Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Improving arm and hand function after stroke with clinically-relevant delivery of neurotrophin-3 to elderly disabled muscles: from rats to humans (STROKETHERAPY)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Neurosciences and neural disorders
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2012-StG_20111109, 2012)
Start date: 2012-11-01
End date: 2017-10-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499909.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499909.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Stroke disables millions worldwide and costs the EU €38 billion each year. Excitingly, my team has identified a clinically-feasible therapy for stroke which reverses disability in rats when given in a clinically-relevant time frame. Specifically, we have shown that the human growth factor neurotrophin 3 (NT3) promotes locomotor recovery and reverses sensory neglect in adult rats when infused into disabled arm muscles, starting 24 hours after stroke. Importantly, Phase II clinical trials have shown that systemic, repeated high doses of neurotrophin-3 are safe and well-tolerated in humans with other conditions. This paves the way for a Phase II trial in humans after stroke. We now wish to maximise arm and hand (paw) recovery in elderly rats with larger strokes by optimising dose, timing and route. We will then submit for approval a Clinical Trial Application for a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled Phase II human clinical trial to treat stroke using NT3. We also propose multidisciplinary, cutting-edge studies to understand how NT3 promotes plasticity in the brain and spinal cord. 1) We will use wireless neural recording in awake rats and functional brain imaging to study plasticity after stroke and NT3 treatment. 2) Our innovative “RatBot” will automatically train, rehabilitate and assess grasping of pellet food. 3) To reveal where NT3 is transported we will track a novel tagged version of NT3 in vivo. 4) In an ambitious final study we will maximise recovery of arm and hand function in elderly rats when treatments are delayed by 1 month after larger strokes. In summary, we propose a high-risk, high-yield, transdisciplinary, innovative programme of work to maximise sensory and motor recovery after stroke in elderly rats. Treatment will be initiated in a clinically-relevant time frame (after 24 hours or 1 month) using a clinically-relevant dose and duration of treatment via a clinically-straightforward route, ready for a Phase II clinical trial.

Keywords: stroke,neurotrophin,elderly,clinical trial application,plasticity,mri,neuroimaging,neural recording,cerebral ischemia,triceps,rehabilitation,restoration,repair,nt-3,nt3
Counteracting psychosis by optimizing interaction (INTERACT)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Diagnostic tools, therapies and public health
Countries involved: Netherlands,Germany
Call:  (ERC-2012-StG_20111109, 2012)
Start date: 2013-04-01
End date: 2019-03-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1498896.0
EU funding (EUR): 1498896.0
Participants: 3
Project status: CLOSED

Psychotic disorders are amongst the most severe mental disorders. However, current treatments have failed to reduce disability or change the prospects for recovery for patients with a psychotic disorder. In this project, I will investigate an entirely novel therapy, targeting the core vulnerability profile of altered person-environment interactions underlying psychosis, specifically increased stress-reactivity and reduced motivated and goal-directed behaviour. My colleagues and I have developed a digital apparatus, the ‘PsyMate’, allowing real-time interventions for patients with severe mental illness. In this project, the PsyMate will be used to (1)reduce psychotic and emotional reactivity to stress with “detachment and acceptance” exercises in real life situations, and (2)improve motivated and goal-directed behaviour with real-time behavioural activation therapy. In a randomized controlled trial, I will investigate whether this self-management therapy, conducted outside the office in the patient’s real life, is capable of reducing psychotic reactivity to stress and of improving motivated behaviour in participants with an at-risk mental state for psychosis. In order to understand the impact of this intervention in terms of brain plasticity and prediction of response, I will use an experimental medicine approach to investigate the neural effects of the intervention. I will focus particularly on prefrontal dopamine-reactivity as the brain mechanism mediating altered person-environment interactions. In the current study, I will examine prefrontal dopamine reactivity towards positive as well as stressful negative events as the biological process mediating underlying motivated behaviour and environmental reactivity. Furthermore, I will investigate whether a self-management therapy specifically focused at aberrant person-environment interactions alters brain plasticity at the level of prefrontal dopaminergic neurotransmission in persons at risk for psychosis.

Keywords: momentary assessment - at-risk-mental state - dopamine - pet
Bicuspid Related Aortopathy, a Vibrant Exploration (BRAVE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physiology, Pathophysiology and Endocrinology
Countries involved: Belgium
Call:  (ERC-2012-StG_20111109, 2012)
Start date: 2013-05-01
End date: 2018-04-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1497895.0
EU funding (EUR): 1497895.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Bicuspid aortic valve, a heart valve with only two leaflets instead of three, is the most common congenital heart defect with an estimated prevalence of about 1-2%. The heart defect often remains asymptomatic but in at least 10% of the bicuspid aortic valve patients, an ascending aortic aneurysm develops as well. If not detected in a timely fashion, this can lead to an aortic aneurysm dissection with a high mortality. In view of the prevalent nature of this heart defect, this implies an important health care problem. Historically, it was always hypothesized that abnormal blood flow across the bicuspid aortic valve led to aneurysm formation. However in recent years, the importance of a genetic contribution has been suggested based on the high heritability and it is currently believed that the same genetic factors predispose to the developmental valve defect and the aortic aneurysm formation. The inheritance pattern is most consistent with an autosomal dominant disorder with variable penetrance and expressivity. Until now, the latter have significantly hampered the causal gene identification but the era of next generation sequencing is now offering unprecedented opportunities for a major breakthrough in this area. Through detailed signalling pathway analysis, miRNA profiling and next generation sequencing, this project will contribute significantly to resolving the genetic causes of bicuspid related aortopathy, provide critical knowledge on the pathogenesis of aortic aneurysmal disease and deliver a mouse model for future therapeutical trials.

Keywords: bicuspid aortic valve,aortic aneurysm,pathogenesis
Dragon - Sustaining Technology And Research (EU-China Collaboration) (DRAGON-STAR)

Framework: FP7 — Capacities
Programme: Activities of International Cooperation
Destination: Bilateral coordination for the enhancement and development of S&T Partnerships
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Greece,Italy,Portugal,China,Germany,Switzerland,Macao,Greece
Call:  (FP7-INCO-2012-2, 2012)
Start date: 2012-10-01
End date: 2015-09-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1798505.15
EU funding (EUR): 1499296.0
Participants: 11
Project status: CLOSED

People's Republic of China, has the largest population in the world and occupies a position of geo-strategic importance in the Asian continent as well as in the Pacific sphere. The Chinese S&T and innovation system is developing extremely fast and dynamically and China has become a major new actor in the global system for the production of knowledge, while the total amount of China’s R&D expenditure in 2009 was €58,021m, (a record high in history). The EC-China S&T Cooperation Agreement was first signed in 1998 and today, the Sino-European cooperation shows growing dynamism as is demonstrated, for instance, by the growing numbers of participations of Chinese partners in cooperative research projects funded by FP5, FP6 & FP7. However, there is still work to be done in terms of the reciprocity in the bilateral cooperation, in dealing with specific societal challenges and by establishing broader research collaboration beyond the framework programs. Taking into account the global significance of China in the financial world and its rapidly increasing role in the global research environment, Dragon-STAR will support the Sino-European collaboration at 4 levels: -Enhancing the quality of the Chinese participation in the Framework Programs and especially reinforcing participation from less developed areas. -Supporting the reciprocity originating from the signed EU-China Scientific Cooperation Agreement -Supporting the bilateral cooperation in the broader field of innovation and especially the technological cooperation between industrial players. -Supporting the ongoing bilateral Scientific Cooperation dialogue with studies and reports. -Support the research cooperation and dialogue on key priority areas (SFIC)

Keywords: scientific,research,innovation,china,foresight,technolog transfer,scientific policy
New eddy-simulation concepts and methodologies for frontier problems in Turbulence (NEWTURB)

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): 1986000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1986000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Advances in transportation, energy harvesting, chemical processing, climatology, atmospheric and marine pollution are obstructed by the lack of understanding of turbulence. The turbulent energy transfer toward small-scales is characterized by highly non-Gaussian and out-of-equilibrium fluctuations that cannot be described by mean-field theories or traditional closure approximations. State-of-the-art computers and algorithms do not allow to perform brute-force direct numerical simulations of any realistic turbulent configuration: modelling is mandatory. On the other hand, turbulence models are often strongly limited by our lack of understanding of fundamental mechanisms. As a result, we have a deadlock: turbulence is thought of as ‘unsolvable’ theoretically and computationally ‘intensive’. Indeed, progress by using conventional methods has been slow. Last year, however, something new happened. Two unconventional conceptual and numerical methodologies to study Navier-Stokes equations appeared based on: (i) a surgery of nonlinear interactions with different Energy and Helicity contents, (ii) a fractal-Fourier decimation. These unexplored tools are potential breakthroughs to unravel the basic mechanisms governing the turbulent transfer in isotropic, anisotropic and bounded flows, e.g. the mechanism behind the growth of small-scales vorticity and formation/stability of coherent structures, a challenge that has defeated all numerical and theoretical attempts, up to now. The ultimate goal of NewTURB is to integrate the fresh knowledge achieved by using these novel numerical instruments to push forward the frontiers of turbulence modelling, exploiting the possibility to reduce the number-of-degrees-of-freedom in an innovative way to deliver alternative frontier ‘multiscale eddy-simulations’ methodologies for both unbounded and bounded flows with smooth walls or with heterogeneous landscapes, e.g. flows over a rough surface.

Keywords: isotropic and anisotropic turbulence,intermittency,turbulent models,computational fluid dynamics,magnetohydrodinamcs,multifractals
Evolutionary responses to a warming world: physiological genomics of seasonal timing (E-RESPONSE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Evolutionary, population and environmental biology
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call:  (ERC-2013-ADG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-01-01
End date: 2019-06-30
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2495808.0
EU funding (EUR): 2495808.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The world is seasonal and organisms’ adjustment of their seasonal timing to this environmental variation is crucial for their fitness. Climate change is strongly impacting seasonal timing which makes a better understanding of the potential for micro-evolution of timing in natural populations essential. As any phenotypic change ultimately involves changes in the physiological mechanism underlying timing, we need to unravel the genetics of these mechanisms. I will carry out a highly integrated eco-evo-devo project on the causes and consequences of genetic variation in timing of reproduction in great tits (Parus major), an ecological model species for that we recently developed state-of-the-art genomic tools. I will develop a powerful instrument to study this timing mechanism by creating selection lines of early and late reproducing birds using genome-wide, rather than phenotypic, selection. The phenotypic response of selection lines birds will be assessed both in controlled environment aviaries and in birds introduced to the wild. To unravel how selection has altered the birds’ physiology I will measure key components of the physiological mechanism at the central, peripheral and egg production levels. As a unique next step I will then introduce selection line birds into a wild population to assess the fitness of these extreme phenotypes. This will enable me, for the first time, to estimate the selection on timing without confounds, which I will compare with traditional estimates using observational data. Finally, I will integrate genetics, physiology and ecology to hindcast the rate of genetic change in our wild population and validate this rate using DNA sampled over a 20-year period. This innovative project integrates state of the art developments in ecology, genetics and physiology (eco-evo-devo) will set new standards for future studies in other wild species and will be of key importance for our predictions of evolutionary responses to a warming world.

Keywords: seasonal timing,reproductive physiology,genomics,climate change,avian reproduction
Orthogonalization Models in Semiempirical Quantum Chemistry (OMSQC)

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: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2013-ADG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-01-01
End date: 2018-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1996000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1996000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposal aims at the development of a generally applicable semiempirical approach that goes beyond the current standard model by including explicit orthogonalization and dispersion terms into the semiempirical Hamiltonian. We have recently shown in preliminary work on organic molecules that such orthogonalization models (OMx = OM1, OM2, OM3) are significantly more accurate than standard semiempirical methods (AM1, PM3, PM6) both for ground-state and excited-state properties, at comparable computational costs. We plan to improve the OMx models by incorporating dispersion corrections (OMx-D) and by extending the formalism from an sp to an spd basis (OMx-DE). The resulting approaches will be parameterized for all chemically important main-group elements and transition metals to generate the next generation of generally applicable semiempirical methods. These methods are designed to fill the currently existing gap between density functional theory (DFT) and classical force field approaches. Being about 1,000 times faster than DFT, and being capable of treating electronic events (unlike classical force fields), OMx-based methods are expected to enable realistic electronic structure calculations, with useful accuracy, on large complex systems in all branches of chemistry. Especially when applied in a multi-method strategy, with synergistic use of different computational tools, this will allow the modelling of many chemically relevant systems that are currently beyond reach for computational chemistry. Proof-of-concept applications will address the reaction mechanisms of enzymatic reactions (biocatalysis) and electronically excited states (organic solar cells, photoactive proteins, excited-state dynamics in complex systems). The successful development of generally applicable OMx-based methods will provide a breakthrough in computational chemistry by opening up new areas of application.
Behavioural Economics and Strategic Decision Making: Theory, Empirics, and Experiments (BESTDECISION)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Individuals, institutions and markets
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2013-ADG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2020-03-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1985373.0
EU funding (EUR): 1985373.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

I will study questions of central microeconomic importance via interwoven theoretical, empirical, and experimental analyses, from a behavioural perspective combining standard methods with assumptions that better reflect evidence on behaviour and psychological insights. The contributions of behavioural economics have been widely recognized, but the benefits of its insights are far from fully realized. I propose four lines of inquiry that focus on how institutions interact with cognition and behaviour, chosen for their potential to reshape our understanding of important questions and their synergies across lines. The first line will study nonparametric identification and estimation of reference-dependent versions of the standard microeconomic model of consumer demand or labour supply, the subject of hundreds of empirical studies and perhaps the single most important model in microeconomics. It will allow such studies to consider relevant behavioural factors without imposing structural assumptions as in previous work. The second line will analyze history-dependent learning in financial crises theoretically and experimentally, with the goal of quantifying how market structure influences the likelihood of a crisis. The third line will study strategic thinking experimentally, using a powerful new design that links subjects’ searches for hidden payoff information (“eye-movements”) much more directly to thinking. The fourth line will significantly advance Myerson and Satterthwaite’s analyses of optimal design of bargaining rules and auctions, which first went beyond the analysis of given institutions to study what is possible by designing new institutions, replacing their equilibrium assumption with a nonequilibrium model that is well supported by experiments. The synergies among these four lines’ theoretical analyses, empirical methods, and data analyses will accelerate progress on each line well beyond what would be possible in a piecemeal approach.
Long chain diols as novel organic proxies for paleoclimate reconstructions (DIOLS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Earth system science
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call:  (ERC-2013-ADG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2019-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499982.0
EU funding (EUR): 2499982.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Accurate reconstructions of past climate changes are essential to understand e.g. the sensitivity of Earth’s climate to global increases in atmospheric greenhouse gasses such as CO2. For these reconstructions it is vital to have proxies which are well constrained and are able to provide robust quantitative estimates. However, it has become clear that currently used proxies are sometimes associated with large uncertainties and thus more proxies are needed in order to perform reliable paleoclimate reconstructions. In my group we are developing new proxies based on so-called long chain diols. These compounds are synthesized by several groups of algae and occur abundantly in present day oceans as well as ancient sediments. Initial results have shown that one set of compounds, the 1,14-diols, can be used to reconstruct past primary productivity and upwelling conditions. Excitingly, the distribution of another set of compounds, the long chain 1,13- and 1,15-diols, show a strong relationship with sea surface temperature and can be used to reconstruct past sea surface temperatures in several parts of the oceans. Finally, culture experiments indicate that the stable carbon isotopic composition of diatoms producing 1,14-diols is strongly related to CO2 concentrations, raising the possibility that it may be used to reconstruct ancient pCO2 levels. In this ERC proposal I want to develop, test and apply these exciting new proxies in order to provide robust and accurate reconstructions of past oceans. To this end this ERC project is subdivided in several different subprojects, each designed to investigate long chain diol proxies but from a different perspective, in particular cultivation and molecular biology, organic geochemistry, (paleo)limnology and paleoceanography. The combination of these subprojects will result in a highly multidisciplinary project needed to make progress in the development of these unique proxies.