Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet FLINDIP (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Mapping genotype to phenotype is a key problem of protein physics, evolutionary biology, biotechnology and medical genetics. In this project, we plan to focus on intrinsically disordered proteins, a large group of proteins whose genotype-phenotype connection is poorly understood. Such proteins do not adopt a unique native structure. Instead, they explore numerous conformations depending on external conditions. Recent bioinformatic analyses show that up to 15% of all proteins are intrinsically disordered. The critical role of intrinsically disordered proteins in cellular functions and in the onset of pathological conditions generated significant interest for their study. Much effort has been devoted to map the effects of particular mutations on protein functionality. However, no attempt to systematically study the genotype-to-phenotype link in intrinsically disordered proteins has been made. Obtaining such information is essential for sharpening theoretical models of protein folding and molecular evolution, as well as for de novo design of intrinsically disordered proteins with improved activities. The aim of this project is to experimentally measure and analyse, for the first time, the genotype-to-phenotype connection for several intrinsically disordered proteins by deep mutational scanning. We plan to focus on tardigrade proteins which are essential for their ability to survive complete desiccation. We plan to generate libraries of cells expressing hundreds of thousands of variants of these proteins and to perform competition assays to measure functionality of every variant in the library. We will then use a variety of approaches to analyse the dataset, including machine-learning algorithms to model the fitness of variants and to design new functional intrinsically disordered proteins.

Mots clés : intrinsically disordered proteins, fitness landscape, high throughput assay, deep mutational scanning, protein evolution, machine learning

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet TEAM-Coast (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Marine coastal areas have a considerable socio-economic importance and provide multiple services to Humankind (fisheries, nutrient cycling etc.). However, these environments are subjected to multiple anthropogenic pressures that are profoundly modifying benthic communities (i.e. organisms living on, in, or near the seabed as invertebrates, algae, bacteria etc.) that control most coastal ecosystem services. The TEAM-Coast project aims to develop a new generation of tools, based on emerging environmental genomics approaches (i.e. the study of genetic material retrieved in environmental samples), to investigate responses of coastal communities to stressors and assist stakeholders to make informed decisions regarding the balance between human activities and ecological integrity of coastal environments. Preserving efficiently these environments requires: 1) to integrate all coastal biodiversity in studies and models, a large portion being generally excluded due to technical and financial constraints; 2) to treat anthropogenic pressures in a integrated way to understand the full ecological ramifications of the multiple stressors in interaction on the structure and functioning of communities; 3) to rank the relative importance of these stressors to prioritize actions to lead. This project proposes thus to take advantage of the promises of environmental genomics to characterize the whole range of benthic communities over broad scales, at a unprecedented level of details and in a standardised, rapid and cost-effective way. These approaches will be implemented at the seascape scale to disentangle and understand ecological ramifications of multiple human-induced stressors on structure and diversity of benthic communities. Data will be then combined with cutting-edge statistical tools to identify key stressors and develop innovative management strategies. As such, outcomes of TEAM-Coast will lead to major advances for monitoring and management of European coastal environments.

Mots clés : coastal ecosystems, environmental genomics, ecological risk assessment, seascape management, molecular ecology, dna metabarcoding, marine biodiversity, invasive species, pollution, benthic communities

Participants :
- Australian Government (Australie) — Partner, organization partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 270918.0 €
Projet VIPS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Marine invertebrates are a rich source of bioactive compounds, including complex venoms that are highly effective and specific, having evolved through million years of natural selection. Despite their potential for drug discovery, chemical diversity of animal venoms is largely uncharacterized. Recent venomics research led to important technological advances: it is time for an expansion to neglected organisms that could lead to the discovery of compounds with novel biological activities. The main goal of VIPS Project is to address the biochemical diversification of two previously untapped marine predator-prey systems involving an Anthozoan and a corallivorous snail, both producing toxic secretions. The Researcher will be integrated into the research environment of the Université de Montpellier, where the integration of different research fields (including genomics, proteomics, molecular evolution, peptide synthesis, and electrophysiology) will be used to discover and functionally characterize new bioactive compounds, define their interactions, highlight their evolutionary role and, through secondment, valorise their applicative potential. Focusing on venomous predator-prey couples is an innovative approach that will facilitate the identification of biological activity and evolutionary role of venom components. Wide diffusion of the VIPS Project will be ensured through open access to publications and data, and a variety of communication activities for the lay public that will exploit the appeal of predator-prey systems to highlight the link between basic and applied research. The activities of VIPS Project perfectly complement the background of the Researcher, allowing the achievement of full control over all stages of venomics research, and the development of new transferable skills that will foster her career. VIPS goals are highly relevant to Horizon2020, including the discovery of more efficient and specific drugs and the development of marine biotechnologies.

Mots clés : gastropoda, anthozoa, animal venoms, peptide toxins

Participants :
- Université de Montpellier (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 185076.0 €
Projet RenewablePortfolio (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Market player portfolio optimization has become an important area of research in the aftermath of the worldwide deregulation of the power industry that launched competitive electricity markets now embracing all market participant including generation and retail companies, transmission network providers, and market managers. Development of the innovative methodology for the strategic market behaviour is highly required by all electricity market parts under permanently changing market conditions. For example, generating companies acting on the market compete with each other in serving the consumers' demand and have the opportunity to optimize the use of their production portfolio by pricing and bidding their available production capacity into the market. On the other hand, demand-side participants look for feasible options to avoid the high electricity market prices during peak hours. Production levels and price forecasts are of great importance for system operators, who are responsible for keeping the grid in balance. Environmental challenges bring new requirements for market parts acting in European electricity markets. The European Strategy 2020 aims to decline global greenhouse gas emissions in most industrialized European countries. Electric energy systems are currently functioning with an increasing portion of the renewable energy productions (e.g. wind, solar based units) whose output depends on stochastic phenomena and contribute to uncertainty in electrical energy systems. The novel methodology is developed for both supply and demand side market players acting in multiple electricity markets of different time scales to have an opportunity to optimize their portfolio by bidding or hedging against market volatility in order to get the highest possible profit or the lowest cost under stochastic dynamic market environment. The project results in the implementation of the operational tool for energy systems incorporating mainly stochastic renewable production.

Mots clés : competitive electricity markets, portfolio optimization, demand response, stochastic optimization algorithms

Participants :
- Technical University of Denmark (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 200194.8 €
Projet WET MARS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Mars displays clear evidence of water, having regions where water flowed at several times in its 4 billion years history. The aim of this fellowship is to reconstruct paleo-hydrological conditions on late Mars (from 3Ga to date) and to recreate the hydrogeological cycle that created the complex channel systems found on Mars’ surface. The stream tables, the Earth Simulation Lab and numerical modelling at the UU will allow for the first time: 1) to simulate frozen Martian subsoil characteristic and conditions; 2) to seek out signature of melting ice as sources up front of Martian river systems; 3) to investigate together the role of thermal and mechanical erosion. I will determine the lithological and fluid characteristics and their possible related deposits, water source triggering mechanisms, and will explain if it is by impact or spin axis / obliquity changes. High-resolution digital elevation modelling will be used to constrain hydrogeological parameters (under the telescope). Laboratory experiments and numerical modelling using a streamtable and an Earth Simulation Laboratory will support the core task (under the microscope). This research is urgently needed as it addresses key questions about past Martian habitability and its implications in subsurface degassing, potential landing site of future robotic/human missions and climate. The inter-disciplinary perspective adopted in this study, close integration of surface geology, analog modelling, and numerical modelling studies, will provide important new knowledge on the late Mars environment. The Experienced Researcher (ER) will work in the world-leading “River and delta morphodynamics group” group in the Department of Physical Geography at Utrecht University. The ER is already proving himself as a future leader: he has published five peer-reviewed papers, and led international teams on fluvio-lacustrine features and climate conditions and erosion rates on early Mars.

Mots clés : mars, comparative sedimentology, hydrology, geology, earth analog, earth observation, water, surface, channels, lake, numerical modeling, laboratory experiments

Participants :
- Utrecht University (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 165598.8 €
Projet ToxEcoGraphene (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Mass production of graphene and its derivatives (Graphene Family nanomaterials, GFN) is driven by their integration in an increasing number of (consumer) products: by 2020 the global market for graphene is projected to reach US$125 million. Given the serious concerns raised over the potential impact of GFNs on the environment, and in order for graphene-related nanotechnology to develop in a sustainable and responsible manner possible, it is crucial to ensure that development of GFN takes place alongside research focused on its consequences for public health and potential environmental impacts and unanticipated consequences due to the production, use, recycling, and disposal of GFN. Essential information related to the health and environmental impacts of GFN is either missing or remains incomplete. Specifically, to perform the appropriate nano-risk assessment, there is an urgent need to adapt the environmental risk as¬sessment principles and methodology related to the exposure as well as the hazard assessment. ToxEcoGraphene will address the pressing need to identify the environmental processes that will determine the fate of GFN in the environment, as well as their nanoecotoxicity impacts. The research objectives (RO) of ToxEcoGraphene are: (1) To develop, characterize and utilize well-defined GFN-oriented protocols and methods to facilitate investigation of GFN fate and transport in natural complex media, (2) To determine the effect and evaluate GFN toxicity to biofilms, by focusing on environmental fate processes, mainly on hetero-aggregation and growth of the “eco-corona” on graphene’s surface, and (3) To implement the main research conclusions in order to mitigate identified risks/environmental impact and design-out potential drawbacks/hazards related to GFN technology and applications – i.e., safe-by-design rules for GFN tailored to a range of application areas. Given the economic importance, the relevance of the research is clear.

Mots clés : nanomaterials, graphene, nanotoxicology, biofilms, risk assessment, lifecycle analysis

Participants :
- University of Birmingham (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet TWOSENS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Materials exhibiting large two-photon absorption (TPA) are in great demand to meet the needs of emerging laser technologies and applications in medicine and biomedical engineering (bioimaging, photodynamic therapy, microfabrication). Most design strategies to enhance TPA activity rely on construction of extremely large pi-conjugated molecules, which are not appreciated in practice due to difficulties connected with their synthesis or low cell permeability. The fellow recently demonstrated that significant TPA enhancement can be achieved by small perturbations in the heteroaromatic unit, but these effects are often hardly predictable or chemically counter-intuitive. The objective of this action is to provide material chemists with general guidelines for construction of heteroaromatic-based sensitizers and their metal complexes displaying very high TPA within a confined chromophore space. This will allow to avoid trial-and-error experimentation done so far. A systematic computational study of TPA cross-sections using state-of-the-art quantum-chemical methods for a large set of different heteroarene platforms and substitution patterns will furnish essential structure-property relationships and their understanding based on extensive analysis will bring new knowledge for boosting the TPA efficiency. The most promising candidates will be synthesized and their efficiency will be demonstrated in real applications. The HI and International Laser Center offer excellent multidisciplinary research environment and enable the fellow an access to their unique expertise in highly accurate electronic structure methods and instrumentation. In return, the fellow will bring his unique combined experience in computer simulations and synthesis of nonlinear optical materials as well as new collaborators from Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Greece. The project boosts the fellow’s research skills in materials chemistry and enables him to start his independent research career in Slovakia.

Mots clés : two photon absorption, nonlinear optics, quantum chemical calculations, heteroaromatics

Participants :
- Comenius University Bratislava (Slovaquie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 153381.6 €
Projet HOCOM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Materials that are both electrically conductive and optically transparent are an essential element in important light conversion applications, such as solar cells, solar fuels, displays, and illumination. Their high conductivity is achieved either through electrons (n-type) or through positively charge holes (p-type). However, the figure of merit of state-of-the-art p-type materials is more than 100 times lower than that of the best n-type materials. Therefore current devices must be designed to have electrons as the main charge carriers at the transparent electrode. If this constraint was removed, new design possibilities could be explored, and even new types of devices (e.g. see-through electronic transistors) could be fabricated. Thus, the goal of this project is to synthesize a p-type transparent conductor with a figure of merit twice as high as that of the current state-of-the-art hole conductive material. I will focus on phosphide materials, as recent theoretical work points to their favorable hole-conducting properties. Among phosphides, I have prioritized one specific material and selected two other promising materials as back-ups. I will learn and apply a high-throughput combinatorial approach championed by my host institution (NREL, USA) in order to accelerate the development of optimal synthesis conditions and dopants. This knowledge will be transferred to my European host (HZB, Germany), which is currently building a full combinatorial research lab. I will use HZB’s combinatorial tools to fabricate simple diode structures on top of the material developed at NREL, using an n-type sulfide semiconductor. Electrical analysis of the diodes will indicate the practical applicability of the new hole conductor in a real device. In parallel, I will be trained in advanced defect spectroscopy techniques at HZB. They will reveal the nature of defects that compensate the dominant p-type character of the hole conductor, thus defining a roadmap for further improvement.

Mots clés : transparent conductive materials, thin films, solar cells, optoelectronics, combinatorial materials, research, sputter deposition, pulsed laser deposition

Participants :
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 212238.72 €
- Alliance for sustainable energy llc (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
Projet MedTrain (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Cofund Postdoctoral programme
Statut du projet : CLOSED

MedTrain is a new Industry-Academia Training, Career Development, and Mobility Fellowship Programme in Medical Device Research and Development at CÚRAM. CÚRAM, the national Centre for Research in Medical Devices, is a distributed research centre, headquartered in the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), and composed of multiple academic partners from around Ireland (NUIG, University College Dublin (UCD), University College Cork (UCC), Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Molecular Medicine Ireland) and 35+ industry partners. MedTrain will offer 31 prestigious two-year postdoctoral fellowships for incoming mobility to eligible Experienced Researchers in the area of Medical Device Research and Development across two calls. Experienced researchers, by definition under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), are those in possession of a doctoral degree (or at least four years full-time equivalent research experience) at the time of the recruitment by the host organisation. Fellowships must comply with the MSCA mobility rule. Career breaks will be taken into account. Fellowships are open to candidates of any nationality who shall not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Ireland for more than 12 months in the three years immediately prior to the time of recruitment by the host organisation. Compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account. MedTrain is based on individual-driven mobility, meaning that fellows will have the freedom to choose their research area (provided it falls within the remit of CÚRAM), their supervisor and their secondment organisation. Fellows will be hosted in a CÚRAM academic host organisation (NUIG, UCC, UCD, RCSI) and will second to a suitable research performing organisation in the non-academic sector, located in any country in the world appropriate to meet the needs of the fellows’ research, training and career development requirements.

Mots clés : medical device, inter sectoral secondment, training, career development, mobility, international, interdisciplinary

Participants :
- National University of Ireland (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 2194800.0 €
Projet ExMeCy (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Mediterranean cyclones are among the most important natural hazards in the region, affecting more than 135 million people. The physical mechanisms that make Mediterranean cyclones evolve into severe storms are not yet fully understood due to many uncertainties in the underlying atmospheric processes. These processes are mainly associated with deep convection and air-sea interactions at meso-scales, as well as with large-scale atmospheric systems that affect the region. The scientific objective of the project is to show how these processes lead to extreme rainfall in the Mediterranean and contribute to the better forecasting of cyclones induced extreme rainfall. Analysis within ExMeCy is based on a multi-methodological approach that includes fundamental atmospheric dynamical analysis, analysis of lightning and satellite observational datasets, and modelling adapted to the project needs. First the Researcher will detect the cyclones causing extreme rainfall. Then, he will classify these cyclones according to the contribution of the main processes associated with extreme rainfall, namely the deep convection and the airstreams of warm conveyor belts. Different cyclone groups will be thus formed, which will be analyzed separately using new modelling and diagnostic techniques, applied for the first time to Mediterranean cyclones. The decomposition of the complex interactions of atmospheric processes that lead to cyclones intensification and extreme rainfall will constitute ExMeCy’s original results. These results will be eventually used to assess European services models to predict cyclones-related high impact weather in the Mediterranean. The project will be hosted at the Institute for Environmental Research & Sustainable Development (IERSD) of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA).

Mots clés : mediterranean cyclones, extreme rainfall

Participants :
- National Observatory of Athens (Grèce) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 152653.2 €