Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Origins of Collective Motion in Active Biofluids (ActiveBioFluids)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Condensed matter physics
Panel description: Structure, electronic properties, fluids, nanosciences, biological physics
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2016-STG, 2016)
Start date: 2017-04-01
End date: 2022-09-30
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The emergence of coherent behaviour is ubiquitous in the natural world and has long captivated biologists and physicists alike. One area of growing interest is the collective motion and synchronization arising within and between simple motile organisms. My goal is to develop and use a novel experimental approach to unravel the origins of spontaneous coherent motion in three model systems of biofluids: (1) the synchronization of the two flagella of green algae Chlamydomonas Rheinhardtii, (2) the metachronal wave in the cilia of protist Paramecium and (3) the collective motion of swimming microorganisms in active suspensions. Understanding the mechanisms leading to collective motion is of tremendous importance because it is crucial to many biological processes such as mechanical signal transduction, embryonic development and biofilm formation. Up till now, most of the work has been theoretical and has led to the dominant view that hydrodynamic interactions are the main driving force for synchronization and collective motion. Recent experiments have challenged this view and highlighted the importance of direct mechanical contact. New experimental studies are now crucially needed. The state-of-the-art of experimental approaches consists of observations of unperturbed cells. The key innovation in our approach is to dynamically interact with microorganisms in real-time, at the relevant time and length scales. I will investigate the origins of coherent motion by reproducing synthetically the mechanical signatures of physiological flows and direct mechanical interactions and track precisely the response of the organism to the perturbations. Our new approach will incorporate optical tweezers to interact with motile cells, and a unique μ-Tomographic PIV setup to track their 3D micron-scale motion. This proposal tackles a timely question in biophysics and will yield new insight into the fundamental principles underlying collective motion in active biological matter.

Keywords: active fluids,synchronization,biological locomotion
Road networks and territorial dynamics: a geospatial approach to Andean cultural heritage in motion between the Altiplano and the Pacific coast (RoadNet_Andes)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Reintegration panel
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Spain
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-04-16
End date: 2020-04-15
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 158121.6
EU funding (EUR): 158121.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

RoadNet_Andes research is interested in the palimpsestic character of road networks and their relation to the spatial structure and dynamics of territorial formations through time. Because of this palimpsestic character, the interpretation of road networks has always constituted a challenge for archaeological research interested in the long-term perspective of territorial formations, resilience and changes. Therefore, this research is aimed at developing an innovative geospatial approach for the chronological disentanglement of complex road networks. Using an Andean case study, the project will apply a multiscale analysis of an empirical archaeological record of great extent and integrity, in the framework of the macro-regional dynamics related to extended territorial formations between the Altiplano and the Pacific during the last millennium. This MSCA training through research, aimed at ER reintegration in Europe after an early academic career in Chile, will be realised at the Institute of heritage sciences (Incipit) of the Spanish National Research council (CSIC), with international partnerships. This structure will constitute an excellent research environment for both innovate GIS-based network analysis and digital landscape archaeology, as well as for the development of an anthropological critical perspective about the current politics of road networks heritagisation which constitutes a great societal challenge in a pluri-national frontier zone, like the study area of this project.
Chemistry of 2D materials: Intercalation and surface functionalization (CHEM2D)

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: 2019-06-01
End date: 2021-11-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 158121.6
EU funding (EUR): 158121.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Two-dimensional (2D) materials consist of successive covalently bonded atomic layers sustained by weak van der Waals forces. The electronic and optoelectronic properties of these materials are extremely sensitive to the number of layers and to the interlayer distance. In the proposed project, we aim to synthesise transition-metal chalcogenide and chromium halide 2D nanomaterials with tailored transport and optoelectronic properties. The control of these properties will be achieved by two main strategies: (1) Tuning interlayer interactions through wet chemical and electrochemical intercalation routes: Guest species intercalated in the van der Waals gaps act as spacers increasing the interlayer distance and doping the material by conducting charge carriers into the adjacent conducting layer, which modify the electronic properties of the materials. Furthermore, this strategy enables the piling up of several layers while keeping their single layer behaviour and, therefore, dramatically enhancing the light absorption, which in turn, improves the optoelectronic properties. (2) The second strategy will consist on the modification of the monolayer crystal surface through functionalization, implementing covalent and physisorption methods. Finally, the new synthesized 2D materials will be integrated in heterostructures and devices (such as photodetectors or solar cells). This will be done by nanofabrication techniques, transferring a flake of the material onto suitable substrates. The electrical and optical properties of the devices will be studied in order to optimize their technological potential. The success of this project will make a substantial contribution to one of the EU main concerns on developing nanotechnologies and advanced materials.

Keywords: 2 dimensional materials,intercalation synthesis,surface functionalization
Link Skin Morphology and Vasculature with Diseases using Optical Imaging (SkinOptima)

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: Austria,Singapore,United States
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2020-12-01
End date: 2023-10-31
Duration (months): 35.0
Total project cost (EUR): 270349.07
EU funding (EUR): 270349.07
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

According the the Global Study of Diseases 2017, skin and subcutaneous diseases have increased rapidly in the past decade measured by the disability adjusted life years. However, there is still a lack of knowledge in many of these diseases, and the need for a novel method to study, diagnose and treat skin disease is ever-increasing. The current diagnostic tools, such as dermoscopy and biopsy, are either not sensitive enough or very invasive and time-consuming. Knowing that skin and subcutaneous diseases alter the cutaneous vasculature, SkinOptima proposes to use a multi-modal optical imaging method to extract the complete human cutaneous blood vessels in a non-invasive and in vivo manner. Then, the blood vessel network will be quantified in different perspectives. Using quantitative analysis of the vascular parameters, a link between three major skin diseases and their unique vascular patterns can be established. A lesion area determination algorithm will also be developed to help the dermatologists prepare skin cancer removal surgeries and monitor the treatment efficacy. This multi-modal approach involves two optical imaging modalities - optical coherence tomography (OCT) and photoacoustic tomography (PAT). OCT alone can extract tissue morphology for about 1 mm in skin. A functional extension of OCT, called OCT angiography (OCTA) is capable to extract the micro-vessels in the first millimeter in skin. PAT, on the other hand, can image skin blood vessels with a coarser resolution from 1 mm down to 5 mm below the skin surface. An imaging probe will be designed to combine these two modalities for patient imaging. To develop all the vessel extraction and vessel quantification algorithms, several types of skin phantoms will be 3D printed. In the end, about 150 patients will be imaged by the multi-modal system and the link between vasculature and diseases such as basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and dermatitis will be established.

Keywords: optical coherence tomography,photoacoustic tomography,angiography,skin disease
Rethinking Ultraviolet Scenarios for Hunting the AXION (AXIONRUSH)

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: Germany
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2019-11-01
End date: 2021-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 174806.4
EU funding (EUR): 174806.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Four decades after its prediction, the axion remains the most compelling solution to the strong CP problem and a well motivated dark matter candidate, inspiring several ultrasensitive experiments based on axion-photon mixing. The experimental landscape for axion searches is evolving extremely fast: consolidated detection techniques are now facing next-generation experiments with ambitious sensitivity goals, while novel and ingenious detection concepts promise to open for exploration new ranges of parameter space previously considered unreachable. AXIONRUSH deals with an ambitious program to reshape the parameter space of the QCD axion by developing new model building directions and by revisiting from an ultraviolet perspective axion couplings to photons, nucleons, electrons, including also flavour and CP violating ones. The main goal of AXIONRUSH is to bridge theoretical aspects of axion physics with experiments and to provide a global comparison of general axion models with experimental sensitivities and astrophysical bounds. The development of these new theoretical tools will enlarge the physics scopes of the axion experimental program at DESY, Hamburg, by further addressing specific research goals related to the experiments ALPS-II, IAXO, MADMAX and Belle II. A complementary objective of AXIONRUSH is to investigate scenarios where the Peccei Quinn mechanism is embedded into grand unified theories. The latter provide a predictive framework for narrowing down the axion mass range, with a potential impact on the scanning strategy of the axion dark matter experiments CASPER-Electric and ABRACADABRA. A major intention of this latter objective is the construction of a minimal, unified scenario aiming at a self-contained description of particle physics, from the electroweak scale to the Planck scale, and cosmology, from inflation until today.

Keywords: axions,strong cp problem,dark matter,grand unified theories,flavour physics
Redefining Drone Safety and Autonomous Operation for Indoor Commercial Applications (Skye)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Innovation in SMEs
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call: SME instrument (H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1, 2018)
Start date: 2018-12-01
End date: 2019-03-31
Duration (months): 4.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Commercial drones - technically known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) – are one of the fastest-growing markets (200,000 units sold for commercial use last year). Increased safety, precise data collection, improved productivity, higher scalability and reduced operational costs make them suitable for a wide range of commercial applications mainly in infrastructure, media and entertainment (M&E), agriculture and telecommunications. However, their rapid adoption in indoor applications is restrained by limitations of Multi-rotors (the main commercialized technology) in operational safety, autonomous operation and flight range. Part quadcopter - part blimp, Skye aims to revolutionize the commercial drone’s market by introducing the first UAV that solves the two most critical challenges of indoor flying drones: collision/injury risks and fully autonomous operation. Based on our patent pending “Redundant propulsion system”, we offer a drone powered solution able to fly completely safe above crowds (certified to fly above crowd in CH, USA and CN) and minimize any impact in case of system failure. All the above achieved by an easy to use system able to operate fully autonomously and carry a variety of payloads. By overcoming the limitations of multi-rotor technology we offer a superior drone technology with the following key competitive advantages: 1) High safety standards – collision tolerance (helium filled hull and redundant propulsion system), 2) Higher flight duration (smaller and more powerful air-impellers) and 3) Fully autonomous 24/7 operation (proprietary indoor GPS solution).

Keywords: drones,indoor applications,autonomous,safety,security
Future Roads Fellowships (FUTUREROADS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Co-funding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND)-Fellowship programmes
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Co-funding of regional, national and international programmes (H2020-MSCA-COFUND-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2021-10-01
End date: 2026-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 5958360.0
EU funding (EUR): 2979180.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The Future Roads Fellowships Programme (FUTUREROADS) is hosted by the University of Cambridge and co-funded by partners Costain Group Plc and Highways England Company Ltd. It offers 27 x 36-month fellowships over 3 recruitment rounds focused primary in digital twins, smart materials, data science, automation and robotics, and sustainability solutions for the road infrastructure industry. The programme allows applicants to have the freedom to develop their own ideas with access to excellent facilities. FUTUREROADS will enhance fellows’ understanding of the methodologies and approaches of other scientific disciplines at the highest level. The aim is also to establish a multidisciplinary training platform to strengthen researchers’ capabilities such that they are capable to work anywhere in Europe and, therefore, attract researchers from around the globe to Europe and contributing to the European goals of increasing the numbers of researchers with innovation skills in Europe. The programme supports incoming fellowships for postdoctoral researchers on a competitive basis. It aims at high-potential individuals primarily interested in following a career in the transportation infrastructure sector or academia. Awardees will be offered an employment contract with a standard postdoctoral salary and will be entitled to an individual mobility and research budgets. Fellows are offered career development support and training events to develop their non-scientific skills. They are expected to take part in teaching activities at Cambridge and are encouraged to apply for additional competitive funding. The programme is open for all applicants who meet the MSCA mobility rules for fellows.

Keywords: digital,roads,design,construction,asset management,fellowships,cambridge,digital twins,data science,smart,materials,automation,sustainability
Mechanisms of human mRNA packaging and export (RNApaxport)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions
Panel description: Molecular biology, biochemistry, structural biology, molecular biophysics, synthetic and chemical biology, drug design, innovative methods and modelling
Countries involved: Austria
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2020-STG, 2020)
Start date: 2020-11-01
End date: 2025-10-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Eukaryotic gene expression is partitioned across two cellular compartments: the nucleus, where messenger RNA (mRNA) is produced, and the cytoplasm, where protein translation occurs. mRNA export across the nuclear membrane is highly selective, ensuring that only fully processed and mature mRNA is transported to the cytoplasm. Yet how does the multi-step mRNA maturation process converge to a binary decision, ‘to export or not to export’? While we know many of the proteins involved in packaging and export of nuclear mRNA ribonucleoprotein complexes (mRNPs), how a defined set of conserved proteins package and export all nuclear mRNA remains poorly understood. To reveal how specificity towards mature mRNA is achieved and to identify regulatory checkpoints, I propose to visualize key mRNP intermediates using a state-of-the-art integrative structural biology approach. First, we will determine the human THO/TREX complex structure to reveal how this key packaging factor is organized and brought to mRNA (aim 1). Second, we will determine the structure of a human mRNP 5’-end to explain how two key features of mature mRNPs, the 5’-cap and the first splice junction, are recognized and integrated by THO/TREX to achieve export competence (aim 2). Third, we will obtain the architecture of endogenous human mRNPs to reveal their dynamics and to determine how mRNAs of varied length and sequence are packaged (aim 3). These data will enable the complementary and targeted in vitro and in vivo structure-function analysis. Taken together, the expected results will reveal novel insights into the mechanisms that underlie an important step of gene expression, which mediates nuclear mRNA quality control and links transcription to translation. My background in structural biology, mRNA transcription and processing is ideally suited to carry out this high-impact proposal.

Keywords: rna biology,rna processing,structural biology,cryo em
MICROWINE - Microbial metagenomics and the modern wine industry (MICROWINE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Innovative Training Networks (ITN)-European Training Networks
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: Spain,Australia,Argentina,Germany,Georgia,France,France,France,Netherlands,United States,Denmark,Denmark,United Kingdom,Portugal,Denmark,Portugal,Denmark
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN-ETN) (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-01-01
End date: 2018-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3945597.12
EU funding (EUR): 3945597.12
Participants: 21
Project status: CLOSED

A diverse, complex, and poorly characterised community of microorganisms lies at the heart of the wine – an industry worth over €220 billion globally. These microorganisms play key roles at all stages of the viniculture and vinification processes, from helping plants access nutrients from the soil, driving their health through protection against pathogens, to fermentation processes that transform the must into wine with its complex array of aromas and flavours. Given this importance, an improved understanding of the microbial community and its interplay will have significant effects on the industry. In recent years, 'Next Generation' DNA sequencing has revolutionised many areas of biology, including microbiology, through conferring the ability to characterise microbes on the deep community scale, through both ’shotgun’ and ’deep amplicon’ sequencing approaches. To exploit this power for the benefit of the wine industry, we propose MICROWINE, a 15 ESR Marie Curie Actions European Training Network. The network is constructed as a close collaboration between industry and academic partners, around the theme of the microbial community’s role in the wine production process. Through combining microbial metagenomic sequencing with powerful computation analyses, with metadata generated using techniques such as metabolomics and geochemistry, we will study the action of microbes from the plant protection and nutrition, through to wine fermentation process, using samples collected from both Europe and beyond. We will further train the ESRs across a wide range of relevant disciplines, and maximise information transfer through multiple host and academic-industry cosupervision and secondments. In this way, we anticipate contributing to the strength and scientific progress of the wine industry through training of a cohort of leading, interdisciplinary and tightly interconnected scientists at the forefront of modern microbiological, genomic, computational and related techniques.

Keywords: microbial communities,metagenomics,wine genetics and production