Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet Resummation4PS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Full exploitation of the LHC data, notably for Higgs precision measurements, traditional standard-model studies and certain BSM searches, relies on high-precision theoretical calculations. The most widely used kind of theoretical prediction is the parton-shower Monte Carlo approach (PSMC). This accounts for logarithmically enhanced contributions to all order in the coupling. While there has been much progress in the past decade in combining PSMC and fixed-order calculations, the logarithmic accuracy of the underlying parton shower has received much less attention. This project will start by developing the technology to describe the structure of the perturbative calculations at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy for processes that involve QCD radiation both off the initial and the final state particles. That understanding will provide the foundations to extend for the first time the accuracy of parton showers to NNLL accuracy for a broad class of observables. Given recent developments in matching and merging of PSMCs with fixed order predictions, this will be of benefit not just for the intrinsic logarithmic accuracy of the shower but also facilitate future improvements in matching and merging, with resulting further improvements in LHC data extraction and interpretation.

Mots clés : qcd resummation, jet physics, parton shower

Participants :
- European Organization for Nuclear Research (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 175419.6 €
Projet MICROX (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Functional evaluation of bioactive compounds using cell-based assays is key in discovering new and improved drugs to address our societies growing medical needs. In a large number of academic and private R&D facilities around the world, hi-content microscopy screening is used to complement and often outperform the conventional luminescence and fluorescence plate-reader assays. The combination of fluorescent-probe technology, modern optical microscopes and innovative functional assays allows monitoring highly dynamic events in living cells with exquisite temporal and spatial resolution. Remarkably, drug candidates and treatment regimens are commonly tested on living cells maintained at atmospheric oxygenation levels (i.e., at 21% O2) while in reality, cells in our bodies never experience such high oxygen levels. Rather, most cells experience 2-5% of O2 and cancer cells in solid tumours are generally hypoxic, i.e., they function at < 1% of O2. It has become evident that oxygenation of the preparation dramatically affects efficacy of our drugs, in particular of cancer treatments. Thus, there is an urgent need to establish functional microscopy assays for (cancer)drug efficacy at hypoxic conditions. However, it is not trivial to enclose the necessary high-end microscopes in O2-tight incubators while maintaining good access to the cells. In this project, experienced biochemist and pharmacologist dr. Olga Mazina aims to team up with the advanced microscopy group of prof. Kees Jalink to establish an innovative MICROX microscopy platform with fully adjustable atmospheric conditions, along with a panel of biosensors optimized for use at hypoxia. MICROX will be developed in close collaboration with leading European manufacturers and validated in studies addressing cancer cell signalling and sensitivity to cancer drugs at various O2 levels.

Mots clés : hypoxia, melanoma, functional imaging, fret biosensors

Participants :
- Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 281358.72 €
Projet SERWOM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Functional integrity of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is essential for higher ‘executive’ functions such as working memory (WM). Serotonin (5-HT) modulates GABAergic neurotransmission in the PFC through different 5-HT receptor subtypes that are selectively expressed in distinct GABAergic cell types. Altered GABAergic neurotransmission in the PFC of patients suffering from schizophrenia and depression is believed to be central to their pathophysiology. Currently available treatments targeting 5-HT signaling have addressed different mental health symptoms but typically not cognitive capabilities. Therefore, characterizing the causal role of distinct GABAergic cell types on circuit activity is a critical step in understanding the circuit mechanism of WM. This proposal focuses on the role of 5-HT in the regulation of inhibition in cortical activity and their consequences in influencing WM maintenance. I will simultaneously image the electrical activities of pyramidal and distinct GABAergic interneurons while well-trained mice execute a delayed two alternative forced choice (2AFC) task to read out WM during the delay period. Imaging will be performed in both wide-field and two-photon imaging mode to record cortical activity at the mesoscopic (cortex-wide) and local (PFC) levels, respectively. I will combine optical imaging with optogenetic stimulation/silencing to manipulate GABAergic interneurons in the PFC and serotonin release in the dorsal raphe (DR) during the execution of the 2AFC task. Additionally, I will use a mouse model of schizophrenia that is known to exhibit WM deficits to correlate possible alterations in serotonin signaling during cellular-level WM maintenance with WM performance at the behavioral level. This could allow us to understand why many psychiatric treatments are mostly ineffective at improving cognitive abilities and how modulation of the serotonergic system could reverse these effects, ultimately helping to develop new therapeutic treatments.

Mots clés : optogenetics, genetically encoded voltage indicators

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 26616.72 €
- The Francis Crick Institute (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 186317.04 €
Projet Spinal cord fMRI (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become an indispensable tool in neuroscience to study human brain function non-invasively. However, translation of fMRI to investigate function of the second major component of the central nervous system, the spinal cord, has been severely hampered by technical difficulties. Two major challenges for spinal fMRI relate to the anatomy: (i) severe static image distortion caused by vertebrae and the lungs and (ii) dynamic signal instability introduced by breathing. I propose to address these problems by leveraging my expertise with cutting-edge technology for magnetic field compensation, available only to a few sites world-wide including my host institute in Oxford. These advances will enable me to take advantage of the signal-to-noise ratio improvement of ultra-high field (7 Tesla) MRI scanners, which has been clearly demonstrated in the brain but has remained elusive for the spine. The final stage of this project will deploy these methods on a collaborative project investigating the neurobiological mechanisms of pain in the spine. This project will enable me to build strategically on my dual training in engineering and medicine to develop an inter-disciplinary research profile at the interface of neuroscience and methodology.


Participants :
- University of Oxford (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet SPECIFIC fMRI (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Functional-Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) has transformed our understanding of brain function due to its ability to noninvasively tag ‘active’ brain regions. Nevertheless, fMRI only detects neural activity indirectly, by relying on slow hemodynamic couplings whose relationships with underlying neural activity are not fully known. We have recently pioneered two unique MR approaches: Non-Uniform Oscillating-Gradient Spin-Echo (NOGSE) MRI and Relaxation Enhanced MR Spectroscopy (RE MRS). NOGSE-MRI is an exquisite microstructural probe, sensing cell sizes (l) with an unprecedented l^6 sensitivity (compared to l^2 in conventional approaches); RE MRS is a new spectral technique capable of recording metabolic signals with extraordinary fidelity at ultrahigh fields. This proposal aims to harness these novel concepts for mapping neural activity directly, without relying on hemodynamics. The specific objectives of this proposal are: (1) Mapping neural activity via sensing cell swellings upon activity: we hypothesize that NOGSE-fMRI can robustly sense subtle changes in cellular microstructure upon neural firings and hence convey neural activity directly. (2) Probing the nature of elicited activity via detection of neurotransmitter release: we posit that RE MRS is sufficiently sensitive to robustly detect changes in Glutamate and GABA signals upon activation. (3) Investigating widespread neural circuits in vivo via stroboscopic optogenetics: we propose to couple NOGSE-fMRI with optogenetics to resolve casual dynamics in global neural circuitry. Simulations for NOGSE-fMRI predict >4% signal changes upon subtle cell swellings; further, our in vivo RE MRS experiments have detected metabolites with SNR>50 in only 6 seconds. Hence, these two complementary –and importantly, hemodynamics-independent– approaches will represent a true paradigm shift: from indirect detection of neurovasculature couplings towards direct and noninvasive mapping of neural activity in vivo.

Mots clés : magnetic resonance imaging, functional imaging, fmri, neurotransmitters, in vivo, neuronal swelling, diffusion, functional connectivity

Participants :
- Champalimaud Foundation (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 160635.6 €
Projet PATH2EVOL (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Fungal crop pathogens cause severe yield losses and threaten food security. To prevent epidemics, deploying resistant varieties is currently the major avenue. However, agricultural ecosystems are highly conducive to the emergence of virulent pathogens and host resistance is rapidly overcome. The evolutionary mechanisms how virulence is gained on previously resistant hosts remains largely elusive. Identifying the genetic basis of adaptive evolution of pathogenic fungi in agricultural fields will be crucial to design future sustainable disease control strategies. The proposed project will analyze the process of pathogen adaptation to overcome crop resistance in agricultural ecosystem. The genomic architecture (i.e. "two-speed genome") of filamentous pathogens is thought to favor the rapid evolution of virulence genes and the rapid breakdown of host resistance. However, the causal link between pathogen adaptation in the field and rapidly evolving loci has not been established. I propose to use “reverse ecology”, an unbiased and holistic approach to associate genomic loci with adaptation to the host and environment using the fungal pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici as a model. Z. tritici is a pandemic pathogen causing the severe Septoria Tritici Blotch (STB) on wheat. Populations are highly diverse with high levels of gene flow and wheat resistance was repeatedly lost in field settings. To identify loci responding to selection driven by host resistance, I will analyze full genomes of large pathogen collections isolated from replicated field plots using a robust statistical frameworks. This will allow me to test for an association of selection responses and genomic locations. I will also identify the phenotypic traits under selection with a combination of association mapping data and functional predictions. My research will substantially increase our understanding of pathogen adaptation and guide future resistance deployment strategies in agricultural ecosystem.


Participants :
- University of Neuchâtel (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175419.6 €
Projet Cell2Carbox (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (FDCA) is a biobased product and an important chemical building block. It has a huge potential as a substitute for a variety of petrochemicals, such as terephthalic acid and adipic acid. It is highly important for the pharma industry as it is being used in biopolymer industries to make polyesters, polyurethanes, and polyamides. Currently, avantium process is the only established industrial process consisting of the catalytic dehydration of carbohydrates to alkoxymethylfurfural (RMF) which is further oxidized to the sodium salt of FDCA using homogenous catalytic system. Using the homogeneous catalytic system for oxidation process followed by the alkaline solution for separation process makes the process more expensive and less eco-friendly. However, base-free systems lead to low yield and selectivity, therefore extensive research is required for exploring a new heterogenous catalytic system. Direct utilization of cellulosic biomass as a feedstock over the multifunctional heterogeneous catalytic system will improve the economic feasibility with optimized production technologies, as these are abundantly available at a low cost. I will achieve this goal by designing a multifunctional catalyst with the combined effect of acid, base and metal sites as a single atomic site. Cell2Carbox project aims to develop unique and sustainable catalytic processes for FDCA production from an inexpensive and highly abundant cellulosic biomass using multifunctional heterogeneous SACs (Single-atom based catalyst) system. Besides, the project comprises a program for my professional growth by training-through-research in heterogeneous catalysis and for the development of complementary skills. Strengthened by this experience, I will become independent expert in the process development for biomass valorization, as of major scientific importance in the coming decades as it is postulated in the EU Vision The circular bio-society in 2050.

Mots clés : single atom based heterogeneous catalysis, cellulosic biomass, furan 2, 5 dicarboxylic acid, bio based derived chemicals, chemical reaction kinetics, conversion process optimization

Participants :
- National Institute of Chemistry (Slovénie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 162040.32 €
Projet GLORIOUS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

GLORIOUS is an interdisciplinary study of online networks created by contemporary Russian poets that brings together poets, scholars and translators. The project will offer the first theoretical conceptualisation of such networks, introduce the most exciting new voices to an Anglophone audience through translation and narrow the distance between literary scholarship and translation practice with the help of a bespoke website.

Mots clés : russian poetry, translation online networks, reading communities

Participants :
- UiT The Arctic University of Norway (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 202158.72 €
Projet HYDROBLOCK (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Gas hydrates are crystalline compounds where a cage-like water structure surrounds an organic molecule such as methane. They often form in oil and gas pipelines, where they stick to the inner walls clogging the flow. When this happens, the blocked section of pipe needs to be cut out and replaced, resulting in long shutdowns of production. The oil and gas industry spends more than 200 million euros per year to prevent such blockages and industry sources estimate the total costs for prevention and lost production due to hydrates in the order of billions. Available commercial software packages generally only focus on the thermodynamics of hydrate formation, but recent scientific literature emphasizes the interconnected role of thermodynamics with heat transfer and hydrodynamics. To better understand this phenomenon and to devise techniques to control/minimize its effects, we aim to adapt a novel multi-physics methodology called Discrete Multi-physics and derive from it computational tools to study and predict hydrate blockage. Based on Discrete Multi-physics, we will set up a mathematical model that links thermodynamics, heat transfer and hydrodynamics and generate an Open Source software freely available to other academics and practitioners.

Mots clés : multi physics, smoothed particle hydrodynamics

Participants :
- University of Birmingham (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 168700.32 €
Projet INTERCOGAM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

INTERCOGAM’s goal is to develop and use information theory based intrinsic motivation formalisms to evaluate automatically generated game mechanics. Content generation is one of the production bottlenecks of professional game design, which has begun to be addressed by procedural content generation. In this field, search based procedural content generation uses the idea of evolutionary algorithms to represent, modify and adapt games and game content to maximise fun and engagement with the game. One major challenge here is the identification of widely applicable fitness functions, which capture the different aspects of what makes a game fun, such as challenge level, complexity, pacing, etc. INTERCOGAM will relate psychological and game design concepts of game experience to either existing formalisms for intrinsic motivation or develop new ones, where appropriate. Human play testers will then play procedurally generated games and evaluate their own experience, allowing us to verify whether our formalism captures the actual human motivation, and whether humans indeed act according to certain intrinsic motivations. INTERCOGAM will yield both, a tool to generate new and engaging game ideas, aiding better and faster game design, and provide new insights into how the human mind engages with different worlds where there is no external reward present.

Mots clés : computer games, intrinsic motivation, search based procedural content generation, information, theory, empowerment, artificial intelligence, procedural content generation

Participants :
- New York University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Hertfordshire (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 251857.8 €
Projet INVITE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Cofund Doctoral programme
Statut du projet : CLOSED

INVITE is a doctoral programme at the University of Verona (UNIVR), Italy, with a strong inter-sectoral, inter-disciplinary and international research and training dimension. The project is co-financed by the Regione del Veneto and involves many partner organisations: 17 universities and research centres in Europe and beyond, 13 enterprises and organisations from the economic sector, 3 public organisations and 1 network. INVITE offers a total of 14 PhD positions to train early-stage researchers in scientific disciplines within the following four main scientific domains: Natural and Engineering Sciences, Life and Health Sciences, Humanities, and Law and Economics. INVITE aims to: 1. Attract young, talented, international fellows to follow a high-quality interdisciplinary doctoral programme at the UNIVR; 2. Encourage inter-sectoral and international mobility, thanks to collaborations with a wide network of Italian and European partner organisations in both the academic and non-academic sectors; 3. Provide the early-stage researchers (ESRs) with a comprehensive set of transferable skills for intellectual property rights (IPR) management, the exploitation of research results, the management of ethically-relevant research including the gender dimension in research, grant writing and project management, and the design and implementation of outreach and dissemination activities; 4. Support ESRs with a specific counselling service to improve their employability at the end of the doctoral programme; 5. Reinforce UNIVR capacities to host talented international researchers in a high-quality working environment. The ultimate goal is to train a new generation of researchers in a wide range of disciplines and to provide them with the ability to establish professional collaborations with academic institutions and/or the private sector at the Italian and European levels. INVITE will also improve the already well-established and successful doctoral programme at UNIVR.

Mots clés : doctoral programme, international, interdisciplinarity, intersectorality

Participants :
- University of Verona (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 1098720.0 €
Projet FeaGatSu (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Imagine a huge elephant rushing towards you; your first instinct is – run! This innate escape response is triggered by visual cues, here, a fast expanding object, and crucially depends on the extraction of few relevant features. The processing of visual information starts in the retina where more than 40 types of retinal ganglion cells extract salient features from the visual scene. Information about these features is sent to downstream brain areas. A central node where retinal signals are integrated is the superior colliculus. This evolutionary-conserved brain area controls innate behaviors, directly linking the outputs of the retina with the activation of motor outputs and behavior. In mice, escape behaviors can be initiated upon activation of a single cell type of superior colliculus, wide-field neurons. They receive inputs from a subset of retinal ganglion cell types and respond preferentially to two distinct visual stimuli, slow moving dots and quickly expanding disks, each known to trigger defensive behaviors. However, the computational strategy used by collicular neurons to process feature-selective retinal inputs remains unknown. In the proposed project, I will identify the mechanisms by which retinal features are integrated in collicular wide-field neurons. I will combine transsynaptic viral circuit tracing with two-photon calcium imaging to identify and characterize the feature-selective inputs from retinal ganglion cells (in-vitro) and functional outputs of wide-field neurons (in-vivo). The results of these experiments will allow me to deduce how the output features of wide-field neurons arise from the retinal inputs using computational modeling and neural decoding techniques. This will reveal the circuit and computational principles by which retinal feature-selectivity drives complex circuit function in central brain regions.

Mots clés : visual processing, retina, superior colliculus, information transfer, feature selectivity, viral tracing, calcium imaging, computational modeling

Participants :
- Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 172800.0 €