Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Advanced Hybrid Thermoelectric Materials through Vapor Phase Infiltration (ANTHEM)

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: Chemistry
Countries involved: Spain
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-10-01
End date: 2020-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 170121.6
EU funding (EUR): 170121.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Waste heat—the rejected by-product of all energy conversion processes—remains a huge and unexplored reservoir of green energy. It is estimated that two-thirds of the 160 TWh required for global power consumption is lost to the environment each year. Converting even a fraction of this wasted energy into electricity at the cost of 10 cents per kWh would generate a new EUR 1.0 trillion industry—creating jobs, boosting the economy, and increasing energy efficiency. A scalable preparative strategy towards inexpensive thermoelectric (TE) materials would allow direct heat to electricity conversion to be widely implemented. Realizing this ambition will require a new approach, as current methods rely on rare, toxic, and expensive materials to produce rigid and inefficient TE devices. To overcome these shortcomings, the ANTHEM project aims to develop a robust strategy towards advanced hybrid organic-inorganic TE materials through the novel concept of vapor phase infiltration (VPI). VPI presents a truly novel strategy to fuse state-of-the-art organic-inorganic TE materials at the nanoscale—opening the possibility for flexible, low cost and even transparent TE materials. Moreover, VPI is an easily scalable vapor-phase process that could extend to a large variety of inorganic/polymer combinations. In this project specific targets will include optimizing the degree of control in scattering engineering, size/ interface composition and spatial distribution of the inorganic phase, key factors for maximizing thermoelectric performance. With an optimal blend of expertise in materials chemistry, characterization and theory from leading European research groups, ANTHEM will deliver a roadmap towards low-cost and abundant hybrid TE materials that incorporate metal oxides, sulfides, or selenides. The success this project has great potential to advance not only the field of VPI, but hybrid TE too—creating concrete possibilities for the critically important waste-to-energy industry.

Keywords: thermoelectrics,vapor phase infiltration,atomic layer deposition
Potato Multi-Allele Scanning Haplotags – a low cost, genome-scanning marker system for use in potato breeding (PotatoMASH)

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: Ireland
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-09-24
End date: 2020-09-23
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 175866.0
EU funding (EUR): 175866.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Potato breeding is a 10-year process that involves combining over 40 characteristics to produce varieties that have improved sustainability, utilisation and consumer characteristics. Genomic and marker assisted selection (GS and MAS) can make breeding faster/more efficient, increasing the rate of genetic gain and the ability to combine multiple traits. Strategies for GS to date have tended to employ many thousands of markers; however, the economic burden of deploying such approaches on thousands of plants annually in a breeding programme may restrict the adoption of GS. The objective of this action is to develop a novel, low cost, genome-scanning marker platform for use in simultaneous GS and MAS for multiple traits in potato breeding, by combining existing knowledge on the patterns of linkage disequilibrium in potato with recent advances in genotyping-by-sequencing approaches based on massively multiplex PCR. The marker system will target clusters of SNPs whose aggregate profile over distances covered by paired-end next generation sequencing (NGS) reads will allow them to be used as haplotags. Unlike bi-allelic SNPs, haplotags can discriminate multiple allelic variants in tetraploid potato. Approximately 400 loci at placed at 1Mb spacing throughout the euchromatic portion of the genome, and a further 100 SNPs linked to specific traits, will be targeted and assayed using an approach called GT-Seq, which uses combinatorial barcoding to allow multiplexing of thousands of samples in a single NGS run. The sequencing platform will be utilised in conjunction with 2 training populations to develop genomic prediction equations for yield and fry colour of potato. Subsequently, it will be deployed for combined GS and MAS on 1000 plants from the second field generation of a commercial potato breeding programme. The research and training activities in the fellowship proposal will equip a young postdoctoral researcher with the skills of a "next generation plant breeder".

Keywords: plant breeding,genetic markers,genomic selection,marker assisted selection
Precisely Patterned Nanofibers for High Performance Bioseparations (PURE)

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: Austria,Germany,Portugal
Call: FET-Open Challenging Current Thinking (H2020-FETOPEN-2018-2019-2020-01, 2019)
Start date: 2020-10-01
End date: 2024-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2999537.5
EU funding (EUR): 2999537.5
Participants: 4
Project status: SIGNED

Biopharmaceutical drugs save lives and drastically improve well-being. The number of new bio-drugs approved or in pipeline is rising but only 1/4 of patients have access to them. Bioseparation is a critical step in biopharmaceuticals manufacture. Bioseparation processes have low productivity, and are responsible for the environmental footprint and high cost of manufacturing. They use polymeric adsorbents decorated with affinity ligands that increase the selective capture of the required bio-drug. Current adsorbents originate slow processes with low capacity due to diffusive transport and the uncontrolled heterogeneous distribution of affinity ligands. Only a radical change in purification technologies can reduce the environmental footprint of biopharma industry, and increase productivity, making biopharmaceuticals quickly accessible to all. PURE envisions the pioneering of precisely functionalised purification nanofibers using principles of scalable biotechnological processes. For the first time, affinity ligands are introduced into convective adsorbents in a site-directed oriented manner and predefined spatial arrangement. Scientific and engineering principles on living organisms are combined to produce the biobased adsorbents of the future, putting Europe in the forefront of sustainable and patient-oriented biopharma. PURE brings together leading scientists and a SME as a highly interdisciplinary team with expertise in biology, chemistry, computational modelling, materials science, bioprocess engineering and applied social sciences. The new scientific knowledge and technological paradigm established in PURE have a wide window of opportunities. The scalable bioproduction of fibers with uniform ligand functionalization at predicted sites has never been achieved, and is currently limiting the performance of materials, namely in medical and technical applications. PURE revolutionizes the way advanced functional materials are thought today, and enables a new future.

Keywords: spider silk protein and materials,reactive non canonical amino acids,affinity ligands,nanofibers,downstream processing,biopharmaceuticals,multiscale modeling,technology and knowledge transfer
Role of the sorting receptor SorCS1 in controlling excitation/inhibition balance in neural circuits. (SorCSbalance)

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: Belgium
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-05-01
End date: 2017-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 160800.0
EU funding (EUR): 160800.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Controlling the precise balance between excitation and inhibition (E/I balance) is critical for information processing in the brain. A perturbed E/I balance has been implicated in the etiology of a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders. The factors that dictate the balance between excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission are still poorly defined, but trans-synaptic interactions between adhesion molecules such as neurexins and neuroligins are thought to be important. The host laboratory recently identified the sorting receptor SorCS1 as a key regulator of the synaptic abundance of glutamate receptors and adhesion molecules, including neurexins and neuroligins. SorCS1 has been associated with a variety of neural disorders, including autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease. I hypothesize that SorCS1 controls E/I balance in the brain by regulating the synaptic abundance of cell surface receptors. I shall test this hypothesis via the following specific aims: Aim 1: To analyse whether SorCS1 regulates synaptic trafficking of adhesion molecules and neurotransmitter receptors under basal conditions and during synaptic activity. Aim 2: To define how SorCS1 affects excitatory and inhibitory synapse function in vitro and in vivo. Aim 3: To determine whether perturbed SorCS1 levels and disease-associated SorCS1 mutations affect E/I balance in neural circuits.

Keywords: sorcs1,excitation,inhibition balance,synaptic function,cell adhesion molecules,autism
Integrating Risk Perception and Action to enhance Civil protection-Citizen interaction (RiskPACC)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Secure societies - protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens
Theme: Increase Europe's resilience to crises and disasters
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Germany,Italy,Israel,Italy,Germany,Belgium,Greece,Greece,France,Czechia,Netherlands,Netherlands,United Kingdom,United Kingdom,United Kingdom,United Kingdom
Call: Human factors, and social, societal, and organisational aspects for disaster-resilient societies (H2020-SU-SEC-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2021-09-01
End date: 2024-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 5460791.25
EU funding (EUR): 5460791.25
Participants: 20
Project status: SIGNED

Increasingly complex and interconnected risks globally highlight the need to enhance individual and collective disaster resilience. While, there are initiatives to encourage citizen participation in creating a resilient society, these are typically fragmented, do not reach the most vulnerable and can result in unclear responsibilities for building disaster resilience. New technologies can also support preparedness and response to disasters, however, there is limited understanding on how to implement them effectively. Awareness of risks and levels of preparedness across Europe remain low with gaps between the risk perceptions and actions of citizens, and between the risk perceptions of citizens and Civil Protection Authorities (CPAs). The RiskPACC project seeks to further understand and close this Risk Perception Action Gap (RPAG). Through its dedicated co-creation approach, RiskPACC will facilitate interaction between citizens and CPAs to jointly identify their needs and develop potential procedural and technical solutions to build enhanced disaster resilience. RiskPACC will provide an understanding of disaster resilience from the perspective of citizens and CPAs, identifying resilience building initiatives and good practices led by both citizens (bottom-up) and CPAs (top-down). Based on this understanding, RiskPACC will facilitate collaboration between citizens, CPAs, Civil Society Organisations, researchers and developers through its seven case studies to jointly design and prototype novel solutions. The “Risk Pack” of solutions will include a framework and methodology to understand and close the RPAG; a repository of international best practice; and, tooled solutions based on new forms of digital and community-centred data and associated training guidance. RiskPACC’s consortium comprised of CPAs, NGOs, connector organisations, researchers and technical experts will facilitate knowledge sharing and peer-learning to close the RPAG and build disaster resilience.

Keywords: resilience,risk perception,risk awareness,action,co creation
Catalytic C–F Bond Functionalisation with Transition Metal Catalysis (FluoroCAT)

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: Chemistry
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-03-15
End date: 2017-03-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183454.8
EU funding (EUR): 183454.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Fluorinated organic molecules play a pivotal role in chemical manufacture. For example, it has been estimated that approximately 20-40% of pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals contain at least one fluorine atom. Despite the fact that perfluoroarenes - aromatic hydrocarbons in which every hydrogen atom is replaced with a fluorine atom - are an inexpensive abundant chemical feedstock they are rarely used in chemical manufacture. The strong carbon–fluorine bond provides an impasse to further chemical reactions. Here we propose to develop a new catalytic method to transform inert carbon–fluorine bonds in perfluoroarenes to reactive carbon–aluminium bonds. We will transform the aluminium-containing reactive intermediates into useful products through carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bond forming reactions. The overall process represents an original underpinning technology to transform inert and chemically persistent fluorinated molecules into building blocks that can be used in chemical manufacture. The ultimate goal of this work is to create a fresh paradigm for using perfluoroarenes in pharmaceutical and agrochemical programmes. The proposed programme will provide world-class training in the areas of organometallic chemistry, homogeneous catalysis and mechanistic analysis. The long-term benefits will be felt in the areas of health and food sustainability.

Keywords: carbon fluorine bond activation,organometallic chemistry,main group chemistry
Chemical mutagenesis: a powerful tool for the creation of a library of nanobodies (Chemical Mutagenesis)

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: Chemistry
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2022-03-01
End date: 2024-02-29
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 212933.76
EU funding (EUR): 212933.76
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Finding a non-aggressive treatment against Cancer is one of the most important challenges that medicine has nowadays. Immunotherapy has emerged as one of the best options to overcome the current problems of chemotherapy. By the use of monoclonal antibodies (mAb), immunotherapy is able to block regulatory checkpoints and, therefore, the immune response against tumoral cells could be modulated. Trastuzumab, pembrolizumab and nivolumab are some of the mAb approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their use against several cancers. Trastuzumab recognizes the overexpressed protein HER2 in breast cancer, whereas the pembrolizumab and the nivolumab recognize the Programmed Cell Death-1 (PD-1) receptor and are used in several cancers such as refractory melanoma. However, there are reported important issues concerning cancer resistance to these mAb, thus, modifying their characteristics became necessary. Unlike it happens with small molecules, there are several limitations to functionalize an antibody to improve its characteristics. In this context, chemical mutagenesis turns into a powerful tool because it allows the modification of an antibody directly with highly specific chemical reactions, and achieve changes onto its structure that would not be possible by using other techniques such as protein engineering and genetic encoding. In this proposal I envision the use of nanobodies able to recognize HER-2 protein and PD-1 receptor in order to improve their affinity to their targets by chemical mutagenesis via alanyl radical. The success of this project would provide solutions to the cancer resistance to current immunotherapy.

Keywords: chemical mutagenesis,nanobody,site selective protein modification
Nanoengineering of radioactive seeds for cancer therapy and diagnosis (NEST)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator 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: Spain
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2016-COG, 2016)
Start date: 2017-10-01
End date: 2024-09-30
Duration (months): 84.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1999965.0
EU funding (EUR): 1999965.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

One of the major challenges in modern society is the early diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Cancer is one of the most relevant diseases worldwide because of its incidence, prevalence and mortality. During the past decades, considerable efforts have been devoted to understand the origin of the disease, find early detection methods that could improve the survival rate of cancer patients or develop treatments and devices that could reduce or eradicate cancer. The application of nanotechnology to medicine (nanomedicine) has become one of the most promising routes for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. The small size of nanomaterials, large surface area and high reactivity impart unique physicochemical properties to these materials, in such a way that several therapeutics based on nanomaterials (liposomes, nanoparticles, polymers) have already been approved for clinical use in humans. However, there are still limitations that need to be overcome to obtain novel and efficient nanocarriers for oncology applications. NEST presents an innovative approach that aims to engineer ultra-sensitive imaging and therapeutic agents. An unprecedented amount of ‘hot’ radionuclides, in the form of crystals, will be hermetically sealed in the interior of hollow nanostructures (seeds), thus preventing leakage and interaction of the radionuclides with the biological milieu. The in vivo fate will thus be merely governed by the nanocarrier and will be alien to the encaged radionuclides. Rational engineering of the nanoseeds in terms of size, shape and surface properties will be employed to tune their pharmacokinetic profile and biodistribution, including tumour targeting. The large amount of radionuclides encased in each of the seeds is expected to allow a more personalised treatment of cancer and ultra-sensitive imaging, for an early diagnosis.

Keywords: nanocomposites,inorganic seeds,ceramic particles,metal particles,encasing,cancer therapy,diagnosis
Students, social change and the construction of the post-independence Algerian state, 1962-1978 (STUSOCSTA)

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: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Algeria,United Kingdom
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-GF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-09-01
End date: 2019-11-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 250104.6
EU funding (EUR): 250104.6
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

This project seeks to bring a new perspective to understanding state construction in Algeria after independence. Through a history of the first generations of Algerians who went to university in the 1960s and 1970s, it explores the intersections between political and institutional transformations and social, cultural and economic processes. These processes include increasing literacy, rural to urban migration, migration to study abroad and changes in gender relations and family structures. Bringing together concepts and methodologies from across a number of humanities and social science disciplines, the project will produce a case study setting out new approaches to studying state-building as a dynamic process which takes place at different levels of power (transnational, national and local) and which both shapes, and is shaped by, individual agency and wider processes. The goal is for this approach to be applicable to a range of other post-colonial contexts, challenging teleological readings of post-independence histories and homogenising understandings of post-independence states. The project is to be carried out in Algeria, France and the UK, with the researcher working with leading experts in the field in each of these countries to create a transnational, interdisciplinary network exploring the central research themes. Through extensive interviewing of former students, this project will create a new body of sources for researchers, which will also, with informants’ consent, be made accessible online. Public engagement is integral to the research design and process of data collection as well as dissemination, with Algerian students from the 1960s and 1970s invited to participate in group testimony sessions, alongside the wider public, throughout the project.

Keywords: algeria,students,state construction,social change,1960s and 1970s