Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
DIscovery of Scalable Qubits On-chip Via photonics and Electromechanical Reconfiguration (DISQOVER)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Systems and Communication Engineering
Panel description: Electrical, electronic, communication, optical and systems engineering
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2025-STG, 2025)
Start date: 2026-01-01
End date: 2030-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499858.0
EU funding (EUR): 2499858.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Color centers are central to many quantum technologies, but today it takes years to understand whether a given color center makes a good qubit, and as a result we have discovered very few of them. I will develop an on-chip color center exploration platform that drastically accelerates qubit discovery. Color centers are defects in crystals, such as an atom of a given element substituting one of the crystal atoms. Color centers make good qubits by combining the long coherence of spins, the networking properties of photons, and the scaling of the solid state. For example, photons emitted from distant color centers were used to entangle their spins, advancing quantum communication and confirming the quantum mechanical nature of reality. However, today it takes years and many measurements involving multiple physical principles to assess whether a new color center fits a certain application. In addition, the number of potential candidates is vast, only bound by the number of combinations of atomic elements. This leaves an enormous potential unexplored, limiting our discovered qubits to a small subset with trade-offs in coherence, scalability, and connectivity. DISQOVER will allow unprecedented exploration of the vast search space of color centers, an impossible task for the current technology. This requires highly concerted innovation on tools, designs, methods, and protocols that combine traditionally separated fields. I will develop innovations in integrated photonics and mechanics, fields in which I am an expert, and combine them with local thermal control into an automated qubit discovery platform. With this, I will pursue qubits for quantum computing, transduction, sensing, and amplification. This will kick-start the field of application-specific qubits (ASQs) and transform the technological landscape, leading to breakthroughs in error correction for quantum computers and networks at scale, versatile quantum sensing, and lasing and amplification in silicon.

Keywords: photonic integrated circuits,color centers,microelectromechanical systems,quantum technologies,quantum photonics,silicon photonics
SmartFuse: Game-changer to create a new gold-standard for spinal fusion surgery with wirelessly technology (SmartFuse)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EIC Accelerator
Destination: Open to supporting projects in all areas of science, technology,...
Action type: EIC actions
Countries involved: Sweden
Call: EIC Accelerator Open 2021 (HORIZON-EIC-2021-ACCELERATOROPEN-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-04-01
End date: 2024-11-30
Duration (months): 32.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3884875.0
EU funding (EUR): 2500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Spinal surgery has a significant failure rate of 18% leading to devastating complications for patients. With the knowledge that bone remodels naturally using electric signals, we are transferring cutting edge neuromodulation technology into the orthopaedic field. We incorporate our proprietary, wirelessly powered bio-electrical stimulation system into standard orthopaedic implants. Our first product, SmartFuse, addresses the issues of non-union and bone overgrowth in spinal fusion surgery by harnessing the local delivery of electrical stimulation to accelerate bone growth and control the formation of new bone. In addition to accelerating and controlling bone growth, SmartFuse can measure the quantity and quality of new bone, enabling real-time feedback on the progress of healing to the physician and other caregivers. Through EIC funding, we will complete a clinical pilot trial, and prepare a pivotal study demonstrating efficiency and safety to achieve the necessary market approvals.

Keywords: electro therapeutics,bioelectronics,fusion rate,electrical stimulation,fracture repair,bone implants,bone growth,bone fusion,spinal fusion
Destruction of forever chemicals in water using chemical-free water treatment system (FOREVER-WATER)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EIC Transition
Destination: Open to supporting projects in all areas of science, technology,...
Action type: EIC actions
Countries involved: Spain,France,Germany
Call: Transition Open 2024 (HORIZON-EIC-2024-TRANSITION-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-09-01
End date: 2028-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2623596.17
EU funding (EUR): 2487471.17
Participants: 4
Project status: SIGNED

To date, more than 150,000 sites have been identified across Europe and US contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as forever chemicals due to their extreme persistency in our environment and bodies. Exposure to PFAS is associated with multiple health risks, such as thyroid disease, infertility, cancer, and immunotoxicity. There is an increasing regulatory and social pressure to address PFAS pollution in water, and at the same time, pronounced lack of technologies that can degrade PFAS in water in a sustainable manner. FOREVER-WATER project aims to provide a solution to this major challenge by development and on-site validation of graphene-enabled electrochemical treatment systems. It builds upon the achievements made by ICRA on the development and application of graphene sponge electrodes for PFAS destruction in water. Furthermore, it relies on the expertise of IKTS to improve the material synthesis scalability and current distribution by developing silicon carbide templates tailored for the electrode production. System-integrated pilot scale units will be validated on-site with the help of industrial and technological partners in different test beds for the treatment of PFAS-contaminated water of varying characteristics, from groundwater to more challenging streams such as landfill leachate and industrial, PFAS-laden semiconductor wastewater. FOREVER-WATER will also include continuous techno-economic assessment, life cycle assessment, and benchmarking against commercially available technologies. End user validated business plan and market analysis will lay the groundwork for the creation of a spin-off company. Technology validation and demonstration of its robustness, efficiency and adequacy for the intended applications will enable translation of the research into innovation and commercialization of graphene-enabled electrochemical water treatment systems as a solution for water pollution by forever chemicals.

Keywords: electrochemical systems,graphene,per and polyfloroalkyl substances pfas,industrial wastewater treatment
Deciphering fibrosis reversal mechanisms in chronic blood cancer for identification of novel predictive and therapeutic strategies (Rewind-MF)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Panel description: Organ and tissue physiology, comparative physiology, physiology  of ageing , pathophysiology, inter - organ and tissue communication, endocrinology, nutrition,  metabolism, interaction with the microbiome, non -communicable diseases including cancer (and except disorders of the nervous system  and immunity -related diseases)
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2023-COG, 2023)
Start date: 2024-04-01
End date: 2029-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1999313.0
EU funding (EUR): 1999313.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Fibrosis is estimated to be involved in 45% of global mortality, and currently no specific therapies for fibrosis in most organs exist. One central and controversially discussed question in the field of organ fibrosis is: “is fibrosis truly reversible”? In Rewind-MF, I will address this biologically and clinically highly relevant question in a prime example: bone marrow fibrosis in a chronic blood cancer called Primary Myelofibrosis (PMF). In PMF, hematopoietic stem cells become mutated and activate fibrosis-driving cells. Fibrosis reversal in PMF is possible through allogeneic stem cell transplant (ASCT). However, the majority of patients are not eligible for this high-risk procedure. Alternative fibrosis-reversing strategies are not available, leaving this patient group without any treatment option. My specific aims in Rewind-MF are: (1) to gain spatio-temporal insights into fibrosis reversal and mutant clone elimination mechanisms to predict, which patients will benefit from ASCT, and to identify therapeutic targets; (2) to understand how blood cancer is maintained in the bone marrow and later the spleen stroma in order to find new ways to reverse fibrosis, and eradicate the cancer cells, and (3) to validate fibrosis reversal mechanisms and translate them into clinically relevant therapeutic strategies. What makes Rewind-MF unique is the holistic “bench-to-bedside” approach starting from a stem cell biological hypothesis [tested by innovative murine models and (stem) cell approaches], advanced by a broad interdisciplinary expertise with novel single cell, spatial genomic and computational technologies, to dissect mechanisms of fibrosis reversal and develop therapeutic approaches which go beyond pure target identification. The integration of all these technologies in clinically relevant specimens with follow-up data and large independent validation cohorts will truly revolutionize the prognostication and (personalized) treatment of patients with MF.

Keywords: chronic blood cancer myeloproliferative neoplasms fibrosis stem cell transplantation multiomics
Unraveling the impact of RNA-editing in neurodegeneration: a focus on TDP-43 related frontotemporal dementia. (NeuroEDIT)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Postdoctoral Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Spain,Australia
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2026-09-01
End date: 2028-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 194074.56
EU funding (EUR): 194074.56
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Age-related neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or frontotemporal dementia (FTD), are a major public health problem since there is no effective treatment due to the poor understanding of the pathological processes involved in neuronal death. RNA editing, particularly A-to-I changes mediated by ADAR enzymes, stands as the most prevalent form of post-transcriptional RNA modification. Emerging evidence indicates that the efficiency and pattern of RNA editing in the brain are dynamically regulated during aging and can potentially lead to some neurodegenerative diseases. Despite recent advances in the topic, much remains unknown about how ADAR enzymes regulate RNA-editing and how A to I changes are involved in the onset and development of TDP43 proteinopathies such as ALS and FTD. In ALS, previous studies have described that nuclear clearance of TDP-43 leads to ADAR2 dysregulation and downstream changes in motor neuron RNA editome. However, these results are questioned in other studies using different approaches. Moreover, the function and regulation of RNA editing have not yet been studied in FTD. To address this critical knowledge gap, I will characterize ADAR expression and processing, their protein regulatory network and localization on brain tissue and iPSC-derived from FTD patients and controls. Then, I will describe the resultant RNA editome by applying direct long-read Oxford Nanopore and Illumina RNA-sequencing technologies, coupled with new cutting-edge bioinformatics pipelines. Finally, after identifying the disease-modifying A-to-I events of interest, I will employ antisense RNA strategies to manipulate specific RNA-editing patterns to investigate their function and therapeutic potential in FTD-TDP43. Overall, NeuroEDIT will generate fundamental knowledge to understand the role of RNA editing in neurodegeneration which may result in novel therapeutic targets based on RNA technology.

Keywords: rna editing,rna processing,adar,long read sequencing,tdp43 proteinopathies,ftd,neurodegeneration
Digitalization of Public Service Delivery and Inclusive Development (DIGIDEV)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Panel description: Economics, finance , management
Countries involved: Italy
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2023-STG, 2023)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2028-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1498500.0
EU funding (EUR): 1498500.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

An estimated 5.7 million people die every year and another 100 million are pushed into extreme poverty due to limited access to essential public services in low-income countries (Lancet Health Commission, 2018). Governments across the globe have responded by adopting digital technologies — e.g., by making services available to citizens virtually — in the hopes of providing broader, faster, and cheaper access to public services. While high-income countries have made impressive strides in this regard, low-income countries continue to struggle with nearly one-third of digitalization projects being abandoned and substantial resources being wasted (World Development Report, 2016). Moreover, even when successful, these digitization projects they risk excluding vulnerable individuals with limited connectivity, potentially widening existing inequalities. This research proposal aims to advance our understanding of (i) the determinants of the success or failure of digitalization in the public sector of developing countries, and (ii) the ways digital technologies can be harnessed to improve the efficiency and inclusion of public service delivery, thereby producing more robust and inclusive economic growth. In collaboration with local governments and NGOs, I will design and carry out four large-scale randomized experiments in countries where public services are being digitized (India, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Liberia). In these experiments, I will study digital technologies that influence (i) the demand for public services by allowing citizens to access them digitally, and (ii) the supply of in-person services by remotely monitoring or supervising the delivery agents. The results will inform public policy in low-income countries, ultimately helping a broader segment of the population access more and higher quality public services.

Keywords: digitization,public service delivery,inclusive development,inequality,low income countries
Preclinical Development of Personalized Functional Markers for Deep Brain Stimulation (optimizeDBS)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS (ERC-2025-POC, 2025)
Start date: 2026-02-01
End date: 2027-07-31
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is used to treat neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. To date, DBS devices have been implanted in more than 300,000 patients worldwide. However, the efficacy of DBS therapy varies across patients, leaving a substantial number of patients without significant symptom alleviation. Optimizing therapeutic outcomes is highly desirable for the patients’ well-being as well as to reduce socio-economic burden of untreated disorders. One of the major impeding obstacles is the difficulty to precisely localize DBS targets in individual patient brains. Despite research into alternatives, the need for optimizing target localization for DBS remains unmet. The recent discovery of a hitherto unreported neural oscillation, enabled by my previous ERC Starting Grant DirectThalamus, is a promising solution to these challenges. The novel oscillation is spatially confined to the proximity of established DBS targets and could thus be used as a functional marker to improve localization and reduce non-responder rates. Funding from the ERC Proof of Concept aims to support essential preclinical steps towards establishing a functional marker of DBS targets that is associated with superior clinical outcomes. Those include optimization of detection algorithms, exploration of alternative access routes to deep brain electrophysiology and evaluation of the functional marker in larger cohorts. The goal of the project is to finalize preclinical work and prepare the implementation and funding of a clinical trial with the goal to realize the approach in clinical routines. By integrating cutting-edge neuroscience with medicine and fostering collaboration among researchers, clinicians and medical device specialists, the project aims to optimize therapy effectiveness, advance DBS technologies and pave the way for the next generation neuromodulation: personalized DBS treatment.
Bringing Nanospace to Life by Adapting Pore Environments to Chemical Complexity (LIVINGPORE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Panel description: New materials and new synthetic approaches, structure -properties relations, solid state chemistry, molecular architecture, organic chemistry
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2021-COG, 2021)
Start date: 2023-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1998974.0
EU funding (EUR): 1998974.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The conformational flexibility and biological function of proteins is dictated by the positioning of a few amino acids into specific arrangements linked by peptide bonds. We intend to implement this same principle of sequencing, essential to biology, to synthetic porous materials by encoding pore environments with atomic precision to control structural response and function. The road to this vision remains blocked by the lack of methodologies and understanding which is required to untap the value of pore chemistry in controlling the conformational response of frameworks and encapsulated guests. LIVINGPORE is structured around the complementary concepts of ‘transformable’ and ‘transformative’ porosity, that share the use of amino acid side chain chemistry and peptide bond rotations for selecting the conformational response and function of flexible frameworks (oligopeptide linkers) or flexible guests (small enzymes) by using programmed pore settings and mutants. We will develop both concepts in parallel by implementing a central high-throughput workflow that integrates computational and experimental routines for rational design and accelerated discovery. These synergic, multidisciplinary tools will be used to i) guide chemical synthesis, ii) evaluate structural response and iii) rationalize function, all required for going beyond what can be currently achieved with conventional methods. The central objective of this materials chemistry project is to lay definitive understanding on how reticular frameworks can be used to respond to (transformable) or select (transformative) specific molecular recognition patterns for cooperative selection in a crystalline solid. The long-term vision is a shift in the present perception of Metal-Organic Frameworks into unique porous materials capable of structural/functional responses closer to biological systems that enable distinctive applications currently unthinkable of, here initially demonstrated in separation and biocatalysis.

Keywords: metal organic frameworks reticular chemistry porous materials functional inorganic materials structural flexibility pore chemistry high throughput methods chiral separation enzyme immobilization synthetic chaperones molecular recognition conformational selection protein inorganic hybrid interface
Multianalyte Continuum Nanopores Sensing (MC-Nano)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS (ERC-2023-POC, 2023)
Start date: 2024-04-01
End date: 2025-09-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Diagnostic limitations in healthcare form a major societal challenge, especially in the case of heart failure. More than 15 million Europeans suffer from heart failure, with a projected increase of up to 33% in heart failure patients globally by 2060. An important instrument for better diagnoses of heart failure comes from natriuresis-guided therapy, offering potential for personalized treatment. Monitoring natriuresis through urinalysis via Point of Care Testing (POCT) helps manage severe heart failure. However, POCT presents several complications, as it can only be performed by health care professionals and long-term costs are high. Responding to these challenges, this ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) proposal introduces "Multianalyte Continuum Nanopores Sensing" (MC-Nano), led by Prof. Giovanni Maglia. MC-Nano aims to develop a biological nanopore tool for real-time continuous patient health monitoring to improve possibilities of POCT. MC-Nano will develop a nanopore system to detect sodium ions, electrolytes, proteins, and heart failure biomarkers in liquid samples like urine. By utilising multiple nanopores, the system improves accuracy and reliability in identifying pathologies related to heart failure, including kidney failure. The project's advantages include its potential for miniaturisation, minimal need for specialised solutions, and compatibility with low-powered electronic devices. Built upon the foundations of a previous project, ERC CoG De-Nano, which successfully developed biological nanopores for peptide and protein sequencing, this proposal aspires to take the first steps toward the design of an innovative diagnostic device tailored for continuous monitoring of heart failure patients, tracing natriuretic activity in real-time. The resulting technology aims to substantially reduce the limitations of current diagnostic methods for heart failure patients globally and paves the way for precise and efficient medical interventions in the future.