Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Nitride-based nanostructured novel thermoelectric thin-film materials (NINA)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Materials and Synthesis
Countries involved: Sweden
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2018-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499976.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499976.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

My recent discovery of the anomalously high thermoelectric power factor of ScN thin films demonstrates that unexpected thermoelectric materials can be found among the early transition-metal and rare-earth nitrides. Corroborated by first-principles calculations, we have well-founded hypotheses that these properties stem from nitrogen vacancies, dopants, and alloying, which introduce controllable sharp features with a large slope at the Fermi level, causing a drastically increased Seebeck coefficient. In-depth fundamental studies are needed to enable property tuning and materials design in these systems, to timely exploit my discovery and break new ground. The project concerns fundamental, primarily experimental, studies on scandium nitride-based and related single-phase and nanostructured films. The overall goal is to understand the complex correlations between electronic, thermal and thermoelectric properties and structural features such as layering, orientation, epitaxy, dopants and lattice defects. Ab initio calculations of band structures, mixing thermodynamics, and properties are integrated with the experimental activities. Novel mechanisms are proposed for drastic reduction of the thermal conductivity with retained high power factor. This will be realized by intentionally introduced secondary phases and artificial nanolaminates; the layering causing discontinuities in the phonon distribution and thus reducing thermal conductivity. My expertise in thin-film processing and advanced materials characterization places me in a unique position to pursue this novel high-gain approach to thermoelectrics, and an ERC starting grant will be essential in achieving critical mass and consolidating an internationally leading research platform. The scientific impact and vision is in pioneering an understanding of a novel class of thermoelectric materials with potential for thermoelectric devices for widespread use in environmentally friendly energy applications.
Cardiomics: Use of -omics methods in large populations for identification of novel drug targets and clinical biomarkers for coronary heart disease (CARDIOMICS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Diagnostic tools, therapies and public health
Countries involved: Sweden
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-01-01
End date: 2018-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1498224.0
EU funding (EUR): 1498224.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

There is a large need for revitalization of the research on coronary heart disease (CHD) including: a) improved risk prediction and more adequate individually-tailored treatment; and b) new targets for drug development based on pathways previously unknown to be involved in CHD pathophysiology. The overall goal of this proposal is to improve prevention and treatment of CHD through better understanding of the biology underlying disease development, identification of new biomarkers for improved risk prediction, and discovery of novel targets for drug development. The specific aims are to: 1) Establish and characterize causal genes in known CHD loci (gene regions) through: a) resequencing of known CHD loci; b) expression profiling in liver, arteries, myocardium and skeletal muscle; c) high-throughput protein profiling; and d) experimental follow-up in zebrafish (Danio rerio) models. 2) Discover new proteins, metabolites and pathways involved in CHD pathophysiology using global proteomic and metabolomic profiling to provide new biomarkers and drug targets. We will integrate genomic, transcriptomic, metabolomic and proteomic data from five longitudinal, population-based cohort studies with detailed phenotyping and one study with tissue collections for expression studies. The cohort studies include 36,907 individuals; there are 3,093 prevalent CHD cases at baseline and the estimated number of incident (new) events in previously healthy by 2016 is 2,202. In addition, we work with zebrafish model systems to establish causal CHD genes and characterize their mechanisms of action. We have access to unique study materials, state-of-the art methods, and a strong track record of successful projects in this field. To our knowledge, there are no other groups combining -omics methods to elucidate the whole chain from DNA variation to overt CHD in such large and well-characterized study samples. Further, we are unaware of other groups using zebrafish models to screen for and characterize causal CHD genes. Our work is anticipated to lead to new important insights into the pathophysiology of CHD, identification of new biomarkers for improved risk prediction, and discovery of novel targets for drug development.

Keywords: molecular epidemiology,genomics,transcriptomics,proteomics,metabolomics
Connexin and pannexin channels as drug targets and biomarkers in acute and chronic liver disease (CONNECT)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Diagnostic tools, therapies and public health
Countries involved: Belgium
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2019-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1473928.8
EU funding (EUR): 1473928.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The CONNECT project intends to contribute to the substantiation of the controversial scientific concept stating that hemichannels consisting of connexin32 and connexin43 as well as pannexin1 channels act as pathological pores. This hypothesis will be verified in the specific context of cell death and inflammation, both which are key features of acute liver failure and liver fibrosis. As such, the project is organised in 3 workpackages. In the first workpackage, connexin32, connexin43 and pannexin1 expression and activity will be studied in human and animal diseased liver tissue. The second workpackage is targeted towards the in vitro characterisation of recently generated inhibitors of hemichannels consisting of connexin32 and connexin43 as well as pannexin1 channels, namely Gap24, Gap19 and 10Panx1, respectively. Particular attention will be paid to their target selectivity and potential to reduce cell death and inflammation in liver-based in vitro models. The goal of the third workpackage is to test the in vivo extrapolation of the established in vitro findings. To this end, Gap24, Gap19 and 10Panx1 will be administered to animal models of acute liver failure or liver fibrosis, followed by evaluation of their outcome on cell death, inflammation and clinically relevant read-outs. The CONNECT project is anticipated to significantly impact the connexin and pannexin research area, as it foresees the development and optimisation of new tools and technology to study connexin hemichannels and pannexin channels. The clinical utility of this high risk/high gain project is dual, as it aspires the establishment of novel drug targets and tissue biomarkers for, respectively, the treatment and diagnosis of liver disease. However, given the generic nature of the driving concept, the outcome of the CONNECT project is equally of clinical relevance for a plethora of other pathologies.

Keywords: connexin and pannexin signalling,hepatology,liver toxicity and disease,drug target,biomarker.
Towards spin qubits and Majorana fermions in Germanium self-assembled hut-wires (SPAJORANA)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Condensed matter physics
Countries involved: Austria
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-01-01
End date: 2018-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1675020.0
EU funding (EUR): 1675020.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

A renewed interest in Ge has been sparked by the prospects of exploiting its lower effective mass and higher hole mobility to improve the performance of transistors. Ge emerges also as a promising material in the field of spin qubits, as its coherence times are expected to be very long. Finally, it has been proposed that strained Ge nanowires show an unusually large spin orbit interaction, making them thus suitable for the realization of Majorana fermions. In view of these facts, one is able to envision a new era of Ge in information technology. The growth of Ge nanocrystals on Si was reported for the first time in 1990. This created great expectations that such structures could provide a valid route towards innovative, scalable and CMOS-compatible nanodevices. Two decades later the PI was able to realize the first devices based on such structures. His results show that Ge self-assembled quantum dots display a unique combination of electronic properties, i.e. low hyperfine interaction, strong and tunable spin-orbit coupling and spin selective tunneling. In 2012, the PI’s group went a step further and realized for the first time Ge nanowires monolithically integrated on Si substrates, which will allow the PI to move towards double quantum dots and Majorana fermions. In view of their exceptionally small cross section, these Ge wires hold promise for the realization of hole systems with exotic properties. Within this project, these new wires will be investigated, both as spin as well as topological qubits. The objective of the present proposal is mainly to: a) study spin-injection by means of normal and superconducting contacts, b) study the characteristic time scales for spin dynamics and move towards electrical spin manipulation of holes, c) observe Majorana fermions in a p-type system. The PI’s vision is to couple spin and topological qubits in one “technological platform” enabling thus the coherent transfer of quantum information between them.

Keywords: silicon,germanium,heteroepitaxial growth,semiconductors,spin dynamics,helical states,majorana fermions
Modulation of neocortical microcircuits for attention (ATTENTIONCIRCUITS)

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: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-02-01
End date: 2019-01-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1466505.0
EU funding (EUR): 1466505.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

At every moment in time, the brain receives a vast amount of sensory information about the environment. This makes attention, the process by which we select currently relevant stimuli for processing and ignore irrelevant input, a fundamentally important brain function. Studies in primates have yielded a detailed description of how attention to a stimulus modifies the responses of neuronal ensembles in visual cortex, but how this modulation is produced mechanistically in the circuit is not well understood. Neuronal circuits comprise a large variety of neuron types, and to gain mechanistic insights, and to treat specific diseases of the nervous system, it is crucial to characterize the contribution of different identified cell types to information processing. Inhibition supplied by a small yet highly diverse set of interneurons controls all aspects of cortical function, and the central hypothesis of this proposal is that differential modulation of genetically-defined interneuron types is a key mechanism of attention in visual cortex. To identify the interneuron types underlying attentional modulation and to investigate how this, in turn, affects computations in the circuit we will use an innovative multidisciplinary approach combining genetic targeting in mice with cutting-edge in vivo 2-photon microscopy-based recordings and selective optogenetic manipulation of activity. Importantly, a key set of experiments will test whether the observed neuronal mechanisms are causally involved in attention at the level of behavior, the ultimate readout of the computations we are interested in. The expected results will provide a detailed, mechanistic dissection of the neuronal basis of attention. Beyond attention, selection of different functional states of the same hard-wired circuit by modulatory input is a fundamental, but poorly understood, phenomenon in the brain, and we predict that our insights will elucidate similar mechanisms in other brain areas and functional contexts.

Keywords: neuronal circuits - interneurons - attention - visual cortex - neuromodulation
Lipoproteins and angiogenesis: A new look at an old problem (LIPINTOECTION)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physiology, Pathophysiology and Endocrinology
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-12-01
End date: 2018-11-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1399970.0
EU funding (EUR): 1399970.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death throughout the world. Elevated Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) is a well-known cardiovascular risk factor and endothelial (ECs)-lipoprotein (LIPs) interactions underlie the initiation and progression of atherogenesis, thrombosis and other CVDs. The endothelium is a monolayer of cells that segregates the vascular contents from adjacent tissues. In spite of being continually exposed to LIPs, ECs were long thought of as inert barriers, through which lipids are exchanged between plasma and surrounding tissues. In contrast to this view, recent work from my laboratory has uncovered a deleterious role of ApoB-LIPs as direct inhibitors of angiogenesis in the developing embryo. These findings present only the tip of the iceberg, and the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms are largely unknown. In this proposal, we will tackle this question by undertaking three independent but complementary approaches, aimed at characterizing LIP-EC interactions at a different level: cellular, molecular or pathological. We will explore these facets in zebrafish and mammals, utilizing live imaging, sophisticated lipidomic and biochemical analyses, as well as tumor xenografts and genetic mutants. An important and unique aspect of our approach is the focus on in vivo dynamics, in contrast to the extensive body of literature on LIP effects on cultured ECs. When completed this proposal will have shed light on a little explored, but critical aspect in the etiology of CVDs. Furthermore it will provide answers to important unresolved questions: What are the signaling pathways activated in ECs upon LIP binding? How are LIPs transported within ECs? Does ApoB possess additional functions beyond that of cholesterol carrier? Can high LIPs levels inhibit tumor angiogenesis and metastasis? In a broader sense, a deeper understanding of the effects of LIPs on ECs will be valuable for identifying new targets for therapeutic intervention.

Keywords: endothelial cells,angiogenesis,vascular,zebrafish,lipoproteins
Building minimal cells to understand active cell shape control (MINICELL)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Cellular and Developmental Biology
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-12-01
End date: 2018-11-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1448000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1448000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Understanding how cells control their shape is an important scientific goal, since cells in our body constantly need to undergo shape changes to perform vital tasks such as growth and division. Conversely, abnormal cell shape changes contribute to life-threatening diseases such as cancer and developmental disorders. I propose to resolve the physical basis of active cell shape control by studying minimal cells built from purified cellular components. The main determinant of cell shape in animals is the actin cortex beneath the cell membrane, which contains molecular motors that actively generate forces. There is growing evidence that cells tightly balance these active forces with passive forces arising from cortex-membrane adhesion and elasticity. However, it is unclear how these forces are generated and controlled on the molecular level given the enormous complexity of cells. To circumvent this complexity, we will reconstitute cell-free actin networks and couple them to model biomembranes with the essential cellular linker protein septin. Using various advanced microscopy techniques, we will study (1) how active cortical networks and lipid bilayers influence each other’s spatial organization; (2) how active cortical networks control membrane shape; and (3) how spatial gradients in cortex contractility can cause cell shape polarization. My long-term ambition is to bridge the gap between the physical properties of cell-free model systems and biological functions in living cells. Thanks to recent breakthroughs in our understanding of the biophysical properties of contractile actin networks, we can now build more relevant cell-free model systems that can mimic active cell shape changes. To test the biological relevance of our findings, we will confront our results with live cell observations in fly embryos, together with a developmental biology group. Ultimately, the model cells developed here will enable a wide range of further studies of cellular (mal)functions.

Keywords: polymer networks,cytoskeleton,membrane biophysics,active soft condensed matter,self-organization,biomimetic materials,microfluidics,molecular motors,morphogenesis,cell mechanics,microscopy
The Impact of Plant Evolution on Fire Behaviour in Ancient Ecosystems (ECOFLAM)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Evolutionary, population and environmental biology
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2019-03-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1519640.0
EU funding (EUR): 1519640.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Fire has played a key role in the evolutionary success of our species and has shaped the abundance of life that we see on our planet today. Wildfires have influenced the history of plant life for 410 million years where 5 key plant evolutionary events have occurred that led to variations in fire behaviour. Variations in fire behaviour determine a fire’s severity and its impact on an ecosystem. In order to assess palaeofire severity the heat delivered by a fire and the duration for which it remains at a site must be estimated. Currently we are unable to estimate palaeofire behaviour and are therefore unable to predict the ecological impact of palaeofires. ECOFLAM will change this by combining for the first time state-of-the-art flammability experiments with innovative modelling approaches to reconstruct variations in palaeofire behaviour due to plant innovations. ECOFLAM will establish relationships between plant traits that are measurable in the fossil record, and their flammability. It will construct simple metrics that can be applied to assess the nature of fires occurring in a fossil flora. Then using a frontier approach ECOFLAM will apply mathematical models to create the first ever estimates of palaeofire behaviour. ECOFLAM will: 1) estimate fire behaviour in Earth’s earliest forests, 2) assess the impact of the evolution of gymnosperm conifers on changes in fire regime and fire behaviour 3) test the hypothesis that early angiosperms utilised fire to invade and out compete gymnosperm forests, 4) test the hypothesis that expansion of neotropical forests led to suppression of fire and 5) track the ability of increases in grass fuel to enhance ecosystem flammability enabling expansion of the savanna biome. ECOFLAM will collaborate with an artist to visually express the relationship between fire and plants to bring fire science to the arts and public. Finally via an exciting link with Morgan Stanley, London ECOFLAM will explore the economic impact of wildfires.

Keywords: palaeofire,forest fires,fire dynamics,plant evolution,flammability
The Epistemology of Data-Intensive Science (DATA SCIENCE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: The Human Mind and its complexity
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2019-11-30
Duration (months): 69.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1046000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1046000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project aims to develop a new ‘philosophy of data-intensive science’ that clarifies how research practices are changing in the digital age, and examines how this affects current understandings of scientific epistemology within the philosophy of science and beyond. The scale of scientific data production has massively increased in recent times, raising urgent questions about how scientists are to transform the resulting masses of data into useful knowledge. A technical solution to this problem is offered by technologies for the storage, dissemination and handling of data over the internet, including online databases that enable scientists to retrieve and analyse vast amounts of data of potential relevance to their research. These technologies are having a profound effect on what counts as scientific knowledge and on how that knowledge is obtained and used. This is a step change in scientific methods, which scientists refer to as ‘data-intensive’ research. Surprisingly, the characteristics and philosophical implications of this emerging way of doing science have not yet been extensively and systematically analysed. This project aims to fill this gap by combining the analytic apparatus developed by philosophers of science with empirical, qualitative methods used by social scientists to investigate cutting-edge scientific practices. Accordingly, Phase 1 of the project will investigate how the use of online databases is currently affecting research practices and outcomes in two areas: plant science and biomedicine. Phase 2 will then build on these empirical results to analyse how data-intensive methods challenge existing philosophical understandings of the epistemic role of data, theory, experiments and division of labour in science. Through the analysis of how these four key components, the PI will produce a systematic assessment of the implications of the rise of data-intensive research for how science is organised, conducted and assessed.

Keywords: philosophy of science