Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Using human tissue to translate microRNA-based therapies for epilepsy (EpimiRTherapy)

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: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Ireland
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2019-12-01
End date: 2021-11-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 184590.72
EU funding (EUR): 184590.72
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The overall research aim of EpimiRTherapy is to elucidate the mechanism of a novel disease-modifying therapy for epilepsy at single cell resolution in the human brain. MicroRNAs are short non-coding RNAs which regulate protein levels in the brain. Certain microRNAs are strongly associated with epilepsy and their knockdown, using antisense molecules called ‘antagomirs’, has anti-seizure effects in rodents. Antagomir targeting microRNA-134 (ant-134) is a particularly promising disease-modifying treatment for epilepsy, which could meet an urgent clinical need. However, antagomirs to treat neurological disease have never been tested in humans due to limited translational evidence. EpimiRTherapy, for the first time, fills this gap: I will use state-of-the-art techniques to produce human brain slices from tissue surgically resected during temporal lobectomies for epilepsy. I will use a combination of molecular techniques (acquired at the host lab in RCSI and through secondment to ICL) and electrophysiology, my core expertise, to determine the impact of ant-134 on the biophysical and transcriptional landscapes of human tissue and a network and single neuron level. This will be complemented with cutting edge systems modelling and imaging techniques acquired through collaborations. This fellowship, through advanced interdisciplinary and intersectoral training, will serve as a launchpad for reaching a position of professional independence and maturity, whilst at the same time facilitating a transfer of knowledge between myself, the host and the collaborators, by bringing cutting edge electrophysiology and human tissue processing techniques to RCSI and addressing an urgent and unmet clinical need for novel epilepsy treatments.

Keywords: epilepsy,microrna,antagomir,human tissue
MAmmary chemoresistant Tumor deAth by Directed cell ORientation (MATADOR)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — 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 (ERC-2017-PoC, 2017)
Start date: 2018-06-01
End date: 2019-05-31
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 149645.0
EU funding (EUR): 149645.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide, with nearly 1.7 million new cases diagnosed in 2012. Fortunately, the availability of diagnosis tools to detect mammary neoplastic tissues, as well as transcriptomic biomarkers helping for prognosis, and the diversity of treatment options for primary tumors allows a 90% 5-year survival rate. However the metastatic grade of breast cancer is still not curable. Advances from basic research in the last decade outline the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) as a key program of molecular events triggering metastatic dissemination [Nieto MA, Cell, 2016]. Impairing the EMT process appears as a very seductive way to cure breast carcinoma cancer. Based on preliminary results obtained from “SPICY” ERC Frontier Research Starting Grant, in which we successfully develop an assay dedicated to characterize the EMT state of breast carcinoma cells [Thery M, EP 2180042 A1, 2008 ; Burute M, Dev. Cell, 2016], MATADOR is an ERC proof-of-concept project which proposes a genuine innovative strategy to develop marketable cell based assays allowing the discovery of new drugs efficiently curing mammary tumors, and create a CRO-type biotechnology company exploiting the pre-existing and newly created intellectual property: including marketable assays and therapeutics defined in MATADOR.

Keywords: breast carcinoma,drug discovery,cell based assays,nanotechnologies for health sciences,cell polarity,chimio resistance
OFERA: Open Framework for Embedded Robot Applications (OFERA)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Action type: Innovation actions
Partnership: Robotics SPARC (cPPP)
Countries involved: Germany,Germany,Spain,Spain,Poland,Switzerland,United Kingdom
Call: Advanced robot capabilities research and take-up (H2020-ICT-2017-1, 2017)
Start date: 2018-01-01
End date: 2021-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3877451.43
EU funding (EUR): 2940920.0
Participants: 7
Project status: CLOSED

Micro-ROS will be a Robotic framework targeting embedded and deep embedded robot components with extremely constrained computational resources. These devices have special characteristics: minimum real time operating system or no operating system, battery powered, wireless low bandwidth connections, and intermittent operation with sleep periods. Micro-ROS will be compatible with the Robot Operating System (ROS 2.0), the de facto standard for robot application development. Micro-ROS will enable the interoperability of traditional robots with IoT sensors and devices, creating truly distributed robotic systems using a common framework. Micro-ROS empowers these computational devices with constrained resources to become first class participants of the ROS ecosystem allowing to create smaller robots using the same tools as well as taking advantage of the increasing overlapping between robotics, smart embedded devices and IoT.

Keywords: robot operating system ros based
Physiologically Anchored Tools for Realistic nanOmateriaL hazard aSsessment (PATROLS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, and Biotechnology
Theme: Ensuring the safe and sustainable development and application of nanotechnologies
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Italy,Germany,Germany,Italy,Belgium,Switzerland,Belgium,Belgium,Korea, Republic of,Switzerland,Finland,Poland,Netherlands,United States,Netherlands,Denmark,United Kingdom,United Kingdom,Denmark,United Kingdom,United Kingdom
Call: Advanced and realistic models and assays for nanomaterial hazard assessment (H2020-NMBP-2017-two-stage, 2017)
Start date: 2018-01-01
End date: 2021-09-30
Duration (months): 45.0
Total project cost (EUR): 13108347.5
EU funding (EUR): 12714180.0
Participants: 25
Project status: CLOSED

Nanotechnology promises significant scientific, economic and societal benefits, but commercialization and growth are threatened by safety uncertainties. Classical hazard testing strategies to define the human and environmental health impact of engineered nanomaterials (ENM) commonly apply unrealistic acute, high-doses to models that do not reflect the in vivo environment. Furthermore, existing in vitro and in silico hazard detection methods are not accurately predictive. PATROLS addresses these limitations by establishing and standardizing the next generation of advanced safety assessment tools for improved prediction of the adverse effects caused by chronic ENM exposure in human and environmental systems. PATROLS will deliver: 1) physiologically representative multi-cellular in vitro 3D lung, gastrointestinal tract and liver models; 2) cross-species models integrating human and environmental safety testing; 3) innovative ecotoxicity bioassays in several organisms across a food chain; 4) robust in silico models for dosimetry, interspecies toxicity extrapolation and hazard prediction. ENM characterization under physiologically relevant experimental conditions will be integral to this realistic, exposure driven strategy. A systems biology approach will also be adopted to identify key events linked to adverse outcome pathways, informing mechanism-based endpoints associated with real-life ENM exposures. These objectives will be achieved by an international network of world-leading academic, governmental, industrial, SME, risk assessment agency and NGO partners. The innovative in vitro and in silico nanosafety testing tools developed by PATROLS will balance speed, cost and biological complexity, while reducing uncertainty via improved predictive power. The smart targeted testing approach will drive a paradigm shift in (eco)toxicology towards mechanism-based ENM hazard assessment to support policy development in human and environmental nanosafety regulatory frameworks.

Keywords: advanced in vitro and in silico hazard tests,realistic exposure,chronic exposure,ecotoxicity,nanosafety,predictive modeling,3d cell models,nano regulation framework,bioaccumulation,kinetics
IL-7/IL-7R signaling networks in health and malignancy (IL7sigNETure)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Panel description: Organ and tissue physiology, comparative physiology, physiology of ageing, pathophysiology, interorgan 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: Portugal
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2014-CoG, 2014)
Start date: 2015-09-01
End date: 2021-08-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1988125.0
EU funding (EUR): 1988125.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Deregulation of signal transduction is a feature of tumor cells and signaling therapies are gaining importance in the growing arsenal against cancer. However, their full potential can only be achieved once we overcome the limited knowledge on how signaling networks are wired in cancer cells. Interleukin 7 (IL7) and its receptor (IL7R) are essential for normal T-cell development and function. However, they can also promote autoimmunity, chronic inflammation and cancer. We showed that patients with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), an aggressive hematological cancer, can display IL7R gain-of-function mutations leading to downstream signaling activation and cell transformation. Despite the biological relevance of IL7 and IL7R, the characterization of their signaling effectors remains limited. Here, we propose to move from the single molecule/pathway-centered analysis that has characterized the research on IL7/IL7R signaling, into a ‘holistic’ view of the IL7/IL7R signaling landscape. To do so, we will employ a multidisciplinary strategy, in which data from complementary high throughput analyses, informing on different levels of regulation of the IL7/IL7R signaling network, will be integrated via a systems biology approach, and complemented by cell and molecular biology experimentation and state-of-the-art in vivo models. The knowledge we will generate should have a profound impact on the understanding of the fundamental mechanisms by which IL7/IL7R signaling promotes leukemia and reveal novel targets for fine-tuned therapeutic intervention in T-ALL. Moreover, the scope of insights gained should extend beyond leukemia. Our in-depth, systems-level characterization of IL7/IL7R signaling will constitute a platform with extraordinary potential to illuminate the molecular role of the IL7/IL7R axis in other cancers (e.g. breast and lung) and pathological settings where IL7 has been implicated, such as HIV infection, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Keywords: interleukin 7,signaling,t cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia,cancer,animal models,targeted therapeutics,high throughput multi level analyses phosphoproteomics,transcriptomics,chemical screens
Centre of Excellence for Cultural and Creative Innovations in Lithuania (innocult)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Spreading excellence and widening participation
Programme: Widening participation and spreading excellence
Theme: Improved access to Excellence
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Italy,Lithuania
Call: Teaming Phase 1 (H2020-WIDESPREAD-04-2017-TeamingPhase1, 2017)
Start date: 2017-09-01
End date: 2018-08-31
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 399718.75
EU funding (EUR): 399718.75
Participants: 3
Project status: CLOSED

The "innocult" Teaming Phase 1 project specifically aims to create a Centre of Excellence (CoE) of Creative and Cultural Innovations in Lithuania, The new CoE is targeted to perform research and innovation actions in line with the challenges faced in our country and aimed at promoting participatory culture and socio-cultural engagement of diverse societies by supporting cultural and creative processes of integration and disruption. Investigation and measurement of cultural and creative capital value on the basis of developed methodological approach and means will disclose the wide social and economic role the cultural and creative industries play and, therefore, foster networking, entrepreneurship and innovation potential of cultural and creative sector creating conditions for estimating forthcoming model of participatory culture. The main goal of the Centre of Excellence is to provoke innovative changes in participatory culture and provide a guidance of smart and sustainable changes for cultural and creative organizations and audiences within creative sector to operate in competitive environment for leading excellence based on investigated and measured cultural and creative processes. Therefore, the CoE seeks to promote development of CCI institutions, formation of new institutional strategies leading towards inclusive and participatory culture taking into account the importance and shifts of the economical, communicative, technological and social factors, in order for the cultural institutions and network to start functioning as activating centres of social innovations, as hubs for involvement of new audiences (minorities, youth, seniors etc.) increasing competences of culture consumption in respect to the development of CCI.

Keywords: creative industries,science,technology and arts starts,co creation
Correction of duplications in the DMD gene by a CRISPR/Cas9 approach (DMD2CURE)

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: Life Sciences
Countries involved: France
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2017-03-01
End date: 2019-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 185076.0
EU funding (EUR): 185076.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is an X-linked recessive muscle-wasting disease, characterized by progressive weakening of skeletal, respiratory, and cardiac muscle followed by necrosis and fibrosis. DMD affects ~1:3,500 live male births and is associated with delayed motor milestones. DMD occurs as a result of mutations within the DMD gene that lead to premature termination of translation. The most frequent type of mutations are exonic deletions and duplications that induce a frame-shift in the protein-coding sequence. To date no effective treatment exist for this disorder. Duplications account for ~5–10% of all reported mutations in DMD in the Leiden database, although the incidence may be higher. Despite the limited number in DMD, duplications are widespread in almost all diseases and are generally neglected by therapeutic approaches. New molecular tools, now represented by genome-editing technologies that use synthetic nucleases in order to introduce targeted alterations at specific sites in the genome, hold great promises for revolutionizing the gene therapy arena. According to these premises, we propose a novel strategy based on the CRISPR/Cas9 system to repair tandem duplications by removing the mutation: compared to the exon deletions approach which uses two gRNA targeting two unique regions defining the sequence to be deleted, our approach will employ only one gRNA against a unique intronic sequence within the tandem duplication. This strategy will exploit the characteristic of tandem duplication (two identical contiguous sequences) and will result in the deletion or inversion of the mutation restoring the dystrophin expression. As a model we chose the exon 2 duplication which is the most frequent one in the DMD gene, but the same approach would be applicable to all tandem duplications. This study will pave the way for the development of therapies against duplications also in pathologies in which the exon skipping approach is not feasible.

Keywords: gene editing,crispr,cas9,duplications,mouse models,viral vectors
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN ACADEMIA & CLINICAL TRIALS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF RARE DISEASE TREATMENTS VIA NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI) (RD-MRI NETWORK)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Innovation in SMEs
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Belgium
Call: SME instrument (H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1, 2019)
Start date: 2020-01-01
End date: 2020-05-31
Duration (months): 5.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Rare diseases affect 36 million citizens in the EU with 75% of patients being children and 30% dying under the age of five. 94% of the 8,000 rare diseases lack approved treatments and the EU has created financial incentives for pharmaceutical companies (PhC) to develop suitable orphan drugs but they face difficulties through increasingly high development risks where a failed drug trial can cost €1.8bn on average. In order to lower their costs, PhCs outsource development work to Contractual Research Organizations (CRO) who specialise in specific task such as drug discovery or clinical trials but these CROs have significant limitations such as a lack of modern Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) methodologies, EMA/FDA compliance, contacts to clinical sites and restricted access to rare disease patient groups. We present MRI NETWORK, the first solution which bridges the gap between PhCs and clinical sites by providing an online network of expert clinical sites, full trial design, the most advanced MRI methodologies and smart automated MRI data processing & coordination. This project will be fundamental in bringing our technology to full market readiness and reach the 150,000 clinical sites and 36 million rare disease patients in the EU. Our company, CRIS, has been involved in 30+ clinical trials in the past 20 years and with our extensive commercial network of clinical sites, academic experts, pharmaceutical companies and the relevant regulatory institutions, we expect to generate €15.4m in profits with an ROI of 6.7 over 3 years. RD-MRI NETWORK creates a new market for clinical trials and MRI services in the EU and, next to 17 direct jobs, we will create 500+ new skilled jobs by allowing academics to receive adequate compensation for MRI services and increase industry collaborations in academia.

Keywords: neuromuscular,rare diseases,neural networks,artificial intelligence,clinical trials
IMPACT OF DNA REPLICATION ON EPIGENETICS (IDRE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions
Panel description: Molecular biology, biochemistry, structural biology, molecular biophysics, synthetic and chemical biology, drug design, innovative methods and modelling
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2016-STG, 2016)
Start date: 2017-05-01
End date: 2024-02-29
Duration (months): 82.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1444081.0
EU funding (EUR): 1444081.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

During lineage propagation, cells must duplicate their genetic and epigenetic information to maintain cell identity. However, the mechanisms underlying the maintenance of epigenetic information in dividing cells remain largely unknown. In S phase, progression of DNA replication forks provokes a genome-wide disruption of the epigenetic information. While nucleosomes are rapidly reassembled on newly replicated DNA, full restoration of epigenetic information is not completed until after mitosis. This proposal aims to reveal how cells restore epigenetic information after DNA replication. To address this question, I have developed a new technology called Nascent Chromatin Capture (NCC). NCC is a powerful and versatile method that allows purification and analysis over time of proteins associated with replicated DNA. (1) I will identify novel mechanisms in chromatin restoration in mother and daughter cells. To this end I will combine NCC with quantitative mass spectrometry, high-throughput microscopy and screening technologies. Furthermore, I will develop original strategies to directly study the impact of chromatin restoration defects on genome integrity and differentiation potential. (2) It remains unknown whether specific loci as DNA replication origins, have a particular mode of restoration. I propose to develop a new technology, NCC-Ori, to capture chromatin at DNA replication origins. This innovative cutting edge technology will permit to unravel molecular mechanisms that underpin chromatin restoration at these specific sites and uncover chromatin determinants of replication timing and origin activation. (3) Newly identified players that are linked to human diseases will be characterized in order to understand their role in disease etiology and their therapeutic potential. Altogether, these integrated approaches should provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms that coordinate genome and epigenome maintenance across cell generations.
SCS – a self-cleaning shunt for the continuous prevention of shunt blockage in hydrocephalus and NPH patients (Microbot Medical)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Innovation in SMEs
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Israel
Call: SME instrument (H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1, 2018)
Start date: 2018-06-01
End date: 2018-11-30
Duration (months): 6.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Microbot Medical is an award-winning start up in the medical device field that was lounched in 2010 by an expert team with extensive experience in clinical practice, mechanical engineering, electronics and business development. Althouogh based in Israel, we have been building our international projection since inception, developing a first of its kind, innovative and disruptive ropotic shunt that will be able to improve the quality of life of millions of patients globally by advancing micro-robotics technologies to perform surgical procedures within the human body, and offer physicians and their patients less invasive and more precise solutions. Hydrocephalus, also known as "water in the brain" is a medical condition in which there an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles of the brain. An estimated 750,000 people are living with it in the US alone, with similar numbers in Europe. It causes increased intracranial pressure inside the skill and progressive enlargement of the head, convulsion, tunnel vision, and mental disability, as well as death. It is the only common form of dementia that is reversible. Treatment is done by implanting shunts, used to drain excess fluids from patients brain, but are needed to be replaced regularly in surgery. Microbot Medical's SCS will help lower the number of surgeries done annually around the world, estimated at over 40,000 in the US alone (once every 15 minutes) – with similar number in the EU, with a total cost of over $2B.

Keywords: hydrocephalus,shunt,self cleaning shung,aging well,well being