Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
innovative Steering-triangles rEAlized with Aluminum FOAM technology for motorcycle industry (SEA FOAM)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Smart, green and integrated transport
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Italy
Call: Small business innovation research for Transport (H2020-SMEINST-1-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2015-11-01
End date: 2016-04-30
Duration (months): 6.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project aims to industrialize an innovative steering group for the motorcycle industry; the main objective is to recover economic competitiveness in the automotive sector. In last ten years, European market has lost significant market shares in favor of low-cost countries. Also Cometa, that have managed up to 25% of the market of steering groups, found a significant loss of the market share. For achieve this goal Cometa proposes to realize an innovative aluminum steering-triangles with composite technology using aluminum realized with cold technology plus a specific aluminum foam. A feasibility study that tests on technological, productive and economical level, the potential use of the innovative steering for the motorcycle industry. For the technical feasibility, Cometa will be supported by University of L'Aquila (Engineering department) and the University of Rome Tor Vergata. The initial reference market will be the complete steering systems production in aluminium, for the high quality motorcycle sector. The customers/OEM premium selected are HONDA, BMW for the following reasons: • Consolidated relationship (especially with HONDA) • They both belong to high quality standards in the market • They adopt high standards for the quality and reliability • They are large-scale producers

Keywords: aluminum steering triangles,aluminum,cold technology,aluminum foam,steering triangles,environmental footprint,recyclability,less consumption of raw materials,high security
3D-printed magnetic microfluidics for applications in life sciences (microMAGNETOFLUIDICS)

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: Switzerland
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-06-01
End date: 2018-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 187419.6
EU funding (EUR): 187419.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The field of microfluidics is providing answers to several key questions in biology. Specifically, microfluidic single-cell analysis yields important insights into the heterogeneity of cells that is crucial for cancer research, regenerative medicine and drug development. Microfluidics has also emerged as a powerful tool to study single bacteria and to address questions concerning antibiotic persistence and the role of the microbiome in protecting against modern plagues such as cancer, autoimmune diseases and obesity. Despite its great potential, microfluidic technologies have not been widely adopted in mainstream biomedical research since they require a great deal of external equipment, which is often difficult to operate by untrained personnel. The aim of this proposal is to simplify fluid handling and single-cell studies by developing a microfluidic device that includes magnetic microvalves. These microvalves can be wirelessly actuated to generate compartments and isolate single cells. The magnetic microvalves will be integrated by means of a very recently available lithographic tool based on two-photon polymerization (2PP) with sub-diffraction limit resolution, which enables the fabrication of polymer-based 3D micro- and nano-architectures. The microMAGNETOFLUIDICS project is strongly interdisciplinary in nature where physics, materials science, and biology are strongly intertwined. The innovative character of this proposal is unprecedented since no previous studies have been reported on 3D-printed magnetic microvalves operating within a microfluidic channel. The topic of the project is timely because it promotes the use of microfluidics among biologists and bacteriologists for decrypting cellular mechanisms at a single-cell level.

Keywords: two photon polymerization,lab on a chip,femtosecond laser,3d printing
Re-Think All Plastic Packaging (ReTAPP)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Sweden,Finland,Netherlands
Call: Fast Track to Innovation Pilot (H2020-FTIPilot-2015-1, 2015)
Start date: 2015-11-01
End date: 2018-04-30
Duration (months): 30.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3340625.0
EU funding (EUR): 2338437.5
Participants: 4
Project status: CLOSED

The ReTAPP project aims at producing wood-based fructose for production of plastic bottles and all plastic packaging. The ReTAPP project will generate fructose from wood to commercial process as a replacement for food/starch based fructose. The fructose is further converted to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) – a chemical that can be used to produce a biobased polymer, Polyethylene Furanoate (PEF). Ultimately, ReTAPP will make it possible to make the plastics from wood – a solution not just sustainable and 100% renewable, but also technically and economically superior to the technologies and materials used today. In ReTAPP, the consortium will improve the processes through enzymatic solutions to positively impact quality, performance and economics: In the end, the wood-based fructose must be better than food-based fructose for further in chemical conversion in industrial scale. Even more importantly, the overall process, including but not limited to the fructose conversion, is also made economically more sustainable than the petroleum or the food-based solutions. Ultimately, the 100% renewable packaging is more affordable and has better qualities, such as barrier properties, than the most common thermoplastic resin: polyethylene terephthalate (PET). ReTAPP enables the collaboration between consortium members to address the entire value-chain and achieve objectives none of the companies could achieve alone. European competitive advantage can be found in strength of collaboration between masters of their field, such as MetGen, SEKAB and Avantium.

Keywords: biotechnology,advanced processing,enzyme,fructose
SmArt BI-directional multi eNergy gAteway (SABINA)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Secure, clean and efficient energy
Theme: A single, smart European electricity grid
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Spain,Spain,Belgium,Greece,Greece,Switzerland,France,Czechia,Denmark,United Kingdom
Call: Next generation innovative technologies enabling smart grids, storage and energy system integration with increasing share of renewables: distribution network (H2020-LCE-2016-SGS, 2016)
Start date: 2016-11-01
End date: 2020-10-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4611041.25
EU funding (EUR): 3789868.75
Participants: 11
Project status: CLOSED

Flexibility needs to be added to Europe’s power system to accommodate an increasing share of variable power generation from renewable sources. Indeed, service quality issues start to arise on the grid when this share in electricity consumption reaches 10%. To meet the EU’s targets for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions this share should rise to 30% by 2030 and up to 50% by 2050. The cost of this transition and the necessary measures to guarantee stable and continuous supply are a major political concern. The SABINA project responds to it by targeting the cheapest possible source of flexibility: the existing thermal inertia in buildings and the coupling between heat and electricity networks it enables. This coupling requires accurately estimating the thermal inertia of many buildings. SABINA’s partner the University of Navarra has created a breakthrough, automatic method for this estimation, which shall be scaled up, validated and integrated in a complete management system through this project. This system will operate on two complementary time horizons: • One day: aggregation and management at the district level of the electric and thermal flexibilities, and conversion and storage of the excess electrical energy to thermal energy in the freely available building inertia. • Seconds to minutes: local control of inverters feeding renewable electricity to the grid, with optimal parameters automatically determined at the district level. Research partners will develop novel control and optimization algorithms, and integrate and evaluate the system in lab and operational settings. The SABINA solution is compatible with both new and existing buildings; it is planned to be deployed within five years of the end of the project. Lead users are present in the consortium: Telvent and SMS plc, the coordinator, for the architecture, and Insero for the business model it enables; compliance and contribution to relevant standards will be ensured by the European Digital SME Alliance

Keywords: building thermal inertia,electric and thermal energy network,network synergy,aggregation,network impedance,building and district flexibility,remote terminal unit
3D printed COLLagen type I-Hydroxyapatite prostheses for the middle EAR (COLLHEAR)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Global Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Italy,United States
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-07-17
End date: 2021-07-16
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 244269.0
EU funding (EUR): 244269.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Conductive hearing loss is a pathology that affects about 15% of the worldwide population and more than 40% of the elderly. So far, passive implants, made of titanium and hydroxyapatite, are the preferred solution to restore the middle ear function. Unfortunately, a significant percentage of extrusion still occurs (up to 40% in the long term) due to reduced biocompatibility. The applicant (i.e. experienced researcher, ER) studied ear micro-prosthetics during his PhD and aims at developing a new generation of 3D printed bulk micro-prostheses for the middle ear made of collagen type 1 and hydroxyapatite, namely, the native components of the ear bones, to improve the quality of life the European citizens, who are highly prone to conductive deafness due to their longevity. To achieve this ambitious goal, thus maximising the acoustic behaviour of the composite material from its basic unit, the ER needs to learn multiscale design (i.e. from the atomic- to the macro-scale), which will be addressed during the outgoing phase at MIT. Therefore, a dedicated study will be carried out on 3D printing techniques in order to fabricate a set of new prototypes, which will be challenging due to the small size versus high performance of the ossicular prostheses. The ER will investigate and characterize the newly designed prostheses from a topological and acousto-mechanical standpoint at University of Antwerp (2-month secondment) and through a dedicated bioreactor, designed and manufactured on purpose at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Beneficiary) to be used for a biologic assessment at University of Pisa (4-month secondment). The multidisciplinary approach involving acoustics, materials science, engineering, biology and otology will enhance the development of innovative clinically oriented prototypes and will contribute to the ER’s scientific and personal growth in view of a future academic or industrial independent position, based on high specialized skills and international networking.

Keywords: ear prostheses,micro fabrication,3d printing,bioreactor,cell coltures,acousto mechanics,computational modelling
Unravelling the mechanisms underlying the evolution of ultraviolet signals (UVSIGNAL)

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: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: France
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-04-01
End date: 2020-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 185076.0
EU funding (EUR): 185076.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Animals use a bewildering diversity of signals to communicate. Displays of colour signals have always baffled naturalists and their study has greatly advanced our understanding of animal communication. Invisible to the human eye, ultraviolet (UV) signals have long been overlooked by scientists and yet, they are ubiquitous in the animal kingdom. Despite a growing body of work in the recent years, the mechanisms involved in the evolution of UV signals are still far from fully understood. The over-arching aim of this project is to provide insights on how UV signals can become stable through evolutionary times. Common lizards (Zootoca vivipara) are an excellent model species to tackle these questions because males display a conspicuous patch of UV colour on their throat, which is involved in male-male competition. To investigate the forces that shape and ensure the honesty of these signals, this project will use several complementary approaches combining genomics, endocrinology, and experimental manipulations using wild and captive populations of common lizards. This complementarity between genomics and hormonal effects will provide invaluable insights on a potential correlation ensuring signals honesty, at both the genetic and phenotypic level. We will identify the genetic variants responsible for UV variations and examine how they relate to hormone secretion. This multidisciplinary approach has the advantage of using promising methods that are rarely used in this field, and thus have the potential to generate original and interesting results.
The Metaphysical Unity of Science (MetaScience)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Cultures and cultural production
Panel description: Literary studies, cultural studies, study of the arts, philosophy
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2017-COG, 2017)
Start date: 2018-09-01
End date: 2023-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1995304.0
EU funding (EUR): 1995304.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The Metaphysical Unity of Science project will pursue the question of what, if anything, unifies the natural sciences. The project studies the question from the perspective of metaphysics and philosophy of science by way of employing case studies from biology, chemistry, and physics. What does it mean for one scientific phenomenon to be explained in terms of another? Under what conditions does scientific unification take place? In philosophy these questions are often discussed under the rubric of reduction. Typically, in asking whether one phenomenon reduces to another, we aim to understand what the ultimate or fundamental basis of the first phenomenon is. In the mid to late 20th century, there was a hope to reduce all higher level phenomena to fundamental physics. Yet, it was soon discovered that there are phenomena that cannot be easily reduced, so unification may not be available via this route. The project’s ambitious goal is to produce a novel account of unification. This is made possible by recent breakthroughs in the methodology of metaphysics, an area sometimes called “metametaphysics”. The project’s objectives are (1) to establish the criteria for scientific unification; (2) to conduct case studies of actual scientific reductions at the biology-chemistry and the chemistry-physics interfaces; (3) to study the role of dependence relations weaker than reduction. A cross-disciplinarily applicable toolbox for unification would be enormously useful for identifying the kind of expertise needed for studying a given phenomenon. This is not merely a philosophical problem. If there are reasons to think that a given biological phenomenon reduces to chemical phenomena, then biologists studying that phenomenon had better be prepared to consult and collaborate with the chemists. If a unification can be achieved, we can determine when scientists ought to consult their colleagues in other sciences and also when this is likely to be a hindrance instead of an advantage.

Keywords: metaphysics of science,realization,reduction,metametaphysics,ontological dependence
Hemoglobin based Protein Nanocarriers for Tumour Oxygenation and a more effective Photodynamic Therapy (OXIGENATED)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Research and innovation staff exchange
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Chemistry
Countries involved: Germany,Estonia,Argentina,Spain,Thailand,Brazil
Call: Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2019-03-01
End date: 2024-08-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 920000.0
EU funding (EUR): 920000.0
Participants: 8
Project status: SIGNED

A major drawback of Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) and other therapies for cancer treatment is the limited oxygen content, hypoxia, in tumour tissue. In PDT a photosensitizing molecule is delivered to malignant tissue to generate radical oxygen species (ROS). The presence of oxygen is fundamental for ROS generation, ultimately causing the death of tumour cells. This project aims to develop hemoglobin drug delivery nanocarriers in the nano and submicron range for simultaneous oxygen and photosensitizer delivery to tumour tissue for a more efficient Photodynamic Therapy. Hemoglobin-based nanocarriers (HOBCs) will be prepared by co-precipitation of hemoglobin with carbonates and surface coating with bovine serum albumin. The carriers will transport oxygen complexed to hemoglobin while photosensitizer molecules will be entrapped in the core. Carriers will be modified with homing peptides to target them to cancer cells. In vitro studies will be conducted to study the uptake of HOBCs by cells, their intracellular fate, toxicity, and oxygen and photosensitizer delivery. In vivo fate of carriers will be studied in mice with radiolabeled carriers by Positron Emission Tomography and Single Emission Computer Tomography. The efficiency of the HOBCs for oxygen delivery and for PDT will be tested in vitro and in vivo in breast and skin cancer models. A multidisciplinary team has been gathered with scientists at the forefront of Material Science, Self assembly, Physics, Chemistry, Imaging, Molecular Biology and Cancer Therapy from Germany, Estonia, Spain, Brazil, Argentina and Thailand. The participation of a SME will be fundamental for the future commercialization of project developments. OXIGENATED will actively work towards exchanging skills and knowledge through secondments of Early Stage and Experienced Researchers, and through networking and training activities. Seconded researchers will develop new scientific and complementary skills while exposed to new research environments.

Keywords: photodynamic therapy pdt,hemoglobin based nanocarriers hobcs,oxygen carriers,cancer,imaging
Characterization of Key Epigenetic Targets in Hepatic Fibrosis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Development. Generation of New Antifibrotic and Antitumoral Drugs. (TARGEPILIVER)

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: Spain
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-12-01
End date: 2018-03-22
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 170121.6
EU funding (EUR): 170121.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Liver fibrosis represents a common pathogenic pathway in most chronic liver diseases (CLDs) and cirrhosis, its end stage, is a huge healthcare burden. The main causes of CLD are chronic viral hepatitis B or C infection, alcohol abuse and obesity-linked steatohepatitis, conditions with increasing global incidence. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) develops on this background of CLD as a multistep process in the context of chronic inflammation and cirrhosis. Among all non-hematological malignancies, HCC has the fastest rising incidence of any neoplasm in USA and Europe. Despite all the progress in understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of liver fibrosis and hepatocarcinogenesis, there are no effective therapies to halt fibrosis or quell liver cancer. Exposure to environmental factors triggers adaptative epigenetic mechanisms, including alterations in DNA methylation or post-translational modification of histones, which control gene expression and ultimately cellular behaviour in ways critical for the development of CLD and HCC. From the literature and our preliminary observations it is known that many of the enzymes carrying out these epigenetic events, such as DNA and histone methyltransferases, present altered expression and activity in CLD and HCC. The deposition of methyl marks in histones and DNA are very dynamic enzymatic processes, amenable to pharmacological intervention and therefore constitute attractive therapeutic targets. Our proposal has two main objectives: first the analysis of the expression, activity and pathological significance of DNA and histone-methyltransferases in models of CLD and hepatocarcinogenesis; and second the development of new efficacious DNA and histone-methyltransferase specific inhibitors with a good safety profile, which is critical when treating patients with compromised liver function. These new epigenetic therapies could be used to prevent CLD progression, and to treat HCC alone or in combination with existing drugs.

Keywords: liver fibrogenesis,hepatocarcinogenesis,methylation,molecular therapeutics