Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Magnetic sensing by molecules, birds, and devices (CHEMNAV)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physical and Analytical Chemical sciences
Countries involved: United Kingdom,United States
Call:  (ERC-2013-ADG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-12-01
End date: 2018-11-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2997062.0
EU funding (EUR): 2997062.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The sensory mechanisms that allow birds to perceive the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field for the purpose of navigation are only now beginning to be understood. One of the two leading hypotheses is founded on magnetically sensitive photochemical reactions in the retina. It is thought that transient photo-induced radical pairs in cryptochrome, a blue-light photoreceptor protein, act as the primary magnetic sensor. Experimental and theoretical support for this mechanism has been accumulating over the last few years, qualifying chemical magnetoreception for a place in the emerging field of Quantum Biology. In this proposal, we aim to determine the detailed principles of efficient chemical sensing of weak magnetic fields, to elucidate the biophysics of animal compass magnetoreception, and to explore the possibilities of magnetic sensing technologies inspired by the coherent dynamics of entangled electron spins in cryptochrome-based radical pairs. We will: (a) Establish the fundamental structural, kinetic, dynamic and magnetic properties that allow efficient chemical sensing of Earth-strength magnetic fields in cryptochromes. (b) Devise new, sensitive forms of optical spectroscopy for this purpose. (c) Design, construct and iteratively refine non-natural proteins (maquettes) as versatile model systems for testing and optimising molecular magnetoreceptors. (d) Characterise the spin dynamics and magnetic sensitivity of maquette magnetoreceptors using specialised magnetic resonance and optical spectroscopic techniques. (e) Develop efficient and accurate methods for simulating the coherent spin dynamics of realistic radical pairs in order to interpret experimental data, guide the implementation of new experiments, test concepts of magnetoreceptor function, and guide the design of efficient sensors. (f) Explore the feasibility of electronically addressable, organic semiconductor sensors inspired by radical pair magnetoreception.

Keywords: magnetoreception. quantum biology,magnetic field effects. spin chemistry.
Endocytic Membrane Compartmentalization by Galectins (GALECTCOMPART)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Cellular and Developmental Biology
Countries involved: France,Australia
Call:  (ERC-2013-ADG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2020-03-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2270054.0
EU funding (EUR): 2270054.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The contribution of clathrin-independent endocytosis to the cellular entry of signaling receptors, cell adhesion factors, and other cell surface molecules is well documented. However, how this process is initiated is still unknown. We have recently found that a cellular lectin, galectin-3 (Gal3), entered cells via morphologically distinct tubular structures, so-called clathrin-independent carriers (CLICs); Gal3 endocytosis was required for the uptake of the CLIC cargo CD44, a cell adhesion/migration factor; CD44 and Gal3 uptake required glycosphingolipids (GSLs); Gal3 induced tubular membrane invaginations in a GSL-dependent manner. Based on these findings we propose the groundbreaking hypothesis that Gal3 is an adaptor that clusters cargo proteins carrying defined carbohydrate modifications together with specific GSLs into nanoscale membrane environments whose mechanical properties drive the clathrin-independent formation of endocytic pits. In this program, we will first establish the compositional topology of endocytic galectin processes (Aim 1). The adaptor hypothesis will then be tested using innovative chemical biology tools (Aim 2). Quantitative models of cargo clustering and membrane shape changes will be developed on the basis of biophysical measurements and coarse grain simulations (Aim 3). Intravital imaging of endocytosis and cell migration in mice will finally explore how the functional link between galectins and GSLs contributes to wound healing in the colon (Aim 4). The molecular functions of galectins and GSLs in endocytosis — major unresolved questions in cellular membrane biology — will thereby be established, providing details from atomic arrangements via multi-molecular complexes and meso-scaled membrane domains to in vivo physiology. I am confident that this program will lead to the discovery of a new clathrin-independent endocytic mechanism by which different types of cargo are sorted to and internalized from specific membrane domains.

Keywords: chemical biology,super-resolution imaging,grazing incidence x-ray diffraction,2d crystallization,coarse-grain simulation,lipidomics,proteomics,model membrane reconstitution
Challenges in Graph Algorithms with Applications (GRAPHALGAPP)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Computer science and informatics
Countries involved: Austria
Call:  (ERC-2013-ADG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2019-08-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2428258.0
EU funding (EUR): 2428258.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project has two thrusts of equal importance. Firstly, it aims to develop new graph algorithmic techniques, specifically in the areas of dynamic graph algorithms, online algorithms and approximation algorithms for graph-based optimization problems. Thus, it proposes to solve long-standing, fundamental problems that are central to the field of algorithms. Secondly, it plans to apply these techniques to graph algorithmic problems in different fields of application, specifically in computer-aided verification, computational biology, and web-based advertisement with the goal of significantly advancing the state-of-the-art in these fields. This includes theoretical work as well as experimental evaluation on real-life data sets. Thus, the goal of this project is a comprehensive approach to algorithms research which involves both excellent fundamental algorithms research as well as solving concrete applications.

Keywords: graph algorithms,experimental evaluation of algorithms,combinatorial optimization,computer-aided verification,computational biology,web-based advertisement
Entirely Self-organized: Arrayed Single-Particle-in-a-Cavity Reactors for Highly Efficient and Selective Catalytic/Photocatalytic Energy Conversion and Solar Light Reaction Engineering (APHOTOREACTOR)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Materials and Synthesis
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2013-ADG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2020-02-29
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2427000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2427000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposal is built on the core idea to use an ensemble of multiple level self-organization processes to create a next generation photocatalytic platform that provides unprecedented property and reactivity control. As a main output, the project will yield a novel highly precise combined catalyst/photocatalyst assembly to: 1) provide a massive step ahead in photocatalytic applications such as direct solar hydrogen generation, pollution degradation (incl. CO2 decomposition), N2 fixation, or photocatalytic organic synthesis. It will drastically enhance efficiency and selectivity of photocatalytic reactions, and enable a high number of organic synthetic reactions to be carried out economically (and ecologically) via combined catalytic/photocatalytic pathways. Even more, it will establish an entirely new generation of “100% depoisoning”, anti-aggregation catalysts with substantially enhanced catalyst life-time. For this, a series of self-assembly processes on the mesoscale will be used to create highly uniform arrays of single-catalyst-particle-in-a-single-TiO2-cavity; target is a 100% reliable placement of a single <10 nm particle in a 10 nm cavity. Thus catalytic features of, for example Pt nanoparticles, can ideally interact with the photocatalytic properties of a TiO2 cavity. The cavity will be optimized for optical and electronic properties by doping and band-gap engineering; the geometry will be tuned to the range of a few nm.. This nanoscopic design yields to a radical change in the controllability of length and time-scales (reactant, charge carrier and ionic transport in the substrate) in combined photocatalytic/catalytic reactions. It is of key importance that all nanoscale assembly principles used in this work are scalable and allow to create square meters of nanoscopically ordered catalyst surfaces. We target to demonstrate the feasibility of the implementation of the nanoscale principles in a prototype macroscopic reactor.

Keywords: photocatalysis,self-cleaning,self-organization,electrochemistry
FOLLOWING THE MOST MASSIVE GALAXY CLUSTERS ACROSS COSMIC TIME (M2C)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Universe sciences
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2013-ADG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2020-03-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2456035.0
EU funding (EUR): 2456035.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Our project aims at testing the standard LCDM scenario for the formation of collapsed structures. Taking advantage of the advent of cluster detection via the SZ effect, we will use the most massive clusters of galaxies and their evolution as laboratory. We build on the Planck SZ survey, the first All Sky survey since the RASS X-ray survey. We will substantially extend the nominal Planck cluster catalogue by developing novel detection techniques based on a simultaneous search of objects in Planck and RASS maps, reaching lower masses and higher redshifts, while keeping a high catalogue purity. For the first time, we will have the sample size, redshift leverage, and completeness, for a decisive test of the standard LCDM model of the dark matter gravitational collapse on cluster scale. The test will be provided by a full statistical analysis of the dark matter profiles and their evolution. The X-ray technique to derive mass profile will be extended to the full cluster population. This will be made possible by an integrated approach involving systematic confrontation of observations with tailor-made numerical simulations. Using multi-wavelength data and simulations, we will also assess the dynamical behaviour of the baryons as they collect in dark matter potential. We will i) provide the first complete census of the dark matter, hot and cold baryons and its evolution ii) quantify the thermo- dynamical state up to z~1 as a probe of hierarchical structure formation and gravitational heating iii) probe the link between non-thermal and thermal components. The project will either cement our current understanding of the dark matter collapse, a prerequisite to any assessment of the specific baryon physics, or points towards the need for revision of the current paradigm, with important cosmological implications. The new detection techniques will be applicable to future surveys. Lastly, we will provide a ‘gold sample’ of galaxy clusters, ideal for cosmological parameter estimate.

Keywords: structure formation,gravitational process,sunyaev-zeldovich effect,cluster surveys
Universal Framework for Charge Transport in Quantum Dot Systems (UNIQDS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Systems and communication engineering
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2013-ADG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-11-01
End date: 2018-10-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2454650.0
EU funding (EUR): 2454650.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The field of quantum dots (QDs) is one of the major growth areas in interdisciplinary field of physics, materials, chemistry, and engineering for the exploration of fundamental physical properties and potential/new functionalities. This will serve as a basis for creation of unique applications such as new display/lighting, photovoltaic device, TFTs and image sensors. However, there are serious impediments to the device performance such as high efficiency and longer life time due to the lack of understanding in charge transport and light-matter interaction mechanism in QD networks. Therefore, the proposed work is a comprehensive and fundamental understanding of underlying physics for charge transport in i) a single QD and surface, ii) QD/QD, iii) QD/interface/matrix, iv) QD/layer and /electrode, and v) bulk QD network systems and the creation of any real devices with new functionality. Enormous opportunities will arise from many unanswered questions of general nature/fundamental physical aspects of QDs related to charge transport that have still to be addressed. Thus, we will highlight and focus on strongly linked key themes and challenges that are at the heart of our proposed work. The main emphasis of proposed work will be on the understanding and control of charge transport dynamics in various QD systems, even though we explore the development of meaningful technologies and new devices based on QDs in the proposal. Our most intriguing issue is to expand the basic understanding of QDs for their potential applications. We will study interface dipole design/control, computational engineering for charge transport, analysis of the above five subsets, and will realise them into a full system with QD networks. Another challenge lies in integrating new QD materials with flexible/large-area substrates by monolayer-level control. We also propose the development of new synthetic routes for QDs with stable surface for supporting the above charge transport. This work will be underpinning research aimed at the development of the charge transport based QD devices with high efficiency and longer lifetime. These provide enormous opportunities to enable us not only to broaden and deepen our knowledge/experience in this area, but also to make rational predictions and open new device/system concepts unique to QD networks.

Keywords: charge transport quantum dot system,qd displays,qd lightings,nanophotonics
The Cult of Saints: a christendom-wide study of its origins, spread and development (COS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: The study of the human past
Countries involved: United Kingdom,Poland,United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2013-ADG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-01-01
End date: 2018-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499240.0
EU funding (EUR): 2499240.0
Participants: 3
Project status: CLOSED

An investigation of the origins and development of a central feature of late-antique, medieval and modern culture: the belief that dead saints can act as mediators between a distant God and humankind, and that they are active on earth in many different ways (such as healing the sick, punishing the irreverent, or even controlling the weather). The project will investigate the emergence of this belief by systematically collecting all the available evidence - across several academic disciplines and six linguistic cultures (Latin, Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian and Georgian), from the first stirrings of the phenomenon in the third century until around the year 700, by which time the cult of saints was fully developed and firmly rooted throughout the Christian world, from Ireland to Iran. The work will be done by a team of researchers (under expert supervision for four of the eastern languages), closely co-ordinated by the PI. The project will operate concurrently at two levels. The individual researchers will produce free-standing regional studies on aspects of the cult of saints that are essential to the wider project, but at present under-researched. While doing this, they will collect the full range of evidence from their regions within a single searchable database. This will provide the basis for a christendom-wide monograph on the emergence of the cult of saints authored by the PI, and also the context essential to give breadth and depth to the regional studies. For the first time it will be possible to tell the history of the emergence of the cult of saints across the full geographical and cultural range of early Christendom. Of great importance in itself, this will also link, and thereby enhance, the many pre-existing works of scholarship on aspects of the cult of saints. The ‘Cult of Saints’ will result in a major summative monograph, a comprehensive international conference, a series of ground-breaking regional studies, and a freely-available database.

Keywords: late antiquity,'christianisation',cultural unity and diversity
Why do cancers occur where they do? A genetic and evolutionary approach. (EVOCAN)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2013-ADG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-09-01
End date: 2020-08-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2500000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Tumorigenesis is a form of somatic evolution, a topical subject given the advent of cancer genome sequencing. However, we contend that some features of Darwinian evolution have been neglected when cancer is studied, as have some aspects of evolution that are special to cancers. For example, tumours comprise an expanding population of cells, cancers must occur within a normal human lifespan, and genotypes detrimental to growth of the tumour as a whole may be selected. These factors may render invalid the classical model in which successive mutations with large advantages arise and spread through the tumour in selective sweeps. To incorporate these neglected features and to test how tumorigenesis depends on factors such as mutation rate, selection and size constraints, we shall set up a comprehensive model of tumour growth incorporating cell birth, death, division and mutation parameters. We shall examine specific aspects of cancer-as-evolution in mice. By marking mutant clones using fluorescent proteins, we can track them and see how they persist, spread and die. We shall also determine the mutation profiles and genetic diversity of mutant clones and whole tumours in mice and humans using next-generation sequencing. Specific experiments will determine: (i) the fate of new advantageous clones arising in an existing tumour; (ii) whether new disadvantageous clones can persist in tumours; (iii) whether apparently maladaptive traits for tumour growth, such as suppressing the growth of competitors, can be selected; (iv) why do housekeeper gene mutations cause cancer in specific sites; (v) can cancer cells have too much genomic instability; and (vi) whether all cancers develop owing to driver mutations with big effects, or are there “mini-drivers” of tumorigenesis? There will be continual cross-talk between the experimental and modelling work. The results of the project will enhance our basic understanding of tumorigenesis and suggest strategies for anticancer therapy.

Keywords: cancer as an evolutionary process
Instabilities and nonlocal multiscale modelling of materials (INSTABILITIES)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Products and process engineering
Countries involved: Italy
Call:  (ERC-2013-ADG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2019-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2379359.0
EU funding (EUR): 2379359.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Failure in ductile materials results from a multiscale interaction of discrete microstructures hierarchically emerging through subsequent material instabilities and self-organizing into regular patterns (shear band clusters, for instance). The targets of the project are: (i.) to disclose the failure mechanisms of materials through analysis of material instabilities and (ii.) to develop innovative microstructures to be embedded in solids, in order to open new possibilities in the design of ultra-resistant materials and structures. The link between the two targets is that micromechanisms developing during failure inspire the way of enhancing the mechanical properties of materials by embedding microstructures. The aim is to provide design tools to obtain groundbreaking and unchallenged mechanical properties employing discrete microstructures, for instance to design a microstructure defining a material working under flutter condition. The design of these microstructures will permit the achievement of innovative dynamical properties, defining elastic metamaterials, for instance, permitting the fabrication of flat lenses for elastic waves, evidencing negative refraction and superlensing effects. The objective is the discovery of these effects in mechanics, thus disclosing new horizons in the dynamics of materials. Microstructures introduce length scales and nonlocal effects in the mechanical modelling, which involve the use of higher-order theories. The analysis of these effects, usually developed within a phenomenological approach, will be attacked from the fundamental and almost unexplored point of view: the explicit evaluation of nonlocality, related to the microstructure via homogenisation theory.

Keywords: solid mechanics