Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Breaking resistance of pathogenic bacteria by chemical dysregulation (breakingBAC)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced 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: Germany
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2022-ADG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2028-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499785.0
EU funding (EUR): 2499785.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are on the rise and could trigger the next global pandemic. For some pathogens no treatment options are left, leading to steadily increasing death tolls. The limited scope of bacterial targets, all essential for growth, has favored resistance build-up whilst also being ineffective against non-growing persister cells. To overcome this threat, innovative concepts are required to effectively and sustainably kill bacteria via unprecedented mechanisms. My team and I tackle this challenge by deliberately going beyond established modes of action (MoA). To achieve this, we present breakingBAC: a three-tiered chemical strategy to dysregulate bacterial physiology. First, we will develop small molecule activators of crucial bacterial hydrolases to deregulate the degradation of proteins, leading to devastating physiological effects. Although enzyme stimulation has several advantages over inhibition, this concept is still in its infancy. We thus showcase principles of activator discovery and demonstrate their potency against diverse pathogens. Second, we recently discovered the complexation of free cellular heme by antibiotic isonitriles leading to a dysregulation of porphyrin biosynthesis and a corresponding induction of oxidative stress. Although these isonitriles are too large to access protein bound heme, we will tailor their structure to additionally target hemedependent enzymes of the stress response. The aim is to develop molecules bearing a dual MoA: a) stress induction and b) inhibition of stress response. Third, we will combine our learnings to create bifunctional compounds consisting of a hyperactivating protease recruiter linked to a bait which delivers the large class of essential heme-dependent enzymes for proteolysis. As these protein degraders are hyperactive, catalytic in nature, and specific for bacterial proteases, we anticipate potent antibiotic effects combined with low resistance frequencies and lack of human toxicity.

Keywords: antibiotics,antimicrobial resistance,proteolysis,small molecules,chemical proteomics
Integration of a novel direct air CApTure And uTiLisation sYStem for rEnewable fuel production (CATALYSE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Staff Exchanges
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Finland,United Kingdom,Nigeria,South Africa,Norway,China
Call: MSCA Staff Exchanges 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-SE-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-12-01
End date: 2028-11-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 483000.0
EU funding (EUR): 483000.0
Participants: 14
Project status: SIGNED

The proposed project, “CATALYSE”, will develop, and maintain long-term collaborations between Europe, China, South Africa, and Nigeria towards renewable dimethyl ether (DME) fuel production from CO2. This objective will be achieved through joint research in new process systems and material development in direct air capture (DAC) and utilisation. This requires skills and knowledge in experimental study, process modelling, analysis and optimisation, computational material design and catalysis which will be strengthened by the individual mobility of researchers between Europe and the participating countries. There are 14 partners involved in CATALYSE who are world-leading in their respective areas of which there are 3 industrial partners. CATALYSE will start in January 2025 for 48 months. There will be 25 experienced and 32 early-stage researchers to participate in 330 person-month exchange visits. A total of €1.52m funding is requested to support the planned exchange activities. The European partners are experts in process modelling and optimisation, process intensification, computational material design, catalysis, and CO2 utilisation while the Chinese partners are experts in process intensification, green hydrogen production and DAC. The South African partners are experts in DAC and sustainability assessments while the Nigeria partners are experts in renewable energy and green hydrogen production. Knowledge transfer and training will take place through the planned secondments. We will generate at least 30 Journal publications and 30 conference papers. In addition, 2 Special Issues will be published in leading journals such as Applied Energy, 2 Workshops and 2 Special Sessions at major international conferences will be organised to disseminate project results.
Live imaging module for organoids (LiveOrg)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: France
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS (ERC-2023-POC, 2023)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2025-06-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The increased use of organoids (22% growth rate market) creates a new need: methods of rapid high throughput screening of the organoids for quality control in the case where they are to be used as graft tissues or in drug screening trials, while at the same time not damaging the organoids so that they may be used for graft, or followed up long term for therapy efficacy evaluation or disease modeling applications. Current imaging methods for organoids do not meet this need as they are invasive and cause damage to the sample. Our team of experts in optics and biology propose a modular solution to live image 2D and 3D cell models with an unprecedented resolution and without use of any kind of marker over a multiple week time span. Dynamic Full Field Optical Coherence Tomography (DFFOCT) is a non-invasive, 3D, label free, live, long term, high resolution, modular imaging system, for which we own two patents. It is an interferometric technique where the image contrast is generated by movements of subcellular organelles such as mitochondria, producing a quantitative colormap linked to cell activity. The present Proof of Concept project “LiveOrg” seeks to valorise the live imaging method developed for retinal organoids in ERC Consolidator “Optoretina”, and disseminate this technology to a wide audience outwith the retina, including cancer, neurology, gastroenterology, hematology, and development. The LiveOrg project specifically aims to consolidate the team by hiring an engineer dedicated to design, construction and installation of DFFOCT modules; duplicate the DFFOCT module; install the modules at KOL sites; and acquire and analyse data with these modules in concertation with the KOLs to disseminate results. Thanks to this project, we anticipate that we may attract interest from investors which would allow us to create a startup, and potentially from known microscope manufacturers who could distribute our modules, or to whom we could license our patents.
Tipping of the Atlantic Ocean Circulation (TAOC)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Earth System Science
Panel description: Physical geography, geo logy, geophysics, atmospheric sciences, oceanography, climatology, cryology, ecology, global environmental change, biogeochemical cycles, natural resources management
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2021-ADG, 2021)
Start date: 2022-10-01
End date: 2027-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The Atlantic Ocean Circulation, in particular its zonally averaged component called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), is one of the tipping elements in the climate system. The AMOC is sensitive to freshwater perturbations and may undergo a transition to a climate disrupting state within a few decades under continuing greenhouse gas emissions. The potential climate impacts of such a collapse are enormous and hence reliable estimates of the probability of its occurrence before the year 2100, central within TAOC, are crucial information for policy makers. There are several important challenges to provide such estimates of transition probabilities, to determine the climate impacts of an AMOC collapse and to predict the occurrence of such an event. We will develop novel computational methodology to determine transition probabilities between equilibrium states in a hierarchy of climate models, which is the computational challenge in TAOC. Application of these techniques will lead to estimates of AMOC transition probabilities versus observable quantities and to transition paths, being the climate dynamics challenge in TAOC. The climate modeling challenge in TAOC is to simulate an AMOC collapse in one of the state-of-the-art climate models under at least one scenario of climate change. Finally, a skillful prediction scheme for future AMOC behavior will be developed, using traditional and novel observable precursors based on transition paths, which is the climate prediction challenge in TAOC. TAOC will advance the field of climate dynamics by providing (i) novel computational techniques to study probabilities of tipping phenomena in a hierarchy of climate models and (ii) novel scientific knowledge on the vulnerability of the AMOC under future climate change.

Keywords: ocean circulation,climate tipping,predictability,transition probability
Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Soil Organic Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Balance (MRV4SOC)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Mission
Theme: Soil health and food
Destination: Soil health and food
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Spain,Belgium,Greece,Israel,Czechia,Netherlands,Italy,France,Norway,Germany
Call: Monitoring, reporting and verification of soil carbon and greenhouse gases balance (HORIZON-MISS-2022-SOIL-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-06-01
End date: 2026-05-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 6999966.25
EU funding (EUR): 6999965.75
Participants: 21
Project status: SIGNED

MRV4SOC aims at designing a comprehensive, robust, and cost-effective Tier 3 approach, accounting for changes in as many C pools as possible, to estimate GHG and full C budgets, coupling C and N cycles, quantify Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) accumulation, and assess the results of traditional management practices and C farming. The main challenges addressed in MRV4SOC are: i) monitoring changes in SOC accumulation due to climate change and socio-economic pressures; ii) accounting for C and N cycles in full C budgets; iii) development of scientifically-sound, standard, and transparent Tier 3 methodology at different scales, iv) implementation of high-quality in-situ and RS data for testing methods and scale-up purposes; iv) standardisation of Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification schemes to ensure transparency, robustness, and cost-effectiveness; and v) a lack of trust in Voluntary Carbon Markets. To overcome these challenges, MRV4SOC will develop 6 specific objectives, which will be measurable, verifiable, and monitored through KPIs pointing at specific targets. MRV4SOC proposes a comprehensive 3-year work plan that ranges from the assessment of C pools in 9 land use/ land cover classes located in 14 Demonstration Sites (DS); to the potential integration of the approacMRV4SOC aims at designing a comprehensive and robust Tier 3 approach accounting for changes in as many C pools as possible (above-ground biomass, below ground-biomass, litter, dead wood, soil organic carbon, and harvested wood products) fully aligned with national GHG reporting. MRV4SOC seeks to develop solutions applicable for different spatio- temporal scales and climate change scenarios and validated for a wide variety of ecosystems in arid, temperate, and continental climate zones in collaboration with local stakeholders. The proposed approach will help establish reliable and transparent C farming credits within a cost-effective monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) methodological framework.

Keywords: soil mrv,soc,carbon farming,carbon removals verification,standardise tier 3 methodologies,carbon markets,carbon farming social economic impact,soil living labs innovative technologies for soc a
Twinning for Excellence in Research, Training and Innovation in Protein Misfolding Diseases (Twin4Promis)

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: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Greece,Belgium,Denmark,United Kingdom
Call: Twinning (HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ACCESS-03, 2021)
Start date: 2022-11-01
End date: 2026-10-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1201375.0
EU funding (EUR): 1201375.0
Participants: 4
Project status: SIGNED

Protein misfolding diseases (PMDs) are a large group of human disorders caused by protein misfolding and include serious conditions with high socio-economic impact, such as Alzheimer’s disease, systemic amyloidosis, obesity, cystic fibrosis, retinitis pigmentosa and type 2 diabetes. The vast majority of them remain incurable so there is currently a great need for the development of effective therapeutics against them. Among the >70 known PMDs, about one third occur due to the misfolding of integral membrane proteins (MPs). MPs, however, are notoriously difficult to overexpress, isolate and study, both biochemically and structurally, thus constituting particularly challenging targets for therapeutic intervention with only few lead molecules in (pre)clinical pipelines. Furthermore, the scientific community involved in PMDs remains fragmented, with the majority of research targeting soluble proteins and only a small, rather isolated, sub-community focusing on misfolding-prone MPs. The National Hellenic Research Foundation has been exploiting the power of synthetic biology to develop efficient technologies targeting the misfolding of both soluble and membrane proteins. The coordinator wishes to build on these initial successes to partner with three prominent centers in PMD and synthetic biology research in order to establish a new excellence hub in research, training and innovation in PMDs and consolidate the scientific community in this field. Through this process, it will acquire a position among the leaders in the field of PMDs and converge with the most advanced institutions in terms of the quality of scientific data it produces, number of top-tier of scientific papers it publishes, amount of funding it secures from competitive sources, efficiency with which it trains its young scientists and contributes to their career development, the way it communicates the results of its research activity and converts them to tangible outcomes for high-tech entrepreneurship and the society.

Keywords: protein mifolding diseases,chemical rescuers of protein misfolding,combinatorial cyclic peptide libraries,membrane proteins,g protein coupled receptors,synthetic biology
Machine-learned Atomic Descriptors combined with TENSOR Networks unlocks predictive computational design of alloys (MAD-TENSOR)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Materials Engineering
Panel description: Advanced materials development: performance enhancement, modelling, large -scale preparation, modification, tailoring, optimisation, novel  and combined use of materials, etc.
Countries involved: Austria
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2025-STG, 2025)
Start date: 2026-01-01
End date: 2030-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1498705.0
EU funding (EUR): 1498705.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Metallic alloys form the backbone of modern infrastructure and technology in our society. Hence, alloys must be understood, not only by their macroscopic behavior, but rather through consideration of the interactions between many length scales, from angstroms to meters. In general, understanding cannot be developed by experiments alone, beyond observations of snapshots, but must be combined with atomistic simulations that can provide a deeper understanding of the nanoscale mechanisms that govern the dynamics observed in experiments. Machine-learning potentials (MLIPs) have been a breakthrough for providing the quantitative accuracy of quantum mechanics to atomistic simulations, required to predict the correct mechanisms. However, developing a universal MLIP that is quantitative over the whole composition space has thus far not been achieved. Current available approaches lack either computational efficiency or accuracy. Another breakthrough is required. To address these challenges, I propose to develop a novel architecture for potentials, equivariant tensor networks (ETNs), based on low-rank representations of high-dimensional tensors to reduce the number of parameters in approximating multidimensional functions. The two distinguishing features of ETNs that are key for developing predictive universal potentials are (i) high-dimensional convolutions represented using low-rank tensor networks, (ii) their factorization into small, equally-sized, but highly repetitive, operations which are lucrative for massive parallelization on modern HPC architectures, such as GPUs. Moreover, ETNs will allow to solve two additional urgent problems: (a) efficiently adding magnetic degrees freedom to the MLIP's functional form to compute magnetic properties with atomistic simulations, (b) the creation of an "averaged" ETN potential that allows to compute material properties of random alloys without requiring sampling over thousands of simulations of the true random alloy.

Keywords: atomistic simulations machine learning potentials tensor networks crystalline defects magnetic alloys random alloys
Taxonomy and azole resistance in Aspergillus section Flavi (TARAF)

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: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-10-01
End date: 2026-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 187624.32
EU funding (EUR): 187624.32
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The project on taxonomy and azole resistance in Aspergillus section Flavi aims to investigate the classification and drug resistance patterns of fungal species within this specific section. Aspergillus section Flavi comprises various species known to produce carcinogenic aflatoxins, posing significant risks to human and animal health. The project involves taxonomic studies to accurately identify and classify different species within Aspergillus section Flavi. This classification is essential for understanding the diversity and distribution of these fungi, as well as their specific traits and potential virulence factors. Another crucial aspect of the project is the investigation of azole resistance in Aspergillus section Flavi. Azoles are commonly used antifungal drugs for treating Aspergillus infections. However, reports of azole resistance in certain Aspergillus species have raised concerns. Understanding the mechanisms behind azole resistance is crucial for developing effective treatment strategies and identifying potential targets for drug development. The project involves molecular analysis techniques to detect and characterize genetic mutations or other mechanisms associated with azole resistance in Aspergillus section Flavi. Additionally, it may involve assessing the clinical impact of azole resistance on patient outcomes and exploring potential risk factors for the development and spread of resistant strains. By combining taxonomic studies with investigations into azole resistance, the project aims to enhance our understanding of the diversity, distribution, and drug resistance profiles of Aspergillus species within section Flavi. This knowledge can ultimately contribute to improved diagnostic methods, treatment approaches, and public health strategies to mitigate the impact of these fungal infections.

Keywords: taxonomy,azole resistance,aspergillus
Optimal algorithms and data structures for decomposing graphs by small cuts and separators (KCONN)

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: Mathematics
Countries involved: Denmark
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-04-01
End date: 2027-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 247553.28
EU funding (EUR): 247553.28
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Graphs are structures consisting of vertices (points) and edges (lines connecting pairs of points). Graphs can model systems such as road networks (intersections connected by roads), social networks (people connected by friendships), and the internet (computers connected by data links). The design of efficient algorithms for processing graphs is a classic area in computer science. However, there are still fundamental graph problems for which optimal algorithms remain undiscovered. This project aims to design optimal algorithms and data structures for solving graph problems related to finding small cuts or separators and decomposing graphs accordingly. A basic example of a graph problem where I aim to advance the state-of-the-art is: Given a graph, determine whether it can be disconnected by removing at most 10 edges. The best-known algorithm runs in near-linear O(n log n + m) time, while the goal of this project is to obtain a linear-time O(n+m) algorithm, which is optimal. The specific number 10 is not important; rather, the goal is to develop a linear-time algorithm for any fixed value, in the spirit of parameterized algorithms. The research objectives are (1) to develop a linear-time algorithm for computing the k-edge-connected components of a graph, (2) to create an improved dynamic data structure for treewidth, and (3) to design a linear-time preprocessing algorithm for computing treewidth. Objective (1) addresses a long-standing open problem in graph algorithms, while objectives (2) and (3) will significantly advance the state-of-the-art in key problems within parameterized algorithms. I believe I have identified a feasible approach to tackling these problems, introducing new techniques from structural graph theory into algorithm design. Solving a key open problem in graph algorithms using tools from parameterized algorithms and structural graph theory will unify these fields and expand my professional network, significantly enhancing my career prospects.

Keywords: graph algorithms,parameterized algorithms,dynamic algorithms,graph theory,k edge connected components,treewidth,unbreakable tree decompositions,tangles