Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Medium to long term thermal energy storage system with embedded heat pumping capability (Muspell)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EIC Pathfinder
Destination: Challenges
Action type: EIC actions
Countries involved: Italy,Slovenia,Spain,Germany,Switzerland
Call: EIC Pathfinder Challenge: Mid to long term and systems integrated energy storage (HORIZON-EIC-2022-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-10-01
End date: 2027-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3145242.5
EU funding (EUR): 3145242.5
Participants: 6
Project status: SIGNED

The use of intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar incur fluctuations in energy production which lead to gaps in renewable energy availability. Using electricity at peak production to generate thermal energy becomes feasible only if thermal energy storage provides means to decouple generation from production. Many industrial processes generate large amounts of thermal energy throughout the year as waste heat which reduces energy efficiency. In some industrial setups, waste thermal energy is rerouted in industrial parks, however, temperature levels, demand schedule and processes proximity rarely play in favour of this circular approach. Sector coupling opportunities are reduced due to a mismatch between sector demand schedules. To address these challenges our main objective is to develop a medium-temperature, medium-to-long-term Thermal Energy Storage System (TESS) with built in heat-pump capabilities provided by a hybrid approach using TCM & PCM materials. Based on our preliminary analysis we aim to achieve a round trip efficiency for power-to-storage-to-heat or heat-to-storage-to-heat of 140-160% depending on temperature level with a storage density of 0.5 GJ/m³ at lab-scale level, while addressing cost-effectiveness. At material level we aim for a 20% increase in energy density, while using sustainable and affordable materials and production methods. By addressing industrial applications, the current project aims at decarbonising the third most emitting sector in the EU - manufacturing, which is responsible for ~20% of the total GHG emissions in the EU. Developing a versatile and energy dense TESS facilitates deployment within the industrial sector, further enhancing sector coupling capabilities such as cascading industry sectors or coupling industrial parks with district heating, paving the way to flexible and fully integrated energy systems.

Keywords: materials engineering renewable heating and cooling energy efficient industry integration of renewables
Deciphering the molecular mechanism of inflammation orchestrated by keratinocytes during Staphylococcus aureus infection in the skin (Staph-in-Skin)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area
Programme: Widening participation and spreading excellence
Theme: Attracting and mobilising the best talents
Destination: Attracting and mobilising the best talents
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Poland
Call: Fostering balanced brain circulation – ERA Fellowships (HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS-02, 2022)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2026-06-30
Duration (months): 34.0
Total project cost (EUR): 155793.6
EU funding (EUR): 155793.6
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The skin provides a physical and immunological barrier to external environment and its homeostasis depends on interactions between keratinocytes, peripheral nerves, immune cells and microbiota. One of the bacteria that can colonise skin is Staphylococcus aureus and it can be part of healthy skin or pathogen causing skin infection. Importantly, in atopic dermatitis patients, which suffer from impaired skin barrier and microbiota dysbiosis, S. aureus is associated with severity of flares and exacerbation of inflammation. The inflammatory loop in the skin depends both on host and pathogen factors, but it is not fully elucidated how this interaction is regulated. The proposed project will investigate novel mechanisms regulating the inflammation induced by S. aureus skin infection. The main focus will be on molecular mechanisms and regulation of pathogen sensing by keratinocytes. First, murine model of topical skin infection will be used to characterise how keratinocytes orchestrate immune response. Then, it will be examined in detail which S. aureus virulence factors induce inflammation in keratinocytes using different laboratory and clinical S. aureus strains. Finally, the role of characterised virulence factors and immunomodulators secreted by keratinocytes will be investigated in keratinocyte-immune cells interactions. To achieve the goals of this project, proteomics, next-generation sequencing, biochemistry, molecular biology and immunological assays will be applied. Overall, this project will contribute to greater understating of S. aureus-host immunity interactions with particular focus on regulation of keratinocyte inflammatory response. Moreover, identified novel signalling molecules in the skin and virulence factors of the pathogen can be explored in novel skin inflammation and infection treatments.

Keywords: inflammation,keratinocytes,skin infection,staphylococcus aureus
Spatial heterogeneity of tumor and CD8+ T cell metabolism in liver metastasis (SpaceMet)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting 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: Belgium
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): 1762562.0
EU funding (EUR): 1762562.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

While immune-based therapies targeting CD8+ T cells have transformed melanoma treatment, many patients still show inconsistent responses between primary tumors and metastases, particularly in the liver. CD8+ T cells face unique barriers in liver metastases, hindering their infiltration and suppressing their function. Recent studies show that CD8+ T cells adapt their metabolism based on the nutrients available in the tumor environment, and this metabolic adjustment plays a key role in their ability to fight cancer. Liver metastases have traditionally been studied as uniform in CD8+ T cell activity and metabolism; however, our findings reveal that each metastasis creates a distinct metabolic environment that impacts CD8+ T cell infiltration and function. This challenges the conventional view and highlights the hidden heterogeneity driving resistance to immunotherapy. Building on this, the SpaceMet project will address the three following key objectives. (1) Identify the functional mechanisms by which metabolite heterogeneity impacts CD8+ T cell infiltration and function. We will investigate the metabolic heterogeneity revealed through spatial metabolomics in mouse liver metastases using an in vitro assay that simulates CD8+ T cell infiltration and interaction with tumor cells under specific liver-like nutrient conditions. (2) Investigate to which extent the genetic background and cell of origin determine the formation and composition of heterogeneous metabolic environments in the liver. This will involve performing spatial metabolomics and immune profiling of liver metastases from melanoma with different genetic profiles, as well as from other cancers. (3) Advance metabolism-targeted immunotherapy for liver metastases towards preclinical applications. To achieve this, we will employ humanized mouse models and liver metastasis patient biopsies. We anticipate that understanding these local interactions will pave the way to overcome immune resistance in liver metastasis.

Keywords: cancer immunometabolism,cd8 t cell metabolism,spatial metabolism,cancer immunotherapy
Lipid droplets and phytovirus infection (RAPT)

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: France
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2025-01-15
End date: 2027-01-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 211754.88
EU funding (EUR): 211754.88
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

The RAPT (lipid dRoplets And PhyTovirus infection) project undertakes an innovative exploration into the potential role of plant leaf lipid droplets (LDs) in the replication of plant viruses, specifically focusing on plant RNA viruses. Lipid droplets, which are ubiquitous organelles derived from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes, play key roles in energy production, membrane biogenesis, and stress signalling. While certain animal RNA viruses utilize LDs for energy or as platforms for viral replication compartments (VRCs), evidence for similar mechanisms in plant RNA viruses remains elusive. The project builds on the previous observations made by the host lab, which suggest a higher abundance of LDs in turnip mosaic virus (TuMV, potyvirus) infected leaves and their spatial proximity to VRCs. The hypothesis is that certain plant viruses, like TuMV, utilize LDs as energy reservoirs for their genome replication, potentially facilitating direct interaction with VRCs. To validate and expand upon this hypothesis, the RAPT project is defined into three primary objectives: 1. Exploring the impact of plant virus infection on LD distribution and lipid metabolism 2. Functional validation of the involvement of plant LDs in the potyvirus infection cycle 3. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms governing the interactions between LDs and TuMV These objectives address key knowledge gaps regarding the role of LDs in plant virus infection and will focus on potyviruses, mainly TuMV, but other (+) ssRNA virus species of agroeconomic importance such as luteoviruses and poleroviruses will also be studied, with the aim to expand the findings to crops. The results of this project will contribute to the development of broad-spectrum genetic resistances that can be harnessed by breeders to mitigate the adverse impacts of plant viral diseases on agricultural productivity.

Keywords: plant virus replication and infection,lipid droplets,genetics,lipidomics,mass spectrometry,transgenic organisms,advance imaging,confocal microscopy
STAGE: From Stage to Data, the Digital Turn of Contemporary Performing Arts Historiography (STAGE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Texts and Concepts
Panel description: Literary studies , literature,  philosophy
Countries involved: France
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2022-ADG, 2022)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2028-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2487306.25
EU funding (EUR): 2487306.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Digital sources are one of the most significant challenges facing performing arts historiography. At the intersection of history, epistemology, and digital humanities, STAGE’s key goal is to move performing arts studies into a digital context to establish a new historiography of mise en scène and their creative processes in Europe since WWII. It proposes a groundbreaking theoretical and methodological framework merging culture analytics, actor-network theory, data modeling, and computer vision to challenge conventional approaches to the paradigm shift of digital traces in performing arts studies. I call this new field “performing arts analytics.” STAGE will allow a Copernican revolution of our methodologies combining close reading with distant reading and distant viewing; hypothesis-driven with data-driven analysis; hermeneutics with artificial intelligence, computer vision, and digital humanities; qualitative interpretation with quantitative evidence. STAGE will build from the Avignon festival collection before opening to larger corpora to scale up our results and expand our analysis. Through the two prisms of influence and collaboration, STAGE will reveal creation contexts and networks, aesthetic influences, and creative process models in an unprecedented way. It will make it possible to test new algorithms for medium-sized corpora; to develop a new approach to studying collaborations over time through digital traces; to demonstrate the potential of a data-driven approach and interdisciplinary research in humanities; to create accessible corpora for future research; to demonstrate the importance of digital traces for cultural heritage and research projects. STAGE is transferable in that it will create widely open science tools, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks. It will be of value to historians and art historians who explore digital traces of the past, promising a potential impact beyond performing arts studies.

Keywords: performing arts,digital humanities,culture analytics,mise en sc ne,influence,collaboration,computer vision,creative process
Mapping the Central Administration in the Later Roman Empire: The Epigraphic Representation and Elite Networks of the Palatine Bureaucracy (EREN)

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: Poland,Austria
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2025-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 139953.6
EU funding (EUR): 139953.6
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Before the European Union, the late Roman Empire was first in the pre-modern world a uniform hierarchically structured system with infrastructure across most of Europe and Mediterranean grounded in the overarching institutional, legal and cultural framework. An extraordinary phenomenon of central supra-regional institutions and networks of governing elites is rarely scrutinized in scholarly accounts from an epigraphic and digital humanities perspective. As MSCA Fellow, Dr Mariana Bodnaruk will receive crucial training in digital humanities and mix-methods approach at Warsaw University and study the late Roman state’s elaborate centralized machine whose officials with high political mobility were set apart from other social strata as bureaucrats in the imperial service. The aim is to investigate what generated empire-wide mobility networks of Roman elites, and how despite regional differences officials were able to construct and sustain a supra-regional institutional framework. She will collect data in an online database and construct a digital map to visualize elite networks. A three-month secondment at the Austrian Academy of Sciences will help her extend her training and research. Overarching research objectives are to conduct a comprehensive empirical inquiry into court office-holders across the fourth-century empire, study epigraphic data applying the novel methodology informed by the digital and material turn, and compare the urban epigraphic representation of state bureaucrats and their networks in wider socio-political and cultural contexts answering the research question: What were the diachronic transformations of spatial and social representation and networks of Roman palatine functionaries? Dr Bodnaruk will produce groundbreaking mixed-methods research beyond the state of art in Roman epigraphy, history and digital humanities; an online database and map; outreach and dissemination to crucial target audiences; and publications on new methods in epigraphy.

Keywords: roman epigraphy,later roman empire,elite networks,senatorial representation,digital humanities
Transformative Rotations for AdaptatioN and Sustainable Future, Outcome and Resilience Mapping (TRANSFORM)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Mission
Theme: Adaptation to climate change
Destination: Adaptation to climate change
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: France,Netherlands,Spain,Denmark,Germany,Ireland,United Kingdom
Call: Testing and demonstrating transformative solutions increasing climate resilience of the agriculture and/or forestry sector. (HORIZON-MISS-2023-CLIMA-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-06-01
End date: 2029-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 8561533.75
EU funding (EUR): 8510200.0
Participants: 18
Project status: SIGNED

The vision of the HORIZON-MISS-2023-CLIMA-01-01 call is that Europe’s Regions will be responsible for their sustainable and resilient adaptation to climate change (CC), by developing Roadmaps for adaptation of agriculture to CC. These roadmaps will need to empower regional stakeholders to innovate new, nature-based solutions that meet society’s needs for CC adaptation through better planning that is compatible with national and international policy. TRANSFORM proposes that innovating new crop rotations – the sequences of crops that farmers use to achieve their farming goals – will deliver nature-based solutions for sustainable and resilient CC adaptation in arable and mixed farming. Working in the Atlantic Biogeographic Region (Bio-region) of Europe, we adopt an explicitly multi-actor approach in which stakeholders are in charge of the innovation. TRANSFORM will co-create with stakeholders tools and methods: for Regional-level Roadmaps that describe the needs for adaptation of local people in agriculture; for farmers to innovate crop rotations for their region using the Future Rotations Explorer tool; and, a Toolbox of spatio-temporal methods and tools for stakeholders to explore and evaluate the societal, economic and environmental indicators of impact of rotations. When embedded within our social science methods, these methods and tools will leverage an iterative ‘pipeline to innovation’ for CC adaptation in agriculture that produces lists of acceptable crop rotations, and maps for planning, across the Atlantic Bio-region, and ultimately the whole of Europe. This will allow the European Commission, EU Member States and associated countries and their regions and stakeholders to make progress in attaining the goals of the EU Mission: Adaptation to Climate Change.

Keywords: atlantic innovative crop rotations stakeholder engagement regional solutions landscape of social and economic value
Design of ModProtease through High-Throughput Screening Technologies for Therapeutic Applications (ModProtease)

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: United Kingdom
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2026-06-01
End date: 2028-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 260347.92
EU funding (EUR): 260347.92
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The integration of ModProtease with antibody-based systems represents a promising strategy for targeted cancer therapy, particularly in addressing the challenges posed by KRAS mutations. These mutations are notoriously difficult to target directly with antibodies due to their involvement in intracellular signalling pathways and the development of resistance mechanisms. Strategies to overcome these limitations could include the development of protease-antibody conjugates and these conjugates might be directed to cleave specific substrates within tumour microenvironment, thereby enhancing the therapeutic effect of the antibody while minimizing off-target effects. However, engineered proteases remain underrepresented amongst protein-based biopharmaceuticals. This situation is due to fundamental challenges that exist in redirecting the substrate specificity of proteases. We propose a high-throughput screening platform that employs monoclonal hydrogel microbeads containing target substrates with FRET-based detection systems allowing for the precise identification of protease activity. This enables the rapid evaluation of various ModProtease variants and their effectiveness when conjugated to antibodies. The interplay of the SpyCatcher-SpyTag system enables the efficient and specific conjugation of ModProteases to antibodies, facilitating the creation of potent antibody-protease. Following high-throughput screening using fluorescence-activated bead sorting (FABS), the platform facilitates the recovery and analysis of protease genotypes from the microbeads. The group of Prof. Hollfelder (University of Cambridge) has substantial expertise in high-throughput methods and regarding the biology of proteases and protein binders. These conditions make the Host laboratory ideal for this project and will provide critical insights and technical support. This project will also collaborate with AstraZeneca, and targeted proteolysis against cancer cells will be assessed.

Keywords: protein design and engineering therapeutic proteases combinatorial assembly