Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Strengthening epidemiological, genomic and community surveillance of Mpox virus (MPXV) at the Congo River border for DRC and RoC (MPOX-PROBE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Health
Theme: Public-private partnerships
Destination: Global Health EDCTP3
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Partnership: EDCTP3 (JU-JTI)
Countries involved: Italy,Congo,Congo, The Democratic Republic of the,Spain
Call: Mobilisation of Emergency funding for Mpox outbreak research response (HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2024-Mpox, 2024)
Start date: 2024-10-01
End date: 2026-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1301868.75
EU funding (EUR): 1299993.75
Participants: 5
Project status: SIGNED

The spread of Mpox virus (MPXV) in Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Republic of Congo (RoC) presents an urgent public health concern with global implications. MPXV cases have been reported across 114 countries with 89,752 confirmed reports and >150 deaths. It has the highest prevalence in DRC and has resulted in twice the number of deaths in the African region compared to Europe. RoC, a DRC bordering country, is also experiencing a surge in positive cases, highlighting an urgent need for data-driven efforts to identify transmission routes and implement public health initiatives. MPOX-PROBE is responding to this call for action with an international consortium and activities in three main pillars (1) improving epidemiological surveillance of Mpox with new diagnostics and sampling efforts including high-risk areas and vulnerable populations; (2) capacity building to improve diagnostic and research capacities of researchers and public health workers in DRC and RoC; (3) strengthening public health response by sharing surveillance data and newly developed spatiotemporal risk and transmission models for Mpox. Through MPOX-PROBE, this consortium will create actionable data to uncover MPXV transmission routes and natural reservoirs facilitating development of effective interventional packages. The transmission and risks models will allow prediction of future or emerging outbreaks and develop initiatives to prevent further spread. Together, these efforts will benefit vulnerable populations and general public in sub-Saharan Africa alike while also performing ground-breaking research to understand transmission mechanisms.

Keywords: mpox virus,mpxv,congo,outbreak response,epidemiological surveillance,novel diagnostics,laboratory capacity development,one health,vulnerable populations
Expanding a prospective, clinical trial examining the immune response of participants receiving Modified Vaccinia Ankara vaccine to Africa. (MpoxVax AFRIVAC)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Health
Theme: Public-private partnerships
Destination: Global Health EDCTP3
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Partnership: EDCTP3 (JU-JTI)
Countries involved: Ireland,Uganda,United Kingdom,Congo, The Democratic Republic of the,Tanzania, United Republic of
Call: Mobilisation of Emergency funding for Mpox outbreak research response (HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2024-Mpox, 2024)
Start date: 2024-10-01
End date: 2027-03-31
Duration (months): 30.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1377183.75
EU funding (EUR): 1371783.75
Participants: 6
Project status: SIGNED

The current Mpox outbreak affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ongoing since 2023, has resulted in more than 19,000 causes and over 1,000 deaths, with women accounting for more than half of those affected. The previous global Mpox outbreak in 2022 was alleviated in part with use of preventive vaccination using modified vaccina Ankara (MVA) vaccine. However, whether this vaccine induces sufficient immune responses in women and those with immunosuppression, which is common in affected areas, and how long vaccine-induced immunity lasts is not well defined. Furthermore, outbreak responses within Africa are also limited by lack of robust diagnostics. The Mpox AFRIVAC Project will engage with key stakeholders and the community to address these knowledge gaps and capacity limitations by adapting a phase 4 clinical trial of pre-exposure vaccination against Mpox currently underway in Europe to African sites affected by the current outbreak. This will be accompanied by technology transfer to develop Mpox immune diagnostics and knowledge transfer to develop a regional vaccinee-focused Clinical Trials Unit. Together, these activities will address key strategic priorities within the region, address knowledge gaps and significantly contribute to regional capacity and public health response to bring an end to the Mpox outbreak.

Keywords: clinical trial,mpox,vaccine,immune response,prevention
Novel algorithmic frameworks for functional neuroimaging using hybrid high density speckle contrast optical tomography and high density diffuse optical tomography (HDEFONE)

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: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Spain
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-11-01
End date: 2025-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 181152.96
EU funding (EUR): 181152.96
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Functional neuroimaging is important for understanding brain health, assessing pathologies and guiding therapeutic interventions. Fundamental to neuroimaging is the neurovascular unit (NVU) which relates delivery and consumption of oxygen to neuronal activity. Dysfunction of NVU is associated with pathologies like stroke as well as dyspraxia. Estimating the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) that describes NVU activity, requires estimates of oxygen saturation in cerebral blood as well as cerebral blood flow (CBF). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the current gold standard for functional neuroimaging, is expensive, lacks portability and provides only surrogate estimates of CBF. Recent advancements in diffuse optics and functional near-infrared imaging paved the way for non-invasive neuroimaging using diffuse optical techniques. Development of high-density diffuse optical tomography (HDDOT) for imaging oxygen saturation and high-density speckle contrast optical tomography (HDSCOT) for measuring CBF have enabled imaging at spatial resolutions comparable to fMRI. However, combining independently obtained CBF and oxygenation values to compute CMRO2 leads to artifacts and systematic errors. A hybrid imaging modality providing more accurate CMRO2 quantification via co-dependent estimates of oxygen saturation and CBF is needed to tap into potential of optical neuroimaging to paradigms like continuous cerebral monitoring in clinical and naturalistic settings. In this project, we propose development of algorithmic frameworks for such a modality i.e., hybrid HDSCOT/DOT for concurrent estimation of blood flow and oxygenation through (i) development of an inversion algorithm for hybrid imaging, (ii) development of frameworks for selection of optimal acquisition configuration and (iii) numerical and experimental validation of the developed frameworks. This research will closely follow ongoing hardware and system development in the Medical Optics group at ICFO.

Keywords: optical tomography,functional neuro imaging,reconstruction algorithms
Scalable Full-cycle Marine Litter Remediation in the Mediterranean: Robotic and Participatory Solutions (SeaClear2.0)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Mission
Theme: Ocean, seas and waters
Destination: Ocean, seas and waters
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Netherlands,Croatia,Germany,Cyprus,Israel,France,Spain,Romania,Italy
Call: Mediterranean sea basin lighthouse - actions to prevent, minimise and remediate litter and plastic pollution (HORIZON-MISS-2021-OCEAN-03, 2021)
Start date: 2023-01-01
End date: 2026-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 9086305.0
EU funding (EUR): 7971863.5
Participants: 13
Project status: SIGNED

SeaClear2.0 will develop a holistic approach to address the full cycle of marine litter, towards the Mission to restore, protect and preserve the health of our oceans, seas and waters by 2030. To this end, we aim to prevent and reduce marine litter pollution, particularly plastics and microplastics, in the Mediterranean via (i) Community activation, citizen empowerment, and participatory practices for identifying site-specific measures for marine litter prevention and reduction, supporting the implementation of the WFD and MSFD; (ii) Scaling up and demonstrating the SeaClear2.0 system, an innovative solution with teams of autonomous, intelligent robots for effective monitoring and collection of marine seafloor and surface litter; (iii) Providing solutions for valorization of the collected litter via better sorting and recycling; (iv) Adding novel dimensions in policy making by providing evidence for new legislation and the implementation of existing rules to achieve Good Environmental Status and (v) Accelerating the uptake of our solution by demonstrating its scalability and replicability to the Mediterranean basin and beyond in three full-scale demonstrations, three pilot tests, and at least five associated-region projects. SeaClear2.0 impact ranges from the reduction of upstream and beach litter via public awareness and citizen activation; through effective litter monitoring using both robotic mapping and public reporting in a gamified app; to direct collection of at least 57% of existing litter in the areas covered by the robot teams, with options for valorization. The singular selling point of SeaClear2.0 is our unique blend of technological innovation (ii, iii), community-activation (i), and policy-making (iv). We achieve all this by exploiting consortium expertise in public engagement, policy-making, robotic perception and control, artificial intelligence, marine technology and operations, and litter sorting and recycling.

Keywords: marine litter collection,monitoring,and prevention robotics community activation,recycling and valorization participatory policy making
Actionable Performance Intelligence towards Health and Care Systems for People, Planet, and Prosperity (HealthIntelAct)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Doctoral Networks
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Germany,Denmark,Romania,Italy,France,Belgium,Netherlands,Canada,United Kingdom,Spain,Luxembourg,Slovenia
Call: MSCA Doctoral Networks 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-DN-01, 2023)
Start date: 2025-01-01
End date: 2028-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4292026.97
EU funding (EUR): 3957048.0
Participants: 41
Project status: SIGNED

BACKGROUND: There is an urgent need to improve health and care systems in a way that health inequalities are reduced, health professionals are better protected, and financial & environmental waste are minimised. To do so, actionable health performance intelligence has to be available to and used by all relevant decision-makers in the system. CONSORTIUM: In this Industrial Doctorate, health and care system decision-makers (policymakers, purchasers, managers, health professionals, patients and citizens) join forces with scientific experts from a wide array of disciplines (e.g. data science, clinical science, systems science, planetary health, health economics, citizen science). AIM: By training a next generation of professionals that leverage existing data across society to co-create actionable performance intelligence with users, HealthIntelAct aims to empower decision-makers to strengthen health and care systems’ positive impact on people, planet, and prosperity. WORKPLAN: Via training-through-research and co-creation with different sectors, 15 PhD fellows will develop new methods to measure health and care systems’ people-centredness, environmental sustainability, and impact on prosperity. They will develop tools to improve the interpretation of health data and embedding of intelligence in governance, and develop strategies to apply intelligence in decision-making processes. Finally, they will develop instruments to evaluate the use of healthcare performance intelligence in practice. IMPACT: The actionable performance intelligence developed during the project has large potential to lead to improved health equity and access to care, improved worker satisfaction, and reduced financial and environmental waste in health and care systems. After HealthIntelAct, our fellows will be well positioned to pursue careers in academia (health services research, data science), government (health policy), healthcare (quality assurance), and commercial business (IT, data analysis).

Keywords: co creation,health data,healthcare performance indicators,governance,performance intelligence,peoplecentredness,inclusion,sustainability,quality of care,patient engagement
Dissecting Macrophage Mechanobiology to Engineer Immuno-Regenerative Biomaterials (MACxercise)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Materials Engineering
Panel description: Advanced materials development: performance enhancement, modelling, large -scale preparation, modification, tailoring, optimisation, novel  and combined use of materials, etc.
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2021-STG, 2021)
Start date: 2022-06-01
End date: 2027-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499950.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499950.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

There is an increasing clinical demand for sophisticated medical implants and the scientific field of implant technology is exponentially growing. The main challenge is to harness the immune response to such an implant. In this research we use the immune response to our advantage, by using bioresorbable synthetic biomaterials that are gradually replaced by living tissue inside the body. One of the key immune cells are macrophages, which are the gatekeepers for successful implant integration. Strategies to harness the macrophage response focus on isolated biomaterial design features, such as biochemical or microstructural modifications. One major neglected factor is how macrophages sense and respond to mechanical loads, such as cyclic stretch, or ‘macrophage mechanobiology’. Without an in-depth understanding of macrophage mechanobiology, rational engineering of biomaterials is not possible, leading to unpredictable outcomes and ineffective trial-and-error work. With MACxercise, I will leverage my unique multi-disciplinary expertise in bioengineering, biomaterial science and macrophage biology to address these scientific challenges from a new angle in which macrophage mechanobiology is placed center stage. The Main Aim of the MACxercise program is to systematically dissect how macrophages respond to dynamic mechanical cues and to establish how this affects biomaterial-driven tissue regeneration. The transformative strength of MACxercise lies in the concerted spatial and temporal manipulation of the macrophage microenvironment, using sophisticated engineering tools to decouple the mechanical and physical cues to systematically pinpoint how synergistic or conflicting cues dictate key macrophage functions in the biomaterial microenvironment. With MACxercise, my vision is to catalyze the establishment of an exciting new research field across the boundaries of biomaterial science, immunology, mechanobiology, and tissue engineering.

Keywords: tissue engineering
Multiphysics study of the dynamics, resistance and targeted therapy potential of deformable Micro-Capsules (MultiphysMicroCaps)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Products and processes engineering
Panel description: Product and process design, chemical, civil, environmental, mechanical, vehicle engineering, energy processes and relevant computational methods
Countries involved: France,France
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2017-COG, 2017)
Start date: 2018-06-01
End date: 2024-05-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1999470.0
EU funding (EUR): 1999470.0
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Encapsulation consists in enclosing an internal medium in a solid semi-permeable membrane to protect it and control the exchanges with the environment. Being at the source of innovative applications in the fields of biotechnologies, pharmacology, energy storage and food industry, capsules offer tremendous potential in the process engineering world. But scientific challenges remain to be met, such as finding the optimal compromise between payload and membrane thickness, characterizing the membrane resistance and controlling the moment of rupture. The project explores the use of deformable liquid-core capsules of micrometric size to efficiently transport active material, with a primary focus on health-related applications. We will design innovative sophisticated numerical models and high-tech experiments, needed to determine the potential of such vectors for the protection of active substances, predict membrane breakup to control the delivery, and optimize their properties for specific industrial and biomedical applications. The project will, for the first time, study the effect of a finite wall thickness on the dynamics of elastic microcapsules, propose advanced modelling approaches and microfluidic experiments of their deformability and breakup under hydrodynamic stresses, account for the inherent size variability of given capsule populations, and introduce reduced-order models to facilitate real-time simulations. As a specific application, we will study the potential of liquid-core microcapsules to encapsulate antioxidants for food enrichment. The project outcomes will be (i) new advanced three-dimensional numerical models of the fluid-structure interactions and rupture of a microcapsule, taking into account a finite wall thickness, (ii) microcapsule optimization tools based on reduced-order models, (iii) microscopic techniques to measure the capsule mechanical properties, and (iv) an applied study of optimization of antioxidant encapsulation in microcapsules.

Keywords: artificial microcapsules,stokes flow,fluid structure interactions,large deformation,rupture,numerical simulations,microfluidic experiments,mechanical characterization,antioxidant encapsulation
Entropy in engineered quantum systems - Mesoscopic thermodynamics of correlated quantum states (Quantropy)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Synergy grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Israel,Switzerland,France,France,Canada
Call: ERC Synergy Grant (ERC-2020-SyG, 2020)
Start date: 2021-07-01
End date: 2027-06-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 13476506.0
EU funding (EUR): 13476506.0
Participants: 7
Project status: SIGNED

Quantum systems that have been engineered to host correlated electronic states are of outstanding fundamental and technological interest. Often ‘exotic’ new quasi-particles emerge, such as Majorana fermions, whose inherent topological robustness forms the basis of a promising approach to quantum computation. Another recent example are sheets of pencil-lead graphene which superconduct with a proper twist between layers. Thermodynamic probes have been central for characterising new phases of matter in bulk materials. Low-dimensional systems offer greater opportunities for control, but probing their electronic states in a similar way is notoriously difficult, in part because of the small number of electrons involved. The objective of this project is to overcome this challenge and to develop a unique conceptual and experimental foundation for exploring correlated quantum states in low-dimensional systems by measuring thermodynamic quantities, in particular entropy. Entropy is one of the most fundamental of physical properties, and in recent years has been recognized as a key to understanding systems as diverse as qubits and black holes. Fully exploiting entropy measurements in mesoscopic physics will open up a new window to a mechanistic understanding of correlated quantum states in engineered structures, with promise for ground-breaking novel device paradigms. Members of the consortium have pioneered some of the few existing approaches to making thermodynamic measurements of low-dimensional systems. In combining our expertise, we will develop, test and explore a versatile suite of thermodynamic probes, and in particular i) demonstrate fractional entropy as an unequivocal observable for exotic states, including Majorana fermions; ii) develop thermodynamic measurement paradigms to probe correlated states in novel materials, in particular twisted bilayer graphene; and iii) achieve the first-time measurement of macroscopic entanglement entropy in solid-state systems.

Keywords: entropy,mesoscopic thermodynamics,thermodynamic probe,quantum engineering,correlated quantum systems
Fatherland as Motherland. Unstable Gender and Nation in Italian Great War Literature (FatherMotherland)

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: United Kingdom
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): 183454.8
EU funding (EUR): 183454.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

'Fatherland as Motherland. Unstable Gender and Nation in Italian Great War Literature' is an interdisciplinary project exploring the interplay between nationalism and gender in Italian Great War literature. By tackling a diverse range of texts (pamphlets, prose fiction, memoirs, diaries, propagandistic publications), it will analyse gender patterns at work in Italian Great War literature and disclose their unstable relationship with nationalist ideology. WWI literature provides an extraordinary testing ground for exploring nationalist discourse in its ambivalences in that it absorbs its tenet, while reshaping it and releasing its instabilities. Such an approach proves highly needed: Italian WWI literature has been usually employed to describe the passage to the fascist period as if it were a homogeneous ideological set that could explain the rise of fascism. FatherMotherland will argue against both these premises (ideological stability of Italian WWI literature; its consistency with fascist culture) by means of an inquiry focusing on gender issues. The project will develop along three main lines: 1. The representation of manliness and virility; 2. The rhetorical features of the icon of the motherland; 3. The re-fashioning of the war literature canon in the fascist period. FatherMotherland has the ambition to foster a better understanding of the cultural roots of nationalism, which today threatens the process of European integration.

Keywords: great war,italian literature,gender,national identity,nationalism