Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Mechanobiology of Proprioceptive Regulation of Bone and Joint Morphogenesis (BONE-JOINT-MORPH)

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: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-09-01
End date: 2020-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183454.8
EU funding (EUR): 183454.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Physiological movement, including movement before birth (fetal movement), is necessary for maintaining a proper mechanical environment which will facilitate musculoskeletal development. Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is a condition which can result due to abnormal loading either before or after birth. With DDH, the acetabular socket is often shallow causing an improper fit of the femoral head within the socket, leading to hip instability or even dislocation. DDH is the most commonly abnormal joint in new-born babies, with an incidence of 4.9 out of 1000. However, it is not known why the hip, more than any other joint in the body, is so dependent on movements and mechanical stimulation for its normal development. Recent studies on the proprioceptive system (the neuromuscular sensory receptors responsible for registering position and movement of body parts) have indicated a key role in skeletogenesis. Disruption of the proprioceptive system in mice through knocking out Runt-related transcription factor 3 (RUNX3 KO) has been found to cause gait ataxia, spinal scoliosis and fracture misalignment. Excitingly, unpublished data from the same animal model has indicated that hip dysplasia consistently occurs in these mice, with all other synovial joints forming normally. It is hypothesised that the hip joint abnormalities arise as a direct effect of the abnormal mechanical environment due to abnormal gait. Therefore, this model system offers a unique opportunity to reveal how movement shapes the developing joint, and in particular, why the hip joint is more dependent on normal movements than any other joint. Therefore, this project will potentially reveal new insights into the causes and aetiology of DDH.

Keywords: mechanobiology,joint morphogenesis,finite element simulation,computational modelling
FEMTOSECOND LASER ON A CHIP (FEMTOCHIP)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Future and Emerging Technologies (FET)
Theme: EIC Pathfinder
Destination: Novel ideas for radically new technologies
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Germany,Switzerland,Finland,Netherlands
Call: FET-Open Challenging Current Thinking (H2020-FETOPEN-2018-2019-2020-01, 2020)
Start date: 2021-03-01
End date: 2024-02-29
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3418525.0
EU funding (EUR): 3418525.0
Participants: 6
Project status: SIGNED

Over the last 20 years, femtosecond lasers have led to a host of novel scientific and industrial instrumentation enabling the direct measurement of optical frequencies and the realization of optical clocks, a Nobel Prize winning technology. Initially developed for fundamental science, the potential of femtosecond lasers for a wide range of cross-disciplinary applications has been demonstrated, including e.g. those in optical telecommunication, photonic analog-to-digital conversion, ultra-high precision signal sources for the upcoming quantum technologies and broadband optical spectroscopy in the environmental or bio-medical sciences and many more. Although, impressive cross-disciplinary demonstrations of the potential of femtosecond lasers are numerous, the technology has been hampered by its large size and high cost per system. The existing mode-locked semiconductor diode laser technology does not fulfil the needed performance specifications. The aim of the FEMTOCHIP project is to deliver a fully integrated chip-scale mode-locked laser with pulse energy, peak power and jitter specifications of a shoebox sized fiber laser system enabling a large fraction of the above-mentioned applications. Key challenges addressed are large cross-section, high gain, low background loss waveguide amplifiers, low loss passive waveguide technology and chirped waveguide gratings to accommodate high pulse peak power, to suppress Q-switching instabilities and to implement short pulse production by on-chip dispersion compensation and artificial saturable absorption. Therefore, the FEMTOCHIP consortium is composed of leaders in CMOS compatible ultra-low loss integrated SiN-photonics, rare-earth gain media development and deposition technology as well as ultrafast laser physics and technology for design, simulation and characterization to identify and address the key challenges in demonstrating a highly stable integrated femtosecond laser with table-top performance.

Keywords: ultrafast lasers,amplifiers,photonic integration,low loss silicon nitride,rare earth gain,integrated femtosecond laser
Development of a trivalent epitope-focused RSV vaccine to boost pre-existing immunity (RSVTriVax)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Panel description: Biotechnology using all organisms, biotechnology for environment and food applications, applied plant and animal sciences, bioengineering and synthetic biology, biomass and biofuels, biohazards
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call: ERC Proof of Concept Grant (ERC-2019-PoC, 2019)
Start date: 2019-10-01
End date: 2021-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The development of a Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine is deemed a global health priority by the World Health Organization. Globally, RSV causes 33 million episodes of infection and up to 120,000 deaths annually. The most affected populations are pre-term infants, young children and the elderly. Several decades of intensive research are yet to yield a clinically approved vaccine. This failure is mostly attributed to sophisticated viral mechanisms that prevent the induction of protective antibodies (Abs). Using cutting-edge molecular design tools, we developed a novel vaccine candidate (TriVax) to focus immune responses in such key neutralization epitopes. TriVax is a cocktail composed of three epitope-focused immunogens mimicking three distinct neutralization epitopes targeted by potent neutralizing Abs. Our primary target populations are pregnant women (protection of pre-term infants) and elderly, where the challenge is to boost subdominant, neutralizing Abs elicited during previous natural infections. Recently, we showed that epitope-focused immunogens are exquisite at boosting subdominant functional Abs, and in this scenario, superior to the strongest competitor vaccine candidates. In a preliminary study in Non-Human Primates, TriVax showed great promise by eliciting robust neutralization on an RSV naïve cohort, suggesting a good safety profile and the potential to emerge as a competitive alternative for vaccine development. For manufacturing, epitope-focused immunogens are simple and stable molecules that can be produced at low cost. Overall, we propose a viable vaccine formulation to protect against an important pathogen which carries large financial burdens on public health systems. Thus, our proposal has an important societal and financial impact, and will provide compelling evidence for Trivax to boost neutralizing Abs in a close-to-human animal model, thereby taking an essential step to consolidate the commercial potential of our vaccine.

Keywords: respiratory syncytial virus,vaccine design,rsv rational vaccine design,epitope focused vaccines
The evolutionary origins and consequences of bipolarity in Hydrozoa. (POLE2POLE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Career Restart panel
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: Norway
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2022-05-01
End date: 2026-05-12
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 303238.08
EU funding (EUR): 303238.08
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Bipolarity, or the presence of the same species in both polar regions, has intrigued the scientific community over centuries. Almost the entire tree of life taxa, from microbes to whales, are known to include some bipolar representatives inhabiting the Arctic and the Antarctic. However, our knowledge on the evolutionary origin and consequences of bipolarity are still fragmentary. POLE2POLE will focus on Hydrozoa (Cnidaria) as a model group to unveil bipolarity patterns and processes with a multi-scale methodology. Given their ubiquity and the wide array of life cycle strategies, hydrozoans constitutes the ideal system to asses this natural phenomenon, enabling a comparative approach. I will first perform an integrative species delimitation on selected hydrozoan taxa representing major ecological and life cycle strategies. I will then reconstruct the evolutionary history of the selected cases by means of High-Throughput Sequencing techniques. Time of divergence and character evolution will be subsequently estimated for the taxa analysed. The project will allow to determine if the divergences took place during an interglacial period or during a glacial maxima, and therefore if vicariance and/or dispersal respectively shaped the current distribution of bipolar hydrozoans, and if previous hypothesis on the presence of relict taxa can be corroborated. Furthermore, POLE2POLE will allow to study in an unprecedented way if life cycle strategies and their corresponding dispersal capabilities are linked with time of bipolar divergence. Thus, through POLE2POLE, I will develop a novel transversal and interdisciplinary framework to study the origin and diversification of the biota inhabiting polar regions, and a model system for speciation processes over oceanic scale. The project will be implemented at University Museum of Bergen (UMB-UiB) under the supervision of Dr Aino Hosia.

Keywords: hydrozoa,hydroids,hydromedusae,jellyfish,speciation,cryptic species,species complex,evolution,divergence time,phylogeography,vicariance,dispersal,biogeography,arctic,antarctic,polar
Development of a Microwave Assisted Cell Disruption of Biomass and Extraction of Valuable Compounds (Amicrex)

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: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Germany
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-05-01
End date: 2020-01-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 171460.8
EU funding (EUR): 171460.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The combination of biomass valorisation, process intensification and green technology is an attractive research challenge for the European Community being in line with the “Resource-efficient Europe” flagship initiatives by optimizing the use of material, energy resources and gaining valuable products with lower impact on our environment and health. The AMICREX project accepts this challenge and aims to develop an integrated process design for future industrial implementation, where by-products from agro industrial processes (e.g. carrot peels) can be valorised by recovering high- value nonpolar components (e.g. carotenoids, well recognized natural pigments and widely used in the food and cosmetic industries) through a microwave intensified microemulsion extraction process. The AMICREX concept can be extended to address the challenges proposed by extraction of nonpolar metabolites, especially carotenoids, from other renewable biomass sources (e.g. Microalgae). The key aspects of the proposed technology are 1) avoid the use of hazardous organic solvents in nonpolar compounds’ extraction by using microemulsion as extraction media, and 2) improve extraction kinetics by microwave cell disruption method in order to liberate intracellular compounds and make them available for the subsequent extraction process. The research will first focus on the evaluation on the laboratory scale microwave cell disruption and subsequent microemulsion extraction processes of the characterized biomass. Based on the so obtained process and system specifications the small scale process is aimed to be turned into an industrial design concept through process modeling and simulation. The satisfactory implementation of the project will be achieved by filling the gap between multidisciplinary fields of natural sciences and engineering. Moreover, the interdisciplinary scenario between biomass cell disruption, extraction process and microemulsion technology will be established.

Keywords: microemulsion extraction,carotenoid,process development,microalgae,carrot peel
New approaches to characterise Schistosoma mansoni infections persisting despite mass drug administration (SCHISTO_PERSIST)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment 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: United Kingdom
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2015-STG, 2015)
Start date: 2016-04-01
End date: 2023-09-30
Duration (months): 90.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1490270.0
EU funding (EUR): 1490270.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Neglected tropical diseases affect over 1.4 billion people and cause a greater disease burden than HIV/AIDS. Despite extensive mass drug administration (MDA) schistosomiasis remains a major public health issue, with a socio-economic impact second only to malaria amongst parasites. I will evaluate novel strategies and new technologies to monitor the impact of MDA programmes, to identify threats to MDA effectiveness, and enhance control of schistosomiasis in sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically I will address five ambitious questions: 1. What is the best way to monitor schistosome infections and drug efficacy? 2. Has drug resistance been selected for? 3. What is the potential for drug resistance to spread? 4. What other factors drive transmission? 5. What other factors affect parasite clearance? These aims are feasible through innovative interdisciplinary methods including a) state-of-the-art DNA-chip diagnostics, b) novel application of genetic analysis to differentiate surviving worms from juveniles, c) use of drug screening technology to measure in vitro drug susceptibility, providing the first quantifiable in vitro phenotype without using mammals, d) combination of molecular techniques with mathematical models to elucidate the potential spread of phenotypes and e) an unparalleled interdisciplinary approach deducing host effects in non-clearers. These methods and technologies have not previously been used to assess MDA effectiveness for any helminth infection. My pioneering research will enable a comparative assessment of how transmission is affected by untreated adults and pre-school children, individuals with heavy infections, coinfections, and drug coverage. This will elucidate optimal strategies to reduce transmission hotspots. My results will improve monitoring protocols and inform policy makers on how best to treat schistosomiasis. I will fill a critical global health knowledge gap, with findings transferable across a range of MDA controlled diseases.

Keywords: schistosomiasis,drug resistance,mass drug administration
Novel Antimicrobial Graphene Oxide-Lanthanide- Hydroxyapatite Composites as Therapeutic Materials in Bone Infection and Repair (NOVA)

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: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2016, 2016)
Start date: 2017-03-01
End date: 2019-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 195454.8
EU funding (EUR): 195454.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

NOVA is an innovative multi- and inter-disciplinary Fellowship hosted by the University of Birmingham in the UK with the main aim to develop antimicrobial graphene oxide (GO)-lanthanide glasses (Ln)-hydroxyapatite (HA) composites for bone repair. Large bone defects and infections represent a major challenge for orthopaedic surgeons. Infections may be life-threatening or, commonly, associated with long-term disability and pose a serious and increasing threat to public health, especially when antimicrobial resistance is becoming a serious problem. It is therefore highly desirable to develop novel multi-functional systems that can exhibit antimicrobial properties for bone repair. Lanthanide glasses (Ln) and Graphene Oxide (GO) have shown very interesting properties, the first being used in sensing and imaging as well as enabling cell attachment and isomorphic replacements for calcium, the second being an antimicrobial. NOVA will develop a multifunctional composite system combining the useful properties of a lanthanide host glass with the antimicrobial activity of Graphene Oxide and the bioactivity of Hydroxyapatite (HA). The proposed research is a novel research direction, and there is no previously published research on what is proposed to be a new class of multi-functional composites.

Keywords: lanthanide glasses,graphene oxide,hydroxyapatite,multifunctional biomaterials,composites,antimicrobial materials
Scalable Optimization of Power Systems with Flexible Demand and Renewable Supply (ICEBERG)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Systems and communication engineering
Panel description: Electrical, electronic, communication, optical and systems engineering
Countries involved: Belgium,Greece
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2019-STG, 2019)
Start date: 2021-10-01
End date: 2026-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499313.0
EU funding (EUR): 1117063.0
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

The large-scale integration of renewable resources in electric power systems requires the mobilization of flexible consumers who can adapt their consumption to the variable and uncertain fluctuation of renewable supply. The mobilization of demand-side flexibility remains an elusive goal in electric power systems, while the majority of flexible consumers are connected to distribution systems that are currently operated passively. The major obstacles towards the optimal management of demand-side flexibility include the enormous number of flexible consumers (with ensuing challenges for scalable optimization), the presence of uncertainty at all layers of the power grid, and the physical complexity of distribution system power flow. In this context, the ICEBERG project proposes a novel approach towards the proactive utilization of transmission and distribution system resources in a coordinated fashion. My approach to achieving this ambitious goal is based on three key ingredients. (i) The first ingredient is a novel approach for planning and simulating the dispatch of the system which exploits the structure of distribution networks and can scale to systems of arbitrary size. (ii) The second ingredient is an original optimization framework for tackling uncertainty and non-convexity at every layer of the system. (iii) The third ingredient is a novel implementation of this optimization framework in parallel and distributed computing infrastructure, which will enable the optimal short-term planning and real-time coordination of resources at all layers of the system. My vision is to break down the current barriers to renewable energy integration by mobilizing the as yet untapped flexibility that is present at all layers of the network. This will enable the achieving of ambitious sustainability targets with acceptable infrastructure upgrades and without any deterioration in the quality of electric power service, which consumers currently enjoy.

Keywords: acmcss2012 stochastic control and optimization,acmcss2012 operations research,decision analysis
Principles underlying information flow across the entire brain of the zebrafish (BrainInformationFlow)

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: France
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2020-01-01
End date: 2021-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 196707.84
EU funding (EUR): 196707.84
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

How information is processed and flows through the brain to generate motor behaviours and cognitive functions is a paramount question in neurosciences. Donald Hebb proposed that individual neurons cooperate to form larger functional structures (neuronal assemblies) that communicate between them through phase sequences. Recent experiments support the existence of assemblies but how does the information flow between these neuronal assemblies, across the entire brain, remains elusive. I propose to use the zebrafish larva as the experimental model that in combination with optogenetics and light-sheet microscopy, enables monitoring whole-brain dynamics, with single-neuron resolution in an intact behaving vertebrate. Taking advantage of a multidisciplinary approach involving cutting-edge optical techniques, genetics, optogenetics, and mathematical methods from graph theory and statistical mutual information, I intend to shed light on basic principles underlying the flow of information across the entire brain. Specifically, I will study the following aims: * Description of the connectivity structure and organization across the whole brain. * Testing the existence of bottlenecks and surrogate connectivity between neuronal assemblies. * Network connectivity robustness: circuit and physiological compensations following flow of information interruption. In recent years, zebrafish became an important model for human diseases (e.g. Parkinson's, Rett's syndrome, or autism). Thus, my findings may contribute to the understanding of information flow anomalies associated with neurological disorders, and therefore open new doors for the design of novel treatments, still impossible to envision using more complex animal models.

Keywords: zebrafish,light sheet imaging,calcium imaging,behaviour,graph theory,neuronal circuit dynamics,optogenetics,two photon microscopy,computational neuroscience,spontaneous activity