Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
SAMSON: Integrating computational nanoscience (SAMSON)

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: France
Call: ERC Proof of Concept Grant (ERC-2015-PoC, 2015)
Start date: 2016-06-01
End date: 2017-11-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 149750.0
EU funding (EUR): 149750.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Computer-aided design of macrosystems has greatly contributed to reduce production costs of cars, planes, etc., by replacing drawing boards and physical mock-ups with virtual modeling and simulation tools. Similarly, computational nanoscience is expected to have an increasingly essential impact on biology, chemistry, physics, material science, electronics, etc., by complementing experiments to reduce research and development cycles, lower costs, increase quality, etc. Unfortunately, while numerous software tools have already been developed, they are currently very fragmented, domain specific, and a significant effort is still needed to address the needs emerging from the convergence trends in nanoscience. Indeed, boundaries that used to clearly delimitate application domains (biology, chemistry, etc.) are now becoming blurred: nanoparticles are being functionalized with antibodies, nanomechanisms are built out of DNA strands, etc. My group has been developing SAMSON, a software platform for modeling and simulation of nanosystems, with three main design characteristics in mind: generality, adaptivity and openness. Unlike existing commercial tools, which are mostly closed and “monolithic”, we believe the open architecture of SAMSON, combined with the distribution model enabled by SAMSON Connect, an associated online platform to distribute SAMSON Elements (modules for SAMSON), is the most appropriate foundation to integrate computational tools and help move forward nanoscience and nanotechnology. The goal of this Proof of Concept proposal is to explore the potential of SAMSON as a software platform for federating computational nanoscience able to sustain a viable business model.

Keywords: samson,samson connect,computational nanoscience,modeling and simulation,open architecture,app store
Beyond the camp: border regimes, enduring liminality and everyday geopolitics of migration in Italy and Spain (BECAMP)

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: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Italy,United States
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2021-04-01
End date: 2025-04-01
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 269002.56
EU funding (EUR): 269002.56
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Despite the fact that migration figures do not support calls to emergency, the European political discourse is still highly dominated by the idea of a “refugee crisis”, a concept on which several right-wing parties have built their political capital. BeCAMP’s main goal is to analize migration management in two countries of first arrival, Italy and Spain, in order to investigate how the migrants’ reception system, on the one hand, and the daily coping strategies of these subjects living inside or at the edges of such system, on the other, shift accordingly to the variations of politics and policies. By bridging the three key topics of border regimes, enduring liminality and everyday geopolitics, the proposed project aims at offering a well-informed, ethnographically rooted account of the life within and at the fringes of the Italian and Spanish migrants’ reception system, in order to counterbalance the dominant hate narrative and help build more human rights oriented policies.

Keywords: borders,border regime,enduring liminality,everyday geopolitics
Biophotonic Spectroscopic tool for Helicobacter Pylori diagnosis - a pathway for low cost clinical robotic device (H. Pylori-Scopy)

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: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2019-09-02
End date: 2021-09-01
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 224933.76
EU funding (EUR): 224933.76
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Gastric Cancer (GC) is the fifth most common malignancy in the world. Being the third leading cause of death, it claimed 723,000 lives worldwide in 2012, 12 lives/day in the UK (2014-2016), 29 lives/day in U.S. in 2018 and 6th most common in Europe. With such high number of deaths, it can be compared to no less than an epidemic disease. According to International Agency for Research on Cancer, 89% of all GC cases are attributed to infection from Helicobacter Pylori (Hp). H. pylori produces an enzyme called urease which causes creation of an alkaline buffer zone which keeps it safe from gastric acid and silences the immune system of stomach against this microbe. This result in formation of gastric ulcer which grows into cancerous tumour. Early diagnosis of H. pylori is important for understanding pathology of gastric cancer and starting early therapy. But high cost, ambiguous diagnosis and poor patient engagement of existing diagnostic methods leads to late/advanced stage diagnosis of cancer. Patients spend $700-$1800 for standard 2 week triple drug therapy. Such high cost in low and middle income country (LMIC) is a burden where 33 million individual face catastrophic health expense & cancer take their toll at the cost of human life. This cost can further increase with late diagnosis. H. Pylori-Scopy aims to reduce the cost by performing early diagnosis with single stop, easily accessible, portable, unambiguous, instantaneous screening device, which results in increased patient engagement with no waiting for medical reports and quick medication. H. Pylori-Scopy is a combination of light based Raman/Fourier Transform Infrared, & Chitosan-Magnetic-Swob spectroscopy, which offer an unambiguous addendum tool for h-pylori diagnosis using standard endoscopy, suitable not only for in-theatre but also for portable/accessible use in the LMIC regions. H.Pylori-Scopy integrates all three techniques into an endoscopic device which will work with low-cost robotic control.

Keywords: gastric cancer screening,smart medical tools
exhumed foSsiL shear zones: a key to Investigate Present middle-crustal seismicity (SLIP)

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: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: Italy
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2019-06-03
End date: 2021-06-02
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183473.28
EU funding (EUR): 183473.28
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Deformation zones may localize seismicity not only at upper crustal levels along brittle faults, but also at greater depth along ductile shear zones. The latter is at odds to classic rheological models predicting shear zones to creep and behave aseismically. Cycles of frictional and viscous deformation and brittle precursors to ductile deformation have been proposed as possible explanation. The “SLIP” action will contribute to better constrain seismic localization at mid-crustal depths along ductile shear zones by studying key areas of the Northern Apennines of Italy (NA). SLIP relies on the hypothesis that exhumed brittle-ductile shear zones of the inner NA represent the fossil analogue of the still seismically active deformation zones in the central and external portions of the orogen. SLIP will investigate microstructures in a multidisciplinary action to derive constraints upon the seismic deformation mechanisms steering the orogen seismic activity. The objectives of this proposal are to: 1) Unravel the pressure-temperature-time-deformation histories of exhumed fossil shear zones; 2) Define the role of fluids in triggering metamorphic reactions, enhancing deformation and steering the transient rheology of the shear zones; 3) Determine the provenance of the metamorphic fluids; 4) Reconstruct the tectonic evolution and the conceptual seismotectonic model of the NA. To achieve the above defined specific objectives, a multidisciplinary approach has been designed including fieldwork, optical and scanning electron microscope analyses, Raman spectroscopy, electron probe micro-analyser, laser ablation mass spectrometry, thermodynamic modelling, and age dating of deformation fabrics. SLIP will contribute to our understanding of shallow to mid-crustal earthquakes and its results will remarkably assist in better interpreting current seismic patterns and crustal behaviours. It will also shed new light on the fluid pathways and fluid-rock interaction processes in the crust.

Keywords: structural geology,petrology,fault geochronology,petrochronology,brittle ductile transition,shear zone rheology,fluid rock interaction,seismotectonic model
A mathematical approach to the liquid-glass transition: kinetically constrained models, cellular automata and mixed order phase transitions (MALIG)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Mathematics
Panel description: All areas of mathematics, pure and applied, plus mathematical foundations of computer science, mathematical physics and statistics
Countries involved: France
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2015-STG, 2015)
Start date: 2016-09-01
End date: 2022-07-31
Duration (months): 71.0
Total project cost (EUR): 883250.0
EU funding (EUR): 883250.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This proposal focuses on the mathematics of three cross-disciplinary, very active and deeply interlaced research themes: interacting particle systems with kinetic constraints, bootstrap percolation cellular automata and mixed order phase transitions. These topics belong to the fertile area of mathematics at the intersection of probability and mathematical statistical mechanics. They are also extremely important in physics. Indeed they are intimately connected to the fundamental problem of understanding the liquid-glass transition, one of the longstanding open questions in condensed matter physics. The funding of this project will allow the PI to lead a highly qualified team with complementary expertise. Such a diversity will allow a novel, interdisciplinary and potentially groundbreaking approach. Even if research on each one of the above topics has been lately quite lively, very few exchanges and little cross-fertilization occurred among them. One of our main goals is to overcome the barriers among the three different research communities and to explore the interfaces of these yet unconnected fields. We will open two novel and challenging chapters in the mathematics of interacting particle systems and cellular automata: interacting particle glassy systems and bootstrap percolation models with mixed order critical and discontinuous transitions. In order to achieve our groundbreaking goals we will have to go well beyond the present mathematical knowledge. We believe that the novel concepts and the unconventional approaches that we will develop will have a deep impact also in other areas including combinatorics, theory of randomized algorithms and complex systems. The scientific background and expertise of the PI, with original and groundbreaking contributions in each of the above topics and with a broad and clearcut vision of the mathematics of the proposed research as well as of the fundamental physical questions,make the PI the ideal leader of this project.

Keywords: interacting particle systems,bootstrap percolation,liquid glass transition,glassy dynamics,cellular automata,mathematical statistical mechanics
Coordination of European Transnational Research in Organic Food and Farming Systems Cofund (CORE Organic Cofund)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy
Theme: Sustainable agriculture and forestry
Action type: ERA-NET Cofund
Partnership: CORE Organic Cofund (ERA-NET)
Countries involved: Austria,Germany,Spain,Estonia,Italy,Switzerland,Norway,Türkiye,Belgium,Bulgaria,Finland,Poland,Slovenia,Sweden,Belgium,Romania,Latvia,France,Netherlands,Denmark,Denmark
Call: ERA-NET Cofund: Public-Public Partnerships in the bioeconomy (H2020-SFS-2016-1, 2016)
Start date: 2016-12-01
End date: 2022-05-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 17937368.0
EU funding (EUR): 4999997.5
Participants: 31
Project status: SIGNED

Organic agriculture is considered to be one of the important development pathways towards a more sustainable agriculture and food production. This development has been and will be dependent on continuous research and innovation. CORE Organic started in 2004 and has been evolving for more than a decade. The present proposal for a CORE Organic Cofund will continue, to update and consolidate the series of transnational research calls that support a focused and coordinated research and innovation effort covering the most important challenges along the organic value chains, for example: increasing the organic production potentials, enhancing resource efficiency, and improving animal welfare. In addition this research and innovation plays a key role in adapting to the new EU regulations on Organic Farming. The new CORE Organic network will be expanded with additional partners from Netherlands and Italy totalling to 25 partners from 19 countries. One joint call with 3-4 topics will be launched with co-funding from the European Commission and another call without EU co-funding is being planned for 2019 as part of the additional activities. Other ERA-NETs with a similar scope will be invited to join this second call. The CORE Organic partners are working to increase innovation potential, knowledge accessibility, alignment of national research and international outreach in support of the ERA-NET’s objectives. CORE Organic will closely monitor the funded projects and offer assistance regarding stakeholder involvement and dissemination in order to secure high impact of the research efforts. An impact assessment will be performed after the end of the projects. Looking to the future, the CORE Organic Cofund aims to deliver results that can be used to develop the organic sector throughout Europe and the world, and to continue to be a key player in the European Research Area.

Keywords: organic agriculture,organic food,animal welfare,animal health,biodiversity,soil health,resource efficiency,innovation,eco functional intensification,resilient animal husbandry,agroecology
The polyA machinery: Elucidating the molecular mechanisms of mRNA polyadenylation, deadenylation and RNA recognition (POLYAMACHINES)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions
Panel description: Molecular biology, biochemistry, structural biology, molecular biophysics, synthetic and chemical biology, drug design, innovative methods and modelling
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2016-COG, 2016)
Start date: 2017-04-01
End date: 2022-12-31
Duration (months): 69.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2016697.0
EU funding (EUR): 2016697.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Gene expression is tightly regulated to allow rapid responses to cellular stimuli. In eukaryotes, the 3´ polyA tail of mRNAs plays key roles in post-transcriptional control. The Cleavage and Polyadenylation Factor (CPF), Ccr4–Not and Pan2–Pan3 multiprotein complexes add or remove polyA tails to regulate mRNA stability and efficiency of translation. They control expression of genes in the inflammatory response, miRNA-targeted gene silencing and expression of maternal mRNAs in oocyte development. These processes are deregulated in disease, including cancer and neurological disorders. Although the proteins that add and remove polyA tails are known, their mechanisms are poorly understood. My lab recently established methods to reconstitute the polyA machinery. This led to new insights into the link between transcription and polyadenylation, new understanding of the molecular mechanisms of deadenylation, and details of RNA recruitment. In this proposal, my objective is to understand the molecular basis for polyadenylation and deadenylation of specific mRNAs. This is now possible because of our novel methodological and biological advances. We will determine high-resolution structures of the polyA machinery using electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM), reconstitute their biochemical activities in vitro and study their in vivo functional roles. We use this integrated approach to study intact multiprotein complexes, not individual subunits or domains. This involves considerable technical challenges and an investment in developing high quality purifications and new structural methods. I will determine how the four enzymatic activities of CPF are coupled, the mechanisms by which Ccr4–Not targets specific RNAs, and the molecular basis for RNA recognition by Pan2–Pan3. Together, this will provide new biological and technological insights, leading to understanding of fundamental processes in gene expression and the role of polyA tails in disease.

Keywords: mrna polya tail,gene expression
Effects of non-invasive brain stimulation on motor learning-related neuroplasticity in healthy older adults (Stim-Plast-O)

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: Belgium
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-04-01
End date: 2018-05-01
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 160800.0
EU funding (EUR): 160800.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

A substantial impediment to healthy living in older adults is the compromised functioning of the motor system, and the neuroplastic processes underlying the learning and retention of motor skills in particular. A promising avenue to boost motor-related neuroplasticity in older adults is non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS); however, remarkably little is known with respect to the neural correlates of this intervention. Accordingly, the overarching objective of this research programme is to investigate – via multiple magnetic resonance imaging acquisition sequences and analytic techniques – the effects of NIBS on the neuroplasticity underlying motor learning in healthy older adults (STIM-PLAST-O; STIMulation-induced neuroPLASTicity in Older adults). Such an investigation is essential before NIBS-based interventions can be employed as a viable avenue to mitigate age- or pathology-related declines in motor functioning and is consistent with the European Commission’s initiative to increase the healthy lifespan of Europeans by 2 years prior to 2020. This research programme is the optimal combination of my own experience in lifespan motor behaviour and activation-based functional MRI with the long-standing brain stimulation and brain imaging expertise within the Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group at KU Leuven. Integration within this multidisciplinary team will offer an exceptional opportunity to increase my methodological skill set, including functional connectivity analytic techniques, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the analysis of structural brain characteristics as well as the implementation of NIBS. Moreover, this Marie Skłodowska Curie action will allow me to continue to develop an international network of collaborators and gain in-depth training in project and financial management, supervisory skills and grant writing that will promote my development as an independent researcher and enhance my ability to obtain a permanent position in academia.

Keywords: motor learning,neuroplasticity,brain stimulation,fmri,magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Homogeneous and heterogeneous enantioselective Single Electron Transfer (SET) catalysis in cross-coupling reactions (EnanSET)

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: Chemistry
Countries involved: Spain,United States
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2016, 2016)
Start date: 2018-02-01
End date: 2021-04-15
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 239191.2
EU funding (EUR): 239191.2
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Chirality of organic molecules plays a paramount role in our society as a consequence of the direct relation between the absolute molecular configuration and many properties and applications of molecular compounds and materials. The demand of enantiomerically pure compounds has increased considerably driven by the request of the pharmaceutical industry, as well as applications such as flavours, fragrances, and materials. In this context, the development of new methodologies to obtain enantiomerically pure compounds has become a challenge for the scientific community. This project entitled “Homogeneous and heterogeneous enantioselective Single Electron Transfer (SET) catalysis in cross-coupling reactions (EnanSET)” aims at developing novel enantioselective SET cross-coupling reactions of redox active esters (RAEs) by Ni-complex due to this kind of compounds do not need previous activation. Moreover, in order to develop more environmentally friendly processes, the methodology will be extended to non-toxic SET complex as titanium complexes, with the goal of developing the first Ti-catalysis of RAEs. Additionally, inspired by demand of the industrial processes, the need to develop clean and green chemical processes in order to avoid environmental concerns and the advantages that heterogeneous catalysis provides, we will develop the first SET heterogeneous catalysis with MOFs through the postsynthetic incorporation of chiral Ni or Ti-residues on the pore structure.

Keywords: single electron transfer,enantioselective,catalysis,mofs