Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Induction of NEuromuscular Plasticity for natural motor rehabilitaTION (INcEPTION)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Systems and Communication Engineering
Panel description: Electrical, electronic, communication, optical and systems engineering
Countries involved: Italy
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2021-COG, 2021)
Start date: 2022-10-01
End date: 2027-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1999553.75
EU funding (EUR): 1999533.75
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Neurorehabilitation technologies aim to promote functional neural plasticity in patients suffering from neuromuscular disabilities. Non-invasive systems for the magnetic or electrical stimulation of the neural pathways are particularly promising for interfacing directly with the nervous system of the patients and restoring coordinated movements. Despise these potentials, current neurorehabilitation systems have still significant limitations since they usually employ stimulation protocols based on specific assumptions on cortical and spinal connectivity. An efficient way to overcome this problem will be to estimate neural adaptations during the rehabilitation procedure and optimize its parameters directly. The project INcEPTION aims to develop innovative methods to estimate patterns of neural connectivity from the decomposition of high-density surface EMG signals and induce reorganization of the connectivity of motoneuron populations innervating the main arm and shoulder muscles using magnetic and electrical stimulation of cortical and sensory pathways. The revolutionary concept of the project will be to “implant” a signature of motoneuron correlation to promote changes in neural connectivity and, therefore, functional recovery of movements in chronic stroke individuals and breast cancer survivors. The approach will provide the possibility to better understand the mechanisms of neuroplasticity in the central nervous system and define efficient stimulation protocols to re-establish natural connectivity in the motoneuron pools of patient individuals. By combining multi-disciplinary contributions from the fields of neurorehabilitation, computational neuroscience, biomedical signal processing, and neurophysiology, the project INcEPTION aims to produce substantial progress toward a better understanding of the adaptation mechanisms involved in the connectivity of spinal motor neurons and its use in the next generation of neurorehabilitation systems.

Keywords: high density surface emg,motor unit decomposition,neurorehabilitation,rtms,sensory stimulation,correlation,pathological synergies
Combining catalysts design and reactor engineering to enhance the electrochemical synthesis of ammonia (Eelctro-Ammonia)

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: Chemistry
Countries involved: Denmark
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-07-01
End date: 2024-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 230774.4
EU funding (EUR): 230774.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In 2020, the total global production of ammonia is up to 144 million metric tons via the Haber-Bosch process that is energy-intensive in that it requires a substantial driving force (e.g. 500 oC and 200 atm) to break the highly inert N-N triple bond, which consumes 1-2% of the world’s annual energy output and generates over 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions. The electrochemical nitrogen (N2) reduction reaction (NRR) has attracted much attention to circumvent the carbon-intensive Haber-Bosch process because of the decreasing renewable electricity prices. In contrast to the Haber-Bosch process that produces ammonia in large and centralized factories, the electrocatalytic route can achieve on-site ammonia synthesis in small-scale devices with the expectation to reduce the price of fertilizer and realize a neutral carbon footprint. However, electrochemical ammonia synthesis suffers from extremely low partial current density and Faradaic efficiency towards ammonia in aqueous conditions due to the competition of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). There are two challenges to NRR in aqueous conditions: (1) the HER competitive reaction is much faster than NRR in kinetics and the activation of N2 is therefore difficult, (2) low solubility of N2 in aqueous electrolytes. To overcome the challenges mentioned above, in this project, I aim to combine electrocatalysts design (i.e. suppress the HER and activate N2) and electrochemical reactor engineering (i.e. overcome the mass transport limits of N2) to improve the ammonia yield rates and current efficiency. Theory-guided preparation of singe-atom catalysts and diluted surface alloy will be performed in flow-cell/MEA electrolyzers (i.e. designed three different setups) to obtain a clear structure-activity relationship with the assistance of in-situ spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. The obtained structure-activity relationship could guide the rational development of high-performance catalysts for efficient NRR.

Keywords: electrochemical synthesis of ammonia,flow cell mea electrolyzers,single atom catalysts,diluted surface alloys
The pressure effects on magnetic properties of an ideal quasi-2D planar antiferromagnet BaNi2V2O8 at the base and finite temperatures (PRESSMAG)

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: Sweden
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-05-15
End date: 2024-05-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 222727.68
EU funding (EUR): 222727.68
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The pressure attracts noticeable attention in the field of condensed matter physics because it can modify magnetic and electronic properties of the compounds. The external pressure can induce both structural and magnetic phase transitions giving experimental access to novel magnetic phenomena. This makes pressure a promising tool to customize the magnetic properties of solid-state compounds both at the base and finite temperatures. However, no comprehensive study has been done so far on the investigation of the pressure effects on overall magnetic properties such as Hamiltonian, magnetic structure, and critical behavior of a model magnetic system. I address these issues in the PRESSMAG project which explores “the pressure effects on magnetic properties of an ideal quasi-2D planar antiferromagnet BaNi2V2O8 at the base and finite temperatures”. First, I will solve the magnetic structure and Hamiltonian of BaNi2V2O8 under applied pressures and then will study the critical behavior of BaNi2V2O8 under applied pressures using both neutron and x-ray scattering techniques. In particular, the PRESSMAG project will study for the first time the pressure effects on the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thousless phenomena, whose signatures were recently discovered in BaNi2V2O8. Finally, the small-angle-neutron-scattering technique will be used to image the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thousless vortices in vacuum and under applied pressure.

Keywords: honeycomb antiferromagnets,berezinskii kosterlitz thousless transition,long range magnetic order,correlation length,critical exponent
Form-Meaning Mappings in Language (FoMe)

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: Greece
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2025-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 153486.72
EU funding (EUR): 153486.72
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Mapping linguistic forms, such as the word ‘cat,’ to their corresponding meanings, such as the concept of a ‘cat,’ is a fundamental property of language. In an ideal scenario, this mapping occurs on a one-to-one basis, where each form uniquely corresponds to a specific meaning, and vice versa. However, there are instances where this neat one-to-one relationship breaks down, and a single form takes on multiple meanings. This intriguing phenomenon is the primary focus of the FOME-project. The central objective of the FOME-project is to delve into how native speakers articulate their thoughts, desires, regrets, and other cognitive nuances through clausal complementation. Specifically, the project aims to explore the intricate ways in which individuals indicate the extent to which their statements contain familiar or new information, established facts, or conjectures. This exploration will be grounded in two key approaches: (a) insights derived from studying microvariation in Modern Greek dialects and macrovariation across diverse languages, and (b) utilization of an array of methodological tools encompassing fieldwork, experimental research involving questionnaires, statistical analyses, and self-paced reading tasks, examination of diachronic syntax, and engagement with theoretical linguistics. Through this comprehensive investigation, the FOME-project seeks to illuminate critical questions. These questions encompass the intercomparability of different languages, the boundaries of human perception and cognition that can be encoded within grammatical structures, and the intricate pathways through which these aspects gradually evolve into grammatical forms.

Keywords: syntax,morphology,macrovariation,microvariation
Engineering Research Infrastructures for European Synergies (ERIES)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Research infrastructures
Theme: Research infrastructures
Destination: Services and infrastructures
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Italy,France,United Kingdom,Greece,Portugal,North Macedonia,Canada,Netherlands,Belgium
Call: Research infrastructures services advancing frontier knowledge (HORIZON-INFRA-2021-SERV-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-06-01
End date: 2026-05-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 10616226.6
EU funding (EUR): 10616225.0
Participants: 13
Project status: SIGNED

ERIES responds to the call INFRA-2021-SERV-01-07: Research infrastructure services advancing frontier knowledge with the overall objective of providing transnational access to advanced research infrastructures in the fields of structural, seismic, wind and geotechnical engineering. This project, together with the research infrastructure team assembled, provides access to leading experimental facilities that permit users to advance frontier knowledge and conduct curiosity-driven research towards: the reduction of losses and disruption due to these hazards; the management of their associated risk; and the development of innovative solutions to address them that will contribute to a greener and more sustainable society. To this end, ERIES will offer transnational access to the best European experimental facilities in each field, with new and unique infrastructures available for the first time in this programme, along with the provision of a key laboratory in North America. It also foresees a key contribution from the European Commission?s Joint Research Centre, as anticipated by the call. It integrates the successful results and implementation of the past infrastructure projects, such as SERIES and SERA, and expands access capabilities to new communities and disciplines which were not yet focused on in past projects. Its anticipated outcome is to provide authoritative input for diverse stakeholders, from Civil Protection agencies to the European seismic building code; develop future standards for experimental techniques in earthquake, wind and geotechnical engineering; and provide a platform from which European researchers can develop innovative solutions and testbed applications of next-generation technologies. With 12 beneficiaries from 8 countries, ERIES builds an important element toward the reduction of losses, management of risk, and overall a greener and more sustainable engineering future in Europe.

Keywords: research infrastructuresresearch infrastructures,experimental testing,innovation,earthquake engineering,wind engineering,geotechnical engineering,risk,loss,resilience,georesources,geohazards
The Quark-Gluon Plasma through Energy Correlators (QGPthroughEECs)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Fundamental Constituents of Matter
Panel description: Particle, nuclear, plasma, atomic, molecular, gas, and optical physics
Countries involved: France
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2024-STG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-07-01
End date: 2030-06-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499275.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499275.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) created in high-energy collisions of heavy nuclei at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is an exotic state of matter made of deconfined quarks and gluons, which behaves as a strongly-coupled fluid, with no discernible microscopic particle-like dynamics. Understanding how this strongly-coupled liquid emerges from matter which, at very short distances, is made of weakly-coupled partons stands as one of the paramount challenges in heavy-ion physics for the coming decade. To address this fundamental question, we must probe the QGP at varying resolution scales. QGPthroughEECs proposes an innovative approach to multi-scale microscopy of the QGP, based on examining the structure of the jets' energy flux deposited on the detectors, captured in a class of observables finding their origins in conformal field theories known as energy-energy correlators (EECs). N-point EECs look at the energy distribution of all combinations of N final particles within a jet as a function of their angular distances. Much like temperature correlations of the cosmic microwave background offer insights into the Universe's time evolution, the structure of EECs across their angular regimes gives access to the QGP dynamics at distinct length scales. By developing the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) first-principles framework for heavy-ion jets’ EECs and computing specific EECs sensitive to elusive QGP phenomena, this project aims to answer several long-standing questions about the QGP inner dynamics. These include quantifying the role of color decoherence, unveiling how the QGP modifies the QCD dead-cone effect, establishing compelling evidence of medium response, and determining the length scale at which the description of the QGP in terms of quasiparticles becomes valid. As the person who pioneered the application of EECs to heavy-ion physics and with broad expertise in jet quenching theoretical calculations, the PI is in a unique position to achieve these ambitious goals.

Keywords: heavy ion collisions,quark gluon plasma,jet quenching,lhc,energy correlators
Gene Therapy for treatment of rare inherited Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy (GEREMY-Hop On)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area
Programme: Widening participation and spreading excellence
Theme: Improved access to Excellence
Destination: Improved access to Excellence
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Netherlands,Portugal
Call: Hop on Facility (HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-ACCESS-06, 2023)
Duration (months): 23.0
Total project cost (EUR): 557890.0
EU funding (EUR): 557890.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

GEREMY aims to develop a gene therapy (GT) for inherited arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) by targeting disease-causing mutations in the PLN and PKP2 genes. The GEREMY consortium will explore various GT approaches and engineer disease models to establish preclinical proof-of-concept for therapeutic interventions. Leveraging the expertise in RNA splicing and CRISPR systems of iMM, the new Hop-on partner, the Hop-on project will expand the GEREMY’s projects goals through the addition of RNA base editing as a novel GT approach for ACM and new in vitro models for ACM splice site mutations. This CRISPR-based RNA-targeted strategy complements the ongoing GEREMY investigations, which include approaches such as gene delivery, gene editing, and the use of oligonucleotides. The Hop-on project further complements the ongoing GEREMY studies by targeting splice site mutations, thereby addressing a different genetic variation than those currently under investigation. An additional value of the Hop-on project will be the generation of human iPSC-derived cardiac cells that model ACM linked to splice site mutations in the PKP2 gene. These new in vitro models will complement the 2D and 3D cellular systems carrying the PKP2:c.2013Cdel mutation that are currently used in the GEREMY consortium. They will be utilized to assess the efficacy of the RNA base editing strategy, as well as the GT approaches developed by the consortium, including PKP2 cDNA supplementation. By integrating cutting-edge RNA splicing research (Table 1), the Hop-on project fits into the larger GEREMY objectives by contributing advanced techniques and insights that align with the consortium’s goal of developing innovative effective therapies for ACM and potentially other rare genetic diseases.

Keywords: rna splicing rna targeted therapy gene therapy rare cardiac diseases
Unraveling the etiology of congenital heart defects – The role of maternal genetics and cardiovascular disease as a risk factor (FINNPEDHEART)

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: Finland
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2022-STG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-07-01
End date: 2028-06-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1495845.0
EU funding (EUR): 1495845.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

One in a hundred infants is born with a congenital heart defect (CHD). Both genetic and environmental risk factors, such as maternal diabetes and obesity, are known to cause CHD, however, little is known about the disease mechanisms behind these risks. CHD can occur as an element of a syndrome, in conjunction with other anomalies, or as an isolated defect. I propose that there is an etiologically distinct “environmental CHD” subgroup, where in addition to the child’s genes, maternal genetics and gene expression play a major role in disease development. Moreover, I propose that in these cases the genetic risk profile predisposes the woman for both having offspring with CHD and having early onset atherosclerotic disease. My objective is to study how maternal genetics and maternal cardiovascular morbidity as an environmental risk contribute to the risk for having offspring with CHD. In addition, the multifactorial aetiology in terms of the presence of both risk factors, will be studied using a unique dataset available only in Finland. Three different substudies will be conducted: 1) Finnish national registers gathering health related information of all Finns from birth to death will be used to determine the presence of atherosclerosis and related traits, such as hypertension and coronary artery disease, in mothers who have offspring with CHD compared to those without (tot. N = 1 million). 2) Maternal genetic risk loci for having CHD in the offspring will be sought in the FinnGen study (tot. N = 0.5 million). 3) Maternal 1st trimester serum samples from pregnancies with and without CHD will be analysed to identify CHD associated biomarkers (tot. N = 3200). The study results will provide important information on how the combination of maternal genetic and environmental risk factors contribute to cardiac developmental defects during early pregnancy and offer new insights for future research on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of cardiac development.

Keywords: pediatric cardiology,congenital heart disease,genetics,biomarkers,obstetrics
COmplex media and METasurfaces for scalable and efficient photonic neural networks (CoMet)

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: Italy,France
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-12-01
End date: 2027-11-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 193643.28
EU funding (EUR): 193643.28
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

With the advent of large language models (e.g. ChatGPT), the use of artificial neural networks has become ubiquitous in our society. However, the energy consumption is currently doubling every two months, leading to an unsustainable growth. This is primarily caused by the extensive interconnectivity that characterizes neural networks’ hardware architecture, which are notably challenging and power-consuming to implement in electronics. Photonics offers a promising solution, enabling faster operations with significantly reduced energy consumption. Fully-connected layers are already available in several photonic platforms, including complex media, one of the applicant’s main areas of expertise. However, optics still lacks a fundamental building block for implementing neural networks with advanced learning capabilities: a nonlinear activation layer that is non-polynomial and able to cascade its signal to subsequent layers. This MSCA PF will focus on developing a thermo-optically reconfigurable nonlinear metasurface, designed to implement such nonlinear activation layer. With this innovative device, the COMET project will demonstrate that the combination of COmplex media and METasurfaces can provide a scalable, computationally powerful and efficient photonic neural network. The project will be conducted at Politecnico di Milano with Prof. Michele Celebrano, expert in nonlinear optics and metasurfaces. It will also include a secondment at Sorbonne Université, in Prof. Sylvain Gigan’s group, which specializes in complex media and their applications in photonic computing. The combined expertise of the applicant and the two host institutions will ensure that CoMet makes its unique contribution to the development of more efficient next-generation AI. The scientific excellence of CoMet, along with the experience gained during the PF, will greatly improve my chances of obtaining an ERC Starting Grant, or secure a tenure-track position to establish my own research group.

Keywords: metasurfaces nonlinear metasurfaces nonlinear optics thermo optically reconfigurable metasurfaces complex media photonic neuromorphic computing photonic neural networks random projections