Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Molecular interconnections between transcription, translation and DNA repair in bacteria (RNP5D)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Molecules of Life: B iological  Mechanisms , Structures  and Functions
Panel description: For all organisms : Molecular biology , biochemistry, structural biology, molecular biophysics , synthetic and chemical biology, drug design, innovative methods and modelling
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2024-COG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-12-01
End date: 2030-11-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2614460.0
EU funding (EUR): 2614460.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

This proposal brings together the fields of bacterial transcription, translation and DNA repair with state-of-the art single-molecule biophysics in vitro and in vivo, biochemistry and structural biology to address a central but understudied question in biology: how are different macromolecular processes interconnected and functionally coupled? I aim to elucidate this by investigating the crosstalk between central processes in bacterial gene expression: transcription, translation and DNA repair. First, to understand what determines whether transcription is coupled to translation, we will reconstitute the complete transcription-translation system in vitro and image the process in real-time using cutting-edge multi-color single-molecule fluorescence experiments. We will support our dynamic single-molecule data with structural information from cryo-electron tomography. In order to verify that our in vitro data also have physiological relevance, we will electroporate reconstituted and labelled RNAP/ribosome complexes into live E. coli cells for multi-color single-molecule imaging also in vivo. Second, we will reconstitute the transcription-coupled DNA nucleoside excision repair pathway in vitro. Integrating multi-color single-molecule fluorescence with optical tweezer assays, will allow us to resolve a controversial point on how transcription-coupled DNA repair starts, comparing the established concept of Mfd-initiation with the newly proposed UvrD/RNAP-mediated lesion recognition. Finally, we will develop single-molecule experiments for integrating all three processes, specifically transcription, translation and DNA repair, into a single system to quantify cooperativity and competition between individual components and processes. Overall, this proposal will provide quantitative and mechanistic understanding of how central processes to gene expression are functionally interconnected, setting a new benchmark for examining complex biological systems in context.

Keywords: transcription,translation,dna repair,ribosome,rna polymerase,interconnections between macromolecular processes,single molecule fluorescence microscopy,ribonucleoprotein assembly,protein rna interactions,rna folding,rna dynamics,co transcriptional processes,fret
Diverging patterns of reproductive behavior within countries across the globe (DIVREP)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Human Mobility, Environment, and Space
Panel description: Human geography, demography, health, susta inability science, territorial planning, spatial analysis
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2024-STG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-07-01
End date: 2030-06-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1331375.0
EU funding (EUR): 1331375.0
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Sweeping transformations in reproductive behavior are taking place worldwide. The DIVREP project investigates an unanticipated, yet critical dimension of these changes: increasing within-country disparities in childbearing age and fertility levels, identified primarily in nations with high levels of socioeconomic inequality. Such divergences and growing heterogeneity in reproductive behavior are vital aspects of social stratification that remain poorly understood and have never been scrutinized from a global perspective. DIVREP goes beyond the state of the art by being the first comprehensive global study of the patterns, trends, and determinants of within-country heterogeneity in two key aspects of reproduction: the age at first birth and fertility levels. Through the novel application of powerful—yet neglected in research on reproductive behavior—measures of distributional variation and by leveraging data from over 120 nations, DIVREP will make innovative contributions to our understanding of global fertility change. DIVREP will: 1) Assemble microdata on the age at first birth and fertility levels for all countries with available information and estimate novel indicators of heterogeneity in reproduction, comparable across time and space. 2) Develop theories of fertility change by investigating global patterns and long-term trends in these indicators to uncover where and under what conditions reproductive trajectories diverge within countries. 3) Uncover the role of individual-level socioeconomic factors in driving divergences in reproduction by performing decomposition analyses. 4) Empirically study, for the first time, the links between macro-level factors related to socioeconomic inequality and reproductive divergences. Thanks to its pioneering scope, depth, and application of methods, DIVREP will develop a global framework to theorize about the future of population change amidst a paramount societal challenge of our times: growing socioeconomic inequality.

Keywords: fertility childbearing age socioeconomic factors cross country analyses global perspective
Strategies for breeding climate change resilient barley, genetically equipped to optimized root-microbiome interactions (BarleyMicroBreed)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
Theme: Bio-Environment
Destination: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Denmark,Lebanon,Austria,Czechia,Sweden,Germany
Call: Breeding for resilience: focus on root-based traits (HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-11-01
End date: 2028-10-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 7992742.5
EU funding (EUR): 7992742.5
Participants: 8
Project status: SIGNED

BarleyMicroBreed builds on the paradigm that crop resource efficiency and stress resilience can be significantly improved by optimizing the capacity of plant roots to efficiently interact with the existing soil microbiota. We therefore propose to advance our mechanistic understanding of interactions between the crop plant genome, root phenotypic traits, and the root-associated microbiota to identify novel breeding strategies for crops tailored to harness the benefits of the indigenous soil microbial diversity. A holo-omics analysis of functionally annotated barley genomes together with a catalogue of root microbiota assemblages and phenotypic data including drought responses of 600 barley varieties determined in field trials in Austria, Lebanon and Morocco, will enable the identification of barley genome components, microbiota members and root traits important for drought resilience. Barley genome regions putatively important for microbiota assembly and drought resistance will be validated by gene knock-outs and causative effects will be explored using a combination of metabolomics, metagenomics and root phenotyping in pot and rhizobox experiments. To improve root phenotyping, we will develop tools including core break imaging systems, software developments for “gap filling” in rhizobox phenotyping, and models to infer seedling to mature root system architecture. Finally, with the knowledge of the genetic regulation of phenotypic root plasticity of barley lines we will implement strategies to create drought adaptive barley varieties with improved root systems and microbiomes. A selection of lines based on drought responses, microbiome assembly and root systems will be backcrossed into elite European lines and tested in field trials. We argue that breeding for crops tailored to harness the benefits of the indigenous soil microbial diversity rather than inoculating crops with plant-beneficial microorganisms will be a much more feasible and long-lasting strategy.

Keywords: barley,microbiome,plant genome,metabolomics,root phenotyping,drought,resilience,breeding,hologenomics
In-silico Models for the Design of Mechanochromic Functionalized Polymers (MaMa)

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: France,Italy
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2022-ADG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-10-01
End date: 2028-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2493750.0
EU funding (EUR): 2493750.0
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

The MaMa project aims at developing integrated computational approaches enabling to describe and design new mechanochromic materials. In particular, we aim at rationally design technologically consistent commodity polymers with smart and intelligent features such as mechano-responsive elastomeric, thermoplastic and thermoset polymers by the introduction of chromogenic species in the polymeric matrix in the form of mechanophore chromophores. The inter- or intra-molecular interactions ruling the opto-mechanical behaviour of the chromophores within the polymer matrix, and thereby the macroscopically perceived colour, can be tuned by application of an external force and they will be the key issue to control - by suitable design of the chromophores and polymers- and to predict by theoretical tools. In this respect the present project concerns, beside primary fundamental issues, such as the development of theoretical approaches for the description of photophysical processes in complex matrix, the handling, description and prediction of phenomena occurring from molecular to nano-scale in presence of an external stimulus such as pression/shearing or drawing. We will focus on mechanochromic luminogenic materials based on strain-induced modulation of molecular covalent or non-covalent interactions, affecting phenomena like excimer modulation or aggregation-induced emission at the molecular chromogenic scale. The functionalized smart materials designed can find real-life applications ranging from anti-counterfeiting systems for intelligent packaging, smart coatings and textiles, and optical indicators for the detections of cracks and fatigue issues in thermoset polymers. The solid and active collaboration with leading experimental and theoretical chemists will allow for the efficient synthesis and characterization of the most promising demonstrators, to exhaustively validate the computational tools and to further illustrate the technological relevance of these materials.

Keywords: density functional theory,mechanochromism,aggregation induced emission,quantum chemistry,excited electronic states,mechano responsive polymers,
Multilingual Production Principles of Lexical Collocations (MaPPLexiC)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Panel description: Cognitive science, psychology, linguistics
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2024-ADG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-11-01
End date: 2030-10-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2488590.0
EU funding (EUR): 2488590.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

MaPPLexiC aims to fill the gap in modern language theories concerning the interpretation and description of one type of idiosyncratic word constructions that stands out in terms of its frequency of use and as a measure of language proficiency, namely lexical collocations, and refute the wide-spread assumption that their production is ad hoc and therefore cannot be described in systematic terms. Inspired by the dramatic advances in Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) MaPPLexiC considers a lexical collocation identification and classification DNN as a cognitive model, whose internal neuron activation vectors during the assessment of the collocation status of a given word combination can be translated into interpretable semantic, contextual, and socio-cultural features of the collocation elements and generalized into “collocation production principles” that dictate which features lexical items must possess to form a lexical collocation. In other words, what MaPPLexiC targets is a lexical collocation grammar. For this purpose, the Project will adapt and advance state-of-the-art techniques for the derivation of interpretable features from DNN’s activation vectors of individual lexical collocation samples and neural clustering techniques that will facilitate the generalization of the obtained “profiles” for the individual samples to more generic collocation production principles. Considering that collocation construction differs from language to language, the Project has a strong multilingual orientation. The investigation will be carried out on pairs of Germanic (English, German), Romance (French, Spanish), Finno-Ugric (Finnish, Hungarian), and Slavic (Czech, Russian) languages. The collocation profiles of translation-equivalent collocation samples and the language-specific collocation production principles will be contrasted with the goal to develop cross-language collocation production transfer techniques, which will highly benefit collocationally under-resourced languages.

Keywords: idiosyncrasy,lexical collocations,deep neural network models
EUROPEAN LIDAR ARRAY FOR ATMOSPHERIC CLIMATE MONITORING (EULIAA)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
Theme: Bio-Environment
Destination: Innovative governance, environmental observations and digital solutions in support of the Green Deal
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Norway,France,Switzerland,Lithuania
Call: New technologies for acquiring in-situ observation datasets to address climate change effects (HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-01-01
End date: 2026-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3265411.25
EU funding (EUR): 2995164.88
Participants: 8
Project status: SIGNED

The importance of understanding and monitoring atmospheric physics has increased drastically in recent years due to the anthropogenic impact on climate. One crucial research field is the understanding of wind and temperature distributions in the atmosphere to enhance climate models and improve weather forecasts. There is currently a major data gap for continuous measurements above 5 km, which is the maximum height of commercial compact wind radars and lidars. The goal of EULIAA is the development of a lidar array measuring autonomously the atmospheric wind and temperature from 5 km up to 50 km on a 24/7-basis over a long period of time (> 1 year without maintenance) and covering a large observation area (up to 10’000 km2). EULIAA’s lidar units are low-priced, compact, efficient, easily transportable, and autonomous thanks to low power requirements (by wind turbines or solar panels). EULIAA will yield novel data sets in near real-time for implementation into European databases Copernicus and GEOSS, that will fill current data-gaps and help to monitor the effects of climate change and to evaluate climate protection measures. The baseline technology was demonstrated in the first field campaign with a lidar system that operates in the IR and is currently being transferred to a European industrial partner. Once the enhanced capability developed within EULIAA has been demonstrated and validated in difficult-to-reach regions (polar, equatorial, and mountain), with a high TRL (6–8), a business plan and roadmap for an European array will be produced, involving relevant industrial, standardisation, and end-user actors. The EULIAA project (48 months and 3M€ grant requested) gathers 7 partners from 5 countries with experts in lidar and its subsystems, atmospheric observatories, and atmospheric data provider. It contains all the necessary disciplines to ensure the technological development, data transfer, and sustainable exploitation.

Keywords: lidar array autonomous long term measurements uv lidar daytime mesurements demonstrated in polar and equatorial regions,data for copernicus and geoss
Waveform-based prediction of AD-related pathology for patient diagnostics (WAVEAD) (WAVEAD)

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: Finland
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS (ERC-2025-POC, 2025)
Start date: 2026-01-01
End date: 2027-06-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Due to the early AD-related pathology present in a subpopulation of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) patients, the brains of the iNPH patients offer a unique window to evaluate events taking place during the course of AD pathology progression. Here we take advantage of our continuous access to living brain biopsies from iNPH patients and related clinical data to assess, how AD pathology affects the neuronal circuit operational properties in human brain. During the ERC consolidator project, we have discovered that pre-existing AD-related pathology alters neuronal circuit operational properties, and importantly, impairs the ablity of the network to elicit synaptic strenthening, as evaluated using stimulation protocols on multielectrode arrays (MEA). Interestingly, a supervised machine-learning -based classifier was able to classify and predict the patient pathological status using the synaptic plasticity -induced waveforms. Here we now investigate the whether the waveforms related to glutamatergic signaling and cholinergic signaling have similar predictive value of the patient pathological status and possible clinical diagnosis and whether these readouts obtained from the ex vivo biopsies are correlated in the clinical settings using transcranial magnetic stimulations (TMS) and EEG recordings. Moreover, we probe whether the recorded TMS and EEG waveforms have the same predictive capacity in clinical settings. If succesful, these waveforms could facilitate personalized therapy or serve as a diagnostic tool for detection of early AD and thus have a significant commercialization potential.
Reverse salinity energy harvesting-assisted electromembrane system for metal ion fractionation and hydrogen production from battery waste (ReHeal4waste)

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: Poland
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2025-STG, 2025)
Start date: 2026-02-01
End date: 2031-01-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have revolutionised daily life and automation, but recovering them poses challenges due to the toxic, multi-component mixtures produced during acidic leaching. Here, we propose a novel method for selectively fractionating metal ions from battery waste and hydrogen production powered by salinity gradient differences that occur when two solutions with different concentrations are mixed. To achieve this, we employ reverse electrodialysis (RED). The RED process selectively fractionates transition metal ions from battery effluent, including complex and toxic metals like Co, Ni and Mn. It also aims to generate energy by increasing the electrical potential difference between the external electrodes, using this power for water electrolysis. These three effects will coincide within the same membrane stack and are inseparable. The research's primary objective is to design and develop an ultra-selective cation exchange membrane that allows for the transportation of only specific transition metal ions such as Co, Ni, or Mn, while facilitating energy extraction through the mixing of spent battery effluents and low-concentration acids. Research on battery waste and hydrogen production from SGE sheds new light on the correlation between membrane properties, energy harvesting, and power hydrogen generation. This research delves into the membrane structure and how its properties impact the amount of energy extracted. The search for novel solutions for extracting metal ions from battery waste should minimise carbon footprint, save energy consumption, and effectively fractionate metal ions from multi-component solutions. The ReHeal4waste introduce a novel Quality to wastewater treatment, offering the opportunity for the fractionation of toxic metal ions and the generation of energy through the controlled mixing of waste streams with low acid content and the generation of green hydrogen.
Ultrafast optical Antiferromagnetic Topological Spintronics (ATOPS)

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: Sweden
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2025-05-01
End date: 2027-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 206887.68
EU funding (EUR): 206887.68
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Antiferromagnetic spintronics exploits the antiferromagnetic (AFM) staggered magnetization-Néel vector to manipulate spin dependent transport properties in structures containing antiferromagnetic components. In ATOPS, I plan to use sub 15 fs light pulses to facilitate Neel vector reorientation via optically induced Neel spin orbit torque in the room temperature Dirac Nodal line AFM material MnPd2. The Neel vector reorientation in this material is also associated with changes in Fermi surface topology, where the orientation of the Neel vector controls switching between the degenerate and gapped Dirac states. MnPd2 with its favourable symmetry to support Néel spin orbit torque and the presence of Dirac Nodal lines in a broad range of energies across the Fermi level makes it an ideal candidate for topological AFM spintronics applications. I will employ optical methods that are interesting in the sense that they can control the magnetization dynamics in ultrashort time scales with high spatial resolution. I will use magneto optical (MO) effects that are quadratic in magnetization and magneto-optical Voigt effect (MOVE) has been proposed to be an effective method to identify the Neel vector reorientation in the system. Pump probe technique will be used to measure the MOVE signal in the fully compensated AFM - MnPd2 . ATOPS will also utilise magnetotransport techniques to characterise the material and verify the magnetic ordering. ATOPS plans to establish experimentally that the AFM Dirac material MnPd2 is an ideal system to realise strong response of magneto-transport and optical properties to the magnetization dynamics near room temperature.

Keywords: ultrafast magnetism control,femtosecond lasers,anti ferromagnetism,dirac materials,spintronics,