Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ORIGIN (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Human history in Africa over the last tens of thousands of years is an integral part of understanding the origins of our species. The starting point for most genetic studies of human origins has been based on the depth of present-day human diversity between and within African populations. Even though aDNA studies provided additional resolution and transformed our understanding of the past demography of different human groups reaching as far as ~430ka in Europe, due to the challenging conditions for endogenous DNA preservation, relatively few ancient genomes have been recovered from Africa compared to Europe and Asia, limiting our insights into the population history of the African continent. This project aims to fill-in this gap by making use of the recent advancements in aDNA methodology and generate genome-wide data from a larger number of ancient African individuals across the continent and dating as far back as the Later Stone Age, i.e. to at least ~20ka. These ancient genomes will be analysed together with the published present-day and ancient modern human, as well as archaic datasets in order to investigate migrations, level of interactions, admixture and population structure of different human groups within Africa, as well as between Africa and other parts of the world.

Mots clés : ancient dna, african prehistory, population genetics

Participants :
- The Francis Crick Institute (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet POSEIDON (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have the potential to revolutionize biomedical sciences, however the standardised mass production, indispensable for their industrial and therapeutic use, is still a major challenge. Impeller stirred-tank bioreactors, currently used for hiPSC bioprocessing, impose detrimental stresses on cultured hiPSCs, resulting in heterogeneity of cells and cell-aggregates, limited bioprocess reproducibility, and low hiPSC expansion efficiency at high costs. The ambitious purpose of the POSEIDON project is the development of a next-generation automated bioreactor platform to significantly improve reproducibility, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of scalable hiPSC expansion. To demonstrate the utility of the method for the production of valuable human cell types, a novel process for hiPSC-cardiomyogenic differentiation will also be established. This pioneering bioreactor will be developed by advanced engineering design methods and will enable controlled hiPSC suspension culture by non-impeller-dependent low-shear hydrodynamic conditions. Purposely designed automated systems will lead to bioprocess standardisation with enhanced reproducibility, efficiency and scalability beyond the state in the art. The proposed Fellowship will enable a highly interdisciplinary collaboration between the Researcher, a talented post-doc with a significant track record in bioengineering, and the supervisor, a world leader in stem cell bioprocessing, whose group is embedded in one of Europe’s leading hubs for regenerative biomedicine. These working conditions will effectively promote the Researcher’s professional development, providing her with excellent new expertise in stem cell bioprocessing and fundamental leadership skills, significantly widening her career perspectives. The project outcomes will be of tremendous benefit to the European biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors, contributing to the European excellence, competitiveness and quality of life.

Mots clés : bioreactor, automation, up scaling, hipsc, hipsc expansion, hipsc cardiomyogenic differentiation, dynamic suspension

Participants :
- Hannover Medical School (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 159460.8 €
Projet HUMANITY (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Human lung microbiota research is in its infancy, but has already provided compelling evidence that lung bacteria have key roles in human health. However, how lung bacteria interact with the host immune system and influence lung health is poorly understood. I am an infection biologist and immunologist who carried out his PhD on the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. I now aim to investigate the cross-talk between resident lung bacteria and the host immune system. I will focus on the lung microbiota of transplant patients, because different bacterial communities have been associated with different immune states in transplanted lungs indicating that microbiota-host interactions are vital for allograft health. My specific objectives are to (i) establish the first culture collection of primary lung bacterial isolates, (ii) characterize their cross-talk with the immune system, and (iii) analyse underlying mechanisms through a combination of bacterial culturing, cell culture and mouse infection experiments, immune system transcriptomics, comparative genome analysis, and metabolomics. This multidisciplinary approach will be conducted with two research groups at University of Lausanne (Prof. P. Engel and Prof. B. Marsland), which provide a unique scientific environment to carry out this project. None of the proposed objectives has previously been addressed. Thus, the project will provide many novel insights relevant for both basic and applied sciences. I will be able to apply my profound knowledge in infection disease and immunology to an emerging field of microbiota research and transfer my expertise to the host groups. In turn, I will expand my scientific breadth by learning advanced concepts of microbial ecology, acquiring methodological skills in community analysis, genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics, and obtaining training in project management and science communication. I envision that this project will present the basis for my future research career.

Mots clés : human microbiota, lung microbiota, microbial diversity, immunology, macrophages, innate immunity, high throughput sequencing, nanostring, gene expression, transcriptomics, mouse models

Participants :
- University of Lausanne (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175419.6 €
Projet MESO-JBIR-102 (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Human malignant pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive (fatal) lung cancer which is always associated with previous asbestos exposure. Typically symptoms do not appear until 35-40 years after the original exposure, with life expectancy then 12-18 months. Given the great use of asbestos during the 20th century and this long latency period, it is no surprise that cases of mesothelioma continue to rise. There is no known cure for mesothelioma: traditional chemotherapeutic treatments have had little impact on the disease and radiotherapy or partial pleurectomy have only very limited impact on life expectancy. However, very little in the way of mesothelioma research is taking place, as it is frequently not considered to be a ‘big enough market’ (<1% of all cancers in the U.K., approx. 2300 deaths per annum) and consequently there are currently no drugs in development for this disease. A second reason for this is that there have been no reported good lead compounds (natural products) as a starting point for the drug discovery process. Until now. There are now a very small number of natural products which demonstrate activity against mesothelioma. First reported in 2012, and isolated from Saccharopolyspora sp. RL78, the natural product termed JBIR-102 possesses a unique structural architecture, and is only the third natural product to be isolated to exhibit activity against human malignant pleural mesothelioma. The aza-silyl-Prins reaction has been developed within our research group as a rapid method to prepare aza-bicycles – structural architectures found in many alkaloids and natural products, and crucially at the centre of JBIR-102. The aim of the project, therefore, is to optimise the aza-silyl-Prins reaction and then investigate its application in the synthesis of JBIR-102. A collaboration with a specialist cancer biology group will see all the compounds prepared evaluated against mesothelioma cell lines. This will be the first study of this kind.


Participants :
- University of Greenwich (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet ItohRibo (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Human mitoribosome represents a distinct class of ribosomes that has specialized in synthesizing exclusively 13 hydrophobic membrane proteins, forming the catalytic core of the respiratory chain. The mature mitoribosome is composed of 82 nuclear encoded proteins and three mt-rRNAs. It is postulated that mitoribosomes are formed in an intricate and well-defined hierarchical process, involving hundreds of proteins and RNA molecules working in cooperation and under tight regulation. However, a structural insight into this process is completely lacking and most of the trans-factors remain unknown. I propose to fill this gap by harnessing CRISPR/Cas9 for genome editing in combination with the state of the art methods in single particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). By combining these techniques with biochemical characterization, I will reveal mechanistic insights into how mitoribosomal proteins are assembled in a cascade while nascent mitochondrial rRNA molecules are processed and folded. Since high resolution cryo-EM allows now a unique ability to investigate heterogeneous ribosomal populations and built de novo models, the proposed work will not only reveal the maturation states, but also currently unknown factors implicated in the process. On the other hand, the mitochondrion is compartmentalized into sub-organelle sections such as nucleoids, RNA granules, and membrane-related milieus, and they co-localize with various stages of the mitoribosome assembly. I will also use cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) to expand the scope beyond the mitoribosomal complexes and reveal the dynamics of the maturation process and transport mechanism of the assembly intermediates between the sub-organelle compartments. Our approach relies on the most recently developed methodologies and proven strength of the lab complemented by specialized expertise of collaborators, aiming to characterize the transient and low abundant complexes in human mitochondria.

Mots clés : ribosome assembly, maturation, mitochondria, translation, cryo electron microscopy, cryo em

Participants :
- Stockholm University (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 173857.2 €
Projet FromObjectsToScenes (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Human visual recognition is remarkably efficient. With just a single glance, we can identify our surroundings as a forest, a street, or an office, or determine whether a specific object contained in the scene is a deer, a car, or a computer. Uncovering the neural mechanisms underlying such fast and accurate recognition has been a core initiative in cognitive neuroscience, such that the structural and functional characteristics of object-selective and scene-selective cortex are now well understood. Yet there is a surprising and substantial gap in our understanding of the intermediate representational space between objects and scenes: One relevant level of visual organisation that has received very little attention to date is the 'object-constellation', defined here as a familiar configuration of objects bearing conceptual relevance to each other (e.g., a fork and knife arranged either side of a plate). Just as the visual system exploits physical regularities in Gestalt-like grouping, we hypothesise that the learned statistical regularities contained in object-constellations give rise to a higher-order perceptual unit, the neural basis of which has yet to be explored. This project will bring advanced neurocognitive methods to bear on the question of how the brain processes familiar object-constellations, using fMRI and MEG to characterise the spatiotemporal profile of object-constellation representation in the human brain. In providing the first systematic investigation of the neural representation of object-constellations, this work will shed new light on the statistical regularities the brain is specialised to exploit, and advance our understanding of the intermediary representational space between single-objects and whole-scenes.

Mots clés : scene perception, object perception, fmri, perceptual grouping

Participants :
- Radboud University Nijmegen (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187572.48 €
Projet STOICHIOMET (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Human-induced global warming and increased nutrient bioavailability are impacting on species evolution and ecosystem functioning worldwide. Single effects of each global change factor on consumer life history have been well assessed by the metabolic theory of ecology, and ecological and biological stoichiometry, respectively, and for each biological level from genes to populations. However, their potential consequences when both interact remain elusive because of the non-additive nature of their effects. STOICHIOMET project proposes to (i) study the single and interactive effects of temperature and nutrients in food on consumer performance; and (ii) test simultaneously cornerstone concepts of both metabolic (Bergman rule) and stoichiometric theories (growth rate hypothesis; phosphorus-allocation hypothesis). To aim these, a field survey and coupled growth bioassays, following 4 (temperature) × 4 (elemental dietary composition) experimental designs, will be conducted. Consumer growth response of selected model species (Chlamydomonas, Selenastrum, Brachionus, Diaptomus, Daphnia, Drosophila) will be measured at each level in terms of: ribosomal DNA genes and intergenic spacers; genome size; nucleic acid and protein content; cell size; body size and elemental composition; and growth rates. Additional data treatment will be performed to model growth rate and coupled variables as functions of body size, temperature and resource stoichiometry, and hence, theoretically integrate metabolic and stoichiometric conceptual frameworks. Multidisciplinarity of STOICHIOMET project, interrelating genetics, biochemistry, metabolism, ecology and evolution knowledge, will contribute to the scientific development of PhD Bullejos, and together with its training programme, will favour his future re-establishment. In addition, STOICHIOMET project represents an unique opportunity to create a network among researchers from different knowledge areas and excellent European institutions.

Mots clés : global warming, nutrients, ecological stoichiometry, biological stoichiometry, growth rate hypothesis, phosphorus allocation hypothesis, metabolic theory of ecology, bergman rule

Participants :
- University of Oslo (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 196400.4 €
Projet LIVEWELL (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Humanity faces the challenge of how to achieve a high level of well-being for all people without destabilizing the planetary processes that facilitated the rise of civilization. This project revolves around the intermediating role of physical and social provisioning systems that link resource use and social outcomes. Provisioning systems mediate the relationship between biophysical inputs and social outcomes via the material practices and cultural meanings associated with the consumption of specific commodities (i.e. energy, housing, transport, etc.). A better understanding of provisioning systems can provide insight on how to achieve high levels of well-being at low levels of resource consumption that are within planetary boundaries. The LIVEWELL project will develop a coherent operational framework with robust concepts, methods and metrics to bridge the social sciences (living well within society) and natural sciences (physical resources and technologies, environmental limits). This framework will be applied to explore two important questions: (1) What influence do different social and technical provisioning systems have on the level of resource use required to achieve a high level of well-being? (2) If remaining within planetary boundaries requires rapid decreases in material and energy use, how could scarce resources best be employed to enhance and preserve well-being? These questions will be investigated using three methods: (i) quantitative assessments, (ii) case studies of key countries and (iii) development of alternative provisioning system scenarios. This study is timely and aims to widen the evidence base for policy, integrate environmental concerns into other policy areas, and address international environmental and climate challenges more effectively.

Mots clés : planetary boundaries, environmental footprints, complex systems, human needs, well being

Participants :
- University of Leeds (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet BHstabNL (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Humankind has always been on a quest to uncover the secrets of our universe and ``detect the inmost force that binds the world and guides its course''. We intend to take important steps towards a more profound understanding of nature's mysteries by employing black holes (BHs). These exciting objects have been predicted by Einstein's general relativity (GR), one of the most successful models to-date to describe our universe, and they also appear in more fundamental theories attempting to marry GR with quantum physics. BHs can be viewed as the point-particle analogue of classical mechanics and play a key role in vastly different fields ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to high-energy physics. The latter enters the game in the context of higher dimensional gravity and the gauge/gravity duality which offers a unique tool to explore hard-to-tackle phenomena in field theories by investigating gravity in asymptotically anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetimes. Despite recent progress concerning the properties of BHs in these scenarios, most studies have been restricted to the linear regime. We wish to push these limits beyond the state-of-the-art and investigate the non-linear, dynamical behaviour and stability of BHs in asymptotically AdS and higher dimensional spacetimes, thus opening up an entirely new window to gain insight into the mechanisms that make our world tick. Specifically, we wish to explore the superradiant (SR) instabilities and the recently discovered gravitational turbulence in the former case and the non-linear response of BHs towards both the bar-mode and ultra-spinning instabilities in the latter. With the latest progress on the conceptual, theoretical and methodological level the time is ripe to accomplish these challenging goals by establishing novel techniques combining numerical relativity (NR), ``standard'' perturbative methods and the large-D expansion recently developed by leading European researchers.

Mots clés : numerical relativity, black holes, high energy physics

Participants :
- University of Barcelona (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 158121.6 €
Projet EPICC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Humans exhibit a rich and complex material culture with no equivalent in other animals. The unique human capability to accumulate cultural innovations across time allows us to develop powerful technology and drives technological progress. Despite a growing literature investigating cumulative culture, the underlying processes at play in the accumulation of cultural knowledge remain puzzling. The overarching aims of this proposal are to identify the requirements of human cumulative culture both at the individual and population levels and improve our understanding of factors that affect the pace of cultural accumulation. During the course of this action, we will develop innovative experimental methods to investigate three important and timely lines of research and shed new light on the complex processes that underlie cultural accumulation: 1) Identify the cognitive requirements of innovation production and transmission, 2) Evaluate the interplay between population structure and cultural accumulation, 3) Evaluate the effects of ecological factors on the rate of innovation. This action will use lab experiments from psychology and economics and will bring knowledge from anthropology and biology to help explain why only humans are able to accumulate cultural information across time and why rates of cultural accumulation have varied in our evolutionary past.

Mots clés : human cultural evolution, cumulative culture, innovation

Participants :
- University of Exeter (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet LaughingTogether (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Humans start laughing very early in their life, in response to tickle, play, or humor. Laughter is contagious, and seems to play an important role in bonding: Laughing together makes people feel closer to each other and facilitates cooperation. However, despite its pervasiveness and significance in human life, a deep understanding of the function of laughter and the mechanisms linking it to bonding, is still lacking. Being a positively valenced, rhythmic audiovisual social signal, laughter possesses all the necessary characteristics to induce interpersonal synchrony between people. Interpersonal synchrony facilitates cooperative action and increases affiliation, rapport and prosocial behavior. Thus, it might be the core mechanism making laughter an effective bonding tool. Such a mechanism might be in place from early on in the course of human development and play an important role in establishing the first important peer relationships in early childhood. This project aims at unveiling the functional mechanisms of laughing together, using a developmental social neuroscience approach and combining behavioral, autonomic and neural measures to investigate social laughter in adults and children. The results will clarify the role of laughter in social interactions, and pave the way for new lines of research and applications.

Mots clés : laughter, interpersonal synchrony, bonding, cooperation, preschool, fnirs

Participants :
- University of Vienna (Autriche) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 174167.04 €