Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Light-driven molecular motors to trigger transmembrane transport of anions (MOTOTRANS)

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: Netherlands
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-07-01
End date: 2026-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 187624.32
EU funding (EUR): 187624.32
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Anion transport through membranes, mediated by transport proteins, is one of the most important processes in living cells. Recently, a number of synthetic transmembrane anion transporters have been developed. However, unlike proteins, they usually do not display responsive behaviour, making their function unspecific. There are only a few methods known for controlling the transport function of these receptors by physiochemical stimuli, with using light being one of the most well-known. These stimuli-responsive receptors, however, only alternate between distinct "on" and "off" states, while biomolecular systems are able to use the motion of motor proteins to regulate the passage of ions. Two first studies have shown that rotating molecular motors can enhance cation transport through membrane-spanning channels, possibly by influencing conformational dynamics. However, there have been no detailed studies that take advantage of subtle changes in membrane characteristics. It would be very promising to enhance and regulate anion transport across the membrane by integrating molecular machine-like entities into lipid bilayers and synthetic transport systems. MOTOTRANS is a multidisciplinary project that aims to develop transmembrane anion transport systems containing light-driven molecular motors. The out-of-equilibrium rotational dynamics of light-driven molecular motors could influence either membrane, carrier or channel properties, resulting in enhanced transport activity, which will be investigated in work packages 1-3, respectively. The project will have three major impacts: an innovative approach with profound implications in molecular machines and transmembrane anion transport; a significant impact on the fellow's academic career, acquiring new research skills, complementary skills, and scientific connections, enabling access to an academic position in Europe; and the host group and institution will benefit from the fellow's diverse scientific background and network.

Keywords: transmembrane transport,molecular motors,anion binding,photoisomerisation
Insight into Drug Distribution and Local Concentration using Multispectral Imaging of Fluorescent Drugs in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (msGUIDE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EIC Pathfinder
Destination: Open to supporting projects in all areas of science, technology,...
Action type: EIC actions
Countries involved: Germany,France,Netherlands,Czechia
Call: EIC Pathfinder Open 2021 (HORIZON-EIC-2021-PATHFINDEROPEN-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-04-01
End date: 2027-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4027965.0
EU funding (EUR): 4027964.75
Participants: 5
Project status: SIGNED

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic relapsing inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract affecting 2.5 Mil. patients in Europe alone. The majority of newly diagnosed patients are in adolescence or early adulthood and in the midst of their family life, career, and social development. Though not life-threatening, the disease comes with significant morbidity and complex treatment strategies and is associated with a high social burden and medical costs. msGUIDE aims to revolutionize IBD treatment by offering high-performance insight into local drug distribution and concentrations that can lead personalized medicine in IBD patients and early drug development through identifying specific targeted cells of drugs, elucidating the individual phenotype and thereby patient stratification. This will be achieved by reinvigorating endoscopy to overcome major challenges for medical application. The goal of msGUIDE is to develop a highly sensitive novel imaging technology consisting of a Near-Infrared Fluorescence and Reflectance Multispectral Imaging (NIR-FRMI) unit integrated into a never before seen High-definition White Light Endoscope (HD-WLE). The aim is to quantify drug distribution and concentration and identify the individual drug target cells in the gut. With this groundbreaking system we offer an operatorindependent endoscopic method to establish the optimal dose and to monitor the treatment response in IBD patients in realtime. This will allow for an individual, precise and quantitative diagnosis leading to a more personalized, targeted and thus more effective treatment in IBD and common diseases in general.

Keywords: fluorescence endoscopy,multispectral imaging,novel tracers,personalized medicine
Advanced Low Particulate High-performance Automotive Brake Components (AlphaBrake)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EIC Accelerator
Destination: Other destinations
Action type: EIC actions
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: EIC Accelerator 2024 - Short application (HORIZON-EIC-2024-ACCELERATOR-01, 2024)
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2497380.0
EU funding (EUR): 2497380.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

AlphaBrake is a new automotive brake component technology from Alcon Components Ltd. It will combine the High Performance braking specifications of Alcon’s current products with new Low Pollution characteristics. The levels of harmful particulates that are released into the air by brake component friction will be reduced, exceeding upcoming Euro 7 regulations. AlphaBrake will create a new market for Low Pollution High Performance automotive brake components, guiding the performance vehicle sector towards a greener approach to motoring. Uniquely, AlphaBrake will take into account the varied and more demanding driving conditions typical of performance vehicles. This will widen the environmental benefits of the EU’s Euro 7 regulations within this sector, as well as within other areas including motorsports and special vehicle niches such as off-road, heavy-weight, VIP protection, and emergency services. AlphaBrake will not be an attempt to capture harmful particle emissions in disposable filters. It will take the more challenging approach of reducing at source the level of particles produced by brake friction. Only this approach will serve the needs of the performance automotive industry. Alcon will develop AlphaBrake by exploiting materials and technologies it fully understands. These include friction materials such as Titanium Carbide, techniques for applying friction coatings to brake discs such as laser cladding, aerodynamic designs to reduce brake drag, weight reduction of components, and precise geometries of brake discs and the calipers that apply the frictional force to them. AlphaBrake is a unique breakthrough innovation that will define a new brake product category and thus disrupt the existing market. But the development steps required to make the new technology ready for market unavoidably require in-house equipment that is heavily customised, bespoke-designed and expensive. Alcon can only bring AlphaBrake to market with the help of EIC Accelerator funding.

Keywords: manufacturing,braking systems,brakes,particulate emissions,euro 7,cars,motor sport,electric vehicles,hybrid and ice,brake discs,rotors,hard coatings,pads,friction materials,calipers
Role of three-dimensional genome architecture on innovation through gene duplication in chordates (CHORDUP)

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: Spain
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2026-09-01
End date: 2028-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 209914.56
EU funding (EUR): 209914.56
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Inside the nucleus of each eukaryotic cell, DNA is intricately packed into a three-dimensional (3D) structure essential for gene regulation. However, its role in genome evolution, particularly in gene function innovation, remains largely unexplored. Gene duplication is the primary evolutionary path to gene function innovation. This project aims to investigate the interplay between gene duplication evolution and 3D genome structure in chordate genomes by comparing zebrafish to amphioxus, a non-vertebrate marine chordate that diverged from the rest of chordates about 500 million years ago. By generating, for the first time, 3D genome structure maps for several amphioxus organs, I will construct an atlas of gene duplications in zebrafish and amphioxus, encompassing sequence, synteny, gene expression, and 3D genome structure information. Leveraging the information encompassed in this atlas, I will investigate the intricate dynamics between the origin and evolutionary fate of chordate duplicated genes, emerged either by whole-genome or small-scale duplication, and the 3D genome structure around them. By combining my expertise in evolution of gene duplications and amphioxus genomics, with my host group’s experience in 3D genomic architecture and its evolution, we will be able to provide deep insight into the spatial mechanisms of gene innovation through duplication. Studying the effect of 3D genome structure across amphioxus and zebrafish organs in the context of gene duplications, will position me at the forefront of this emerging field within the comparative genomics community. Altogether, the results obtained will enhance our understanding of the evolution of new gene functions, and open new avenues for structural and evolutionary genomics.

Keywords: 3d genome structure,hi c,gene duplication,genetic innovation,evolution,chordates,amphioxus,zebrafish,whole genome duplication,small scale duplication,gene expression,synteny,gene function
Turku Intersectoral Excellence Scheme 2 (TIES2)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Co-funding of regional, national and international programmes
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Countries involved: Finland
Call: MSCA COFUND 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-COFUND-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-11-01
End date: 2030-10-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2707200.0
EU funding (EUR): 2707200.0
Participants: 6
Project status: SIGNED

Turku Intersectoral Excellence Scheme 2 (TIES2) is an updated and enhanced version of a pilot COFUND FP, funded by MSCA in 2022 (TIES, 101081293). It is an innovative fellowship program seeking to advance state-of-the-art postdoctoral research excellence. It is based within Turku Institute for Advanced Studies (TIAS) at the University of Turku (Finland) and is supported by five associated partners in the fields of business, culture and governmental organizations. TIAS has a record for producing world-class research and developing its fellows for research leadership roles. TIES2 offers: • Scientific excellence: TIES2 integrates intersectoral perspectives and methods into TIAS’s interdisciplinary IAS model. This expands the horizons of academic research, enabling it to envision original solutions to address complex issues that affect society as a whole. • Career development: TIES2 offers a new range of options for non-tenured researchers, enabling them to move freely between sectors, acquire unique skills and experiences, increase their career choices and develop as intersectoral thought leaders. • Innovation: TIES2 seeks to build a sustainable infrastructure for innovation by: 1. enabling knowledge, technology and researchers to circulate freely at regional, national and international levels; 2. forging deep relations of trust between sectors, connecting intellectual excellence with the practical know-how and infrastructure needed to realise new ideas. TIAS proposes to recruit 8 TIES2 fellows in 2025 and 8 in 2026 (16 in total) through an open, international, competitive, merit-based selection process dependent on external peer-review, in line with the European Charter and Code. They will be full members of TIAS, with excellent working conditions. During their 36-month fellowships, they will be required to practice international and intersectoral mobility, conduct research in a non-academic sector and undertake research secondments with a non-academic organisation.

Keywords: intersectoral working institute for advanced studies transdisciplinarity non academic impact knowledge exchange mentorship leadership development training autonomy bottom up
Health Simulations: Ethical and Societal Challenges of Digital Twins (SIMTWIN)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Panel description: Political science, international relations, law
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2022-STG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-06-01
End date: 2028-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1497275.0
EU funding (EUR): 1497275.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Digitisation has an impact on even the most fundamental concepts in medicine and public health, including our ideas of health and illness, embodiment, vulnerability and controllability. Among the emerging technologies driving this paradigm shift is that of Digital Twins (DT), which presents exceptional challenges to healthcare governance, raising ethical and societal issues of which our understanding is still rudimentary. DT may be empowering but could also exacerbate the vulnerability of both individual patients and the population at large. There are substantial gaps in our understanding of whether these new forms of artificial intelligence-driven health simulations provide new ways of engaging with experiences of human vulnerability, or whether they in fact introduce new forms of harm. In this context, SIMTWIN will be the first project systematically identifying and examining the ethical and societal implications of the use of DT in healthcare. In doing so, SIMTWIN will promote our understanding of and practical approaches to new forms of simulation and prediction of health trajectories. SIMTWIN’s central objective is to provide a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the normative challenges implied in order to develop an integrated theory of health simulations. In proposing an empirically-based and normatively robust framework for an ethical and societal assessment of this technology, SIMTWIN will enable the design of practical modes of controllability for the use of DT in health. At a moment in history in which our societies find themselves facing crucial decisions on how to approach the complex issues raised by the dual, simultaneously transformative and disruptive character of health simulations, SIMTWIN promises ground-breaking insights into the associated normative and societal challenges and key orientations for a robust and innovative governance framework.
MUlti-spectral Scattering matrix for Enhanced skin imaging (MUSE)

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: France
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS (ERC-2023-POC, 2023)
Start date: 2024-03-01
End date: 2025-08-31
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

During the ERC REMINISCENCE project, we developed a new microscope whose performances exceed our initial expectations. Based on a reflection matrix approach of wave imaging, this device called DeepInsight provides an unprecedented imaging performance. It allows non-invasive, label-free, real-time and three-dimensional imaging of tissues with a 1 mm-penetration depth at a 500 nm-resolution. Beyond the structural information provided by standard reflectivity images, it also enables quantitative imaging of tissues by mapping biomarkers such as the refractive index, tissue dynamics or scattering strength. This patented innovation thus represents a paradigm shift in label-free microscopy. In the framework of this project, we want to investigate its extremely promising potential for dermatology and cosmetics industry. Our proposed solution overcomes the fundamental limitations of existing microscopes (confocal / OCT) in terms of penetration depth, resolution and 3D frame rate. It will be a turning point for the early detection of melanoma, which remains a blind spot for current technologies. Beyond this specific problem, its real time capabilities will be exploited for non-invasive angiography in order to identify subsurface vascular and structural features known to be associated with numerous skin diseases. Following the PoC project, we plan to establish a start-up company to further develop the microscope and market it to hospitals and cosmetics industry.
Antagonizing GnRH signaling as a “holistic” therapeutic strategy for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (GRASP)

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: France
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS2 (ERC-2022-POC2, 2022)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2025-02-28
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

PCOS is the most common endocrine disorder affecting up to 18% of women worldwide. The syndrome imposes a heavy health burden, covering infertility, obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. The development of treatment options is an urgent need since there is currently neither a cure nor mechanism-based treatments, leaving patient management suboptimal and focused solely on symptomatic treatment. One key neuroendocrine aberration in most women with PCOS is increased luteinizing hormone (LH) pulse frequency. This suggests an increase in activity of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons in the hypothalamus. The LH hyper-pulsatility contributes to increased ovarian thecal androgen secretion and failure of ovulation, constituting a pivotal pathogenic role in the syndrome. These evidences suggest that alterations of GnRH neuronal activity/secretion could be the basis for neuroendocrine anomalies that accompany the reproductive disturbances in the syndrome. In GRASP we will test the hypothesis that low administration doses of a GnRH antagonist, aimed at tempering LH secretion/pulsatility, can ameliorate both reproductive and metabolic PCOS traits in animal models of PCOS and in women with PCOS. The specific objectives of GRASP are to i) dose-range GnRH antagonism to rectify LH pulse amplitude and frequency in PCOS-like mice ; ii) to perform a long-term treatment with the selected doses of GnRH antagonist to assess its potential beneficial outcomes in correcting reproductive and metabolic alterations of this preclinical model; iii) to perform a pilot dose-effect clinical investigation testing the ability of sub-therapeutic doses of GnRH antagonist to rectify the altered hormonal dynamics in women with PCOS. The overall goal of GRASP is to provide a proof-of-concept for future long-duration randomized controlled trials of this approach to appraise its clinical benefits in women with PCOS and to move forward towards therapeutic innovation.
Assessing the (co)dissemination of virulence and antibiotic resistance genes in resource recovery applications (VIRULENCE)

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: France
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-06-01
End date: 2025-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 211754.88
EU funding (EUR): 211754.88
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The secret behind a successful pathogenic bacteria lies on achieving the perfect balance between virulence and resistance. Virulence genes (VGs) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) can be co-localized in the same mobile genetic element, and thus can be transmitted together in a single horizontal gene transfer event. In the last decades, the number of bacteria carrying VGs and ARGs has increased significantly, and their dissemination is amongst the greatest global threats to human health. These genes are released into the environment during the discharge of treated wastewater and via the recycling of organic waste products. Considering that human, animal, and environment health are interconnected under the One Health concept, limiting their dissemination into the environment by implementing effective waste/wastewater treatment technologies is a major option for limiting the emergence of these pathogens. Despite the research efforts focused on ARGs, the spread of VGs has barely been studied, omitting a huge problem that cannot be separated from antimicrobial resistance. This proposal will address both fundamental and applied aspects of the problematic. Fundamentally, this proposal will provide a more comprehensive overview of the diversity of VGs (and their co-occurrence with ARGs) in the wastewater treatment network and will study their (co)transferability within complex microbial communities. In addition, this project will study, for the first time, the fate of VGs (and their co-occurrence with ARGs) during/after waste/wastewater treatment, also assessing the impact of different operational parameters on their mitigation. Particular attention will be paid to the impact that potential approaches allowing resource recovery (e.g., nutrient and carbon recovery through manure/sludge application as fertiliser) on VGs/ARGs dissemination. With the emergence of superbugs being one of the main human health threats that we face, the importance of this proposal is obvious.

Keywords: microbiology,resource recovery,antimicrobial resistance genes,virulence genes,wastewater,manure,sludge,wastewater treatment,solid waste treatment,waste valorisation,shotgun metagenomics