Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Artificial molecular machines in membranes: transmembrane relays for ion transport, catalysis and cargo pumping (RELAYMACHINE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — 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: United Kingdom
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2024-COG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-04-01
End date: 2030-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1999004.0
EU funding (EUR): 1999004.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

This program will develop artificial molecular machines confined within lipid bilayer membranes, to control transmembrane transport and catalysis in cellular systems. Molecular machines are ubiquitous in nature. At the heart of many biological processes are protein machines confined within biological membranes, which drive non-equilibrium transmembrane ion pumping via the consumption of chemical fuels. Biology has evolved to utilise the controlled nanomechanical motion of molecular machines to mediate numerous complex tasks in the cellular environment – a clear indication of the immense technological potential of synthetic systems that work in a comparable way. Despite this fundamental importance, synthetic molecular machines able to facilitate out-of-equilibrium pumping of ions have not been developed. To address this key challenge, this project seeks to develop synthetic analogues of biology’s membrane pumps: artificial molecular machinery that can interface and be manipulated within lipid bilayer membranes. Its objectives are to develop: • molecular machine ion transport relays, able to pass ions and catalysts across lipid membranes • stimuli-responsive mechanically-interlocked ion and molecular transport shuttles • molecular machine transmembrane pumps, capable of non-equilibrium active transport Besides crucial impact to the rapidly expanding, but to date surprisingly distinct fields of molecular machines and membrane supramolecular chemistry, the results from this project will enhance our understanding of non-equilibrium processes within and across lipid bilayer membranes. We anticipate that the systems developed over the course of the grant will provide the basis for the longer-term development of novel tools for applications in chemical and synthetic biology, such as to regulate the flow of material in and out of artificial cells, and in systems chemistry applications which enable the non-equilibrium manipulation of matter at the nanoscale.

Keywords: molecular machines membrane supramolecular chemistry ion transport
Welfare on the Move: Female Mobility and Social Care Across the Early Modern Adriatic (WelMovFem)

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: Italy,United States,Croatia
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-12-01
End date: 2027-11-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 265099.2
EU funding (EUR): 265099.2
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

The WelMovFem project explores the interrelation between human mobility and access to pre-modern welfare within the Republic of Venice (from the 16th to the 18th century). The overall objective is to highlight the role of migrant women as both providers and recipients of social protection, focusing on their translocal networks and possessions. Could their geographical mobility influence their capacity to demand certain rights, or otherwise affect the institutions’ abilities to verify the legitimacy of their claim? To answer this question, the research will not be limited to urban charity institutions, but will encompass various forms of aid that moved between Venice and its Eastern Adriatic domains (e.g., financial aid, inherited possessions, dowries, and slave ransoms). Intertwining a quantitative analysis and an in-depth study of the sources will be essential to uncovering the significance of women’s material resources in empowering kinship, family, and community ties even across great distances. Through the adoption of an interdisciplinary approach, which combines gender history with mobility studies and digital humanities, the WelMovFem project will result in an innovative and ambitious vision of social care in a region that connects various facets of European culture. The research data will be accessible to scholars and the wider public through a web digital platform for the humanities, which will provide a starting point for future research. The project’s ultimate aim is to enrich ongoing discussions about migrants’ rights from a historical perspective, enabling EU policymakers to have a long-term view of the current migratory phenomena and raising EU citizens’ awareness of these global issues. The researcher’s mobility between various academic settings (the US, Italy, and Croatia) will enable her to acquire new interdisciplinary skills, expand her social and professional networks, and enhance her career opportunities within and outside of academia.

Keywords: mobility migrations gender studies social welfare social networks adriatic early modern history digital humanities
Decoding the Internal and External Drivers of Plant Defence Memory (PlantMemo)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2024-ADG, 2024)
Start date: 2026-01-01
End date: 2030-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2498283.0
EU funding (EUR): 2498283.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Plants excel in adapting to changing environments, which relies on their ability to store and integrate information from previously encountered stresses. Without a cellular immune system or direct communication with their offspring, plants use alternative pathways to obtain defence memory and prepare their progeny against persistent threats. Biotic stress by pests and diseases triggers changes in the epigenetic makeup and root-associated microbiome of plants, resulting in a multi-faceted defence memory that enhances resistance to recurrent attacks. Despite the potential of these mechanisms to revolutionise crop protection, a comprehensive understanding remains elusive. PlantMemo will transform our understanding of plant defence memory by exploring the internal (epigenetic) and external (microbial) pathways involved. Focusing on both annual and perennial plants, the project will answer the following questions: 1. How do plants write, maintain, and erase epigenetic memory? 2. What are the genetic, metabolic, and microbial drivers of external memory? 3. How do internal and external memory pathways interact and contribute to disease protection? PlantMemo will combine the latest epigenomic profiling technology with novel reverse-(epi)genetics approaches to reveal the epigenetic network driving internal memory. Simultaneously, it will develop high-throughput phenotyping protocols to screen genetic mapping populations for key genes in the conditioning of disease-suppressive soils, which drives external defence memory, and link these to root exudation chemistry and microbiota. The project will further integrate these insights by exploring the interplay between internal and external defence memory and their respective roles in intra- and inter-generational stress adaptation. By uniting multipiple biological disciplines, PlantMemo will uncover how plants adapt to the unpredictable and intermittent nature of biotic stress, paving the way for new crop protection technology.

Keywords: plant immunity,immune memory,epigenetics,rhizosphere biology,signalling,crop protection
German Romanticism: a History Of Political Ecology (HOPE)

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: France,United States
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 276681.6
EU funding (EUR): 276681.6
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Studies in political ecology have demonstrated that our political concepts have been strongly influenced by our destructive relationship with nature, generally endorsed, they claim, by the Western philosophical tradition. These studies are invaluable but lacking. Indeed, they do not consider a political-philosophical tradition that criticised anthropocentrism, the nature-culture opposition, and the submission of nature to human ends: i.e. German Romanticism (1794-1830), corroborated philosophical source of ecology. HOPE’s thesis is that the political thought of at least a part of the philosophers of German Romanticism is consistent with the criticism against the destruction of nature by humans: to them, human beings’ freedom does not imply the exploitation of nature and they claim that some political institutions better foster a harmonic relationship with it. Can we consider German Romanticism as a phase of a (yet to be written) history of political ecology? The historical-philosophical perspective offered by this project is urgent: the increasing importance of the environment in politics demands a re-examination of our political concepts, and history of (political) philosophy offers new viewpoints coming from old insights. HOPE is divided in two phases: 1) in the first, it focuses on Alexander von Humboldt, the Romantic author who reflected the longest on the relationship between politics and nature; 2) in the second, the political thought of other key-figures of German Romanticism are investigated. The methodology of HOPE is Conceptual History; its use to address topics related to ecology will fill a gap in literature. HOPE will be hosted at ENS-PSL and DePaul University. Four research articles will be published, a workshop and a conference will be organised, a website will be created. HOPE’s communication and dissemination strategy will improve awareness on environmental issues and give relevance to women philosophers, less known than their male counterpart.

Keywords: political ecology german romanticism classical german philosophy environmental philosophy
Addressing Sustainability Transition Pathways in the Blue Economy (Blue-Paths)

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: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: Spain,Italy
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2023-03-01
End date: 2025-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 165312.96
EU funding (EUR): 165312.96
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Oceans are a life-support system for human societies. They supply fundamental goods such as fish food, materials, energy and provide benefits associated with our well-being, they form cultural values and contribute to jobs creation and trade. The development of national ocean development plans combined with Blue Growth (BG) strategies are turning the ocean into a new frontier of industrial development. In fact, the EU's Blue Economy produces a turnover of 750 billion euro/year. However, the actual sustainability of this Blue Acceleration process remain to a large extent uncertain, due to 1) an unclear interpretation of the concept of "Blue Growth" across different policies, the 2) multiple human pressures across scales and marine regions cause ecological degradation with high social costs and 3) the lack of integrated methodologies that can capture the effects of the BG trends on oceans health and human well-being over spatio-temporal scales. There is an urgent need for interdisciplinary approaches that can address the pathways of sustainable transitions in marine realms and the deriving benefits and costs to society and the environment. Blue-Paths aims to 1) develop an integrated human-ocean framework for BG; 2) identify environmental and socio-economic effects of pathways of sustainable transitions on the use of ocean?s ecosystem goods and services and 3) deliver new knowledge on the management and planning of ocean resource. To do so, Blue-Paths will couple a marine socio-ecological system (SES) framework with an Ensemble Machine Learning (ML) technique to simulate the spatio-temporal environmental and socio-economic effects on the marine SES induced by pervasive ocean technologies. This is of high practical value, as it will be tested on the 2050 ecological transition plan of Spain. Blue-Paths framework combined with ML techniques will provide innovative tools to monitor the sustainable use of the ocean space and foster adaptive management of marine resources.

Keywords: sustainability transitions socio ecological system ocean technologies machine learning marine spatial planning blue growth
Major transitions made easy? In search of genetic preconditions that help the repeated evolution and loss of fungal multicellularity (CONVERGENCE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Panel description: For all organisms : Ecology, biodiversity, environmental change , evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, microbial ecology , marine biology, ecophysiology, theoretical developments and mod elling
Countries involved: Hungary
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2022-COG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-07-01
End date: 2028-06-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1997688.0
EU funding (EUR): 1997688.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

In this project, we aim to study the genetic mechanisms of convergent evolution by uncovering the mechanistic details of two highly replicated transitions in organismal complexity. Convergent evolution is widespread in nature, even on macroevolutionary timescales. To explain its pervasiveness, recent studies have proposed the idea of predisposing precursor traits that, if easily co- or exapted for new functions, can increase the likelihood of convergence. However, most of these hypotheses remain untested because of the lack of tractable model systems. We identified two fungal case studies that offer optimal model systems to mechanistically test the hypothesis that precursor traits increase the likelihood of convergence: (i) 8-11 repeated origins of complex multicellularity in mushrooms and (ii) >14 losses of multicellularity in yeast-like fungi. We hypothesize that both of these occurred by the repeated exaptation of ancient morphogenetic programs and, in the case of yeasts, additionally, by the emergence of mechanisms for bypassing multicellular growth. Our hypotheses imply that both complex multicellular and yeast-like lifestyles are only a few mutations away for any filamentous fungus because precursor traits shorten the mutational path for evolution. Although these are bold hypotheses, we obtained promising preliminary results that support them. We designed an experimental plan involving phylogeny-aware comparative -omics, reverse genetics, and evo-devo, which, when combined with our preliminary results, will provide a robust entry point for testing the role of predisposition in convergent evolution and will ultimately allow us to “replay the tape of major fungal transitions” in the laboratory. We expect this project to contribute to uncovering the general principles of convergent evolution and to be one of the first to mechanistically test if certain precursor traits can promote convergence.

Keywords: evo devo,multicellularity,convergent evolution
Centre for Excellence in Diagnostic and Advanced Therapeutics based on Extracellular Vesicles (EVCA)

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: Portugal,France,Spain
Call: Twinning (HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ACCESS-03, 2021)
Start date: 2022-11-01
End date: 2026-04-30
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1487209.13
EU funding (EUR): 1487208.75
Participants: 5
Project status: SIGNED

In recent years, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged within the scientific community for both biomarkers and therapeutic applications. However, the translation of the research findings represents a major challenge for biomedical research and healthcare. International cooperation is paramount to moving research findings to clinical applications and defining standard operating procedures. EVCA addresses this unmet need through a scientific strategy to reinforce research and innovation (R&I) excellence in the study of EV applications in diagnosis, therapeutics, and etiology of chronic diseases. The Chronic Diseases Research Center of the NOVA Medical School (UNL) aims to be at the forefront of international scientific excellence in applying EVs to diagnostic and therapeutic clinical priority challenges in chronic diseases. Towards this goal, UNL is twinning with the CIC bioGUNE (Spain) and Institut Curie (France), international references in EVs. EVCA will leverage on the partners’ outstanding multidisciplinary knowledge, experience, research and training best practices, as well as collaborative networks, to enhance the research capacity and innovation potential of UNL. EVCA is an integrated network of interactions (exchange and training of researchers, satellite meetings, Winter Retreats, virtual think tanks, links to industry, etc.), articulated with the individual and joint scientific agendas of the partners to power the research capacity of UNL and of its R&I ecosystems. EVCA expects to increase by 25% in multiple indicators by 2026, including the number of citations; h-index of UNL researchers; percentage of publications in top impact journals; number of international collaborations (including with industry). By stimulating novel and long-lasting interactions between the partners, EVCA will unlock the research potential within and outside UNL, with an overall increase in the Portuguese and European RD research competitiveness.

Keywords: cancer,extracellular vesicles,multiomics,exosomes,chronic diseases,biomarker
Constructing functional polyolefins through an iron catalyzed one-pot POLYmerization FUNctionalization strategy (POLYFUN)

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: Italy
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2023-02-01
End date: 2025-12-31
Duration (months): 35.0
Total project cost (EUR): 233151.83
EU funding (EUR): 233151.83
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

We are in an era of demand for new, high-performance and sustainable plastics. The challenge is to counterbalance the actual need of society for disposable devices without compromising the sustainability of the overall production. Within the polymer field, polyolefins account for more than 50% of global plastics demand. However, their main drawback is represented by their hydrophobicity and their poor applicability in blending, adhesion and dyeing due to a lack of functional groups. In this regard, one fundamental challenge is to develop a new strategy that combines polymer synthesis and the incorporation of polar moieties into polyolefins. Within this context, POLYFUN seeks to deliver functional polyolefins by employing a single iron-based catalyst to perform two subsequent catalytic steps in a one-pot strategy. This approach, although being an important tool at the molecular level, has not yet found any application in the polymer field to access materials with intriguing and robust properties in one single process. From a scientific and technological perspective, POLYFUN intends to fabricate functionalized polymers with tunable and unique properties with an innovative approach in the field. This project is highly interdisciplinary, involving different research areas such as organic chemistry, catalysis, and material science. As such, it is envisioned that the development of this new strategy can generate breakthrough scientific papers, valuable discoveries and/or potential patents. This fellowship brings a two-fold transfer of knowledge: advanced techniques in organic chemistry to the host institution and material chemistry to the fellow. Overall, the project’s multidisciplinarity and intersectoral nature will broaden the fellow’s competencies and will place her in a competitive position for her next career move.

Keywords: functional polyolefins,iron catalysis,one pot strategy,organometallic chemistry,sustainable polymers