Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Systematic Triangulation of Pathobiont-Host-Interactions (SOAR)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Panel description: Medical technologies  and tools for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases, therapeutic approaches and interventions , pharmacology, preventative  medicine, epidemiology and public health , digital medicine
Countries involved: Germany
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): 1993688.0
EU funding (EUR): 1993688.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Rising incidences of chronic disorders and cancer have been linked to reduced microbial diversity. Genetic risk factors are similarly involved in the development of chronic disorders and cancer. The effect of both microbial and genetic factors is particularly evident in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the identification of specific bacteria that trigger/drive disease or modulate therapy efficacy in IBD and CRC lacks a comprehensive approach. Even less is known about how these bacteria mechanistically induce such effects. The paucity of so far identified disease relevant bacteria and their mode of action, likely lies in the complexity of both the microbiome and the host’s genetic risk factors. We hypothesize that specific bacteria, which do not harm the host under steady state conditions, hijack host pathways in the presence of certain genetic risk factors to drive inflammation, onset and progression of IBD and CRC. We speculate that these bacteria, termed pathobionts, have so far been overlooked due to a lack of methods to triangulate these disease relevant bacteria in multi-factorial disorders like IBD and CRC. It is our objective to identify these pathobionts and match them to host genetic risk. To do so, we have developed an antibody coating based approach, to identify and culture pathobionts. Now, we want to overhaul our approach to develop a high throughput-pathobiont identification technology. Through machine learning, we then aim to find pathobiont-host genetic risk matches that drive disease and validate these matches in vivo. Lastly, we plan to demonstrate the potential of our new technology and gained knowledge. Through leveraging the gained knowledge, we aim to identify pathobiont-host risk matches in publicly available databases. This will unmask individuals at risk for the development of IBD, CRC and potentially other disorders. This may pave the way for future microbiome-based precision medicine approaches.

Keywords: microbiome,host genetic risk,host pathobiont interaction,immune system,chronic disorders,bioinformatics
COST-EFFECTIVE DISINFECTION AND GREEN WATER TREATMENT WITH BAFFLE INNOVATION (CODECWATER)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EIC Accelerator
Destination: Other destinations
Action type: EIC actions
Countries involved: Türkiye
Call: EIC Accelerator 2024 - Short application (HORIZON-EIC-2024-ACCELERATOR-01, 2024)
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Due to urbanization, increasing population, and the use of energy intensive treatment methods, there is an increasing trend in the cost of water treatment in urban population centers. The last stage of the treatment process in a water treatment plant consists of disinfection of water by chemicals in a contact tank system. The most important design problem in contact tanks is the formation of recirculation and flow jet zones, which reduce mixing efficiency of the contact system. We invented a baffle design that can significantly improve mixing and disinfection efficiencies, as well as reduce the energy needed to drive the flow through the mixing system. In order to demonstrate the impact of our innovation in a relevant environment, experimental studies were conducted on a 1:10-scale laboratory model. Our experimental and numerical studies revealed that the invented baffle-design could increase mixing efficiency of the contact tank by 22% according to the Morril index. The invented design has been patented by DSTECH in Turkey, Germany, France and the United Kingdom for its excellent and effective use in the market. The proposed design is simple to implement without expensive infrastructure modifications, and can be used for both chlorine and ozone treatment. Calculations indicate that the savings offered by our technology will be on the order of several hundred thousand euros per year for a medium-sized water treatment plant. The global water treatment market presents a vast opportunity for DSTECH's innovative baffle design. The lack of demonstration of the invented design in operational conditions has become the biggest barrier over the first acceptance and implementation of the invented design in water treatment market. With the EIC accelerator project grant, we will scale up the implementation of the invented design from laboratory scale to the real scale and transform the current disinfection contact to the new design as a retrofitting approach.

Keywords: water disinfection,contact tank,baffle design,cfd,ozone and chlorine
Blue Carbon production, export and sequestration in emerging polar ecosystems (SEA-Quester)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
Theme: Bio-Environment
Destination: Land, ocean and water for climate action
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Denmark,Germany,Greenland,Finland,Poland,Norway,United Kingdom
Call: Ocean and coastal waters carbon- and biodiversity-rich ecosystems and habitats in Europe and the Polar Regions (HORIZON-CL6-2023-CLIMATE-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-02-01
End date: 2028-01-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 5111918.9
EU funding (EUR): 5111918.9
Participants: 12
Project status: SIGNED

The rapid pace of climate change in high latitude seas is promoting the emergence of novel ecosystems in coastal regions as well as in the open ocean. SEA-Quester, in accordance with the work program (HORIZON-CL6-2023-CLIMATE-01-3), will conduct field surveys, process studies and model analyses to improve our understanding of the causes and consequences of these emerging polar ecosystems; their potential for blue carbon sequestration, their implications for marine biodiversity, and their role in the global eco-bio-geo-chemical climate system. SEA-Quester will do so with a rigorous analysis of blue carbon stocks and their dynamics, laying the foundations for a fit-for-purpose blue carbon accounting with balance sheets for not just carbon sequestration, but other impacted marine ecosystem services such as fisheries production. SEA-Quester considers all forms of blue carbon in coastal, pelagic, and benthic novel marine ecosystems, living and dead, in the water column and in the sediments, and uses a mechanistic approach to reduce uncertainties in model predictions. A key outcome of SEA-Quester will be to develop a thorough means of quantifying the trade-off between harvesting marine biomass and its net contribution to carbon sequestration: the Biomass-Sequestration amplification factor. SEA-Quester will ensure effective exploitation of the project results in international scientific assessments of Blue Carbon potential and by policy-makers (specifically targeting Nationally Determined Contribution estimates), to ensure dialogue, communication and dissemination to National and European governmental bodies, European citizens and NGO’s, and to provide recommendations for optimizing the monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem services in emerging polar environments.

Keywords: biodiversity,plankton,macroalgae,benthic pelagic coupling,southern ocean
Beyond Entangled Pairs: Quantum Correlations in Networks (BEPQCiN)

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: Physics
Countries involved: France,Switzerland
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-07-01
End date: 2026-06-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 308746.56
EU funding (EUR): 308746.56
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

This research proposal concerns the theoretical study of quantum correlations in networks. Given the current wide availability of the preparation and distribution of two-party entangled states, we propose to develop theoretical tools that enable the construction of multipartite quantum correlated networks using two-party states as building blocks. Such interconnected quantum networks would then allow for the implementation of sophisticated and secure quantum information protocols. The project is divided in three work packages (WP) with different questions and goals. The first one focuses on the generation of entanglement. It will tackle the problem of manipulating bipartite quantum states in quantum networks in order to generate genuinely multipartite entangled states. Our goals are to characterise the sets of states that can be generated in a given network, define entanglement measures that are appropriate for network scenarios, and bound the amount of entanglement a network can produce. The second WP concerns the certification of entanglement in partly trusted star networks. Our goal is to develop a complete framework for entanglement certification with a semi-device-independent approach that is particular to networks, employing techniques from quantum steering. The final WP focuses on the problem of the equivalence between entanglement and Bell nonlocality. Our objective is to investigate whether any bipartite entangled state can lead to nonlocality in a network setting. The investigation of this fundamental, long-standing question will allow us to determine which bipartite states are and are not useful to quantum networks with the highest level of security. This research project shall be undertaken by the applicant, Dr. Jessica Bavaresco, under the mentorship of Prof. Nicolas Brunner at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, during the outgoing phase, and Dr. Cyril Branciard at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, France, during the return phase.

Keywords: quantum networks,quantum internet,quantum communication,quantum correlations,entanglement,steering,bell nonlocality,causal structures,causal networks,multipartite systems
Safe Inspection and Maintenance supporting workers with modular robots, Artificial intelligence, and augmented Reality (SIMAR)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Digital, Industry and Space
Theme: Digital
Destination: Digital & Emerging Technologies for Competitiveness and Fit for the Green Deal
Action type: Innovation actions
Partnership: AI-DATA-ROBOTICS (co-programmed)
Countries involved: Spain,Greece,Netherlands,France,Belgium
Call: AI, Data and Robotics at work (AI, Data and Robotics Partnership) (IA) (HORIZON-CL4-2021-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-09-01
End date: 2025-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3414147.84
EU funding (EUR): 2999725.0
Participants: 7
Project status: SIGNED

SIMAR proposes a new type of inspection robot that is composed of an aerial system with advanced navigation capabilities that will allow to safely land on pipes, even if they are located in complex and cluttered locations and deploy and light-weight crawlers that integrate either adapted X-ray or PEC (Pulsed Eddy-Current) sensors to perform complete inspections of insulated pipes. The main purpose of SIMAR resides on keeping the human workers of dangerous industrial plants in a location, where inspection and maintenance activities can be performed in a safe and healthy way. This will be done by applying the MOVE, SUPPORT and UNDERSTAND functionalities, integrated into a unique system, validated in a controlled environment, and finally demonstrated in a real operational industrial facility of the SIMAR end-users. MOVE will be implemented by robots with flying and crawling locomotion, SUPPORT by the application of Augmented Reality, and UNDERSTAND by means of Artificial Intelligence. In order to overcome the above challenge, SIMAR will pursue four objectives: 1. Multipurpose aerial/ground robotic system to keep away workers from dangerous situations for a safe, robust, and trusted inspection. 2.Artificial Intelligence and augmented reality systems to reduce human workload and level of stress. 3.Human-centered robotics inspection system 4.TRL7 validation and demonstration on an operational petrochemical facility taking into account end-users' requirements. SIMAR consortium is formed by 7 high-profile European partners (CATEC, AUTH, QUASSET, CHEVRON, VES, USE and BASF) from 5 EU Member States, which have been carefully selected for their proven experience, as well as their complementarity and transnationality, in order to give the necessary knowledge, expertise, and cutting-edge background to assure the success of the project.

Keywords: petrochemical,aerial robotics,inspection,corrosion,insulation,crawler,ai
From wild to farm: disentangling the plant food systems of the first farmers in Atlantic Europe (W2FARM)

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: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Portugal,Ireland,Spain,United Kingdom
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 191343.12
EU funding (EUR): 191343.12
Participants: 4
Project status: SIGNED

Imagine you are a farmer who arrives in a land in the far west of Europe and encounters unfamiliar plants and people. How would you react? Would everyone adapt in a similar way? These are the kinds of decisions that the first farmers made when they arrived on the Atlantic coast during the Neolithic period. The life of the first farmers is more than a single and linear story, it is a mosaic of different narratives, both individual and collective, that need to be addressed. Despite the significant contributions of many scholars to our understanding of Neolithic communities in Western Europe, both in terms of their material and immaterial manifestations, there remains considerable uncertainty about the impact of the complex human-environment relationships associated with the adaptation of sedentary life on the Atlantic shores. Using a convergent and multidisciplinary research approach involving archaeobotany, chemical analysis, functional ecology and food systems, this project aims to examine the adaptation of the Atlantic region to the first agricultural communities from the 5th to 3rd millennium BC. By analysing the whole process of crop selection and wild food management, from the initial stages to the final preparation of food, the project offers insights into the rationale behind these choices. Studying the early farmers is not only a matter of historical interest; it also provides a basis for understanding the evolution of food systems and the factors that shaped them, giving us invaluable lessons for the present and emerging future of biodiversity and food security.

Keywords: neolithic,agriculture,crop selection,foraging,ecological adaptation,ancient tastes
Polyclonal anti-tumor immunity by engineered human T cells (PolyAntiTumor)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Panel description: Medical technologies  and tools for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases, therapeutic approaches and interventions , pharmacology, preventative  medicine, epidemiology and public health , digital medicine
Countries involved: Israel
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2021-STG, 2021)
Start date: 2022-10-01
End date: 2027-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1812500.0
EU funding (EUR): 1812500.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Adoptive T cell therapies are a new class of living drugs, achieving durable results in a subset of patients with aggressive malignancies. These transformative outcomes are not shared with the majority of patients with solid tumors that remain resistant to current T cell therapies. As engineered T cell therapy is usually directed against a single antigen, it is especially vulnerable to antigen loss as a tumor resistance mechanism. Moreover, cancer immunotherapy often leads to severe immune-related adverse events (irAE) by destructive self-reactivity that must be evaluated together with the therapeutic benefit. While T cell therapies with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes might circumvent these shortcomings, tumor tissue availability is limited and T cells are poorly responsive to ex-vivo perturbation. These therapeutic challenges highlight the gaps in our knowledge of how to engineer curative anti-tumor immunity. We recently developed foundational platforms for CRISPR engineering, TCR repertoire manipulation, and single-cell omics of primary human T cells. We plan to leverage these opportune achievements to address the critical gaps in adoptive T cell therapies. We will focus on three important aspects of engineered anti-tumor immunity: efficacy, safety, and specificity. We will tune TCR sensitivity by perturbing key genes to determine how TCR signaling balances burst-like effector function and long-term persistence. We will also reveal the sequestered self-reactive T cell compartment to control for irAE following immunotherapy. Finally, we will directly uncouple anti-tumor TCR repertoires from their dysfunctional state to mount a polyclonal anti-tumor immune response. This strategy is radically different from current T cell therapies as it is agnostic to specific tumor antigens and leverages pre-existing polyclonal antitumor immunity. These studies will chart novel blueprints for robust, safe, and specific engineered cell therapies targeting solid tumors.

Keywords: engineered t cell therapy,car t cells,tcr repertoire,synthetic immunology,self reactive t cells
Digitalisation and the future of mobility: a study of Mobility as a Service [MaaS] platforms (MOBI-DIG)

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: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Germany,Netherlands
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-12-01
End date: 2026-11-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 173847.36
EU funding (EUR): 173847.36
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

The project aims to understand the society shaping capacities of digital technologies for mobility, investigate their effects on processes of spatial transformation and recognise social and political values that play a role in changing transportation infrastructures and urban travel through investigating Mobility as a Service [MaaS] platforms. Studying mobility platforms responds to challenges of digitalisation, sustainable transformation, urban modernisation and social equality. The research addresses the gaps in the studies on digital platforms, infrastructures and mobilities and responds to rapid socio-technological changes. It contributes to studies at the intersection of digitalisation and mobility justice. The research elucidates how platforms are set to operate (Objective1. Infrastructuring), how they interact with existing transportation systems (O2. Interaction), how they reinterpret the role of the user/citizen in the system (O3. User/Citizen) and how they shape future urban mobility (O4. Mobility Futures). Two MaaS systems operating in Berlin and Warsaw will be studied through the mixed methodology including sociological, visual, digital and mobile methods and techniques such as visualisation and mapping, interviews, mobility diaries, field visits, application analysis and workshops. The results of the project will be published in the form of academic articles and disseminated through workshops, lectures and teaching, creation of media content with the purpose of impacting mobility transformations for sustainability and increasing role of citizens in digitalisation of mobility. Leibniz-IfL supports the project through its international and interdisciplinary expertise, institutional networks and excellent research infrastructure. The researcher will achieve academic goals in the areas of research development, leadership and international profile, and acquire skills and knowledge necessary to take on permanent and leading senior roles in European academia.

Keywords: mobilities,digitalisation,platforms,infrastructure,cities
Creation of a GLP bank of immune-privileged, immortal mesoangioblasts to treat monogenic, recessive diseases of muscle and connective tissue (MABank)

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: Italy
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS (ERC-2023-POC, 2023)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2025-02-28
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 214285.71
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Stem cells led to effective cures for diseases of blood and epithelia. However, in the case of diseases affecting muscles, connective tissue or brain, significant challenges persist for expansion of a sufficient number of corrected cells, delivery and engraftment. Even when these problems will be solved the prospective per-patient cost of the treatment (up to 2M$) will make such therapies unsustainable for NHS. We developed protocols of cell therapy using mesoangioblasts (Mabs), vessel associated progenitors that, despite promising results in animal models, showed modest efficacy in patients. To address this, we transplanted autologous dystrophic Mabs expressing a small nuclear RNA engineered to skip dystrophin exon 51, that enters and corrects also neighboring nuclei of the multinucleated muscle fiber, thus bringing dystrophic production to therapeutic levels. A Phase I/IIa trial is currently running. Even in case of success, the cost would remain prohibitive. Through the ongoing ERC ADG 884952-UniMab, we are completing the development of immortal, immune-privileged Mabs from dystrophic patients thanks to genome editing of HLA and the expression of tolerogenic proteins. In this PoC project we will produce universal Mabs from healthy donors and will study the feasibility of producing and storing a large amount of universal Mabs through a bank of universal donor Mabs from healthy patients, ready to be corrected for the specific genetic mutation and injected into the patient following the motto “one serve many”. Available cells, a GMP-grade lentivector, expressing the wt cDNA of the mutated gene and a mouse model for pre-clinical tests would be sufficient to start a trial even for extremely rare diseases that currently lack even the hope of a therapy. This work will enable the business exploitation of the MABANK technology, by creating a company with a GMP biobank that may operate internally and make cells available to clinicians and Biotech companies.