Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Tracking and quantifying the dynamics of tree water storage under future climate change (CapaciTree) (CapaciTree)

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: Spain
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): 209914.56
EU funding (EUR): 209914.56
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Climate change threatens the future of forest functioning, compromises their productivity, increases the risk of fire or insect outbreaks, and ultimately causes tree mortality. Under drought, trees can experience catastrophic hydraulic failure due to xylem cavitation (i.e. the breakage of the water column), which is the main cause of tree mortality worldwide. Trees can partially avoid cavitation by mobilising water stored in their tissues into the xylem conduits to meet the atmospheric evaporative demand, a process known as hydraulic capacitance. Despite the relevance of capacitance for predicting transpiration and mortality risk under climate change, we still lack empirical evidence for the dynamics of storage-use and refilling of plant-water pools under drought, particularly for trees growing under natural conditions. Here, I propose to combine labelling experiments with isotopically enriched water with a new technique to selectively extract water from different woody tissues, to quantify and characterize hydraulic capacitance, specifically the refilling and storage-use dynamics, and its contribution to transpiration. I will: 1) characterize the dynamics of tree storage water in relation to tree size; 2) develop a novel methodology to quantify the contribution of capacitance to transpiration; 3) estimate the contribution of tree capacitance to transpiration in mature trees in a native Mediterranean forest subjected to severe drought; and 4) compare the proposed methodology with conventional techniques to assess capacitance in three coexisting Mediterranean tree species in response to drought. My expertise in plant ecophysiology will be key to undertake this project, which will also leverage my skillset for the study of forest resilience to drought. This project will serve to build more realistic models of forest responses to drought and to inform forest management policies to adapt forest ecosystems to climate change.

Keywords: drought,hydraulic capacitance,plant ecophysiology,transpiration,water relations,water stable isotopes
Preclinical validation and market analysis of a microMESH implant for brain cancer eradication (microMESH)

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 GRANTS1 (ERC-2022-POC1, 2022)
Start date: 2022-07-01
End date: 2024-12-31
Duration (months): 30.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Despite tremendous progress in the treatment of several malignancies, glioblastoma continues to be the less curable form of any cancer with an overall average survival of 20 months from diagnosis. In this PoC, an interdisciplinary team of engineers, biotechnologists and technology-transfer experts will work to prove that a ground-breaking drug delivery implant – microMESH – can be engineered to deploy intracranially a chemo-immuno-combination therapy to eradicate glioblastoma and minimize its life-long complications. microMESH will be engineered to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs (taxanes) and monoclonal antibodies (anti-CD47), that normally would not cross the blood brain barrier, uniformly and deep in the tumor bed. microMESH will comprise two physically distinct compartments – a micrometric network of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) strands, carrying taxane molecules; a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) microlayer, encapsulating anti-CD47. Upon deposition on the tumor mass, the PVA microlayer will dissolve in a few days releasing directly on the tumor margins anti-CD47 while the thin and flexible PLGA network will progressively conform to the surrounding surface, establishing an intimate interaction with the malignant cells, and release taxanes in a sustained fashion over several weeks. While taxanes will prevent the rapid proliferating glioblastoma cells from growing, anti-CD47 will stimulate the removal of cancer cells by resident and infiltrating immune cells. The success of this PoC will result in a preclinically validated microMESH for the treatment of newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma. Upon subsequent completion of GLP toxicological and cGMP manufacturing studies, microMESH will advance to a Phase 1/2 trial expected to start as early as 2024. In this space, companies with validated Phase 1/2 assets have market capitals ranging from 50M to 400M€. A successful microMESH could lead to revenues of 10M €/year starting already in 2027.
Electro-optic frequency comb generation in the mid-infrared. (Electrophot)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Systems and Communication Engineering
Panel description: Electrical, electronic, communication, optical and systems engineering
Countries involved: France,Italy
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2022-ADG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-10-01
End date: 2028-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2426034.0
EU funding (EUR): 2426034.0
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

Mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectroscopy is a nearly universal way to identify chemical and biological substances and to perform non-invasive diagnostics. More specifically, the 6-15 µm wavelength range can be exploited to detect small traces of environmentally hazardous and toxic substances for a variety of applications including defense, security and industrial monitoring. While current optical systems in the mid-IR range are based on bulky assemblies of discrete devices, a challenging task is to make mid-IR spectroscopy accessible in remote areas, driving the development of compact and cost-effective solutions to replace table-top systems. In the project we aim at addressing new routes for high resolution spectroscopic systems based on dual-comb spectroscopy by developing innovative frequency comb sources. The strategy developed in ELECTROPHOT is based on the unique properties of graded index Silicon Germanium (SiGe) photonics circuits, which are their transparency in a wide spectral range together with the ability to fine tune both the electronic bandgap and refractive index of SiGe alloys, to make large progress in mid-IR photonics. Based on these capabilities, the original idea of the project is to exploit simultaneously optical nonlinear and electro-optic comb generation, to generate compact frequency comb sources providing simultaneously wideband operation with fine and tunable resolution. Interestingly the photonics circuits will leverage from reliable and high-volume fabrication technologies, already developed for microelectronic integrated circuits to provides a new playground in mid-IR photonics.

Keywords: silicon photonics,mid infrared,frequency comb generation opto electronics,non linear optics,
From one closed door to another: Cumulative discrimination and prejudice against marginalised groups in Europe (EQUALSTRENGTH)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Culture, creativity and inclusive society
Theme: Culture, creativity and inclusive society
Destination: Innovative Research on Social and Economic Transformations
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Ireland,United Kingdom,Netherlands,Germany,Belgium,Hungary,Czechia,Spain,Switzerland
Call: Strengthening racial, ethnic and religious equality (HORIZON-CL2-2022-TRANSFORMATIONS-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-04-01
End date: 2026-03-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2394901.25
EU funding (EUR): 2394901.0
Participants: 10
Project status: SIGNED

The main contribution of EqualStrength is to investigate cumulative and structural forms of discrimination, outgroup prejudice and hate crimes against ethnic, racial and religious minorities from a cross-setting and intersectional perspective. We deploy innovative, targetted and effective methods, which include field experiments, population-level secondary survey data, meso-level policy analysis and targeted data collection to include the perspective of minority groups who directly confront discrimination. Our approach allows us to meet five interrelated research objectives: First, we reveal structural and cumulative forms of ethnic and racial discrimination in Europe, focusing on the experience of Muslim, Roma and Black minorities. Second, we assess the systemic nature of prejudice across life domains, targetting anti-Muslim, anti-Black and anti-Roma attitudes. Third, we analyse policy and institutional factors that contribute to structural discrimination and prejudices. Fourth, we document the lived experiences and coping strategies adopted to confront everyday discrimination. And finally, we highlight the intersection of race, ethnicity and religion with other dimensions of inequality such as gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic position. In meeting these objectives, we promise three key contributions: First, we shift the paradigm, moving from a focus on individuals at risk to a family perspective. Second, we reveal cumulative, structural and intersectional disadvantage, pushing beyond setting-specific and single-group discrimination. Third, we provide a multi-actor and multi-level perspective that simultaneously considers multiple actors (i.e. gatekeepers; ethnic, racial and religious minorities; majority groups) and levels of analysis (i.e. the micro-level of individual decisions; the meso-level of organisations, neighbourhoods, rental agencies and childcare facilities; the macro-level of countries and nation-wide institutions).

Keywords: discrimination,racism,xenophobia,prejudice,hate crime,ethnic inequalities,islamophobia,intersectionality,roma,anti gypsyism
Viable, safe and sustainable PHBV value chain for food packaging applications (ViSS)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
Theme: Bio-Environment
Destination: Circular economy and bioeconomy sectors
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Spain,Belgium,Italy,United Kingdom,Finland,Netherlands
Call: Sustainable biodegradable novel bio-based plastics: innovation for sustainability and end-of-life options of plastics (HORIZON-CL6-2022-CIRCBIO-02-two-stage, 2022)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 6440095.18
EU funding (EUR): 5476984.63
Participants: 16
Project status: SIGNED

The European plastics policy highlights bio-based plastics as a key piece to solve the negative impact of fossil-based plastics in the environment. One of the most promising biodegradable biopolymers is the polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) family that can replace these fossil-based plastics in many applications. They are synthesised by microorganisms from renewable carbon sources and exhibit good properties and excellent biodegradability. In this sense, ViSS project will create a new value chain around PHBV (a copolymer of the PHAs family) as a safe, sustainable, and cost-effective alternative to conventional plastics, especially for short shelf-life food packaging applications due to its excellent properties including flexibility, processability, recyclability and biodegradability in relevant environments (soil, freshwater, marine, industrial composting and home composting). ViSS PHBV will be produced from industrial organic residues and will be formulated and compounded to be transformed and validated as high-performance food packaging, being mechanically recyclable and biodegradable. Moreover, the whole ViSS circular value chain will be constructed upon a collaborative approach and under safe and sustainable criteria, accomplishing EU regulations and ensuring policy alignment, while the project will deliver and disseminate digital tools and resources which will favour an increased social readiness and marketability of bio-based plastics, fostering a ViSS wide adoption and replication. Our project gathers 15 partners from 6 European countries leaders in different fields of knowledge, from bioplastic production to validation in real packaging applications. Adoption of ViSS value chain will produce relevant outcomes as improved functionalities and environmental performances: reduction of 57.8% of CO2 emissions compared to fossil counterparts, yearly saving 11.7 kt of crude oil, recirculating 288.95 kt of biomass, avoiding the use of 2.2 kt of hazardous substances.

Keywords: bio based plastics,biodegradable plastics,polyhydroxyalkanoates,phbv,food packaging,flexible packaging,safe and sustainable,bioplastics compounding,bioplastics recyclability
Enhancing palliative care in ICU (EPIC)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Health
Theme: Health
Destination: Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Czechia,Denmark,Belgium,Israel,Greece,Italy,Switzerland,United Kingdom
Call: Novel approaches for palliative and end-of-life care for non-cancer patients (HORIZON-HLTH-2023-DISEASE-03, 2023)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2028-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 6249660.0
EU funding (EUR): 6249660.0
Participants: 15
Project status: SIGNED

About 10% of all decedents in the population die after admission to an intensive care unit (ICU). These patients often have distressing symptoms and may receive more intense life-prolonging treatment than they would have chosen, their family members often experience lasting distress from the experience and many ICU physicians and nurses are burdened by their perception of potentially non-beneficial care. The EPIC project aims to sustainably improve palliative care for critically ill patients and their families in the ICU. An interdisciplinary consortium collaborates to provide a novel harmonized palliative care practice model using telemedicine. The project is the first European interventional study on palliative care in the ICU, using a systems-based approach with proactive patient identification, checklist and blended learning targeted to specific requirements of ICU clinicians. Effectiveness of the new model is assessed through a stepped wedge randomized trial with 7 clinical centers from 5 European countries, 23 multi-disciplinary ICUs and enrolment of 2001 patients. Primary outcome is a reduction in ICU stay to relieve suffering. Cost implications and cost effectiveness will be assessed from different perspectives. An evidence-based patient decision aid for critically ill patients is developed. Additional outcomes serve deepen our understanding of barriers and facilitators and provide ethical recommendations for the use of telepalliative care in civic society. The vision of EPIC is to contribute to a mind shift from a narrow focus on prolonging life towards more holistic care. A European patient and family advisory group is implemented to engage patients and family members from the start and co-create open-access information to increase acceptance of palliative care. Telemedicine offers a low-cost solution to spread the model to all regions in Europe and open new avenues for patient-centered care.

Keywords: intensive care telemedicine surrogate decision making non beneficial care futile care patient centered care ethics palliative care patient decision aids
Development and Evolution of Tetrapod Motor Circuits (swim2limb)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Panel description: Nervous system development, homeostasis and ageing , nervous system  function and dysfunction , systems neuroscience  and modelling , biological basis of cognitive processes and of behaviour, neurological and mental disorders – In humans and all other organisms
Countries involved: Austria
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2021-STG, 2021)
Start date: 2022-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

A hallmark of the nervous system is its rich cell-type diversity, its intricate connectivity and its coordinated patterns of activity. Behavior largely is an emergent property of this complexity. Thus, to understand behavior, we must define neurons’ molecular, cellular and functional properties. This task has proven especially challenging for motor circuits with their readily apparent output in motor activity but astonishingly heterogeneous populations of neurons. To parse this complexity, I propose a novel approach harnessing the unique behavioral switch during Xenopus frog metamorphosis. The metamorphic transition from simple swimming to more complex, coordinated limb movement offers an ideal opportunity to study the expansion and diversification of two motor circuits in one organism. Here, I aim to define the molecular, functional and behavioral features of swim2limb circuit complexification during frog metamorphosis— a crucial step in developing this new model (Aim 1: OBSERVE). Next, I will identify the developmental mechanisms that drive the profound change in circuit composition and output, and evaluate the contribution of increasing cellular heterogeneity to pre- and post-metamorphic neuron activity and behavior (Aim 2: PERTURB). Finally, to define the conserved and divergent circuit features for swimming and walking across evolution, I will expand to a cross-species approach comparing frogs/mice and fish/tadpoles (Aim 3: COMPARE). Such intra- and inter- species approaches will deepen our understanding of the origin of tetrapod motor complexity and its relationship to motor circuit composition and output. My work will be the first comprehensive study of the genetics, activity, and behavior of a swim-to-limb transition in a single organism. It will draw bridges between studies of motor control from different species and generate hypotheses and knowledge for understanding motor circuit development, function, and dysfunction all the way to a clinical setting.

Keywords: motor circuits,xenopus,spinal cord,metamorphosis,neural development,neuronal cell type,cell type diversity,cell type evolution,motor behavior,tetrapod movement,locomotion,swimming,walking
3D Metastatic Tumor Model Coupled with Targeted mRNA Immunotherapy for the Effective Management of Breast Cancer Brain Metastases (3DMETACARE)

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: Ireland
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-10-01
End date: 2027-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 268568.64
EU funding (EUR): 268568.64
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Breast Cancer Brain Metastases (BC-BM) signifies second most common (30%) among all cancers, majorly effecting women population in the age group 45-69, and almost 40% of BC patients have been diagnosed with BC-BM during BC disease conditions. Conventional BC-BM management (chemo + radiotherapy), despite of progression into loco-regional therapies, have showed major limitations for effective management of BC-BM includes blood–brain barrier (BBB) in brain and substantial diagnosis at preliminary stage of disease. In last two decades several pre-clinical and clinical investigations of BC vaccines based on tumour-associated antigens and tumour-specific antigens approaches but none of the has been approved for either treatment or prevention. However, messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccination has the potential to expand the responders using targeted lipid nanoparticles (LNP) to counter challenging tumor microenvironment (TME) and BBB obstacles for metastatic tumour. Thus, 3D-METACARE will be focused on the fabrication of targeted LNP-HER2+mRNA immunotherapy decorated with mannose to effectively target Macrophage mannose receptor 1 with improved permeation through BBB and will target BC-BM. Followed by, robust 3D spheroid (cancer cell lines) and organoid (cancer tissues) model of BC and BC-BM, respectively will be established as effective preclinical models for understanding metastatic behaviour of HER2+ cancer and screening of anticancer therapies. Further, in-vitro 3D models will be conjugated with modified Raman spectroscopy techniques (SERS, CARS and SERM) for quantitative determination of the immunotherapeutic impact (T cell analysis) of LNP-mRNA in the ex-vivo BC and BC-BM models and metabolic activities in the native TME. Overall, 3DMETACARE will be novel interdisciplinary (nanotechnology+bioengineering+photonics) platform converging on current EU’s leading cancer research priorities such as early diagnosis and targeted therapeutics.

Keywords: lipid nanoparticles,3d tumor spheroid,raman spectroscopy,raman microscopy,anticancer,metastasized breast cancer,mrna