Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
3D Interstellar Chemo-physical Evolution (3DICE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Universe sciences
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-09-01
End date: 2018-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1166231.0
EU funding (EUR): 1166231.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

At the end of their life, stars spread their inner material into the diffuse interstellar medium. This diffuse medium gets locally denser and form dark clouds (also called dense or molecular clouds) whose innermost part is shielded from the external UV field by the dust, allowing for molecules to grow and get more complex. Gravitational collapse occurs inside these dense clouds, forming protostars and their surrounding disks, and eventually planetary systems like (or unlike) our solar system. The formation and evolution of molecules, minerals, ices and organics from the diffuse medium to planetary bodies, their alteration or preservation throughout this cosmic chemical history set the initial conditions for building planets, atmospheres and possibly the first bricks of life. The current view of interstellar chemistry is based on fragmental works on key steps of the sequence that are observed. The objective of this proposal is to follow the fractionation of the elements between the gas-phase and the interstellar grains, from the most diffuse medium to protoplanetary disks, in order to constrain the chemical composition of the material in which planets are formed. The potential outcome of this project is to get a consistent and more accurate description of the chemical evolution of interstellar matter. To achieve this objective, I will improve our chemical model by adding new processes on grain surfaces relevant under the diffuse medium conditions. This upgraded gas-grain model will be coupled to 3D dynamical models of the formation of dense clouds from diffuse medium and of protoplanetary disks from dense clouds. The computed chemical composition will also be used with 3D radiative transfer codes to study the chemical tracers of the physics of protoplanetary disk formation. The robustness of the model predictions will be studied with sensitivity analyses. Finally, model results will be confronted to observations to address some of the current challenges.
Costs and Gains to Postponement: How Changes in the Age of Parenthood Influence the Health and Well-being of Children, the Parents, and Populations (COSTPOST)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Environment and society
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-02-01
End date: 2019-07-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1305599.6
EU funding (EUR): 1305599.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Advanced maternal and paternal ages are associated with a range of negative offspring outcomes, and have been estimated to have population-level health effects comparable to those of obesity. This project analyses the health and well-being consequences of fertility postponement, focusing on three previously unanswered questions. Project A assesses the causality of the advanced parental age-offspring outcomes association. The existing literature is largely associational. Using innovative methods that allow me to control for previously unanalysed factors, I test the causality of this association and produce new estimates for the population level health impact of advanced parental age. Project B focuses on the role of the environment. Since health improves over cohorts, can postponement of parenthood – which means that the child is born to a later cohort – improve offspring outcomes? Moreover, does the environment influence the young parental age effect on the offspring? Project C analyses the implications of postponed parenthood on parental subjective well-being, which is critical for both child and parental health, but has not been analysed before. Each of the three sub-projects has the potential for producing ground-breaking results with important policy implications and large impact on both demography and on other disciplines. Project A either confirms that the social process of fertility postponement is an important public health threat, or shows that the health effects of postponement have been grossly overestimated. Project B may revolutionise the way postponement is seen: if the cohort trend hypothesis is found to be true, the assumption that postponement has a positive effect on offspring outcomes at the individual level will be confirmed. Project C provides an innovative analysis of a neglected outcome that is critically related to child health and will advance our knowledge of the motivation for fertility postponement.

Keywords: maternal age,paternal age,fertility postponement,offspring health,cohort trends,fixed effects models,subjective well-being
Membrane partitioning of homologous proteins (MEMPART)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Molecular and Structural Biology and Biochemistry
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-12-01
End date: 2018-11-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

My goal is to elucidate how structurally closely-related proteins are selectively partitioned in distinct membrane domains that allow localization, clustering and segregation of specific cellular activities. Although many of the mechanisms that govern membrane organization are increasingly well understood, such as lipid ‘rafts’ or protein-anchoring to the cortical cytoskeleton, these mechanisms are not sufficiently specific to account for the partitioning of closely homologous proteins in separate membrane domains. I believe that the observed highly selective membrane partitioning can only be explained by the combined action of protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions and thermodynamic properties of the membrane (length, charge, degree of hydrophobicity). I aim to gain a full understanding of how homologous proteins partition in distinct functional membrane domains by studying SNARE proteins as a model system. Different SNAREs partition in different domains with different degrees of overlap in the plasma membrane where they catalyze the final membrane fusion steps of various exocytotic pathways. I will employ quantitative super-resolution microscopy to study the effects of selective (biochemical and genetic) perturbations on SNARE partitioning in both precisely controllable artificial membranes and in PC12 cells. This will allow me to elucidate the mechanisms, contributions and interplay of individual membrane clustering mechanisms in SNARE domain organization. I then plan to demonstrate that the mechanisms of SNARE partitioning explain the membrane organization of other (homologous) proteins as well. My ultimate ambitious goal is to generate a complete model of how proteins are organized in biological membranes. I anticipate that my findings will uncover new and general mechanisms of membrane organization and, since membranes are involved in almost all cellular processes, my work may have impact on virtually all areas of the health and life sciences.
Nature-inspired theranostic nanodevices for tumor imaging, early diagnosis and targeted drug-release (NATURE NANODEVICES)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Diagnostic tools, therapies and public health
Countries involved: Italy
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2019-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1458600.0
EU funding (EUR): 1458600.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Late diagnosis and difficult treatment represent major obstacles in the fight against cancer. I propose here the development of self-regulated theranostic nanodevices supporting both early cancer diagnosis and targeted, tumor-cell-specific drug-release. Specifically, I will exploit the “designability” of nucleic acids to design and optimize molecular nanodevices that undergo binding-induced conformational changes upon target binding and, in doing so, signal the presence of a specific tumor marker or release a toxic therapeutic cargo. The inspiration behind my approach is derived from nature, which employs similar nanometer-scale protein and nucleic-acid-based “switches” as devices to detect –and respond to- specific molecules even against the complex background “noise” of the physiological environment. Furthering on this “nature-inspired” synthetic biology view I will also exploit naturally occurring regulatory mechanisms (e.g., allostery, cooperativity, etc.) to tune and edit the dose-response curve of these nanodevices, improve their analytical sensitivity, and optimize drug-release efficiency. In summary, I will use biomimetic “tricks’ taken directly from nature to move beyond the state-of-the-art of sensor design, with the goal being improved diagnostics and “smarter,” more effective drug delivery. Achieving these goals will require multidisciplinary expertise in the field of analytical chemistry, biophysics, electrochemistry, bioengineering, computational chemistry and synthetic biology. In my career I have demonstrated skills and expertise in similarly complex projects and in each of these challenging fields. Finally, the development of the proposed nanodevices will significantly impact the safety, compliance and efficacy of therapies and medical procedures bringing to scientific, technological and socio-economic benefits.

Keywords: biosensors,dna,aptamers,synthetic biology,switches,diagnostic tools,computational biology,point-of-care
Development of chemical biology tools for the elucidation of protein phosphatase-1 substrates and druggability (PP1TOOLS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Materials and Synthesis
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-01-01
End date: 2018-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1164516.0
EU funding (EUR): 1164516.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Protein serine/threonine phosphatases (PSTPs) are considered undruggable although they are involved in the most prominent post-translational modifications. This is mainly due to an apparent lack of substrate specificity. One important PSTP is protein phosphatase-1 (PP1), a ubiquitous PSTP that is predicted to catalyze about 1/3rd of Ser and Thr dephosphorylations in eukaryotic cells, counteracting hundreds of kinases. PP1 has broad substrate specificity but is restrained in vivo by numerous PP1-interacting proteins functioning for example as substrate-targeting proteins and forming specific holoenzymes with PP1. PP1 holoenzymes play a role in many different diseases such as cancer (counteracting oncogenic kinases), diabetes (insulin release), Alzheimer’s (dephosphorylation of Tau protein) and HIV (viral translation). Currently, there are no chemical modulators available that target PP1 selectively, except that we recently developed the first compound that selectively activates PP1 in intact cells, leading to rapid dephosphorylation of PP1 substrates. The activator does not act on the most closely related protein phosphatase-2A. This proposal aims to generate and apply tools for the investigation of PP1, in part based on our previously developed activator. The tools include selective, photo- and enzymatically releasable chemical inhibitors and activators and semisynthetic proteins, and they will be applied to study PP1–substrate interactions and help identify the correlating interacting proteins. The proposed research will provide long-sought selective chemical tools to study PP1 by applying new concepts of activator and inhibitor design using peptide and small molecule chemistry to an enzyme class that is difficult to be targeted chemically. This research program will contribute to a much more detailed understanding of PP1 biology, and will open doors to investigate PP1 and its holoenzymes as drug targets.

Keywords: drug design
Frictions in the Financial System (FRICTIONS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Individuals, institutions and markets
Countries involved: United Kingdom,Hungary
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-12-01
End date: 2018-11-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1122883.0
EU funding (EUR): 1122883.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The financial crisis, since its start in 2008 has exposed enormous fractures both in the financial architecture and in the structure of the global economy. Although with some notable exceptions, the magnitude of the events caught the finance profession largely by surprise. Clearly, we have to understand better the institutional mechanism channeling savings towards the best uses of capital, and to what extent this mechanism can sometimes fail. The projects in this proposal will push the boundaries of our knowledge in this direction. I suggest a dual approach to achieve this goal. First, we have to improve our understanding of which frictions are the crucial impediments of the efficient functioning of markets. As this approach focuses on particular markets in isolation, I call this the micro approach. I propose three projects within this approach: trading and information diffusion in OTC markets, the crowdedness in limits-to-arbitrage, and the interaction of political uncertainty and sovereign bond prices. Second, from the frictions emerging from the micro approach, we have to select the ones which determine the aggregate liquidity fluctuations in the economy. I use this concept in a broad sense; referring to the changing efficiency with which the financial system allocates resources across investment opportunities. As this approach focuses on the functionality of the financial system as a whole, I call this the macro approach. I propose two projects within this approach. The first project focuses on the determinants of the differences in the financial architecture of different economies. It builds a novel framework to study the dynamics of the financial sector of an economy. The second project studies the role of shadow banking in the fluctuation of aggregate liquidity. In particular, this project concentrates on the fluctuation of the efficiency of private liquidity creation as the state of the economy changes.
International Integration and Social Identity: Theory and Evidence (INTEGRATION)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Individuals, institutions and markets
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2020-02-29
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1050000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1050000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Understanding economic and political integration has long been a central concern for economists. An important missing ingredient in the existing literature is the analysis of endogenously determined social identity. By “social identity” I refer to the fact that individuals often care deeply about the groups to which they belong. By “endogenously determined” I refer to the fact that individuals do not automatically identify with every group they belong to: whether or not an individual identifies with a given group depends on the characteristics of this group as well as on how close to this group the individual perceives herself. Empirical results obtained over the past decade allow us to integrate identity concerns into standard economic models. I propose to develop and test a theory of integration that does just that. Consider two states that may either be independent countries or form a union. The stability and desirability of unification may sometimes depend on the extent to which citizens identify with the union or with their states. But the profile of identities itself depends on the political-economic outcome under unification. The first step in developing the theory is to translate the evidence concerning behavior in groups into a concise statement of what it means to “identify” with a particular group and what factors shape identification decisions. The theory will then study the equilibrium outcomes of a political economy model of integration, where actions and identities are endogenously determined. The second part of the project will empirically examine the relation between social identities, individual characteristics, and European integration. To appropriately measure identification, I propose to employ experimental methods based on revealed preference conducted with a large and diverse sample of European citizens. This will be complemented by historical multi-country survey data on self-reported identity, political attitudes and behavior.

Keywords: social identity,economic integration,political integration
Fundamentals Of Photocatalytic Splitting of Water (FOPS-WATER)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physical and Analytical Chemical sciences
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2020-02-29
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1498800.0
EU funding (EUR): 1498800.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Hydrogen produced by sunlight is a very promising, environmentally-friendly energy source as an alternative for increasingly scarce and polluting fossil fuels. Since the discovery of hydrogen production by photocatalytic water dissociation on a titanium dioxide (TiO2) electrode 40 years ago, much research has been aimed at increasing the process efficiency. Remarkably, insights into how water is bound to the catalyst and into the dynamics of the photodissociation reaction, have been scarce up to now, due to the lack of suitable techniques to interrogate water at the interface. The aim of this proposal is to provide these insights by looking at specifically the molecules at the interface, before, during and after their photo-reaction. With the surface sensitive spectroscopic technique sum-frequency generation (SFG) we can determine binding motifs of the ~monolayer of water at the interface, quantify the heterogeneity of the water molecules at the interface and follow changes in water molecular structure and dynamics at the interface during the reaction. The structure of interfacial water will be studied using steady-state SFG; the dynamics of the water photodissociation will be investigated using pump-SFG probe spectroscopy. At variable delay times after the pump pulse the probe pulses will interrogate the interface and detect the reaction intermediates and products. Thanks to recent developments of SFG it should now be possible to determine the structure of water at the TiO2 interface and to unravel the dynamics of the photodissocation process. These insights will allow us to relate the interfacial TiO2-water structure and dynamics to reactivity of the photocatalyst, and to bridge the gap between the fundamentals of the process at the molecular level to the efficiency of the photocatalys. The results will be essential for developing cheaper and more efficient photocatalysts for the production of hydrogen.

Keywords: titanium dioxide,hydrogen formation,water,sum-frequency generation,spectroscopy,two dimensional,time-resolved,structure,dynamics,photocatalytic dissociation,water splitting
RISk and uncertainty in developing and Implementing Climate change pOlicies (RISICO)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Environment and society
Countries involved: Italy,United States
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-06-01
End date: 2019-11-30
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1146002.0
EU funding (EUR): 1146002.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Uncertainty is pervasive in all aspects of climate change. Although this is beyond dispute, the vast majority of research assessing climate ignores uncertainty, in large part because of the technical complexities involved. The present project aims at advancing substantially the way we conceptualize, model and frame the climate change policy making process, focusing on the central role of uncertainty. The first step is that of applying state of the art techniques from operation research (stochastic dynamic and approximate dynamic programming) to the realm of integrated assessment models (the conventional tool used to perform climate change analysis). These techniques enable us to capture a wide range of stochastic phenomena in the decision process. However, to really move forward the research edge one needs to shift the focus on to the way we, as individuals, perceive these uncertain phenomena. Indeed, the literature on decision making under uncertainty spans way beyond economics, statistics and operations research: Notably psychology and philosophy. These disciplines have had a major role in extending what we know about the process of decision making under uncertainty, and this project aims at reconciling this strand of literature with that on climate change policy design and assessment. The three main research questions are: 1) What are key risk and uncertainty perception issues and “biases” when we face climate change and under what instances should they be included in normative analyses of climate change? 2) How can we map these “alternative” representations of uncertainty and risk perception into integrated assessment models and how will these affect the normative predicaments of these models ? 3) How can we communicate and frame uncertainty itself, as well as results of stochastic analyses, in a way that help us reducing those biases that have no normative role, but arise from our limited attentional and information processing capacity?

Keywords: uncertainty and risk perception,decision making under uncertainty and ambiguity,integrated assessment modelling