Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet A Theory of Opinion (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

This research proposes to examine what comprises 'opinion' in today's world of instantaneous communication. How, might it be said, does thought lapse into opinion? It is an urgent question in a time when the world, with its modes of global interconnection and digital platforms, is so heavily characterized by chaotic political debate and image proliferation. The project aims to develop, by reinterpreting select German scholarship, a philosophical, social and critical theory of what it means to articulate and lay claims of perspective, belief and attitude within the contours of twenty-first century social communication. I will argue that a social ontology of 'opinion' requires two distinct levels of analysis: on the one hand, there is a macro level, whereby the broad contours and determinations of opinion are examined as inherently caught up in what Theodor W. Adorno calls the 'Halbbildung' of industrial culture and the institution of public opinion as a development of modern society. On the other hand, utilizing what G.W.F. Hegel calls 'picture-thinking', there is a micro level, whereby a particular epistemic structure adequate to this social situation emerges with its own patterns and forms of validation adapted to the structures of digital communication technologies. Together, these approaches will comprise a social and philosophical reconstruction of ?opinion? characteristic of social communication today. The project can be situated within social and philosophical context whose line of investigation incorporates the discourses of epistemology, cultural and political theory and intellectual history. By formulating a philosophy of opinion, I aim to provide vital new insight into how and why this distinctive epistemological structure of thought has become ever more pervasive in our 'post-truth' society.

Mots clés : public opinion, fake news, social epistemology, digital communication, post truth, ideology, social and political theory, intellectual history, social and political philosophy

Participants :
- Université de Potsdam (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 189687.36 €
Projet SHARP (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The SHARP (Shango Anti-phage Remodeling Pathway) project aims to explore the molecular mechanism of Shango system, a widespread bacterial anti-phage defense module. While the well-known CRISPR-Cas systems have revolutionized genome editing, bacterial defense strategies encompass over 130 distinct gene modules and present a treasure chest for novel biotechnologies. To eliminate viral threats, these systems employ various mechanisms, either pre- or post-injection. Shango consists of three core genes: SngA, SngB, and SngC with bioinformatically predicted functions thus far. SngA, annotated as tellurite stress response element, has two transmembrane helices and is proposed to detect an unknown viral signal. Its C-terminal domain may recruit SngB and SngC. SngB, a member of the AAA+ ATPase family, together with SngC, a DEAD-box helicase, likely participates in DNA remodeling. In this project, I hypothesize that Shango induces changes in nucleic acid topology, thus impairing phage genome integrity and preventing its replication, though the exact mechanism remains elusive. By isolating phage escapers capable of bypassing Shango, I aim to identify the triggering signal. Subsequently, I will analyze the specificity and unwinding activity of SngB and SngC using biochemical assays. Advanced techniques such as single-particle cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) will be used to elucidate distinct functional states of Shango. Leveraging Dr. N. Taylor’s expertise, I aim to assemble the complete complex of Shango together with its transmembrane helices. To reveal the spatial-temporal regulation of the system during phage attack, I will employ Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy to visualize the co-localization of Shango proteins and phages. This project not only explores new aspects of bacterial stress responses, but also aims to pioneer tools for signal-induced nucleic acid manipulations, opening up the possibilities in biotechnological applications.

Mots clés : anti phage defense, shango, tellurite resistance, membrane proteins, dead h box helicase

Participants :
- Université de Copenhague (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 263393.28 €
- Université Humboldt de Berlin (Allemagne) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet SiTi-CAT (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Amines are commercially valuable compounds used in a wide range of products including pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and polymers (global market USD 16.6 billion), but their industrial synthesis is inefficient and expensive. Alternatively, nitrogen functional groups can be synthesised by green, 100% atom efficient reactions (hydroamination and hydroaminoalkylation) that are catalysed by earth-abundant homogeneous Ti complexes. These reactions are not yet industrially viable due to high costs of catalyst recovery and product purification. We need to develop catalysts for these processes that exhibit the high activity and selectivity of homogeneous Ti catalysts but are industrially viable.  This project will develop new heterogeneous catalysts for introducing nitrogen functional groups by immobilising Ti complexes based on homogeneous catalysts for hydroamination and hydroaminoalkylation onto silica surfaces. It will blend the disciplines of chemical synthesis, homogeneous catalysis, and surface organometallic chemistry by using the expertise of researchers and specialist facilities in Canada and France. I will: synthesise novel catalysts featuring well-defined Ti metal centres supported by ligands immobilised on silica surfaces, optimise their activity for hydroamination and hydroaminoalkylation on industrially important substrates, and investigate the mechanism of the reactions to optimise and enhance industrial applicability.  This project will transform green processes to manufacture nitrogen-containing chemicals from academic research into industrial routes. Knowledge and key skills in chemical synthesis, catalyst development and surface organometallic chemistry will be shared between European and Canadian researchers, resulting in a synergic partnership impacting academic and industrial fields. I will apply my previous experience and learn new technical and transferable skills, which will advance me to my goal of becoming an independent academic researcher.

Mots clés : surface organometallic chemistry, green chemistry

Participants :
- Université de la Colombie-Britannique (Canada) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 291785.28 €
Projet FeSYM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) carried out by legume nodules is one of the most efficient ways of introducing nitrogen in natural ecosystems and in sustainable agriculture. It relies on the transfer of a relatively large amount of iron from the host plant to the endosymbiotic bacteria colonizing nodule cells, where it will be used as cofactor of many of the enzymes participating in SNF. However, the required steady iron supply for SNF is challenged by its low bioavailability in soil, prevalent in many of the main agricultural areas of the world. This is worsened by the hundreds of ferro-enzymes that compete for iron cofactors within a cell. Due to the relevance of SNF for a more sustainable agriculture, and the importance of ensuring iron supply to achieve this, a substantial effort has been done in understanding how legumes incorporate iron and deliver it to the nodules, and how it is used to synthesize nitrogenase cofactors. However, no information is available on how iron is specifically allocated to the nitrogen-fixing compartments. In this proposal we intend to study the mechanisms enabling targeted iron delivery to nitrogen fixation, particularly those events occurring at the cytosol and at the interface between the two symbionts. To do this, we will identify and characterize the proteins interacting the known symbiosome iron transporters. As a result, we will characterize the iron-interactome of these elements. These findings should not only increase our understanding of iron homeostasis in SNF and, more broadly, in plants, but also lead to dedicated iron delivery pathways for iron-biofortification or to engineer iron-proteins in plants.

Mots clés : iron homeostasis, symbiotic nitrogen fixation, iron transport, legume, rhizobia, nodule, metallchaperone, plant microbe interactions, metal transport, iron nutrition, plant biology

Participants :
- Université polytechnique de Madrid (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 181152.96 €
Projet SKINNOVATE (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Psoriasis, affecting 2-3% of the global population and 20 million individuals in Europe, poses significant challenges in treatment efficacy and patient adherence to current therapies. Addressing these challenges, this project proposes an innovative therapeutic strategy by integrating Etanercept (ETR), a TNF-α inhibitor, with small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting IL-17A, facilitated through a novel transdermal delivery method. The project aims to develop and optimize hybrid lipid-polymer nanoparticles (LPNs) for co-delivering ETR and siRNA. These LPNs will be incorporated into microneedles (MNs) composed of biocompatible polymers, pectin, and polycaprolactone (PCL). This dual delivery approach leverages LPNs' controlled release properties and MNs' enhanced skin permeability to target multiple pathogenic pathways involved in psoriasis synergistically. Specific objectives include optimizing LPN formulation, evaluating efficacy in vitro, characterizing the MN system for skin penetration, and assessing performance in ex vivo psoriasis models, guided by ethical principles (3Rs: Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement). Expected outcomes encompass improved treatment efficacy, reduced adverse effects, and enhanced patient adherence, thereby advancing psoriasis management. Furthermore, this project seeks to catalyze interdisciplinary collaborations and propel the development of novel therapeutic strategies, contributing to scientific innovation and healthcare advancement.

Mots clés : biomedical engineering drug delivery nanotechnology sirna lipid polymer nanoparticles microneedles transdermal delivery

Participants :
- University Medical Center Groningen (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 232916.16 €
Projet ROC3Risks (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Rapid-onset hazards often compound (i.e. combination of multiple hazards) or cascade (i.e. when a single hazard triggers a sequence of secondary hazards), being a main source of concern for disaster and financial risk mangers due to the potential massive direct (e.g. capital stock destruction) and cascading indirect economic (e.g. employment and GDP), social (e.g. inequality) and financial (e.g. public debt) impacts. While the current understanding on how Rapid-Onset Compound and Cascading Climate related (ROC3) hazards interconnect is progressively improving, less attention is given to how ROC3 risks lead to direct and cascading indirect impacts. The research theme proposed in this project proposal will advance the understanding of ROC3 risks by building on state-of-the-art risk models to tackle three interconnected research gaps, related to the need for: (i) identifying which, how and where ROC3 risks may occur; (ii) reliable ROC3 direct impact estimates, and; (iii) a comprehensive and dynamic assessment of the cascading indirect impacts of risks. Building on an innovative analytical framework that integrates disciplines from different scientific fields including environmental, social, and economic sciences, the project will be the first of its kind to develop and apply a comprehensive methodological framework integrating the intrinsic dynamics of ROC3 risks and the cascading macroeconomic and financial indirect impacts. The researcher and two host institutions will mutually benefit from three-way transfer of knowledge. By providing open-access datasets and open-source software, the project results have the potential to inform disaster and financial risk managers and promote the conditions for building resilience to ROC3 risks. The project is aligned with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Paris Agreement.

Mots clés : climate change adaptation climate economics financial risk disaster risk reduction disaster risk assessment cascading impacts

Participants :
- École polytechnique fédérale de Zurich (Suisse) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université des sciences économiques de Vienne (Autriche) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183600.96 €
Projet GlucoDrop (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive and lethal breast cancer subtype, but it lacks expression of the estrogen receptor, the canonical driver of breast cancer development and progression. This indicates that there may be other molecular drivers in this context. The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is a candidate oncogenic factor in TNBC, that has been shown to support TNBC cell proliferation and metastatic spread. Therefore, GR antagonism may be a viable strategy to attenuate TNBC aggressiveness, however, the precise molecular mechanism of GR action in TNBC cells remains to be determined. Recent experiments performed in the host laboratory demonstrated that GR activation induced lipid droplet (LD) accumulation, and shifted the balance of the metabolic mTOR signaling complexes, promoting mTORC2 activity, in breast cancer cells. Given that mTORC2 is a regulator of lipid metabolism, and has been implicated in the aggressiveness of TNBC, these observations are compelling and may be linked. Therefore, this project aims to investigate the role of these changes in regulating TNBC metastatic spread, by determining the precise molecular mechanism to explain these effects. To achieve these aims, I will firstly determine the interactome of the GR-induced mTORC2 and investigate the consequences of these specific interactions in TNBC cells, including on LD accumulation. Subsequently, I will use patient-derived organoids to determine the contribution of the GR-induced LDs to TNBC metastatic capacity and oncogenic phenotypes. The successful completion of this project will answer key questions relating to the role of GR as an oncogenic factor in TNBC, and define a novel interaction between the GR and mTORC2 signaling axes, which has never been described. In the long term, these findings could facilitate the design and implementation of novel therapeutic options for TNBC, to improve the outcomes for patients diagnosed with this aggressive breast cancer subtype.

Mots clés : glucocorticoid receptor, mtorc2, lipid droplets, triple negative breast cancer, metastasis

Participants :
- University Medical Center Utrecht (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 217076.16 €
Projet ADC2GBM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most prevalent brain tumours and is currently incurable. Patients die from tumour recurrence after resection and chemotherapy. New treatments need to overcome two great challenges: reaching the tumour margins, where the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is intact, and eradicating glioma stem cells (GSCs), which cause tumour relapse. Targeting receptors overexpressed on cancer cells with antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) has shown great promise in cancer treatment. However, most receptors on GSCs are also present in normal stem cells. Thus, targeting these receptors with antibody-drug conjugates may lead to severe side effects. The main objective of this proposal is to develop a masked nanobody-drug conjugate with the capacity to overcome the BBB and to be activated only in the tumour to selectively target GSCs. Nanobodies have increased capacity to penetrate tissues and biological barriers but none is yet available to target the GSC marker CD133. Therefore, I will generate new nanobodies against this receptor. Subsequently, I will set up a phage display platform to develop masked nanobodies that can be selectively unmasked by tumour proteases. The masked nanobody will be conjugated to a drug and then to a BBB-shuttle peptide. A panel of conjugates will be screened in vitro for target selectivity, efficient activation and BBB transport. Finally, the efficacy of the most promising candidates will be tested in a GBM mouse model. Our unique combination will generate the first bispecific nanobody-drug conjugates targeting GSCs to treat GBM. The concept of GSC-targeting with activatable ADC may change the current paradigm for the treatment of brain tumours. Furthermore, our workflow may be applied to dramatically enhance the efficacy of other biotherapeutics with on-target off-site dose-limiting effects.

Mots clés : glioblastoma, therapeutic antibodies, drug discovery, phage display, nanobody, antibody drug conjugate, blood brain barrier, bioorthogonal chemistry, site specific protein modification

Participants :
- Université Raymond-Lulle (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 165312.96 €
Projet RETRO (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) is a rare disease that affects around 10-13 individuals in one million and affects pediatric and adult patients. High-dose chemotherapy is an adequate therapeutic treatment for most patients, however 10-20% of patients relapse and will require a bone marrow transplantation as a unique therapeutic window. T-ALL is a very aggressive disease and the rapidness in the response is crucial, however, one problem is that we cannot predict which patients will relapse. Several studies have been done to understand the origin of relapse, and there is evidence for several strategies for leukemia evolution: a) the relapse clone already exists at the time of diagnosis and is selected through treatment or b) treatment provides new mutations that will generate the relapse clone. Predicting the evolution of leukemic clones after chemotherapy pressure and understanding the specific mechanisms contributing to chemotherapy-resistant cell populations' appearance is necessary to improve cancer treatment. In our proposal, we wish to find feasible and clinically applicable ways to detect the earlier-stage clones that become resistant to chemotherapy. We wish to apply multiple approaches to better understand the specific clones like single-cell sequencing of primary T-ALL samples at diagnosis and relapse, and most importantly, compare their evolution with or without chemotherapy treatment through 2D, 3D culture and the current pdx in vivo model of leukaemia. Application of the 3D cell culture technique to T-ALL clonal evolution may represent a major scientific discovery to be used for different purposes focusing on disease modelling and relapse clone study. Our research will be pursued to optimize a method mimicking T-ALL in vitro, characterize the cells (and factors) causing the relapse, and use this information to identify new therapeutic options.

Mots clés : cancer relapse, t cell leukemia, leukemic cells relapse, in vitro leukemic cell growth

Participants :
- CERCA Institution (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 165312.96 €
Projet MeTC (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

MeTC examines how people in networked societies recall the recent past (ReP) in times of economic recession through the lens of social media (SoM). It explores the connections between crises and memory politics by investigating Facebook, Instagram, and internet forums in Argentina, Spain, and Greece (ASG) – three countries which transitioned to democracy between 1974 and 1982 and experienced optimism and prosperity in the proceeding years before they suffered from economic crises. MeTC is a comparative, interdisciplinary historical and digital-ethnographic project which links two methods of digital ethnography (invisible observation; immersive cohabitation) with oral history and intermedial and multimodal analysis. The project aims to: a) analyse memories of the ReP during crises in SoM in ASG; b) employ its own SoM to trigger discussions on the relationships between the present and the ReP on the basis of stimuli gathered through archival research; c) scrutinise the politics of these SoM-driven mnemonic communities through oral interviews from people engaged in the formation of the politics of digital collective memory in ASG. MeTC provides an adaptable model for how historians and media scholars can turn embarrassment in the face of the SoM-driven explosion of amateur historical storytelling on the web into a source of inspiration and a channel of communication among these two communities of scholars and the public. Drawing on the host’s interdisciplinary capacity and synergies with experts in ASG, MeTC promises to provide a bold academic and social impact in these ways: a) publication in journals, and the delivery of a hybrid workshop and seminars; b) interaction with popular audiences through SoM, a photo exhibition and open public speaking events organised with immigrants from ASG in Sweden. Ultimately, MeTC will enable research on (digital) memory to be a vehicle for interaction between the academy and society through culture and education.

Mots clés : economic crises, digital ethnography, culture of connectivity, argentina, spain, greece

Participants :
- Linnaeus University (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 206887.68 €