Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet RIIBS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most prevalent gastrointestinal disorders with a prevalence of 4-10% worldwide, characterized by recurrent abdominal pain. Pain is tightly related with noxious stimulus detection carried out by peripheral sensory neurons (PSNs). However, how those neurons generate ongoing activity, encoding constant or slow stimuli is still uncertain, and the current textbook model for sensory transduction and encoding fails to explain it. During the last years, many authors have proposed membrane potential instabilities (MPIs), a voltage dependent phenomenon that consists in subthreshold membrane potential fluctuations, as the mechanism underlying ongoing activity and demonstrated its upregulation in pathologies coursing with neuropathic and bone cancer pain, both in animal models and patients. Nevertheless, the role of MPIs in visceral pain remains completely unexplored. In this project we aim to characterize the role of MPIs and excitability changes in the development of IBS pain, as well as its underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, we will develop a new model to study the subcellular distribution of MPIs and action potential encoding in this pathology, using voltage optical recordings. Finally, to assure the translatability of our results, we will study sensory neurons from IBS patients and the possibility to treat them through MPIs pharmacological disruption, opening new treatment approaches. In the long-term, RIIBS action will lead to increased insight in sensory information encoding, the pathophysiology of IBS and ultimately to improved clinical management of visceral pain. This is the adequate moment to carry this action, as the host institution counts with top-notch facilities to make it feasible, the host supervisors have recently generated a novel animal model reproducing IBS and have access to clinical patients, and voltage optical recordings have been living an exponential refinement in the last years.

Mots clés : visceral pain, irritable bowel disease, optical voltage recording, intracellular recording, action potential firing, membrane potential instabilities

Participants :
- Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 175920.0 €
Projet StellateZEN (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Liver diseases are a global cause of mortality, accounting for two million deaths a year, of which half are attributed to liver fibrosis. Activated stellate cells are the major source of excessive extracellular-matrix deposition that drives fibrosis. The signals that convert quiescent stellate cells into pathogenic myofibroblasts remain largely unknown. Spatial analysis from the Guilliams lab has recently revealed that each quiescent stellate cell is paired with a Kupffer cell (KC) in the steady-state liver. This is because stellate cells play a central role in the maintenance of the KC pool. Indeed, upon KC depletion, stellate cells are the main cells promoting the recruitment of monocytes and their differentiation into KCs through the production of instructive signals. Interestingly, in fibrotic livers of mice and humans the progressive activation of stellate cells is coupled with the gradual disappearance of KCs and pro-fibrotic stellate cells are no longer paired with KCs. I hypothesize that the KC-Stellate cell relationship is mutually beneficial and essential for liver homeostasis and that, just as the stellate cell is the primary cell of the KC niche, KCs play a key role in preventing stellate cell activation. I have recently identified a mouse model in which the knock-down of a receptor for one of the main stellate cell-derived instructive factors leads to an almost complete absence of KCs in the liver. This yields a liver where most stellate cells are not paired with a KC. Interestingly, these mice spontaneously develop fibrosis, strengthening my hypothesis that KCs are crucial to maintain stellate cells quiescence. In this project, I will use scRNA-seq and spatial transcriptomics to study stellate cells paired or unpaired with a KC to define and study gene targets involved in the KC-stellate cell crosstalk, in the hope to unravel the KC-derived signals that maintain stellate cells in a quiescent state, as this may lead to novel anti-fibrotic strategies.

Mots clés : liver kupffer cells, hepatic stellate cells, cell cell interactions, fibrosis, niche

Participants :
- Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 175920.0 €
Projet ThermoSensO (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Temperature influences living organisms at all the levels, from the rates of biochemical reactions within their cells up to their overt behaviour. Being fundamental to the physiology, animals evolved nervous systems capable of sensing temperature influencing in turn the behaviour (e.g., shivering when it is too cold). Cnidarians (like jellyfishes or corals) represents the second phylum in the animal kingdom endowed with a nervous system. Despite the many advancements in the field of thermal neurobiology, whether cnidarians possess neurons able to sense temperature is currently unknown. Acquiring this information and learning the modality of temperature-sensing would shed a light on the functions of the nervous system of the last common ancestor of cnidarians and bilaterians. With ThermoSensO, the researcher wants to address this question studying the temperature sensitivity in Hydra magnipapillata and Nematostella vectensis, two related classes of cnidarians. The transparency of their body, the public availability of their genome, and their phylogenetic position, make the two species very attractive animal models for this task. By associating behavioural testing with in vivo calcium-imaging and electrophysiology during delivery of thermal stimuli, the researcher wants to detect and characterise temperature-sensitive neurons and their role in these organisms. One of the most powerful tools to understand Biology is the comparison between species (e.g., Darwinian evolution theory). By providing to the scientific community a means of comparison with investigations in bilaterians and probing such an unexplored ground, ThermoSensO would give a very strong impulse to the field of thermal neurobiology and to the study of early nervous systems.

Mots clés : temperature sensing, cnidarians, evolution

Participants :
- University Hospital Heidelberg (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 185111.36 €
Projet TECTESA (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Energy migration, by which bound electron-hole pairs (i.e. singlet excitons) travel through an organic semiconductor before decaying, is at the heart of functioning optoelectronic devices such as solar cells. Designing materials with large singlet exciton diffusion lengths Ld would strongly benefit the efficiency of such devices. In this context, recent reports in highly ordered polymeric fibers and non-fullerene acceptor thin films of Ld largely exceeding the typical 10-20nm values call for a detailed microscopic picture going beyond the usual (hopping) models. Among others, a key missing ingredient in most modelling studies so far deals with the role of inter-molecular charge-transfer (CT) excitations. These have the potential to magnify the exciton dispersion at the band bottom or act as gateways for long-range energy migration, but could equally be detrimental to transport due to the formation of low-lying energy traps. In TECTESA, we aim at providing an in-depth mechanistic analysis of singlet exciton diffusion in organic molecular semiconductors in presence of CT configurations, highlighting namely their contrasting effects on the shape of the thermally accessible excitonic density of states and the coupling to the nuclear degrees of freedom. To reach this ambitious goal, we will: (i) develop and implement a universal transport formalism based on mixed classical-quantum non-adiabatic molecular dynamic simulations that explicitly accounts for CT excitations; (ii) explore how intermolecular CT configurations affect the nature and dynamics of singlet excitons in reduced models, through a broad range of physical situations (from superexchange to hybridization and trapping); and (iii) apply our newly developed approach to study energy migration in realistic, fully atomistic, models for N-heterotriangulene supramolecular fibers and non-fullerene Y6 molecular acceptors, where preliminary investigations seem to intimate the presence of low-lying CT pairs.


Participants :
- Université de Mons (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175920.0 €
Projet Plasmmonia (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Ammonia (NH3) production is essential for human development, as it is a key precursor in manufacturing synthetic fertilizers, chemicals, and hydrogen storage. Currently, NH3 is produced via the Haber-Bosch (H-B) method. Achieving sustainable alternatives to the H-B process will significantly contribute to the climate, environmental protection, and energy efficiency goals of the EU's 2030 Plan. The electrochemical reduction of molecular nitrogen (eNRR) to obtain NH3 is one of today's most promising routes. This methodology allows the direct conversion of N2 and water into NH3 at normal temperature and pressure without CO2 emissions. Due to their unique optical properties, an innovative strategy to improve eNRR involves using plasmonic-metal nanoparticles (NPs) as electrocatalysts. The excitation of the surface electrons occurs by illuminating the plasmonic substrates, generating localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). LSPR provides an additional source of high-energy electrons to the electrocatalytic system, which can increase efficiency and improve selectivity towards NH3 formation. This plasmonic-electrochemical combination is termed Plasmon-Assisted Catalysis. This research aims to design, synthesize, and characterize plasmonic NPs made of Au, Cu, and Au/Cu alloys to maximize their activity as electrocatalysts for eNRR. The synthesis of NPs with different morphologies will be carried out through various chemical, and hydrothermal methods. The evaluation of the electrocatalytic activity will be conducted in an H-type electrochemical cell and the different synthesized electrocatalysts be supported on carbonaceous electrodes as the working electrode. The activity and stability of the materials will also be evaluated using aqueous and ionic liquids as electrolytes. Furthermore, real-time monitoring of the electrochemical process and determination of the eNRR mechanism will be achieved through in situ spectroelectrochemical techniques (SEIRAS, SERS).

Mots clés : chemical reaction spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques

Participants :
- FUNDECYT PCTEX (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 209914.56 €
Projet PrussBlueKion (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

There is an increasing demand for sustainable energy storage solutions to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and the consumption of fossil fuels. Among the technologies, it became evident that current lithium-ion batteries have several drawbacks such as their cost, availability and inadequate sources of lithium metal. The main objective of this project is to develop an inexpensive, non-toxic, and abundant alternative to Li-ion batteries. More specifically, this project will focus on Prussian Blue Analogues (PBAs) as cathode materials for K-ion batteries.  PIBs have recently receive great attention thanks to the high abundance of potassium, the low electrochemical potential (K/K+ (2.93V vs SHE) lower than Na/Na+, and the possibility of being intercalated into graphitic carbons. These properties make PIBs to present a higher-voltage operation in the wider voltage range compared to NIBs and LIBs. Furthermore, KIBs can realize high-power densities based on the fast diusion rate of K+ ions. Prussian Blue Analogues have emerged as excellent cathode materials for Na-ion (SIBs) and K-ion batteries (PIBs) thanks to their open structure, with large diffusion channels that allow reversible incorporation of cations. Furthermore, their easy synthesis (not required of high temperature), and the presence of abundant and non-toxic elements (Fe and Mn) make them good candidates, especially for large-scale stationary energy storage. This technology (PIBs) however in a low level of maturity in comparison with LIBs and SIBs so further understanding at the materials level is needed to improve their application in the industry. Here we will develop a new synthesis of these materials, focusing on Prussian White phases, we will also their performance in different electrolytes and anode materials. We will place a great emphasis on operando techniques to understand the phases form, SEI and limitations of this technology.

Mots clés : prussian blue analogues, k ion batteries, new synthetic route, mechanistic insights

Participants :
- FUNDECYT PCTEX (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 209914.56 €
Projet INSIDER (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Dr Gehui Xu will carry out a project focusing on Insider Threat Management for Critical Infrastructure Cyber-security: A Three-party Game-Theoretic Perspective (INSIDER). The impact of insider threats on cyber-security will be studied from a game-theoretic perspective, and effective defense strategies will be developed to identify, assess, and mitigate complex internal-external coordinated attacks. The established theoretical framework will be applied to microgrids, a crucial component of critical infrastructure, providing valuable insights into their security enhancement. This approach aims to establish a close connection between cyber-security and game theory. The project will be carried out with the Control and Power (CAP) Research Group, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), Imperial College London (ICL), under the supervision of Prof. Thomas Parisini. As a part of the project, a 3-month secondment will be carried out at the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence (KIOS CoE), University of Cyprus (UCY).

Mots clés : game theory, cyber security, insider threat, mechanism design, microgrid

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 260347.92 €
- Université de Chypre (Chypre) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet UNROOT (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

This proposal aims to explore the precise mechanism, overall impact and complete population of the small RNAs derived of transfer RNAs (tsRNAs) in plants. The proposed research would be carried out in a laboratory that specializes in RNA regulation and that made substantial contributions to the plant tRNA-derived sRNA field (Dr. German Martinez). Although it has been described that these molecules are highly expressed in stress conditions, we still lack a clear understanding of the biogenesis pathways that lead to tsRNA accumulation, as well as of the array of biological processes they influence and their mechanism of action. Additionally, because of the widespread presence of RNA modifications in these molecules, the unbiased genome-wide quantification is not possible with the conventional sequencing technologies. Therefore, these molecules represent a largely uncharacterized stress-responsive regulatory network in plants, and thus an exciting source of potential applications for agriculture. The experimental approach of this project will use a model plant (Arabidopsis thaliana) in order to characterize the tsRNA population and evaluate the importance of this regulatory layer under viral stress. First, a method to compare the accumulation profiles of tsRNAs based on the enzymatic removal of RNA modifications will be implemented. Second, the biogenesis pathway of tRNA-derived sRNAs will be studied using mutant plants, and how this affects viral infection will be evaluated with these mutant plants. Third, the genes targeted by tRNA-derived sRNAs will be identified using a combined approach based on the immunoprecipitation of crosslinked AGO proteins and ribosome profiling that determines the translation rate. Overall, the data that this project would obtain has the potential to shift our understanding of tsRNAs and provide cutting-edge applications for agriculture. Thus, the completion of this project would provide me a considerable professional maturity.

Mots clés : transfer rna small rna arabidopsis plant virus

Participants :
- Université suédoise des sciences agricoles (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 206887.68 €
Projet QuMeta (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Many disruptive information technologies (such as quantum technologies and 6G communication) have been emerging as critical enablers to significantly promote human wellbeing, such as ultra-fast computers and mobile Internet. However, due to civilized development and growing volumes of data, it has aroused higher requirements of data-processing power and wireless communication efficiency. Exploring new approaches to improve the performance in advanced information technology is a destination that scientists have been constantly pursuing. One promising technology for achieving such goals in a spatially and temporally controllable manner utilizes an artificially engineered array of active elements, known as space-time metasurfaces. This project will use one of two-dimensional (2D) materials (graphene) to design and fabricate space-time metasurface, addressing a key question in the fields of quantum information and photonics: how to dynamically manipulate the quantum states of entangled photons or nonlinear light based on different degree of freedom, such as frequency and polarization. The key objective of the project is to build a practical prototype of space-time quantum metasurfaces based on graphene for the first time. This project will focus on three different objectives: theoretical design of time-modulated algorithm and optimized space distribution, fabrication of space-time metasurfaces with gated-tuned graphene nanopatterns, and quantum imaging applications of space-time metasurfaces. The multidisciplinary nature of the project is strong, involving a combination of well developed optics, information science, quantum technology, 2D materials and nanofabrication. This proposal includes both the transfer of knowledge to the host institution and the training of the candidate in new advanced techniques. Results have the potential capacity to increase the competitiveness of quantum technology and nanophotonics.

Mots clés : nanophotonics, quantum information technology, optical metasurfaces, time modulated array

Participants :
- Université de Hong Kong (Hong Kong) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université Aalto (Finlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 199694.4 €
Projet DigiPACK (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

DigiPACK aims to demonstrate the potential of innovative digital participatory tools for mapping and comparing active mobility behaviour and localized experiences with children across their gender, age, socio-economic status and settlement typologies within the Global South context. The key research objectives are: (1) to adapt and contextualize SoftGIS methodology for enabling digital participatory planning with children in India; (2) to map and compare children’s active mobility behaviour (mode of transport, accompaniment, home-school route) and environmental experiences (location of meaningful places, frequency of visits, perceived environmental fears and likability index) across four dimensions of age, gender, socio-economic status and urban settlement typologies using SoftGIS; and (3) to evaluate the potential of SoftGIS methodology to integrate within India’s urban planning policy framework. Adopting a comparative case study approach, the SoftGIS data will be collected from children aged 10-17 years from middle and lower-middle-income families across three distinct neighbourhood settlement typologies of Delhi and analysed using quantitative statistical techniques. Actor-Network-Theory will be employed for evaluating the role of SoftGIS in the participatory planning policy framework. The project results, including contextualized digital methodology and new knowledge on how age, gender, socio-economic status and urban settlement influence children’s active mobility behaviour, will open up new research avenues and have the potential to revolutionize participatory urban planning with children in India, and the Global South more broadly. The 2-year project will be hosted by the Department of Built Environment, Aalto University, whose leading expertise in pioneering the SoftGIS methodology since 2005, will assist me in acquiring new technical skills and building strong European networks to pursue a career in academia within the Global South context.

Mots clés : children s participation, ppgis, participatory mapping, neighbourhood planning

Participants :
- Université Aalto (Finlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 215534.4 €