Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
RNA and Nanotechnology Enable Wider Accessibility to Stem Cell Transplantation (RNable)

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: Sweden
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS1 (ERC-2022-POC1, 2022)
Start date: 2022-09-01
End date: 2024-02-29
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Every year, more than 50 000 patients receive blood stem cell transplantation as a curative treatment for diseases such as leukemia, immune deficiencies, and sickle cell anemia. For a successful transplantation, a matching donor who is willing to donate blood stem cells needs to be found. Worldwide, around 30% patients in need of a transplantation cannot find a suitable donor. Umbilical cord blood (UCB) is an easily obtainable alternative source of blood stem cells, but unfortunately most UCB units do not contain enough stem cells for a successful transplantation, which is why UCB is currently only rarely used in the clinic. Within the ERC project UNEXPECTED, we have identified several small RNA biomolecules that can be used to expand engraftable blood stem cells efficiently. However, it is difficult to safely deliver molecules to blood stem cells, and currently used methods are highly toxic. We recently applied cutting edge nanotechnology to solve this long-standing problem in stem cell biology. We established nanostraws as an efficient and gentle alternative delivery method with which both cell function and viability are fully maintained. Our method that allows efficient non-toxic delivery of blood stem cell-expanding RNAs will allow us to greatly increase the number of UCB units that can be used for transplantations. Our approach could provide a life-saving treatment option for the thousands of patients yearly with malignant or inherited diseases that currently are ineligible for a stem cell transplantation procedure.
Merging trAdition and future to Generate a NEw Technological and Intelligent City-led innovation (MAGNETIC)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EU prize
Destination: European Capital of Innovation Awards
Action type: Recognition Prize
Countries involved: Italy
Call: The European Capital of Innovation Awards Rising 2023 (HORIZON-EIC-2023-ICAPITAL-PRIZE-02, 2023)
Total project cost (EUR): 0.0
EU funding (EUR): 0.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Padua is nowadays living a new Renaissance age, thanks to ambitious investments in social, environmental, cultural and urban sectors. In Padua the restoration and preservation of its cultural heritage as economic stimulus, coexists with a new ultramodern Hub of Innovation. Bringing together research institutions, private bodies, public entities and its historical University, Padua has become a national and international hotbed of new talents and technologies which attracts start-ups and SMEs thanks to the foundation of the “Boulevard of Innovation”. This ultramodern technological area is paving the way to a new city concept, making it more human-sized, greener, healthier and careful to the environmental footprint. The Municipality of Padua, together with the University of Padua, the Chamber of Commerce, UniSMART, Padova Hall Spa, SMACT Competence Center, M31, Confindustria Veneto EST, LeVillage by CA Triveneto, Galileo Visionary District, Paradigma, Accenture and Fondazione Fenice ONLUS, is the main stakeholder in charge of coordinating, promoting and investing on a city aligned with the most advanced European standards. By following Raworth’s sustainability and social inclusion diagram and thanks to the participation of its ecosystem of stakeholders, Padua’s key strategic pillars are Sustainability, targeting the Net Zero City goals; Digital transformation of the city into an European Smart City and finally the “Big Padua” attracting talents to deliver innovative solutions that enhance high-level public services aiming at the overall wellbeing for its citizens. These macro areas are aligned with the 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda, where every action proposed by the Municipality combines local needs and global sustainable requirements. This proposal entails a comprehensive breakdown of the existing strategic plans and forthcoming initiatives, showcasing the methods and policies implemented to revitalize Padua while safeguarding its remarkable historical heritage.

Keywords: hub,mission,vision,smart,data,city,urban,district,boulevard,innovation,regeneration,ecosystem,talent,sustainable,digital transformation,community,citizens,mobility,governance
PROtist PATHobiome-INvertebrate interactions: a multi-approach to understand marine diseases of commercial bivalves (PROPATHIN)

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: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: Spain
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2024-09-01
End date: 2026-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 165312.96
EU funding (EUR): 165312.96
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Marine disease outbreaks can devastate populations, alter community structure and affect ecosystem health, which results in biodiversity loses and economic impacts on ecosystem services. Bivalves, which mediate ecosystem processes and functions and provide ecosystem services (e.g. food), harbour a wide variety of protists in their microbiome, including parasites and pathogens. Protist species produce important economic losses on the world’s leading shellfish industries due to parasitic disease outbreaks in bivalve hosts and the transmission of pathogens affecting human health. Although the economic implications of these outbreaks in shellfish aquaculture are significant, very little is known regarding their biology and ecology. In this context, PROPATHIN project is designed to advance our knowledge on marine and food-borne diseases caused by microbial eukaryotes (protists) associated to commercial bivalves, through the multidisciplinary study of protist-bivalve interactions at molecular, cellular and community level. I will employ recently developed molecular (metabarcoding) and ‘omic techniques (single-cell genomics and transcriptomics) coupled with traditional cell biology methods for diagnose of infectious organisms in multicellular hosts. I will assess the diversity, composition and dynamics of oysters and mussels pathobiome in the Ebro Delta aquaculture setting during a year cycle. Environmental parameters will be used to assess the dynamics of such hazardous protists related to seasonal changes. Further, we will sequence the genome and transcriptome of a protist parasite (including different life-cycle stages), from which very little information exists, revealing the genes involved in the infection of bivalve hosts. Overall, PROPATHIN will help us disentangle the nature and dynamics of such host-parasite relationships, crucial to prevent and mitigate their negative economic and societal impacts.

Keywords: microbiome,protist invertebrate interactions,parasitism,pathogens,bivalves,molecular ecology,genomics,transcriptomics
Concentration and threshold phenomena in random graphs and hypergraphs (RandomHypGra)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Mathematics
Panel description: All areas of mathematics, pure and applied, plus mathematical foundations of computer science, mathematical physics and statistics
Countries involved: Israel
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2021-COG, 2021)
Start date: 2022-10-01
End date: 2027-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1621875.0
EU funding (EUR): 1621875.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The central theme of this proposal is the enumeration of large structures obeying a family of local constraints. There are numerous well-studied instances of this general problem in combinatorics, probability theory, and statistical physics. We propose to study a variety of interrelated open problems, spanning extremal and probabilistic combinatorics, Ramsey theory, and large deviation theory, whose unifying theme is the distribution of copies of a given graph in large random graphs. The first part of the proposal revolves around the 'infamous' upper tail problem for subgraph counts in random graphs, which has seen spectacular progress in the last few years. We propose to advance the combinatorial approach introduced in our recent work on a special case of the problem to solve this problem completely and make progress on several related questions. The second part of the proposal discusses the global structure of 'sparse' subsets in hypergraphs. We propose to prove a far-reaching generalisation of the hypergraph container theorem that provides a useful description of the family of all 'sparser-than-average' sets. We plan to use it to resolve the lower tail problem for subgraph counts in the uniform random graph and to prove a sparse analogue of the counting lemma for regular graphs. The third part of the proposal concerns the enumeration of independent sets in hypergraphs with cardinalities below the threshold for appearance of global structure. In order to obtain precise asymptotics for the number of such sets, we propose to extend the cluster expansion method from statistical physics to models with non-pairwise interactions. The fourth part of this proposal deals with thresholds for fundamental extremal and Ramsey properties of random graphs and hypergraphs. We propose to resolve several outstanding open problems in this area that have resisted the recent dramatic advances in the field.

Keywords: random graph,random structures,random hypergraph,large deviations,thresholds,extremal graph theory,concentration inequalities
"BioCP-3DInk: Advancing Biocompatible 3D Printing Inks for Next-Generation Applications" (BioCP-3DInk)

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: Chemistry
Countries involved: Spain,Denmark
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2025-02-01
End date: 2027-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 181152.96
EU funding (EUR): 181152.96
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

The BioCP-3DInk project aspires to bolster the European Research Area (ERA) by creating an innovative breed of conductive ink. This biodegradable, biocompatible, and entirely organic ink uniquely boasts inherent auto-crosslinking capability—an unparalleled trait in its category. This breakthrough engenders synergistic attributes by amalgamating hydrogel and conjugated polymers (CP), paving the way for developing novel soft and disposable sensors printed electronics. BioCP-3DInk offers a fresh perspective on this issue by crafting a conjugated polymer that combines thiophene and lactams through imine bonds, enhanced with acrylate functionalization. Distinguishing itself from existing inks, BioCP-3DInk stands out as the first ink i) based on biocompatible and biodegradable CP (undergoing lactam and imine hydrolysis) and ii) capable of self-crosslinking via DLP 3D printing, utilizing acrylic groups, thereby heralding an innovative breakthrough in the field. This objective delves into innovative avenues to address a paramount challenge of our era: the creation of fully bioabsorbable implantable devices and the mitigation of e-waste pollution. In doing so, we aim to enhance quality of life and advance sustainability globally.

Keywords: conjugated polymer,biodegradable and biocompatible ink,3d printer,self crosslinker conjugated polymer,soft electronics,sensors
Revolutionary Cooling Technology for Optimizing High-Energy Battery Performance (COOLBattery)

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: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Denmark,Greece
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-08-01
End date: 2027-07-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 263393.28
EU funding (EUR): 263393.28
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

The present project (COOLBATTERY) proposes a game-changing thermal management method for high-energy batteries, especially the Li-ion class which has captured the majority of the rechargeable battery market. This system is proposed to fill the main scientific and technological gap of high-energy batteries, i.e. optimal thermal management, to give them a new competitive edge for more significant impact and market share for a variety of energy storage applications in different sectors. The proposed innovation is an inter-layer thermal management sheet of high-performance materials to facilitate a strong yet uniform thermal flow between the cells while the temperature is within the safe range and to act as a thermal shield when a cell suddenly goes to high temperatures, preventing battery explosion or thermal runaway. COOLBattery pushes the state-of-the-art via i) establishing the theoretical foundation for calculation of performance and thermal stability degradation for Li-ion batteries in different states of charge and conditions, b) developing the most optimal design of the thermal management sheet, c) finding the optimal configuration of the battery when integrated with the cooling sheets, and d) techno-economic and environmental evaluation of the technology. The project will develop the fundamental theories and methods to design, optimize, and test this breakthrough technology. The outcome is a highly efficient Li-ion battery that will be a competitive candidate for efficient energy storage and management for a wide range of applications. The developed thermal sheet may also be further developed for lower and higher temperature ranges (and thus other critical thermal management processes) through future research building upon the cultivated knowledge in COOLBattery. The project will contribute to SDG-7 on clean and affordable energy; SDG-9 on industry innovation & infrastructure; and SDG-13 on climate action.

Keywords: high energy batteries battery cooling battery thermal management techno economic environmental analysis
INNOVATIVE EUTECTOGELS FOR EMERGING APPLICATIONS (IONBIKE 2.0)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Staff Exchanges
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Chemistry
Countries involved: Spain,Australia,Argentina,Saudi Arabia,United States,Canada,Chile,Mexico,United Kingdom,France,Portugal
Call: MSCA Staff Exchanges 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-SE-01, 2022)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1646142.86
EU funding (EUR): 1518000.0
Participants: 17
Project status: SIGNED

The main goal of the IONBIKE 2.0 proposal is to fully exploit the science and technology of the disruptive “eutectogel” materials and its wide range of emerging applications in energy, bioelectronics and environment. IONBIKE 2.0 MSCA Staff Exchanges proposal is a natural follow-up of the IONBIKE RISE project. It will take advantage of the gained knowledge and momentum by the IONBIKE RISE consortium in ionic liquid gels in bioelectronics with the addition of new partners as well as the extension of its technical scope to eutectogels and a wider range of applications. IONBIKE 2.0 will provide support for a joint research and innovation project through the exchange of staff with 15 partners including sixe European Universities, one Research Institute, two industries and six Universities from non-EU third countries. IONBIKE 2.0 will encourage collaboration towards a common scientific goal between all partners through staff exchanges, sharing research infrastructures and networking activities. The research is highly interdisciplinary involving experts in different areas such as chemistry, polymers, electrochemistry, organic electronics, (bio)electronic devices, energy, chemical engineering, environmental membranes and medical sciences. IONBIKE 2.0 is very ambitious, and it goes all the way from chemistry of the emerging eutectogels towards applications, including the participation of two industrial partners.

Keywords: ionic gels,deep eutectic solvents,polymers,advanced characterization,energy,bioelectronics,membranes
Edible lasers for safety and authentication of food and pharmaceuticals (EdibleLasers)

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: Slovenia
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS (ERC-2024-POC, 2024)
Start date: 2025-01-01
End date: 2026-06-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The goal of EdibleLasers is to make microlasers entirely out of edible materials and explore their potential for barcoding and sensing in food, pharmaceuticals and beyond. In the ongoing ERC Starting Grant Cell-Lasers we have developed several lasers made out of biocompatible and biological materials and implanted them in cells and tissues. If the microlasers are made from biological materials they can also be edible. Building on this work, we have specifically developed several microlaser types that are completely made of edible materials and can be embedded in edible products. Their well-defined spectral fingerprints have the potential to enable much-improved food quality control, safety and traceability, including unclonable security tags and novel barcodes. Because of their small size, edible lasers can be embedded in any food without changing its characteristics such as taste and appearance. The microlasers could detect the freshness of food, as well as measure other food properties such as pH and sugar concentration. Further, the unique emission spectra of each microlaser can encode information directly inside food, such as expiration date and manufacturer data. Here I propose to optimize the edible microlaser sensors and barcodes to be viable as commercial products, to patent this technology and to explore the path toward commercialization. Taken together, developing advanced edible lasers will lead to a great diversity of applications of benefit to the wider society.
Macroevolution of European Literature (MELT)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Texts and Concepts
Panel description: Literary studies , literature,  philosophy
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2025-STG, 2025)
Start date: 2026-03-01
End date: 2031-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499588.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499588.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The MELT project will study the macroevolution of European literature: the overarching patterns of intertextual influences in literary fiction spanning the years 1800–2000 and including all major European languages. This project will rely on the full-text digital library of unprecedented size – HathiTrust, with over 10 million full-text books – as well as on advanced methods of computational text analysis and on novel mathematical models of cultural evolution. My interdisciplinary team, consisting of scholars of digital humanities, computational linguistics, and mathematics, will construct massive dynamic networks of book history, capturing the thematic influences between athors, the emergence of new literary communities (e.g., genres), and their decay. In this way, the MELT will essentially build a gigantic “map” of European literary history, having two dimensions: geographic and temporal. In parallel, we will simulate the evolution of books, creating artificial “authors” powered by large language models. Such simulations will allow testing the robustness of our network construction methods. The study of this massive size and scope, employing a powerful computer cluster, will allow answering many fundamental questions about literature – but also about society and politics, since literature often reflects moods and aspirations of the day. For example, what is the role of demographic turnover in the change of literary topics? How do disruptive events – wars, pandemics, and revolutions – influence the fabric of writing? What makes certain books bestselling and, as a consequence, hyper-influential? Do literary genres gradually loose their appeal due to repetetiveness? Literature occupies a central part of culture, shaping our identities and visions of the future, but our understanding of its dynamics is limited. My expertise in both comparative literature, large-scale text mining, and mathematical modeling will allow leading a team able to answer such questions.

Keywords: computational humanities text mining cultural evolution literary history
Machine learning the microbiome for identification of novel antimicrobial peptides (PepMach)

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: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Norway,Italy
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2023-08-21
End date: 2026-02-20
Duration (months): 30.0
Total project cost (EUR): 283438.8
EU funding (EUR): 283438.8
Participants: 3
Project status: CLOSED

Abuse and overuse of antibiotics has led to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which is a major global health concern. In the EU, there are around 30,000 AMR-related deaths per year, and the incidence of AMR is on the rise; experts have predicted a loss of 10 million lives by 2050. One of the reasons to find alternatives to tackle this grave and complicated health challenge is that only very few antibiotics are discovered and those in the pipeline do not have the ability to circumvent AMR development in microbes. Thus, there is a need for discovery of novel antimicrobial agents that can take the place of conventional antibiotics. In comparison to conventional antibiotics, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) especially bacteriocins, are effective in rapidly eradicating microbes, thereby reducing AMR-related issues. Hence, the proposed project aims to identify ideal AMPs that can eradicate pathogens and reduce the emergence of AMR. The approach will be to mine the sequences of the most dominant commensal genomes to identify suitable candidate AMPs. The identified AMPs will be stored in an online catalogue which can be leveraged by researchers working in the same field. Furthermore, the anti-pathogenic ability of the selected AMPs will be confirmed through in-vitro techniques followed by studying their AMR developing propensity. Additionally, genes leading to AMR will be identified and knocked out to study the effect on AMR. Furthermore, the synergistic activity of the identified AMPs along with antibiotics will also be studied. These objectives will be achieved by using advanced computational and machine learning techniques followed by in-vitro techniques. The project will lead to discovery of AMPs with least AMR developing propensity and will also provide information about putative AMPs that can be developed along with Toscana Life Sciences (TLS) Foundation (industrial placement) to explore their therapeutic potential.

Keywords: antimicrobial peptides,antimicrobial resistance,human microbiome,antibiotics,sequence analysis,genome,data mining