Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Strengthening Portuguese research and innovation capacities in the field of excess reactive nitrogen (NitroPortugal)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Spreading excellence and widening participation
Programme: Widening participation and spreading excellence
Theme: Improved access to Excellence
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Denmark,United Kingdom,Portugal
Call: Twinning (H2020-TWINN-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-01-01
End date: 2018-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 999937.5
EU funding (EUR): 999937.5
Participants: 6
Project status: CLOSED

Nitrogen (N) is a key nutrient, indispensible for the survival of all living organisms on earth, including Man. However, due to human pressure, the N cycle has become the most altered among the element cycles, highlighting the N problem as one of the most pressing environmental issues faced today. Despite the recent work on nitrogen in Europe and the rest of the world, Portugal has not so far utilized its full capacity to integrate the available scientific, technical or practical knowledge. NitroPortugal addresses how to improve the S&T skills and the scientific output of Portugal, at the same time strengthening the potential for N policy application. The project develops around the consensus that N is an emerging issue, that it impacts all the environmental compartments, and has both human health and social implications. This twinning effort on N is divided into five key areas which coincide with the whole N concept WAGES (Water, Air, Greenhouse gases, Ecosystems and biodiversity and Soil) launched by the European Nitrogen Assessment. Based on bringing together existing data on data analysis and on training in new methods for each of the five key topics, a comprehensive analysis will be delivered that prioritizes the key gaps in knowledge. These gaps will then serve as themes for different types of training activities. Emerging questions will feed brainstorming workshops to be held at key points through the project, which will strengthen the Portuguese skills base and enhance peer-review publication. Based on the new skills of the host country team, the basis for preparing a Portuguese Nitrogen Assessment will be obtained that will strengthen Portuguese engagement within the EU and in UNECE Air and Water Conventions. The resulting increase in scientific productivity, associated with strengthened networking between the Portuguese and international partners will be measurable through objective indicators of publication output, policy support and the public engagement

Keywords: nitrogen,water,greenhouse gases,biodiversity,soil
Validation of a Novel Diagnostic Biomarker for Dry Eye Syndrome based in nucleotides detection (DryEye)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Health, demographic change and wellbeing
Theme: Treating and managing disease
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Spain
Call: Clinical research for the validation of biomarkers and/or diagnostic medical devices (H2020-SMEINST-1-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-06-01
End date: 2016-01-31
Duration (months): 8.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Scientists of our company invented a method for diagnosing and monitoring the effectiveness of dry-eye syndrome treatment. The invention is related to a method for diagnosing the Dry Eye syndrome in patients and monitoring the effectiveness of the treatment, by measuring the concentration of a molecule called diadenosine tetraphosphate dinucleotide (Ap4A). Ap4A is an intracellular signal molecule that is produced due to harsh environmental factors. According to our studies published since 2002, Ap4A is released from the corneal epithelium, stimulating tear production and is a physiological modulator of tear secretion. Most importantly we discovered that levels of Ap4A are up to 5 times above normal levels in patients with Dry Eye compared to patients with normal lacrimation. This increase is even higher in Dry Eye individuals with low tear production. In these cases the Ap4A is increased over 100 fold. Following this discovery we patented a method to measure the concentrations of Ap4A of tear samples from patients in order to determine its presence, which is abnormally high in the case of Dry Eye syndrome. According to this method it is possible objectively to confirm or to discount the presence of this pathology. The diagnostic method of this invention comprises: detection by means of the high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique of the Ap4A molecule, for the purposes of the calculation of which use will be made of a standard sample of Ap4A of commercial origin and of known concentration; and the use of a luminometric method for the detection and quantification of the Ap4A dinucleotide by means of the use of luciferin luciferase. We already effectively tested the method in vitro and in vivo on Dry Eye animal models. Recently we made a successful first stage trial in a small number of patients. Our future actions include the collaboration with industry partners, expert on biomarkers, in order to create a small detection kit.

Keywords: dry eye,dinucleotide,quick test
Surfactant controlled Cation Exchange Lithography - Towards Application (SCEL-TA)

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: Physics
Countries involved: Italy
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-09-01
End date: 2017-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 168277.2
EU funding (EUR): 168277.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

A novel lithography technique, the Surfactant-controlled Cation Exchange Lithography (SCEL) will be explored. The underlying mechanism, the Cation Exchange (CE), stems from the colloidal synthesis of nanocrystals (NCs). It allows for the transformation of the chemical composition of readily prepared NCs by exchanging their cation sublattice without changing their morphology. The SCEL relies on the selective inhibition of the CE in NCs that have been exposed to a high-energy radiation, e.g. in an e-beam lithography step or by UV-light. It has been shown that the radiation induces a cross-linking of the surfactants, which then, when exposed to a solution of suitable cations, form an impermeable shell for the cations and thus inhibit the reaction. In the proposed SCEL the cation exchange will be carried out on thin films of NCs (mostly CdS or CdSe), which are then partially transformed into CuXS or CuXSe, respectively. We will investigate on the limits of the SCEL as a competitive lithography method in terms for the production of devices with colloidal nanocrystals as functional elements. Ideally, we will be able to controllably address a small number of NCs by transforming their neighbours into conductive material. The research comprises a study on the mechanism of inhibition of the cation exchange after irradiation and a study on the dynamics of the CE in individual nanocrystals.

Keywords: nanolithography,colloidal nanocrystals,cation exchange,functional devices,surfactants
Fake news detection in social networks using geometric deep learning (GoodNews)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Computer science and informatics
Panel description: Informatics and information systems, computer science, scientific computing, intelligent systems
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call: ERC Proof of Concept Grant (ERC-2018-PoC, 2018)
Start date: 2018-09-01
End date: 2020-02-29
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In the past decade, social media have become one of the main sources of news for people around the world. Yet, it comes with the danger of exposure to intentionally false information. The extensive spread of fake news has recently become a centerpiece of controversy following the highly debated elections of President Donald Trump and the Brexit vote. It is alleged that the outcome of these votes resulted from the public opinion manipulation by a massive injection of fake news, possibly sponsored by hostile foreign governments, constituting perhaps one of the most serious and unprecedented threats to the modern democracies. The ambition of GoodNews is to build the technological capability for algorithmic fake news detection in social media using a novel paradigm. Instead of following the traditional approach of analyzing the news content, we will analyze the news spreading patterns in social networks. The algorithmic core of GoodNews is based on a novel class of geometric deep learning algorithms developed in the ERC project LEMAN (Learning on Manifolds and Graphs). Our research group was among the first in the world to propose, implement, and patent generalizations of popular convolutional neural network architectures to graph-structured data such as social networks, allowing to do deep learning on graphs. The ability to learn fake news spread patterns on social networks will provide the needed breakthrough in the task of automated fake news detection. GoodNews will convert the geometric deep learning technology into a commercial application of fake news detection in social media. The focus of the project will be three-fold: developing a demo system for fake news detection with real data from social media; verifying and solidifying our IP portfolio and its licensing terms; analyzing the market and coming up with a financeable business plan. We target establishing a company at the end of the project and attracting investment to develop a commercial-grade product.

Keywords: fake news detection,social media,social network analysis,geometric deep learning,deep learning on graphs
AqFresh: High-Performance Odour and VOC Management Innovation with Demonstrated Potential in Many Addressable Markets (AqFresh)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Innovation in SMEs
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: SME instrument (H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1, 2018)
Start date: 2018-08-01
End date: 2018-12-31
Duration (months): 5.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Odours can lead to discomfort, embarrassment, and strongly affects mood, cognition and behaviour. Hence there are the many scenarios where removing malodours is highly desirable for a sense of clean and freshness, or is vital to ensure consistency of operation. The market for products with odour-eliminating capabilities is long established with an enormous range of applications and variations. However, these almost always rely on either overpowering the odour with fragrance temporarily or enduring less effective solutions currently available, both of which simply fail to effectively remove odours for long lasting effect. AqFresh is a ground-breaking innovation that removes odours and volatile organic compounds with high efficacy. Its flexible format allows it to be deployed in a range of product formats across industries and markets from deodorants to air filters which have not been able to benefit from a highly effective malodour removal technology before. The project will allow us to continue building the business case to accelerate the scale up of this true innovation with global reach and scaling impact.

Keywords: odour management,malodours,volatile organic compounds,efficacy,long lasting
Global patterns of intraspecific variation in tree resilience to drought (TreEsilience)

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: Spain
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-05-01
End date: 2021-03-19
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 170121.6
EU funding (EUR): 170121.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Forests provide essential long-term ecosystem services, such as reducing carbon emission and biodiversity conservation, and consequently, are the focus of many conservation policies (i.e. Europe 2020 Strategy). Drought events associated with climate change reduce tree growth and prompt mortality episodes, impacting global and severely forest ecosystems. The ability of trees to resist and recover from drought (tree resilience) will be decisive to maintain the functioning of forest ecosystems. Measuring tree climate-growth relationship and resilience is thus key for predicting the effect of climate change. However, because different tree populations may have faced contrasting climatic conditions, the within-species response to climate change may differ geographically due to local adaptation. TreEsilience proposes using tree rings to investigate the role of local adaptation in determining intraspecific variation in tree resilience to drought. To date, such an intraspecific approach has never been pursued. In order to reach this ambitious goal, TreEsilience will use an interdisciplinary approach that combines dendrochronology, phylogenetic comparative methods and species distribution modelling, thus bringing tools from the spatial and evolutionary ecology to the study of forest management and conservation. The results will provide insights into novel strategies to improve forestry efficiency by identifying early signals of tree mortality, useful for forest practitioners, policy-makers and stakeholders in order to mitigate the detrimental effects of land degradation and desertification on human wellbeing due to climate change.

Keywords: drought,forest ecology,local adaptation,resilience,tree rings
Great ape genome variation now and then: current diversity and genomic relics of extinct primates (ApeGenomeDiversity)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems
Panel description: Genetics, epigenetics, genomics and other ‘omics studies, bioinformatics, systems biology, genetic diseases, gene editing, innovative methods and modelling, ‘omics for personalised medicine
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2019-COG, 2019)
Start date: 2020-06-01
End date: 2025-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1896875.0
EU funding (EUR): 1896875.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

In our quest to fully understand the processes that shape the genomic variation of species, describing variation of the past is a fundamental objective. However, the origins and the extent of great ape variation, the genomic description of extinct primate species and the genomic footprints of introgression events all remain unknown. Even today, and in contraposition to human evolutionary biology, the almost null presence of ancient great ape samples has precluded a comprehensive exploration of such diversity. Here, I present two approaches that will expose great ape diversity throughout time and will allow me to compare the genomic impact of introgression events across lineages. First, I would like to take advantage of ancient ape samples that will provide us with a direct view of the genomes of extinct populations. Second, I would like to exploit current and recent diversity to indirectly access the parts of extinct ape genomes that became hybridized with current species in the past. For the latter, we will analyse hundreds of non-invasive samples taken from present-day great apes as well as historical specimens. Altogether, this information will enable me to decipher novel genomes that until now have been lost in time. In this way, I will be able to properly understand the origins and dynamics of genomic variants and to study how admixture has contributed to today´s adaptive landscape. By completing this proposal and performing analogies to the human lineage, fundamental insights will be revealed about (i) the spatial-temporal history of our closest species and (ii) the functional consequences of introgressed events. On top of that, these results will help to annotate functional consequences of novel mutations in the human genome. In so doing, a fundamental insight will be provided into the evolutionary history of these regions and into human mutations with multiple repercussions in the understanding of evolution and human biology.

Keywords: population genomics,noninvasive samples,historical samples,ancient dna
GPCR-based biosensor for synthetic biology applications (GPCR-Sensor)

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: Denmark
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2020-06-01
End date: 2022-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 207312.0
EU funding (EUR): 207312.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Microbial cell factories are an economical and sustainable alternative for the production of pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals and other valuable chemicals. However, establishing efficient cell factories requires optimized production strains and efficient biosynthetic enzymes, and involves extensive protein and metabolic engineering to achieve industrially relevant yields. One of the main hurdles frequently encountered in this process is the lack of high-throughput methods for monitoring product accumulation. To overcome this limitation, I will harness G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), the unique molecular entities that eukaryotes use to sense their environment, to create a versatile in vivo biosensor. I will apply synthetic biology principles and an interdisciplinary approach to develop a yeast-based GPCR biosensor for the engineering of enzymes and production hosts. However, enzyme engineering is only one of the potential applications of GPCR-sensor. Its modular structure permits plugging in any GPCR, enabling a great variety of other powerful applications including bio-medical applications, such as recognition of pathogen epitopes, molecular diagnostics and drug discovery, or environmental applications, such as determining the presence of pollutants from environmental samples. In the GPCR-sensor project, I will combine my knowledge in natural product biosynthesis and enzymology with training in biochemical engineering and biotechnology to acquire a unique expertise that will help me establish my own unique line of research. Furthermore, the comprehensive professional development program, that is an integral part of GPCR-sensor, includes close mentoring in addition to training in fund-rising, research management, communication, teaching and academic leadership. These skills that are Instrumental for launching my future independent internationally competitive research career

Keywords: metabolic engineering,synthetic biology,cell factories,high value compounds,plant specialized metabolites,isoprenoids
Wide Spectral Range Photonic Glucometer (WASP)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC Proof of Concept Grant (ERC-2015-PoC, 2015)
Start date: 2015-11-01
End date: 2017-04-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 149972.0
EU funding (EUR): 149972.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Diabetic patients (around 8.6% of the western population) must constantly monitor their blood glucose level (BGL) with a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device. This social need has already been addressed by some companies, with an overall compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for this market (from 2014 through 2019) of 19.6%. Besides such highly attractive market possibilities, to date none of the commercial CGMs can provide accuracy below 20%. This is a non-assumable risk for the users. In addition, the readout medical device can only be used for glucose sensing, severely limiting its use for early detection of other analytes of interest. WASP POC aims to bring into the market the next generation of CGMs which makes use of light as interrogation mechanism. In this approach, and with the appropriate multi-purpose medical readout device, accuracies of 10% will be attained. It is the vision of the WASP team that this approach will represent a game-changing player in the market of CGMs. Important is to mention that high technology does not necessary means huge fabrication costs, and WASP will only make use of mass-production technologies and well established measurement protocols (developed in the ERC Starting Grant HIP-LAB). To determine the market impact of WASP, a throughout market study will be pursued, considering the advantages of the WASP concept as opposite to the competitors. Additionally, a preliminary industrial overview for WASP massive production will be pursued. This preliminary evaluation will take into account production series in the range of 3-300 million units per year, considering all key factors in a real productive environment such as direct costs, replacement costs, etc. WASP is firmly grounded on already owned IPR related to this topic (patent PCT/ES2011/070011). In addition, a risk assessment procedure has been established allowing the choice of the best route towards either starting-up or licensing the concept to a major player.

Keywords: continuous glucose monitoring cgm device,photonic devices
Food in the Spanish and British Caribbean in the Nineteenth Century: Encounters, Exchanges, Identities (Imperial Recipes)

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: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Spain
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-06-01
End date: 2017-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 170121.6
EU funding (EUR): 170121.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This research project aims to compare the British and Spanish empires in the nineteenth-century Caribbean. More specifically, it focuses on the discourse on food in the British and Spanish colonies. This project stems from my doctoral research. My aim is both to find a connection between the ways in which food and diet were perceived and discussed in the British and Spanish Caribbean colonies and to evaluate the differences in the discourse on food in the two empires, with the objective of analyzing colonial identities and imperial ideology in the Caribbean through the lens of food. My focus on food and diet sheds light on how encounters, negotiations, appropriations, rejections and interactions of culinary practices are more than just a matter of human nutrition but rather concern fundamental issues as the construction of identities, asymmetries of power, agency of the subaltern and mutual influences. The basic assumption of this project is therefore an analysis of the relationship between food, identity and power.

Keywords: food,identity,british empire,spanish empire,caribbean