Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Circulating Extracellular vesicles (cEVs): a novel nutrient delivery mechanism and therapeutic target in metabolic pathologies (METEV) (METEV)

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: Spain,Denmark
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-09-02
End date: 2026-09-01
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 181152.96
EU funding (EUR): 181152.96
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The sensing of blood nutrient availability, storage, and delivery requires robust inter-tissue crosstalk mechanisms which, for the last 70 years, we have still trying to understand in health and disease. When these mechanisms fail, metabolic pathologies such as Metabolic Syndrome (MetSy) ensue. MetSy is a complex entity that has emerged as a worldwide epidemic. The lack of knowledge of its nature, the absence of any efficient treatment, and the increasing prevalence imply a major public health concern. MetSy is defined as abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, misbalance in lipid profile, and high cardiovascular and diabetes type 2 risks. These factors, dysregulated simultaneously, suggest an underlying mechanism linking all these metabolic impairments. In 2019, I published an article proposing a novel nutrient delivery mechanism from blood to tissues based on extracellular vesicles (EVs) biology. Since then, other groups have corroborated our findings, supporting the idea that, as a complementation of the classical nutrient delivery mechanisms, EVs in circulation (cEVs) are able to deliver metabolic fuels from blood to tissues. While this new cEVs-based mechanism is occurring in healthy subjects, we don´t know if it is falling in MetSy patients, or even if it is relevant enough to alter human physiopathology. METEV aims to study these last two concepts, to address a better understanding of metabolic pathologies, in particular, the role of cEVs in the development of MetSy. My main personal objective is to learn (training) and take advantage of cutting-edge technologies to improve the knowledge of metabolic pathologies with potential relevant implications in multiple fields of medicine. This will allow forging future interdisciplinary collaborations with professionals from different areas. The present MSCA enables the development of my own collaborative network, as I will work at the Hospital La Fe (Spain), with a secondment at Aalborg University Hospital (Denmark).

Keywords: extracellular vesicles metabolic syndrome nutrients delivery from blood to tissues
Fostering the transitiOn foR sustainablE and circular bio-fuelS: an Eco-labEl and moNitoring tool as a guidance for policies (FORESEEN)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Postdoctoral Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: United Kingdom,Netherlands,Greece
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2026-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 260347.92
EU funding (EUR): 260347.92
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

The objective of FORESEEN (Fostering the transitiOn foR sustainablE and circular bio-fuelS: an Eco-labEl and moNitoring tool as a guidance for policies) is to design, implement and validate a digitalised toolkit and an eco-label aimed at improving and ensuring compliance with decarbonization strategies, policies, and regulations and promoting sustainable and circular biofuel technologies and value chains. The toolkit's architecture will be developed with consideration of the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) and circularity frameworks and integrating data science for enhanced data analysis and predictive modelling. The eco-label will certify biofuel technologies and value chains that meet sustainability, circularity, and safety standards. The integration of policies, circular bioeconomy indicators, SSbD framework, and digitalization within the FORESEEN project toolkit and eco-label will drive the adoption of advanced sustainable biofuel technologies and value chains.

Keywords: safe and sustainable by design circularity biofuels eco label digitalized tool
The TEmporality of the craftmanship in the diaCHroNic and synchronic production and circulation of cEramics in second millennium BCE Mesopotamia (TECHNE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Postdoctoral Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: France
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-07-01
End date: 2027-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 226420.56
EU funding (EUR): 226420.56
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

TECHNE questions how the dynamics of changes of pottery circulation and production relate to economic and political dynamics of 2nd millennium BCE Mesopotamia, from the Amorite collective identity in the Middle Bronze Age to the Kassite and Assyrian cultural-political systems in the Late Bronze Age. To ensure its feasibility and not harming its completeness, the project focuses on table vessels (plates, carinated bowls, shouldered beakers, tall-necked beakers) and storage containers (jars with band rim), selected on the base of their diffusion in Mesopotamia and their occurrence in funerary and administrative contexts, of primary importance to assess specific cultural traits and traditions in the use of ceramics. The selected material has been retrieved in northern and southern Mesopotamia in four selected sites, mentioned as case-studies, and from ISAC and Penn museums’ collections. The project challenges when the aforementioned ceramic types spread, why they were widely attested, what their cultural and economic meaning was, how they were adopted in local traditions. TECHNE aims at bringing together the available fragmentary evidence and the analyzing data synchronically and diachronically by means of an interdisciplinary method combining anthropological approaches, natural sciences (petrography), and Digital Humanities analytical tools (Geographic Information System). The host institution, UP1– UMR ArScAn, will provide training in GIS mapping, microscope observation and material culture anthropology. Research collaborations with top-ranking scholars in the lab and in other institutions will provide me with a broadening of my skillset and of my network for further collaborations. In the project's last quarter, I will organize a workshop involving prominent scholars researching the project’s topics. TECHNE will be disseminated in scientific conferences and publications, as well as in the local communities in Iraq and Europe.

Keywords: ancient near east,mesopotamia,pottery,bronze age,ceramic production,goods circulation
Colloidal Indium Arsenide quantum dots as short-wave infrared single photon emitters (MOONSHOT)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Italy
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS (ERC-2023-POC, 2023)
Start date: 2024-06-01
End date: 2025-11-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

MOONSHOT aims at developing a novel single-photon emitting material that operates in the telecommunication wavelength range (1300-1600 nm, O- and C-bands) and is compliant with the “Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment” (RoHS). The main motivation for such objective is that single-photon sources based on epitaxial quantum dots (QDs) are now a mature technology available on the market that is outperforming laser cooled atoms or spontaneous parametric down conversion via nonlinear crystals. Yet, three major issues afflict epitaxial QDs: first, the epitaxial approach presents drawbacks in terms of limited throughput and CMOS incompatibility. Secondly, often the emission wavelength of epitaxial QDs for single-photon generation is limited to less than 1000 nm. Finally, single-photon sources based on this class of QDs require low-temperature operation (T ≈ 4K). Colloidal QDs present similar light-emission properties to their epitaxial counterpart and they can tackle most of the drawbacks of the latter. For example, solution processing enables controlled placement of QDs on-chip as well as very high throughput preparation via wet-chemistry approaches. In addition, colloidal QDs have the potential for operation beyond cryogenic temperatures. Nonetheless, state-of-the-art colloidal QDs with shortwave infrared emission (SWIR, 750-1600 nm) contain either lead or mercury, which are severely restricted by the RoHS. Indium arsenide (InAs) QDs are among the few SWIR-emitting RoHS-compliant materials; yet only a limited number of synthetic approaches lead to emissive QDs. MOONSHOT will focus on developing highly emissive and blinking-free InAs colloidal QDs based on a synthetic route employing commercially available precursors. MOONSHOT adopts a high-risk strategy to realize a new technology in the field of quantum light sources with an immediate outcome in the form of optimized single-photon SWIR emitting QDs.
REstoration of WETlands to minimise emissions and maximise carbon uptake – a strategy for long term climate mitigation (REWET)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Climate, Energy and Mobility
Theme: Climate
Destination: Climate sciences and responses for the transformation towards climate neutrality
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Spain,Netherlands,Belgium,Estonia,Italy,Germany,Portugal,Austria,Finland
Call: Restoration of natural wetlands, peatlands and floodplains as a strategy for fast mitigation benefits; pathways, trade-offs and co-benefits (HORIZON-CL5-2021-D1-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-10-01
End date: 2026-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 6604855.39
EU funding (EUR): 6604853.0
Participants: 18
Project status: SIGNED

The REWET project will facilitate the sustainable restoration and conservation of terrestrial wetlands – freshwater wetlands, peatlands, and floodplains. To do so, REWET draws upon the network of carefully selected seven demonstrators (Open Labs ≥ 2400 ha in total) that cover a range of local conditions, geographic characteristics, governance structures and social/cultural settings to fully understand the wetlands-carbon-climate nexus and provide an replication plan to boost successful wetlands restoration throughout Europe and internationally. In the Open Labs, the most fit-for-purpose technologies will be applied for the monitoring of GHG (Eddy Covariance towers, satellite imagery, field measurements), biodiversity, and meteorological events. Furthermore, the social aspect will be analysed, by evaluating gender differences, locals, and key stakeholders acceptance. REWET has two additional strong scientific pillars: the assessment of EU wetlands status in Europe and modelling. Together with the Open Labs, they will fill out the gaps on wetlands science and provide guidance for cost-effective restoration and monitoring practices that are environmentally friendly, compatible with the future climate and provide a wide range of ecosystem services. As main outcomes, REWET will deliver a wetlands inventory with carbon sink potential, models for wetlands GHG emissions/sequestration under different scenarios including climate change, policy recommendations for wetlands restoration, sound business models and a roadmap for replication. The REWET consortium is a transdisciplinary partnership between researchers, industry partners (SME), non-profit entities, responsible agencies at the local and watershed/regional level and one international organisation, dedicated to achieving the desired outcomes of the project.

Keywords: freshwater wetlands floodplains peatlands greenhouse gases emissions carbon sink ecosystem services climate change disaster risk climate extremes global warming biodiversity
Unlocking a T cell-mediated Immune response in therapy-challenged Tumors (UnlockIT)

Framework: Horizon Europe — 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, 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: Austria
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2023-COG, 2023)
Start date: 2024-07-01
End date: 2029-06-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2000000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Immuno- and targeted therapies have revolutionized the treatment of cancer patients, and more innovative therapeutics, such as KRAS inhibitors (KRASi), are entering the clinic. However, their use as monotherapies fails to achieve durable tumor control in most patients, and the development of combination therapies remains challenging without an understanding of the complex and dynamic biology that unfolds upon therapeutic challenge in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Most of our knowledge on combination therapies is based on primary, treatment-naïve tumors, but how signaling networks of cancer cells and their interactions with immune cells evolve under therapeutic challenge over time is poorly understood, and strategies to overcome immune-evasive TMEs are lacking. Here, we build on our expertise in modeling the dynamic changes of cancer cells in all phases of therapy to move towardsstrategic, mechanism-based combination therapies. Our vision is to Unlock a T cell-mediated Immune response in therapy-challenged Tumors, “UnlockIT”, to achieve durable therapy responses in cancer patients. (1) We will use our improved molecular time machine, CaTCHseq, together with novel KRASi and unique KRAS-driven tumor models to understand tumor-TME co-evolution under KRASi and related mechanisms of drug-resistance. (2) We will characterize mediators of antigen processing and presentation in treatment naïve, therapy-challenged and immune evasive cancer cell states by using state-of-the-art genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screens in combination with innovative phenotypic readouts. This approach offers a sought-after opportunity to uncover mechanisms that make cancer cells “visible” to immunity. (3) Finally, we aim to overcome immune-evasive TMEs by understanding and targeting antigen-presenting cells in the TME. Taken together, UnlockIT will provide new mechanistic links between oncogenic pathways and immunity, and thereby establish a rational basis for combining targeted and immunotherapies.
Ultrasensitive probing of wet adhesion and charge dynamics in soft materials (STICKY)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Condensed Matter Physics
Panel description: Structure, electronic properties, fluids, nanosciences, biological physics
Countries involved: Finland
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): 1499663.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499663.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Soft wet adhesion is a physical phenomenon exploited by organisms that live in wet environments to allow them to adhere to surfaces despite charge barriers that typically hinder adhesion. The physics underpinning soft wet adhesion has been studied for over a century. The interplay between charge and adhesion dynamics in soft adhesion is strongly complicated by non-linear and time-dependent effects for different compression rates and environmental conditions and remains poorly understood due to the lack of simultaneous charge and force-based experiments on pairwise interactions in dynamic conditions. Understanding charge-adhesion interplay is important for novel biomedical and engineering applications. Here, I will develop an Electro-Adhesion Microscope to probe real-time interactions between soft wet adhesion and charge at piconewton and femtocoulomb resolutions. Using a hydrogel soft probe to mimic tissue and conductive hydrogel as soft adhesive I will determine how charges vary with compression rates and stiffnesses for anionic and cationic adhesives and soft probe, and how these charge changes influence adhesion in water and complex fluids. By adopting soft probe to wet probe, I will also explore these interactions in the presence of a thin liquid film in air. Together this will resolve several major questions on charge-adhesion interplay, with the grand goal of discovering new insights into how and why charges influence soft wet adhesion dynamics. These experiments will pave the way for new research in soft matter adhesion dynamics, providing critical data on force, charge, interface deformations, and fluid dynamics for theorists and engineers in biomedical applications. The outcomes of this project will enable the creation applications such as regenerative medicine (designing scaffolds for tissue regeneration), drug delivery (creating surfaces to enhance or inhibit cellular uptake of therapeutics), and biosensing (developing susceptible detection systems).

Keywords: soft matter physics,soft matter adhesion,soft interfaces,charging,wetting
Advancing Bio-purification of Anti-cancer Therapeutic Peptides via Crystallization using Surface Modified Heteronucleants (PetalPure)

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: United Kingdom
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2026-08-01
End date: 2028-07-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 260347.92
EU funding (EUR): 260347.92
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Peptides are emerging as next generation therapeutics with a promise of treating cancers and metabolic disorders. This is due to their high specificity, precise targeting, small size, ease of modification, and excellent biocompatibility. Despite the acceleration of peptide drug discovery with >800 drugs in clinical trials, the separation and purification processes remain a challenge, requiring sustainable downstream processing. Thus, there is a need for more efficient purification methods to keep pace with peptide-based drug advancements. PetalPure introduces an innovative crystallization-based purification process using surface-modified heteronucleants to enhance the crystallizability of challenging anti-cancer peptides. This multidisciplinary project involves developing solubility models, size-based peptide classification, heteronucleant selection and modification, crystallization process design, and experimental frameworks for broader application. PetalPure aims to provide a more affordable alternative to chromatographic separation, eliminating the need for expensive resins and reducing solvent consumption and waste, in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of “Responsible Consumption and Production.” Additionally, it will lower the time and cost of peptide manufacturing, facilitating wider access to affordable and effective healthcare, contributing to the SDG of “Good Health and Well-being.” Prof. Heng, with his extensive experience in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and being a leader in peptide crystallization, is an ideal supervisor for this project. Imperial, with its research excellence and experience with MSCA postdoctoral fellows, will offer a supportive environment for PetalPure. This project will play a pivotal role in making me a leading academic by allowing high-impact research, training on teaching, supervision, and other transferable skills as well as long-term collaboration opportunities with pharmaceutical industry and academics.

Keywords: peptide crystallization,heterogenous nucleation,surface modification,thermodynamic solubility modelling
Development of a first-in-class inhibitor of FIH for cancer immunotherapy (FIH-IO)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS1 (ERC-2022-POC1, 2022)
Start date: 2022-06-01
End date: 2023-11-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

We plan to carry out a valorisation project for a series of novel small molecule inhibitors of Factor Inhibiting HIF (FIH) that we have developed for the treatment of lung cancer, as a next-generation therapeutic approach in the field of immuno-oncology. The valorisation plan will include: clarification of IP rights and strategy, establishing contacts with potential investors and pharma partners, and verification of the potential of start-up creation. Moreover, valorisation activities will include progression of hits against FIH into a lead optimisation campaign with the aim of designating a candidate drug.