Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Deciphering super-Earths using Artificial Intelligence (ExoAI)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Universe sciences
Panel description: Astro-physics/-chemistry/-biology; solar system; planetary systems; stellar, galactic and extragalactic astronomy; cosmology; space sciences; astronomical instrumentation and data
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2017-STG, 2017)
Start date: 2018-01-01
End date: 2023-06-30
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The discovery of extrasolar planets - i.e. planets orbiting other stars - has fundamentally transformed our understanding of planets, solar systems and our place in the Milky Way. Recent discoveries have shown that planets between 1-2 R are the most abundant in our galaxy, so called super-Earths. Yet, they are entirely absent from our own solar system. Their nature, chemistry, formation histories or climate remain very much a mystery. Estimates of their densities suggest a variety of possible planet types and formation/evolution scenarios but current degeneracies cannot be broken with mass/radius measures alone. Spectroscopy of their atmospheres can provide vital insight. Recently, the first atmosphere around a super-Earth, 55 Cnc e, was discovered, showcasing that these worlds are far more complex than simple densities allow us to constrain. To achieve a more fundamental understanding, we need to move away from the status quo of treating individual planets as case-studies and analysing data ‘by hand’. A globally encompassing, self-consistent and self-calibrating approach is required. Here, I propose to move the field a significant step towards this goal with the ExoAI (Exoplanet Artificial Intelligence) framework. ExoAI will use state-of-the-art neural networks and Bayesian atmospheric retrieval algorithms applied to big-data. Given all available data of an instrument, ExoAI will autonomously learn the best calibration strategy, intelligently recognise spectral features and provide a full quantitative atmospheric model for every planet observed. This uniformly derived catalogue of super-Earth atmospheric models, will move us on from the individual case-studies and allow us to study the larger picture. We will constrain the underlying processes of planet formation/migration and bulk chemistries of super-Earths. The algorithm and the catalogue of atmospheric and instrument models will be made freely available to the community.

Keywords: exoplanets,super earths,atmospheric spectroscopy,data analysis,radiative transfer,blind source separation algorithms,machine learning,space missions,astrobiology
Ordering, Constructing, Empowering: Fragments of the Roman Republican Antiquarians (FRRAnt)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Cultures and cultural production
Panel description: Literary studies, cultural studies, study of the arts, philosophy
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2019-COG, 2019)
Start date: 2020-11-01
End date: 2025-10-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1902704.0
EU funding (EUR): 1902704.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

This project will radically transform our understanding of Roman Republican culture by establishing a new framework for the elaboration of knowledge and the religious and institutional structures of the Roman Republic. We will do so through the first systematic and comprehensive account of a group of Republican writers, who laid out a new way of ordering knowledge, and in the process, described the world for their contemporaries as well as for us. This knowledge revolution re-shaped the Roman intellectual horizon and was understood until the 19th century as a distinctive ‘antiquarian’ moment. Scattered through inaccessible collections of legal, historical, grammatical material, the knowledge revolution of the period is masked, as is the magnitude of the Roman innovation. The project’s objectives are: to broaden scholarly debates on the construction of knowledge and the political and religious culture of the Republic by collecting and making widely accessible a body of critically significant texts that have never been seen in their entirety; to transform our understanding of the intellectual life of the Roman Republic and fully explore its connections with the political and religious world of the time. By drawing on a systematic analysis of what might be considered ‘antiquarian’, we will chart the dynamics of the intellectual, political, institutional, and religious spheres at the very moment of their creative mutual interdependence. Bringing historical, linguistic, legal, religious, and philosophical expertise to bear on a close philological investigation of the source texts, we will produce the first ever edition of all the surviving ‘antiquarian’ fragments of the Republic. Supplied with analytical insights in the commentary, introduction, and related monographs, FRRAnt’s ambition is to launch the study of these texts as a major new departure for the study of ancient world and of classical tradition from the Renaissance onwards.
Predicting speech: what and when does the brain predict during language comprehension? (PreSpeech)

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: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Spain
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-09-10
End date: 2020-12-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 170121.6
EU funding (EUR): 170121.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The ability to recognise spoken words relies on extracting phonological features from the acoustic input that distinguish a word from its cohort competitors. Neuronal circuits were suggested to use context to predict and pre-activate specific speech features. Bottom-up feature recognition is enabled by phase and amplitude coupling between cortical oscillations and acoustic signals and this process is facilitated by top-down predictive processing. Predictions may be critical for the speed, accuracy and noise resistance that distinguish fluent speech recognition and were related to specific cortical oscillatory patterns (theta/delta synchronisation, beta increase). Despite evidence, the nature and the timing of these predictions remains unclear. This project will address these key questions using MEG and EEG that provide good spatiotemporal resolution. Increasing predictability of a word should have two effects: A) Neuronal populations encoding its phonological form will become active before this word is uniquely identifiable from its potential competitors by bottom-up analysis (uniqueness point UP). Using spatiotemporal multivariate pattern analysis we will test if the latency of phonological feature detection, used for word identification, is modulated by word's contextual predictability. If specific predictions are made, divergence should occur before the UP and should be supported by changes in oscillatory activity; B) Generating predictions should decrease bottom-up feature processing demands. We expect predictability to reduce the phase-amplitude coupling between the speech envelope and the gamma oscillations (a neuronal measure of phonological processing). In summary we aim to identify whether and how context enables predictions of incoming words’ form before it can be acoustically established. This will be critical for understanding the cortical architecture of speech processing with practical applications in artificial speech recognition.

Keywords: prediction,speech processing,phonology,oscillations
Feasibility study for industrial scale-up of the novel high-efficiency biocompatible and easy-to-operate water treatment membrane. (PureWater)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Innovation in SMEs
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call: SME instrument (H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1, 2018)
Start date: 2018-08-01
End date: 2019-01-31
Duration (months): 6.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The main objective of the PureWater project is the verification of technological and business viability of a novel disruptive and universally adoptable water purification technology possessing close to 100% efficiency and not requiring capital investments. The operation of technology is based on an adsorption membrane produced from environmentally friendly materials (milk protein and activated carbon) and is therefore poised to replace current water purification approaches, thereby contributing to the greening of the EU economy and to facilitating the transition to a resource efficient and climate-smart industry. The technology can be considered infrastructure-free as the membrane fit into existing water treatment equipment (filter press) and does not require any pre- nor post-treatment (unlike to all currently adopted membrane filtering technologies). The components used are low cost materials which makes the proposed concept extremely competitive with respect to currently existing solutions. The focus of the PureWater project will be the validation of the viability of the proposed concept with reference to heavy metals purification. However, the full potential of the technological concept covers almost all the organic and inorganic water pollutant coming from both, industrial and municipal sectors. Our ambition is thus to become the global landmark in the water treatment technology, introducing a single step bio-based, universal, yet simple, cheap and scalable technology for water decontamination. The PureWater’s mid-term ambition is to overcome all persisting challenges of water purification without requiring any modification of the existing pipelines: i) household purification of drinking water; ii) purification of industrial wastewater streams; iii) decontamination and purification of water contaminated from heavy metals and nuclear waste for agricultural purposes.

Keywords: membrane filtering technology,water purification,nanotechnology
Sustainable Drop-In Transport fuels from Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Low Value Urban Feedstocks (NextGenRoadFuels)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Secure, clean and efficient energy
Theme: Alternative fuels and mobile energy sources
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Germany,Italy,Spain,Italy,Norway,Greece,Netherlands,Denmark,Denmark,Denmark
Call: Development of next generation biofuels and alternative renewable fuel technologies for road transport (H2020-LC-SC3-2018-RES-SingleStage, 2018)
Start date: 2018-11-01
End date: 2022-10-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 5074876.26
EU funding (EUR): 5074876.25
Participants: 12
Project status: CLOSED

The objective of the NextGenRoadFuels project is to apply advanced HTL technology and subsequent upgrading to a selected range of low value/cost, concentrated biogenic residues from urban activity, in order to obtain cost competitive, sustainable drop-in quality synthetic gasoline and diesel fuels. From a highly efficient and validated baseline HTL process chain designed for lignocellulosics, new innovative process steps will be designed and existing steps optimized to address the additional challenges encompassed by such feedstocks, exemplified by sewage sludge, food waste and construction wood waste (termed urban feedstocks), with the objective to reach similar performance as for lignocellulosics. The main optimization targets are - To establish fundamental pretreatment process and parameters to provide highest possible organic dry matter content in feedstock slurry and efficiently remove valuable inorganics that can have added value as organic fertilizers and/or soil improvers. - To establish HTL processing parameters giving highest possible carbon and energy yields to oil phase - To establish efficient upgrading schemes to bring the HTL intermediate bio-crude to drop-in gasoline and diesel fuels - To close material and energy streams to and from the individual process steps in order to obtain maximum internal utilization and minimal environmental impact - To establish MFSP scenarios demonstrating cost-competitiveness, socio-economic benefits and superior LCA and GHG reduction effects in a pan-European as well as global perspective. Specific targets of the NextGenRoadFuels project are to demonstrate the potential to convert more than 100 M tons urban feedstock per year into almost 500,000 barrels per day of drop-in diesel and gasoline fuels (more than 10 % of the current use in the EU), at a cost of approximately 50-60 Euro-cent per liter. This will generate 50,000 direct and 300,000 indirect jobs within the EU, and reduce GHG emissions by more than 70%.

Keywords: catalytic upgrading,low value feedstock,bio crude,biofuels,thermochemical
Inhibition of the T-cell receptor signalling pathway for treatment of T-cell lymphoma (TITLY)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Global Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: France,United States
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-GF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-11-01
End date: 2017-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 178603.2
EU funding (EUR): 178603.2
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is a form of cancer emerging from the transformation of a mature B- or T-cell lymphocyte. NHL is the 11th most common cancer in Europe, and the 10th most common cancer worldwide. Functional evidence of the key role of B-cell receptor (BCR) signalling in B-cell malignancies came mainly from works conducted in Dr Louis Staudt’s lab (National Cancer Institute, Lymphoid Malignancies Branch, Bethesda, USA) where the outgoing phase of the global fellowship would take place. Rapid translation of basic science discovery on the BCR signalling led to the development of a specific inhibitor of a key BCR pathway adaptor named Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK), which was granted for accelerated approval both in United States and Europe by regulatory medical agencies. While the potency of BCR pathway inhibitors is currently revolutionizing the management of B-cell malignancies, peripheral (ie mature) T-cell lymphomas (PTCL) still share a dismal prognosis with a 10-year overall survival barely exceeding 15%. Previous work of the experienced researcher provides strong evidence that PTCL similarly rely on T-cell receptor (TCR) signalling pathway for survival. Targeting this pathway could then lead to discovery of potent therapeutic compounds for PTCL treatment. During the 2 years of the global fellowship, the researcher would first perform a TCR pathway small hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) loss-of-function screen in PTCL cell lines in the group of Dr Louis Staudt where the technic is already available and has been fruitfully applied to B-cell malignancies. Second, the researcher would identify potential pharmacological inhibitors of the previously identified targets both in vitro and in vivo in PTCL cell lines xenograft models. This second phase of the project would take place both among the outgoing team and the return group of Pr Gilles Salles (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Indolent-B-cell Proliferation Branch, Lyon, France).
Ruthenium-based photoactivated chemotherapy against eye cancer (Ru4EYE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept 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: Netherlands
Call: ERC Proof of Concept Grant (ERC-2019-PoC, 2019)
Start date: 2020-06-01
End date: 2022-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The Ru4EYE PoC proposal will develop the first pre-clinical evaluation of Ru-based PACT compounds in uveal melanoma (UM) model. UM is a rare malignancy of the eye. Although treatment against UM do exist, they do no always preserve vision or the eye, and often lead to patient death via metastasis to the liver. A better treatment that would save vision, the eye, and the patient, is looked after. UM appears as an appealing disease for photoactivated chemotherapy (PACT), a new form of phototherapy developed within my ERC Starting Grant RuProLight. PACT agents are photosensitive compounds that can kill cancer cells selectively under the action of light. In PACT dioxygen does not need to be present at the site of light irradiation because the mechanism of photochemical activation is an oxygen-independent bond breakage reaction between a bioactive, cytotoxic agent, and a light-removable protecting group. Innovative therapeutic solutions such as PACT are typically difficult to bring to the market because of the risky nature of drug development and the funding required for clinical trials. The vision in this grant proposal is that positive results on a rare form of cancer such as uveal melanoma could not only offer a relatively short-term solution to uveal melanoma patients, but also accelerate translation of Ru-based PACT to the clinics by driving developments for other diseases as well. The biological testing of Ru-based PACT compounds will be performed in a complete series of translational cancer models: from in vitro (2D monolayers of normoxic and hypoxic cancer cells, 3D tumor spheroids) to in vivo (xenografts in zebrafish embryo for studying metastasis formation and treatment, and mouse model for in vivo toxicity and efficacy). The aim is to develop a pre-clinical proof-of-concept that PACT can be used to treat uveal melanoma, so that presentation to venture capital and clinical testing can start quickly after completion of the project.

Keywords: melanoma,eye cancer,phototherapy
Design, manufacturing and control of INterfaces in THERMally conductive polymer nanocomposites (INTHERM)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — 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: Italy
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2014-STG, 2014)
Start date: 2015-03-01
End date: 2020-11-30
Duration (months): 69.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1404132.0
EU funding (EUR): 1404132.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This proposal addresses the design, manufacturing and control of interfaces in thermally conductive polymer/graphene nanocomposites. In particular, the strong reduction of thermal resistance associated to the contacts between conductive particles in a percolating network throughout the polymer matrix is targeted, to overcome the present bottleneck for heat transfer in nanocomposites. The project includes the investigation of novel chemical modifications of nanoparticles to behave as thermal bridges between adjacent particles, advanced characterization methods for particle/particle interfaces and controlled processing methods for the preparations of nanocomposites with superior thermal conductivity. The results of this project will contribute to the fundamental understanding of heat transfer in complex solids, while success in mastering interfacial properties would open the way to a new generation of advanced materials coupling high thermal conductivity with low density, ease of processing, toughness and corrosion resistance.

Keywords: thermally conductive polymer nanocomposites,engineering of thermal interfaces
Dating fossils with molecules – innovative approach to determine the age of Baltic AMBER (AMBER)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Global Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Poland,United States
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-09-01
End date: 2020-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 147296.4
EU funding (EUR): 147296.4
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Baltic amber from Northern Europe is an outstanding deposit due to the great number and diversity of preserved organisms. Although it is the richest source of fossils ever, science has consistently failed to define its geological age, despite applying various traditional approaches. It limits the scientific utility of all Baltic amber fossils in evolutionary divergence time estimation. This is very unfortunate, especially because these fossils would be very important for reconstructing evolutionary events in the Eocene, which is known as a deep-time analogue of current climatic changes. The core idea of this project is to apply an innovative and highly promising approach of precise dating for this very important fossil deposit by using DNA, morphology of extinct and extant species, and powerful statistics. I propose to time-calibrate Baltic amber fossils using a dataset from my previous project with the addition of Baltic amber and other, well-dated Cenozoic fossils. With these data, I will apply an existing method for divergence time estimation, the total-evidence dating under the fossilized birth–death process with its extension. The extension of the method will allow for phylogenetic estimation of the age of fossils from Baltic amber, and thus the amber itself. Firmly establishing the age of Baltic amber fossils will be a breakthrough for evolutionary biology, palaeoecology, biogeography, and palaeoclimatology. The project builds on my experience as a palaeoentomologist and evolutionary biologist, and it greatly expands my horizons as a future leader through gaining new insights and learning new facts and analytical methods, working in multidisciplinary academic environments and acquiring additional skills transferrable to new scientific areas. The hosts are the leading specialists in statistical phylogenetics and palaeontological studies, and leaders of dynamic research groups targeting different methods for understanding evolutionary patterns and processes

Keywords: palaeontology,bayesian statistics,amber