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

Designing safer, more efficient and environmentally friendly energy storage technology is of great importance for the sustainable development of our modern society. All-organic batteries have been identified as a promising, environmentally friendly alternative to the current Li-ion battery technology. However, all-organic batteries suffer several challenges, currently limiting their implementation: i) fast capacity fading due to dissolution of redox polymer in the liquid electrolyte and ii) low redox polymer loading, leading to impractical electrode loading for battery applications. RPOB proposal aims to develop redox block copolymers with synergetic properties, allowing both electronic and ionic conductivities as well as redox activity, for application in solid-state all-organic batteries. This approach will enable the design of a single component redox polymer electrode with a well-defined 3D-interconnected network, unlocking the electrode capacity to a practical level. The translation towards solid-state all-organic batteries will also eliminate the current issue related to the dissolution of redox polymers. The MSCA Fellowship will provide Dr. Goujon with a strong set of technical, professional and transferable skills, especially with the acquisition of valuable polymer synthesis, which will complete his practical expertise in solid-state battery technology. The Innovative Polymers Group directed by Prof. Mecerreyes at POLYMAT-University of the Basque Country is one of the top-class groups in the area of redox polymers. The multidisciplinary aspect of the RPOB project, along with the secondment to the group of Prof. Steiner at Adolphe Merkle Institute, will ensure that Dr. Goujon has the necessary competencies, trackrecord and scientific network required to make the RPOB project a success, and ultimately reach his career goal of becoming an independent researcher in either a leading university or a R&D batteries company, and securing his European reintegration.

Mots clés : redox block copolymer, solid state all organic batteries, self assembly, 3d bicontinuous cubic, mesophase

Participants :
- University of the Basque Country (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 172932.48 €
Projet GLDAFRICA (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Despite being one of the most biologically diverse habitats on the planet, the description of tropical rain forests and the understanding of their evolutionary history are far from complete. Furthermore, there is an increasing need for assessing global biodiversity changes especially in tropical rainforests, due to their role as global biodiversity repositories. West Central Africa represents the area of greatest biodiversity richness within tropical Africa and with the highest percentage of untouched pristine forest for the whole of Africa and Madagascar. West Central African biodiversity not only faces the challenges of climate change, but also human pressure with the highest population growth rates in the world. This project will contribute to the ongoing Global Legume Diversity Assessment programme, that is being developed to improve our understanding of biodiversity loss using legumes, the third largest family of angiosperms, as a proxy. The project will focus on tribe Detarieae, which are the dominant component of West Central African forests, and thus an ideal exemplar clade for the proposed study. The project aims at reconstructing phylogenetic relationships within Detarieae and produce a temporal framework for the diversification of the group. The phylogenetic diversity patterns will be investigated to identify hotspots of recent speciation and evolutionary diversity and their correlation with land use changes, biodiversity loss, and extinction risks. The project also includes a full IUCN conservation assessment for all studied species, thus obtaining an indication of survivability for Detarieae in West Central Africa under climate change while considering different emission scenarios proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Given that the legume family has been shown to be a good proxy for botanical diversity in general, the results obtained here will be invaluable for the preservation of biodiversity in this region of the world.

Mots clés : leguminosae, detarieae, west central africa, phylogenetic diversity, edge

Participants :
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet MACtivate (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Despite playing essential roles in immunity against microbes, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underpinning macrophage (mac) responses to microbial insults remain incompletely understood. In the liver, Kupffer cells (KCs) the tissue-resident macs, reside in the bloodstream of the liver sinusoids and are thus ideally positioned to recognize and phagocytize microbes and microbe-derived components critically contributing to systemic immune surveillance. In addition, KCs are thought to play central roles in maintaining tolerance for example to gut microbiota and/or their products which reach the liver through the portal vein. Upon inflammation/infection, monocytes are also often recruited to liver which, in addition to KCs, participate in immune defence and tissue repair and can differentiate into recruited macs (rMacs). Due to similar expression profiles and functions it has not been possible to unambiguously discriminate between resident KCs and rMacs in the past hampering our understanding of the processes underlying hepatic mac activation by microbes and microbial components. By combining my expertise in host-microbe interactions with the expertise of the host lab in myeloid cell biology, here, I aim to dissect the mac responses to microbial insult in the liver. To achieve this, I will use KC-specific mouse models and human liver organoids combined with novel single cell technologies, with a focus on mac fate, activation profile and tissue context. My preliminary data demonstrate that systemic microbial insult leads to significant heterogeneity within the hepatic mac pool and hence I hypothesize that individual populations may become differentially activated in order to effectively clear microbes and microbial components from the liver. Understanding the processes underpinning mac activation by microbes/microbial products may allow us to manipulate these responses with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes.

Mots clés : liver, innate immunity, macrophage, kupffer cell, inflammation, cell activation

Participants :
- Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 166320.0 €
Projet ONCOTHERANOSTICS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Despite significant advances in recent years, cancer remains the 2nd cause of death globally. Immunotherapy is an exciting new therapeutic approach that triggers natural immune response against cancer cells. Theranostics is an emerging therapeutic intervention, that uses dual (or multiple) purpose nanomedine, combining diagnostic and therapeutic effects within a single multifaceted formulation. ONCOTHERANOSTICS proposes the use of a novel theranostic agent to target key tumoral genes by siRNA and monitor the impact of the downregulation non-invasively in vivo. Specific aims include understanding the interplay between choline kinase and tumor escaping natural immune surveillance, and to develop new combinatorial therapies in a model of primary and metastatic triple negative breast cancer. We anticipate that successful completion of the project will result in significant advances in personalized tumor treatments, rendering safer strategies to treat cancer with a dual effect; boosting natural immune response and knocking down one of the main mechanisms of malignancy. Dr. Pacheco is an organic chemist with expertise in MRI who will be trained (outgoing) in nanoparticle synthesis, non-MRI imaging techniques and advanced molecular biology/genetic approaches. Training will be transferred to the host European institution (incoming) by the establishment of a new research line in the emerging field of Theranostics. ONCOTHERANOSTICS seeks to improve our understanding of cancer and how to personalize treatments, fostering the development of nanomedicine targeting specific genes in a way that can be assessed non-invasively. ONCOTHERANOSTICS provides a multidisciplinary environment for cancer treatment, involving multifaceted nanomedicine, multimodal molecular imaging and molecular biology/genetic approaches. The proposal directly addresses the cross cutting priority of personalizing health and care established by H2020, reinforcing European competitiveness in cancer research.

Mots clés : cancer, gene silencing, image guided drug delivery, immune checkpoints, molecular imaging, metabolism, nanomedicines, small interfering rna  sirna, theranostics

Participants :
- Johns Hopkins University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Spanish National Research Council (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 257191.2 €
Projet WntELECT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Despite significant efforts, cancer remains one of the major health challenges in Europe. In essence, cancer can be seen as the result of alterations in the intricate balance between cell proliferation, differentiation and death during tissue homeostasis. Hence, pathways that are essential for the development and maintenance of mammalian tissues are frequently deregulated in human tumors and represent attractive targets for therapeutic intervention. In that respect, the Wnt signal transduction pathway serves as a paradigm: On the one hand, Wnt ligands are crucial determinants of cell fate decisions and can act as self-renewal factors for adult stem cells in multiple tissues, including the mammary gland. On the other hand, aberrant activation of the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway is a hallmark of many human (breast) tumors. While it is clear that Wnt activity has to be carefully coordinated in precise temporal and tissue-specific patterns, there is a significant knowledge gap regarding the underlying control mechanisms. In this project, I will combine bioinformatics, state-of-the-art genome engineering and an innovative screening approach to identify Wnt-associated enhancers in the mammary gland. I aim to: 1. Establish an effective experimental pipeline for an epigenetic screen. 2. Identify functional regulatory sequences for almost half of the mammalian Wnt genes. 3. Validate individual enhancers in vivo. The proposed research together with the training I will receive in an excellent, multidisciplinary research environment will significantly benefit my scientific career development. Finally, I envisage that my results will provide the basis for uncovering how environmental and intrinsic signals are integrated to control dynamic Wnt expression patterns in both normal development and cancer.

Mots clés : wnt signal transduction, enhancer, crispr, cas9, functional screen

Participants :
- University of Amsterdam (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 165598.8 €
Projet DREMATURE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Despite the existence of various novel anti-cancer treatments, drug resistance remains a major cause of death in patients with disseminated cancer. To increase specificity and efficacy, modern treatment strategies in molecular oncology employ the “synthetic lethality” concept. An example are BRCA1/2-deficient breast and ovarian cancers that lack DNA repair by homologous recombination (HR). Due to this defect, tumor cells rely more on other DNA repair pathways. When such alternative pathways are jammed, e.g. by poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi), normal cells with intact HR can survive, whereas cancer cells die. However, even with this sophisticated treatment strategy, resistance to PARPi still occurs and greatly reduces patient survival. The mechanisms driving this resistance are still largely unknown. The main goal of this project is to advance the knowledge on therapy resistance by using a genetically engineered mouse model of BRCA2-deficient breast cancer, which closely mimics the human disease. Like in patients, cancer cells in these animals eventually escape from therapy. I will start by synergizing the next generation sequencing analysis of spontaneous resistant mouse tumors with functional genetic screens using the CRISPR/Cas9 technology. This combination has yielded interesting candidate genes whose loss of function may cause resistance. Two promising candidates, MDC1 and Claspin, will be further investigated using innovative and physiologically relevant 3D tumor organoid cultures. Moreover, I will apply my expertise in modern imaging technology to develop novel approaches to visualize DNA repair dynamics in resistant tumors in vitro and in vivo. I am convinced that by understanding basic resistance mechanisms, smart biosensors can be built to image the DNA damage response and eventually improve clinical decision making. I believe this project will have an impact on the design of strategies to overcome therapy escape in human cancer patients.

Mots clés : drug resistance, brca2, parp inhibition, dna repair, breast cancer, genetically engineered mouse models, 3d cancer organoids

Participants :
- University of Bern (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187419.6 €
Projet merit (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Despite the growing economic inequality, there is no evidence of growing public demand for wealth redistribution. One proposed explanation for this paradox is the popular belief that inequality is the outcome of a fair process where societal success reflects talent and effort. Across countries, the popularity of these meritocratic beliefs bears no relationship to the actual social mobility and is associated with increased levels of within-country inequality. On the other hand, these beliefs negatively correlate with the extent of social spending and redistribution in each country. In light of this correlational evidence, this project employ an experimental approach to investigate the potential role of redistribution policies in the formation of biased meritocratic beliefs and the psychological mechanisms that underlie this process. Building on research in Psychology and Economics, I first examine whether the absence of redistribution incentivizes agents to become more tolerant of inequality. Drawing on the theory of cognitive dissonance, I then explore whether high inequality tolerance leads to endorsement of meritocratic beliefs. After establishing the role of redistribution on beliefs, I use functional neuroimaging to shed light on the neurocognitive mechanisms that underlie the formation of biased beliefs. Overall, this research tries to address a long-standing question about the psychological processes that lead to inequality tolerance and fits the EU priorities of a deeper and fairer economic Union. My strong background in Neuroscience, combined with my supervisor’s extensive expertise in Behavioral Economics and the excellent training environment at UM guarantee the success of this project. This project will critically contribute to my development as an independent researcher in the field of Neuroeconomics and Behavioral Economics and will allow me to forge a new collaborative research line at the MPE.

Mots clés : neuroeconomics, economic inequality, redistribution policies, fairness, meritocracy

Participants :
- Maastricht University (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175572.48 €
Projet SNAPTRACE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Despite the precarious state of the world’s marine ecosystems, it is now widely acknowledged that ‘where there is a sea, there are pirates’. Indeed, today’s alarming rates of illegal fishing and market fraud are of the most immediate threats to global fish stocks, creating unfair competition, impeding consumer choice and ultimately undermining efforts towards sustainable management. As such, it has become increasingly clear that seafood traceability is not a luxury; it is a true necessity in a world where growing human populations are placing immense pressure on the remaining oceanic resources. In the present application, a project is proposed that will significantly enhance our understanding of the intricacies of global seafood trade and pave the way forward for more transparent, traceable and sustainable seafood markets, using one of the world’s most highly-prized, yet misunderstood, groups of fishes as a model: the snappers, family Lutjanidae. In order to achieve this ambitious overarching goal, a multidisciplinary approach and state-of-the-art molecular techniques will be employed to systematically address the project’s three key objectives: 1) to use international trade data to unravel the drivers and dynamics of global snapper supply and demand; 2) to harness the power of DNA barcoding to evaluate the species sold as ‘snapper’ on world markets, and 3) to test the ability of cutting-edge genomic methods to trace premium snapper products back to their population / stock of origin. SNAPTRACE will be the foremost study to combine these core approaches in a truly global fashion, thus meeting the long standing demand for more pronounced interdisciplinary integration to tackle the complexities associated with the seafood supply chain. In its entirety, the outcomes of this project will prove both relevant and timely, initiating an evidence-based management of snapper resources, which at the moment remains extremely difficult to implement based on current insights.

Mots clés : fisheries, seafood, snappers, lutjanidae, traceability, transparency, sustainability, iuu fishing, illegal trade, trade data, fraud, mislabelling, species, population, stocks, genetics, genomics

Participants :
- University of Salford (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet EpiEcoEvo (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Despite their clear importance and potential to broadly influence host populations, little is known about pathogen interactions within a broader ecosystem. This project will use the well-studied Daphnia magna-Pasteuria ramosa host-parasite system as a model to investigate how various factors (temperature, route of transmission and selection for host resistance) interact to influence the repeatable seasonal epidemic dynamics observed in nature in order to further understand the ecological and evolutionary drivers of epidemics. The novelty offered by this project is that it will be using a combination of field observations, mesocosm and laboratory experiments along with mathematical modelling, aiming to quantify and measure the relative importance of factors that are often recognised to be important for epidemic dynamics, but not well understood. The originality offered by this project is that it will allow us to disentangle the complex relationships between hosts, parasites, the broader ecological community, and the abiotic environment and gain further insight to the rules that govern epidemic cycles and ecological feedback loops. By doing so, it allows to estimate the effect of climate change (in particular warmer summers) on the future dynamics of this host-parasite system. Understanding the drivers of infectious disease dynamics and the complex mechanisms of transmission and their relationship to the biotic and abiotic environment are more important than ever as we face the dual and linked challenges of global change and emerging infectious diseases.

Mots clés : host parasite dynamics, community ecology, epidemiology, temperature

Participants :
- University of Basel (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191149.44 €
Projet OMEGA (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Detection of bowel cancer is currently performed by visual inspection of the colonic mucosa during endoscopy, which is less reliable for small-sized lesions that are not easily visualised. If they are not detected and removed at an early stage, there is a chance that they may become cancerous. This project seeks to develop a new mathematical tool for analysing the sensing capability of micro-robots to aid the detection of hard-to-visualise bowel lesions. Micro-robots experiencing vibrations, frictions, and impacts, known as non-smooth dynamical systems, exhibit a rich variety of different long-term behaviours co-existing for a given set of parameters, which is referred to as multi-stability or co-existing attractors. When the robot moves in the colon and encounters a lesion, some particular attractor may dominate its dynamics, while the other co-existing attractors could fade away due to the tissue’s mechanical properties associated with different stages of malignant transformation. This significant change in multi-stability can be utilised to distinguish between healthy and abnormal tissues. The fellow proposes to use for the first time robot’s multi-stability through the development of state-of-the-art numerical techniques to analyse such robot-lesion correlation, and produce a suite of computational analysis and advanced control methods for cancer detection and staging. In the long term, this work will initiate a new modality for bowel cancer screening, delivering an efficient minimally invasive procedure for patients. The unique research approach of this fellowship, a joint effort of numerical and experimental studies, will be hosted by Dr Yang Liu from the University of Exeter with the secondment supervisor, Prof. Bradley Nelson from ETH Zurich, and the consulting gastroenterologist, Dr Shyam Prasad, from the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust.

Mots clés : piecewise linear dynamical systems, non smooth dynamical systems, ddes, micro robot, multistability, bowel cancer, early detection

Participants :
- University of Exeter (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €