Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Environmentally friendly COpper-engineered nanoparticles: innovative FUNgicide to reduce copper accumulation. (ECOFUN)

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: Chemistry
Countries involved: Spain
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-05-01
End date: 2026-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 165312.96
EU funding (EUR): 165312.96
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

In modern agriculture, the extensive use of traditional pesticides requires a reevaluation to address the dual challenge of increasing food demand and sustainability. Historically, copper-based fungicides have been crucial in pest management, aiding farmers in the control of fungal or bacterial diseases across a wide range of crops. Additionally, evolving EU regulations are imposing stricter limits on copper-based pesticides use, driven by health and environmental concerns linked to Cu accumulation and in line with the European Green Deal aim of reducing pesticide usage by 50% by 2030. This presents a significant challenge to farmers who must simultaneously manage pests and respect restrictions, especially in vulnerable regions and crops. Currently, few viable alternatives for reformulating Cu-based pesticides are available. ECOFUN proposes a new material based on bioinspired and biocompatible nanoparticles engineered to incorporate copper, with the aim to deliver a more efficient and sustainable fungicide. Moreover, ECOFUN will comprehensively address the efficacy, efficiency, and toxicity of the material through in vitro and in vivo experiments, including field tests. The overarching goal is to reduce copper concentration by a minimum of 50% compared to commercial counterparts. The objectives include the synthesis of the new material and its comprehensive characterization, encompassing the study of Cu release in water, soil, and foliar adherence. Fungicidal activity will be assessed in vitro against three different fungi commonly treated with copper-based fungicides, alongside with cytotoxicity evaluations on target cells. Subsequently, in vivo experiments in field and under controlled conditions, will be performed to validate product efficiency and will involve measuring residue levels in fruits and soil and impacts on harvest. This proposal enables the development of a novel pesticide class using the same technology, owing to the broad-spectrum action of copper.

Keywords: nanofungicides,multifunctional nanomaterials,safe and sustainable by design nanomaterials copper reduction,eu green deal
Microglia engineering and replacement to treat brain disease (ReplaceMi)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Panel description: Nervous system development, homeostasis and ageing , nervous system  function and dysfunction , systems neuroscience  and modelling , biological basis of cognitive processes and of behaviour, neurological and mental disorders – In humans and all other organisms
Countries involved: Belgium
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2022-COG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-08-01
End date: 2028-07-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2000000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Microglia are highly versatile brain resident cells that offer tremendous therapeutic opportunities. They are instrumental for maintaining healthy brain physiology and act as the primary modulators of neuroinflammation and disease. Microglial dysfunction has been convincingly linked to a myriad of neurological disorders, making these cells a prime target for therapeutic intervention. Remarkably, microglia are embryo-derived cells that self-maintain for life, with negligible replacement by the bone marrow. This astonishing self-renewal capacity offers a unique opportunity for cell therapy. The ability to replace dysfunctional microglia with healthy or genetically enhanced counterparts may transform the way we treat brain disease. But how can we replace a cell that is so adept at self-renewal in a tissue that is shielded from the periphery? Currently there are no translatable approaches for the specific replacement of microglia. Furthermore, bone marrow progenitors are unable to adopt the embryonic microglial phenotype. By building on our unpublished observations and developing innovative technologies, I aim to lay the foundation for microglial replacement therapy. We intend to develop an original and translatable strategy for the specific and near-complete replacement of embryonic microglia with adoptively transferred progenitors. Next, by combining iPSC differentiation with genetic barcoding, single-cell analysis and in vivo screening, we aim to identify progenitors that efficiently traffic to the brain and engraft as bona fide microglia. Moreover, we will investigate how we can transform microglia into local protein production factories, as a potential basis to treat neurodegenerative diseases. Finally, we will set up in vivo pooled CRISPR screens to identify the gene networks that can modulate and positively enhance microglial disease responses. ReplaceMi has the potential to result in a new and eagerly awaited breakthrough in treating brain disease.

Keywords: microglia,macrophage,cell therapy,ipsc
Resilient and sustainable critical raw materials REE supply chains for the e-mobility and renewable energy ecosystems and strategic sectors (REESilience)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Digital, Industry and Space
Theme: Industry
Destination: Increased Autonomy in Key Strategic Value Chains for Resilient Industry
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,United Kingdom,Netherlands,Austria,France,Belgium,Slovenia,Sweden,Spain
Call: Building innovative value chains from raw materials to sustainable products (IA) (HORIZON-CL4-2021-RESILIENCE-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-07-01
End date: 2026-06-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 11234495.82
EU funding (EUR): 9734435.88
Participants: 21
Project status: SIGNED

Rare Earths (RE) are crucial materials for Europe's successful green and digital transition, thus classified as highly critical. The market for RE magnets itself is relatively small - about €6.5 billion - however its downstream leverage is enormous: the mobility business in the EU27 alone is expected to grow to about €500 billion by 2030, with 6 million jobs. While being a world leader in the manufacturing of e.g. electric motors, the EU27 is fully import-dependent along the entire value chain of RE magnet materials. Despite a growing market, European magnet production capacity is underutilised and tends to serve specialised niche applications. In addition, RE magnets are increasingly imported as part of motors and generator assemblies and products. The main reasons for these developments are that China has a monopoly in the RE supply chain across all stages from mining to refining. To overcome this issue, REEsilience will categorise RE for geographic locations, quantities, chemical composition, ethical and sustainable indicators, ramp-up scenarios, and pricing, considering all value streams from virgin to secondary material. It will build a production system that ensures a resilient and sustainable supply chain for RE as critical raw materials for the e-mobility, renewable energy and further strategic sectors in Europe with less dependencies on non-European economies. A newly-developed software tool will determine optimum mixing ratios to ensure consistently high product quality with maximum secondary materials for high-tech applications. Combined with new and improved technologies for alloy production and powder preparation, especially of secondary materials, the yield and stability of processes will be further enhanced, allowing further augmentation of the proportion of secondary materials in RE PM production, reducing at the same time waste, environmental damage, and consumption of energy linked with virgin production.

Keywords: resilience,value chain,critical raw materials,rare earth,recycling,circular economy,supply chain,renewable energy,e mobility,green energy,permanent magnets,ndfeb,
The role of dopamine signalling in the central clock in the model of metabolic syndrome (DopaClock)

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: Netherlands
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-10-01
End date: 2026-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 203464.32
EU funding (EUR): 203464.32
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

The internal daily rhythms of an organism are driven by the circadian timing system. The master clock is in the brain hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). SCN rhythms are entrained to the 24h environmental light/dark cycle by retinal light input, but also respond to non-photic cues (e.g., food intake) transmitted via neuronal projections from other brain areas. Disruption of daily rhythms can lead to cardiometabolic diseases, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Recent evidence challenges the belief that the SCN is only sensitive to dopamine (DA) in early development; it appears that DA affects SCN function also in adults. In the brain reward system, DA is linked to binge-eating in animals on a high-fat diet. We hypothesise that DA acts as a non-photic cue in the SCN, providing feedback information on metabolic status which can be disturbed by diet-induced obesity. This project’s main aim is to delineate the cardiometabolic effects of DA in the central SCN clock. My objectives are to define the effects of DA signalling in the SCN on 1) energy metabolism, 2) glucose homeostasis and the cardiovascular system and 3) these cardiometabolic parameters under obese conditions. To achieve my goals, I will combine supervisor’s expertise in the central circadian control of energy metabolism, along with specialized techniques and equipment, with my knowledge in cardiovascular measurements using radiotelemetry. I will use rats expressing Cre recombinase in dopamine D1 receptor-neurons and targeted viral injections, an innovative technique to mimic DA signalling in the SCN (the secondment). Project findings will fill the knowledge gap in neural mechanisms behind the adverse effects of circadian disturbance on energy homeostasis and could help to improve lifestyles of patients with cardiometabolic diseases. This MSCA-PF-supported project will enhance my technical and transferable skills, facilitating my path to becoming an independent researcher in chronobiology.

Keywords: central clock,suprachiasmatic nuclei,chronobiology,circadian system,dopamine,cardiometabolic diseases
NEXTAIR - multi-disciplinary digital - enablers for NEXT-generation AIRcraft design and operations (NEXTAIR)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Climate, Energy and Mobility
Theme: Mobility
Destination: Clean and competitive solutions for all transport modes
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: France,Germany,Italy,Spain,Greece,United Kingdom
Call: Next generation digital aircraft transformation in design, manufacturing, integration and maintenance (HORIZON-CL5-2021-D5-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-09-01
End date: 2025-12-31
Duration (months): 40.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4720526.75
EU funding (EUR): 4720525.0
Participants: 17
Project status: SIGNED

Radical changes in aircraft configurations and operations are required to meet the target of climate-neutral aviation. To foster this transformation, innovative digital methodologies are of utmost importance to enable the optimisation of aircraft performances. NEXTAIR will develop and demonstrate innovative design methodologies, data-fusion techniques and smart health-assessment tools enabling the digital transformation of aircraft design, manufacturing and maintenance. NEXTAIR proposes digital enablers covering the whole aircraft life-cycle devoted to ease breakthrough technology maturation, their flawless entry into service and smart health assessment. They will be demonstrated in 8 industrial test cases, representative of multi-physics industrial design, maintenance problems and environmental challenges and interest for aircraft and engines manufacturers. NEXTAIR will increase high-fidelity modelling and simulation capabilities to accelerate and derisk new disruptive configurations and breakthrough technologies design. NEXTAIR will also improve the efficiency of uncertainty quantification and robust optimisation techniques to effectively account for manufacturing uncertainty and operational variability in the industrial multi-disciplinary design of aircraft and engine components. Finally, NEXTAIR will extend the usability of machine learning-driven methodologies to contribute to aircraft and engine components' digital twinning for smart prototyping and maintenance. NEXTAIR brings together 16 partners from 6 countries specialised in various disciplines: digital tools, advanced modelling and simulation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, aerospace design, and innovative manufacturing. The consortium includes 9 research organisations, 4 leading aeronautical industries providing digital-physical scaled demonstrator aircraft and engines and 2 high-Tech SME providing expertise in industrial scientific computing and data intelligence.

Keywords: digital enablers,modelling capabilities,multi disciplinary optimisation,machine learning,uncertainty quantification,robust design,digital twin,green aircraft configuration
Global International Digital Cooperation on standards and related policy (InDiCo-Global)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Digital, Industry and Space
Theme: Digital
Destination: A human-centred and ethical development of digital and industrial technologies
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: France,Belgium,Netherlands,Italy
Call: Promoting EU standards globally (CSA) (HORIZON-CL4-2023-HUMAN-01-CNECT, 2023)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2026-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2802174.47
EU funding (EUR): 2490345.63
Participants: 6
Project status: SIGNED

InDiCo-Global follows-up on the InDiCo project implemented by ETSI, extending and complementing its action in a new set of targeted geographies within low and middle income economies while leveraging methodology, networks and knowledge developed during the execution of InDiCo. The proposal aims at building bridges between technical communities as well as policy makers on topics relating to Digital policies and the related ICT standardisation priorities, with a view to develop mutual understanding of policy, regulatory and technical approaches to ICT/digital as well as to enhance cooperation on ICT standards and seek alignment in policies and regulations, leading to a wider use of EU standards, in turn supporting increased trade and propagation of EU values. InDiCo-Global will therefore: - develop a sound understanding of the policy, regulatory and standardization landscape of partner countries/regions - foster awareness of the European Standardisation System (ESS), its deliverables in the context of ICT/Digital and how they support global acceptance and interoperability, - promote EU policies and standards (developed or in the making) for select ICT/digital technologies and develop cooperation around them, - create and leverage opportunities for capacity building with partner countries/regions While InDiCo was implemented by ETSI only, InDiCo-Global will see all three formal European Standardization Organizations (ESOs) join forces and leverage their unparalleled ability to combine their respective models and reach into all possible standardization-related communities: formal (ISO/IEC/ITU, national standards bodies) or not, national, regional or global, traditional or novel/disruptive (e.g. open source groups). With support of experts in communication, dissemination and exploitation (Martel) as well as handling of FSTP (Trust-IT), InDiCo-Global will be best positioned to contribute to a human-centred and ethical development of digital and industrial technologies.

Keywords: digital,ict,standards,5g,6g,indico,cen,cenelec,etsi
Developing a novel methodology to assess ingestion, bioaccumulation, and impacts of micro- and nanoplastics in marine planktonic biota. (PlaSeatic)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Postdoctoral Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: Belgium,France
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200400.0
EU funding (EUR): 200400.0
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Microplastic pollution is an issue of increasing concern for the ecosystems and human health. In the last decade, microplastic ingestion and impact in biota has received significant attention. Despite the extensive research conducted, there is still need for improvements in the methodologies used for sample analysis. PlaSeatic aims to provide a new methodology for quantification and characterization of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) ingested by organisms in aquatic systems. This method seeks to surpass traditional techniques by reducing the risk of cross-contamination, lowering the size detection limits, preventing alterations and plastic loss while retaining the biological context of the particles. PlaSeatic will focus on copepods, which play a critical role in marine food webs and global geochemical cycles. However, with some adaptations, this methodology could be applied to other organisms or even human tissues. Additionally, this improved methodology could be implemented by other research groups, thereby, increasing homogeneity and accuracy in microplastic research— an urgent need recognized by the scientific community in this field. To achieve the objectives of the project, PlaSeatic rely on the synergy between my expertise in the assessment of ingestion and impact of microplastics in marine food webs and the extensive expertise on chemical engineering, microscopy and spectroscopy of the host (Prof. Roeffaers). This will be further supported by Dr. Pedrotti (supervisor in secondment), whose vast knowledge on plastic pollution and access to historical plankton samples will be invaluable to the project. PlaSeatic will raise public awareness about the impact of plastic pollution. Scientifically, it will enhance our understanding of MNP ingestion, bioaccumulation and impacts of MNPs in zooplankton. It thereby will contribute to the development of biomonitoring and mitigation strategies, and inform policy decisions aimed at ensuring the health of the oceans.

Keywords: micro and nano plastic pollution,microscopy,spectroscopy,zooplankton,methods for microplastic ingestion
Glycoengineered erythrocytes for better influenza vaccines (Sugar-enabledVAC)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS2 (ERC-2022-POC2, 2022)
Start date: 2022-09-01
End date: 2024-02-29
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The objective of this ERC PoC project is to establish technical and commercial feasibility of our recently developed glycan-engineered red blood cells (RBCs) for antigenic characterization of circulating influenza A/H3N2 viruses. Due to the rapid evolution of influenza A/H3N2 viruses, antigenic characterization by the widely used hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay is not possible anymore. Continuous antigenic characterization of influenza A viruses is, however, essential for the development of protective seasonal vaccines. The ERC program “sugar-enable” has developed glycoengineered RBCs that make it possible again to antigenically characterize circulating A/H3N2 viruses by the standard HI assay, and it is expected that the cells will find application in hundreds of laboratories worldwide.
The Making and Unmaking of a Colonial Cattle Frontier. Capitalism, Science and Empire in Madagascar, 1870s-1970s (COLCAT)

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: Belgium
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2023-01-01
End date: 2024-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 191760.0
EU funding (EUR): 191760.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Using the lens of the cattle frontier in Madagascar in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this project explores the transformation of livestock production, pastoralist societies, imperial economies and animal landscapes in colonial and postcolonial Africa. It builds on the concept of commodity frontiers, moving sites of capitalist commodity production and extraction, to disentangle the complex interplay between global capitalism, science and empire in the making and unmaking of the cattle frontier in Madagascar. COLCAT examines why and how European (mostly French) and Malagasy administrators, entrepreneurs and veterinary experts, in often conflictual interaction with indigenous pastoralists, tried to transform pre-existing cattle economies on the island and to turn cattle into profitable commodities. It argues that the making of a capitalist and imperial cattle frontier implied a broad range of interventions, from the improvement of local breeds and new methods of cattle disease management to the sedentarisation of cattle pastoralists and the establishment of meat factories and new cattle trading networks. COLCAT analyses the rationales and dynamics of these interventions, including the manifold conflicts, negotiation processes and (intended and unintended) social, economic and ecological consequences. It thereby pays particular attention to the role of science and expert knowledge. While COLCAT’s main focus is on the profound transformations of the colonial era (1895-1960), it embeds them in a longue-durée perspective, spanning late Merina rule in the precolonial period (1870s-90s) to the postcolonial era (1960s-70s). This will facilitate teasing out the tensions between capitalist, imperial and (post)colonial expansion and development goals. Overall, COLCAT will make a substantial contribution to the history of global capitalism, the history of (French) colonialism in Africa, environmental history and the history of science and knowledge.

Keywords: history of africa,french colonial empire,madagascar,agricultural history