Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Application of Metal Oxide Semiconductors in Photocatalysis (MOSPhotocat)

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: Chemistry
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-07-16
End date: 2020-07-15
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 177598.8
EU funding (EUR): 177598.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Recently, visible light photoredox catalysis has come to the focal point of the organic synthetic field and holds promise to use solar irradiation to establish important chemical bonds in the synthesis of complex organic molecules. However, most reports thus far use transition metal complexes based on rare and expensive iridium and ruthenium. In this Marie Curie proposal, metal oxide semiconductors (MOS) will be applied as abundant and cheap visible light photocatalysts to establish C-C and C-N linkages in organic molecules in batch and photomicroflow reactors. To extend their absorption to the visible light range, I will study the formation of so-called ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) complexes with different adsorbates/ligands covalently linked to the surface of the MOS. The effect of linkers, ligands, different organic solvents, concentrations, as well as reaction times will be studied in the formation of these complexes. The LMCT complexes will be fully characterized with spectroscopic techniques. Next, these new photocatalysts will be evaluated in valuable C-C and C-N forming organic reactions. Furthermore, mechanistic studies will be carried out to aid the discovery process and to further optimize the photocatalysts. Finally, the reactions will be carried out in continuous-flow reactors to increase the efficiency of the photocatalytic transformation. Hereto, a slurry Taylor flow regime will be used and a recycling strategy will be developed to efficiently reuse the photocatalyst. We will also use so-called Luminescent Solar Concentrator PhotoMicroreactors (LSC-PM) to enable the use of solar energy. During this fellowship, I aim to strengthen both my scientific and soft skills required to start an independent researcher career. In addition, I intend to expand my scientific network by starting collaborations with leading experts in both academia and industry.

Keywords: flow chemistry,photoredox catalysis,metal oxide semiconductors,microreactors
New Reagents for Quantifying the Routing and Kinetics of T-cell Activation (KineTic)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Panel description: New materials and new synthetic approaches, structure-properties relations, solid state chemistry, molecular architecture, organic chemistry
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2019-COG, 2019)
Start date: 2020-08-01
End date: 2026-01-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2000000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The activation of The activation of cytotoxic T-cells (CTLs) marks the key step in the adaptive immune response against cancer and viral infections. Vaccines that activate the CTL-response against tumours are currently hotly pursued, with those targeting tumour-specific mutations now reaching the clinic. However, the capacity of these vaccines to actually activate CTLs is low and rational design improvements are needed to broaden their application. For this, better in vivo knowledge on the processes leading to CTL-activation is needed. CTLs are activated by dendritic cells. These cells take up the vaccine, and process it to 8-10-mer peptides for presentation to CTLs on MHC-I complexes. A process called cross-presentation. In this proposal, I aim to quantify key unknowns of this pathway, relating to its kinetics and the subcellular route a vaccine takes to reach the MHC-loading site. I will: a) Quantify the kinetics of peptide-MHC appearance, persistence and disappearance, in vivo using vaccines carrying bioorthogonal protecting/blocking groups that allow me to chemically activate, and stop, the recognition by CTLs in time. b) I will also study the sub-cellular route(s) the vaccine antigens take in vivo, by developing a second family deprotection and blocking reagents that are targeted to specific organelles. This localised vaccine activation (or de-activation) will allow me to study the different proposed subcellular routes of the antigen in isolation and assess the importance of the many proposed subcellular routes in vivo to overall cross-presentation success. The kinetic and routing information obtained from this new set of reagents, will allow me to shed light on some of the key unknowns relating to cross-presentation in vivo, and assess their importance to the success of CTL-activation. By using vaccine-models closely related to existing cancer vaccines, these data will in turn serve to support the rational design of better anti-tumour vaccines.

Keywords: bioorthogonal chemistry,bioorthogonal deprotection chemistry,antigen cross presentation,synthetic long peptide vaccination,inverse electron demand diels alder,click to release
Inferring Past Human Diets through a three-fold approach: Dental Microwear, micro-residues within Dental Calculus and Erosion Patterns of the Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) (TRI-DENTUM)

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: Switzerland
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2021-02-01
End date: 2023-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 191149.44
EU funding (EUR): 191149.44
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Identifying past human diets is a key to understanding biological changes and cultural adaptations of Homo sapiens. A variety of proxies are generally considered to reconstruct ancient and historic nutrition, mostly recovered from osteological samples. Teeth are often subject to research, as they directly relate to mastication. Dental microwear is a direct evidence of differential masticatory regimes, while dental calculus may retain micro-residues of the food ingested. Yet, only a few studies have proposed the combination of dental microwear and analysis of dental calculus. Even more rarely, such data have been contextualized in the masticatory apparatus. The TRI-DENTUM project aims to investigate past human diet from an evolutionary perspective. It is multidisciplinary in scope, as it involves archaeology, biology, dentistry and evolutionary medicine. It explores the possibility of developing innovative methodological approaches to infer past human diets from the examination of osteological specimens. The diet of selected individuals recovered from a medieval German cemetery and the Canton of Zurich’s archaeological collection will be reconstructed through an original, three-fold approach. Three independent analyses are considered: dental microwear, extraction of micro-residues from dental calculus and evaluation of radiological osteoarthritis signs in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). While working on the project, the researcher will acquire new skills in bioarchaeology and evolutionary medicine at the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine (IEM) (Zurich, Switzerland). TRI-DENTUM will foster advancements within archaeology, being therefore transformational to the field, as it will allow approaching past human diet with an innovative and holistic approach. Hence, the methodology designed herein will be applicable in the future to varied geographical areas and chronological periods to respond to specific questions related to the evolution of the human diet.

Keywords: dental microwear,dental calculus,temporomandibular joint,human diet
Robot-induced Error Augmentation for improving pre-gait and gait rehabilitation in stroke survivors (WALKEr)

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: Germany
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-10-01
End date: 2017-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 159460.8
EU funding (EUR): 159460.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Robotic assisted gait training (RAGT) for stroke rehabilitation is promising but it has not met the expectations of the clinical community yet. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach, but, as now, RAGT has not been demonstrated to be superior to standard gait training. The research community is thus focusing on developing novel training methodologies for RAGT in order to fully exploit its potential. Emphasis has been given to training methodologies that promote and maximize the active participation of the patients. The Error Augmentation (EA) paradigm has been successfully developed and proved effective for the upper limbs. In the EA paradigm, perturbations are used to amplify the movement error of the patient in a way that induces a compensatory motor plan that rejects the augmented error. This approach has been applied to the lower limbs by means of split-belt treadmill training, where the speeds of the belt are set in order to amplify gait asymmetries and promote an adaptation toward a less asymmetric gait pattern. However, EA has not been applied in RAGT. Its implementation in RAGT can extend the target of this therapy to several other gait parameters. In WALKEr we plan to develop the EA paradigm on both a robotic ankle device and a six degrees of freedom (DoFs) exoskeleton for gait rehabilitation. Both developments will then be tested on healthy subjects and chronic stroke survivors to assess the potential of this technique in improving motor adaptations, motor learning and rehabilitation.

Keywords: rehabilitation,robotics,error augmentation,motor adaptations
Mineral Weathering in Thawing Permafrost: Causes and Consequences (WeThaw)

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: Belgium
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2016-STG, 2016)
Start date: 2017-09-01
End date: 2022-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1999985.0
EU funding (EUR): 1999985.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Enhanced thawing of the permafrost in response to warming of the Earth’s high latitude regions exposes previously frozen soil organic carbon (SOC) to microbial decomposition, liberating carbon to the atmosphere and creating a dangerous positive feedback on climate warming. Thawing the permafrost may also unlock a cascade of mineral weathering reactions. These will be accompanied by mineral nutrient release and generation of reactive surfaces which will influence plant growth, microbial SOC degradation and SOC stabilisation. Arguably, weathering is an important but hitherto neglected component for correctly assessing and predicting the permafrost carbon feedback. The goal of WeThaw is to provide the first comprehensive assessment of the mineral weathering response in permafrost regions subject to thawing. By addressing this crucial knowledge gap, WeThaw will significantly augment our capacity to develop models that can accurately predict the permafrost carbon feedback. Specifically, I will provide the first estimate of the permafrost’s mineral element reservoir which is susceptible to rapidly respond to enhanced thawing, and I will assess the impact of thawing on the soil nutrient storage capacity. To determine the impact of increased mineral weathering on mineral nutrient availability in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in permafrost regions, the abiotic and biotic sources and processes controlling their uptake and release will be unraveled by combining novel geochemical techniques, involving the non-traditional silicon, magnesium and lithium stable isotopes, with soil mineral and physico-chemical characterisations. I posit that this groundbreaking approach has the potential to deliver unprecedented insights into mineral weathering dynamics in warming permafrost regions. This frontier research which crosses disciplinary boundaries is a mandatory step for being able to robustly explain the role of mineral weathering in modulating the permafrost carbon feedback.

Keywords: weathering,mineral nutrient,permafrost,thaw,soil science,isotope geochemistry,soil plant,element fluxes to rivers,climate change,element biogeochemical cycle,silicon,magnesium,lithium isotopes
Modeling the European power sector evolution: low-carbon generation technologies (renewables, CCS, nuclear), the electric infrastructure and their role in the EU leadership in climate policy (MERCURY)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Global Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Economic Sciences
Countries involved: Italy,United States
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-GF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2017-01-16
End date: 2019-01-15
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 164203.8
EU funding (EUR): 164203.8
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is a vital target for the coming decades. From a technology perspective, power generation is the largest responsible for CO2 emissions, therefore great mitigation efforts will be required in this area. From a policy perspective, it is common opinion that the European Union is and will remain leader in implementing clean policies. Basing on these considerations, the power sector and the European Union will be the two key actors of this project. The main tool adopted in this work will be WITCH, the integrated assessment model developed at Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM). The description of the power generation sector in WITCH is quite detailed, but needs to be integrated, especially as far as the electric infrastructure downstream the power generation system is concerned. In the first half of the project, developed at the outgoing host, the modeling of the electric sector will thus be completed and refined. In particular, four main aspects need to be assessed: i) system integration (i.e. the issues related to the non-negligible penetration of intermittent renewables in the grid), ii) electricity storage, iii) electrical grid, and iv) electricity trade. In the second half of the project, developed at the return host, the improved WITCH model will be employed in scenario assessment calculations. Firstly, the prospects in Europe of renewables, CCS and nuclear will be analysed. In particular, attention will be focused not so much on the pure technology aspects, but rather on policy issues such as the role of incentives in renewable diffusion, the slow CCS deployment, or the effects of the nuclear reactors ageing, or of their phaseout. Secondly, the focus will move on assessing the role of these technologies (and the consequent evolution of the electric infrastructure) according to different mitigation scenarios, and in particular considering different levels of global participation in EU-led climate mitigation.

Keywords: european union,climate policy,power generation,renewable energy,nuclear energy,system integration,electricity storage,electrical grid,electricity trade
Quantum Networks in Space-Time (QuNeS)

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: Physics
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2021-01-01
End date: 2022-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 212933.76
EU funding (EUR): 212933.76
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Quantum theory usually assumes that the order in which events occur is fixed: given two events A and B, either A is in the causal past of B, A is in the causal future of B, or A and B are causally disconnected. This suggests some intriguing questions: What happens if we apply the laws of quantum mechanics to the causal order itself? Can we describe quantum physics when the usual notion of a causal structure becomes “fuzzy”? What kind of phenomena and information processing features can we expect in this scenario? Such questions are likely to be relevant for the phenomena expected in a theory of quantum gravity, and for the information theoretic power of such a theory. Recently, physicists working on quantum foundations have developed compositional frameworks for quantum mechanics on indefinite causal structures, starting to shed light on these questions. Up to now, the frameworks rely on abstract Hilbert space constructions, and there is no clear connection between this approach and other approaches to space-time physics. The goal of the present proposal is to make such a connection. Specifically, QuNeS will 1) Formulate an operational and compositional framework for quantum theory with indefinite causal structure where a notion of space-time appears explicitly. The formulation will include a detailed understanding of the symmetries of space-time quantum networks, and the treatment of quantum fields as systems under study. 2) Explore information-theoretic advantages implied by the framework. 3) Study the realization of indefinite causal structures. This study will include the possible gravitational origin of the realization, for example through the entanglement of gravitating quantum clocks. QuNeS will combine the researcher's experience on quantum clocks and dynamics of causal structures together with the host's expertise in compositional quantum theory and quantum foundations to reach a deeper understanding of causality and locality in quantum mechanics.

Keywords: quantum causality,relativistic quantum information,interplay between quantum mechanics and gravity,quantum foundations,quantum information,diagramatic quantum mechanics
Uncovering the roles of 5′UTRs in translational control during early zebrafish development (devUTRs)

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: Switzerland
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2021-09-01
End date: 2023-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 191149.44
EU funding (EUR): 191149.44
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Following fertilisation, metazoan embryos are transcriptionally silent, and embryogenesis is controlled by maternally deposited factors. Developmental progression requires the synthesis of new mRNAs and proteins in a coordinated fashion. Many posttranscriptional mechanisms regulate the fate of maternal mRNAs, but it is less understood how translational control shapes early embryogenesis. In eukaryotes, translation starts at the mRNA 5′ end, consisting of the 5′ cap and 5′ untranslated region (UTR). Protein synthesis is primarily regulated at the translation initiation step by elements within the 5′UTR. However, the role of 5′UTRs in regulating the dynamics of mRNA translation during vertebrate embryogenesis remains unexplored. For example, all vertebrate ribosomal protein (RP) mRNAs harbor a conserved terminal oligopyrimidine tract (TOP) in their 5′UTR. RP levels must be tightly controlled to ensure proper organismal development, but if and how the TOP motif mediates RP mRNA translational regulation during embryogenesis is unclear. Overall, we lack a systematic understanding of the regulatory information contained in 5′UTRs. In this work, I aim to uncover the 5′UTR in vivo rules for mRNA translational regulation during zebrafish embryogenesis. I propose to apply imaging and biochemical approaches to characterise the role of the TOP motif in RP mRNA translational regulation during embryogenesis and identify the trans-acting factor(s) that bind(s) to it (Aim 1). To systematically assess the contribution of 5′UTRs to mRNA translational regulation during zebrafish embryogenesis, I will couple a massively parallel reporter assay of 5′UTRs to polysome profiling (Aim 2). By integrating the translational behaviour of 5′UTR reporters throughout embryogenesis with sequence-based regression models, I anticipate to uncover novel cis-regulatory elements in 5′UTRs with developmental roles.

Keywords: regulation of mrna translation,top motif,5 utr,zebrafish embryogenesis,in vivo massively parallel reporter assay
AI-based autonomous flight control for the aircraft of today and electric VTOLs of tomorrow (Raven)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Innovation in SMEs
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call: SME instrument (H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020-3, 2019)
Start date: 2019-11-01
End date: 2021-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3192812.5
EU funding (EUR): 2234968.75
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

We are developing Raven—a novel AI autonomous flight control system. Raven is an airframe-agnostic solution targeted at fly-by-wire aircraft of today (fixed-wing airplanes & helicopters) & tomorrow (eVTOLs & others). It is a combination of custom-designed neural networks, core avionics software, computer vision algorithms & special-purpose aviation-grade hardware. We are developing a special kind of neural networks that are deterministic by design, built specifically for the purposes of certification in aviation. They learn while they are getting trained, they don’t learn when they are piloting aircraft. They run in the dedicated environment & on certifiable hardware that we are creating. This is a major innovation over the generic state-of-the-art in AI. Airbus forecasts that the potential demand for eVTOLs in the urban air mobility market will be 100X bigger its current yearly production of helicopters. This market can only grow with full flight autonomy provided by Raven. We have raised €4m+ of funding & already generated €110,000 in early revenues. Our current deal pipeline is worth €2m. As of May 2019 we have signed agreements with 14 most prominent eVTOL OEMs (out of 85+) & have been approached by dozens of others. We are already working with high-profile eVTOL manufacturers such as Volocopter, Lilium Aviation, Kitty Hawk, Dufour Aerospace & multiple others. We also have closed commercial agreements with the avionics vendors, drone OEMs & traditional aircraft OEMs such Euroavionics, AirTractor & Airbus Helicopters. We have also entered a strategic commercial partnership with a major German car manufacturer that wants to enter the eVTOL market & sees Raven as the key enabling solution. Starting with 2020 we forecast steady cashflows with the drones & existing general aviation market segments. To reach a unicorn valuation we are betting on the urban air mobility market segment.

Keywords: autonomous flight control,urban air mobility,drones,evtol,computer vision