Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Role of alternative splicing in cell expansion and plant growth (AS-CELLEXPAND)

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: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Portugal
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2016, 2016)
Start date: 2018-09-01
End date: 2020-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 148635.6
EU funding (EUR): 148635.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Plant growth and morphogenic changes in response to developmental and environmental cues depend on the capacity of cells to expand correctly, which requires structural remodeling of cell walls. Importantly, abiotic stress markedly impacts plant growth by affecting many aspects related to the cell wall, from its composition to the expression of biosynthetic and remodeling genes. The importance of transcriptional regulation of genes controlling cell wall biosynthesis and architecture in response to environmental cues is well studied, but little is known about posttranscriptional mechanisms that affect their function. SR (serine/arginine-rich) proteins are major regulators of alternative splicing (AS), which generates multiple transcripts from the same gene and may modulate plant stress responses. Given evidence that (i) abiotic stress affects SR protein function; (ii) mutations in SR genes cause abnormal plant growth; and (iii) SR45 directly binds mRNAs encoding cell wall regulators, this project will investigate a role for SR-mediated regulation of AS events in cell wall regulators during plant development and abiotic stress responses. Specific objectives are to: (i) identify AS events in cell wall regulator genes that may impact plant growth; (ii) study their regulation by SR proteins; and (iii) assess whether they determine normal plant growth under environmental stress.

Keywords: cell expansion,plant growth,alternative splicing,post transcriptional regulation,abiotic stress
BabyMindReader: a multivariate NIRS-EEG neural decoder to decipher newborns' inital representations of speech prosody (BabyMindReader)

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: Italy
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2022-01-01
End date: 2024-06-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183473.28
EU funding (EUR): 183473.28
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Infants are born with a wide range of broad and universal perceptual abilities that allow them to start learning any language immediately. Findings that emerged over the last decades suggest that the acquisition of language starts already before birth, and lead to the hypothesis that the main feature of speech that humans learn prenatally is prosody. According to this proposal, prosodic information acts as a bootstrap, preparing the newborn to first recognize the relevant sound patterns of their native language, and then supporting him/her during the first year of life in learning its grammar and lexicon . Although this compelling idea is supported by considerable amount of evidence, a direct test that infants are born with a clear neural representation of prosody is still missing. The BabyMindReader project aims at casting light on this matter with an innovative interdisciplinary approach that brings together experimental methods in infant language research with technical advancements in the artificial intelligence (AI) field: infants’ brain responses to stimuli characterized by different prosody will be measured in two different experiments, by means of co-registered NIRS and EEG, two of the most employed neuroimaging techniques in the infant research. Hemodynamic correlates of electrical activity in response to auditory stimuli will be characterized; based on this step, features will be selected and used to develop a multivariate classifier, by means of machine-learning methods, that will be employed to decode newborns’ initial neural representations of prosody. The BabyMindReader project will on one hand introduce methodological innovations for NIRS-EEG coregistration and analysis that will be of great impact for the whole developmental community and beyond; second, it will provide a direct characterization of the role of prenatal learning of prosody, thus contributing to theoretical advancements in the research on the basis of language acquisition.

Keywords: nirs eeg co registration,machine learning,newborns,prenatal learning,speech perception,prosody
Ultra High Aspect Ratio Wing Advanced Research and Designs (U-HARWARD)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Smart, green and integrated transport
Theme: Public-private partnerships
Destination: Clean Sky 2
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Partnership: CS2 (Art-187)
Countries involved: Germany,Italy,France,France,France,United Kingdom
Call: Ultra-High Aspect ratio wings (H2020-CS2-CFP10-2019-01, 2019)
Start date: 2020-05-01
End date: 2023-10-31
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2510938.75
EU funding (EUR): 2510938.75
Participants: 6
Project status: SIGNED

U-HARWARD will consider the use of innovative aerodynamic and aeroelastic designs in a multi-fidelity multi-disciplinary optimal design approach to facilitate the development of Ultra-High aspect ratio wings for large transport aircraft. A conceptual design study, building on the current state of the art, will perform trade-off studies to determine the potential gains of different wing configurations and loads alleviation concepts in terms of aerodynamics, weight, noise, fuel-burn and range. Scaled model wind tunnel tests will be used to validate parametric variations in the aerodynamic and acoustic characteristics. Starting from a reference aircraft, the preliminary design of the best candidate configuration will be completed and the estimated gains validated using high fidelity tools and a larger scale aeroelastic test.

Keywords: high aspect ratio wing,multidisciplinary design optimization,aeroelastic testing
Albumin particles for intra-articular delivery of celecoxib to treat osteoarthritic inflammation. (IA-NANO)

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: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Ireland
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2019-08-01
End date: 2021-07-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 196590.72
EU funding (EUR): 196590.72
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common chronic condition of the joints and is predicted to become the fourth largest cause of disability in the world by 2020. Its complete mechanism is yet to be deciphered. Though it is not curable, several medications are prescribed to manage the symptomatic OA, of which the oral and topical medications have shortcomings and the better option is the intra-articular (IA) delivery of free corticosteroids and hyaluronic acid. However, IA delivery is challenging due to the rapid clearance of the free injected molecules from the joint space and outcomes are suboptimal in terms of efficacy and a need for repeated injections. Our objective therefore is to load a candidate drug in a long-acting delivery system and inject it directly into the inflamed knee of a rat model of OA, following in vitro bioassay screening in primary human synoviocytes. Thus, in this project, we propose to develop non-toxic, biocompatible and biodegradable albumin particles loaded with the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor, celecoxib. This method is expected to reduce the side-effects associated with oral administration of celecoxib. In addition, it will also increase the drug local concentration in the joint and the controlled release of the drug will lead to reduction of inflammatory biomarkers in joints. The project is in line with the EU’s Horizon 2020 Programme focus area - Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing and UN Sustainable Development goal - Good Health and Well-Being. It will be carried out by the researcher and supervisors who are experts in DDSs development, OA therapy and translational pharmaceutics. Both the researcher and the host are expected to benefit in this collaboration and the researcher will gain experience that will increase her future employability. The project will have great societal impact and commercial potential and will also help increase Europe’s position as the leading source of cutting-edge research.

Keywords: drug delivery,nanomedicine,osteoarthritis management,intra articular delivery,protein,celecoxib,formulation,nanoparticle,local delivery,albumin,anti inflammatory drug,joint inflammation
Intelligent Fish feeding through Integration of ENabling technologies and Circular principle (iFishIENCi)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy
Theme: Unlocking the potential of aquatic living resources
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Germany,Spain,Spain,Malta,Norway,Hungary,Greece,Hungary,France,Denmark
Call: Sustainable European aquaculture 4.0: nutrition and breeding (H2020-BG-2018-1, 2018)
Start date: 2018-11-01
End date: 2023-07-31
Duration (months): 57.0
Total project cost (EUR): 7059380.2
EU funding (EUR): 6032734.04
Participants: 20
Project status: SIGNED

iFishIENCi will deliver breakthrough innovations supporting sustainable aquaculture, based on enabling technologies and circular principles, thereby providing the European aquaculture industry with the competitive advantage and growth stimulation needed to be a mover in revolutionizing global efficiency in fish production and meet society's needs for food from the ocean. This ambitious task will be achieved by providing to the market the iFishIENCi Biology Online Steering System (iBOSS) that significantly improves production control and management for all fish aquaculture systems. iBOSS will maximise feed utilisation through smart feeding, provide continuous monitoring of fish behaviour, health and welfare and reduce response times to aberrations. iFishIENCi will target circular principles and zero waste by qualifying new and sustainable organic value chains for feeds, and valorisation of by-products. iFishIENCi´s innovations will provide important new assets to the consortiums SMEs, fish-farmers, feed producers and technology providers in the aquaculture sector, leading to market growth and job creation. Assets will be maximized through a comprehensive sustainability assessment and engagements with the sector, regulators and consumers. 11 European companies (SMEs and larger companies) and 7 research & Innovation expert groups are joining effort to achieve this innovation leap towards the implementation of smart feeding and smart breeding into the fish farming industry.

Keywords: fish feed,fish nutrition,algae
Modeling critical reliability issues in VLSI technologies beyond 2020 (MoCRIV)

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: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Belgium
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-08-22
End date: 2020-08-21
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 172800.0
EU funding (EUR): 172800.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This proposal presents an interdisciplinary, forward looking, training-by-research plan in the field of physical reliability modeling of emerging transistors and materials beyond 2020. Its main goal is development and validation of a simulation framework which self-consistently considers the main reliability phenomena including bias temperature instability, hot-carrier degradation, and self-heating. These effects were suggested to be the response of interface and oxide defects/precursors which can be activated by different driving forces determined by device operating conditions and specifics of the device topology. Thus, the core of this project will be put on a detailed microscopic description of the properties of defects/precursors, which will be studied experimentally and theoretically. Within this defect-centric paradigm we will address reliability issues in devices with emerging architectures, i.e. fin and nanowire transistors, high-k gate dielectrics, and high mobility channel materials such as SiGe, Ge, and III-V alloys. The unifying model building on the microscopic defect properties will be validated over a wide range of device bias conditions. We will capture the parasitic effect of self-heating which has a strong impact on the energetic distribution of hot carriers and hence on hot-carrier degradation. Special attention will be paid to time-dependent variability of device characteristics which is a response of nanoscale devices on activation/deactivation of individual defects. Knowledge acquired within this project will be valuable for applied and fundamental physics, material science, computational chemistry, electrical engineering, VLSI technology, and circuit design. The research and training activities will enhance applicant’s future career by broadening his professional skills and expertise, expose him to industrial requirements, and open new perspectives for future collaboration with industry.

Keywords: microelectronics,nanoelectronics,reliability,defects,simulations and modeling,hot carrier degradation,bias temperature instability,self heating,high k dielectrics,high mobility materials
Atmospheric WAter Cycle over Antarctica: Past, Present and Future (AWACA)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Synergy grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Switzerland,France,France,France
Call: ERC Synergy Grant (ERC-2020-SyG, 2020)
Start date: 2021-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 13967282.5
EU funding (EUR): 13967282.5
Participants: 6
Project status: SIGNED

Climate models predict that precipitation will increase in Antarctica, which will moderate global sea-level rise. Meanwhile, the isotopic composition of snowfall records climate parameters which can be recovered in ice cores. However, there are still major gaps in our understanding of the atmospheric water cycle over Antarctica. For the first time, the AWACA project will provide a consistent and comprehensive combined observation and modeling framework to understand and predict the fate of atmospheric water all along the tropospheric column. Specifically adapted/designed instruments will be combined to form observation platforms deployed at 5 sites along a 1100 km coast-to-plateau transect aligned with the typical moisture-carrying air mass trajectories. The challenges of working in full autonomy in Antarctica, never addressed to such an extent before, will be tackled by collaborating with experts in polar technology and logistics. The resulting data set will make possible the study of the processes driving the water fluxes and composition to an unprecedented level, and the gained insights will be a strong basis to develop new physics parameterizations for regional and climate models. Once validated along the transect but also in other regions of Antarctica thanks to satellite observations and past campaigns, those models will enable us to decipher the past and future variability of the atmospheric water cycle over Antarctica.

Keywords: remote sensing,paleoclimatology,climate projection,cloud and precipitation observation and microphysics,water vapor,antarctica,surface flux,blowing snow
Echo-acoustic signalling of aposematic and cryptic insects – A bat-inspired approach (EchoBug)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Reintegration panel
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Belgium
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2022-09-01
End date: 2024-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 166320.0
EU funding (EUR): 166320.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

In the arms race between prey and predators, diverse anti-predator defence mechanisms evolved. To avoid predation, many insects developed camouflage (crypsis) or chemicals that render them distasteful or toxic. To warn of their unpalatability, many insects evolved striking warning colours or patterns (aposematism). Insects comprise most of the diet of bats. Some of these nocturnal predators glean resting, silent, motionless diurnal insects from the vegetation. Instead of using vision during foraging, they produce ultrasonic calls and detect their prey through echolocation. Here, I want to research whether visually cryptic or aposematic insects also have cryptic or aposematic acoustic reflection properties, to hide from or signal their unpalatability to echolocating bats. I will use bio-inspired sensor systems to acquire echo-acoustic sonar recordings of selected insect species and conduct behavioural prey-detection and -capture experiments using live bats to explore the prevailing acoustic predator-prey interactions. Based on these experiments, I will apply neural network algorithms for classifying and analysing the distinguishing features in different insect echoes. This approach will allow an in-depth investigation of the underlying acoustic mechanisms of the interaction between prey and predators and will inform and inspire biomimetic applications for detecting and identifying objects by sonar. Further, the project will lead to synergism between the research fields of biology and engineering in the study of animal interactions and bio-inspired robotics. Combining sensory ecology and animal behaviour with applied engineering, signal processing, bio-inspired sensor systems, and neural network applications, will positively impact on my career development. In addition, the scientific training, and transferable skills gained will substantially contribute to my career as an independent, interdisciplinary researcher, and a successful group leader.

Keywords: bioacoustics,sensory ecology,predator prey interactions,insects,bats,deep learning
Trees outside forests in global drylands (TOFDRY)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Earth system science
Panel description: Physical geography, geology, geophysics, atmospheric sciences, oceanography, climatology, cryology, ecology, global environmental change, biogeochemical cycles, natural resources management
Countries involved: Denmark
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2020-STG, 2020)
Start date: 2020-11-01
End date: 2025-10-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1711467.0
EU funding (EUR): 1711467.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Drylands cover approximately 65 million km² of the Earth’s land surface but their tree and shrub cover is a major unknown in terrestrial research. This is because a large proportion of dryland trees grow isolated without canopy closure and most scientific and non-scientific interest is devoted to forests, while the density and size of trees outside of forests is not well documented. However, these non-forest trees play a crucial role for biodiversity and provide ecosystem services such as carbon storage, food resources, livelihoods and shelter for humans and animals. The limited attention devoted to the quantification of dryland trees leads to an underrepresentation of non-forest trees in development strategies and climate\vegetation models, and the economic and ecological importance of non-forest trees is largely unknown at large scale. Through this project I will work towards a wall-to-wall identification of trees in global drylands, and study their ecological services and socio-environmental determinants. The breakthrough is that trees are not assessed as canopy fraction of an area, but as individuals, allowing to identify not only their coverage but also their density, crown size, and key ecological services. I will apply a new generation of satellite imagery at sub-meter resolution and extensive field data in conjunction with fully convolutional neural networks, a deep learning technique being able to identify objects within imagery at an unprecedented accuracy. In doing so, I will lay the groundwork for new insights into the contribution of human agency and climate change to the distribution of dryland trees and their role in mitigating degradation, climate change and poverty.

Keywords: drylands,ecosystem services,tree cover,deep learning,carbon stocks,savannas
Sustainable Low Impact Mining solution for exploitation of small mineral deposits based on advanced rock blasting and environmental technologies (SLIM)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Climate action, environment,  resource efficiency and raw materials
Theme: Ensuring the sustainable supply of non-energy and non-agricultural raw materials
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Austria,Austria,Spain,Spain,Spain,Austria,Spain,Sweden,France,Denmark
Call: New solutions for sustainable production of raw materials (H2020-SC5-2016-OneStageB, 2016)
Start date: 2016-11-01
End date: 2020-10-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 6979200.0
EU funding (EUR): 6979200.0
Participants: 14
Project status: CLOSED

The main economic, technological and environmental challenges of small mining include reducing high investment costs, reducing generation of waste and large tailings, identifying and addressing environmental impacts, and improving flexibility, automation and safety of operations. However, at the moment, there is no quick-fix available to reduce the environmental impact from mines, and it is neither realistic to expect production solutions very distant from today’s technologies. Considering that the present mining technology is based on rock blasting and mobile mining equipment for loading and transportation, the major challenge is to generate a new sustainable systemic solution that affects positively the relevant mining value chain. SLIM aims to develop a cost-effective and sustainable selective low impact mining solution based on non-linear rock mass fragmentation by blasting models, airborne particulate matter, vibration affections and nitrate leaching mitigation actions for exploitation of small mineral deposits (including those with chemically complex ore-forming phases) through a new generation of explosives and an advanced automatic blast design software based on improved rock mass characterisation and fragmentation models for optimum fragmentation and minimum rock damage and far-field vibrations. SLIM consortium is led by UPM (es), with LTU (se), MUL (at) and TUG (at) as Research Insitutions, 3GSM (at - Rock fragmentation and blasting software), MAXAM (es - Explosives), ORGIVA (es - Fluorite mine) and ERZBERG (at - Iron mine) and ARNO (es - Quarry) as validators in relevant environment. BRGM (fr), INVESTORNET (dk), MINPOL (at), and ZABALA (es) complement the Environmental and Economic assessments, the Communication and Dissemination activities and Social Awareness actions. SLIM addresses the following issue: a) Sustainable selective low impact mining (2016), it has a planned duration of 48 months and a budget of €6,979,200 requesting €6,979,200 of EU funding.

Keywords: small mining,complex ore,rock fragmentation,rock blasting,low impact mining