Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Drug repurposing in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (REPANCAN)

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: Serbia
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2020-07-01
End date: 2022-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 140021.76
EU funding (EUR): 140021.76
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The main objective of the REPANCAN is to integrate Jelena Grahovac, PhD at the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia, as a leader of a project that will address an urgent unmet need for new treatment strategy for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). PDAC is one of the most lethal types of cancer in the world, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 5% and an increasing incidence rate. Research on PDAC is limited and progress in patient survival has not been made in the last 40 years. To circumvent the high costs and long development times for new oncological drugs, the REPANCAN project will use the drug repurposing concept and establish a novel use for a class of nischarin (NISCH) receptor agonists. NISCH receptor itself has been shown to be a tumor suppressor in breast cancer and its agonists hold promise for targeting several aspects of the PDAC pathology: cell invasiveness, survival, metabolism, and the microenvironment. To address the acute demand for novel PDAC therapy, the REPANCAN project will integrate the bioinformatic, molecular and cellular research with the retrospective patient study though 3 research objectives: 1) Examination of levels of NISCH in patient tumor samples and in vitro model systems, 2) Establishment of mechanisms by which clinically approved NISCH agonists can limit PDAC growth and 3) Retrospective analysis of effects of NISCH agonist treatment on PDAC progression in patients. To strengthen the competence of Dr Grahovac and use cutting edge technologies in REPANCAN, a secondment at Dr Peter Carmeliet’s laboratory at VIB-KU Leuven is planned. REPANCAN will establish a novel prognostic marker, novel drug target and a ground for repurposing of low-cost drugs proven to be safe in one of the most lethal and understudied types of cancer.

Keywords: pancreatic cancer,drug repurposing,nischarin,metabolism,microenvironment,ex vivo organ culture
Nutritional labelling software and claims: service, training and innovation offering to SMEs and industry in Europe (NASCENT)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Innovation in SMEs
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Belgium
Call: European SME innovation Associate - pilot (H2020-INNOSUP-02-2016, 2016)
Start date: 2017-09-01
End date: 2018-08-31
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 185000.0
EU funding (EUR): 185000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

From December 2016, the Food Information Regulations (EU 1169/2011; FIR) require all businesses selling pre-packed foods to include nutritional information on their labelling. This will have a dramatic effect on SMEs that, for the first time, will need to declare nutritional composition data for their products. Nutritional values can be obtained in several ways including direct analysis of the product, calculation using known nutritional data for the ingredients used, or calculation from generally established and accepted data. The aim of this proposal is to develop and extend a nutritional labelling software and claims service and training offering to SMEs and industry (including retailers) based on a pilot offering being developed in the UK/IE. This is a direct exploitation of research activities and expertise of EuroFIR especially in terms of food composition data available via FoodEXplorer, algorithms and standardization of recipe calculation software and strong SME networks. The extended service will provide an accredited nutritional labelling service for food producers using an existing developed software platform that will go beyond the automated services that are currently available on the market. Therefore the project is also expected to have a societal benefit to SMEs, which have limited resource and technical knowhow, and for whom the demands of complying with the changing legislation could be a tipping point for the ongoing success of their business. Also consumers will benefit from the provision of accurate, high quality nutritional information to help them choose more healthy foods. The funding is required to support the Innovation Associate, who work with 3rd Parties in IE, UK and IT to develop the procedures for the accreditation of the software system, business planning and scoping of strategic EU MS partners and the plan for a harmonised European data approach, and language translation for selected MS.

Keywords: nutritional labelling,software,training,innovation,smes
Functional Diversity of T cells (FunDiT)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy
Panel description: The immune system, related disorders and their mechanisms, biology of infectious agents and infection, biological basis of prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, innovative immunological tools and approaches, including therapies
Countries involved: Czechia
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2018-STG, 2018)
Start date: 2019-01-01
End date: 2023-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1725000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1725000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

T cells have a central role in most adaptive immune responses, including immunity to infection, cancer, and autoimmunity. Increasing evidence shows that even resting steady-state T cells form many different subsets with unique functions. Variable level of self-reactivity and previous antigenic exposure are most likely two major determinants of the T-cell diversity. However, the number, identity, and biological function of steady-state T-cell subsets are still very incompletely understood. Receptors to ligands from TNF and B7 families exhibit variable expression among T-cell subsets and are important regulators of T-cell fate decisions. We hypothesize that pathways triggered by these receptors substantially contribute to the functional diversity of T cells.The FunDiT project uses a set of novel tools to systematically identify steady-state CD8+ T cell subsets and characterize their biological roles. The project has three complementary objectives. (1) Identification of CD8+ T cell subsets. We will identify subsets based on single cell gene expression profiling. We will determine the role of self and foreign antigens in the formation of these subsets and match corresponding subsets between mice and humans. (2) Role of particular subsets in the immune response. We will compare antigenic responses of particular subsets using our novel model allowing inducible expression of a defined TCR. The activity of T-cell subsets in three disease models (infection, cancer, autoimmunity) will be characterized. (3) Characterization of key costimulatory/inhibitory pathways. We will use our novel mass spectrometry-based approach to identify receptors and signaling molecules involved in the signaling by ligands from TNF and B7 families in T cells. The results will provide understanding of the adaptive immunity in particular disease context and resolve long-standing questions concerning the roles of T-cell diversity in protective immunity and tolerance to healthy tissues and tumors.

Keywords: t cell heterogeneity
HYDROPOWER-EUROPE (HYDROPOWER-EUROPE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Secure, clean and efficient energy
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Germany,Spain,Spain,Germany,Belgium,Greece,France,France,France,United Kingdom
Call: Support to sectorial fora (H2020-LC-SC3-2018-Joint-Actions-3, 2018)
Start date: 2018-11-01
End date: 2022-02-28
Duration (months): 40.0
Total project cost (EUR): 993570.7
EU funding (EUR): 993570.2
Participants: 14
Project status: CLOSED

The transformation of Europe’s energy system creates both challenges and opportunities for the hydropower sector. Hydropower needs to seek out value within the electricity market aligned with other sources of renewable and sustainable energy, whilst operating and building plants in environmentally sensitive and acceptable ways. The call H2020 LC-SC3-CC-4-2018: “Support to sectorial fora”, item 2: “bringing together stakeholders of the hydropower sector in a forum” provides a unique opportunity to bring together the hydropower community and to develop a Research and Innovation Agenda, and a Technology Roadmap mapping implementation of that agenda. These will support implementation of research and innovation for new hydropower technologies and innovative mitigation measures. The HYDROPOWER-EUROPE project delivers these objectives through an extensive programme of stakeholder consultation. The consortium brings together six different associations and networks spanning the whole research and industry value chain. These networks, along with representatives of civil society and European and national authorities, will form the initial stakeholder consultation base. Through an extensive, cyclic programme of consultation – both online and through various regional, European and International workshops – research needs and priorities will be established supporting development of the Hydropower Research and Innovation Agenda. The consultation process also facilitates discussion around issues and perceptions affecting the implementation of hydropower in Europe. Conclusions from this will underpin development of the Technology Roadmap, addressing any issues affecting uptake of the research and innovation agenda. Finally, the HYDROPOWER-EUROPE project will also consider ways in which the forum, established through this initiative, may become sustainable beyond the 3-year project programme, so supporting uptake and implementation of the research and innovation agenda.

Keywords: renewable energy,hydropower,research,innovation,technology roadmap
Autonomous Discovery of Advanced Materials (ADAM)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Synergy grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Germany,United Kingdom,United Kingdom
Call: ERC Synergy Grant (ERC-2019-SyG, 2019)
Start date: 2020-10-01
End date: 2027-03-31
Duration (months): 78.0
Total project cost (EUR): 9999283.0
EU funding (EUR): 9999283.0
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

Materials impact most aspects of our lives, including healthcare, energy production, data storage and pollution control. However, the design of functional materials cannot be approached with the certainty and the engineering rules that would be used in planning and constructing a macroscopic object, such as a car or bridge. This is because of the limited scope for design that exists at the atomic scale: experimentally realizable materials must correspond to local minima on a complex, multidimensional energy surface, whose positions and depths are difficult to predict. This project will change the way that we discover new molecular materials by revolutionizing the exploration process, rather than focussing on rules for intuitive design. This will be achieved through a unique synergistic partnership between three principal investigators, bringing together an international leader in crystal structure modelling and prediction methods, an experimental chemist with a track record for inventing new classes of functional materials, and a pioneer in robotics for laboratory and process automation. The programme integrates state-of-the-art computation, experiment and robotics, building on joint breakthroughs from our team (Nature, 2011; Nature, 2017) that lay the groundwork for a transformation in our materials discovery capabilities. We will build a Computational Engine for evolutionary exploration of chemical space using crystal structure prediction and machine learning of structure-property relationships for the assessment of molecules. In parallel, we will develop an Experimental Engine for autonomous synthesis and properties testing using newly-developed, artificially-intelligent, mobile ‘robot chemists’. The vision of ADAM is to couple these two engines together, creating an autonomous discovery platform that amplifies human creativity by searching the vast, unexplored chemical space for new materials with step change properties.

Keywords: materials discovery,chemistry automation
Genomic and nutritional innovations for genetically superior farmed fish to improve efficiency in European aquaculture (AquaIMPACT)

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: Spain,Italy,Spain,Norway,Norway,Belgium,Finland,Norway,Finland,France,France,France,France,France,France,France,Netherlands,Netherlands,United Kingdom,United Kingdom,Portugal
Call: Sustainable European aquaculture 4.0: nutrition and breeding (H2020-BG-2018-1, 2018)
Start date: 2019-01-01
End date: 2023-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 6726811.39
EU funding (EUR): 6149963.14
Participants: 25
Project status: SIGNED

AquaIMPACT is a major effort to integrate the fields of fish breeding and nutrition to increase the competiveness of EU's aquaculture of Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, gilthead seabream and European seabass, to ensure food and nutrition security and to satisfy consumer demands for high-quality seafood with limited environmental impact. These four species together represent 75% in volume and 89% in value of the total farmed finfish production. AquaIMPACT will develop products and services based on genomic selection for the European aquaculture breeding industry, with focus on cost efficient trait recording and genotyping, and selection for traits that can only be recorded under commercial conditions. By incorporating emerging ingredients, essential nutrients and appropriate additives developed by companies, novel nutritional and feeding strategies will be up-scaled and tailor-made specifically for the genetically improved fish arising from breeding programmes. The use of genomic technologies will be economically optimised and in combination with the nutritional solutions demonstrated to produce more robust, healthy, nutritious and resource-efficient fish, promoting industrial practices of re-circular bioeconomy, zero-waste and more efficiency use of natural resources. Impacts of the innovations will be measured under practical farming conditions, co-working with commercial partners, producing more profitable farming practices. Developments in imaging technology and spectroscopy, internet-of-things, machine learning and smart-software are harnessed to improve cost efficiency of operations and to provide novel products and services. The communication and exploitation will be linked to interactive multi-actor dialogue, bringing together views of consumers, regulatory authors and companies to increase societal acceptance of aquaculture as a sustainable source of high quality nutritional products.

Keywords: atlantic salmon,rainbow trout,gilthead seabream,european seabass,animal genomics,fish nutrition,services,product development,profitability,environment,recircular bioeconomy,smart software
Finding noncoding cancer drivers (NONCODRIVERS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems
Panel description: Genetics, epigenetics, genomics and other ‘omics studies, bioinformatics, systems biology, genetic diseases, gene editing, innovative methods and modelling, ‘omics for personalised medicine
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2015-CoG, 2015)
Start date: 2016-12-01
End date: 2023-08-31
Duration (months): 81.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1995828.75
EU funding (EUR): 1995828.75
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Finding the mutations, genes and pathways directly involved in cancer is of paramount importance to understand the mechanisms of tumour development and devise therapeutic strategies to overcome the disease. Due to their role in cancer development and maintenance, the proteins encoded by cancer genes are candidate therapeutic targets. Indeed, in recent years we have witnessed the development of successful cancer-targeting therapies to counteract the effect of driver mutations. Although the coding part of the human genome has now largely been explored in the search for cancer driver mutations in most frequent cancer types, the extent of involvement of noncoding mutations in cancer development remains a mystery. The main challenges faced are: 1) the functional role of most noncoding regions is unknown, and 2) tumours often have thousands of somatic mutations, so that distinguishing cancer driver mutations from bystanders is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. To overcome these two challenges I propose to analyse the pattern of somatic mutations across thousands of tumours in noncoding regions to identify signals of positive selection. These signals are an indication that mutations in the region have been positively selected during tumour evolution and are thus directly involved in the tumour phenotype. The large scale analysis proposed here will allow us to create a catalogue of noncoding elements involved in different types of cancer upon mutations. We will study in detail a selected set of driver elements to uncover their specific function and role in the tumourigenic process. Furthermore, we will explore possibilities of counteracting their driver effect with targeted drugs. The results of this project may boost our understanding of the biological role of noncoding regions, help to unravel novel molecular causes of cancer and provide novel targeted therapeutic opportunities for cancer patients.

Keywords: cancer genes,non coding mutations,driver mutations,tumor somatic mutations,targeted drugs
Protein-based functional nanostructures (ProNANO)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Panel description: Biotechnology using all organisms, biotechnology for environment and food applications, applied plant and animal sciences, bioengineering and synthetic biology, biomass and biofuels, biohazards
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2014-CoG, 2014)
Start date: 2016-01-01
End date: 2022-06-30
Duration (months): 78.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1718849.99
EU funding (EUR): 1718849.99
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The precise synthesis of nano-devices with tailored complex structures and properties is a requisite for their use in nanotechnology and medicine. Nowadays, the technology for the generation of these devices lacks the precision to determine their properties, and is accomplished mostly by “trial and error” experimental approaches. Bottom-up self-assembly that relies on highly specific biomolecular interactions of small and simple components, is an attractive approach for nanostructure templating. Here, we propose to overcome aforementioned challenges by using self-assembling protein building blocks as templates for nanofabrication. In nature, protein assemblies govern sophisticated structures and functions, which are inspiration to engineer novel assemblies by exploiting the same set of tools and interactions to create nanostructures with numerous potential applications in synthetic biology and nanotechnology. We hypothesize that we can rationally assemble a variety functional nanostructures by the logical combination of simple protein building blocks with specified properties. We propose to use a designed repeat protein scaffold for which we acquired a deep understanding of its molecular structure, stability, function, and inherent assembly properties. Only few conserved residues define the structure of the building block, which allow us to mutate its sequence to modulate assembly properties and to introduce reactive functionalities without compromising the structure of the scaffolding molecule. First, we will design a collection of protein-based nanostructures. Then, we will introduce reactive functionalities to create hybrid nanostructures with nanoparticles, metals and electro-active molecules. Finally, these conjugates will be used to build nano-devices such as nanocircuits, catalysts and electroactive materials. The outcome of this project will be a modular versatile platform for the fabrication of multiple protein-based hybrid functional nanostructures.

Keywords: protein engineering,nanostructures,protein self assembly,functional hybrid materials,nanotechnology,molecular lego,protein scaffolds,bottom up fabrication
Construction of porous ionic liquids based on coordination cages (PIL)

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: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2019-10-03
End date: 2021-10-02
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 212933.76
EU funding (EUR): 212933.76
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The key objective of this fellowship proposal is to develop the first ever porous ionic liquid (PIL) at the molecular level and to explore their properties as Type I permanently porous liquids. Transition-metal coordination cages, in which organic ligands coordinate to metal cations to form a molecular capsule, will be used as scaffolds for permanently PIL. Such coordination cages have been developed by the Nitschke group. In the target PIL, the cations will be coordination cages and will thus contain an empty cavity. The strategy employed to synthesize permanently PIL will be functionalizing a task-specific coordination cages with imidazole cations together with the selection of proper anions in order to liquefy coordination cages at room temperature . The researcher will also explore the guest encapsulation properties of these new liquid capsules by monitoring guest uptake in neat permanently porous liquid.

Keywords: porous liquids,ionic liquids,coordiantion cages