflictual sites of knowledge, conceptually removed from the original work, while remaining the vehicles of heterogeneous scientific discourses usually dismissed by the simplified narratives of ‘progress’ associated with Enlightenment’s historiographies.

Keywords: translation studies,natural philosophy,circulation of knowledge,enlightenment studies