Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Exploring how bat microbiome and their natural antibodies modulate tick immunity and pathogen fitness (BATX-SIA)

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: France,Greece
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 211977.99
EU funding (EUR): 211977.99
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Bats and their ectoparasites can be linked to various zoonotic diseases, including viruses and bacteria such as Bartonella spp., posing considerable health risks. However, the role of natural antibodies (NAbs) induced by gut bacteria (glycan-immunogenic bacteria: gIB) remains unexplored. Although various NAbs have been identified across different species with known roles in defending against several vector-borne pathogens (VBPs), their ability to alter vector microbiota, modulate the vector's immune response, and impact pathogen transmission is uncharted territory. Additionally, modulating the vector microbiome could influence the vector's immune system by activating signalling pathways. In this project, I’ll test the hypothesis that glycan-specific NAbs (gsNAbs), triggered by bacteria in the bat gut microbiome, can trigger immune activation in both the host and the vector (cross-species immune activation X-SIA), potentially reducing the fitness of vector-borne pathogens (VBPs) in the vector, with a focus on Bartonella spp. Leveraging data from field studies, along with profiles of gsNAbs from bats and the microbiomes of both the host and ticks, I’ll perform a comprehensive data analysis to identify which bacteria from the host microbiome trigger the production of gsNAbs that modulate vector microbiota and affect VBPs fitness. Additionally, through experimental protocols on ticks, I aim to reveal how gsNAbs produced by gIB of the host can trigger X-SIA and identify genes that modulate the immune response in relation to pathogen fitness. This project goes beyond the current state-of-the-art by providing novel insights into how NAbs triggered by the gIB from the bat gut microbiome, modulate the vector microbiome and the vector’s immune response influencing pathogen fitness. By advancing our understanding of X-SIA and the impact on VBPs, we contribute to global and European public health priorities, biodiversity conservation, and disease prevention.

Keywords: bats,gut microbiome,natural antibodies,ticks,bartonella,data analysis
3D diamond growth (smartGROW)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Products and Processes Engineering
Panel description: Product and process design, chemical, civil, environmental, mechanical, vehicle engineering, energy processes and relevant computational methods
Countries involved: Norway
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2022-STG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Diamond, due its outstanding properties, is a desired material to coat various objects for medical, bioelectronics, optical, aerospace, marine and other applications. However, achieving uniform coatings on complex-shaped 3D objects is still a not overcome challenge due to 2D nature of current deposition techniques. The aim of this project is to develop a new diamond growth technology, which will allow diamond synthesis in 3D and accelerate the widespread use of diamond-based materials in new research fields and industry. The technical challenge of diamond growth in 3D will be addressed by leveraging on two ground-breaking ideas: 1) exploiting the unique properties of metamaterials and fractals to achieve uniform plasma excitation in 3D; 2) using new protonuclei-enhanced gas phase diamond nucleation pathways to overcome the nucleation barrier. The diamond growth will be achieved by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition technique in a unique deposition system. The plasma in the system will be excited by traveling surface waves in 3D using fractal apertures on composite right/left-handed materials with infinite wavelength propagation property. As a result, plasma is expected to be distributed homogeneously in space, which is a necessary condition to achieve uniform diamond synthesis on 3D objects. The growth of diamond is expected to proceed via nonclassical protonuclei-enhanced gas phase nucleation pathway proposed to significantly increase diamond nucleation rate and allow diamond growth that is independent on a substrate temperature. The use of metamaterials with fractal apertures for diamond synthesis via nonclassical gas phase nucleation pathway is an absolute novelty, which will address fundamental questions about diamond growth in a gas phase. Beyond that, this new technology could enable other researchers to explore new applications of diamond on temperature sensitive materials, which require good electronic, chemical, or surface tribological properties.

Keywords: diamond,chemical vapor deposition,metamaterials,fractals,plasma
Alternative Modernities and Everyday Life in the Pre-emancipation Southern Caribbean (c. 1634–1863) (IslandLives)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: The Study of the Human Past
Panel description: Archaeology and history
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2024-STG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-04-01
End date: 2030-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1978332.0
EU funding (EUR): 1978332.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

ISLANDLIVES will be the first interdisciplinary historical archaeological project to deploy a broad array of cutting-edge archaeological science techniques to study everyday life at multiple sites across multiple islands during a span of 229 years. The Dutch islands of Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire (ABC islands) were unconventional colonies that did not fit the typical European model of plantation-driven modernity incepted in the Caribbean. Rather, they occupied a grey area, thriving on illicit trade with the Spanish mainland. Truly little, however, is known archaeologically about everyday life on the islands. By mobilizing terrestrial and maritime archaeological investigations, archival research, and archaeometric, proteomic, archaeobotanical, collagen fingerprinting, and zooarchaeological analyses within a sophisticated conceptual framework, the project aims to reveal the inner workings of alternative modernities in the 17th- through 19th-century Southern Caribbean. The bulk of evidence will be obtained through archaeological excavations at six sites, the careful interpretation of which will generate the first comprehensive cross-section of everyday lives across the ABC islands. Archaeometric analyses will, moreover, provide unprecedented clarity on the provenance and dating of poorly identified European and regional ceramics ubiquitous on the islands and in the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean regions. This project is therefore geared to advance research on how different island peoples including free and enslaved blacks, indigenous people, Sephardim, and Dutch navigated modernity in their own contested and contingent ways. Finally, these new understandings will be productively engaged with the present. In this way ISLANDLIVES also aims to reveal how insights from past alternative modernities can help us better understand contemporary ABC-island societies and, ultimately, critically challenge deep-rooted Eurocentric narratives about the past in the present

Keywords: interdisciplinary historical archaeology,archaeometry,proteomics,zooarchaeology,archaeobotany,maritime archaeology,history,foodways,consumerism,maritime trade,european and regional ceramics,assemblages of practice,households,island societies,everyday life,present day relevance,challenging eurocentric narratives,decolonialisation,aruba,curacao,bonaire
Deconstructing the immunomodulatory checkpoints in metastasis to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSFcheck)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Panel description: Organ and tissue physiology, comparative physiology, physiology  of ageing , pathophysiology, inter - organ and tissue communication, endocrinology, nutrition,  metabolism, interaction with the microbiome, non -communicable diseases including cancer (and except disorders of the nervous system  and immunity -related diseases)
Countries involved: Belgium
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2025-STG, 2025)
Start date: 2026-02-01
End date: 2031-01-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499902.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499902.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

While the healthy brain is largely devoid of lymphoid cells, the surrounding cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is normally populated by lymphocytes. CSF hosts an array of threatening pathologies, including leptomeningeal metastasis with unusually poor prognosis. Despite the presence of immune cells, including CD8 T lymphocytes, this metastasis site does not respond to immunotherapy. My preliminary data demonstrate that the molecular profile and phenotypic behavior of these CSF CD8 T cells is inconsistent with conventional immune exhaustion. I hypothesize that CSF is an inherently immunosuppressive environment, protecting the brain from inflammatory insults directly by its composition. In CSFcheck, we will identify the individual components of the CSF that convey its immunosuppressive essence and manipulate the core CD8 T cell gene networks to disrupt the consequences of this phenomenon (Aim 1). We will investigate the fate, lifespan, and function of these cells after the metastasis encounter (Aim 2). Combining my experience with cutting-edge mouse immune modeling, systems-level computation, and functional assessment of human tissues, we will chart the immunosuppressive nature of the CSF and uncover the molecular pressure that CD8 T cells undergo upon entry to the CSF. This work will challenge and refine our understanding of the central nervous system immune privilege and communication with the periphery, exposing novel immunoregulatory mechanisms in metastasis that go beyond T-cell exhaustion.

Keywords: leptomeningeal metastasis,cerebrospinal fluid,cd8 t cells
Nanohelicoid metamaterials templated by cellulose nanocrystals with end-tethered polymers (CELICOIDS)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator 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: Spain
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2022-COG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-03-01
End date: 2028-02-29
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1998313.0
EU funding (EUR): 1998313.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Chirality plays a fundamental role in natural sciences and pharmacology. The ability to detect chiral molecules relies heavily on inherently weak circularly polarized light-matter interactions. Such interactions are enhanced in the presence of chiral metamaterials, which exhibit extraordinary electromagnetic properties not observed in nature. To date, large and broadband circular dichroism in the UV-visible spectrum requires arrays of metallic nanohelices in order to combine internal and Bragg resonances. However, their fabrication relies on costly electron/ion beam lithography or physical vapor deposition, in which it is difficult and time-consuming to control nanoscale morphology over large areas. New types of helix metamaterials and engineering processes based on self-assembly concepts are absolutely necessary in order to be viable for future technologies. Nevertheless, self-assembled metamaterials with large, broadband and tunable chiroptical responses in the UV-visible region is a great challenge due to the required subwavelength feature sizes. To this end, the helicoidal morphologies of chiral liquid crystals provide the ideal platform for maximizing chiral light-matter interactions. The objective of CELICOIDS is to investigate the use of the chiral liquid crystal phases of cellulose nanocrystals with end-tethered polyoxyethylene analogues as templates for the fabrication of a new class of metamaterial, solid metallic nanohelicoids. A recent breakthrough that now makes this project possible is the discovery that such cellulose nanocrystal hybrids form chiral liquid crystal phases. As one of the very few researchers in the world with the combined expertise in cellulose chemistry, polymer grafting and colloidal assembly, I am the ideal candidate to achieve success. New functionalities are envisioned thereafter, applicable to future devices for invisibility cloaking, super-resolution imaging and chiral sensing, prompting a change in paradigm in metamaterials.

Keywords: liquid crystals,cellulose,self assembly,polymers
Strengthening Evidence-Based Policy Practice for Sustainable Food Systems under the EU-AU Partnership (StEPPFoS)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
Theme: Bio-Environment
Destination: Fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Ghana,Uganda,Netherlands,Italy,Spain,United Kingdom,South Africa,Germany,Kenya,Côte d'Ivoire,Senegal,Belgium
Call: EU-African Union cooperation – linking the activities of the Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA) partnership and those of the Pan-African Network for Economic Analysis of Policies (PANAP) (HORIZON-CL6-2023-FARM2FORK-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2980190.32
EU funding (EUR): 2980190.32
Participants: 18
Project status: SIGNED

Food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture (FNSSA) are among the critical development concerns in Africa. FNSSA is among the policy priorities in many African countries and at the center of the AU/EU international development agenda. FNSSA was the priority R&I area in the AU-EU High Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology, and Innovation. This was further substantiated by the establishment of the Pan-African Network for Economic Analysis of Policies (PANAP). StEPPFoS thus, aims contribute to the FNSSA 10-year roadmap and the global transition towards sustainable food systems through the implementation of activities that link PANAP to the FNSSA partnership. Specific objectives are (1) to improved capacities of stakeholders (2) to enhanced science-policy interface (3) to improve strategies that promote scientific support within policy development (4) to expand and strengthen the PANAP Network. StEPPFoS will be implemented through its 8 work-packages (WPs) over a period of 48 months. Capacity building, stakeholder engagements, participatory monitoring, evaluation, and learning are the main methods to be used to deliver StEPPFoS objectives whiles adhering to open science principles and effective data management practices. The consortium is well positioned to deliver these objectives as it draws on the expertise and experiences of its partners drawn from both Europe and Africa credible academic, research, and policy institutions.

Keywords: sustainable food system,panap,policy impact analysis,au eu partnership
TumoR microEnvIronment Normalization FOR enhanCed photodynamic thErapy (REINFORCE)

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: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Cyprus
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-07-01
End date: 2026-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 164328.0
EU funding (EUR): 164328.0
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

The progression of cancer is closely associated with alterations in the mechano-cellular phenotype and in the structure and mechanical properties of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in a complex and not well-understood manner. Desmoplasia, a tumour-associated fibrotic reaction, is responsible for tumor stiffening, poses a major barrier to effective drug delivery. Although novel therapeutic strategies that target cancer cells are emerging, their efficacy varies due to intra- and inter-patient variability as well as tumor heterogeneity. Notably, photodynamic therapy (PDT) is gaining prominence as a compelling alternative. This two-stage treatment harnesses both light energy and a specialized drug (photosensitizer, PS) to target cancer cells upon activation by a specific wavelength of light. However, the effectiveness of PDT is greatly compromised by various resistance factors originating from the complex TME. These factors can present several biological barriers, including desmoplasia. In this project, we propose the use of TME normalization treatment with approved anti-fibrotic drugs in combination with PDT. We aim to test the hypothesis that the combination of anti-fibrotic drugs that remodel and normalize the TME with PDT can increase the PDT efficiency. The specific research objectives are focused on breast cancer (BC) and includes in vitro study of the effect of different components of PDT treatment on BC cells, in vivo study of the effectiveness of the combination of PDT with anti-fibrotic treatment in murine BC models and mathematic modelling to optimize the combination therapies. In the proposed project, the fellow will acquire scientific and complementary skills according to his personalized career development plan and through advanced training, international and inter-sectoral mobility will reach a position of professional maturity in research.

Keywords: atomic force microscopy afm,anti fibrotic treament,photodynamic therapy pdt,mechanical properties,cancer
Women at work: for a comparative history of African female urban professions (Soudn, Tanzania and Ghana), 1919-1970 (WomatWork)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: The Study of the Human Past
Panel description: Archaeology and history
Countries involved: France,Italy
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2021-COG, 2021)
Start date: 2023-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1822500.0
EU funding (EUR): 1822500.0
Participants: 4
Project status: SIGNED

WomAtWork represents the first comparative investigation into the history of female urban popular professions in three African countries – Ghana/Gold Coast, Sudan, and Tanganyika/Tanzania – over the course of fifty years (1919-1970). Not only is this topic under-studied in African history, but these professions (i.e. midwives, beauticians, wedding singers, market vendors, craftswomen) are also characterised by fascinating and unsettling aspects. For example, notions such as a set price for a service and fixed working times or workplace did not apply to many of them. WomAtWork aims first to discover the peculiarities of these labour patterns and see their historical transformations as a result of political changes and the introduction of new technologies and commodities. Secondly, it examines professional subjectivities, the work ethos, norms and values of women at work. Finally, it questions the relationship between these professionals and their communities – including in the light of the social stigma sometimes attached to them – as well as the nexus between these labourers and protest, charting when and why they laid down their tools. Based on an innovative methodology, this project seeks to overcome the invisibility of women in official archives by weaving together different threads of sources. It begins inside those photographic archives connected with institutions that had conscious agendas of representation and routines of intense textual production (for example, missionary stations). In some cases, these visual and textual sources lead to networks or families of women professionals, whose oral history will be solicited. Third, the project aims to analyse the vernacular press combined with oral accounts. Through these objectives and methodologies, WomAtWork will be a participant in the mission of writing a more democratic, more inclusive history, one that firmly establish the centrality of women’s labour in African his

Keywords: history of women in africa socio history of professional categories history of the popular classes ghana sudan tanzania gender studies photographic history oral history history of the vernacular press