Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Membrane-modified Electrodes to study Membrane Enzymes (MEME)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: ERC Starting Grant Interdisciplinary Panel
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2011-StG_20101109, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2016-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1650829.0
EU funding (EUR): 1650829.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Electrochemical investigations of biological processes have provided a wealth of information on the structure-function relationship of redox enzymes, while the underlying technology has formed the basis for biosensors such as the extremely successful glucose biosensor. However, many of today’s applications do not impose molecular control on the electrode-protein interaction, which limits their full potential in biosensing, biological photo harvesting, biofuel cells and energy storage. While electrochemistry of globular redox-enzymes is limited by poor control of the surface-protein interface, the absence of control with membrane proteins has made it impossible to study them electrochemically. This in spite of the huge importance of membrane enzymes for biosensing and energy generation. To solve these problems, I have combined the state-of-the-art in surface physics, colloid and organic chemistry, membrane biology and electrochemistry to develop membrane-modified electrodes with full control of protein-electrode interactions. In this ERC Starting Grant proposal I aim to consolidate this research by applying this methodology to hydrogenases and light-harvesting reaction centres, both of which have promising applications in biofuel cells. Second, I will show how the combination of our membrane-modified electrodes with fluorescence spectroscopy provides an exciting application in single enzyme research, a challenge that has been met for only a handful of membrane proteins. Single-enzyme kinetics of a proton-pumping haem-copper oxidase will provide new insights into the molecular mechanism of proton-pumping. My long term vision of this work is to create electrodes that communicate with living cells, which will allow us to study bioenergetics in living cells and pave the way to harness bioenergy in biofuel cell applications. In this proposal I describe a first start in this ambitious vision by connecting my electrodes to living bacteria via their cytoplasmic membrane.

Keywords: membrane biology,lipid bilayers,electrochemistry,biosensors,bioinorganic chemistry,metalloenzymes
A novel and efficient method for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoate polymer-based packaging from olive oil waste water (OLI-PHA)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies - NMP
Destination: Materials
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Spain,Italy,Mexico,Argentina,Belgium,Hungary,Colombia,Greece,Romania
Call:  (FP7-NMP-2011-SMALL-5, 2011)
Start date: 2012-06-01
End date: 2015-05-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3983608.6
EU funding (EUR): 3009976.0
Participants: 14
Project status: CLOSED

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), naturally produced polyesters, are gaining attention in the biodegradable polymer market due to their high biodegradability and versatility. They display sufficient functional properties to replace some of the 250 MTs of plastics used worldwide today, especially in the substitution of PET, which is widely used in soft drink bottles to electronics casing. A key challenge is in producing PHAs that are cost and performance competitive with conventional fossil-based polymers. Recent research has discovered that PHA polymers are naturally produced by some bacteria within the bacterial cell and can be extracted or processed for use in many applications-packaging, moulded goods, adhesives, films, etc. Work has been underway to determine if they can be grown in genetically modified plants. Despite positive results, many publications and patents on eco-compatible packaging materials, the production of biopolymers from natural sources has been limited, mainly due to difficulties in processing of natural materials, incompatibility at the interface natural fillers-polymeric matrices, poor mechanical properties, possible toxicity due to natural material degradation and moisture sensitivity, high raw material cost, etc. This project will build on promising preliminary research results into the growth of genetically modified cyanobacteria in wastewaters to produce PHAs. Cyanobacteria are a group of oxygen-evolving photosynthetic bacteria with short generation time, and are the sole prokaryotes that accumulate PHA by oxygenic photosynthesis, having potential for PHA cultivation in wastewaters. Olive oil wastewater will be recovered and reused to obtain PHA biopolymers for use as advanced packaging material. A valorisation of the waste materials will be obtained for using the leftover biomass (from biopolymer production) for biodiesel production and for the extraction of chemicals and natural fillers for Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB)-based composites.

Keywords: olive mill waste water,pha production,sustainable packaging,biogenic synthesis of pha,bioplastics
RARE EARTH FREE PERMANENT MAGNETS (REFREEPERMAG)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies - NMP
Destination: Materials
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Greece,Austria,Sweden,France,Germany,Germany,Spain,Germany,France,Germany,Germany,United States,Germany
Call:  (FP7-NMP-2011-SMALL-5, 2011)
Start date: 2012-05-01
End date: 2015-04-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 5186668.73
EU funding (EUR): 3841400.0
Participants: 13
Project status: CLOSED

This proposal aims at developing a new generation of novel materials for high performance permanent magnets (PM) with energy product 60 kJ/m3 <(BH)max < 160 kJ/m3, which do not contain any rare-earths or platinum. To achieve this objective two strategies will be used: a) exploitation of shape anisotropy of high magnetic moment materials produced in the form of high-aspect-ratio (>5) nanostructures by environmentally friendly synthesis methods and b) using high-throughput (HT) thin film synthesis and characterization techniques to identify new PM candidate phases. The first strategy, through the control of the nanostructure will lead to a factor of 4 increase of the coercivity (over conventional Alnico) . The second strategy will use (HT) methods to screen hundreds of possible compositions and synthesis conditions. Investigations will focus on promising candidate materials of the type {Fe-Co}-X-Y (X = other 3d or 4d metals and Y= B,C,P or N) and Heusler alloys of the type X2YZ (where X is usually Fe, Co, Ni, Cu; Y other transition metals, most often Mn; and Z a group-B element (Al, Ga, Ge, Sn...). High Ms materials that can be stabilized in tetragonal or hexagonal structures by epitaxial growth on selected substrates are the goal with magnetic anisotropies in excess of 107 ergs/cm3.This range covers a wide field of applications and represents a sizeable market fraction of over 100 M€. All research will be performed taking into consideration the critical issues of toxicology and sustainability of the full life cycle of the materials from production to recycling. The consortium will generate breakthroughs to re-establish the EU as a leader in the science, technology and commercialization of this very important class of materials with a wide range of applications, helping to decrease our dependence on raw materials from abroad providing a positive socioeconomic impact and increased employability of young European scientists.

Keywords: nanowires,polyol method,eitaxial thin films,combinatorial process,high throughput,permanent magnets
Economically and Ecologically Efficient Water Management in the European Chemical Industry (E4WATER)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies - NMP
Destination: New production
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Germany,Netherlands,Spain,Belgium,Belgium,Netherlands,Belgium,France,Denmark,Switzerland,Germany,Sweden,United Kingdom,Spain,Denmark,Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-NMP-2011-LARGE-5, 2011)
Start date: 2012-05-01
End date: 2016-04-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 17031405.4
EU funding (EUR): 10999444.0
Participants: 20
Project status: CLOSED

Chemical Industry provides the highest potential for increasing eco-efficiency in industrial water management. E4Water addresses crucial process industry needs, to overcome bottle necks and barriers for an integrated and energy efficient water management. The main objective is to develop, test and validate new integrated approaches, methodologies and process technologies for a more efficient and sustainable management of water in chemical industry with cross-fertilization possibilities to other industrial sectors. E4water unites in its consortium large chemical industries, leading European water sector companies and innovative RTD centers and universities, active in the area of water management and also involved in WssTP and SusChem and collaborating with water authorities. E4Water builds on state-of-the-art and new basic R&D concepts. Their realization, improvement, utilization and validation, with the compromise of early industrial adaptors, are clearly innovative. E4water realizes this by (1) developing and testing innovative materials, process technologies, tools and methodologies for an integrated water management, (2) providing an open innovation approach for testing E4Water developments with respect to other industries (3) implementing and validating the developments in 6 industrial case studies, representing critical problems for the chemical industry and other process industries, (4) implementing improved tools for process efficiency optimization, linking water processes with production processes, and eco-efficiency assessment. E4Water aims to exceed the expected impacts defined in the call text; an expected reduction of 20-40% in water use, 30-70% in wastewater production, 15-40% in energy use and up to 60% direct economic benefits at the case study sites ensures a wide acceptance of the solutions developed during the project. The complementarity of the sites guarantees the transfer of solutions from the project to Chemical Industry and related sectors.

Keywords: eco-efficient integrated water management,closing water loops,demonstration,open innovation,process optimization,societal challenges,life cycle analysis,key enabling technologies
New sustainable, functionalized and competitive PHB material based in fruit by-products getting advanced solutions for packaging and non-packaging applications (PHBOTTLE)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies - NMP
Destination: Materials
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Spain,Netherlands,Argentina,Belgium,Portugal,Spain,Honduras,Mexico,Brazil,Bulgaria,Belgium
Call:  (FP7-NMP-2011-SMALL-5, 2011)
Start date: 2012-05-01
End date: 2016-04-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4152769.15
EU funding (EUR): 2873649.0
Participants: 12
Project status: CLOSED

The EU fruit juice and nectars market stood at a healthy 11.3 billion litres in 2009. A 60% of total volume consumed is packaged with carton, a 25% with PET and the remainder is packaged with glass (13%) and other packaging formats (2%).Environmental sustainability concerns are rising on the public agenda, becoming even more relevant to the consumers.The EU juice and nectars industry is aware of its important role and responsibility, making use of best practice which involves full LCA to reduce both carbon and water footprint. Juices and nectars producers have sought to provide the most environmentally friendly packaging available.Meanwhile, packaging innovations is getting ahead of developments in recycling.It is illogical that VAT as high as 20% to 25% can be applied to packaged fruit juice.There is a need to join efforts between packaging companies, recycling operators and governments to maximise the latest technology. The use of conventional polymeric materials petrochemical – based in packaging, represents an important environmental impact and waste generation due to their non-biodegradability. Some alternative materials obtained from renewable resources can be found in the market. These materials fulfil the environmental concerns but they show some limitations in terms of performance like processing by injection and thermal resistance joined to high associated costs. This situation makes necessary research to improve their added value. The aim of PHBOTTLE project is to develop a new BOTTLE (body, cap & sleeve) from biodegradable material, concretely PHB, which will be obtained by fermentation of wastewater from juice processing industries (renewable biogenic resource); optimising eco and energy efficiency in the material production and processing. The new bottle will be used for juice packaging with a competitive price, although other applications will be also studied (non-food packaging such as cosmetics and non-packaging applications)

Keywords: lca,packaging,non-food,food,bottle,biodegradability,sustainability,compostability,moldability,printability,reuse,recyclability,biogenic source,juice,nectar,functionalisation
Fouling resistant ceramic honeycomb nanofilters for efficient water treatment (CERAWATER)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies - NMP
Destination: Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Germany,Belgium,Germany,Finland,Spain,Spain,Germany,Belgium
Call:  (FP7-NMP-2011-SMALL-5, 2011)
Start date: 2012-02-01
End date: 2015-01-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4073082.6
EU funding (EUR): 2808105.0
Participants: 8
Project status: CLOSED

The main challenge of the proposed project is the development of a ceramic honeycomb nanofiltration membrane with strongly increased membrane area of up to 25 m². The strongly increased membrane area in comparison with existing ceramic membranes for nanofiltration in combination with a high surface to volume ratio shall be competitive with polymeric membranes in terms of economics. The nanofiltration coating will allow for instance the direct filtration of surface water for drinking water preparation by a “low volume, low energy” filtration process. The low fouling tendency of the ceramic material will lead to low operating costs and reduced membrane down time during membrane cleaning. The high mechanical stability enables high pressure back-flushing of the membranes. The high chemical and thermal stability of the membrane material allows the chemical or thermal regeneration and sterilization by aggressive chemicals or hot steam if needed. Furthermore ceramic membranes shows considerably higher permeate fluxes in comparison to polymeric membranes. In addition to the high permeability and a low fouling tendency the membranes can be operated at low transmembrane pressures and low cross flow velocities. This strategy helps to reduce operation costs and save energy (“low feed, low pressure”). The proposed project will address a crucial point in terms of a more extended use of membrane filtration technologies in water purification: the ratio between active filtration surface and module size. Besides overall ordinary requirements in membrane filtration like long term stability, appropriate membrane price, high selectivity, high flux/pressure ratio, low energy demand for cross-flow-filtration and low membrane cleaning frequency this parameter will be of vital importance for the implementation of ceramic membrane technique in a large scale.

Keywords: nanofiltration,honeycomb,water,membrane,fouling resistant,high flux,porous,nano pores
Multiscale Modelling of Femtosecond Spin Dynamics (FEMTOSPIN)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies - NMP
Destination: Materials
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: United Kingdom,Netherlands,Germany,Spain,Hungary,Sweden,Germany,United Kingdom,United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-NMP-2011-SMALL-5, 2011)
Start date: 2012-06-01
End date: 2015-05-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 5175547.39
EU funding (EUR): 3999600.0
Participants: 9
Project status: CLOSED

Information storage technology is essentially based on nanostructured magnetic materials. Considerable research effort is aimed at increasing the density of stored information and this generally requires increasingly sophisticated media design to engineer the desired combination of low write field and thermal stability of recording information. An alternative approach is Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording in which a laser is used to heat the medium to a sufficiently high temperature to assure writability using currently available write head fields. Also a new, highly promising, development is that of spin electronics in which the spin of the electron rather than merely the charge forms the basis of the device operation. This holds the prospect of allowing technology to develop beyond the limits of miniaturisation of standard electronics and may yield the solution of the increasing power requirements for conventional electronic devices. However, the switching speeds are limited by precessional motion of the magnetic spins to hundreds of picoseconds. However, magnetic spins can be manipulated on the femtosecond timescale. However, the physics of the processes occurring on this timescale is poorly understood. The proposal aims to develop a multiscale approach to the theoretical understanding of femtosecond magnetisation processes and to make a critical comparison with experimental data. The overall goal of the project is to use this understanding to optimise materials for ultrafast (femtosecond) reversal and to develop computational tools for future materials and device design.

Keywords: femtosecond spin manipulation multiscle modelling
Development of Textiles for Electrical Energy Generation and Storage (POWERWEAVE)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies - NMP
Destination: Integration
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: United Kingdom,Switzerland,Belgium,Portugal,Denmark,Spain,Belgium,Belgium,United Kingdom,Italy
Call:  (FP7-NMP-2011-SME-5, 2011)
Start date: 2012-06-01
End date: 2015-11-30
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 5493353.01
EU funding (EUR): 3997419.0
Participants: 15
Project status: CLOSED

This project will develop a fabric to harvest and store electrical energy within its fibrous matrix, to fulfill a need for an easily deformable, storable and transportable power supply. This will be achieved through the development of PV fibres and energy storage fibres integrated with control electronics into a textile. This unique approach, moving on from the current state of the art using rigid cell or film based PV materials and batteries, will allow development of large-area deformable products, including agricultural shading, automotive soft-tops, building facades, rollable shades, curtains and roofing, aerospace fabrics, and outdoor goods. The key challenges are: • Formulation of PV and energy storage materials to be applied as flexible thin coatings on monofilament fibres. SME materials suppliers Cyanine (PV dyes) and PPC (polymer coatings) will work with universities, EPFL (PV) and Brunel (storage) who are leaders in these fields. • Development and application of fibre spinning and coating methods to make the two multi-layer fibre types, followed by generation of a textile combining the two. Fibre and fabric manufacturers Sefar, CeNTI (SME) and VDS weaving (SME) will work with textile and coating experts, Centexbel and TWI. • Integration of the two fibres, requiring end preparation to reveal conductors, interconnect and micro-circuitry, followed by attachment to a load device. Materials joining and smart textile experts, TWI, Cetemmsa and Ohmatex (SME) will work on this. • Demonstration activities which will involve a small-scale autonomous airship by Lindstrand (SME), and agricultural textiles by BTF, both strong innovators in their fields. The 6 innovative SMEs, 2 LEs and the RTOs with extensive links in solar power, microsystems and textiles industries, are well placed to quickly exploit the project developments and provide extensive exposure of the ideas into a wide variety of markets requiring a continuous, fully autonomous and truly flexible pow

Keywords: advanced textiles flexible electronics energy storage energy harvesting sustainability smart textiles
Deciphering neural codes of valence-based emotional memories (NEURALCODES_EMO)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Neurosciences and neural disorders
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2011-StG_20101109, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2017-08-31
Duration (months): 68.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1671620.0
EU funding (EUR): 1671620.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Pioneering studies from the last decades have shown that we can use animal models to study the neural correlates of learning and emotional memories. These studies have identified a network of brain regions that co-orchestrate the dynamic processes that occur during acquisition, retrieval and update of memories with valence. In primates, these areas and their connectivity have evolved to allow a complex interaction between cognitive abilities and emotions. Although we know that emotional memories differ from neutral memories, the actual neural codes that underlie them are largely unknown. Understanding emotional memories at a detailed level in a primate model is a crucial step in our goal to understand ourselves, and would allow specific therapeutic interventions for a spectrum of psychiatric disorders. Our primary objectives are: a. to develop a comprehensive battery of behavioral paradigms that targets emotional learning and memory in non-human primates; b. to understand the neural mechanisms that underlie long-term evolvement of these memories; c. to develop a computational and experimental framework to understand coding in these high-dimensionality networks. We combine large-scale inter- and intra-regional simultaneous electrophysiological recordings in the primate amygdala and prefrontal-cortices, with a set of focused paradigms that use behavioral generalization as a tool to probe the underlying neural building blocks. Generalization is a highly-evolved cognitive ability of primates and a desired feature of any learning algorithm. Importantly, it is a tool to modify the brain and unveil the structure of its internal representations i.e. the neural code. Together, it will form a unified framework to understand neural codes of learning and memory formation in valence-based situations. Our research will help establishing an emerging field of computational affective neuroscience, and our vision holds that Emotion is finally within the reach of neurophysiology.

Keywords: emotional learning,amygdala,generalization,prefrontal-cortex,consolidation,extinction,neural primitives,neural computation