Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Affordability and Sustainability improvements by using new pricing, Cost-Effectiveness and ReimbursemenT models to Appraise iNnovative health technologies (ASCERTAIN)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Health
Theme: Health
Destination: Maintaining an innovative, sustainable and globally competitive health industry
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Netherlands,Slovakia,Austria,Norway,Belgium,Italy,Germany
Call: New pricing and payment models for cost-effective and affordable health innovations (HORIZON-HLTH-2022-IND-13, 2022)
Start date: 2022-12-01
End date: 2026-11-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4966716.0
EU funding (EUR): 4966716.0
Participants: 10
Project status: SIGNED

ASCERTAIN (Affordability and Sustainability improvements through new pricing, Cost- Effectiveness and ReimbursemenT models to Appraise iNnovative health technologies) addresses the need of patients, physicians, payers, regulators, and manufacturers to improve the affordability and accessibility to innovative health technologies (including pharmaceuticals) in Europe. ASCERTAIN aims to enhance current methods of (value-based) pricing, cost-effectiveness modeling, threshold-setting, reimbursement, and payment, to set affordable prices, and to facilitate a cyclic assessment of broader societal benefits including costs and risks. It seeks to find a sustainable balance between access to affordable technologies, the need to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship, and the need to consider the environmental impact of innovations. Guided by a conceptual framework integrating pricing, health technology assessment and reimbursement/payment, ASCERTAIN will develop open-access, easy to use, policy-supporting tools including (i) pricing models, (ii) value assessment models, and (iii) reimbursement models, which will be adaptable to country-specific conditions. These tools will improve transparency and accountability of decision-making, reduce uncertainty for all stakeholders, reward innovation in areas of high unmet need, accelerate access for patients, and support long-term planning in a sustainable way. Further, these tools will be developed, tested, and validated for three use cases, including precision cancer medicine, cell- and gene therapy, and medical devices (class IIb and III) or in vitro diagnostic (IVD) class D. The multinational, multidisciplinary ASCERTAIN consortium is complemented by an international advisory board consisting of key stakeholders, with whom the policy-supporting tools will be co-created. All tools will be hosted on a cloud-based, publicly accessible, user-friendly platform following open science principles.

Keywords: affordability,cost effectiveness,pricing,reimbursement,hta,health technology,pharmaceuticals,medical devices,access,sustainability,policy tool
Plasmodium Exploitation of Liver-specific Methionine Metabolism (PoEMM)

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: Portugal
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-09-01
End date: 2026-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 172618.56
EU funding (EUR): 172618.56
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Malaria remains the most serious parasitic infectious disease, killing one child every two minutes. Plasmodium infection starts when the female Anopheles mosquito injects sporozoites into the skin of the vertebrate host. All Plasmodium species go through a phase of replication inside nucleated cells prior to infecting red blood cells and causing malaria, however, only mammalian-infectious parasites target the liver and replicate inside hepatocytes at an extraordinary rate to generate tens of thousands of erythrocyte-infectious merozoites. Avian and reptile malaria parasites, in contrast, infect macrophages near the bite site and differentiate into only dozens of erythrocyte-infectious merozoites. The reason behind the high replication rate achieved by mammalian-infectious parasites inside hepatocytes, key to guarantee the establishment of infection by overcoming the bottleneck of malaria transmission caused by a low sporozoite inoculum, remains utterly unexplored. The hypothesizes of this proposal is that the explanation for this lies in the uniqueness of the mammalian hepatic methionine metabolism bestowed by the mammalian liver-specific methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT1) enzyme and its capacity for generating unlimited amounts of S-adenosylmethionine. In agreement with this hypothesis, preliminary data show that Plasmodium’s high replication rate inside hepatocytes relies on the host liver-specific MAT1. By using a combination of genetic, cellular and molecular approaches I will decipher how the liver-specific methionine metabolism present in hepatocytes is hijacked and used by the parasite to achieve such high replication rates and assess the competence of the liver-specific MAT1 in sustaining Plasmodium replication. This proposal has the potential to establish a novel paradigm on how the environment and the resources provided by the host have evolutionarily influenced Plasmodium’s life cycle and will pave the way for new therapeutic targets against malaria.

Keywords: malaria plasmodium liver stage host parasite interaction host metabolism essential amino acids cell biology infectious disease parasite replication
Advanced Plasma Chemical Engineering for Gas Conversion (TAILCHEM)

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: Germany,Netherlands
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-11-01
End date: 2026-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 189687.36
EU funding (EUR): 189687.36
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Our society is entering a new era of industrial process electrification, requiring to reduce the overuse of natural resources and to decrease the CO2 footprint. In this regard, plasma technology is considered a key technology in many industrial applications, especially in the chemical sector due to its unique properties. Among other benefits, the selectivity of plasma-initiated processes stands out as one of the primary advantages of plasma, especially at low pressure. However, the chemistry driven by plasma at atmospheric pressure conditions in molecular gases is diverse and significantly less selective due to different energy transfer processes. The TAILCHEM project intends to provide a paradigm shift for the control of plasma-induced chemistry and uncover the fundamental insights responsible for adjusting it toward higher selectivity of chemical processes at high pressures. The idea is based on tailoring the applied voltage waveform, resulting in a reduced electric field strength development, which drives the electron excitation mechanisms for a dedicated and selective plasma-driven gas conversion. The project will be conducted within the context of the highly demanding field of nitrogen fixation process electrification. Here, the selective generation of reactive nitrogen species, particularly vibrationally excited N2 in its ground state, plays a crucial role in achieving energy-efficient process performance. To achieve this goal, advanced plasma diagnostic techniques will be applied to reveal the plasma fundamentals and the electron-initiated gas-phase chemical kinetics. Simultaneously, a unique combination of advanced experimental techniques and chemical modeling will aim to define the effect of voltage waveform tailoring on EEDF, chemistry, and the selectivity of induced processes, thus providing a quantitative characterization of the suggested strategy for the first time.

Keywords: plasma physics plasma chemistry electron kinetics plasma for the electrification of chemical technology
Understanding and modifying cell-fate transitions during plant grafting (UMOCELF)

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: Sweden
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-07-31
End date: 2024-10-30
Duration (months): 27.0
Total project cost (EUR): 224818.78
EU funding (EUR): 224818.78
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The remarkable regenerative capacity of plants to join wounded tissues together through a process known as grafting has been extensively used in agriculture to combine the best properties of two different plants into a single plant. Although grafting has been practiced for thousands of years, many agriculturally important plants are not possible to graft. One of the major limitations that prevent us from improving grafting efficiency is our poor understanding of the molecular mechanism of plant regeneration. When tissues are wounded and joined for grafting, the differentiated cells near the wound site modify their identity and acquire a dedifferentiated fate. These pluripotent cells then differentiate to form the missing cell types leading to tissue regeneration. However, it remains unknown how cells dedifferentiate in response to wounding and how they differentiate to heal tissues, the major problem to be addressed in this project. This gap in knowledge will be addressed by using multidisciplinary approaches that include my experience and skills in plant regeneration, molecular genetics and advanced microscopy, and the host lab's expertise in plant grafting, transcriptomics, and genetics of various plant species. The outcome of this research is expected to enhance the fundamental knowledge in cell-fate transition and vascular regeneration and provide powerful tools for improving grafting in various plant species. The project will allow me to be trained as an independent researcher in plant grafting and vascular regeneration. At the same time, the host lab will benefit from my expertise in plant regeneration and microscopy.

Keywords: grafting,cell fate transition,regeneration,dedifferentiation,differentiation,scion,root stock
Extracellular vesicles-mediated cross-talk during human brain development and disease (ExoDevo)

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: Germany
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2021-COG, 2021)
Start date: 2023-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1995000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1995000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Cellular cross-talk is an essential process influenced by numerous factors including secreted vesicles that transfer nucleic acids, lipids, and proteins between cells. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been the center of many studies focusing on neuron-to-neuron communication while the role of EVs in progenitor-to-neuron and -astrocyte communication occurring during brain development has not been systematically investigated. Extracellular signals regulating the development of the brain are key players altered in many neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Strikingly, we have found that more than 60% of the genes associated with NDDs encode for proteins that are loaded into EVs. With ExoDevo, inspired by new cell-non-autonomous mechanisms that we have identified as the cause of NDDs, I will investigate the role of EVs during brain development. I will focus on the physiological function of EVs that mediate the signals for cell-to-cell cross-talk and combine transcriptomic, proteomic, imaging, and functional analysis of EVs derived from human cerebral organoids. This will open new avenues in order to tackle fundamental questions, such as how different cells communicate and feedback at different times and distances in the highly dynamic process of brain development. Ultimately, this will be investigated in human models of NDDs and will allow me to identify pathologically altered cellular cross-talk mediated by EVs. This knowledge of the cellular processes governing EVs’ biology will provide the basis to better understand novel mechanisms underlying brain development and neurodevelopmental human pathologies and explore new deliverable compounds for therapy. My expertise in human brain development and diseases together with the possibility of combing multiple technologies will be indispensable to achieve these essential goals. Meanwhile, exploring these novel aspects of brain development will bring me beyond my current research focus and broaden my perspectives on NDDs.

Keywords: brain development,extracellular vesicles neurodevelopmental disorders,cellular cross talk
Foreign Aid, Remittances, and Wellbeing in Small Island Developing States (FAR-SIDS)

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: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Malta,Jamaica,Fiji,Comoros
Call: ERA Fellowships (HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-TALENTS-02, 2024)
Start date: 2026-06-15
End date: 2028-06-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 189474.24
EU funding (EUR): 189474.24
Participants: 4
Project status: SIGNED

This proposal investigates the interrelation between foreign aid and remittances in supporting livelihoods in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Employing an innovative, interdisciplinary mixed-methods approach, the study integrates ethnographic fieldwork, household surveys, and econometric modelling, all underpinned by the new Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF) proposed by Natarajan et al. (2022). The objective is to explore how foreign aid and remittances interact with six interdependent livelihood capitals (human, social, cultural, physical, financial, and natural) - interactions often overlooked in traditional development economics. The aim is to inform policies and guide the development of integrated interventions that effectively leverage both financial flows to promote resilient and diversified livelihood strategies, ultimately enhancing the long-term wellbeing of SIDS. To achieve these objectives, the project will employ a multi-sited comparative approach, focusing on Jamaica, Tonga, and Comoros. Qualitative data collection will utilise an adaptation of the CRiSTAL tool, while quantitative analysis will bridge ethnographic insights with household surveys and econometric modelling. This research directly contributes to SDGs 1, 10, 13, and 14 and aligns with the EU's commitment to the SAMOA Pathway for SIDS by examining how remittances and aid can jointly address specific social, ecological, and economic challenges faced by SIDS. Additionally, the project aims to inform EU’s Global Gateway investments in SIDS by suggesting ways to combine large-scale aid projects with grass-root remittance-driven initiatives for more comprehensive sustainable development. By uncovering the intricate dynamics between foreign aid, remittances, and livelihood capitals, this research seeks to provide policymakers with valuable insights to design targeted, efficient interventions that harness the full potential of these financial flows in small island nations and beyond.

Keywords: foreign aid,remittances,wellbeing,small island development states
Mom matters: Expound the influence of the interaction between maternal 5-HTT genotype and maternal care on offspring’s individual neurodevelopment (PARENT)

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 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-04-15
End date: 2025-04-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 203464.32
EU funding (EUR): 203464.32
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Serotonin plays a prominent role in a wide range of psychiatric disorders. Importantly, serotonin (5-HT) is not only a neurotransmitter but also a neurotrophic factor during brain development, contributing to neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). One largely neglected source of 5-HT affecting development is maternal serotonergic genotype, which can influence offspring through the placenta and by changing maternal care behaviour. As a pediatrician, I am interested in the latter, as it -unlike the biological route- can be modified, providing an opening for early intervention for children with NDDs. Here, I will delineate for the first time how maternal serotonin transporter (5-HTT) genotype affects maternal care behaviour and impacts offspring development from an individual perspective. To understand the influence of maternal 5-HTT genotype on offspring’s development related to sex and genotype, I will use the well-established 5-HTT knockout (5-HTT-/-) rat modeling 5-HTT gene variance in humans and affecting maternal care. First, I will examine maternal care behaviours in wild-type and 5-HTT-/- mothers, and the developmental trajectories of male and female offspring with varying 5-HTT genotypes by tests assessing social and emotional behaviour from infancy to adulthood. Included are highly sophisticated analyzes of ultrasonic vocalizations, which I am an expert in. Second, I will elucidate the offspring’s brain-wide neuronal activity pattern using cutting-edge brain clearing and 3D lightsheet microscopy. To test causality and provide a lead for an early intervention, I will determine if enrichment ameliorates maternal care and improves offspring development. This project is expected to uncover how mother genotype influences offspring development in the context of behaviours relevant to NDDs and whether the developmental trajectory can be improved through a non-pharmacological intervention.

Keywords: serotonin,maternal care,ultrasonic vocalization,lightsheet microscopy,pup development
Innovations in Protein-Based Microencapsulation for the Functional Ingredients Technology (PROCAPS)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EIC Accelerator
Destination: Other destinations
Action type: EIC actions
Countries involved: Spain
Call: EIC Accelerator 2024 - Short application (HORIZON-EIC-2024-ACCELERATOR-01, 2024)
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Nucaps, founded in June 2017, is an international biotech company specializing in innovative microencapsulation technology for functional ingredients. Established by CNTA, the University of Navarra, and IDIFARMA, Nucaps leverages extensive research and collaboration. The company aims to enhance global health through advanced nutritional ingredients, focusing on the functional food and nutraceutical markets, with plans to expand globally from the EU and Latin America to the US and Asia. Nucaps' proprietary technology uses natural proteins to create bioavailable, stable, and cost-effective capsules for bioactives and probiotics, addressing critical issues in bioavailability, stability, and taste. Nucaps' technology offers improved bioavailability, up to 25% increased stability, 30 times higher efficacy, and up to 70% cost savings using 100% natural ingredients, positioning it as a groundbreaking innovation in the functional food and nutraceutical sectors. The company emphasizes sustainable, clean-label solutions, often using waste streams for production, ensuring regulatory compliance and safety. The global probiotics market is expected to reach €105 billion by 2029, driven by rising consumer awareness and demand for preventive healthcare. Nucaps aims to capture a substantial market share with its scalable encapsulation solutions. With the EIC grant and equity, Nucaps plans to scale its probiotics manufacturing process, establishing a commercial-scale facility with a capacity of 100 Tm/week by 2025. This expansion will support further growth, serve the consumer products market, and initiate a Series A investment round. To finance the industrial plant, Nucaps seeks €5M, including €2.5M from the EIC Equity.

Keywords: microencapsulation technology,nutraceutical,food technology,probiotics,bioavailability
Deciphering and targeting cellular states in glioblastoma (GBM_Cellular_States)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Integrative B iology : from Genes and Genomes to S ystems
Panel description: For all organis ms: Genetics, epigenetics, genomics  and other ‘omics studies , bioinformatics, systems biology , genetic diseases , gene editing, innovative methods and modelling,  ‘omics for personalised  medicine
Countries involved: Israel,United States
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2021-COG, 2021)
Start date: 2022-05-01
End date: 2027-04-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2000000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Cellular heterogeneity is a fundamental property of glioblastoma (GBM) tumors and presents a major barrier for therapeutics. During the past six years we characterized this heterogeneity in glioblastoma, and in other types of glioma, using single cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq). We found consistent patterns of heterogeneity across patients, such that each tumor harbors multiple subpopulations of cells that resemble neurodevelopmental cell types. The consistency of these cellular states across patients highlights their potential clinical significance. Yet, our understanding of how these common states are regulated and of how distinct states respond, individually or in combinations, to potential treatments, remain poorly understood. Furthermore, it is unclear if additional states of clinical significance remain to be uncovered. To address these challenges, we will perform extensive studies of GBM patient samples, animal models and gliomasphere culture models. First, we will dissect the regulation of the common cellular states (Aim 1). Single cell ATAC-seq of patient samples will be used to infer transcriptional regulators, Spatial Transcriptomics will be used to infer environmental interactions, and resulting predictions will be tested further in established model systems. Second, we will search for novel cellular states, including rare states or those specifically associated with invasion to the brain parenchyma (Aim 2). Third, we will examine strategies for treatment of heterogenous tumors that are composed of multiple states (Aim 3). We will screen for state-specific drug sensitivities, as well as for drugs that induce state transitions, and develop rational combinations to eliminate multiple co-existing states, while considering interactions among states. Taken together, these studies will considerably expand our understanding of cancer heterogeneity and develop strategies to target heterogeneous tumors.

Keywords: glioma single cell rna seq