Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Strongly correlated phenomena in twisted bilayers of graphene and transition metal dichacogenides (TWISTM)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Global Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Physics
Countries involved: Germany,United States
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2020-02-01
End date: 2023-02-05
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 246669.12
EU funding (EUR): 246669.12
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Fundamental properties of 2D materials are dramatically modified when they are brought next to each other to form a vertical heterostructure. Then, the combination of the 2D layers as well as the relative orientation between them ultimately determines the performance of the new hybrid material. This presents tremendous new opportunities for manipulating the behaviour of 2D layered materials and ultimately achieving unprecedented control over their performance when integrated into highly specific functional devices. However, research in this field is in its nascent stage and many exciting phenomena remain to be discovered. The main objective of TWISTM is to unravel the most fundamental properties of unexplored graphene- and transition metal dichalcogenide-based bilayers arising from many-body interactions. Progress here requires of a comprehensive microscopic picture of the fundamental properties of the heterostructures in clear connection to their macroscopic behaviour. TWISTM will tackle this challenge by using local probe techniques (STM and s-SNOM) with sub-nm resolution combined with mesoscopic electron transport measurements on in-house engineered twisted bilayers with accurate misalignment angles. TWISTM comprises three goals: i) to develop and optimize a fabrication method towards the achievement of high-quality twisted bilayers, ii) a multiscale search for collective electronic and optical phenomena arising from the coupling between the layers; iii) A full characterization of the superconducting and magnetic properties as a function of the chosen materials combination and twist angle. Overall the project aims at acquiring fundamental scientific knowledge with potential for technological applications that will be useful in both academia and industry. Furthermore, TWISTM will offer high-quality interdisciplinary training to a young researcher helping her to develop a promising independent scientific research career as well as her own scientific network.

Keywords: graphene,transition metal dichalcogenides,2d materials,scanning tunneling microscopy,scanning tunneling spectroscopy,superconductivity,heterostructures,low temperature
Galileo EnHancement as BoOster of the Smart CiTies (GHOST)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Space
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Italy,Italy,Serbia,Serbia,Greece,Greece,United Kingdom
Call: Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) based EGNSS applications (H2020-Galileo-2014-1, 2014)
Start date: 2015-01-01
End date: 2016-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1191000.0
EU funding (EUR): 875062.5
Participants: 8
Project status: CLOSED

With the increase of the density of people in urban areas, modern cities experience significant needs related to planning, maintenance and administration. As a result, many cities are engaged in massive investment for infrastructure development across many structural elements including water supply, lighting, maintenance, traffic and transportation systems, refuse disposal and all the factors which form a part of the completed city. The public transportation systems, assisting the movement of people in urban areas using group travel technologies such as buses and trains, are continuously evolving in terms of areas coverage, comfort and technology. Such systems can be exploited by the cities in order to serve both public and benefits including: • Maintenance of infrastructure such as lighting, road deteriorations etc. • Inspection of points of interests such as parking spaces, garbage collection points etc. • Provision of services to the private sector such as inspection of advertisement points etc. The main objective of the GHOST project is to design, develop and validate at an operational environment a GALILEO-based intelligent system for vehicles in order to take advantage of the public transportation fleet routes, towards enabling development of new cross-functional applications for infrastructures maintenance, street parking and garbage management in smarter cities environment. The GHOST intelligent system will be validated at an operational environment, by demonstrating and experimenting on three (3) use cases of the GHOST applications including: • Reporting of street lighting anomalies or road deteriorations (ex: pothole). • Detection of double parking or occupied parking reserved for disabled drivers by unauthorized vehicles. • Monitoring of public garbage completion level.

Keywords: egnos,galileo,camera,image processing,smart city,public transport,infrastructure health monitoring,traffic management
Control of light vehicle-manipulator systems (CREME)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — 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: Norway
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANT (ERC-2020-ADG, 2020)
Start date: 2021-08-01
End date: 2026-07-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499101.88
EU funding (EUR): 2499101.88
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The advent of light and freely moving autonomous robots that can perform complex and versatile operations in challenging environments, involving highly precise and forceful physical interactions, would represent a scientific breakthrough. In such robots, kinematics and dynamics will be intimately connected. Although solutions for specific use cases do exist, a control-theoretical framework, capable of dealing with this tight coupling in a wide range of contexts, is lacking. In CRÈME, I will establish the foundations for such a general framework for autonomous control of systems with strong coupling of kinematics and dynamics. In three research lines, I will build the framework while gradually increasing the level of complexity. In parallel, I will evaluate and demonstrate the utility of this framework for motion planning and control for energy-efficient propulsion, hovering, forceful interaction with objects, and energy harvesting in articulated autonomous underwater vehicles. The rationale for using underwater vehicles as a demonstration arena is partly due to my familiarity with the field, but primarily because the control challenges are particularly demanding. Thus, this will be the ‘litmus test’ for the utility of the framework in a whole range of other contexts. Over three decades, I have contributed with fundamental research to the control theory of underactuated marine vehicles and snake robot locomotion. This has brought me thorough understanding of both the practical challenges of robots in marine environments and the strengths and limitations of current control theory frameworks. More importantly, it strengthened my conviction that the field needs a leap forward as described above. Hence, this project represents an exciting and ambitious endeavour with great potential impact. Despite being hence of a high-risk, high-gain nature, this project is structured such that it will provide pioneering control theoretical contributions for this new class of robots.

Keywords: marine robotics,vehicle manipulator systems,nonlinear control
A universally applicable system for direct readout of eukaryotic cell transgenesis with a novel integration-coupled gene expression switch (APPLIC-ION)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept 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
Countries involved: France
Call: Call for proposals for ERC Proof of Concept Grant (ERC-2020-PoC, 2020)
Start date: 2021-04-01
End date: 2022-09-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Stable integration of exogenous transgenes in the genome of transfected eukaryotic host cells is essential in many biological, biotechnological and biomedical applications. Naked DNA vectors are increasingly applied for this purpose as an alternative to viral particles due to their low cost, easy production and simplicity of use. However, transgenesis with these vectors remains fundamentally hindered by the impossibility to distinguish integrated transgenes from those remaining in episomal form, which causes week-long delays to select stable transfected cells with risks of toxicity or epigenetic drift. We have introduced an efficient strategy to solves these issues, based on a novel genetic switch that conditions DNA transgene expression to incorporation into the host genome. This integration-coupled On (iOn) switch enables direct and accurate identification of integration events following transfection, opening the way to rapid drug-free stable cell transgenesis. Here, we propose to develop universally applicable vectors based on this system enabling simplified one-shot stable transfection of eukaryotic cells with one or multiple transgenes, among others. Our project will set conditions for diffusing a breakthrough technology with strong potential to accelerate genetic engineering in cultured systems and model organisms.

Keywords: transgene,stable transgenesis,cell line establishment,genetic engineering,genomic integration
Cell-cell interactions at the neurovascular interface (NEUROVESSEL)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced 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
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC Advanced Grant (ERC-2014-ADG, 2014)
Start date: 2016-01-01
End date: 2021-06-30
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2458468.0
EU funding (EUR): 2458468.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The coordinated orchestration of cell movements is a vital process for assembling functional structures. In recent years we have learned a simplifying lesson: organ development is governed by a limited set of conserved cell-to-cell communication signaling pathways repeatedly used in different contexts. Particularly fascinating is the parallelism between the vascular and nervous systems. My lab has been working for more than a decade on the molecular and functional parallelism between nervous and vascular system development and plasticity. Although it is clear that cellular communication between the different cells in the brain is fundamental for brain function, very little is known about the signaling effectors that are used for such trans-cellular signaling. Molecular pathways involved in the crosstalk between vessels and neuronal cells are slowly emerging. How this crosstalk signaling is integrated at the interface of the different cellular players (neurons, endothelial cells, glial cells) for proper brain development and function is still poorly understood. Here I propose to delineate the molecular pathways that govern such communication in order to understand basic mechanisms of brain development, function and dysfunction. Using a combination of state-of-the-art inducible and cell type-specific genetics, both in mouse and zebrafish, together with high-resolution light microscopy and multi-photon live imaging we will examine the cell-context dependent integration of signaling pathways in building up proper neuronal/glial structures and functional networks. We will use advanced ultra-structural analysis using serial block-face electron microscopy (SBEM) to obtain high-resolution maps of cortical structures. Functionally, we will characterize the integration of vascular/glial/neuronal signals during cortical neuronal migration, arborization, synaptic connectivity, higher-order integrative cortical function and behavior-related plasticity in vivo.

Keywords: vessel,neuronal wiring,neuro,glia,endothelium interface,cortical learning related plasticity
High Definition Electron Microscopy: Greater clarity via multidimensionality (HDEM)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Panel description: Analytical chemistry, chemical theory, physical chemistry/chemical physics
Countries involved: Austria,Germany,Belgium
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2018-STG, 2018)
Start date: 2019-03-01
End date: 2024-12-31
Duration (months): 70.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1130164.69
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

Atomic resolution microscopy relies on beams of energetic electrons. These beams quickly destroy fragile materials, making imaging them a major challenge. I have recently developed a new approach that provides the greatest possible resolving power per electron. The method provides both double resolution and excellent noise rejection, via multidimensional data acquisition and analysis. Here I propose to couple the new method with breakthroughs in high speed cameras to achieve unprecedented clarity at low doses, almost guaranteeing major advances for imaging beam sensitive materials. Proof of principle will be achieved for biochemical imaging using the easy to handle, commercially available GroEL chaperone molecule. We will combine our enhanced imaging capabilities with the averaging methods recently recognized by the Nobel prize in chemistry for imaging biomolecules at ultra low doses. After proving our low dose capabilities we will apply them to imaging proteins of current interest at greater resolution. Similar techniques will be used for fragile materials science samples, for instance metal organic framework, Li ion battery, 2D, catalyst and perovskite solar cell materials. Furthermore the same reconstruction algorithms can be applied to simultaneously acquired spectroscopic images, allowing us to not only locate all the atoms, but identify them. The properties of all materials are determined by the arrangement and identity of their atoms, and therefore our work will impact all major areas of science, from biology to chemistry and physics.

Keywords: atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy,electron ptychography,single particle analysis,phase contrast imaging,adf imaging,elemental mapping,low dose imaging
European Public Local Authorities’ Network for driving the Energy Transition (ePLANET)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Secure, clean and efficient energy
Theme: Reducing energy consumption and carbon foorpint by smart and sustainable use
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Spain,Spain,Germany,Belgium,Greece,Greece,France,Czechia
Call: Supporting public authorities in driving the energy transition (H2020-LC-SC3-EE-2020-2, 2020)
Start date: 2021-09-01
End date: 2024-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1498533.75
EU funding (EUR): 1498533.75
Participants: 10
Project status: SIGNED

One of the principal challenges to reaching targets of the Energy Transition (ET) is to improve the coordination between local authorities and regional governments with the aim to enhance decision-making process, coherence and consistency of the implementation of energy transition measures (ETM). ePLANET will meet this challenge by encouraging the digitalization of measures and plans enabling an interoperable ecosystem of data and tools supporting energy transition decision making, putting it into practice by the public sector. ePLANET builds on an existing infrastructure enabling massive data gathering, making the data and measures comparable and interoperable with existing local initiatives (CoM, Clean Energy for EU Islands Initiative) and regional/national plans, analysing this data and offering relevant results to key stakeholders. This will enhance decision-making -more informed, more transparent and faster decisions-, contributing to improved monitoring and verification schemes. Enabling harmonisation of plans and interoperability across the local and regional authorities to joint application of ETM favouring more efficient use of public spending. ePLANET is a three-year project that will develop a proof of concept over three regional pilots (Girona, Crete and Zlín regions) during the first half of the project, to ensure the correct deployment of developed tools and to fit the real needs of public authorities in the energy transition. The rest of the project will focus on extending and implementing the ePLANET tools and methodology across Europe. To ensure new regions and local authorities’ engagement, the project will leverage existing initiatives (CoM and ManagEnergy) in which the project partners have strong influence (ICLEI and FED in particular).

Keywords: energy transition measures,sharing platform,synergies between public authorities
Understanding the impact of brain fluctuations on decision making (NeuroFlux)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Panel description: Cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, theoretical philosophy
Countries involved: Germany,United Kingdom
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2020-STG, 2020)
Start date: 2022-02-01
End date: 2027-01-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499727.5
EU funding (EUR): 1484727.0
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Our societies are built on the premise that humans are rational agents who make decisions that are in line with their held beliefs. A central principle is that of choice consistency, i.e. that humans will make identical choices when facing the same problem. However, experimental work overwhelmingly demonstrates that humans are consistently inconsistent and that an exaggerated behavioural variability is a key feature of impulsive psychiatric disorders. The causes for these inconsistencies are unknown and economic theories and computational models fail to explain this omnipresent human characteristic. I propose that intrinsic fluctuations of brain activity are causing us to behave seemingly inconsistent, and the overarching aim of NeuroFlux is to examine how endogenous brain activity changes how we act and make decisions. NeuroFlux will use a novel neuroimaging framework that I have recently developed and that allows to quantify whether and how strongly endogenous fluctuations in a specific brain area contribute to behaviour. I will use this cutting-edge technology to answer the following questions: (i) How do endogenous fluctuations in the dopaminergic midbrain influence decision making and learning? (ii) How do endogenous fluctuations in the noradrenergic midbrain influence decision making? (iii) Is impulsivity driven by an exaggerated brain-behaviour coupling? To address these questions, I will combine real-time functional MRI with pharmacological manipulations and transdiagnostic studies across three intertwined work packages. NeuroFlux will reveal how the brain’s idle states drive and alter our behaviours. This project will provide a new computational understanding that no longer treats behavioural inconsistency as irrelevant noise but as a meaningful window into the brain’s inner workings. NeuroFlux thus has the potential to revolutionise how we understand human behaviour per se and may reveal the mechanisms underlying impulsive psychiatric disorders.

Keywords: decision making,choice inconsistency,endogenous fluctuations,reinforcement learning
Drug repurposing and discovery multidisciplinary training network (DRUGtrain)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Innovative Training Networks (ITN)-European Training Networks
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Germany,Germany,Spain,Sweden,Belgium,Netherlands,Netherlands,United Kingdom
Call: Innovative Training Networks (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2021-01-01
End date: 2024-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2394816.84
EU funding (EUR): 2394816.84
Participants: 9
Project status: SIGNED

Drug repurposing (or repositioning) is the application of previously identified drugs or compounds to treat new indications. The International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) set as main goal for 2027 that 1000 new therapies for rare diseases will be approved. One of the levers to achieve this goal includes the repurposing of already existing and marketed drugs. In this context, DRUGtrain offers a timely paradigm for multidisciplinary research ideal for improving drug repurposing and development strategies of compounds, with Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) as example. Identifying compounds for repurposing requires a broad variety of approaches. Therefore, the aim of DRUGtrain is to offer a multidisciplinary research training program to young researchers preparing them to become leading scientists able to integrate molecular and pharmacological data, and translate fundamental research questions to the (pre)clinic and vice versa. The research objectives of DRUGtrain are: 1) To identify potential drug targets and drug candidates for repurposing using innovative bio-informatics and cheminformatics approaches; 2) To perform drug testing/drug screenings in advanced in vitro and in vivo models, ultimately leading to testing of new treatment strategies; 3) To clarify drug mechanisms, and identify and reduce adverse events using state-of-the-art technologies from in silico and wet lab methodologies. Complementary training through courses will cover additional topics in drug repurposing and drug discovery as well as scientific skills, personal development, commerce and entrepreneurship. In DRUGtrain, 6 academic and 4 private sector beneficiaries/partner organisations and 1 NGO are collaborating in joining forces to intensify network activities between academia, industry, and a patient organization. The training offered should support the ESRs in becoming the next generation of true multidisciplinary researchers in (bio)pharmaceutical sciences.

Keywords: drug repurposing,drug treatment strategies,bioinformatics,cheminformatics,data mining,autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease