Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Versatile optomechANical GRaphene Device for bio-tissue engineering (VANGUARD)

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: Italy
Call: ERC Proof of Concept Grant (ERC-2014-PoC, 2014)
Start date: 2015-04-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Tissue and organ failure, caused by injury or other type of damage, accounts for a large part of the health care costs in EU and U.S. Current surgical or grafting procedures are only partly successful in restoring the functions of the damaged tissues.Tissue Engineering has emerged as a rapidly expanding field for repair and regeneration of damaged tissue and organs.This involves the seeding and attachment of human cells onto a scaffold through in-vitro, or a combination of in-vitro and in-vivo. Existing scaffold fabrication techniques are time consuming and costly. We plan to take the first steps towards the commercialization of a novel system to fabricate tissue scaffolds made of Graphene Oxide (GO) in an extremely dynamical and efficient manner. The prototype consists of opto-mechanical and laser components that will be used to dynamically deform the initially flat surface consisting of a single layer of GO deposited over a porous membrane. Specifically, we will utilize a Spatial Light Modulator laser and a novel software application in order to realize a pixelated surface with the desired profile. The spatial deformation will be controlled and detected with the use of Atomic Force Microscopy. Special shapes of the asperities, i.e. local surface maxima of a rough surface, enhance adhesion over the entire surface when in contact with a biological material. Analogously to known natural surfaces with hierarchical roughness, we aim to mimic this kind of effects by using Graphene thanks to its high strength and flexibility. All in all, the goal of VANGuaRD is two-fold: (1) to establish the technical feasibility of our idea by designing and building a highly versatile prototype device that includes both hardware and software components for fabricating easily reconfigurable GO-based scaffolds using only a single substrate. (2) to establish the commercialization potential of such system by means of designing a viable and scalable business model.

Keywords: tissue engineering,graphene,spatial light modulator,scaffold
Encoding and Transmission of Information in the Mouse Somatosensory Cortex (ETIC)

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: Italy
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-07-01
End date: 2018-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 168277.2
EU funding (EUR): 168277.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

A major challenge in neuroscience is to understand how neurons code information. Optogenetics techniques provide the opportunity of controlling neuronal activity with high temporal and spatial resolution and thus testing causally the role of a specific encoding strategy. However, to enable us to crack the neural code, these optical approaches need to be complemented by theoretical developments that: 1) identify the response variables of a neural population that carry the most information about sensory stimuli and thus allows to build a hypothesis about the neural code it uses; 2) create stimulation protocols specifically designed to rigorously test the hypothesis; 3) apply appropriate statistical analyses that determine whether different information-carrying components of neural population activity are transmitted through downstream networks. Here I will develop a novel theoretical framework to address these issues and understand how the mammalian cortex encodes sensory information, using the mouse somatosensory cortex as an experimental model. I will develop a set of computational techniques aimed at characterizing the encoding and transmission of information in layer IV and then in one of its main targets: layer II/III. Specifically, I will develop Non-Negative Matrix Factorization methods to characterize how large-scale populations of layer IV encode whisker information. I will develop a Wavelet Transform based method to decompose the electrophysiological responses of layer II/III neurons into independently contributing temporal scales and establish which whisker-informative components of layer IV population activity are transmitted to the response of layer 2/3 neurons. This project constitutes a completely novel and comprehensive approach to crack the neural code that lies at the interface between computational neuroscience, optogenetic and neurophysiology and that will provide a crucial step towards the optimal applicability of causal optogenetic techniques.

Keywords: neural code,population coding,information theory,wavelet transform,non negative matrix factorization,multiplexing,two photon microscopy,optogenetics,whole cell recordings
A NUDGE IN THE RIGHTS DIRECTION? REDESIGNING THE ARCHITECTURE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REMEDIES (HRNUDGE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Panel description: Political science, international relations, law
Countries involved: Denmark,United Kingdom,United Kingdom
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2018-STG, 2018)
Start date: 2019-03-01
End date: 2024-08-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1493976.0
EU funding (EUR): 517550.76
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

Recent years have seen a renewed interest in the effectiveness of human rights law and judgments, yet almost no attention has been given to the impact of remedies on states’ compliance practices or the internalisation of human rights into their domestic legal systems. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research in six countries, the project aims to expose the dynamics of the (non)compliant state and the efficacy of different types of remedies in changing the behaviour of human rights violators. These goals will be achieved through three sub-studies: (1) an empirical study of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to determine the compliance and internalisation practices and their link to different remedies; (2) the exploration and analysis of states’ internalisation practices and policies (including the identification of players that shape this practice) to determine whether remedies play a crucial role in shifting states’ actions; (3) a computer simulation to discover how we can change the architecture of human rights remedies to increase compliance and internalisation, and to deter future violations. The central aim of the project is to identify new remedy options – incentives or nudges – which human rights institutions can use to deter future violations. Using the example of the ECtHR and its caselaw, the research will build on insights from behavioural economics to interrogate widespread assumptions about monetisation of human rights, public shaming, and deference shown to states in the specification of remedies. Through computer simulation, the project will aim to predict how monetary and non-monetary remedies could be used separately or together to alter the behaviour of states and their key players. The research will be ground-breaking in many ways, reshaping the field of human rights remedies and contributing crucially to the emerging field of behavioural international law.
Advanced toolbox for rapid and cost-effective functional metagenomic screening - microbiology meets microfluidics. (METAFLUIDICS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, and Biotechnology
Theme: Biotechnology
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Spain,Spain,Spain,Norway,France,France,United Kingdom,Denmark,Denmark,Portugal,United Kingdom
Call: Metagenomics as innovation driver (H2020-LEIT-BIO-2015-1, 2015)
Start date: 2016-06-01
End date: 2020-11-30
Duration (months): 54.0
Total project cost (EUR): 8808363.0
EU funding (EUR): 8808363.0
Participants: 16
Project status: CLOSED

Metagenomes comprise enormous reservoirs coding for proteins with useful activities. Unfortunately, harvesting this reservoir is difficult, because useful candidates are rare and hidden in an overwhelming majority of irrelevant genes. Screening campaigns of metagenomic libraries thus require massive capital-expenditure for robotic systems and much manpower, making them expensive, slow and available to very few users. To enable valorisation of the potential of the metagenome, this project assembles an interdisciplinary and intersectoral consortium that will integrate a range of technologies into a platform designed to beat the odds of identifying library hits faster, more efficiently and by a wider user base. Exploration and exploitation of the metagenome will be made faster and more successful by (i) ultrahigh-throughput screening in picoliter droplets that dramatically lowers the cost per assay to well below 0.01 cents and allows throughput of 10e7 assays per hour; (ii) workflows that streamline and increase the yield of library construction and functional expression and (iii) workflows for efficient bioinformatic analysis of hits based on user-friendly software solutions for metagenome analysis. Emphasis is put on technologies that are straightforwardly implemented in non-specialist labs, maximising the impact of METAFLUIDICS. This platform will be used to identify enzymes for biosynthesis of therapeutic small molecules, for green bioenergy conversion, bioremediation, food chemistry and other industrial applications

Keywords: metagenome,metavirome,extremophiles,microfluidics,cell free protein synthesis,ultra high throughput screening,bio prospecting,complex polymer breakdown
EURONANOFORUM 2019 - NANOTECHNOLOGY AND ADVANCED MATERIALS PROGRESS UNDER HORIZON2020 AND BEYOND (ENF2019)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, and Biotechnology
Theme: Developing next generation nanomaterials, nanodevices and nanosystems
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Romania
Call: Presidency event (conference) in Romania: EuroNanoForum 2019 (H2020-IBA-LEIT-NMBP-Romanian-Presidency-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2019-02-01
End date: 2019-09-30
Duration (months): 8.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This Coordination Action aims to prepare a EuroNanoForum 2019 (ENF2019) conference focused on "Nanotechnology and advanced materials progress under Horizon2020 and beyond", where an overview on cutting edge research in nanotechnology and advanced materials areas will be provided, featuring the opportunity to present the successful industrial implementations. The general objective of the ENF2019 is to attract a critical mass of researchers with relevant results and to facilitate their discussions with various stakeholders acting in nanotechnologies and advanced materials areas in NMBP. Also, EU and national policy makers will be invited and engaged in debates on future challenges and research priorities, especially in the perspectives of post-Horizon2020 scenarios. For that reason, the motto of the ENF2019 will be “Almost there - what’s next?. ENF2019 would be a forum of research and innovation developed under Horizon 2020 open to all entities producing excellent science, industrial leadership and tackling societal challenges. The goal is to review the achievements during Horizon2020 in world-class science production, innovation and as well as successful links to the public and private sectors working together in delivering innovation in all Horizon2020 priority areas. The event is planned to start with 2-day conference where distinguished speakers will be invited to initiate timely discussions and exchange ideas on scientific issues encountered in nanotechnology and advanced materials progress, as well as key policy, industrial and societal issues. A third day will be dedicated to networking between scientists, industrialists and policy makers to initiate future cooperation in research and innovation, to discuss strategic research priorities and to build partnerships for future funding calls, during the workshops and brokerage events. Industrial and research exhibition and posters are planned to complement the event package.

Keywords: nanotechnologies,advanced materials,conference,workshops,networking,research policies
Forest snitches: Elephant spatial behavioral strategies as revelators of human activities in a poaching context (ForSE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Reintegration panel
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: France
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2021-08-02
End date: 2024-05-01
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 196707.84
EU funding (EUR): 196707.84
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The worldwide decline of large herbivores threatens ecological and socioeconomic functions of ecosystems. With only ~100 000 remaining individuals, African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) are most at risk due to the surge in poaching for ivory. In line with the sustainable development goals defined by the United Nations in 2015 (Target 15.7), the ForSE project aims at improving our understanding of forest elephant space use patterns to better guide anti-poaching actions. We propose to carry out this project under a 24 months MSCA IF at the MNHN in Paris in close collaboration with the ANPN in Gabon. Unlike its well-studied relative, the savannah elephant, very little is known on how the African forest elephant deals with human presence. The ForSE project propose, based on fine scale analyses of space use of collared forest elephants and existing information on poaching pressure, to 1) identify correlated suites of space use traits – Spatial Behavioural Strategies (SBS) – and validate their use as poaching pressure proxies ; 2) identify space use traits associated with a heightened mortality risk and identify collared elephants at risk; 3) Develop an interactive tool for decision support based on the results of objectives 1 and 2; 4) Disseminate these results to improve anti-poaching actions. The ForSE project will contribute to the researcher career goal to conduct long-term research programs in a strong interplay with conservation organizations to better guide conservation actions and contribute to the fight against biodiversity collapse.

Keywords: loxodonta cyclotis,poaching,gabon,movement ecology,habitat selection,behavioural strategy,evidence based conservation
ENgineering DYnamic ViscoElasticity to study cell response (ENDYVE)

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: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-11-01
End date: 2018-06-30
Duration (months): 20.0
Total project cost (EUR): 137999.0
EU funding (EUR): 137999.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In native tissues, the extracellular matrix (ECM) provides not only physical scaffolding to cells, but also biochemical and biomechanical cues affecting cell behaviour. ECM mechanical properties are critical in the regulation of cell behaviour during tissue development, homeostasis and disease via mechano-transduction. Albeit biological tissues generally exhibit a time variant (i.e. dynamic) viscoelastic behaviour that changes during development, ageing and disease, to date most of mechano-transduction studies have focused on static elastic properties only. The ENDYVE project aims at engineering tissue dynamic viscoelasticity typical of pathophysiological processes in-vivo to investigate its role on cell behaviour. Focusing on cardiomyocyte maturation, the viscoelastic properties of foetal, neonatal, aged and infarcted cardiac tissue will be characterised and used to design cell culture substrates with temporally tuneable mechanical properties that initially mimic foetal viscoelasticity and then can be made more stiff and less viscoelastic during cell culture via a second-step biocompatible enzymatic crosslinking to recapitulate dynamic changes of cardiac viscoelasticity in-vitro. First, stem cell cardiomyocyte behaviour will be investigated at discrete levels of constant viscoelasticity by seeding human induced pluripotent stem cells on substrates prior to and after enzyme-mediated crosslinking. Then the effect of dynamic changes in substrate viscoelasticity will be characterised during culture. Engineering dynamic viscoelasticity is a critical step towards a better understating of cell-ECM interactions and mechano-transduction, and could lead to the development of new strategies to finely control cell behaviour, with numerous potential societal and clinical implication, such as obtaining mature differentiated cells from stem cells for drug screening in vitro, or limiting, if not preventing, fibrosis and tumour progression.

Keywords: mechanical characterisation,dynamic viscoelasticity,nano indentation,in vitro models,temporally tuneable viscoelastic materials,hydrogels,stem cells,mechano transduction,cardiomyocyte maturation
Fulfilling enhanced Location Accuracy in the Mass-market through Initial GalileO services (FLAMINGO)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Space
Theme: Enabling exploitation of space data
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Spain,Spain,Switzerland,Belgium,Poland,France,United Kingdom
Call: EGNSS mass market applications (H2020-GALILEO-GSA-2017-1, 2017)
Start date: 2017-11-01
End date: 2020-05-31
Duration (months): 31.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2767681.2
EU funding (EUR): 1999793.51
Participants: 9
Project status: CLOSED

The success of Galileo will largely depend on its uptake in LBS and IoT markets. Leveraging on Galileo’s features that improve performance in urban environment, FLAMINGO will unleash GNSS mass-market potential. The overarching objectives of FLAMINGO are to develop and deliver high accuracy and reliable positioning and navigation services for mass market uptake, to demonstrate the potential by developing and showcasing ready to market applications on both Smartphone and IoT devices within major European cities, and to foster a new community of E-GNSS consumers and applications. FLAMINGO shall produce a service targeting accuracies of 50cm (95%) and better, employing multi-constellation, PPP and RTK mechanisms, power consumption optimisation techniques as well as the GNSS raw measurements availability. FLAMINGO will deliver hardware and software that utilise the service to its full potential. Technology triggers for mobile devices are provided by Google through the provision of the GNSS raw measurements API that provide access to pseudorange and carrier phase (a prerequisite for the highest order accuracy GNSS positioning) and by various commercial smartphone manufacturers who support these measurements. IoT devices currently provided by three of the consortium partners will be modified, enhanced, and made available for the validation activities. The project will develop and deliver a series of market-ready Galileo enabled IoT and commercial LBS applications in three urban areas that support European ambitions on Smart Cities namely Barcelona (ES), Toulouse (F) and the Gdansk/ Gdynia/Sopot Tricity (PL). In addition the E-GNSS user base and markets will be stimulated through a tiered FLAMINGO Hackathon process which will bring together a mixed community of E-GNSS users, consumers, application developers, GIS and data scientists. FLAMINGO involves nine leading organisations who specialise in location technology, including five SMEs.
Integrative development of smart drug-vector nanostructures for adaptive delivery to target cells (VAHVISTUS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Research and innovation staff exchange
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Chemistry
Countries involved: Ukraine,Italy,Finland,United States,Morocco,Brazil
Call: Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2016, 2016)
Start date: 2017-03-01
End date: 2022-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1012500.0
EU funding (EUR): 990000.0
Participants: 8
Project status: CLOSED

The proposal is devoted to a development of smart drug-vector nanostructures (DVNs) based on stimuli-responsive inorganic, hybrid inorgano-organic nanomatrices, and polymer nanocapsules bearing new pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) and synthetic derivatives of natural PhACs. The innovative idea is the DVNs can enter target cancer cell or protozoan parasite infected cell through receptor mediated endocytosis and interact with distinct compartments of the cellular secretory pathway. Owing to adaptive drug release in response to variations in pH and redox environment, the parasite growth or cancer cells proliferation will be suppressed. For this purpose, strongly international and interdisciplinary VAHVISTUS consortium is created. Thus, principal objective of the proposal is to strengthen the existing international collaborations between the Consortium Partners and to establish new long-lasting international and inter-sectoral ones, to provide knowledge sharing through exchanges of research and innovation staff, and to create an intercontinental network in the area of smart DVNs for adaptive delivery to target cells. 6 academic organisations and 1 industrial partner of the Consortium from 3 MS/AC and 3 TC will develop intense and continuous knowledge sharing by cross-fertilisation of ideas through international and intersectoral secondments of staff at different carrier stages. The exchanges are well balanced between ER and ESR, men and women. The Proposal implementation is divided into 7 Work packages. A multicultural creative environment within the VAHVISTUS will contribute to make research and innovation an attractive carrier. Communication and dissemination activities as well as exploitation of results will be crucial within the VAHVISTUS. The Project results will enhance the competitiveness of European pharmaceutical industry, health care, and higher education. A Summer school will be organised on Smart Nanocarriers for Adaptive Drug Delivery.

Keywords: nanocarriers,intracellular parasite,secretory pathway,pharmaceutically active compound,multidisciplinarity,knowledge sharing,mobility,staff exchanges,molecular docking