Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet PEPTIM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Food allergy (FA) is a growing health issue in urbanized countries, notably affecting children, with prevalence rates of 5.7% to 16.6% in Europe due to egg and cow's milk allergies. Western lifestyle factors and environmental exposures contribute to FA by causing inflammation and damaging epithelial barriers. Dysbiosis, an imbalance in gut microbiota, impairs immune development and tolerance, leading to an exaggerated Th2 response and reduced RORγt+ regulatory T cells (iTregs). Current FA treatments are limited, highlighting the need for new approaches. Bioactive peptides from enzymatically hydrolyzed allergens offer a promising alternative to traditional oral immunotherapy (OIT), potentially reducing allergenicity and side effects. These peptides may induce tolerance more effectively and positively influence gut microbiota.  The PEPTIM project aims to explore the mechanisms of oral tolerance with bioactive peptides by analyzing immune responses and microbiota changes. Using murine models and in vitro cultures, the study will investigate the impact of these peptides on gut microbiota and intestinal function. Objectives include: (1) Comparing immune and microbiota changes with intact versus bioactive peptides during OIT, (2) Developing models to study microbial roles in tolerance, and (3) Examining interactions between bioactive peptides, microbial communities, and gut epithelial barrier. This research seeks to enhance understanding of FA mechanisms and explore new therapeutic strategies.

Mots clés : peptides, food allergy, microbiota, tolerance, metabolites, gut, homeostasis

Participants :
- Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 194074.56 €
Projet Phage-TB (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The emergence of drug-resistance to tuberculosis (TB) drugs poses an increasing challenge to TB control and new treatment options are urgently needed. Novel or repurposed antibiotics are still being introduced, but this pipeline will dry out in the near future. Bacteriophages are viruses that kill bacteria. They have been used to treat infections before the introduction of antibiotics. With the emergence of drug-resistance there is renewed interest in this ancient treatment option. Clinical use of mycobacteriophages to treat TB and non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections is still in its infancy. This project contributes to 3 areas in the development of clinically useful mycobacteriophage treatments for TB and NTM infections: - Phage discovery: From soil samples collected in the compounds of TB clinics and hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa, we will isolate mycobacteriophages using spot tests and plaque assays. DNA of newly discovered mycobacteriophages will be sequenced and during the return phase of this project I will select promising mycobacteriophages with lytic effect against TB or NTM infections, that can be used for development of phage cocktails for clinical use. - Phage inhalation method: the efficiency of phage treatment is dependent upon the phage concentration reached at the site of disease. Phages that can attack M tuberculosis have long tails which might be vulnerable to manipulation. We will optimize an inhalation method leaving the phages intact and functional. - Preparation for a clinical trial: an existing mycobacteriophage cocktail active against TB will be used for a first clinical study in humans to assess dosing, safety and efficiency. If our mycobacteriophage hunt is successful, and the translation can be made into purified and adequately dosed administration of mycobacteriophages, a virtually inexhaustible addition will be made to the therapeutic armamentarium for drug-resistant as well as drug-sensitive TB and NTM infections.

Mots clés : tuberculosis, non tuberculous mycobacteria, mycobacteriophage treatment

Participants :
- Université de Stellenbosch (Afrique du Sud) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Radboud University Medical Centre (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 238993.92 €
- Western Cape Department of Health (Afrique du Sud) — Partner, associated partner, Autres, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet IMMUNOBAT (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a promising therapeutic target to improve cardiometabolic health. However, BAT metabolism is dysfunctional in obesity. Hence, it is highly relevant to ascertain which mechanisms modulate BAT function and how it can be improved in this context.  Mice studies indicate that the immune cells-brown adipocytes molecular interactions within BAT modulate its function. Indeed, mice knockout for the transcript Mecp2 in BAT macrophages show impaired BAT function and develop obesity. Further, cold acclimation activates specific subsets of infiltrated immune cells which improves BAT function. Altogether points to infiltrated immune cells as key players regulating BAT- but their identity and role, and if they can be targeted to activate BAT in humans, is unknown.  The main questions we aim to tackle are: i) Which are the immune cell populations within human BAT? ii) Does local inflammation exist in BAT of obese subjects? Is it related to their disrupted BAT oxidative and metabolic capacity? iii) Is the BAT oxidative and metabolic capacity improvement, after a 3-month cold acclimation, driven by changes in BAT immune cell profile? To answer these questions, IMMUNOBAT will characterize the immune cell profile of BAT in lean and obese subjects, using novel single-cell omics in samples obtained by neck surgery. BAT oxidative and metabolic capacity will be assessed in vivo by state-of-art methods, combining the use of 15O-O2 and 15O-H2O - PET measures with in vitro mitochondrial respiration assays of brown adipocytes. These measures will be repeated in obese subjects after a 3-month cold acclimation (the most powerful stimulus to activate BAT).  IMMUNOBAT will provide new mechanistic insights into obesity pathogenesis, at the same time that it expects to find new tools to improve cardiometabolic health by activating BAT. Further, it will promote the fellow´s training in adipose biology and immunology, and his growth as an independent and mature researcher

Mots clés : brown adipose tissue, brown fat, brown adipocytes, browning, obesity, energy metabolism, cellular biology, immunology, inflammation, cold, cold acclimation, batokynes, secretome, mitochondria

Participants :
- Université de Turku (Finlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 211948.4 €
Projet ZwitterMPs (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Membrane proteins, particularly G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), represent 25-30% of current drug targets. Among them, metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR), a Class C and group 1 type GPCR, is emerging as an attractive therapeutic target for various neurological and psychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson's disease, autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and neuropathic pain. Despite the availability of its complete structure, biophysical characterization and drug discovery efforts targeting mGluR have been hindered by the challenges in obtaining stable, active conformations of this receptor for in-vitro studies. To overcome this impediment, we will utilize amphiphilic zwitterionic polymers, for stabilizing mGluR. Carefully synthesizing copolymers can mimic the native lipid environment and maintain the receptor's structural and functional integrity. Zwitterionic polymers, with their unique molecular architecture featuring both anionic and cationic groups, structure surrounding water molecules, creating super-hydrophilic surfaces ideal for stabilizing membrane proteins with exposed hydrophobic domains. To evaluate this stabilization strategy, we first aim to employ the label-free bio-analytical technique of surface plasmon resonance to immobilize the mGluR-polymer complex. Secondly, we will investigate binding kinetics, affinities, and allosteric modulation of mGluR1 receptor to obtain valuable insights into protein-drug interactions. We anticipate this innovative strategy will address the existing challenges in stabilizing mGluR, offering improved stability, reduced complexity, cost-effectiveness, and higher yields over conventional methods. Moreover, it will accelerate drug screening practices targeting mGluR and other challenging membrane protein targets in the long run, thereby contributing to developing novel therapeutics for neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Mots clés : membrane proteins, surface plasmon resonance, zwitterionic copolymers, mglur1, drug discovery

Participants :
- FZU  Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (Rép. Tchèque) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 207758.16 €
- Université nationale centrale (Taïwan) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet SIRENS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

As global warming accelerates, the need for effective solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has become critical. Many of these solutions—such as geothermal energy, carbon capture and storage, and critical minerals for clean energy technologies—are found in the subsurface. The safe and sustainable use of these subsurface resources requires a precise understanding of the Earth’s stress field. Traditional methods for determining stress directions, particularly at reservoir and local scales, rely on costly and invasive borehole measurements.  The SIRENS project offers a non-intrusive, cost-effective alternative by using passive seismic sensing to estimate the maximum horizontal stress direction (SHmax) at various spatial scales. This method capitalizes on the behaviour of rocks under compression, where crack closure is influenced by local stress conditions, with the fastest closure occurring in the direction of SHmax. By leveraging the ever-present seismic noise and Earth’s solid tides, it is possible to determine the SHmax direction.  SIRENS will refine this technique, focusing on its application in the Iberian Peninsula. With its diverse tectonic landscape, extensive subsurface resources, and wealth of seismic data, Iberia serves as an ideal testing ground for advancing the methodology. The project will generate new insights into stress field estimation across different scales and provide a SHmax direction dataset that will contribute to Iberia’s energy transition.  SIRENS is committed to open science by making its tools and datasets freely accessible to the public. Collaborating with academic institutions and industry will ensure that the project’s outcomes are tailored to the needs of key stakeholders. Moreover, SIRENS will pave the way for future innovations in diverse geological settings, ensuring the project’s long-term impact. Ultimately, the project aligns with the Green Charter by working with a low-carbon, sustainable and cost-effective approach.

Mots clés : seismology, seismic noise interferometry, stress field, earth s solid tides

Participants :
- Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 194074.56 €
Projet GAP (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Religions increasingly materialize inside secular buildings with aesthetic and architectural characteristics which produce impacts that are still underestimated in the process of social interaction and urban inclusion. The GAP project aims to study these effects by exploring for the first time the opinion of (non-)users regarding the materiality and aesthetics of gurdwaras built in countries concerned by Sikh-punjabi diaspora. The emblematic case of Italy, a country that is home to 58 of the 140 gurdwaras in the EU (after Brexit), will be examined. Here, Sikh temples are pre-existing warehouses located in industrial and artisanal areas that communities are unable to fully convert. To better understand and act on such hybrid materialities, the GAP will also examine the views of (non)gurdwara users in the city-state of Singapore, an early destination of the Sikh-Punjabi diaspora (mid-19th century). Here, they are mostly located in the city center and their architecture resembles the 'iconic' forms of the Sikh temples of Punjab. The research will consider a representative sample of four Sikh temples that will be examined through a trans-disciplinary approach (geography, urban studies and religious studies) and a methodology that integrates traditional qualitative research techniques, including participatory activities, with Digital Humanities. The GAP will provide new empirical material to help build effective European governance of religious diversity in terms of inclusion and social interaction. It will also contribute to the process of legal recognition of Sikhism in Italy. The GAP will be conducted over the course of 36 months at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (prof. Alessandro Saggioro). The outgoing phase will be carried out at Singapore University Management (Prof. Orlando Woods). GAP also provides for an 8-month secondment at the Bruno Kessler Foundation (Italy; prof. Massimo Leone).

Mots clés : sikhism, diaspora, gurdwaras, architecture, materiality, aesthetic, social interaction, urban inclusion, italy, rome, singapore

Participants :
- Université de Rome « La Sapienza » (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 315803.52 €
- Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Italie) — Partner, associated partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Management de Singapour (Singapour) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet MULTI-WOOD (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Wood is recognized as an attractive alternative to several traditional building solutions, and it is often called a “building material of the 21st century” since it can efficiently sequester carbon, balancing emissions from other materials. As a biological material, wood is sensitive to environmental conditions and microorganisms; therefore, it requires protective measures to extend its service life in outdoor applications. Despite the current demand for improvement of wood performance and considering technologies with low environmental impact, there is limited research on treatments and formulations that use green alternatives and improve critical properties simultaneously. The ambition of the MULTI-WOOD project is to provide multi-functional treatments to entirely protect wood from nano- to microscale using alternative sources of chemicals generated during the lignocellulosic bioconversion and/or from the pulp and paper industries. The project aims to develop innovative strategies for the improvement of four key wood properties: hygroscopicity, resistance against fire, UV, and biotic factors based on alternative, recently underutilized bio-based formulations. Proposed methodology and treatments target reduction in the toxicity of the modification processes, extend service life, elongate maintenance cycles, and thus, lower the negative impact on the environment. The MULTI-WOOD project will stimulate innovation and knowledge transfer between the host and ER by building a solid research and industrial network, organizing events, mentoring young researchers and managing projects, the ER will gain research and scientific skills and acquire a new set of competencies to reach professional maturity and independence after the fellowship.

Mots clés : forest biomass residues, wood durability, biomaterials, bioactive compounds, fireproof products, multi functional properties, chemical modification, building materials

Participants :
- Université du Littoral (Slovénie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 155559.36 €
Projet MICRO-INSERT (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Wood is the only renewable construction material and holds great promise for sustainable built environments of the future. However, its combustibility is a major limitation. The drawback of using traditional fire and flame retardants is the toxicity and volatility of some of their components and the loss of chemicals by leaching, leading to poorer performance. Mineralisation of wood offers a green alternative, but current strategies often require a costly technical setup for supercritical gases or the use of harmful chemicals to achieve the deposition of minerals deep inside the wood structure. Biologically induced mineralisation is a widespread phenomenon occurring in all kingdoms of life. In recent years, microbially induced calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation has been proposed as a potential solution to address many environmental and engineering issues related to the enhancement of inorganic materials (protection of concrete, soil consolidation). However, the potential for using fungi has received relatively little attention compared to bacteria. The MICRO-INSERT project will investigate the feasibility of using fungi as CaCO3 carriers to develop a novel bioinspired mineralisation process for biobased building materials. Wood as a highly porous, three-dimensional organic scaffold will be mineralised to create hierarchically structured organic-inorganic hybrid materials with novel properties, including improved fire resistance. The proposed bioinspired treatment incorporates ideas for sustainable materials design, circularity, reduction of toxicity, and lowering the negative impact on the environment. The MICRO-INSERT project will stimulate innovation and knowledge transfer between the host and ER by building a solid research network, organising events, mentoring young researchers, and managing projects. The ER will gain research and scientific skills and acquire a new set of competencies to reach professional maturity and independence after the fellowship.


Participants :
- Université du Littoral (Slovénie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 171399.36 €
Projet StrainMoire (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The StrainMoiré project aims to advance moiré materials by experimentally studying magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG) under controllable uniaxial strain. Despite its ubiquity, the effects of strain in moiré heterostructures are largely unexplored. Leveraging my expertise in the fabrication and the physics of moiré materials and the host group’s expertise on strain engineering, we aim to control strain and study its impact on the structural and electronic properties of MATBG. In particular, we will focus on the breaking of the symmetries of MATBG by the formation of the moiré superlattice and the applied uniaxial strain. We will fabricate MATBG on flexible substrates to study its strain-dependent properties, combining two complementary approaches. First, I will use advanced force microscopy to image strain-induced symmetry breaking in the moiré superlattice under applied uniaxial strain. Then, I will study the emergence of the nonlinear Hall effect in MATBG, enabled by strain-induced symmetry breaking, via low temperature electrical transport measurements.

Mots clés : twisted bilayer graphene, strain engineering, topology, flexible electronics, force microscopy

Participants :
- Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 194074.56 €
Projet STETHOS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The blood flow in extracorporeal medical devices is exposed to non-physiological conditions, which may lead to red blood cell damage and clot formation. Several therapies are applied to patients to prevent these phenomena, but they all come with side effects. Understanding the causes of flow-induced hemolysis and thrombogenesis would reduce the need for medical therapies, thus enhancing the well-being of the patients. An extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) circuit is made up of several components: a blood pump, a membrane oxygenator, cannulae, tubes and connectors. The blood flow through these components is either turbulent or transitional, thus the blood is subject to hydrodynamic stresses that may lead to hemolysis or platelet activation. The link of these two undesired phenomena with the flow regimes and the transition mechanism has not been investigated in previous studies, and it is the aim of the current project. We will perform high-fidelity, three-dimensional numerical simulations of the flow in the connectors and the curved flexible tubes of an ECMO circuit. A non-Newtonian rheological model will be assumed for the blood viscosity. Transition to turbulence will be studied employing both modal and non-modal three-dimensional global stability analysis. For this purpose, a time-stepping technique will be implemented in the numerical code developed by the host's group, combined with a method for solving large-scale eigenvalue problems. Finally, an adjoint sensitivity analysis of the hemolysis index and the platelet activation state to boundary conditions and modifications in the flow will be performed. These results will provide insightful information for the design of medical devices with increased hemodynamic performance.

Mots clés : hemodynamics, transition to turbulence, stability analysis, ecmo

Participants :
- Istituto nazionale di fisica nucleare (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 188590.08 €